ROH Death Before Dishonor 2022 predictions

The Tony Khan era of Ring of Honor continues with the Death Before Dishonor PPV on Saturday, July 23 from the Tsongas Center in Lowell, MA. The PPV portion begins at 8 pm ET with a pre-show at 7 pm ET.

We’ve sounded the horn for our proficient prognosticators to provide predictions. The focus will only be on the top five title fights, since those contests actually have stories behind them playing out a little on AEW television.

Let’s boogie.

ROH Death Before Dishonor predictions

ROH World Championship: Jonathan Gresham (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli

Sean Rueter: Going to take Gresham’s alliance with Tully Blanchard Enterprises as a sign he’s around for the long haul, and assume Big Swiss isn’t going to have a full complement of Blackpool Combat Club members as back-up. Does that mean we’ll eventually get a TBE vs. BCC feud. Hell if I know! Pick: Jonathan Gresham

Claire Elizabeth: There are two wolves inside of me. One thinks you give Gresh the vote of confidence and keep him as your champ at least through the new ROH’s first full season of shows. The other thinks Claudio has never won a real major world title (PWG and wXw are fine accolades to be sure they don’t quite cross the “if you can be a top guy here you can be a top guy anywhere” line) and Tony Khan is exactly the kind of guy who’d be super excited to change that. Both of them are very excited for this match. Pick: Claudio Castagnoli

Cain A. Knight: The main story is that Claudio can’t win a world title. I don’t expect he’s winning the AEW world title anytime soon, so they might as well give him the ROH belt. In general, I think Tony Khan will keep putting the ROH belts on AEW stars until ROH gets a distribution deal. Pick: Claudio Castagnoli

Manolo H. Pizzazz: Claudio Castagnoli has the cachet to carry the promotion through unknown territory, however, Jonathan Gresham is the man that can give ROH an identity. If the future of ROH is going to be its own weekly program, then Gresham is a better fit as a big fish in a small pond. He carried ROH through the pandemic, and he deserves the chance to carry ROH under new management. Plus, a Gresham loss makes his new union with Tully Blanchard seem like a waste of a story. Pick: Jonathan Gresham

Stella Cheeks: As much as I want Claudio to always be on AEW tv they have to do something to make ROH a must watch brand. Claudio is the perfect guy to put the main ROH belt on for just that reason. He has a loyal WWE fanbase, a loyal Chikara fanbase and now a new AEW fanbase. Plus, it would just be cool for BCC to have a ton of belts across both brands. Pick: Claudio Castagnoli

Kyle Decker: Before I make my picks, I’m going to let it be known that the only ROH exposure I have is what is on AEW TV. I did not watch the last PPV and was’t watching prior to the acquisition. That said, in this case, I think Tony is going to stick with Jonathan Gresham, who is a current ROH guy through and through. Claudio has more worth on the main AEW pushing stories there. Pick: Jonathan Gresham

ROH World Tag Team Championship: FTR (c) vs. Briscoes in best 2-out-of-3 falls

Sean Rueter: Look. I love Dax & Cash as much as the next person, and acknowledge Jay & Mark’s problematic past (I’m also on record as accepting their apologies for said past, but understand that as a straight white dude who wasn’t one of the people their words & actions hurt, my acceptance isn’t much of a factor). But I can’t deny I really, really enjoy Dem Boys’ work, and them being ROH Tag champs just feels right. Pick: The Briscoes

Claire Elizabeth: Ah the Briscoes, my favorite wrestlers that also probably mostly definitely hate me and all the women I love. I love watching ‘em work, I’m honestly on the fence as far as the apologies go, but I hate this weird “we’ll hype ‘em up on Dynamite but we’re not gonna let them wrestle on Dynamite” line we’re walking and I’d like for the quantum state to get collapsed one way or the other. And since ROH is gonna be sharing TV time with AEW for at least some time longer I don’t think they can pick the belts back up (and besides, I want FTR to get to full Ultimo Dragon status eventually) Pick: FTR

Cain A. Knight: The Briscoes won’t be appearing on AEW television, and ROH doesn’t have a television deal. I think that makes this outcome fairly straightforward. Plus, how can babyface Dax lose after his “fight like an eight-year-old girl” promo? Pick: FTR

