411 Fact or Fiction Wrestling ROH Edition: Will Cole Defeat Lethal Tonight?

Welcome back to the latest edition of 411 Fact or Fiction, ROH Edition! Today we’re talking ROH and tonight’s Death Before Dishonor PPV. Battling today are 411’s Mitch Nickelson and Paul Leazar!

1. Adam Cole WILL defeat Jay Lethal to win the ROH World Title at Death Before Dishonor.

Mitch Nickelson: FACT – Ring of Honor might as well put Adam Cole over; Bullet Club merch money is still likely a cash cow, so their version of it can be put to good use in bringing in those t-shirt sales. Plus, Jay Lethal has been on top for quite a while in that company and somebody has to eventually defeat him. Adam Cole is a proven commodity, so he’d be perfect in ROH’s top spot. After shaving Jay bald it would only be fitting to next take his title away from him, likely thanks to Young Buck interference. Cole and the Bucks have been a scourge to Jay Lethal, Kyle O’Reilly, Nigel McGuinness, and ROH in general recently – I want to see just how much of a ruckus these bad guys can truly cause before they finally get what’s coming to them.

Paul Leazar: FACT – I think the writing has been on the wall now that Ring of Honor very much wants Kyle O’Reilly to be “the guy” for them. The recent feud with Adam Cole and the history he has with Jay Lethal are recent points that lead to this fact, and work into the narrative RoH has had going with the O’Reilly/Lethal/Cole saga that has drawn in so much of the RoH roster. So at Death Before Dishonor, you know the interference is going to be off the charts, you know there is going to be so much going on for that match, but all of that will ultimately lead to crowning Adam Cole as the RoH World Champion, only for Kyle O’Reilly to come roaring back from the injury angle to win Survival of the Fittest this year to set up the big grudge match at Final Battle where O’Reilly will dethrone Cole to finish the story.

2. ROH is relying way too much on New Japan Pro Wrestling talent to pad out the PPV.

Mitch Nickelson: FACT – Yes, they do rely quite a lot on New Japan, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. New Japan remains one of the most exciting promotions on Earth so why not include guys like Okada, Tanahashi, and Naito on the card if that’s an option? It’s a relationship that works majorly in the favor of ROH so it’s a minor gripe at most from me. Having a guy like Dalton Castle face off against IWGP Heavyweight Champion Okada in a non-title match is about the best matchup that could be hoped for in Dalton’s case. Good for him for getting such a notable opponent. Back to the original statement, I’d maybe say that their heavy reliance on NJPW isn’t “too much,” even though it’s massive.

Paul Leazar: FACT – This one hurts because Ring of Honor has done a great job at building up their two singles title matches to mean something, but when you look down the rest of the card after that, it’s a whole lot of New Japan guys vs. Ring of Honor guys. Not that I’m complaining because there are some terrific matches on this show, but this continues to lead into the trouble that a lot of folks are having with Ring of Honor these days. They’ve relied on these big New Japan names to sell the shows, and for Global Wars and the Anniversary show this year, I’d completely agree. This one feels somewhat different because the other stuff seems to matter at the top of the card, and they have no New Japan specific talent involved in either of their singles title matches. The explained a lot of the reasons why a lot of the undercard isn’t being featured, mostly injuries, and why the New Japan talent are going to be gunning for the tag titles on RoH television. I will certainly agree, however, that Ring of Honor is quickly running out of RoH specific stars, and that is a major problem.

3. The build for the Death Before Dishonor PPV, as far as the weekly TV goes, has been lacking.

Mitch Nickelson: FICTION – This has actually been one of the better TV builds ROH has had in a while. The episode in which Jay Lethal got his head shaved by Bullet Club was one of the better hours they’ve put together, storyline-wise. The main event has been given a proper, coherent play out on television and it’s a story that I want to see the conclusion to. I don’t always feel like ROH gets me to that point with their one hour per week on Comet TV, but they did this time. As for everything else…the rest of the Death Before Dishonor card is something I had to discover by internet search. I watch the show faithfully every week, but only the World Title, TV Title, and the Number 1 Contender’s 4way Match were stuff I remember being addressed on TV. It is true that they generally underutilize their TV show in their PPV builds so hopefully they work on that more in the future.

Paul Leazar: FICTION – I’m saying this because the last four weeks have been nothing but absolutely beautiful build towards the main event. If they haven’t sold you on Lethal & Cole yet, I don’t know what else they could’ve done to do so. Mark Briscoe & Bobby Fish had a wonderful segment with Mark taking over the Fish Tank that added a lot of heat to the TV Title match. They’ve been showing of a lot guys who are going to be on this show as well in some smaller timed positions, like Dijak who sent Moose packing and an awesome match with Lio Rush on the go home RoH TV, and Jay White’s continued dominance on RoH Television, as well as his feud with Kamaitachi, gives you a reason to tune into the Four Corner’s Survival match. The tag team division is a little worse for wear with some injuries that have sort of shuffled them around. Briscoe and Page got a little bit of a spot here on the go home RoH TV, but that does have some history to it. For me, RoH TV has been solid as far as building this PPV up to matter at the key matches that will sell it.

SWITCH!

4. ROH is wasting Katsuyori Shibata’s ROH debut match on Silas Young.

Paul Leazar: FICTION – I might get a lot of hate for this, but I don’t think that they are. I think very highly of Silas as a wrestler. Sure, it’s not a perfect match on paper, and RoH has sorta dropped the ball with Silas here and there, but he’s great at getting heat, and I think Shibata will play well with “The Real Man” persona that Silas has. Fortunately, Silas isn’t booked in anything major, so him taking the loss won’t hurt all that much, and on the flip side of that, Silas is somebody who RoH should be building to matter, and him having a good performance here could really help give them some motivation to use him in a better capacity. I’m looking forward to the match honestly.

