Welcome to our coverage of Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view from Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mike Murray and I will have our ROH Death Before Dishonor POST Show later tonight.
RESULTS
*Jeff Cobb over Shane Taylor in 12:59
*Marty Scurll over Colt Cabana in 14:01 in the opening round of the #1 contender tournament
*PCO over Kenny King in 11:49 in a No DQ match in the opening round of the #1 contender tournament
*Angelina Love over Kelly Klein in 9:05 to win the Women of Honor title
*Jonathan Gresham over Jay Lethal in 17:20
*Beer City Bruiser & Brian Milonas over Silas Young & Vincent Marseglia in 14:25
*Shane Taylor over Flip Gordon, Tracy Williams, and Dragon Lee in 8:25 to retain the ROH Television title
*The Briscoes over Mark Haskins & Bandido in 20:16 to retain the ROH tag titles
*Rush over Matt Taven in 16:04 to win the ROH title
BRODY KING VS JEFF COBB
Both utilized their power at the beginning with neither going down from shoulder blocks. Cobb hit a dropkick and King responded with a boot and both were still standing.
King scaled to the top with a reverse lateral press and followed with a senton as Cobb went down. Cobb fired back and they took each other down with clotheslines. The heat from the crowd was non-existent.
King yelled and called Cobb a motherf—er. Cobb caught King with a dropkick as he was seated on the turnbuckle. Cobb hit a delayed superplex and King kicked out at one.
King hit a suicide dive and a cannonball to the back of Cobb for a two-count. They are working their asses off.
King hit a piledriver and it the crowd thought Todd Sinclair counted three and was confused. Cobb and King kept trading release German suplexes and ended with Cobb catching him with Tour of the Islands.
WINNER: Jeff Cobb at 12:59
These two worked so hard and in a better environment this would have stood out much more. For a pre-show, this was a great match.
Brian Zane from Wrestling with Wregret is working as a backstage interview and spoke with The Bouncers and are tired of being overlooked as nice guys and are sending Silas Young & Vinny Marseglia to the hospital.
Quinn McKay was in the ring and brought out Dalton Castle for an interview. Castle brought out a stool with something hidden on top of it. Castle played to the crowd and asked who wanted to be entertained?
Joe Hendry interrupted the segment, he asked Castle to reveal what was on the stool and it was a mimosa. He asked Hendry to top his surprise and Hendry started doing karaoke about the two teaming together and made fun of him hurting his back “trying to reach his peacock”. Castle threw the mimosa at Hendry and Hendry took out The Boys.
Hendry and Castle were fine and it was a fun segment. The star of the bit was McKay, who is excellent in the interviewer role and had great reactions.
MARTY SCURLL VS COLT CABANA IN THE OPENING ROUND OF THE #1 CONTENDER TOURNAMENT
Scurll came out to a loud reaction and suddenly the Las Vegas crowd was alive.
Cabana had some comedic moments at the start and sent Scurll to the floor after a tilt-a-whirl head scissors. Scurll caught him on top and hit a big superplex. Scurll worked on his neck and then Cabana fought back and hit a reverse hip attack. Scurll hit a superkick from the apron and then got yanked to the floor and landed on his back.
Scurll fired up with a snap dragon suplex and powerbomb for a two-count. Scurll stomped both sets of fingers, Cabana came off the ropes and was kicked in the injured hands and Scurll followed with a piledriver.
Cabana avoided the chicken wing twice, went for the Billy Goat’s Curse and Scurll countered to the chicken wing and Cabana escaped and landed a top rope moonsault. Cabana applied the Billy Goat’s Curse but Scurll got to the rope.
Cabana hit the Chicago Skyline and used the Superman pin that Scurll kicked out from. Finally, Scurll hit the Black Plague for the victory.
WINNER: Marty Scurll at 14:01
This was a fun match and escalated with the final stretch turning into a solid ending. The challenge was getting the audience to believe Cabana could win and they didn’t quite the level where the near falls were generating a huge response, but the crowd was with it and it was a seamless back-and-forth between the two and the chemistry was very evident.
Cabana was dejected as he sat with Riccaboni and then left for the back.
KENNY KING VS PCO IN A NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH IN THE OPENING ROUND OF THE #1 CONTENDER TOURNAMENT
PCO came out to his new theme song called “Shocker” composed by Jim Johnston, formerly of WWE.
PCO hit a somersault off the top while a table was set up on the floor from the onset of the match. He placed King onto the edge of the apron, hit a somersault dive onto King and nearly took himself out bouncing off King and onto the table.
PCO missed a suicide dive and his face just bounced on the floor. They teased he would be taken to the back leading to King continuing his attack, placing the ladder around PCO’s neck and driving it into the post.
King hit a tornillo over the top to PCO on the floor. King removed the padding on the floor to expose the floor.
King went for a sunset bomb to the floor, but it appeared that PCO landed on his head coming down and looked brutal for King.
King poured water onto PCO with Amy Rose passing him a cattle prod and electrocuting PCO but he roared back, hit a chokeslam and pinned King out of nowhere.
