Ring of Honor presents its 20th annual Death Before Dishonor 2023, show on Friday, July 21, from the CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton, New Jersey. The event is the second Ring of Honor PPV of 2023, following Supercard of Honor in March.
Date: July 21, 2023
Arena: CURE Insurance Arena
Location: Trenton, New Jersey
Gravity vs. Komander
Lucha libre combat to start the show, as it had already happened in the previous premium live event , the Supercard Of Honor , but with El Hijo del Vikingo instead of Gravity.
Both starred near falls following flashy blows. After Komander landed a Super Frankensteiner , Gravity caught the opponent off guard and achieved triumph via settlement via a Small Package .
Winner : Gravity
Grade : 7/10
ROH World Television Championship:
Samoa Joe (c) vs. Dalton Castle
Battle between two outstanding names in the history of Ring of Honor: Samoa Joe more for the impact he had during the few years he was in the company, Dalton Castle more for longevity.
Samoa Joe dominated much of the duel, but Dalton Castle had the help of The Boys, who hurried to replace him inside the ring whenever Joe threw him out of the squared circle .
Even so, Joe was always finding an antidote to face the numerical disadvantage, achieving a victory via submission, through a Coquina Clutch .
Winner : Samoa Joe
Rating : 6.5/10
ROH World Tag Team Championship:
The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fénix) (c)
vs. The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett)
vs. Aussie Open (Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher)
vs. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta)
Chaotic combat, as is usual in this type of dispute, although legally only two men can be inside the ring at the same time. At the climax of this chaos, Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fénix applied Suicide Dives at the same time to opponents who were outside the ring and then Trent Beretta performed a Superplex on Mike Bennett on top of the remaining six fighters.
All teams had moments when they seemed well placed to achieve victory and there were even moments when all teams had at least one of their elements apply a type of Piledriver , but in none of the occasions did that blow decide the fight. Aussie Open eventually won out, after a double team on Trent Beretta .
Winners : Aussie Open (Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher) (new champions)
Grade : 8.5/10
ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship:
Mogul Embassy (Brian Cage, Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona) (c) vs. Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi and Leon Ruffin
A fight that became chaotic, after a somewhat slow start. Still, Mogul Embassy ended up getting a victory in about 12 minutes, after a triple team on Leon Ruffin.
Winners : Mogul Embassy (Brian Cage, Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona)
Rating : 6.5/10
Death Before Dishonor 2023
Pure Wrestling Rules – ROH Pure Championship:
Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs. Daniel Garcia
Daniel Garcia was the first to use the rope break, shortly after the opening two minutes. It was the only time a rope break was used in the match, which was won by Shibata after a PK
Winner : Katsuyori Shibata
Rating : 6.5/10
Fight Without Honor:
The Righteous (Vincent and Dutch) and Stu Grayson vs. The Dark Order (Evil One, Alex Reynolds and John Silver)
Less than three minutes into the fight, there was already blood on Dutch’s head, courtesy of barbed wire. Two minutes later, a pile of pins appeared on the scene where John Silver would fall backwards. Entering the ring from a chair also happened naturally. More surprising was the use of… legos.
At one point, Dutch applied two Powerbombs to Evil Uno on top of legos and pins, but even then the victory did not come. Minutes later, Stu Grayson climbed to the top of a ladder to supposedly dive over Evil Uno who was lying on a table outside the ring, but Evil Uno managed to get up and push the ladder, making Grayson fall on top of the tables, which left.
However, The Dark Order took Grayson back to the ring, achieving triumph after a triple team on top of the pile of pines and legos.
Winner : The Dark Order (Evil Uno, Alex Reynolds and John Silver)
Rating : 8/10
Death Before Dishonor 2023
ROH World Championship:
Claudio Castagnoli (c) vs. Pac
Combat that was being intense and divided, with alternating periods of dominance by both fighters. At one point, Castagnoli threw Pac onto a table Pac had set up outside the ring, but even that high moment didn’t break the balance trend. Shortly after, Castagnoli applied the Neutralizer , but in the ensuing settlement Pac kicked out .
Minutes later, in a phase in which Castagnoli seemed to be one blow away from victory, Pac reversed a Powerbomb and applied a Brutalizer , but he was unable to make Castagnoli give up.
And, in a phase where Pac even seemed to be on top, Wheeler Yuta distracted him and allowed his Blackpool Combat Club teammate, Claudio Castagnoli , to achieve victory after a Running Powerbomb.
Winner : Claudio Castagnoli
Rating : 8/10
Death Before Dishonor 2023; Main Event
ROH Women’s World Championship:
Athena (c) vs. Willow Nightingale
The first time a female fight was the main event of a Ring Of Honor pay per view and soon between two powerful, talented fighters with a great future ahead of them.
With the crowd on her side, the charismatic Willow came close to winning several times, including after a Butterfly Suplex and after a Reverse DDT , but Athena always managed to kick out .
Athena also came close to triumph after a Sitout scoop slam piledriver and a Powerbomb , but on both occasions Willow managed to stop the ensuing sinking. More surprising was when Athena even executed her finisher, The Eclipse, and Willow kicked out at the last moment. In response, Willow applied a Gutwrench Powerbomb , but the result was the same.
Athena returned to the charge with a new Eclipse , this time followed by a Crossface that made Willow faint after some time of resistance.
Winner : Athena
Grade : 8.5/10