By Rich Twilling

ROH Death By Dishonor VIII
Aired live on PPV from Toronto, Ontario

Cheech and Cloudy came out for the opening match, but El Generico breezed by them and rolled into the ring. He grabbed a microphone and continued yelling, "Steen! Now!" Steve Corino came out dressed in a black suit.

Corino said he was dressed in black for Generico's funeral. He said he and Steen called the shots, not Generico. Steen does not work opening matches, he works main events. Steen entered the ring and went nose to nose with Generico. He grabbed a mic and told Corino it was fine because he was going to end it now...

Twill's Two Cents: Nice way to open the show. Even with the two title matches, this one is as anticipated as anything on this card. Great way to get the crowd going early. By the way, this won't be the usual coverage given the iPPV and my small computer screen, but I will update as the show progresses.

1. Kevin Steen defeated El Generico in 17:42. Steen scored the pinfall as he sat on the top rope and Generico tried to set him up for a brain buster. A struggle caused the referee to be temporarily distracted. Steen hit Generico with a wrench he pulled out of the ring post. He then hit a cradle buster for the win...

Twill's Two Cents: Great match with sort of a disappointing finish. Steen came in promising to end the career and kill Generico. It's hard to see a match like this end, but the foreign object usage and pinfall was a letdown at the end.

Generico was helped to the back as Steen motioned to the camera he had his sights on the ROH World Championship...

Various ROH wrestlers and personalities commented on who would win tonight between Tyler Black and Davey Richards. A Double was humorous in saying there would definitely be a winner and that winner would be the World Champion...

2. The All Night Express (Kenny King and Rhett Titus) defeated Up in Smoke (Cheech and Cloudy) in 8:42. Good back and forth action with the crowd dying down a bit, but remaining into the action. King and Titus won with the One Night Stand double team maneuver...

Twill's Two Cents: Good match that had the difficult task of following up Steen vs. Generico. The right team got the win here. Good night so far for the heels.

Afterwards, King took the mic and put over the win, as well as their manager, the greatest man alive, Austin Aries. Titus then introduced Aries, who came out in his wrestling gear for his match.

A Double said the pay-per-view audience got their money's worth because he was out there. He then cut a promo on Delirious. Delirious came out dressed in red and for those that don't know, that means the match is very personal to him...

3. Delirious defeated Austin Aries by disqualification in 13:04. The referee ejected King and Titus. Austin hit Delirious with a cheap shot while the referee put his jacket outside. Delirious sprayed mist into Austin's eyes...

The match timing actually worked out okay because the crowd mellowed out a bit, but it was an Austin Aries match, so that is always good. The finish came with Delirious setting up for Shadows Over Hell, but Titus and King hit the ring for the disqualification.

Afterward, Titus pulled down his pants, so if you ordered the pay-per-view to see his ass, you got your money's worth. Delirious took out Titus with a kick to his jewels. He then took out King, but Aries got out of there unscathed...

Twill's Two Cents: That really didn't accomplish much. Predictably good for the most part, but another letdown ending. Looks like Delirious might have to go through King and Titus before getting back to Aries.

4. Roderick Strong (with Truth Martini) defeated Eddie Edwards (with Shane Hagadorn), Steve Corino, Tyson Dux, Shawn Daivari (with The Embassy), and Colt Cabana in the 2nd Annual Toronto Gauntlet in 28:24. Edwards and Dux were the first two. The announcers mentioned again that the Briscoes were not in the building yet. My feed just froze. Fantastic...

I got my feed back with a message that it was interrupted. Thanks for letting me know. I think I am still live, so I'll act as though I am. Edwards had a half crab locked in, but Dux countered with a small package for the three count.

Dux pinned Edwards in 11:04. Edwards is eliminated. Daivari was out next...

Daivari worked on the already injured knee of Dux. He attempted to suplex Daivari from the apron, but Prince Nana grabbed Dux's leg ala Bobby Heenan to the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania V.

Daivari pinned Dux at the 16:45 mark. Colt Cabana was out next...

Cabana made Daivari tap out at the 17:45 mark. Steve Corino was out next...

Corino tried to hit the Eternal Dream, but Colt applied a crucifix. Cabana pinned Corino at the 22:44 mark. Roderick Strong was the final man out...

