Calgary, AB – 7.20.2023

Commentary is provided by Ian Riccaboni & Caprice Coleman.

It’s the night before Death Before Dishonor, and only three featured matches this week.

Last Saturday, Tony Khan made official a Pure Title Match between Katsuyori Shibata and former champion Daniel Garcia. Garcia pinned Shibata in a tag match last month, and the two of them also fought at Forbidden Door in a four way match. Later on in the episode, Shibata went face-to-face with Garcia after he defeated Jason Geiger in a Pure Rules match with both men ultimately backing away and exiting the ring making no physical contact. This should be good, and actually has solid build.

Trish Adora vs. Utami Hayashishita

Hayashishita is a former World of STARDOM champion. Brad Garoon told me she was good. Adora attacks her left arm, sending her shoulder first into the mat and locking her in a Cerebro Lock. Hayashishita comes back with a double leg take down and a basement lariat. Adora fallaway kicks her left arm and tries for Lariat Tubman. Hayashishita evades it and German suplexes Adora twice. Adora twists Hayashishita arm and fingers to escape a Death Valley Driver, and Hayashishita gets her foot on the ropes to escape. Hayashishita kicks out of a low German suplex. She muscles up Adora into a spinning Death Valley bomb. She then pins Adora with the Hijack Bomb for the pin at 9:17. Brad was right! I was surprised to see Hayashishita victorious, as she had no entrance, and Adora recently got a bigger spotlight in ROH. Her losing her first two matches since joining The Infantry is strange, but she is still excellent in the ring. I’m really interested in seeing more Hayashishita. **¾

ROH World Television Championship Eliminator Tournament Final Round
Dalton Castle vs. Shane Taylor

The Boys are in Castle’s corner. Castle dazed Taylor with a DDT, but when Castle went to follow up, Taylor surprised him with a haymaker and a stunner off of the ring apron and to the floor. Castle is punch-drunk as he strikes back, but a headbutt to the chest knocks him down. Taylor then lands a running senton for two. Castle gets a respite by low bridging the top rope and sending Taylor outside. He pulls off a headscissors and throws jabs to Taylor when they’re back in the ring. Taylor halts him with a headbut to the ribs, but Castle surprises Taylor with a belly-to-belly suplex when Taylor looks to continue on offense! Taylor kicks out of the Julie Newmar bulldog. Castle German suplexes Taylor and then muscles him up for the Bang-A-Rang for the pin at 8:34. Castle persevering against an opponent with similar attributes to Joe is a perfect way to set him up for tomorrow’s TV title match. Yes, I wish there was a bit more meat on the bone to the match itself, but a first time match-up between the current and former TV champions does interest me. ***

Backstage, Tony Khan is with Willow Nightingale, who won the Women’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament last weekend on Collision. Tony says that because on her tournament win, and defeating the ROH Women’s Champion Athena in the semi-finals of the tournament, Willow will face Athena in a threematch at Death Before Dishonor for the ROH Women’s Title. Athena successfully defended her title against Willow on Episode 2, but Willow certainly has the momentum heading into the match. Elsewhere, Athena complains to Stokely Hathaway and Jerry Lynn, saying she refuses to defend the title against Willow. They both deny her request, and Tony Khan also steps in to concur with the Board. This match could steal the show.

Later in the night, after The Righteous defeated the Boys in tag team action, Ian Riccaboni announced The Dark Order would face The Righteous and Stu Grayson in a Fight Without Honor. This is by far the best built match on this show, and could’ve been announced weeks in advance. The World Six Man Titles will also be defended, with The Mogul Embassy defending against the first time trio of Leon Ruffin and former IWGP Jr. Tag Team Champions Six or Nine, Ryusuke Taguchi and Master Wato. Sure.

A four way tag title match was announced as well, with the Lucha Bros. defending against The Kingdom, Best Friends, and the returning Aussie Open. Ian and Caprice do a great job explaining the history of each team, but there’s very little interplay between the teams to justify a four way. I guess it is a bit sexier than Lucha Bros. vs. The Kingdom on its own.

Yesterday on Dynamite, PAC became frustrated with Claudio Castagnoli during the Blood & Guts match and bailed on the team. The Golden Elite team ultimately defeated The Blackpool Combat Club’s team, with Yuta passing out while being choked with a chain by Hangman Page. After the match, an angry Claudio demanded that PAC face him at Death Before Dishonor. PAC later accepted the challenge, promising to hurt and embarrass Claudio in addition to taking his belt. With Mark’s injury, I suppose it’s the best they could do on short notice, and at least that match should be excellent.

Action Andretti & Darius Martin vs. The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) vs. The WorkHorsemen (Anthony Henry & JD Drake) vs. The Bollywood Boyz (Gurv & Harv Sihra)

The Kingdom and WorkHorsemen worked together against the other two teams, but that partnership dissolved when they fought over who would pin Darius Martin. Their bickering allowed for Andretti to wipe out Drake and Taven with a tope con hilo, and Martin to tag out to Gurv. The Bollywood Boyz take out the Kingdom, and almost pin Bennett with a Demolition Decapitation. Andretti broke up the pin with a running shooting star press. Taven wipes him out with a springboard gamengiri. The Kingdom then pins Gurv with the Proton Pack at 6:22. The Kingdom winning expediently in a four way tag match when they’re about to compete for the tag titles in the exact same match makes perfect sense. The Bollywood Boyz added some variety to the bout and the hometown crowd were into it, so I appreciated their involvement. The match itself was your garden variety multi-tag match, with not much to sink your teeth into. **½

The promos and packages building up Death Before Dishonor were good. However, any match that had no post-match interactions building their title match, both of which were not chosen as featured contests, or didn’t directly affect a PPV match (Castle vs. Taylor), was superfluous. You could go on ROH’s YouTube or social media and get everything you need for the show. If you ignored every TV episode since Supercard of Honor, you’ll be totally fine. That is why my decision to give up on this show after tomorrow’s PPV stands. They have not made it worthwhile. As for the PPV, yes it looks like we’ll get some good matches, but as many people online have already stated, it is incredibly tough to justify spending $40 on the show.