WINNER: PCO at 11:49
The match worked for the crowd in Las Vegas and hopefully, both were okay afterward.
The other opening-round matches take place Saturday at the television tapings with Dalton Castle vs. Mark Haskins and Bandido vs. Jay Lethal.
KELLY KLEIN VS ANGELINA LOVE FOR THE WOMEN OF HONOR TITLE
Mandy Leon is in Love’s corner.
Love was sent to the floor and Klein hit a crossbody taking down Love and Leon together.
Riccaboni said, “Ring of Honor has never been hotter”.
Love applied the Koji Clutch in the ring and Klein rolled over to the rope for the break. Klein followed with a fallaway slam off the middle turnbuckle for a two-count. Love stopped the momentum with a cutter off the turnbuckle.
Klein hit the Fire Woman’s Carry that Love kicked out from. Leon sprayed Klein in the face and Love hit Botox Injection, but Klein kicked out from it. Leon tried again and sprayed Love in the face by mistake. Love still kicked and led to Klein attacking Leon, then turning around and being hit with another Botox Injection and Love pinned her to win the title.
WINNER: Angelina Love at 9:05 to win the Women of Honor title
They used a lot of shortcuts with the numerous kick-outs but the audience wasn’t into the match. The ending was a lot of interference and just felt like a misread of what the modern audience wants.
Love was presented with the title and lights went out. Maria Manic appeared and applied the torture rack on Love. Manic took out members of security and was presented as a strong challenger for the future.
JAY LETHAL VS JONATHAN GRESHAM
There was a great sequence of hip toss reversals ending with Gresham being sent over the top rope. Lethal landed a springboard dropkick from the corner while Gresham got out of the way of the suicide dive on one side of the ring but hit with one on the other.
Gresham started to sell the left knee and favored it after landing a quebrada. Lethal struggled as he applied a figure-four and was able to get it and Gresham reversed it band then got to the rope and they rolled to the floor.
Gresham grabbed a chair and had to taken away by Todd Sinclair while Lethal asked Gresham if that was the only way he could beat him. Gresham slapped him and they had a striking exchange around the ringside area.
Lethal went for Lethal Injection and was stopped with a kick the body. Lethal applied another figure-four and Gresham got out.
Gresham went for the Octopus and got it applied while taking Lethal to the mat and hyperextending the arm for the tap.
WINNER: Jonathan Gresham at 17:20
This was excellent, easily the best match on the show and a great feud with Gresham getting a big victory. This was a solid match to go check out.
Lethal was frustrated from the loss as he sold his left arm, the crowd chanted “hug it out”, they shook hands and hugged. The announcers put this over as Gresham’s biggest win of his career.
SILAS YOUNG & VINCENT MARSEGLIA VS BEER CITY BRUISER & BRIAN MILONAS IN A BARROOM BRAWL
Josh Woods accompanied Silas Young to the ring and joined Riccaboni and Coleman on commentary. Woods came off nervous and unnatural on commentary.
The Bouncers, Bruiser and Milonas, jumped them before the match began and immediately started brawling.
Beer City Bruiser used a pool cue and broke it on the post as he missed Young. Marseglia and Young double-teamed Milonas, they used zip ties to tie him in the corner. Marseglia was bleeding from the forehead early on.
Milonas broke free from the zip ties and attacked both men.
The announcers kept pointing out the glass on the canvas, but it was hard to notice it and had no reaction from the crowd, who probably couldn’t tell.
Marseglia jammed the broken pool cue into the forehead of Milonas and he started bleeding.
Marseglia had a dart and launched them into Bruiser’s back. He put another dart into his forehead and Bruiser bled. Riccaboni yelled, “you have to get the god damned dart out of there”.
Young attacked Milonas with a chair to the back and whipped into his head. Milonas was set up on a table on the floor, while Young set up numerous chairs inside the ring. Marseglia put Milonas through the table with Redrum (a Swanton) to the floor.
Woods carried Young to the back and Bruiser superplexed Marseglia through the chairs in the ring but Marseglia kicked out. Bruiser called him a “bitch” and hit the Beer City DDT and pinned Marseglia.
WINNER: THE BOUNCERS AT 14:25
This was even crazier than the PCO match with nonstop violence throughout the match. It was the blow-off for the feud and audience was into the spots to varying degrees. The dart spot is going to get the most attention and the audience did react loudly to the darts entering the back of Beer City Bruiser.
This isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and felt heavily reliant on killing each other to get the match over but it did work for the live crowd.
SHANE TAYLOR VS FLIP GORDON VS TRACY WILLIAMS VS DRAGON LEE FOR THE ROH TELEVISION TITLE
Taylor’s entrance featured an entourage and they compared him to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and it was a nice touch. They are pushing the story that this Taylor’s final match under contract and ROH will have to negotiate with him if he retains the title.
PJ Black is on commentary.
Dragon Lee was the surprise addition to the match as the announcers were stunned that he wasn’t on the CMLL anniversary card tonight.
Williams hit Gordon with a double-arm DDT onto the top turnbuckle and followed with a lariat.
