Two out of the three titles being defended at Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor event last night (Sept. 12) in Philadelphia were retained by the current champions. If you’ve been following the promotion over the past year, you’d probably assume Pure champ Jonathan Gresham would be one of them.
Gresham had made seven successful defenses of the the title heading into Sunday’s show. With 385 days having passed since he captured the belt (Gresham won the vacant strap in a tournament that was filmed in summer of 2020, the finale of which aired on ROH TV last October) he’d passed Nigel McGuinness to become the longest reigning Pure champ in history.
But in pro wrestling as in life, all things come to an end. At Death Before Dishonor, The Foundation founder was dethroned by Josh Woods.
Gresham could have retained; the referee was set to call for a draw after a double pinfall. But the fighting champ didn’t want to win and called for the match to be re-started. Woods release suplexed him out of a piledriver set-up moments later, and that was that.
HOLY S***!!! @WoodsIsTheGoods #ROHDBD | #WatchROH pic.twitter.com/r4yRQVkTxP
— (@WrestlingCovers) September 13, 2021
After the bell, Gresham adhered to the Code of Honor and fastened the belt around his opponent’s waist.
AND NEW ROH PURE CHAMPION @WoodsIsTheGoods!!!! #ROHDBD pic.twitter.com/hGjgSJx55w
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) September 13, 2021
In other title action from Philly, Shane Taylor Promotions retained the Six Man championship thanks to a chair shot to Kenny King’s head that the referee didn’t see. In the main event, Bandido successfully defended his World title by pinning Brody King in a 4Way that also featured EC3 and Demonic Flamita. Rok-C also won the new Women’s title.
You can find full results from Death Before Dishonor here.