ROH Death Before Dishonor 2024 Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of ROH Death Before Dishonor 2024.

Here is a look at the card from Friday's show:

• Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong (ROH title)
• Athena vs. Queen Aminata (ROH women's title)
• Billie Starkz vs. Red Velvet (Women's TV title)
• The Kingdom vs. Kyle O'Reilly and Tomohiro Ishii (ROH tag titles)
• Diamante vs. Leyla Hirsch (Texas Death Match)
• Wheeler Yuta vs. Lee Moriarty (Pure title)
• Dustin Rhodes and Von Erichs vs. Dark Order
• Komander vs. Beast Mortos
• Atlantis Jr. vs. Lio Rush vs. Shane Taylor vs. Brian Cage vs. Lee Johnson vs. Johnny TV (TV title)
• MxM Collection vs. TBD

Let's take a look at what happened during this year's Death Before Dishonor PPV.

Angelico and Serpentico were the first competitors to enter the ring for the opening match against Mason Madden and Mansoor, who were making their ROH debut.

This wasn't a fast-paced bout, a technical clinic, or a high-flying spot fest. This was a comedy match meant to introduce MxM to the ROH audience, which means it was entertaining to some degree but failed to show off everything Madden and Mansoor can do.

The last couple of minutes picked up and featured the best action from the entire match. Madden and Mansoor picked up the win for a successful debut. Maria Kanellis congratulated them afterwards to indicate she is interested in managing them.

Result: MxM defeated Spanish Announce Project

Grade: C+

The next bout saw Marina Shafir take on Angelica Risk, whose entrance was not shown on screen. That one detail made the outcome very predictable.

Shafir played some mind games during the Code of Honor and no-sold several chops before locking in Mother's Milk for a quick squash victory.

Result: Shafir defeated Risk

Grade: Incomplete

Maria was back out with Griff Garrison as he teamed up with Anthony Henry to take on Carlie Bravo and Shawn Dean of The Infantry.

All four of these men are great young athletes, so this bout had a significantly quicker pace than the first two matches we saw.

This was a solid outing that seemed to wake the crowd up a bit with some exciting spots. The Infantry got the victory after Maria's attempt at a distraction failed.

Result: The Infantry defeated Garrison and Henry

Grade: B

The final match on the Zero Hour saw Dante and Darius Martin face Turbo Floyd and Truth Magnum. The Outrunners took control immediately with a little dirty offense.

These are very different teams. Top Flight favors quick aerial maneuvers while The Outrrunners use a lot of power moves. This was a good combo because it meant Flord and Magnum could provide a good base for the Martins whenever they took to the air.

Dante and Darius picked up the win in a decent matchup that didn't overstay its welcome.

Result: Top Flight defeated The Outrunners

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Caprice Coleman almost seemed caught off guard when it was his turn to speak at the beginning of the show. 
• Coleman's reaction to Ian Ricabonni saying the first match would have the sexiest Code of Honor handshake was hilarious. 
• The way Mansoor sold being tripped on the middle rope was incredible. 
• Shafir applied her submission finisher in a very unique way. 
• Henry's transition from a kneebar into an STF was smooth. 

The first match on the main card featured some lucha libre action as Komander took on the imposing Beast Mortos.

The powerhouse faked Komander out during the Code of Honor to get an early advantage, but the crowd didn't seem too bothered by it. In fact, it was chanting his name a few seconds later.

Both guys had plenty of moments to shine and control bounced back and forth several times. Mortos had the upper hand more often, but Komander kept finding ways to come back.

Komander was responsible for most of the high spots and Mortos used a lot of power moves to try to ground him. They kept upping the risk factor with bigger spots and the crowd was eating it up.

This was a fantastic showcase for both men and one of the best displays of aerial ability you will see. The longer it went, the better it got, but in the end, it was Mortos who got the pin and the win.

Result: The Beast Mortos defeated Komander

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Mortos has one of the coolest masks in all of pro wrestling, but there is no way he has 100% of his field of vision. It probably gets sweaty, too. 
• Powerbombing Komander into Alex Abrahantes was kind of funny because Alex sold it like he was dead. 
• Komander hit a DDT through the corner of the ring on the floor, which is a move a lot of people associate with Sami Zayn. It was also used by El Generico but nobody knows what happened to him. 
• The hurricanrana Komander hit on the apron was awesome. 

Matt Taven and Mike Bennett put the ROH Tag Team Championships on the line against Ishii and one of The Undisputed Kingdom's biggest rivals, O'Reilly.

Ishii refused to shake any hands before he and Bennett locked up to get the match going. The Stone Pitbull no-sold some chops and dished out some of his own to punish Bennett.

