‘Death Before Dishonor VIII’ – June 19, 2010 – Toronto, ON
— Kevin Steen defeated El Generico after nailing him with a steel turnbuckle and a top rope Fisherman Buster.
— The All Night Express (Rhett Titus & Kenny King) beat Up In Smoke (Cheech & Cloudy)
— Delirious defeated Austin Aries via DQ when Titus & King interfered
— 2nd Annual Toronto Gauntlet:
Tyson Dux beat Eddie Edwards
Shawn Daivari beat Tyson Dux
Colt Cabana submitted Shawn Daivari
Colt Cabana beat Steve Corino
Roderick Strong with Truth Martini defeated Colt Cabana to earn a future shot at the ROH World Title
— Christopher Daniels pinned Kenny Omega
— ROH World Tag Team Championship/No DQ Match: The Kings of Wrestling beat Jay & Mark Briscoe to retain
— ROH World Championship Match: Tyler Black pinned Davey Richards to retain; following the match, Richards shook Black’s hand and told him “Now you’re a champion.”

Right:
Steen vs. Generico: El Generico made sure he was going to start this show in style by challenging the man he’s been waiting to fight one on one for months in the form of Kevin Steen. The highly anticipated grudge match immediately kicked off Death Before Dishonor in a big, crazy way. They went all out for the first five minutes, just brawling. No real style or innovation; just hateful brawling. Then they turned the corner and started going crazy with DDTs, yakuza kicks, and tons of counters of each other’s signature moves. They proved they knew each other better than anyone during the fight, while also proving they had no problems hurting themselves to use those moves. In the closing moments, Generico seemed to be on the verge of killing Steen with a super Brain Buster. Instead, Generico tasted a huge buster after being clobbered in the face. Steen shockingly won, but Generico wasn’t done with getting his revenge for the evening. Incredible way to open the show, especially with what was going to happen later in the night. If this is just the first singles contest between these two in ROH, imagine what will happen in the blow off match.
The All Night Express vs. Up In Smoke: After the craziness of the opening match, these four men did a great job of calming everything down without turning the fans off. Actually, they did a match that resembled the ROH of old. They gave a match featuring four young men doing what they could to make sure that when the night was over, the fans would remember them. Even though King and Titus are the mainstays, they didn’t just run through Cheech and Cloudy. Up In Smoke gave King and Titus a fight, and even though they lost, they came out looking like two men who should have a permanent spot on the Ring of Honor roster. Great work all around in a nice time frame.
Toronto Gauntlet: This is one of those matches that just barely slid into the “Right” section. Dux and Eddie were the perfect men to start this thing off, having an excellent back and forth contest that the fans were really into (probably because Dux is Canadian). It was a shock that Eddie got eliminated (maybe even a mistake); which led to Daivari facing off with Dux. With Dux having such a hard fought battle with Eddie, it made sense that he was unable to get another elimination. And when Dux left, so did the best sections of this Gauntlet. Colt Cabana was next out, almost immediately submitting Daivari. Why so fast? Daivari and Cabana could’ve had a nice little back and forth, but they decided to just get Daivari out as quickly as possible to give us Corino and Cabana. Compared to what was on HDNet just five nights earlier, this seemed more like a repeat more than a continuation. Cabana kept the momentum rolling by crucifying Corino to pin him. Roderick Strong was the last man to enter the Gauntlet, and he and Cabana really turned around a match that was going downhill slowly and somewhat painfully. Strong was on fire, and for the first time in a long time, he actually worked like a real heel. He didn’t chop Cabana hard enough to have the fans cheer. He used dirty tactics in a way that weren’t too obvious, but obvious enough that what he was doing wasn’t like the Strong of old. Everything was looking up when Strong took a lionsault, and hurt his leg. As the referee attended Strong, Roderick’s spiritual adviser, Truth Martini, hit the ring, clubbing Cabana with the Book of Truth. With Cabana knocked out, Strong picked up the pin to earn a future title shot. This year’s Gauntlet took a completely different route than last year’s by starting off hot, slowing down, then building up to a hot finish. Unfortunately, the planned hotness finale didn’t occur due to Strong’s injury, and hurt the overall match. But before that, Cabana and Strong turned this match around in a big, big way after two great matches followed by two sub par ones.
