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The performance this year experienced a number of adjustments in the weeks preceding the event, thus the card appears very differently than it should. HOWEVER, the line up of matches for this show were stunning!
Lets begin with Ring of Honours… ZERO HOUR, I made that more fancy than it needed to be!
Josh Woods vs. Tracy Williams
Woods and "Hot Sauce" Williams squared off in the opening match on the Zero Hour. Williams appeared alone, whereas Woods had the other Varsity Athletes on his side.
Both guys had to be more inventive with their offence because this was a Pure Rules battle.
Woods won by submission following an entertaining technical match that made both fighters seem good.
The Workhorsemen vs. Darius Martin and Action Andretti
Anthony Henry and JD Drake faced Martin and Andretti in the second pre-show match.
The Workhorsemen seized the opportunity and launched an immediate attack on Andretti and Martin, but a misunderstanding allowed the high flyers to turn the tables.
To put up a match they can be proud of, all four men gave it their all.
Trish Adora vs. Leyla Hirsch
Hirsch made her maiden PPV appearance for ROH when she faced Adora, who was accompanied by Shawn Dean and Charlie Bravo for her entrance.
Hirsch had recently made a comeback on ROH TV.
It was a contest between two athletes who take great pride in their abilities. Hirsch was able to win with an armbar after taking a few short cuts.
AR Fox vs. Shane Taylor
The last match of the pre-show was between Fox and Taylor. With Taylor being a big man who prefers power moves and Fox being a high flyer and technique, there was a significant mismatch of styles.
For a combo like this, the match proceeded according to pattern. Fox would occasionally make comebacks and use his aerial prowess to take Taylor down while Taylor used his stature to dominate most of the time. The intense competition in this match gave both men a chance to shine.
Fox used remarkable strength to get Taylor onto his shoulders for a rolling clam, and then he finished the pin with a 450 from the top rope.
That’s Zero Hour covered, lets move on to some Death Before Dishonour!
Gravity vs. Komander
Before locking horns for the opening match on the main programme, the two luchadors exchanged handshakes out of respect and in accordance with the Code of Honour.
This was a high-intensity interaction from the minute they first made contact. The two men were competing to see who could use the most original offence to excite the crowd.
You anticipate a few hiccups in a match like this between two guys who are doing numerous intricate sequences and dangerous manoeuvres. It was impressive how precise they were with the most of their offence, even though this match wasn't flawless.
As a fairly unexpected outcome, Gravity triumphed by profiting on Komander's error. Make a special effort to watch this. It was really enjoyable.
Samoa Joe vs. Dalton Castle (ROH TV Title)
Samoa Joe and Castle competed for the ROH Television Championship in the first title match of the evening.
It was originally intended for Mark Briscoe to face Joe until he was moved to the world title event and subsequently sustained an injury that forced him out of the programme entirely. The Peacock won an eliminator tournament to earn this opportunity.
Before they started fighting, the two men spent a long period playing mind games and tormenting each other.
As soon as they got to work, Joe took charge of the action, and Castle did his best to evade his strikes.
Instead of trying to steal the show, this was more about presenting a tale. They tried something different because they were aware that they wouldn't be able to outwork some of the other fights on the card. The face expressions and the pauses in between moves were what told the story; the action itself was still good.
Joe forced Stokely Hathaway to kick The Boys away from the ring so that they could no longer assist Castle, which gave him the opportunity to secure the victory with the Coquina Clutch.
The Kingdom vs. Lucha Bros vs. Best Friends vs. Aussie Open (ROH Tag Titles)
Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo defended the ROH tag titles in this Four Corners Survival Match against Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, Mark Davis, and Kyle Fletcher.
With thus many participants, each match might be chaotic, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. It can be challenging to remember who the legitimate men are when there are sequences involving all eight contestants.
Although this match was a touch simpler than some comparable matches from recent memory, there were still a few awkward instances where it appeared as though players were simply waiting for the next available place.
This was nonetheless a great demonstration of four talented tag teams, despite those criticisms. Given that The Kingdom has been the most active tag team in the organisation lately, it felt like they were front and centre for a lot of the action.
It was actually difficult to predict which team would win, which usually makes a game more entertaining.
After Trent was pinned, Aussie Open became the new ROH tag champions when the dust settled.
Mogul Embassy vs. Wato, Taguchi and Ruffin (ROH 6-Man Tag Titles)
When Taguchi, Wato, and Ruffin squared off against Brian Cage, Toa Liona, and Bishop Kaun, the ROH six-man tag belts were on the line.
The six-man belts were welcome on the event, but as ROH has no discernible division, the trio they fought never seemed to stand a chance.
The challengers were able to leverage their significant speed advantage over the three powerhouses for brief offensive spurts.
