ROH Death Before Dishonor XI
ROH Death Before Dishonor XI (9/20/2013)- Philadelphia, PA
JAY BRISCOE PROMO- Jay cuts a great babyface promo about all of his hard work for ROH over the past eleven years. He then says it is BS that he wasn’t allowed to defend the title while injured (pointing out that Nigel did so back when he was champ), but he says that he doesn’t blame Nigel because Nigel is â€"just the messenger,†implicitly blaming the higher-ups at Sinclair Broadcasting. Jay then says that his daddy told him that he can’t live in the past, so if the guy who wins the tournament does so fair and square, he will have no choice but to hand the belt over like a man.
JAY LETHAL vs. SILAS YOUNG- 6.5/10
A solid opener, and a good win for Jay going into his TV Title match tomorrow. Silas snubs Jay on the handshake, which got a raucous chorus of boos.
ROH WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Adam Cole-8/10
They were off and running quickly here. A fast-paced, awesome, hard-hitting match, but a different style of past-paced hard-hitting match from the one that dominated ROH from 2010 until early 2012.
ROH WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS: Kevin Steen vs. Michael Elgin- 8/10
IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Forever Hooligans(c) vs. The American Wolves- 7.75/10
This match told a great story, with both teams getting a chance to isolate one member of the other team and really work him over. Davey seems to have suffered some sort of abdominal injury late in the match.
VEDA SCOTT & R.D. EVANS PROMO- great stuff! Veda claims that Outlaws Inc. broke R.D.’s fingers on orders from Nigel McGuinness. Heel Veda is just amazing. R.D. then says that he will not leave the ring until he gets justice! Adam Page comes out and challenges R.D. to a match.
ADAM PAGE vs. R.D. EVANS (w/Veda Scott)- no rating.
This was just short and mostly pointless, though I guess it worked well as a popcorn match. Page hits a sick-looking finisher on R.D. for the quick win. Veda yells at Nigel, saying that R.D. wasn’t ready for the match (Nigel had been going to give R.D. a chance to opt out of the match, but R.D. jumped Page from behind so Nigel let the match start), and completely out of nowhere, Kevin Kelly makes a joke at Veda’s expense, claiming that she isn’t wearing any underwear. That’s a bit out of line, don’t you think? I hope Veda sues for sexual harassment over this. That would be outstanding.
RODERICK STRONG vs. RICKY MARVIN- 7.25/10
Great match. I definitely need to go find some more Ricky Marvin matches to watch. Maybe I’ll actually start watching NOAH again.
BJ WHITMER RETIREMENT SPEECH- He thanks a bunch of people, including his trainer Les Thatcher, the boys in the back, Cary Silken… and he even said the G word. He announced his retirement… but said that before he goes, there is one loose end he has to tie up. He calls out Jimmy Jacobs.
BJ puts Jimmy over as being an awesome friend who stayed with him in the hospital in Toronto after that career-ending piledriver and as a tough competitor. He asks Nigel to give Jimmy his spot on the ROH roster back, and Nigel agrees.
This was a great moment for one of the unsung heroes of ROH. BJ Whitmer was never a top guy, but he was always a solid upper-midcard hand who could have great matches with pretty much anyone. He feud with Jimmy Jacobs is the stuff of legend, and seeing everything wrap around and having this close friendship be repaired was a great sendoff for BJ.
CAPRICE COLEMAN, CEDRIC ALEXANDER, & ADRENALINE RUSH vs. BOBBY FISH, KYLE O’REILLY, MICHAEL BENNETT, & MATT TAVEN (w/Maria Kanellis, Truth Martini, & the Hoopla Hotties)- 6.25/10
TD and ACH came out too early (I think because Caprice waved them out), but as a result, they wound up coming out to C&C’s music and graphic, which was odd.
Maria was on commentary for this match and Bobby Fish would occasionally drop in as well, and they were both utterly fantastic heels!
The match itself was a fun little clusterf*ck which ended with Cedric pinning Kyle. Bobby Fish started to beat C&C down but Outlaw Inc. (Eddie Kingston & Homicide) then showed up and everyone ran away from them. Kingston then cut a promo saying that reDRagon and whoever won the ROH World Title tonight should be on notice.
ROH WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT FINALS- 8.75/10
So we got the â€"three judges at ringside in case of a draw†gimmick for this match, and the three judges were Cary Silken, ROH COO Joe Koff, and ROH Talent Scout Prince Nana.
The match itself was awesome, especially considering what these guys had already gone through tonight, but I was expecting something a bit bigger as the finish to this huge 16 man tournament for the World Title.
THE AFTERMATH- It seems a bit odd to me to this turn after the match instead of during it. Yeah, it gives us a clean finish, but then why not hold off on the turn until a later show?
Anyway, this was a great show from ROH, but, to be honest, I was actually expecting a little more for a show that has been the climax of a three-month tournament.
