Death Before Dishonor X on September 15th, 2012 in Chicago Ridge, Illinois
Opening Match: Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander vs. Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs
This is a semifinal round match in a tournament for the ROH World Tag Team Titles. Jacobs and Alexander trade quick rollups to no avail. Corino and Coleman do the same. The match breaks down a bit. Alexander dropkicks Corino the floor and dives onto SCUM. In the ring, Coleman lands a flying crossbody onto Corino and catches Jacobs with a leg-liner. Jacobs low-bridges Coleman to the floor and connects with an elbow drop from the apron. SCUM isolate Coleman until he hits a tornado DDT on Corino and makes the tag. Alexander connects with a spinning enzuigiri on Corino, who responds with a leg lariat. Jacobs clotheslines Alexander and hits a snap suplex out of the corner. Coleman hits rolling northern lights suplexes on Jacobs. Corino hits the Colby Shock on Coleman for a nearfall. Alexander and Coleman hit total elimination on Corino. Corino gets caught by a top-rope leg drop for a two count. SCUM hit a neckbreaker-STO combination on Coleman. Jacobs comes off the middle rope with an ace crusher and Corino adds the Eternal Dream for a nearfall. Alexander reenters the ring with some fire but Jacobs spears him on the apron. Jacobs throws a chair at Coleman and Corino hits a saito suplex for the win at 12:15. Many of the elaborate spots took too long to setup and the crowd reaction suffered as a result. This is the kind of action you want out of an opener and a higher rating would have been given if all of the execution was there. **½
Match #2: Silas Young vs. Tadarius Thomas
This is a Survival of the Fittest qualifying match. Thomas snaps off a headscissors and attempts an early cross armbreaker. Young fights out but gets caught by a kick. The action goes to the floor where Young pushes Thomas into the barricade. Back in, Young rolls through a crossbody and hits a gutbuster. Thomas fights back with another innovative kick. Young hits a backbreaker but Thomas responds with a fisherman neckbreaker. Young hits a finlay roll but misses the Peegee Waja Plunge. Thomas lays in another kick for the victory at 6:26. It’s clear that both men deserve a spot on the ROH roster. I know you can’t give every match on the card more than ten minutes, but these two made the best out of their six and looked very impressive. **¾
Match #3: Kyle O’Reilly vs. ACH
ACH is making his ROH debut here. They battle over a knucklelock. O’Reilly counters an armdrag into a near cross armbreaker. ACH backflips away and they reach a stalemate. O’Reilly hits a saito suplex out of nowhere. ACH catches him with an axe kick and lands a moonsault to the floor. O’Reilly hits an overhead suplex onto the floor and he takes over in the ring. ACH comes off the middle rope with a hurricanrana and hits a slingshot ace crusher. O’Reilly lays in a forearm and they exchange strikes. ACH hits a tornado DDT and follows with another one into the middle turnbuckle. He finds knees on a 450 splash. O’Reilly locks in a triangle choke for the win at 9:56. O’Reilly was the perfect opponent for ACH in his debut. The crowd seemed to take to him and Nigel did an excellent job of putting him over on commentary. They told a simple yet effective story culminating in ACH taking one too many risks and paying for it. ACH probably won’t be back anytime soon, but he made a good first impression. ***
Match #4: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Charlie Haas and Rhett Titus
This is a semifinal round match in a tournament for the ROH World Tag Team Titles. Shelton Benjamin is in Haas’ corner. Jay peppers Titus with punches and Mark drops an elbow. Titus creates an opening with a dropkick and forcibly tags in Haas. Mark flips out of a german suplex and the Briscoes take down Haas with stereo shoulder tackles. Haas low-bridges Jay to the floor. Titus prevents Benjamin from interfering. Haas suplexes Jay onto the edge of the guardrail and he gets worked over. Jay flatlines Haas into the middle turnbuckle and makes the tag. Mark showcases his karate offense. He hits an iconoclasm on Haas and connects with the froggy flying elbow. Titus boots Mark in the face and connects with a lariat. Mark elevates Titus into a neckbreaker from Jay. Benjamin interrupts the doomsday device. Haas superplexes Mark while Titus rolls up Jay for the victory at 10:47. I strongly dislike the “tag team partners that don’t get along” concept. The makeshift team of Haas and Titus making it to the finals of a tag team tournament does nothing for the titles themselves. This match played out exactly how you’d expect. There was no doubt that Haas and Titus were going to advance and there was no doubt that Benjamin was going to be involved with the finish. **¼
Kevin Kelly conducts an in-ring interview with Davey Richards. Richards says that he feels at home in the wrestling ring. He became a fan of professional wrestling by watching some of the greatest matches in Ring of Honor history. Starting tonight, “the wolf is back.” Richards wants to be the best wrestler in the world and enters himself in the Survival of the Fittest tournament.
