ROH Death Before Dishonor IV
ROH Death Before Dishonor IV (7/15/2006)- Philadelphia, PA
ADAM PEARCE PROMO-GREAT!
DELIRIOUS vs. SETH DELAY- 5.5/10
COLT CABANA & JAY LETHAL vs. JIMMY RAVE & SAL RINAURO (w/The Embassy)- 6.5/10
ROH PURE TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness(c) vs. Roderick Strong- 8/10
CORNETTE AND DANIELSON SEGMENT- AWESOME. Great trash talk from both men (aimed at CZW, of course), and some good angle advancement and build-up to upcoming ROH World Title matches. You have to admire Dragon’s promo skills here, too, as he manages to crap all over CZW and its fans while still managing to build Sonjay up to make his title defense seem more important
THE BRISCOE BROTHERS vs. IRISH AIRBORNE-8/10
ACE STEEL PROMO- Shows exactly why he is called “Crazy Ace.” That damn cowbell he was ringing the whole time was extremely annoying, too.
DAVEY RICHARDS VS. AJ STYLES- 7.5/10. I really wish that we could get another match between these two, with Davey as good as he is now… these two would definitely put on a classic.
SAMOA JOE PROMO- eh.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Bryan Danielson(c) vs. Sonjay Dutt- 7/10. Good wrestling here, but I was disappointed in the atmosphere as the CZW fans seemed more interested in taking shots at Dragon than in rooting for Sonjay.
NIGEL PROMO AND SEGMENT WITH CABANA- good set up for the next show, as well as some build for Nigel’s feud with Dragon.
CAGE OF DEATH: Team ROH (Samoa Joe, Adam Pearce, BJ Whitmer, Ace Steel, & Bryan Danielson) vs. Team CZW (Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, Necro Butcher, Nate Webb, & Eddie Kingston)- 9.75/10 (could have been a perfect 10, but for one semi-major issue, which I will get to later)
TONS of emotion here, and everything was done perfectly. I HATED Hero every time he opened his damn mouth and I popped HUGE when Ace nailed him with the trash can while he was bragging. All of the surprises were done ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY, and Dragon’s turn and the reveal of Kingston as the fifth man on Team CZW got GREAT reactions. There were great moments (Ace blasting the CZW guys with the annoying cowbell, Necro walking across the thumbtacks barefoot!), vicious beatings, sick bumps, a just plain amazing atmosphere, and a few good surprises along the way.
I absolutely have to comment on the genius booking of this match, and how it fits perfectly into this feud. The reason that this feud worked so well was that it played off of the right things so that each company’s fans legitimately saw their company as the babyfaces and the other company as the heels.
The feud started with Hero calling out Dragon and complaining that while CZW runs in Philly every month and ROH only runs there every few months, whenever ROH comes to down, the people in charge of the venues expect the other promotions to run afternoon shows so that ROH can have the more profitable evening spot. Then, on a day when exactly such a thing happened, Bryan Danielson (with a few other ROH guys as back up) answered Hero’s challenge. On the ROH show that night, Hero answered one of Danielson’s “open contracts” for an ROH World Title match and said that he was going to win the ROH World Title just to bring it to CZW and through the belt in the trash. Later in the month, CZW guys showed up at ROH shows and started brawls.
Things came to a head at a show in Philly on a day on which ROH was running the afternoon show and CZW was running the evening show. At the end of the show, the CZW guys got annoyed that ROH was breaking into their allotted time, and the ROH guys calling them out throughout the show, leading to the CZW guys winning a wild brawl because they had brought weapons along with them and they ended the show with the CZW guys torturing BJ Whitmer with a staple gun and Zandig shooting on ROH and spray-painting a CZW logo over the ROH logo in the ring. From there, things continued to escalate with CZW winning most of the brawls, but usually though strength in numbers or the major turn of Claudio Castagnoli.