JAY BRISCOE PROMO- Jay cuts a great babyface promo about all of his hard work for ROH over the past eleven years. He then says it is BS that he wasn’t allowed to defend the title while injured (pointing out that Nigel did so back when he was champ), but he says that he doesn’t blame Nigel because Nigel is â€"just the messenger,†implicitly blaming the higher-ups at Sinclair Broadcasting. Jay then says that his daddy told him that he can’t live in the past, so if the guy who wins the tournament does so fair and square, he will have no choice but to hand the belt over like a man.
JAY LETHAL vs. SILAS YOUNG- 6.5/10
A solid opener, and a good win for Jay going into his TV Title match tomorrow. Silas snubs Jay on the handshake, which got a raucous chorus of boos.
ROH WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Adam Cole-8/10
They were off and running quickly here. A fast-paced, awesome, hard-hitting match, but a different style of past-paced hard-hitting match from the one that dominated ROH from 2010 until early 2012.
ROH WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS: Kevin Steen vs. Michael Elgin- 8/10
IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Forever Hooligans(c) vs. The American Wolves- 7.75/10
This match told a great story, with both teams getting a chance to isolate one member of the other team and really work him over. Davey seems to have suffered some sort of abdominal injury late in the match.
VEDA SCOTT & R.D. EVANS PROMO- great stuff! Veda claims that Outlaws Inc. broke R.D.’s fingers on orders from Nigel McGuinness. Heel Veda is just amazing. R.D. then says that he will not leave the ring until he gets justice! Adam Page comes out and challenges R.D. to a match.
ADAM PAGE vs. R.D. EVANS (w/Veda Scott)- no rating.
This was just short and mostly pointless, though I guess it worked well as a popcorn match. Page hits a sick-looking finisher on R.D. for the quick win. Veda yells at Nigel, saying that R.D. wasn’t ready for the match (Nigel had been going to give R.D. a chance to opt out of the match, but R.D. jumped Page from behind so Nigel let the match start), and completely out of nowhere, Kevin Kelly makes a joke at Veda’s expense, claiming that she isn’t wearing any underwear. That’s a bit out of line, don’t you think? I hope Veda sues for sexual harassment over this. That would be outstanding.
RODERICK STRONG vs. RICKY MARVIN- 7.25/10
Great match. I definitely need to go find some more Ricky Marvin matches to watch. Maybe I’ll actually start watching NOAH again.
BJ WHITMER RETIREMENT SPEECH- He thanks a bunch of people, including his trainer Les Thatcher, the boys in the back, Cary Silken… and he even said the G word. He announced his retirement… but said that before he goes, there is one loose end he has to tie up. He calls out Jimmy Jacobs.
BJ puts Jimmy over as being an awesome friend who stayed with him in the hospital in Toronto after that career-ending piledriver and as a tough competitor. He asks Nigel to give Jimmy his spot on the ROH roster back, and Nigel agrees.
This was a great moment for one of the unsung heroes of ROH. BJ Whitmer was never a top guy, but he was always a solid upper-midcard hand who could have great matches with pretty much anyone. He feud with Jimmy Jacobs is the stuff of legend, and seeing everything wrap around and having this close friendship be repaired was a great sendoff for BJ.
CAPRICE COLEMAN, CEDRIC ALEXANDER, & ADRENALINE RUSH vs. BOBBY FISH, KYLE O’REILLY, MICHAEL BENNETT, & MATT TAVEN (w/Maria Kanellis, Truth Martini, & the Hoopla Hotties)- 6.25/10
TD and ACH came out too early (I think because Caprice waved them out), but as a result, they wound up coming out to C&C’s music and graphic, which was odd.
Maria was on commentary for this match and Bobby Fish would occasionally drop in as well, and they were both utterly fantastic heels!
The match itself was a fun little clusterf*ck which ended with Cedric pinning Kyle. Bobby Fish started to beat C&C down but Outlaw Inc. (Eddie Kingston & Homicide) then showed up and everyone ran away from them. Kingston then cut a promo saying that reDRagon and whoever won the ROH World Title tonight should be on notice.
ROH WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT FINALS- 8.75/10
So we got the â€"three judges at ringside in case of a draw†gimmick for this match, and the three judges were Cary Silken, ROH COO Joe Koff, and ROH Talent Scout Prince Nana.
The match itself was awesome, especially considering what these guys had already gone through tonight, but I was expecting something a bit bigger as the finish to this huge 16 man tournament for the World Title.
THE AFTERMATH- It seems a bit odd to me to this turn after the match instead of during it. Yeah, it gives us a clean finish, but then why not hold off on the turn until a later show?
Anyway, this was a great show from ROH, but, to be honest, I was actually expecting a little more for a show that has been the climax of a three-month tournament.