Match #5: Jay Lethal vs. Homicide
Homicide teases a dive and flips off the crowd. Lethal rams him into the ringpost. Lethal connects with a springboard dropkick and lands a dive to the floor. He throws Homicide into the barricade. In the ring, Homicide avoids a charge and crotches Lethal on the top rope. Homicide throws chairs into the ring and sets up a table at ringside. He teases a piledriver through the table. They collide on crossbody attempts and fall to the canvas. Lethal tries a quick rollup to no avail. Homicide comes off the middle rope with a tornado DDT. Lethal hits a dragon suplex. Homicide connects with a flying knee strike. Lethal responds with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Homicide crotches him on the top rope but falls victim to a death valley driver. Homicide hits an overhead suplex and follows with a big lariat. He adds an ace crusher. Lethal fires back with a superkick and Hail to the King. Lethal hits two Lethal Combinations for a nearfall. He connects with a superkick and hits a fisherman buster for another two count. Lethal finishes with an implant DDT for the win at 14:32. What an odd match. Perhaps due to a lack of knowledge on my part, I had no idea why there was an issue between these two. Homicide’s heel antics felt awkward and the crowd didn’t get behind Lethal the way that they wanted. For most of the contest, the focus was on Homicide’s character rather than Lethal’s transformation. The finish came off great, but it was a long fifteen minutes to arrive there. **
Match #6: Roderick Strong and Michael Elgin vs. Jake and Dave Crist
Strong connects with a leg lariat on Jake. Dave catches Strong with a lionsault and Irish Airborne follow with some double-teaming. Elgin blocks a superkick from Jake and connects with a roaring elbow to the back of the head. He hits a thirty-second delayed vertical suplex. Elgin blocks a tornado DDT from Dave and hits a backbreaker. Strong refuses a tag. Dave connects with a moonsault kick on Elgin. Strong and Elgin almost come to blows on the floor. Dave fosbury flops to the floor onto Elgin. In the ring, Elgin hits a fallaway slam-samoan drop combination on Irish Airborne. He bucklebombs Dave and hits a spinning powerbomb. Strong runs into the ring and pins Dave for the victory at 8:45. Once again, the arguing tag team partners concept took away from the in-ring work. Strong was basically a non-factor here, and Irish Airborne look terrible for not being able to defeat Elgin in essentially a handicap match. Irish Airborne are extremely underrated, but they were used as jobbers in this match. **
Match #7: ROH World Television Title: Adam Cole © vs. Mike Mondo
Matt Hardy is on commentary. Mondo wants no countouts and no time limit. He calls this “no fear rules” so we’re establishing precedents here. Cole accepts the challenge. They have an intense lockup that goes to the floor. They stare each other down and battle over a knucklelock. Hardy seems very self-aware of his negative reaction on commentary. Cole connects with an enzuigiri to the left leg and works over the limb. Mondo fights back with a flatliner and starts targeting Cole’s left arm. Cole does his best to fight off a cross armbreaker and connects with an enzuigiri. He sends Mondo leg-first into the turnbuckles. Cole superkicks Mondo to the floor and follows out with a dive. They send each other into the barricade. Cole hits a german suplex onto the unpadded floor. Mondo throws him into the barricade and then spears Cole into the barricade. They’re really taking advantage of this no countout thing. They trade forearms in the ring. Cole just punches him in the face for a nearfall. Cole connects with a superkick and hits a german suplex into the turnbuckles. Mondo answers with a DDT but misses a flying knee strike. Cole feigns a superkick and applies a figure four. Mondo is able to reverse the pressure. Cole reapplies the hold and retains his title at 19:29. Mondo has been having great matches as of late and Cole always delivers a solid performance. This card needed something, so the alleviation of the fifteen-minute time limit allowed these two to have a memorable match. The body part work was on point and the finish brought everything together. To his credit, Matt Hardy contributed with his commentary and I’m optimistic about his involvement. Overall, this was a solid overall package that truly felt like a war. ***½
Cole and Mondo shake hands after the match. Hardy shakes their hands as well. Hardy tells Cole that he was much better than Cole at his age and walks away. That was awesome, as Ring of Honor successfully anticipated the negative reaction that Hardy would receive.
