Death Before Dishonor II Part 1
July 23, 2004

Delirious vs Matt Sydal vs Ace Steel vs Trent Acid
Interesting mix of wrestlers. You have a fairly big name in Steel, the master of multimen matches in Acid, the slowly impressive Sydal and well...Delirious. I like Delirious and all, but considering it took him a good two years before he could pick up a non-tag win in ROH, he's easily the odd man out. Tons of typical spots. Nice one where Sydal looks to hit a top rope move with Delirious, but Acid climbed up and hit a reverse hurricrana on Sydal while Steel powerbombed Delirious. Delirious and Steel fights it out some, but the pairing is very sloppy. Sydal looks good though. With Sydal going all flippidy on Steel on the outside, this leaves Delirious alone to get the inverted Brainbuster by Acid. Acid's nickname comes though. For a multiman match, this wasn't too bad. Sydal is always entertaining in ROH while with only 4 men, we actually got a little wrestling. The sloppy segment between Delirious and Steel is the only disappointment. 9 Minutes. 2 Stars.

Doug Williams vs Alex Shelley - Pure Title
Once AJ Styles wasn't allowed to return to ROH following the RF disaster, ROH stripped him of the Pure championship. At the previous show, Williams defeated Shelley to win the vacated title. Very slow at first and my attention starts to wander. Once the rope breaks come into play, the match picks up nicely. Shelley hits a few nice moves, but lets his ego get the best of him and he doesn't take advantage of it. Shelley ends up blocking a Chaos Theory, costing him a rope break, but Williams just tries it again with success. Williams ends up being 2-0 against Shelley and has successfully defended the title for the first time. Don't get too comfortable with the title though, Dougy. Pure title matches can be such a drag at times. In most cases (From matches I've seen), it's been more of an hindrance for the match, rather than a fun gimmick. Luckily, this match at least picked up to an exciting and unpredictable finish. Shelley is really showing off his skills in '04 with excelling in a wide variety of matches. 17 Minutes. 2 1/2 Stars.

Dan Maff and BJ Whitmer vs Low-Ki and Rocky Romero
Low-Ki had just returned to the company at the previous show, joining the Rottweilers. After breaking away from Allison Danger, Danger uses Maff and Whitmer's contracts to put them in random matches against tough opponents. Considering Ki knocked Maff out legit the previous year, she seems to done just that. Whitmer and Maff looks good early on until Maff injures his shoulder. Romero and Ki works over the shoulder. A lot of face-in-peril action for Maff. He finally gets a tag to Whitmer who goes all superman taking on both opponents. Exploder attempt is thwarted when Ki locks in the Dragon Clutch. Maff showing that he has heart spears Ki with his bad shoulder to break up the hold. Romero locks in an arm submission on Maff while Ki holds Whitmer back. Maff tries to hang in there, but eventually needs to tap. Post match has Allison Danger teasing the idea of Homicide and the rest of his faction joining the Prophecy. After yelling at Whitmer and Maff, Danger is shoved into Homicide. Being the gentleman that he is, Homicide nails the Cop Killer on her. DAMN. What would Homicide do if you actually meant to hit him? Pour Drano down your throat? Nah...even Homicide wouldn't go that far. I really got into this match. While I wasn't too impressed with Romero's work when he returned in 2007, he put on several really good matches in 2004, this is no exception. Showing the heart of Maff accomplished it's goal of making him and Whitmer full time faces. Even without having either team be the tag team champions, they managed to make the match feel big and the quality was there. 17 Minutes. 3 3/4 Stars.

Danny Daniels vs Chad Collyer
Daniels is now on his own again after the short lived New Carnage Crew were forced to disband at the last show. Daniels is rocking the Daredevil tights. While Collyer is the known technical wrestler, Daniels controls most of the match using - technical wrestling. Daniels shows off a lot of good looking moves including a doublestomp/senton combo. That's not enough though as Collyer comes back in the end and slaps on the Texas Cloverleaf to make Daniels tap. The piss break if there is one on the show. Even though Collyer is the bigger star, he did very little in the match. That's fine by me though as Daniels proved to have some talent. Go figure, I see nothing special in him in the 6MM at Reborn Stage One, but once he gets some one-on-one time, he impresses me. 8 Minutes. 2 Stars.

Generation Next vs Matt Stryker, John Walters and Jimmy Jacobs
Gen Next is represented by Aries, Strong and Evans, however; Shelley is still out there. To even the odds, Walters announces Ricky Steamboat. After Steamboat mocks Evans some, the match can begin. A lot of double and triple team moves by Gen Next. Jacobs ends up feeling the brunt of the attacks. He takes punishment for a long time. Jacobs gets a tag to both partners. Sick Electric Chair/Lungblower by Walters and Stryker. Shelley tries to interfere, so Steamboat chops him back to the back. Evans tries to his 9000 degree spot, but Walters moves out of the way. Walters locks in some weird ass submission hold which looks like a mix between an Indian Deathlock and the Koji Clutch. Either way, it's sweet looking. Stryker and Jacobs holds off Aries and Strong forcing Evans to give up. Generation Next suffers their first team loss. Gen Next at their heel best. It was clear that they were going to become big stars in ROH. The faces also looked like they were heading to be major stars for years to come. Go figure only Jacobs would be around by the end of the next year. Really good 6 man tag though. The faces winning in the end was not the outcome I expected which only made me happier. It's weird though, in tag matches, Jacobs looks awesome. Too bad it doesn't always translate that way in singles bouts. 17 Minutes. 3 1/2 Stars.

