ROH: Death Before Dishonor card complete day before the show

One day before the show, the ROH Death Before Dishonor card has finally been filled out. The card has very slowly come together. As of last week, we knew that Athena, Claudio Castagnoli, and Samoa Joe would all be defending their respective titles, but we just didn’t know who their opponents were.

Castagnoli was supposed to face Mark Briscoe for the ROH World Championship, but last week, Tony Khan announced that Briscoe was injured and the match was off. He also said Castagnoli’s new opponent would be announced this week. Castagnoli competed in Blood & Guts on Wednesday night. One of his teammates was the returning PAC.

Toward the end of the match, PAC got fed up with Castagnoli and the rest of the Blackpool Combat Club. He found pliers, cut off the cage lock, and left. Following the match, an angry champion was looking for him. Around 2 AM ET on Friday morning, Khan made the match official for the title.

The biggest match on the card isn’t even the main event. It should’ve been the main event. I laid out my case last week. On Thursday, Athena became the longest-reigning ROH Women’s champion. After Thursday’s show, Athena moved to 31-0 in ROH-sanctioned matches.

During the rundown of the card, it was officially announced that Castagnoli vs. PAC would main event. Yes, the match made Thursday morning at 2 AM ET was picked to main event over Athena, who has been the star of ROH for 21 episodes. Even after Athena tweeted that the only way she would do the match was if she could main event. Willow quote tweeted her and said that was the only thing they agreed on.

Last week, there was a mini-tournament to name a challenger for Samoe Joe. Dalton Castle defeated Tony Nese to advance. Elsewhere on the bracket, Shane Taylor beat Capt. Shawn Dean to move on. Tonight, Castle hit a very impressive Bangarang on Taylor to win the tourney. Castle will face Joe for the ROH Television Championship.

Continuing with the unique booking of championship matches, another match was made via social media. On Sunday morning around 1 AM ET, ROH tweeted a video of a faux press conference in which Daniel Garcia challenged Katsuyori Shibata for the ROH Pure Championship. Shibata had fighting words for his opponent when he declared that he didn’t like his dancing.

https://twitter.com/ringofhonor/status/1682164230500536320?s=20

Stu Grayson has been teaming with The Righteous for several weeks. They tried recruiting Grayson for a few weeks prior to that. Dark Order didn’t like this and tried to stop it, only for Grayson to tell them he didn’t like them making his decisions for him. Dark Order has faced The Righteous in ROH. On Thursday’s episode, Dark Order vs. The Righteous was announced as a Fight Without Honor match.

The Lucha Brothers have been scarce from ROH programming due to other commitments but will be defending their title at Death Before Dishonor. In a 4-way match, they’ll take on The Kingdom, Best Friends, and Aussie Open.

The Embassy will defend their six-man titles against Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Leon Ruffin. This will be Wato and Taguchi’s debut for the new ROH. Following Thursday’s show, Gravity vs. Komander was announced. Gravity has appeared in ROH a couple of times. He is the younger brother of former ROH World Champion, Bandido.

Zero Hour looks to have great matches with Trish Adora vs. “Legit” Leyla Hirsch, The Workhorsemen vs. Dante Martin & Action Andretti, AR Fox vs. Shane Taylor, and Josh Woods vs. “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams.

For the first time, Death Before Dishonor will be available on Honor Club. For non-subscribers, Bleacher/Report, FITE, and connected devices will air the pay-per-view live. Purchases must be completed via ROH’s website.

Zero Hour will begin at 7 PM ET on ROH’s YouTube at 7 PM ET and Death Before Dishonor will start at 8 PM ET.