Intermission Violence: You know intermission is usually used to give the fans a chance to stretch their legs, grab something to eat or drink, and maybe get some merchandise. Intermission isn’t known to have crazy brawls. That all changed for iPPV when El Generico continued his war with Kevin Steen. They fought to the ring, where Generico pulled a Bryan Danielson, and choked Steen with the ring announcer’s necktie. Want to get the fans back in their seats in a hurry, have someone get choked with a necktie. Oh, and if Steen winning didn’t prove it right, then intermission exclaimed, “This feud will continue!”
Daniels vs. Omega: If there was one match on this card that could match the main event from an athletic perspective, it was this one. And boy did Omega and Daniels try their hardest to steal the show. The opening minutes were standard fare with both men attempting to win the match as quickly, and simply as possible. Omega got a little too happy after knocking Daniels to the floor midway through the match. Kenny ended up getting neck broken on the apron, which turned the tide of the match in Daniels’ favor for a majority of the contest. Daniels’ focus was on Omega’s neck in hopes of making him submit, or weakening it for Angel’s Wings. Omega refused to give up in neck cranks, the crossface, a Koji clutch, and everything else aimed at his neck that would put most men down. Daniels was in shock when Omega fired back, unleashing everything he could think of in combo form. The work on Kenny’s neck proved effective, as Omega couldn’t follow up quick enough on those combos, allowing Daniels to recover and execute some staggering attacks of his own. After folding Omega up with the STO, Daniels hit the BME, pick up the three count and retaining his spot in the Pick 6. Absolutely grand match between these two. The only complaint that can be found is Omega not selling as well as one would in his situation, but his neck being hurt played into the ending well enough that you really don’t notice without actual thought. Daniels continues to prove that given the platform, there is few better than him bell to bell.
Tag Title War: Throughout the show, word had it that The Briscoes were running late. Just when the champs thought they had the night off, Adam Pearce and Cary Silkin announced that not only were The Briscoes here, but also that the match was now had no disqualifications. Honestly, too much and too many things happened in this match to even cover in a short summary. The match started off like any other tag match, but broke down into a huge brawl full of chairs, tables, ropes, hubcaps, crimson masks, loaded elbow pads, and everything else you’d expect from a great tag team brawl with four men who will do anything and everything to win. Right behind the Man Up Ladder War from 2007, this is the craziest match involving The Briscoes in the history of ROH. Unlike the Ladder War, The Briscoes didn’t walk out with the gold. In one of the wildest match finishes in ROH history, Claudio used the big swing into Hero’s loaded boot on Jay to knock out the boy from Delaware to secure their title retention. Two Match of the Year candidates back to back.
World Title Match: There was some real big match atmosphere coming into this one. After seeing footage of fans and wrestlers alike voicing their opinions, and all the video packages, everything came to this moment, and this match. The people in Toronto quickly turned on Black to support the man many believed would be the new ROH World champion after the final bell rang. Between those bells, Black and Davey did everything they could to live up to the immense amount of hype added to this match. Did they deliver? No. Instead, they exceeded the hype. After five minutes, these two men just decided they we’re going to do whatever it takes. Back and forth fighting, huge moves, sickening strikes, reversal after reversal, counter after counter, submission after submission, and no one would give up or stay down for three seconds. As the thirty-minute mark approached, Black showed signs of frustration that maybe the fans were right, “You can’t beat him.” Black refused to let those words become true as he super kicked Davey for the umpteenth time before finally finishing him off with God’s Last Gift. As the chants of, “Match of the Year,” echoed throughout the arena, it was visible that Davey and Tyler understood what they needed to do to make sure that they are associated with the title “greatness.” Honestly, it’s hard to put into words how incredible this match was without providing video proof. For over thirty minutes, they wrestled their hearts out without a second thought of the consequences. Thankfully, everything worked out as well as anyone could’ve hoped, and in the end, ROH finally has a classic iPPV main event to show for years to come.

