ROH Death Before Dishonor XIII Live Results and Coverage 7-24-15: Jay Lethal vs Roderick Strong

By Paul Fontaine for WrestlingObserver.com

Welcome to our live coverage of Death Before Dishonor XIII, from Baltimore MD. Jay Lethal defends the World title in the main event. A 4 Corner Survival match for the ROH tag team titles and much, much, more. Action kicks off at 8 pm eastern and is available on iPPV at ROHWrestling.com

Will Ferrara vs “Professional Wrestling’s Last Real Man” Silas Young

Despite his higher place on the card, Young has yet to score a win over the upstart Ferrara. Back in March, Young was DQ’d in their first match. Two weeks ago on ROH TV, Dalton Castle’s boys provided distraction, allowing Ferrara to score an upset win. 

Crowd solidly behind Ferrara, somewhat surprisingly. Young gets into it with some ringside fans before the match and Ferrara does a dive from the ring to fire up the crowd.

Match was back and forth, with Ferrara not wanting to take a countout loss, which proved to be his downfall. After rolling Young back into the ring, Young eventually hit his Misery finisher to get the pinfall win.

WINNER: SILAS YOUNG by pinfall

After the match, Dalton Castle’s boys confronted Young in the ring. They tried fanning him off but Young would have none of it. He set one of them up for the Misery but the other one made the save and then they rode him like a horse. The boys and Ferrara posed, which took us to an Alexander/Moose video package

Cedric Alexander w/Veda Scott vs Moose w/Stokely Hathaway

Prince Nana joined Corino and Kelly at commentary. Mixed reaction for Moose but he does get a fair bit of streamers. Story of this match is that Scott turned on Moose and Cedric went with her, splitting up the Moose, Hathaway and Scott trio. Nana originally brought Moose into ROH, which is why he’s on commentary. Prior to the heel turn, Alexander ended Moose’s unbeaten streak. Actually the finish of that match is what started the turn.

Alexander started the match by constantly trying to roll out of the ring, not wanting to engage. Eventually Moose got a hold of him and threw him around outside the ring, while Scott was screaming at the fans to stop. Distraction by Scott allowed Alexander to get the advantage when it went back in the ring.

Moose eventually took over with what Kelly called an “Okada-like” dropkick. Moose did a 540 splash off the top but was hit by a kick from Alexander on the way down in a pretty amazing spot for a guy the size of Moose. Alexander then got a two count off of a Michinoku driver.

Moose nearly took Alexander’s head off with a clothesline after Alexander slipped coming off the top rope. YAY/BOO slap sequence doesn’t quite get the reaction they were looking for so Alexander hit an enziguri. Alexander then hit the crash and burn dive on Moose but took time from the match to get into it with Nana at the commentary booth. Hathaway made the save but Alexander whipped him into the ringside barriers.

Moose hit Alexander with a powerbomb on the ring apron and Alexander rolled under the ring after being distracted by Scott. Moose pulled him out and rolled him back into the ring. Alexander was hiding a wrench that he pulled out from under the ring and used it to nail Moose and get the pin.

WINNER: CEDRIC ALEXANDER by pinfall

The Briscoes (Jay and Mark) vs Roppongi Vice (Trent Barretta/Rocky Romero)  

No real backstory here. Jay lost the world title on the last PPV and is looking to get back on a roll here by teaming up with his brother and long-time tag team partner against one of New Japan’s top teams in Roppongi Vice.

Crowd doesn’t really have a favorite. Romero and Mark take turns doing the Eddie Guerrero “shimmer” early on but Romero heels on him with an eye poke, allowing RPV to get the early advantage. Mark tags out to Jay though and Barretta is isolated for the next while.

Barretta eventually tags out to Romero but the Briscoes take turns working him over for a while, including hitting consecutive senton splashes. Mark was about to do some Froggie-Bo but Barretta ran in, allowing Vice to get the advantage, isolating Mark. Romero continues doing the Guerrero thing, mocking the Briscoes with “Man Up, boys” to the camera, while doing it.

Mark nails Romero with a couple of kicks as he’s doing splashes into the corner, which allows him to tag in brother Jay. Jay takes over with some good ole fashioned clobbering on both guys but they hit double flying knees on Jay. Mark runs in to make the save and it’s chaos for a bit but we’re left with Mark and Barretta, who’s cut open over the eye.

