In just a few days, Ring of Honor airs their 15th incarnation of Death Before Dishonor. All four of ROH's titles are scheduled to be defended ,with guaranteed five men wrestling twice tonight. The card coming up looks like it'll be insane, putting the best the company has to offer into the spotlight. In this preview, I'm hoping to go beyond what Wikipedia could tell you. It'd be easy to say "this man started here and did X, before Y." Instead, I want to help any casual viewer on the fence of watching Ring of Honor's product get into the matches easier. Less to inform, more to contextualize. With that in mind, let's start from the bottom, and work our way up.
The Kingdom (Matt Taven, TK O'Ryan and Vinnie Marseglia) vs. The Briscoes and Bully Ray
Winners receive a Ring of Honor 6-Man Tag Team Championship shot later that night.
The Kingdom are finally back to full strength after TK shattered his leg on an Asai Moonsault months ago. The original 6-Man Tag Team Champions of Ring of Honor, what must have been huge plans for this trio were cut drastically short. Now, those plans may be going full steam ahead again. The only thing that stands in their way is the Team of Bully Ray and the Briscoes. With the winners going on to face the champions later this same night, I think that Bully, Mark, and Jay win here to fall valiantly to the Bullet Club. On the other hand, The Kingdom winning here could lead to them taking their belts back from a weakened Club should the card fall that way. This'll be fun chaos one way or another.
Chuckie T vs. Marty Scurll
A match that came seemingly from nowhere, this match was set up on ROH TV this past week seemingly as an afterthought; Scurll mentioned that Chuck had challenged him and Marty accepted. Allllright. Chuck Taylor is a quality wrestler: really good in-ring and a fun personality. If they're allowed to do half of what they can do in Pro Wrestling Guerilla, it'll end up being good. Unless Chuck is brought back to do more, possibly gold related things, I see Scurll winning this one handily.
Jay White vs. Punishment Martinez
Las Vegas Street Fight
The saga of Jay White and Punishment Martinez has been going seemingly for months, across several Pay Per Views. Not that they wrestled on those shows, but Martinez has been attacking Jay after his matches.The clock may be reaching midnight for Jay White's career in Ring of Honor with the approach of the new year. As a Young Lion of New Japan Pro Wrestling on excursion, his time with the company was always finite, and I feel like he has gotten all he can from being in the country. Martinez is a very agile big man, but is also very good at his big man role. This will be a good fight, and I'm convinced both men can work their ways around the lax rules. Martinez can take momentum from a win here towards a TV or even World Championship match, which I would dig.
The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) (c) vs. the Motor City Machine guns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley)
I've been watching these four men wrestle for over seven years now. In those seven years, they've wrestled in TNA, in PWG, in NJPW, and now their latest encounter takes place in Las Vegas here in Ring of Honor. I'm an immense fan of both teams, and if you're actually unfamiliar with their work together you can easily find highlight packages and full matches of their matches together on Youtube and Dailymotion. This is honestly one of my favorite rivalries throughout all of wrestling, and each match always delivers. The Bucks are always going to be popular, whether they have titles or not. Is the image of them carrying 8 belts around cool? Yeah, but it isn't necessary. The Machine Guns could win the Tag titles here and end up carrying them around the country while The Bucks bounce back and forth from New Japan. Either way, this is the match I'm most looking forward to. Let the flippy shit commence.
Ring of Honor 6-Man Tag Team Championships [1st title Defense]
The Hung Bucks (The Young Bucks and Hangman Page) vs. The winners of Kingdom/Bully and Briscoes
I know I just advocated for the Young Bucks losing the tag titles, and said they don't need belts, but here I'm alright with them keeping the 6-man belts. First, I'm never a fan of a man or team having zero successful title changes. Just devalues a title. Second, the belts give Hangman Page a chance to go balls out and find himself in the middle of chaos. Page is goo, and I love him to death, but I think if he spends a lot of his time in multi-man melees, he'll find the flow and attitude he can really dig into. Or maybe he has that already and I'm goddamn clueless. I'm alright with either.
Ring of Honor TV Championship [5th title Defense]
Kushida (c) vs. Kenny King
At Best In The World, Kenny King's former faction The Rebellion disbanded. Each of the four members have gone their separate ways in relatively positive directions, with Kenny being the first to receive a marquee Title Match. Kushida, who is arguably one of the best wrestlers in the world today, is loaded with so many titles and trophies that it's a wonder he can make it through airports. As legitimizing a champion as Kushida is for the TV Title, it really should be kept closer to home, and King may be the man to take it in his hometown. Expect a superior ground game from the champion, and King using agility in his attempt at his first singles title in the company.
Last Man Standing
Another feud that feels like it's gone on forever, in the good way, that looks to finish here at Death Before Dishonor. Lethal was placed solidly in the upper echelons of ROH since winning the World Championship in late 2015, and even after losing the belt has remained comfortably in that position. Silas, having done little of note besides an excellent feud with Dalton Castle, launched himself into prominence when he put himself against Jay. Stipulation matches like this, and the street fight talked about earlier are rarely done in Ring of Honor. Typically they're saved for the ends of long rivalries like here, and it's one of the reasons I like the company so much. Who wins? I'm not sure. Whoever it is would surely be in line for a World Championship match in the future, despite who it is left standing.
Ring of Honor World Championship [5th Title Defense]
Cody (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki
Hey, you. Yeah, come a little closer. You someone who doesn't follow New Japan? Japanese products? Cool. So, you've probably heard of this guy. Of Suzuki. You've heard all the ridiculous stuff. Least you think it's ridiculous. No way this man must exist.Lemme tell you. Most of the rumors you've heard are true. The man is legitimately the most dangerous human being in pro wrestling right now. Even with his mixed martial arts credentials, which are immense and worth looking into, he isn't afraid to use every villainous means he can get his hands on to get the advantage. Not because he needs to, rather because it's there to use. Cody will have to bring his all, and even then it won't be enough. It'll be interesting to see how Cody escapes with the World Championship. If he can.
Death Before Dishonor XV is looking to be one of the most stacked shows that the company has presented in a long time. Most matches promise to be very good, and each title match is a certain level of can't miss. It'll definitely be a good night of wrestling this Friday.
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