Once KOR tagged in, it turned into a more technical fight with a lot of precise takedowns and submissions. He and Ishii made for a good team because they each brought a different set of skills into the ring.

All four of these men are veteran performers, so it will come as no surprise to hear they put on a good show. It didn't feel like anyone stood out more than anyone else because all four men carried their weight.

Even though this was a fun match, it probably would have been just as good if it ended a few minutes earlier with fewer false finishes. That's more of an observation than a complaint because it never felt like they were overstaying their welcome.

Don Callis and Kyle Fletcher showed up at ringside to a chorus of boos and distracted the ref to prevent KOR from winning. This allowed Bennett to steal the win for his team to retain the titles.

Result: The Kingdom defeated KOR and Ishii

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• It's still weird that Maria never comes out with The Kingdom anymore. 
• Bennett and Ishii had red chests from dishing out a couple dozen chops. Ishii was bleeding a little, too. 
• Taven screaming for help while O'Reilly had him tied up in a submission was funny. 
• The double-team spot Taven and Bennett hit on KOR at ringside was wild. Taven and KOR hit the floor hard. 

The Texas Death Match between Hirsch and Diamante started on the ramp when Legit Leyla brought two chairs with her and sat on the ramp to await her opponent.

Diamante made her regret that decision after throwing her off the stage through a couple of tables, but Hirsch beat the count to her feet and they fought their way to the ring.

The Russian-born star was busted up after taking a dropkick with a few chairs stacked in front of her face, and Diamante was bleeding less than a minute later.

They used all kinds of weapons to cause damage to each other, including a pile of thumbtacks that ended up causing both competitors some strife.

Doing a match like this just days after AEW put on its annual Blood and Guts bout is risky because it would be difficult for anyone to match that level of violence, but Hirsch and Diamante had the crowd eating out of the palms of their hands.

This was one of the most violent women's matches in ROH history, but it never felt like they crossed a line. Legit Leyla was able to secure the win with a moonsault from the top of a ladder through a table.

Result: Hirsch defeated Diamante

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• The table spot looked great. They used a good camera angle to capture the impact.
• Diamante's dropkick while Hirsch was hanging in the tree of woe looked brutal. 
• Legit Leyla hit a German suplex from the middle rope onto a pile of tacks. 
• On the way down during her moonsault, Hirsch's hands got caught up on the ladder.  She may be injured but it's unclear at this point. 

The ROH Pure Championship was up for grabs when Moriarty challenged Yuta. This was one of the most highly anticipated bouts on the card.

In the eyes of many fans, these two men are among the best technical wrestlers working today, so putting them in a Pure Rules match was almost guaranteed to produce a clinic.

Putting this bout on the card after the Texas Death Match was smart because it was a completely different kind of match. We went from bloody violence to some of the smoothest wrestling you will see in any company.

Moriarty did a good job playing the heel and pushing the rules as far as the ref would allow, which let Yuta fall into the underdog babyface role easily.

Both men burned through their three allotted rope breaks, so when Moriarty rolled Yuta into a pin and used the ropes for leverage, it was perfectly legal. He scored the pin to become the new champion after a terrific display of technical wrestling.

Yuta put the belt around Moriarty's waist to show him respect after it was over.

Result: Moriarty defeated Yuta to win the Pure Championship

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Taylor wasn't at ringside because he had a match later in the show. 
• Paul Wight served as a judge because he is on the ROH board now. 
• Moriarty's strikes looked extra stiff in this one.
• The bump Yuta took on the apron looked painful. 

Starkz showed up with a long black trench coat and toy guns for her TV title match against Red Velvet.

The challenger was giving up quite a bit of height and weight, so she was the underdog despite having age and experience on her side.

They put on a good, competitive fight that did a good job portraying the bully side Starkz has developed since aligning with Athena while also letting Velvet look like a tough competitor.

This was one of Velvet's best performances in months and she ended it by tricking Starkz and hitting her finisher for the pin. The crowd gave her a big pop when she won.

Result: Red Velvet defeated Starkz to win the TV title

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Lexi Nair accidentally announced Starkz as the challenger instead of the champion.
• Both women had great looks for this match. Starkz even incorporated some face paint. 
• If you look at a Starkz match from one year ago and compare it to this one, you will notice a big increase in her confidence. She no longer hesitates before big moves because she trusts herself. 
• Starkz sold Velvet's finisher perfectly. 

Rhodes teamed up with Marshall and Ross Von Erich to take on Alex Reynolds, Evil Uno and John Silver of The Dark Order.