Corino reminds us that the Maryland State Athletic Commission has a habit of stopping matches for blood. Mark puts one of Barretta’s armbands on his head as a headband and does a little Redkneck Kung Fu for a bit. More double-teaming from Roppongi Vice put a stop to that.

Romero takes out Jay Brisoce with a running knee off the apron, leaving Mark and Barretta in the ring to the YAY/BOO spot, which the crowd does react to. Briscoe gets the better of it. Superkick from Jay into a destroyer from Mark onto Barretta. Jay hits a top rope splash and a neckbreaker for two. This draws the first THIS IS AWESOME chant of the night.

Romero breaks up a Jay Driller attempt. Barretta hits a double-foot stomp off the top rope onto the back of Jay, which gets a two count for Romero. Vice set up for a Doomsday device but it’s broken up by Mark. Mark hits a Blockbuster off the ring apron onto Romero outside the ring. Jay hits a Jay driller on Barretta and Mark follows up with the Froggie-Bo elbow drop to get the win.

WINNERS: THE BRISCOES by pinfall

Adam Cole vs Dalton Castle w/his boys 

Both guys get superstar reactions coming out and I have to say that they probably have the two best theme songs in ROH. Duelling Dal-ton Cas-tle/A-dam Cole chants after the ring entrances are very loud. They do adhere to the Code of Honor in Castle’s own unique way.

The first HOLY $hit chant of the night comes from a Yoga move by Castle that has to be seen to be believed. Adam Cole followed with an ADAM COLE baby and then mocked the move to a huge reaction. Five minutes in, they’ve barely locked up and the fans are going nuts.

Once they get started wrestling, Castle takes the early advantages with a series of gut-wrench suplexes, helped along by his boys fanning him. Cole takes over by pushing Castle off the top rope and following him to the outside. The boys scatter when Cole goes after them as the fans chant FAN UP.

Cole mocks Castle’s strut before putting on a rear chinlock. The boys fire up the crowd with their fanning. This draws Cole outside the ring and he goes after them. The distraction allows Castle to take control, hitting a dive through the middle roles and then rolling Cole back into the ring.

Castle gets a two off of a modified airplane spin and then goes for a bearhug. Cole powers out and goes to the top rope but Castle catches him and gets another bearhug. The announcers are putting over how strong Castle is, comparing him to Michael Elgin. Cole takes over with a neckbreaker and then a Shining Wizard, which gets a two.

Cole uses a thrust kick to the gut to set up a Figure Four but Castle makes the ropes. Castle rolls out to be attended to by his boys. Cole chases them off but again the distraction allows Castle to take control. Fans chanting PEACOCK for Castle and he hits a German Suplex with a bridge to get a two.

Castle hits a running knee on the apron to Cole and follows up with a dive off the top but Cole hits a superkick and follows with a rolling German but only gets a two. They do the YAY/BOO spot in the centre (third straight match for this) and Castle gets the better of it. Cole turns it around with a low blow and hits a superkick to the front and back of Castle’s head. He follows up with a neckbreaker to get the win.

WINNER: ADAM COLE by pinfall

They adhere to the Code after the match but that allows Silas Young to run in and attack The Boys. He chases them to the back pretty much without incident. 

No DQ Match:
ADAM PAGE w/Colby Corino and BJ Whitmer (on crutches) vs ACH 

Whitmer says that he just had knee surgery and won’t be able to wrestle for the foreseeable future. Crowd is all over Whitmer for the whole promo, throwing him off with chants for Steve Corino. He then announces that he’s joining Kelly and Corino on commentary. In fact he tells him to “lay out” and let Whitmer show him how it’s done.

ACH attacked Page during the ring intros and came out wearing a pink shirt to mock Page. Steve Corino stayed at commentary but is pretty silent for the most part, allowing Whitmer to put Page over. ACH hit a Fosbury Flop onto Page outside the ring and pulled him back outside when Page tried to roll into the ring.

Page tried to throw ACH into a turnbuckle but it looked like a cameraman ate the move instead. Fans chanted CAMERA-MAN at that one. ACH still whipping Page all over the outside to the delight of the crowd. ACH then does a lap around the ring but the showboating allows Page to take over, rolling ACH back into the ring.