Match #8: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs vs. Charlie Haas and Rhett Titus
This is the finals of the ROH World Tag Team Title tournament to crown new champions. Haas stalls for awhile before tagging in Titus. He monkey flips Jacobs across the ring. Corino interjects himself and SCUM follow with some double teaming. Haas overhead suplexes Jacobs, who responds with an ace crusher. SCUM isolate Haas until he just casually tags out. Corino hits the Colby Shock on Titus and SCUM now work him over. He hits a neckbreaker on Jacobs but refuses to make the tag. Titus hits splash mountain on Jacobs. Haas boots Corino and lays out Jacobs with an olympic slam. Jacobs grabs his spike but Titus knocks it away. Shelton Benjamin superkicks Jacobs behind the referee’s back and hits the Pay Dirt on Titus. Jacobs covers and SCUM become the new ROH World Tag Team Champions at 12:24. An incredibly underwhelming finals, but these two teams weren’t put into a position to succeed. The crowd had no idea who to cheer and the match lacked any structure as a result. I’m glad that ROH made the right decision by putting the titles on SCUM, but the less said about this tournament the better. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team attack Titus after the match. **
Match #9: ROH World Title: Kevin Steen © vs. Rhino
Jim Cornette makes this match no disqualification. I firmly believe that this is solely so Rhino can Gore Steen through a table. They start brawling with each other. They throw each other into the barricade. Rhino hits a suplex onto the floor. Steen sends him into the barricade a couple of times. In the ring, Rhino hits a spinebuster and takes control. Steen catches him with a rope-assisted DDT. Steen hits a corner cannonball and knocks Rhino to the outside. He props a table in between the apron and the barricade. Rhino sets Steen onto the table and sends him through it with a plancha. Steen throws Rhino into a propped chair and lands a swantan. They battle up top and Rhino hits a superplex. Another table is brought into the ring. Steve Corino runs into the ring and stares down Rhino in a cool moment. Rhino Gores Corino, Jimmy Jacobs, and Todd Sinclair. Steen Gores Rhino for a nearfall. That was awesome. Steen hits the F-Cinq for a two count. Truth Martini climbs onto Steen but falls victim to a package piledriver. Roderick Strong interferes but gets low-bridged to the floor. Rhino hits another spinebuster. Steen avoids the Gore and Rhino crashes through the table. Steen hits the F-Cinq to retain his title at 14:57. This match ended up working a lot better than I expected. The last-minute stipulation kind of made sense and definitely added to the action. The first ten minutes were typical of a solid brawl, but the overbooking towards the finish woke the crowd up and created some genuine nearfalls. This main event wasn’t perfect by any means, but it more than met expectations. ***¼
Michael Elgin, the only person that didn’t interfere, comes out and stares down Steen. Steen spits at him, so he gets Steen in position for the spinning powerbomb. Corino pushes Strong into Elgin to break it up. Elgin hits the spinning powerbomb on Strong to close the show.
Overall: Death Before Dishonor has historically been one of the biggest shows on ROH’s calendar year. However, some questionable booking plagued this year’s edition. The tag team tournament matches were marred by the constant arguing between Haas and Titus. Additionally, fresh talent like Thomas, Young, and Irish Airborne weren’t given a full opportunity to stand out. The main event and Cole/Mondo are worth a watch, but at three hours, the quality wrestling on Death Before Dishonor X was too few and far between. Mild thumbs down.
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