Manolo H. Pizzazz: I was already thinking FTR would be a lock to retain. Then Dax Harwood delivered a touching promo to fight as hard as his daughter did to fix her heart issue. The emotional aspect sealed the deal, right? Not so fast. When news broke that the Briscoes had a deal with Tony Khan to continue duty for ROH, that made me reconsider. Add in the Young Bucks losing the AEW tag titles to a babyface team in Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland. That doesn’t make me confident that AEW plans on booking FTR to collect all the tag team gold so soon. Thus, I think the feud between FTR and the Briscoes will have some legs to it. Pick: Briscoes

Stella Cheeks: It’s 2022. I can’t be out here caring about The Briscoes. Pick: FTR

Kyle Decker: I think FTR are going to hold all the titles when they eventually win the AEW tag team titles. Pick: FTR

ROH Women’s World Championship: Mercedes Martinez (c) vs. Serena Deeb

Sean Rueter: Let’s just hope it gets a better reaction than when Martinez won the belt on Dynamite. Pick: Serena Deeb

Claire Elizabeth: I absolutely under no circumstances can pick against my girl Mercedes Martinez. Pick: Mercedes Martinez

Cain A. Knight: Serena Deeb almost won the AEW women’s world championship. That means she’s definitely good enough to win the ROH belt. Pick: Serena Deeb

Manolo H. Pizzazz: Serena Deeb is too good to go empty-handed in the championship picture. I don’t see the AEW Women’s World Championship nor the TBS Championship in her near future. I do see picking up an ROH title as a consolation prize. Pick: Serena Deeb

Stella Cheeks: I love Mercedes. She’s one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, but they really need to give Serena a reason not to constantly mess with Thunder Rosa. An ROH title would do that. Pick: Serena Deeb

Kyle Decker: I am a big fan of Mercedes. But Deeb absolutely should be holding a title right now, and the AEW ones aren’t an option. Pick: Serena Deeb

ROH World Television Championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Jay Lethal

Sean Rueter: He’s outnumbered, and how little he’s been around does make me go “hmmm”. But I already have heels using DAT NUMBERS GAME to win elsewhere on the card, and think we might see some other ROH vets show up here to balance out Sonjay & Sutnam. Pick: Samoa Joe

Claire Elizabeth: Lethal has been hammering over and over how he’s the greatest ROH World Television Champion of all time, and it’s true, his 567-day reign is the greatest the title has ever seen, and some of the best wrestling storytelling I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing. But that’s exactly why he isn’t gonna win the title a third time, and why Joe is keeping a grip on the title. Pick: Samoa Joe

Cain A. Knight: I’m pretty sure that Satnam Singh is supposed to be the featured star of the heel group, not Jay Lethal. Pick: Samoa Joe

Manolo H. Pizzazz: Samoa Joe is going to kill Jay Lethal. Pick: Samoa Joe

Stella Cheeks: It’s 2022. I can’t be out here caring about Jay Lethal. Pick: Samoa Joe

Kyle Decker: Feels like Joe has been absent in this feud. May as well go with the guy who is more ROH through and through and on TV more. This is also me wanting Joe to focus on more AEW things. Pick: Jay Lethal

ROH Pure Championship: Wheeler Yuta (c) vs. Daniel Garcia

Sean Rueter: Mostly just really looking forward to the next chapter in a feud I think we’ll be following for a long time. As for a prediction? Just because I don’t see BCC getting shut out on the night... Pick: Wheeler Yuta

Claire Elizabeth: I’m just gonna go on the record and say this match should be happening for the Evolve World Championship but Gabe Sapolsky made the wrong bet and now Evolve is dead and ROH is exciting again. This is like catnip for me and there’s no bad outcomes but I think a little hot potato back and forth between these two sounds like a damn good time. Pick: “Red Death” Daniel Garcia

Cain A. Knight: Sports entertainers can’t win Pure titles. Pick: Wheeler Yuta

Manolo H. Pizzazz: It’s time for Daniel Garcia to earn a big win. Adding a shiny Pure belt to the Jericho Appreciation Society is just the move to make Garcia’s profile increase. Pick: Daniel Garcia

Stella Cheeks: BLACKPOOL COMBAT CLUB SUPREMACY! Pick: Wheeler Yuta

Kyle Decker: I don’t see a reason to do a swap here. Pick: Wheeler Yuta

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That’s who we’ve got. Who are you taking, Cagesiders?