They end up outside the ring and it should be noted that the lighting is far better for this show and being outside the ring doesn’t really hurt the presentation as it usually does. ACH takes over by throwing a chair at a charging Page and they go back inside the ring. ACH goes to the top but gets knocked off by a dropkick and then a chairshot by Page.

Page hits a powerslam onto the chair for a two and then kicks ACH back outside the ring. Fans are chanting for tables. Page teases pulling out a table but stops, drawing boos. This allows ACH to take control and he obliges the fans by pulling the table out from under the ring. Setting up the table allows Page time to recover though.

Page pulls a ladder out from under the ring and slides it into the ring. ACH then pulls out Indian workout clubs and beats on Page with one. ACH misses a twisting flying elbow from the top and Page suplexes him onto the ladder, which is draped on the turnbuckle. That only gets a two count.

Funny spot as Kevin Kelly mentions that Page is jealous because ACH got a match with Alberto Del Rio and Corino says “how bout Alberto El Patron? Saved ya…”. Both guys have slowed down quite a bit, selling the beating they’re both getting. ACH then suplexes Page, shoulder first, into the ladder, drawing a “HOLY $HIT!” chant.

ACH hits a field goal kick off of the apron onto Page, who’s on the floor by the table that ACH set up earlier. Back in the ring, ACH hits a brainbuster onto the chair but that only gets a two. Page turns things around with a DDT out of nowhere that gets a two.

Page rolled out of the ring and ACH hit a 450 splash from the ring apron onto the floor. Page actually got back into the ring first after that but ACH went to the top. This brought out Colby Corino to try and knock ACH off the top. Whitmer slid his crutch into the ring and Page used it on ACH. Page then hit the Rite of Passage off of the apron through the table outside the ring. Colby then rolled them both back into the ring and Page on top of ACH for the pin.

WINNER: ADAM PAGE by pinfall

This match wouldn’t be everyone’s tastes but for me personally, I liked it more than just about everything I’ve seen so far in the G1 tourney (and I haven’t seen a lot of the matches).

4 Corners Survival Match for the ROH World Tag Team Titles
The Kingdom (Michael Bennett/Matt Taven) w/Maria Kanellis vs War Machine (Hanson/Rowe) vs ReDRagon (Bobby Fish/Kyle O’Reillly) vs ROH World Tag Team Champions The Addiction (“The Almighty” Christopher Daniels/Kazarian)

Adam Cole comes out at the start to join the commentary team. Cole says that he was left out of the Kingdom’s strategy meeting earlier tonight, furthering that break-up angle. He says that he hasn’t even spoken to them all night.

ReDRagon gets the first extended advantage, double-teaming Matt Taven. Bennett stops that with a spear on O’Reilly, knocking him outside the ring. Taven ends up tagging out to Kazarian. Rowe gets a blind tag, while O’Reilly has Daniels on his shoulder and Rowe picks up both of them and slams them down in a nice spot.

War Machine uses double-teams moves on the champs for the next few minutes, including a dropkick by Rowe, followed by a bronco buster by Hanson. Fish ends up getting a blind tag in. The champions use some double-teaming of their own to get the advantage over Fish.

Consecutive springboard legdrops by the champs lead to a two count from Kazarian on Fish. Fish blocks a suplex attempt by Daniels and gets one of his own but Daniels tags in Bennett. Fish gets isolated in the Kingdom’s corner. Bennett hits a spinebuster on Fish but Taven misses a frog splash. Fish about to tag in O’Reilly but he’s knocked off the apron by Kazarian.

Fish ends up tagging in Rowe, who’s a house of fire on the Kingdom. This ends up leading to everyone getting involved. Wild exchanges where everyone takes turns hitting double teams on everyone else. Ends up with Taven all by himself inside the ring and takes out everyone with a dive outside the ring. This sets up a Hanson cannonball from the top that takes out everyone, drawing another HOLY $hit chant.

Back in the ring, the Kingdom hit a double superkick onto Rowe, followed by splash from Taven but that only gets a two. This spurs Cole to leave commentary but instead of helping his teammates, he heads to the back.