Wrong:
Austin Aries vs. Delirious: Poor Aries and Delirious. After The All Night Express was able to win their match, they introduced the man who hoped to follow up on his beating of Delirious time and time again, A-Double. After commenting on Delirious not accepting his apology, Red Poison Delirious made his return, taking it to Aries. But something seemed off about their brawl. No, it wasn’t uninspired or anything. It just felt like they were holding back for the tag match later, or having a hard time following up on the craziness of Steen and Generico. Or they knew it was no real point of giving everything when the match would end the way it did. If you don’t know, Delirious won via a disqualification due to interference from King and Titus. Delirious was able to fight off all three men, but the ending certainly left a sour taste in the mouths of paying customers. Hey, there are no problems with matches having screwy finishes to continue a feud on free television. But this is pay-per-view. The fans are paying to see good matches with conclusive endings. If this match happened on HDNet, it wouldn’t be in the wrong.

Overall: Out of seven matches, only one was an absolute wrong due to the ending; and the other was saved by its strong opening matches and closing from being a wrong. Outside of that, you have one hate-filled grudge match, a solid tag match, a memorable intermission, an incredible battle of experience and youth, an epic tag team war over the gold, and one of the greatest matches in ROH history. That’s right, in ROH history. This show is worth every penny and then some for the last three matches alone. Consider everything before those matches a thank you for continuing to support a company that is out to deliver the best wrestling possible.

It’s Generation Me vs. The American Wolves! Don’t miss the cutting edge of tag team wrestling as it comes to the St. Louis area!

What a comeback match for the former Young Bucks. The couple of times these two teams have been in the ring together have been nothing short of magical. The fans of Collinsville or in for a treat that could produce the match of the weekend if everything goes well.

ROH officials have ordered a 6-Person Tag Team Match for Collinsville, IL on July 23rd. It will be The Kings of Wrestling and Sara Del Rey vs. The Briscoes and Amazing Kong!

Collinsville is having all the fun so far. Once again, if everything works out right, this should be an incredible match. After what happened at Death Before Dishonor, I thought they’d start to push The Briscoes and the Kings of Wrestling away from each other, but looking at it, who else is there for them to face? No team has been built up that The Briscoes haven’t already fought. The only fresh, anticipated match for the KOW would be against The American Wolves, and having them fail against the KOW would be counterproductive. The All Night Express has to help Austin Aries against Delirious, and still have problems with Jerry Lynn. Dark City Fight Club is nowhere to be found in ROH at the moment, and The Embassy isn’t exactly the strongest looking group in the world right now. I wonder if ROH could come up switch something, some kind of event that would shake up the Tag title picture, and get Hero and Claudio some new challengers.

Sources have indicated to ROHWrestling.com that “Tag Wars 2010” will begin on July 24th in Chicago! The ROH World Tag Team Champion Kings of Wrestling have proudly and publicly claimed that there is no team in the world today that can match up against them. It seems that ROH Officials have heard this claim and are ready to put the tag team division to the test! We have learned that there will be four huge tag team battles in the Windy City on 7/24 to begin this process, and the first of those bouts is a main event anywhere in the United States. On July 24th in Chicago, it will be El Generico and Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana taking on Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards – The American Wolves!

Okay, that works. Looking back, pretty much every Tag Wars event (even it’s Trios Tournament birth) has delivered tremendously. The 2006 version was actually one of the best all around shows of that year-which is saying something because 2006 was a banner year for action. If structured like 2006, this year’s could easily be the best ever. Outside of the two aforementioned teams facing off, you also have Generation Me, The Briscoes, The All Night Express, Jerry Lynn & Delirious, Erick Stevens & Necro Butcher, and of course, the champs themselves all booked for the show. Make it a single elimination tournament with the winners facing Hero and Claudio in the main event, and this could be one incredible show.