This was a perfectly adequate match with a few entertaining moments, but it felt like filler. There was no backstory, and it never gave the impression that the titles may change hands.
All three men propelled Ruffin into the air and allowed him to fall with a thud, giving the Mogul Embassy the victory.
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Daniel Garcia (ROH Pure Championship)
In the second Pure Rules bout of the evening, the Pure Championship was on the line. Shibata challenged Garcia, a former champion himself, for the championship.
Shibata locked him in a Figure Four, forcing Garcia to use one of his three rope breaks early. Shibata was lured out of the ring by him after he regrouped, and he then threw him into the barrier.
Throughout the contest, they moved at a deliberate tempo. The majority of what we saw was ground offence, but they occasionally incorporated strikes and quicker sequences to shake things up.
Garcia did a great job of portraying a man desperate for respect but unwilling to earn it the correct way. Shibata eventually became weary of his shenanigans and began beating him up in the corner.
It was an easy and powerful method to tell the tale of a young man competing against an accomplished performer. As they approached the 12-minute mark, the audience expressed its gratitude with "This is awesome" chants.
Shibata was able to keep the championship by pinning Garcia after a vicious kick. After the match, he reached out to shake Garcia's hand, but Red Death gave him the finger. So Shibata grabbed his finger and forced him shake hands.
The Righteous vs. Dark Order
In an effort to exact some sort of retaliation against their former teammate Stu Grayson and his new teammates Dutch and Vincent, Evil Uno, Alex Reynolds, and John Silver were prepared for war and boy did this match not disappoint!
The match had almost no regulations because it was a Fight Without Honour. Everyone else started fighting as Uno and Grayson locked eyes. They started throwing hands once they were all by themselves in the ring.
It was challenging to maintain track of everyone's activities at any given moment because everyone sort of paired off and engaged in combat in distinct locations.
They nearly immediately introduced weapons into the match. At one point, Uno even suffered a severe head wound and had his mask pulled off. Uno was powerbombed into a stack of thumbtacks and a pile of Lego at the same time when they entered the ring.
They engaged in combat on stage, at ringside, and in the ring. By the end, everyone was bleeding. They were never going to come close to the brutality of the Dynamite Blood and Guts match, but they did.
Grayson was defeated by The Dark Order using a triple-team move onto the Lego and tacks to clinch the victory.
What the hell did I just watch, it was BRILLANT but good God!
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Pac (ROH World Championship)
Two men who were partners on Wednesday night went to war in the first of the two main event matches. The ROH world championship was on the line when Castagnoli faced Pac, who had abandoned the Blackpool Combat Club following Blood and Guts.
To gain an early advantage, the champion punched the opponent with an uppercut right immediately. A short while later, he delivered a big popup uppercut for the match's first close call.
The first few minutes were entirely devoted to Castagnoli punishing the person who offended his squad.
Castagnoli performed a massive elbow drop for a near-fall after launching Pac through a table and out of the ring. Both men became more aggressive as the contest dragged on.
Although there was no babyface in this match, the audience didn't care.
A great match deserving of the world championship was put forth by The Swiss Superman and The Man Gravity Forgot.
Before Wheeler Yuta gave Castagnoli the opportunity to hit the Ricola Bomb on the third attempt and win, Pac countered it twice.
Next minute Death Triangle are out and PAC has rejoined with Penta and Fenix attacking Yuta and Castagnoli. Then for some reason, Best Friends and Orange Cassidy entered the conflict, and they were the last men standing.
Great match, confusing ending though!
Athena vs. Willow Nightingale (ROH Women's World Championship)
The night's major event and final contest was for the women's world championship. In order to defeat Willow, a woman who has had a fantastic 2023, Athena risked losing her prized belt.
Despite the fact that both women immediately shown a lot of animosity, they kept things civil. They were securing their positions, attempting takedowns, and attempting to foil one another. Before they started punching, they waited for about a minute.
The Fallen Goddess was really playing up her heel side because the crowd was strongly supporting Willow, as was to be expected.
Both of the women were physically strained during this bout. They succeeded in their objective of making sure that everyone understood why they were participating in the major event.
Obliteration was hit by Athena in the corner, and she then powered up Willow for a stunning powerbomb, but she was unable to pin the opponent.
As they continued to kick away each other's most powerful moves, chants of "Fight Forever" began to erupt.
The referee finally rang the bell after a protracted tussle when it became apparent that Willow had collapsed in a crossface.
The crowd booed as the champion held her title high.
Overall, a solid 7 out of 10 Death Before Dishonour, alot more could of been done but that was down to the non-stop changes and challenges Tony Kahn and team had to deal with from injuries to AEW story line.
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