But that wasn’t all this feud was about. This feud was a war between the fans. As illustrated through Hero’s first promo on the subject and in the promos by Cornette, Dragon, and Zandig, this was, in everyone’s mind, a clash over the heart of what it meant to be a professional wrestler. In the eyes of the ROH fans, CZW was a giant spotfest. It was, with a few exceptions, a bunch of morons hitting each other with crap for no reason other than to bleed and have others call them “hardcore!” and pretending that it was professional wrestling (at one point, the ROH fans even chanted “BACKYWARD WRESTLING!” at the CZW guys). In the eyes of the CZW fans, ROH and its fans were a bunch of snooty elitists who believed that their way was the only way. The ROH fans would counter with the argument that their way must be better because ROH was doing better in terms of both critical reviews and finances, and it wasn’t their fault that ROH was better than CZW. The CZW fans would counter ROH’s argument by pointing out guys like Hero, Kingston, Claudio, and the plethora of great wrestlers to compete in Best of the Best. The wrestlers (especially Dragon and Hero) did an amazing job of antagonizing the crowds, and this animosity made this feud special. There were babyfaces and heels, but which side was which depended on what you believed.
But someone has to win and someone has to lose, and the way that Gabe booked this shows how much of a genius he truly is. No one wants to see their babyfaces lose cleanly, so Gabe managed to find a scenario that avoided this altogether. First he had Dragon turn on ROH by taking Joe out of the match and walking out on them, negating ROH’s advantage for having one of their guys enter the cage first, and putting ROH at what would eventually become a five on three disadvantage. Not CZW’s fault in any way, so one can’t blame them for taking advantage of the situation. Then things got a bit worse for CZW when Hero and Kingston came to blows, but they still managed to work together for the rest of the match.
Then Homicide showed up.
Cide came in to save ROH, which is perfectly legal under the No-DQ’s rules of the Cage of Death, but certainly can’t be considered a clean win for ROH, since they technically had six people enter the cage and wrestle the match for them, even though, due to Dragon’s defection and injuring Joe, Homicide’s involvement still left CZW with a 5-on-4 advantage (as immortalized in the famous dueling chants of “SIX-ON-FIVE!” from the CZW fans, responded to by a chant of “YOU CAN’T COUNT” from the ROH fans). So Cide is technically interfering in the match, but ROH is still shorthanded, so it’s not actually unfair… or is it? You decide.
So in the end, ROH wins the feud. They don’t win it cleanly, but it really can’t be called a dirty win, either (I would have given this 10/10 if Homicide hadn’t gotten the pin, since I’m not sure that Homicide was technically legally in the match). And most importantly, everyone involved comes out looking better, and it builds hype to the upcoming Dragon vs. Joe ROH World Title match. And then something happened that would set the direction of the major angles in ROH for the rest of the year:
THE AFTERMATH- Awesome. Cornette puts over the ROH guys, and asks Homicide and Adam Pearce to stay. Despite his earlier refusal to do so, Cornette is so grateful to Homicide that he changes his mind and decides to grant Homicide’s request for “three wishes.” Cide tells Cornette that he wants one more match with Steve Corino. Cornette says okay. Cide wants a shot at the ROH World Title. Cornette says okay. Cide wants Cornette to reinstate his friend and stablemate Low Ki, who had been kayfabe suspended back in February when videotape revealed that he was the one who had knocked out one of Cornette’s teeth in the middle of an ROH vs. CZW brawl...
Cornette says no. Cide calls Cornette a liar (because Cornette is going back on his “word of honor” to grant Cide “three wishes”). Cornette gets angry. Cide spits in his face. Adam Pearce jumps Cide from behind and Cornette sprays something in his eyes. JJ Dillon (who had been the official coin"toss caller and cage-locker for the Cage of Death match) gets in the cage and locks it. Then he pulls out a pair of handcuffs and he and Pearce lock Cide’s hands around the turnbuckle. Cornette then pulls off his belt and relentlessly whips Homicide.
Overall, this show was AMAZING. It had clips giving a short history of the ROH-CZW war (only the ROH parts, of course, not the actual beginnings of the war with Hero’s promos in CZW in December and with Dragon crashing the CZW show the day of ROH Hell Freezes Over, which led to Hero showing up and trying to win the ROH World Title for the expressed purpose for throwing it in the garbage) interspersed throughout it to help build to the main event (although some of the more violent stuff, such as the CZW guys torturing BJ Whitmer and the whole brawl at the end of Arena Warfare was left off, which, IMO, was a mistake, as that in particular was a key moment in the feud). The promos for the ROH guys between the matches also helped set the mood, but I would imagine that a CZW fan watching this would be unhappy about the lack of mic time for that team, but it made kayfabe sense that ROH not want the CZW guys to speak, so I won’t hold it against the show (plus Hero has done enough yapping during this feud and during the main event to make up for it). Over half of the matches on this show are main-event worthy, and the atmosphere just plain kicks a**. The awesome wrestling and major blow-off match make this show a MUST-BUY.