Strong vs. Aries, July 24th, Chicago.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this lineup is becoming one of the best for Chicago in quite a while. The biggest question coming into this one is how are they going to work. With Strong pretty much a full-blown heel now, and Aries in his heelish greatness, both men will be stuck in a ring, trying to out-heel each other. Or Roderick could just go all babyface without a second thought as we’ve seen in the past during his heel runs while fighting other heels. It’s doubtful that Strong would, but how can you out-heel A-Double at this point?

Roderick Strong suffered a sprained ankle during the Toronto Gauntlet against Colt Cabana, forcing them to tweak the finish. Christopher Daniels suffered a ruptured eardrum after a hard slap from Kenny Omega during the ROH Death Before Dishonor PPV on Saturday.

Didn’t Steve Corino teach us anything: never let someone slap you in the ear. How are the Japanese women going to talk to Daniels in the club now? As for Roderick, seemingly he’ll be ready to go in a month, so hopefully everything will be a hundred percent by then.

ROH has announced that their Death Before Dishonor PPV was their most watched Internet PPV so far, with roughly 1300-1500 buys.

Ring of Honor was struggling to break make it to those numbers for Final Battle, and fell short with The Big Bang. If this iPPV isn’t proof that great builds to highly anticipated matches do bring in fans to a viewing avenue that they usually wouldn’t take, then I don’t know what else will. This show had three highly anticipated matches with months of build and heat. The crazy thing is the number above doesn’t count people who have ordered the show after Saturday. With all the rave reviews DBD VIII has been receiving, a lot of questionable buyers decided to take the plunge and ordered the replay. Hopefully Ring of Honor can build up their next iPPV as well as this one. Speaking of taking the plunge, lets dive into this week’s episode of ROH on HDNet.

ROH on HDNet 6/21/10 Quick Results:
Eddie Edwards defeated Nick Westgate in a 10-Minute Hunt match
Sara Del Rey defeated Reggie
Skullkrusher Rasche Brown defeated Ricky Reyes
The All Night Expressdefeated Delirious and Jerry Lynn

Right:
10-Minute Hunt: The TV champion used his television clout to open the show with “The Eddie Edwards 10 Minute Hunt” where a wrestler tries to earn a TV title shot by either defeating or surviving Edwards in ten minutes. Tonight’s victim…um, opposition was none other than little Nick Westgate. As hard as Nick tried, he was nothing more than fresh meat for Eddie’s simplistic, and effective contender concept. Eddie finished “Nate” off with a series of stomps to Westgate’s head off the single leg Boston crab. Absolutely sick finish that Eddie has found that should be utilized to the fullest. Eddie is incredibly over right now, and having him kill jobbers before setting up a real feud is the way to keep him hot. But don’t go too long with this concept, or the first TV champion could be a failure like the second ROH World champion.
Brown vs. Reyes: The request for Brown being put in actual matches was answered here when Skullkrusher took on former ROH Tag Team champion, Ricky Reyes. Reyes quickly went after Brown’s legs in hopes of breaking down the vertical advantage Rasche had over him. For the first time on HDNet, Brown actually looked human; which is perfectly fine if he’s ever going to feud with someone. But Brown is a man who shouldn’t be held down for long, or beaten down like some 5’8”, regular looking guy…because he’s not a regular looking guy. Brown working through the pain and annihilating Reyes with the Burning Hammer after surviving various leg locks showed the heart that will get Brown far in ROH. Brown proved here that he can take a real challenge and overcome with flying colors. After the match Brown was attacked by Erick Stevens, leading to a pull apart brawl to remind everyone, “Brown has problems with The Embassy.” Very good segment that Brown’s needed for a while.
The Main Event: Throughout the show, clips of the various intertwining stories involving all four men were shown, including promos featuring Aries’ team, Jerry Lynn, and Delirious. When the match started, you could tell Delirious wanted to get a piece of A-Double. But Lynn-as angry as he is with King-seemed to not really care about revenge in this match. Instead, he worked as he normally does, helping Delirious ground Titus. They had a solid tag team main event here, with Delirious becoming distracted by Aries instead of staying focused on help Jerry Lynn from being double-teamed. The All Night Express picked up the victory, but in the end, everything still feels unfinished between these men; which makes for good, episodic television.