ROH books Mark Briscoe for Death Before Dishonor PPV main event

The next PPV for Ring of Honor is around the bend with Death Before Dishonor on Friday, July 21 in Trenton, NJ. ROH had yet to announce any matches for the show until news broke during ROH TV to reveal the main event. Mark Briscoe will challenge Claudio Castagnoli for the ROH World Championship.

There has been zero story building on the world title scene since Claudio defeated Eddie Kingston at Supercard of Honor to retain the gold. ROH pushed down on the accelerator for a hot matchup, thanks to Claudio’s spectacular promo as the standard-bearer of ROH.

It started with Kingston sending a message to Briscoe. The Mad King sat on his throne as the new NJPW Strong openweight champion. Kingston will be absent from ROH in the coming months as a participant in the G1 Climax tournament in Japan. Since Eddie won’t be there to fight Claudio again, he challenged Briscoe to step up and take that spot. It is Mark’s turn to respect the legacy of Jay Briscoe, the legacy of the ROH, and his own legacy. The people need Briscoe to win the title from Claudio.

Back in the ROH Zone, Renee Paquette inquired about Briscoe’s feelings on Kingston’s words. Briscoe had his sights on the ROH World Television Championship over the years, but he damn sure wants this opportunity to reach for the sky and become world champion.

Enter Claudio to say his piece. He cautioned Briscoe to be weary of accepting. Claudio had to show Kingston his limits in their last match, and he will do the same to Briscoe. Claudio viewed it as his duty to pull Briscoe down to earth for thinking he is on the same level as the world champ.

That was solid trash talk on a competitive level, then Claudio made it personal to inspire fire from deep within Briscoe. Claudio looked down on Briscoe as the man he is today. What’s all this talk about following in Jay’s footsteps? (Jay Briscoe is a two-time ROH world champion.) The Briscoes of old, that Claudio knew, stepped side by side as equals, not Mark in Jay’s shadow. Claudio popped off that time has made Mark weak. He’s not man enough to beat Claudio. Anger bubbled in Mark’s eyes at that assertion. Time has made Claudio hard. It has made him the champion he is today. Claudio offered a handshake to accept the match, but he warned that Briscoe is not ready.

Tony Khan made the match official for Death Before Dishonor.

Claudio sold the heck out of this matchup. He painted himself as the unbeatable champion, and he painted Briscoe as the babyface with a specific motivation for fans to rally behind. The combination sets the canvas for an epic moment if Briscoe can prevail. And while Kingston would likely bring in more eyeballs to the ROH product as world champ, Briscoe is more fitting to carry the ball from a legacy perspective. He’s been an ROH workhorse his entire career as a 13-time tag team champion with Jay having countless epic matches in the annals of the company’s history. This is all setting up an emotional result no matter who wins at Death Before Dishonor. Either Claudio crushes Briscoe’s spirit or Briscoe reaches for the sky to achieve the highest honor in ROH.

Are you satisfied with Claudio Castagnoli versus Mark Briscoe for the ROH World Championship as the Death Before Dishonor PPV main event?