ROH Death Before Dishonor 2022 Post Examination

Lowell, MA—Tsongas Center

July 23, 2022

Claudio and Regal (photo courtesy of rohwrestling.com)

Claudio Castagnoli def. Jonathan Gresham to win the ROH Title

This would have hurt the match and big win moment if this was put in the main event, but a better build would have made Claudio’s big win all the more satisfying.  Maybe I’m reading too far into a tidbit from Gresham that’s possibly partly in kayfabe but he mentioned he’s only sparingly talked to Tony Khan, and you do get a sense that with FTR and Jay Lethal getting the bulk of ROH representation on AEW TV, he may not have something larger in mind for Gresham, which is a shame, because he would have fit wonderfully in the BCC or hell, even could be a contrast to like a Shawn Spears in a makeshift team.  Instead, Gresham just floundered without a feud running into this and while yes, Claudio was tied up with JAS, Gresham came into this so cold part of me fears his future in the new ROH could be Brian Cage-y.

Nevertheless, an understated gem that deserves a future watch; built perfectly with sound psychology, just needed an extra hrmph, shall we say, to get to the 4 star range.

Totally unrelated but does anyone else look at the lifts in Claudio’s boots and think of Pee-Wee dancing to “Tequila” in Big Adventure?  No?  Eh, whatever, fuck it, just me…  Claudio is a perfectly fine choice as ROH champion and it’ll add an interesting dynamic to his feud with an Eddie Kingston should he calling for the belt at All Out. ★★★

Dalton Castle and The Boys def. The Righteous to win the Six-Man Title

Just a match.

Not to add to the pile on but I’d be remiss for not voicing how superfluous it is to resurrect the six man of having a six-man ROH title being resurrected.   ★★

Wheeler Yuta def. Daniel Garcia to retain the ROH Pure Championship

I’m a sucker for reality-based wrestling so pure rules don’t seen annoy me.  Talk about two characters benefiting greatly from a change of personas.  Slap fest brought marks all over Yuta’s neck.  Regal and the commenters did an excellent job of making this feel like legitimate sport.  Nice usage of their mentors submission finishes to humble each other.

Anyone else get the feeling that they’re setting up an angle with Regal having too high of expectations on Yuta?  Regal continuously reinforced on commentary that he expected him to win and would be disappointed in him for even going for a rope break.  Interesting sowing of long-reaping seeds.  ★★★

Rush def. Dragon Lee

Great start by using holds and continuously reinforcing that they were brothers on commentary before Rush showed his true dick colors.  That made something like Irish-whipping Dragon Lee into all sides of the barricade outside the ring all the more malevolent.  Great finish with Dragon Lee having concern for his brother and Rush using that to play possum to set him up for the finish.  Simple but effective.  ★★★★

Rush and Dragon Lee (photo courtesy of rohwrestling.com)

Mercedes Martinez def. Serena Deeb to retain the ROH Women’s World Championship

That suplex from the top was so vicious I thought Deeb had a stinger or worse.  What an under-appreciated talent Deeb is, like a Dean Malenko 1996 or Fit Finlay 98—she can credibly threaten babyfaces without hurting the credibility of the promotion without winning the belt.  Fine to keep the title on Martinez until the women’s division star has been identified under the new regime and save that crowing for a PPV then.  I never felt it dragged, and I’m glad they had time, regardless of the crowd being too quiet.  ★★★

Samoa Joe def. Jay Lethal to retain the ROH World TV Championship

Is it just me or does Joe need a small, Jericho-esque tweak of his character?  It’s like the majority of this run in AEW he’s been playing the role of habitually nursing an injury.  Surprised that Lethal didn’t get the win but perhaps his destiny is to play the role of Colossal Connection ’22 with Singh.  ★★★

Samoa Joe (photo courtesy of rohwrestling.com)

FTR def. The Briscoe Brothers to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championship

The Wrestling Elitists went to Supercard of Honor and their first match easily had one of the best crowds giving the biggest reactions for every single thing that they did.  I can’t fathom the crowd was dead in person, that energy and vibe just didn’t translate off the TV for this encounter.  Maybe the bar was set too high—you go and try to top arguably one of the best tag team matches ever—or maybe it was hampered by the fact that in the aftermath of the last match, where they made nice and admitted to not violently resenting the other, it took some of the suspension of disbelief that there were trying to work as snug as humanly possible without it going into a legit fistfight.

Which made the fisticuffs at the end of the match all the more appropriate.  Also liked the nice touch of Dax blading his chest to reinforce that he’d fight like an eight year old girl.  The commentary did a wonderful misdirection job of saying the Briscoes had won 2/3 falls matches previously in two straight falls, making FTR going up 2 straight matches in this series a surprise (at least to me, I was certain the Briscoes were going over).  The second rope piledriver, an exclamation point on top of an old school finisher, was perfect for Dax and the finish itself.  ★★★★3/4

Post Examination:

What are the identifiable traits that separates ROH from AEW?  I’ll get there in a minute, but if the end result is every match on the card very good to great, especially after the tastelessness on display in the industry this week, there’s bigger things to bitch about.

Funny how a two-man commentary booth that treats wrestling seriously feels like a revelation in 2022.  This duo of Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman did a great job pushing that this was the sport of wrestling and, at least to my ears, didn’t make any egregious remarks regarding revisionist history of ROH.  They’re best when they are understated (Caprice doesn’t need to Gusgasm, for the love of God) and paint simple strokes.

We’ll see how this does in terms of PPV buys.  I wondered if the price of 40 clams was too steep, but then again, I’m the buttmunch who also dropped $30 on vegan chicken nuggets, peppers, and non-alcoholic IPAs for my little pre-game “party” so what the hell do I know.

I know there’s not much visually that made this PPV feel any different besides three different letters and splashes of red, but they could hold the camera a little differently.  Like during Claudio’s big spin, they did one of those great, ol’ timey boxing angles where the camera was aimed looking down to a top-down, wide-shot of the ring.  Run that angle repeatedly as an establishing shot or at least one of the looks used frequently in title matches.  A little break from the established camera work of AEW would go a long way.

Many will criticize that ROH isn’t its own thing, and will not see the point in keeping it as an active brand.  Clearly, the play seems to be to look as attractive as possible to a streaming service by having old and new content that’s generating some semblance of revenue for the next rights deal.  We’ll see what happens, the entire industry will be in some semblance of flux for the foreseeable future, and they’re be opportunity in uncertain times.

Briscoes and FTR (photo courtesy of rohwrestling.com)

Follow us @ https://twitter.com/WrestleElitists