Mitch Nickelson: FICTION – I applaud Ring of Honor in this matchup. Silas Young is one of the better characters they’ve come across recently. He’s so good at being hated to the ROH crowd and that’s because of his recent feud with the mega-favorite Dalton Castle – a villainous role that he knocked out of the park. I don’t see Silas being the type of guy that’s going to necessarily take a headbutt so stuff that it bloodies someone hardway, but he doesn’t need to be. He’ll get the crowd so against him and so in favor of Shibata that it’ll likely be unreal. Also, Silas Young is not the bigger name here, Shibata is. Being an ROH show, it’s seems more important for Silas to have a chance at raising his stock against an incoming star than the other way around. Hopefully these two click because it is an intriguing pairing.

5. While the ROH-NJPW relationship has helped ROH financially, it has failed to create a big star for the company.

Paul Leazar: FACT – There has to be something in the deal between RoH and New Japan that says that Ring of Honor guys can’t go over these New Japan guys. Seventy-five percent of the time, New Japan guys go over in these matches, and it really hurts a lot of these guys from breaking out, and gaining some steam to take into feuds. I completely understand that New Japan is the bigger company here, but RoH has given up a lot by having their stars look like chumps compared to the New Japan guys. We know these guys can wrestle in RoH, that’s what the promotion is built on, but these guys need wins, they need to feel like they matter, and if New Japan ever decides to feature these guys in a bigger capacity on their own shows, letting these RoH guys beat some New Japan guys more often might make some fans in both the US and Japan care to see them.

Mitch Nickelson: FACT – This is true, but hopefully the opportunity for a wrestler to climb the card thanks to one of these shows hasn’t passed. I’ve highlighted the Okada vs. Castle and Shibata vs. Young bouts already, two contests that could easily serve as a breakout performance for a couple of non-main event ROH guys. The best example of an ROH guy who’s stardom has benefited huge thanks to New Japan is Michael Elgin, but he really doesn’t count in this sense because he completely left ROH to join NJPW. He’s part of the incoming talent for Death Before Dishonor. I guess as long as their bottom line isn’t suffering and they’re still putting on solid wrestling shows then there isn’t much to worry about on the short term – but if that relationship ever came to an end then they might find themselves struggling a little down the line.

6. While it is not high on star power, the Donovan Dijak vs. Lio Rush vs. Jay White vs. Kamaitachi match may just steal the show at Death Before Dishonor.

Paul Leazar: FACT – This card has a lot of great matches, but we already know the match with the most build, Lethal vs. Cole, is going to be overbooked to all hell. Dijak and Rush put on an incredible match on this last Ring of Honor TV, and adding two work horses like Jay White & Kamaitachi to the match can only make it better. If this gets time, this could end up being the best match on the card, and that’s not a terrible thing, especially with how much RoH has invested in all of these guys right now.

Mitch Nickelson: FACT – Absolutely, this could steal the show. Lio Rush won the Top Prospect Tournament earlier this year and appears to be one of the best “flippy guys” as of late. I haven’t seen a ton of Jay White or Kamaitachi, but they come with plenty of hype and seem like they’ve got the potential to wow with their moves. I’m pretty sure I recall a splash from the top rope to the floor outside of the ring by Kamaitachi earlier this year. The gigantic Donovan Dijak seems like the oddball in this foursome, but he’s proven that he can be a great contrast to smaller, more flashy talent. Dijak had a recent singles match against Jason Kincaid on ROH TV which serves as evidence of how well he can mesh with this style. The winner gets a future shot at the TV Title so I’m expecting this one to be a fast paced contest between four hungry talents.

7. What is your current excitement level for the ROH Death Before Dishonor PPV and why?

Paul Leazar: 8 out of 10 – I am beyond hyped for Lethal and Cole this Friday. The TV Title match should be great because you have two of RoH’s most consistent workers battling it out in Bobby Fish and Mark Briscoe, the Tag Title match should be a fun and chaotic mess with The Addiction defending against Naito/EVIL and Elgin/Tanahashi. The Four Corner’s Survival Match should be terrific, I’m looking forward to Shibata/Young and Castle/Okada even though the results are clearly in New Japan’s favor. Briscoe/Page, which should be fine but doesn’t have a whole ton of build or excitement to it, and the CHAOS vs. Bullet Club six man tag just seems meh, but could surprise. I know the competition isn’t strong, but this could be RoH’s best outing on PPV this year.

Mitch Nickelson: 7 out of 10 – This is a stacked Friday card put up against a huge weekend of wrestling, so I hope it doesn’t get overlooked. WWE has a TakeOver event on Saturdayand SummerSlam on Sunday, and several other smaller companies are also running shows, so Death Before Dishonor could suffer from simply being lost in the shuffle. I hope that’s not the case. Adam Cole vs. Jay Lethal is the bout I’m most looking forward to, thanks to the solid build thus far. It’s a shame that Lethal might lose his hair and his title but the latter is at stake, so it could happen. The Dalton Castle match, the Silas Young match, the Triple Threat Tag Title Match, and the 4way match are among the contests I’m most wanting to see. There are a few bouts I’m not overly excited about, but that’s fine. Not every card is going to be stacked from top to bottom. This show should be a worthy card when compared to the many other strong lineups this weekend.