ROH: Death Before Dishonor IV
PA National Guard Armory - Philadelphia, PA
The
PA National Guard Armory had one of the most interesting setups for the crowd that I've ever seen at a pro wrestling event. The general admission bleachers were set up on two opposite sides of the ring behind the floor seats. One side was designated for
CZW fans and the other for
ROH fans. This made for one hell of a show with both groups of fans taunting each other across the ring. It was hands down one of the most intense crowd atmospheres that I've ever experienced at any type of event.
In the weeks leading up to this show,
Homicide told
Jim Cornette that he would join
Team ROH in
Cage Of Death, but only if
Ring Of Honor would grant him any three wishes that he wants. After the
Pure Championship match (which was incredible, by the way),
Cornette came out to the ring to say that he wouldn't give in to
Homicide's demands, so
Team ROH is still looking for its fifth member. This causes
Bryan Danielson to come out and offer to be the fifth member, even though he's defending his championship earlier in the night, and he doesn't want anything in return.
Danielson defeated
Dutt by striking him in the head with his elbow until the referee stopped the match. We then went to intermission and the
Cage Of Death was set up. It's sort of like an octagon-shaped
Hell In The Cell because the cage surrounds the ring and the ringside area, but instead of having a roof, it was filled with weapons, including chairs, trash cans, a barbed wire bat, and a table that was covered in barbed wire.
The match was held under
War Games rules, with
J.J. Dillon standing guard at the entrance. It began with one member of each team in the cage (
Samoa Joe for
ROH and
Claudio Castagnoli for
CZW).
ROH won the coin toss, so a new wrestler came into the cage every every two minutes, starting with
BJ Whitmer, which gave
ROH a 2-on-1 advantage for the next two minutes until a new
CZW wrestler could enter, then another two minutes passes before an
ROH wrestler enters, and so on until all five members from each team are in the match. The match can't end until all five members of each team have entered the cage, but once they've all been introduced, a winner is determined by a single pinfall or submission. In other words, it's one-fall to a finish, not elimination style like
Survivor Series. I'm not doing a great job of explaining it, but hopefully you get the idea.
The order of entry was:
Adam Peace came out next for
ROH, followed by
Necro Butcher for
CZW. At this point, it was an absolute seal beating with
CZW using every weapon in the cage to beat down
Team ROH.
Ace Steel was the 9th man introduced in the match. He came out with a cowbell on a long rope, which he used to smack each member of
Team CZW in the head, but
CZW quickly regrouped and once again got the upper hand, with their surprise entrant still to be announced.
Chris Hero grabbed the microphone to introduce the final member of
Team CZW to the ring. He said that it's a man who he hates, but their hatred for
ROH is stronger than their hatred for each other. With that,
Eddie Kingston hit the ring and all five members of
Team CZW took turns smacking the three remaining members of
Team ROH with ladders, chairs, a barbed wire bat, the cowbell, and everything else in sight. After a few minutes of this, the lights went out, the red strobe came on, and the Kill Bill music played. Half of the crowd went absolutely bananas chanting
Homicide's name as he came to the ring and wasted
Team CZW. He passed out forks to his
ROH teammates, and
Team ROH fought back with what amounted to a series of piledrivers and stabbings. The
ROH side of the arena chanted "Ring Of Homicide" while the
CZW side responded with a chant of "6 on 5" in protest of the fact that
ROH had six members of its roster enter the match against five members of the
CZW roster. Since there were only four members of the
ROH roster out at that moment (with
Joe and
Danielson gone), the
ROH fans responded with a chant of "you can't count".
The final 20 minutes of the match were absolute mayhem that made even the most hardcore night of
ECW look almost tame in comparison. It finally ended when
Homicide hit
Nate Webb with a
Cop Killa on top of a pile of barbed wire before covering him for the pinfall and giving
Team ROH the victory. And then, just when I thought this night couldn't get any more batshit crazy, it did.
Jim Cornette ordered everyone in the
ROH locker room to carry
Team CZW out of the cage and throw them out of the building. He then thanked
Team ROH and told
Homicide that he had the heart of a warrior and that he was going to grant his three wishes.
Homicide's first wish was to fight
Steve Corino in an
ROH ring, which
Cornette granted. His second wish was an a guaranteed
ROH World Title shot. Again,
Cornette granted him his wish.
Homicide's final wish was that
Cornette reinstate
Low Ki and bring him back to
ROH. The fans chanted "just say yes", but this was a bridge too far.
Cornette said he'd grant any wish for
Homicide, but he's not granting a wish for
Low Ki and he wouldn't be allowed back in
ROH as long as
Cornette is still in charge.
Homicide called
Cornette a liar and spit in his face. This led to
Cornette spraying mace in
Homicide's face and
Adam Pearce attacking him while
J.J. Dillon locked the cage to prevent anyone from running in. Then to cap off the night with one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen in a wrestling ring,
J.J. Dillon handcuffed
Homicide to the turnbuckle and removed his shirt, and then
Jim Cornette whipped him in the back with his belt. I don't mean one or two whips either... this looked like something out of
Roots. So, it seems that the chapter is officially closed on the
ROH vs.
CZW feud, and the war between
The Rottweilers and
Jim Cornette has just begun.
I know that I said that the
May 13th show in
New Jersey was the best pro wrestling show I had ever seen, and it may have been the stronger show from beginning to end, but the main event of
Death Before Dishonor IV was on a whole other level. I've been to the
Gathering Of The Juggalos four times and god only know how many other crazy ass shows, but this was hands down the most insane, flat out batshit crazy event I have ever attended, and it came from an independent promotion that is best known for technical wrestling. I can't imagine how they're ever going to top this.
