The 2023 ROH Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view will be broadcast live on tonight from Trenton, New Jersey’s CURE Insurance Arena, and will be the fifth Ring of Honor pay-per-view held under ROH Chairman Tony Khan.
Khan had to make several creative changes to get to the final card for Friday night. According to a new report from Fightful Select, the original Death Before Dishonor plans called for rematches of ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe defending against ROH Hall of Famer Mark Briscoe, and ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli defending against Eddie Kingston, who is now the NJPW Strong Openweight Champion. At Supercard of Honor, Joe and Castagnoli both defended their titles.
Joe had to take some time away from AEW and ROH because he was scheduled for media appearances for his role in Peacock’s new Twisted Metal series, including a stop at the San Diego Comic-Con. However, those appearances were canceled due to the ongoing Hollywood strike, and AEW learned that Joe would be available for the pay-per-view after all, and in the near future.
Officials had planned to move forward without Joe, but with his availability, plans were changed last week to include him on the show. Moving on without Joe, the finals of the ROH World Television Title Eliminator Tournament would have featured Dalton Castle vs. Shane Taylor at Death Before Dishonor. Because Joe is no longer scheduled to attend SDCC this weekend, they moved the tournament finals to this week’s go-home TV episode, with the winner taking on Joe on Friday night, which is Castle.
Khan granted Kingston permission to work the NJPW’s G1 Climax Tournament and has stated that he had hoped Kingston could fly in from Japan to work Death Before Dishonor and then back to Japan, but that this was not possible. Khan had something completely different planned for Briscoe, but he said it couldn’t happen for unspecified reasons. They ended up filming a few weeks of Briscoe vs. Castagnoli promos before Briscoe revealed how bad his injuries were. When the company learned of Castagnoli’s injury, plans for PAC to challenge him were put in place, but PAC’s title shot couldn’t be finalized until the angle at Blood & Guts was completed.