ADAM PEARCE PROMO-GREAT!
DELIRIOUS vs. SETH DELAY- 5.5/10
COLT CABANA & JAY LETHAL vs. JIMMY RAVE & SAL RINAURO (w/The Embassy)- 6.5/10
ROH PURE TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness(c) vs. Roderick Strong- 8/10
CORNETTE AND DANIELSON SEGMENT- AWESOME. Great trash talk from both men (aimed at CZW, of course), and some good angle advancement and build-up to upcoming ROH World Title matches. You have to admire Dragon’s promo skills here, too, as he manages to crap all over CZW and its fans while still managing to build Sonjay up to make his title defense seem more important
THE BRISCOE BROTHERS vs. IRISH AIRBORNE-8/10
ACE STEEL PROMO- Shows exactly why he is called “Crazy Ace.” That damn cowbell he was ringing the whole time was extremely annoying, too.
DAVEY RICHARDS VS. AJ STYLES- 7.5/10. I really wish that we could get another match between these two, with Davey as good as he is now… these two would definitely put on a classic.
SAMOA JOE PROMO- eh.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Bryan Danielson(c) vs. Sonjay Dutt- 7/10. Good wrestling here, but I was disappointed in the atmosphere as the CZW fans seemed more interested in taking shots at Dragon than in rooting for Sonjay.
NIGEL PROMO AND SEGMENT WITH CABANA- good set up for the next show, as well as some build for Nigel’s feud with Dragon.
CAGE OF DEATH: Team ROH (Samoa Joe, Adam Pearce, BJ Whitmer, Ace Steel, & Bryan Danielson) vs. Team CZW (Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, Necro Butcher, Nate Webb, & Eddie Kingston)- 9.75/10 (could have been a perfect 10, but for one semi-major issue, which I will get to later)
TONS of emotion here, and everything was done perfectly. I HATED Hero every time he opened his damn mouth and I popped HUGE when Ace nailed him with the trash can while he was bragging. All of the surprises were done ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY, and Dragon’s turn and the reveal of Kingston as the fifth man on Team CZW got GREAT reactions. There were great moments (Ace blasting the CZW guys with the annoying cowbell, Necro walking across the thumbtacks barefoot!), vicious beatings, sick bumps, a just plain amazing atmosphere, and a few good surprises along the way.
I absolutely have to comment on the genius booking of this match, and how it fits perfectly into this feud. The reason that this feud worked so well was that it played off of the right things so that each company’s fans legitimately saw their company as the babyfaces and the other company as the heels.
The feud started with Hero calling out Dragon and complaining that while CZW runs in Philly every month and ROH only runs there every few months, whenever ROH comes to down, the people in charge of the venues expect the other promotions to run afternoon shows so that ROH can have the more profitable evening spot. Then, on a day when exactly such a thing happened, Bryan Danielson (with a few other ROH guys as back up) answered Hero’s challenge. On the ROH show that night, Hero answered one of Danielson’s “open contracts” for an ROH World Title match and said that he was going to win the ROH World Title just to bring it to CZW and through the belt in the trash. Later in the month, CZW guys showed up at ROH shows and started brawls.
Things came to a head at a show in Philly on a day on which ROH was running the afternoon show and CZW was running the evening show. At the end of the show, the CZW guys got annoyed that ROH was breaking into their allotted time, and the ROH guys calling them out throughout the show, leading to the CZW guys winning a wild brawl because they had brought weapons along with them and they ended the show with the CZW guys torturing BJ Whitmer with a staple gun and Zandig shooting on ROH and spray-painting a CZW logo over the ROH logo in the ring. From there, things continued to escalate with CZW winning most of the brawls, but usually though strength in numbers or the major turn of Claudio Castagnoli.
But that wasn’t all this feud was about. This feud was a war between the fans. As illustrated through Hero’s first promo on the subject and in the promos by Cornette, Dragon, and Zandig, this was, in everyone’s mind, a clash over the heart of what it meant to be a professional wrestler. In the eyes of the ROH fans, CZW was a giant spotfest. It was, with a few exceptions, a bunch of morons hitting each other with crap for no reason other than to bleed and have others call them “hardcore!” and pretending that it was professional wrestling (at one point, the ROH fans even chanted “BACKYWARD WRESTLING!” at the CZW guys). In the eyes of the CZW fans, ROH and its fans were a bunch of snooty elitists who believed that their way was the only way. The ROH fans would counter with the argument that their way must be better because ROH was doing better in terms of both critical reviews and finances, and it wasn’t their fault that ROH was better than CZW. The CZW fans would counter ROH’s argument by pointing out guys like Hero, Kingston, Claudio, and the plethora of great wrestlers to compete in Best of the Best. The wrestlers (especially Dragon and Hero) did an amazing job of antagonizing the crowds, and this animosity made this feud special. There were babyfaces and heels, but which side was which depended on what you believed.