Chasing the Dragon by ReDRagon onto Rowe only gets a two and everyone’s in the ring again. Ends up with War Machine standing tall in the centre after taking out all three other teams. War Machine hit the Path of Resistance, setting up a powerslam by Rowe into a splash by Rowe. Daniels then takes out both War Machine members with belt shots and goes after Maria but he’s thwarted.

Kingdom get a near fall after a double-team on O’Reilly. Fish makes the save after a Hail Mary attempt. Double-team by ReDRagon onto Taven gets a near fall but it’s broken up by Daniels. Celebrity Rehab by the champs onto Bobby Fish, completely with a tights pull by Kazarian gets the win.

WINNERS AND STILL ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS: THE ADDICTION by pinfall

Main Event for the ROH World Heavyweight Championship
“Mr ROH” Roderick Strong vs World Champion Jay Lethal w/Truth Martini, Donovan Dijak & J Diesel

Nigel McGuinness joins the commentary booth for the main event. Lethal mentioned in the pre-match video package that no ROH World champion has ever lost his first title defence. They do adhere to the Code of Honor without incident to start.

They start out with a nice grappling exchange with neither guy getting the advantage. Test of strength follows and Roddy ends up getting the better out of it, including a pinfall attempt. They’re working a very slow pace so this should be a long one. They did work a 30 minute draw on TV a couple of months ago.

Fans getting on J Diesel with the Baby-tista chants. Duelling Lets Go Roddy/Lets Go Lethal chants early on as well. Lethal drops hard forearms onto Strong for a series of one counts in a unique spot. This starts up LE-THAL SUCKS (or possibly ROCKS) to the New Day Sucks cadence. Lethal tries an upside down surfboard to weaken Strong’s knees and back but Strong makes the ropes.

Strong ends up with the advantage and hits a butterfly suplex but is selling the back and knees from the earlier submission attempt. They end up outside the ring with Strong in control and he hits a series of Ric Flair chops on Lethal against one of the ring barriers. He follows up by throwing Lethal in the air and dropping him onto one of the barriers throat first.

Strong breaks out a Tully Blanchard slingshot suplex for a two count. Strong works over the back of Lethal with a couple of whacky submission moves but Lethal hits an enziguri out of nowhere to take control. Three straight bodyslams in the center of the ring by Lethal and he follows up by dropping a forearm but doesn’t cover. Somewhere in this, Strong was cut on the forehead, likely hardway.

Lethal then hits 13 punches in the corner, which the fans count along with but Strong leaps out of it and takes Lethal down with a clothesline, followed by a side suplex. Lethal tried to escape but Strong grabs him on the way out and stretched him out over the ropes before he had to break it up. Lethal finally does roll out and then snaps Strong’s necks on the ropes when he tries to follow.

Lethal with a modified sleeper on Strong but Strong fights out of it. Lethal goes for a Jay Driller but Strong powers out with a back body drop. Strong goes for the double gut buster but misses. Lethal Combination from Lethal only gets a two as a follow-up.

Strong rolls out but Dijak knocks him down with a cheap shot, which the ref missed. Strong back in the ring and tries a sunset flip off the ropes but Lethal blocks it and throws him back outside. Dijak goes after Strong again but Nigel is trying to get the ref’s attention. They end up back in the ring with Lethal in control and he puts on a rear chin luck.

Strong takes control with a series of chops in the corner onto Lethal and hits a running power slam for a two count. Strong with another submission attempt which seems almost an attempt as resting for the next series of moves. Lethal fights out but eats a sweet dropkick from Strong, which gets a two count.

Crowd really starting to get behind Strong but they get quiet when Strong goes for another submission, a body scissors. Lethal ends up slipping out and a submission attempts of his but they quickly end up back on their feet. Nice insight from Nigel when he explains that often when someone goes for a two, they don’t think they’re going win but they’re just trying to make their opponent expend some energy.

Strong ends up outside the ring and again Dijak interferes but it’s missed again by the ref. Lethal follows him out and goes for a bodyslam but Strong counters with a DDT onto the matt outsde the ring.

Back in the ring and Strong hits a dropkick for a two. Lethal rolls out of the ring this time. Strong follows him out and they get into a chopping match. Strong ends up pushing Lethal head-first into one of the barricades. Strong then throws Lethal back in to break up the 20 count. Strong about to hit a running charge but Dijak holds his leg from the outside, again missed by the ref. He does break free and makes the charge but Lethal got his feet up.