Strong faked an injury and Truth Martini hit Cabana in the back with his book. Strong jumped back into the ring to gain a shot at the winner of tonight's main event. Strong pinned Cabana at the 28:24 mark.

Twill's Two Cents: I prefer one-on-one matches because this was just a series of short matches. Not a fan of these gauntlet matches. I would have been happy with Strong or Cabana winning this match, so look forward to Strong vs. Black or Strong vs. Richards. By the way, what is the deal with the screw job finishes tonight?

The announcers said once again that the Briscoes have yet to arrive. By the way, why did the Kings of Wrestling go too far by punching Mr. Briscoe? He attacked them first...

The intermission videos aired...

The intermission was short lived as El Generico and Kevin Steen fought down to the ring. Steve Corino hit the ring and Colt Cabana followed. A lot of wrestlers hit the ring.

Generico removed the tie from ring announcer Bobby Cruise. He proceeded to choke Kevin Steen with it. That was a tip of the cap to old friend Bryan Danielson. Dave Prazak yelled, "He should be fired." Nice. Generico celebrated in the ring as the crowd chanted for him...

They went back to the intermission. Tell you what, I'd be pissed if I missed what just happened because, I don't know, I thought it was an actual intermission. Very cool segment though...

Jim Cornette came to the ring for a promo. He put over Toronto never being cold when ROH came to town. He thanked the fans for supporting ROH and said he was glad to help give them a real professional wrestling product...

5. (2) Christopher Daniels defeated Kenny Omega in a Pick Six match in 16:12. Nice job by the announcers explaining the Pick Six. Daniels is currently number two. You have to be in the top six to challenge for the ROH Championship. If you lose to someone out of the six, they get your spot and you move down one, knocking the sixth guy out of the rankings.

Dueling "Fallen Angel, O-meg-A" chants from the crowd. I think the same people were chanting both names. Omega was getting a nice reaction from the Canadian crowd, but they were hot for Daniels too.

Amazingly fast pace for the duration with both men kicking out of each other's finishers. In fact, there were two nearfalls (one for each guy) that looked like the referee's hand came down for three. Daniels won with the BME (Best Moonsault Ever)...

Twill's Two Cents: Fantastic match and the best of the night thus far. That was an unbelievable pace and each man brought it for the duration. Very impressive stuff. The crowd ate up every second. Going into the show, this was a sleeper, but it became the show stealer.

The Kings of Wrestling made their entrance and the Briscoes whereabouts were still in question. The announcer then informed everyone the Briscoes had not yet arrived at the building. Castagnoli took the mic and thanked Canada for not allowing the Briscoes into their country.

Hero took the mic and ran down the Briscoes. Out of nowhere, the Briscoes entered through the crowd and the fight was on. The bell rang and then it was announced this would be a no disqualification match...

6. The Kings of Wrestling (Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero, with Shane Hagadorn) defeated The Briscoes in a no disqualification match to retain the ROH Tag Team Championships in 18:11. Mark Briscoe bled heavily very early in the match. After the initial chaos, everything settled into an actual tag match.

Jay finally tagged in and hit a DVD on Claudio. He then rammed Hero's head into the turnbuckle thirty times. Hero bled. Hagadorn hit Jay with a chair. Jay was busted open and Claudio continued to pound on Mark, who continued to resemble a faucet as blood flowed from his forehead.

Hero tied Jay to the ringpost around his neck. They hit a European uppercut Doomsday Device for another two count on Mark. The referee cut Jay loose with a knife. Mark just kept kicking out. Jay fire extinguished the eyes of both Kings. They set up a table in the corner.

The table withstood both Kings of Wrestling being whipped into it. A double shoulder block sent Claudio through the table, but he kicked out at two. Again, the referee looked like he hit the mat for three.

Hagadorn was brought into the ring and was the victim of a Doomsday Device. All hell broke loose. Claudio attempted a UFO, but was nearly pinned with a counter roll up. Mark kicked out of a loaded elbow shot. Hero put the loaded pad on his foot. Claudio applied the giant swing and Hero kicked Briscoe in the head for the win...

Twill's Two Cents: Another phenomenal tag match between the two teams. This time around, they went hardcore early on and both times absolutely brought it. Although there was some semblance of an actual tag match in the middle there, it was most chaotic and a lot of fun. Great work from both teams with same damn good nearfalls.