But someone has to win and someone has to lose, and the way that Gabe booked this shows how much of a genius he truly is. No one wants to see their babyfaces lose cleanly, so Gabe managed to find a scenario that avoided this altogether. First he had Dragon turn on ROH by taking Joe out of the match and walking out on them, negating ROH’s advantage for having one of their guys enter the cage first, and putting ROH at what would eventually become a five on three disadvantage. Not CZW’s fault in any way, so one can’t blame them for taking advantage of the situation. Then things got a bit worse for CZW when Hero and Kingston came to blows, but they still managed to work together for the rest of the match.
Then Homicide showed up.
Cide came in to save ROH, which is perfectly legal under the No-DQ’s rules of the Cage of Death, but certainly can’t be considered a clean win for ROH, since they technically had six people enter the cage and wrestle the match for them, even though, due to Dragon’s defection and injuring Joe, Homicide’s involvement still left CZW with a 5-on-4 advantage (as immortalized in the famous dueling chants of “SIX-ON-FIVE!” from the CZW fans, responded to by a chant of “YOU CAN’T COUNT” from the ROH fans). So Cide is technically interfering in the match, but ROH is still shorthanded, so it’s not actually unfair… or is it? You decide.
So in the end, ROH wins the feud. They don’t win it cleanly, but it really can’t be called a dirty win, either (I would have given this 10/10 if Homicide hadn’t gotten the pin, since I’m not sure that Homicide was technically legally in the match). And most importantly, everyone involved comes out looking better, and it builds hype to the upcoming Dragon vs. Joe ROH World Title match. And then something happened that would set the direction of the major angles in ROH for the rest of the year:
THE AFTERMATH- Awesome. Cornette puts over the ROH guys, and asks Homicide and Adam Pearce to stay. Despite his earlier refusal to do so, Cornette is so grateful to Homicide that he changes his mind and decides to grant Homicide’s request for “three wishes.” Cide tells Cornette that he wants one more match with Steve Corino. Cornette says okay. Cide wants a shot at the ROH World Title. Cornette says okay. Cide wants Cornette to reinstate his friend and stablemate Low Ki, who had been kayfabe suspended back in February when videotape revealed that he was the one who had knocked out one of Cornette’s teeth in the middle of an ROH vs. CZW brawl...
Cornette says no. Cide calls Cornette a liar (because Cornette is going back on his “word of honor” to grant Cide “three wishes”). Cornette gets angry. Cide spits in his face. Adam Pearce jumps Cide from behind and Cornette sprays something in his eyes. JJ Dillon (who had been the official coin"toss caller and cage-locker for the Cage of Death match) gets in the cage and locks it. Then he pulls out a pair of handcuffs and he and Pearce lock Cide’s hands around the turnbuckle. Cornette then pulls off his belt and relentlessly whips Homicide.
Overall, this show was AMAZING. It had clips giving a short history of the ROH-CZW war (only the ROH parts, of course, not the actual beginnings of the war with Hero’s promos in CZW in December and with Dragon crashing the CZW show the day of ROH Hell Freezes Over, which led to Hero showing up and trying to win the ROH World Title for the expressed purpose for throwing it in the garbage) interspersed throughout it to help build to the main event (although some of the more violent stuff, such as the CZW guys torturing BJ Whitmer and the whole brawl at the end of Arena Warfare was left off, which, IMO, was a mistake, as that in particular was a key moment in the feud). The promos for the ROH guys between the matches also helped set the mood, but I would imagine that a CZW fan watching this would be unhappy about the lack of mic time for that team, but it made kayfabe sense that ROH not want the CZW guys to speak, so I won’t hold it against the show (plus Hero has done enough yapping during this feud and during the main event to make up for it). Over half of the matches on this show are main-event worthy, and the atmosphere just plain kicks a**. The awesome wrestling and major blow-off match make this show a MUST-BUY.