Again Lethal tosses Strong outside the ring and then goes for the running dive but Strong steps out of the way and Lethal flies into the barrier. Strong then takes out Lethal, Dijak and Diesel with a dive over the top. Strong to his feet first and tries to whip Lethal into a barrier but Lethal reverses. He goes into the ring to break up the 20 count but that allows Strong to recover.

Strong hits the double-knee gutbuster in the ring for a near three. Strong gets another two off of a vertical suplex. Strong sets Lethal up on the turnbuckles but Lethal fights him off. Strong back on him and tries for a superplex but blocked by Lethal. Lethal knocks him off again. Lethal hits a Tornado DDT off the top and rolls into a guillotine attempt but Strong gets out.

Lethal brings Strong to the mat by trying to choke him out with wrist tape but the ref notices and makes him break. Lethal snaps Strong’s neck in the ropes again and he rolls outside. Lethal follows and whips Strong into the barricade. Lethal then stalking Strong around ringside, hitting him with chops the whole way. Strong answers with one of his own, allowing him to roll back in the ring.

Lethal gets Strong outside the ring and hits the Trifecta (three straight dives outside the ring) and Martini does a victory lap. Both guys are down outside the ring. Both take until the count hits 19 before coming into the ring after that. Lethal hits a belly to back suplex for a two and then goes for a cross-face. Strong makes the ropes to break it up.

Lethal with a series of Ric Flair chops in the corners and Nigel points out this his chest is starting to blister up from all the chops. In fact it looks like he might even be bleeding on the chest. Strong eventually starts no-selling the chops and Lethal hits harder and faster, almost Kobashi-style. This fires up Strong and he does the same, knocking Lethal to the canvas after a rapid fire sequence.

Strong back body-drops Lethal outside the ring over the top rope. Lethal takes most of the 20 count to get back in. Lethal goes for the Lethal Injection but Strong counters with a Urinage. Strong with a Walls of Jericho in the centre and then into the Boston Crap. Lethal heavily teasing a tap before finally making the ropes.

Strong follows up with more chops in the corner. At this point, it looks like Strong may have lost 15 lbs since the match started. Strong sets him up in the corner again, setting up for a Superplex. Lethal knocks him off the turnbuckles again. Lethal with the Hail to the King elbowdrop but only gets a two. Lethal Combination into a Koji Clutch by Lethal. Strong rolls him over and gets a two count, forcing Lethal to release the hold.

Lethal picks up the Book of Truth and tries to use it but Strong blocks it. Strong with a double gut buster attempt Lethal grabs the book and nails Strong with it for an apparent 3 but Strong kicks out. Fans thought that was a finish.

Match has to be getting close to an hour now, not sure if there’s a time limit. Strong drops Lethal back-first onto the apron and then covers him for a near-three. Another THIS IS AWESOME chant, which is kind of redundant at this point. Lethal tries the Lethal Injection but Strong back out of the way and charges Lethal. Lethal sees that and nails him with a hard superkick.

Lethal ends up on the turnbuckles and again Strong sets up for a Superplex, hitting it this time. Backbreak by Strong, followed by a Sick Kick and Lethal kicks out. That felt like it shold’ve been the finish but the fans going nuts at this point. Nigel audibly cheering on Strong at this point. Strong tries for two straight suplexes. Lethal with a Lethal Injection but Strong kicks out. Lethal screaming at the ref and falls to the mat. Both guys down and Martini is losing it at ringside.

Lethal to his feet first and acting like he’s going to be sick. Strong to his feet as well and they’re trading chops and punches. Both guys down from simultaneous shots. Strong hits two jumping knees to Lethal’s head. Lethal hits a superkick and the bell rings. Strong hits a Sick kick  but the ref is talking to the timekeeper. Fans chanting FIVE MORE MINUTES but Bobby Cruz announces that it’s a time limit draw.

Fans chanting THANK YOU BOTH now as Martini comes in to attend to Lethal. MATCH OF THE YEAR chants start up and it very well may be. Both guys are down with refs attending to the them as the show closes.

NO WINNER – MATCH IS A 60 MINUTE DRAW

Kelly closes the show by calling it the greatest match in ROH history. Hard to argue.