Lee hit Williams with a snap German suplex off the ropes and a deadlift brainbuster that Williams kicked out from.
Lee and Taylor exchanged big knee strikes and Lee was sent to the floor. Gordon returned to the ring with Taylor, Gordon was tossed into the corner and raked Taylor’s eyes.
Gordon grabbed a chair and Williams tried to stop him. The referee removed the chair and Williams was sent to the floor by Gordon, he turned around and was hit with Greetings from 216 as Taylor retained the title.
WINNER: Shane Taylor at 8:25 to retain the ROH Television title
The announcers pushed that Williams cost Gordon the title. They are pushing that Taylor will be paid to defend the title and making him the superstar free agent attraction that has the title. He had a face-off with Dragon Lee, who wasn’t figured into the ending.
The match was shorter than expected and could have used more, especially to feature Lee a bit more.
THE BRISCOES VS BANDIDO & MARK HASKINS FOR THE ROH TAG TITLES
Mark hit a dropkick through the ropes to the floor and hit Jay by mistake. Haskins & Bandido took over on the floor and attacked both Briscoes, who were set up against the guardrails.
Vicky Haskins was seated in the front row, but they explained she bought a ticket and isn’t licensed to be in Mark’s corner.
The Briscoes fought back and loaded the ring with chairs and set up a table on the floor. They had the advantage of Bandido as the match returned inside the ring. Haskins was tagged in after Bandido made his way to the corner. Haskins hit a DDT and flatliner simultaneous to the Briscoes.
Haskins applied a Rings of Saturn to Mark and Bandido tied up Jay’s legs while hyperextending the arm.
Haskins hit a Falcon Arrow on Mark to set up a frog splash from Bandido but Bandido wasn’t the legal man and couldn’t cover him. The Briscoes regained control with Jay hitting a reverse neck breaker on Bandido. He came back with a pop-up cutter and it ended with all four down.
Bandido went for a backslide to Jay and Haskins then applied the sharpshooter and Bandido hit Mark with the 21 Plex. The Briscoes grabbed each other and broke free. Bandido hit a superplex and Haskins hit Mark with a foot stomp from the top with Jay making the save.
Jay hit the Jay Driller and Haskins kicked out, which didn’t get the response you would expect.
Mark took out Bandido with Froggy Bow and allowed Jay to hit a second Jay Driller on Haskins for the win.
WINNER: The Briscoes in 20:16 to retain the ROH tag titles
This was a solid match and probably topped the Lethal vs. Gresham match. Haskins & Bandido are a tremendous team and The Briscoes were excellent with those two.
The Jay Driller near fall didn’t get the response I expected for a protected finish like Jay’s.
Bully Ray returned and attacked Bandido with a powerbomb and then delivered one to Haskins. He grabbed his chain as Tracy Williams fought him off and Bully cowered in the corner. Flip Gordon appeared from behind and nailed Williams with a kendo stick, surprisingly helping Bully, who had a huge feud throughout 2018.
Bully went to the floor threw Tracy Williams into the guardrail. He grabbed Haskins as Vicky screamed at Bully and then slapped Bully, who powerbombed Haskins through a table. Bully had security remove Vicky for striking him.
MATT TAVEN VS RUSH FOR THE ROH TITLE
Taven took a belly-to-belly into the corner and Rush set up for the Bull’s Horns but Taven got out of the way to the floor.
Dragon Lee and Bestia del Ring were seated ringside along with his son and got into it with Taven early on.
Taven dropped Rush with a Falcon Arrow off the apron to the floor, which didn’t look fun. Taven followed up with a suicide dive and a tope over the top.
Taven was eventually caught with a snap German suplex before returning to the floor. Rush separated the guardrails and suplexed Taven onto one of them. Rush lifted the rail and ran it into Taven. They fought over to the announcer’s area and Rush suplexed him onto the timekeeper’s desk.
Rush teased the Bull’s Horns again, held up to kick him in the face and do the Tranquilo pose.
Rush hit a missile dropkick off the apron to the floor that Coleman called a “hydraulic dropkick”.
Taven cut him off in the ring, hit the Climax and Rush kicked out. The announcers noted that Jeff Cobb and PCO were beaten with that move and Rush survived it.
Rush attacked and set Taven up in the corner, he stopped the Bull’s Horns with a spear. Taven hit a pair of penalty kicks, Rush sat up and spit at Taven. Taven hit another running kick but couldn’t hit the Climax. Taven was shoved on top into the post, into the tree of woe and took the Bull’s Horns in the tree of woe and then the actual version to pin Taven and win the title.
WINNER: Rush in 16:04 to win the ROH title
Rush’s family entered the ring and they hugged.
Taven stormed back in and offered his hand to Rush, they shook hands and Taven walked out as Cary Silkin presented the title to Rush.
I enjoyed the main event a lot, it wasn’t the best match on the show but had a big moment to close the show especially with the family present.
Overall, a fun pay-per-view and a variety of matches that largely delivered. ROH needs to create a buzz and I don’t know if this show will accomplish that but they applied some changes and it was an easy show to watch.
