Mercedes Martinez Says ROH Death Before Dishonor Is a Rebirth, Previews Women’s Title Match

Mercedes Martinez will defend the ROH Women’s Title against Serena Deeb at Death Before Dishonor and recently gave fans an idea of what to expect. Martinez, who became the unified ROH Women’s Champion by beating Deonna Purrazzo on AEW Dynamite back in May, spoke with NBC Sports Boston to promote this weekend’s PPV and talked about her match and more. You can check out some highlights below, per Fightful:

On what to expect to see at Death Before Dishonor: “It’s like a rebirth, if you think about it. It really is. Going back from the old days of Ring of Honor to what the potential of what this new Ring of Honor can bring, it’s something exciting. It’s something that I’m glad to have the opportunity to build the women’s division under me and mold what the division can be. But man, if you’re looking at me and Serena, me and Serena have battled and had our feuds, but this is going to bring a new era of women’s wrestling. You’re looking at, not high-flying because we definitely don’t high-fly, right. We’re technical, we’re submissions, and we’re athletes, and we’re wrestlers, and that’s what Ring of Honor really encompasses is wrestling, pure wrestling in its form.”

On her match with Deeb: “You’re looking at chain wrestling and submissions, anything technical, and of course you’re looking at the power sense of it and those big moments that you wanna take, but I think for me and Serena, we’re taking this very seriously. We’re going in there, showing the world what women wrestlers, and we put that emphasis on the wrestling because that’s what this is all about. It’s, can the mainstream handle two actual wrestlers and putting on a wrestling clinic, and still entertaining because you still have to mix in the sports entertainment. So it’s a rebirth for her, it’s a rebirth for me, and bringing a new level of what the women’s division can bring going forward. So this is just a building block of what we can do for the women’s division here in Ring of Honor.”