A guy was sweeping the ring and the crowd chanted, "Let's go broom guy." Funny. The main event is next...

Davey Richards made his entrance. He grabbed an American flag from a fan at ringside and displayed it in the corner. This didn't stop the crowd from chanting "Next World Champ" and booing Tyler Black. Jim Cornette joined the announce booth...

During the in-ring introductions, the crowd chanted, "F--- him up Davey, f--- him up." Massive boos for Black...

7. Tyler Black defeated Davey Richards to retain the ROH World Championship in 34:44. Tyler held out his hand for the code of honor, but Davey spat in his hand...

Nice spot early on with dueling surf boards. Cornette took a shot at WWE after a play on words. Richards kept saying he was the hunter (he's an American Wolf), and Cornette said, "a hunter has won the title in another organization on the whim of a daughter in law." Well, he got it wrong, but you get the point.

Cornette's announcing takes away from the match, in my opinion. He's become the play-by-play guy here. Richard's presumably lost a tooth and was pissed. He had someone verify it for him, yelled, "F---!" and went after Tyler.

Davey whipped Tyler into the corner and hit him with countless front kicks. Nice. Awesome spot with Richards running the corner, hitting a released German suplex from the top, but Black landed on his feet, hit a big boot and a reverse hurricarana.

Tyler continued on the offensive by running Davey all around the ringside area. He then hit a brain buster for a two count. Richards fought back, knocked Tyler to the floor, and hit a flipping suicide dive onto Black into the crowd.

Davey hit a dragon screw leg whip with Tyler in the ropes. He followed with a missile dropkick. Davey hit a powerbomb and locked in the Cloverleaf. Tyler reached the ropes. Tyler hit a superplex and floated over, hit another move, and nearly pinned Davey.

With both men on the ropes, they exchanged headbutts. I'm honestly surprised they didn't bleed the hard way there. He missed the Phoenix splash. They stood up and hit dueling kicks, but Richards caught one and applied the ankle lock. Tyler struggled but got to the ropes.

Davey suplexed both himself and Black to the floor. Davey hit a big boot to Tyler, who fell over the railing and into the crowd. Davey rolled back into the ring and waited out the count. Shane Hagadorn came out with a chair. Davey stopped him and grabbed the chair.

Tyler used the distraction to superkick the chair into Davey's face. With both men on the apron, Black hit a reverse DDT, sort of a reverse Impaler, onto Richards to the floor. Davey barely beat the count. I thought the referee counted nineteen twice. Fine with me.

Once Davey got back into the ring, the pace actually picked up. Neither guy could barely stand and Tyler asked the referee to stop the match because he didn't want to hurt Davey anymore. Davey slapped Tyler in the face. He locked in the Cloverleaf again and Black struggled in the move for over a minute.

Then it just got ridiculous with both guys hitting big move after big move, finisher after finisher, and neither back giving an inch. Nearfall after nearfall with nobody in the audience in their seat. Tyler hit thrust kick after thrust kick and finally, after about the third small package driver, he finally scored the win...

After the match, the fans chanted, "Thank you both," and "Match of the Year." Davey took several minutes to get to his feet. Eddie Edwards came down to assist him. Davey picked up a microphone, walked up to Tyler, and said (I think, I didn't hear it clearly), "Damn you are a champion."

Tyler jumped on the mic and said, "I didn't know how things were going to go, especially at the end there, but Davey my friend, thank you. Thank you." The fans chanted, "Please don't leave" at Davey and "Thank you both" again to both men...

Twill's Two Cents: Sorry Taker vs. Shawn fans, that was by far the match of the year. The hype, the atmosphere, the two men in the ring, the performance, the crowd, and all of the intangibles; that match had it all. They didn't slow it down for fifteen minutes knowing they were going thirty plus. That match could have been over at the fifteen minute mark and it would have been great. Going into the 35th minute, at that pace and bumping like that, made it the match of the year thus far and it's going to take something beyond special to top it.

What did you think of the show? Personally, for $14.95, that was the best wrestling show for the the dollar I could have asked for. Great stuff. Stay tuned as I touch on this show in an all access audio show later tonight or tomorrow morning. Thank you for following along with me. As always, feel free to email me your thoughts at dotnetrich@gmail.com.

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