All six men started fighting after the bell and the chaos took a few minutes to settle down. At one point, Uno used a cowbell as a weapon while Aubrey Edwards had her back turned.

AEW and ROH six-man matches always have a certain level of mayhem involved, which can be entertaining but can also make the action difficult to follow in places.

After both Von Erichs got to use The Claw, Rhodes finished off Reynolds to get the win.

Result: Rhodes and the Von Erichs defeated The Dark Order

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• For a match that didn't feel very big, the video package for this was good and made it feel bigger because of the Texas setting. 
• Marshall almost gets too much elevation for his dropkicks. He's more agile than he looks. 
• Silver got some heat when he yelled that he invented the Claw.  
• Rhodes got the biggest pop when he got a hot tag.

Atlantis Jr. had a big challenge ahead of him in this six-way elimination match for the ROH Television Championship. Taylor, Johnson, Rush, Cage and Johnny TV served as his challengers.

With this many competitors, recapping even a fraction of the action would be difficult. From the moment this started, people were pairing up and taking the fight all around the ring.

Here is the order of eliminations:

• Rush eliminated Taylor
• Johnson eliminated Rush
• Cage eliminated Johnson
• Cage eliminated Johnathan Television
• Atlantis defeated Cage

This was a spot fest that managed to give every single wrestler at least one standout moment. It's difficult for everyone in a six-man match to shine, but they pulled it off.

Atlantis was able to roll Cage up for the pin to retain his TV title in what was only the second Survival of the Fittest match for a title in ROH history.

Result: Atlantis won

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• Cage didn't have any special gear like he usually does for PPVs. 
• The "Meat" chant during Cage and Taylor's exchange was funny. 
• Rush and Atlantis had incredible chemistry. We need a singles match soon.
• Cage's dive over the top rope was incredible.

The penultimate match on the card was the Women's World Championship bout between Athena and Queen Aminata.

They started with some simple exchanges to size each other up, but it quickly turned into a more physical fight after Aminata decked the champion.

It didn't take long for them to turn this into a highly physical contest. Athena has been the dominant competitor in many of her matches, but the offense in this bout felt evenly split. They did an excellent job making it feel like either woman could win a any point.

They told a great story and left everything they had in the ring. Starkz ran to the ring to interfere but was intercepted by Velvet. Nair gave the Fallen Goddess a weapon to use while the ref was distracted and it allowed her to get the win and retain her title.

The Minion Overlord celebrated with her minions as Velvet helped Aminata. This bout was one of the biggest highlights of the show and is worth taking the time to see if you didn't watch the show live.

Result: Athena defeated Aminata

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• The video package for Athena was cool. 
• Athena's suicide dive looked great. 
• Both competitors took some hard hits into the steel steps. 
• Aminata hit a beautiful snap suplex out of nowhere. 
• A couple of the kicks Aminata hit looked brutal. Athena was selling hard for her. 

Just 48 hours removed from the Blood and Guts match on Dynamite, Briscoe was back in action to defend the ROH world title against Strong.

These two men have known each other for many years and fought dozens of times, so there was no feeling-out period. They locked up and started going to work right away.

The Chicken found himself busted open for the second time this week, but it didn't seem to slow him down.

When Roddy used the Briscoe's own Jay Driller on him, Mark kicked out at one and had a fire in his eyes. He started beating on the man who stole his brother's finisher but couldn't quite keep him down for a three-count.

Taven and Bennett interfered but KOR and Ishii showed up to drive them off. A bloody and injured Briscoe hit a huge flying elbow drop to get the victory. KOR and Ishii came back to celebrate with him to end the show.

This was a strong main event performance from both men and a feel-good moment to wrap up the PPV.

Result: Briscoe defeated Strong

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Briscoe's wounds from Wednesday healed quickly.
• Briscoe taking a kid's hat to post with it for the camera was a funny moment.
• Strong has more power than you would expect for his size. He is a little smaller than Briscoe and was lifting him like it was nothing, and he has picked up much bigger opponents in the past. 

From an in-ring perspective, this is one of the strongest ROH PPVs since Tony Khan bought the promotion.

Past events have had bigger stories and feuds, but this show didn't have a single weak match and had more Match of the Night candidates than most PPVs.

The women's division had an incredible showing on Friday. Aminata, Athena, Starkz, Velvet, Hirsch and Diamante all poured their hearts and souls into their performances.

When it comes to the men, Mortos and Komander put on the most exciting match. Picking one bout to call the best out of the 13 we saw is impossible, which is actually a good thing.

ROH's weekly product needs a lot of work to get back to where it once was, but its PPVs always leave fans happy.

Grade: A-