Samoa Joe vs Homicide - ROH World Title
This is the end of the line for 'Cide. If for whatever reason he doesn't win the belt, he can never challenge it again as long as Joe's the champ. The entire Rottweilers (Except for the missing Reyes...missing and no one cares.) are at ringside. Early on, Joe is forced to deal with all 4 men until the ref has enough and orders Smokes, Ki and Romero back to the lockerroom. From there, it's more classic Homicide/Joe. Joe dominates, but Homicide manages to cause Joe's eye to swell up. Joe busts out a Tiger Driver. Muscle Buster by Joe, but Homicide kicks out. That's okay. Joe nails the Island Driver, but 'Cide kicks out again. Joe can't believe what's going on. Joe snaps and locks in the Coquina Clutch choke. Homicide passes out and the ref rings the bell. Joe isn't done though and he keeps choking out Homicide. This brings out the Rottweilers again. The three of them attacks Joe and Ki chokes out Joe. Homicide is finally up and it's a 4 man mugging. Ki holds the belt while they all spit on the ROH title before dropping it on Joe. Homicide promises that this war isn't over yet. This was such an intense battle and the ending only made it even better. Much better than their Reborn Stage One and Scramble Madness matches. Once wrestlers started finding ways to survive Joe (Kicking out or Punk surviving an hour), it only made Joe even more entertaining in how desperate and crazed he became. The only thing more scary than an unbeatable monster is an unbeatable monster who literally wants to choke you to death. I'd easily classify this match above average for Joe's title defenses. 24 Minutes. 4 Stars.

Second City Saints vs The Briscoes - 2/3 Falls ROH Tag Team Titles Match
Both of the previous Briscoes titles reigns were ended at the hands of the Second City Saints - CM Punk and Colt Cabana. Now the night before Punk teams with Ace Steel to finish the feud with Whitmer/Maff and Cabana challenges Joe for the ROH title, they have to defend the belts in 2/3 falls. With this being held in Wisconsin, the Saints have the home field advantage and it only increases as the match goes on. Early going has a lot of one-on-one wrestling before the Saints start up the double teaming with a duel abdominal stretch. CM Punk gets isolated from Cabana as the Briscoes work him over. Mark and Jay slowly act more and more heelish and at one point even used the corner pad to hit Punk. Cabana makes a short comeback, but a Jay Driller finishes Punk off and the Briscoes get a 1-0 lead.

After taking so much abuse in the previous fall, Punk is out of it. Briscoe just kicks him to the outside. While Cabana was able to rest a lot in the first fall, the double teaming becomes too much and he can do little to hit any offensive moves. The Briscoes goes for a Demolition Decapitator (But with a knee from the middle rope instead of an elbow). Cabana sees it coming and pulls Jay's head down in the way of Mark's oncoming knee. Colt tosses Mark out of the ring and uses an European style pin to even up the match at 1-1.

Even before the bell for the third fall, Briscoe starts kicking away at Colt. Mark comes back and the Briscoes nail the Springboard Doomsday Device. 1...2...NO! CM Punk has finally awoke and broke up the fall. Before Cabana can get the tag, Briscoe nails Punk on the apron. Cabana is forced to hang in there for the time being. The Brisoces try double teaming Colt, but Colt attempts an enzuigiri. Jay ducks, but Mark isn't as fast and gets nailed with it. Punk is finally tagged back in the match for the first time since the first fall. Punk hits Welcome to Chicago, but Briscoe breaks it up. Every wrestler gets a chance to hit a trademark move on each other. The Saints and Jay battles on the outside and Mark heads to the top. Mark comes off with a Shooting Star Press to the outside. Not to be outdone, Colt hits his Asai Moonsault on all three men. Back inside, Mark looks to put away the Saints with his Cutthroat Suplex (For some reason they didn't call it a driver), but Punk breaks the cover up. Punk drags Mark to the corner and pulls him up. PEPSI PLUNGE! 1...2...3!!! Punk wins the final fall and the Saints retain the tag titles. A very smartly booked match. With Cabana having a title match the next night, they allowed him to look as good as possible. One of my biggest dislikes is when one wrestler is able to easily beat two wrestlers. But with the second fall, Colt just used his head and got lucky with the pin. The match had a big match feel which I love for tag matches. Possibly a tag team MOTYC. 38 Minutes. 4 1/2 Stars.

Overall
The original is one of my favorite ROH events ever. As the first "Sequel", it's a worthy followup to the original. I had my doubts about the show with the first couple of matches, but the tag team wrestling made this show so much better than it looked. Two matches that were 4 stars or higher and not a single match under 2 stars. And this is even without Bryan Danielson. The show flowed well and went by quickly. Considering what else was going on in July 2004 (Great American Bash and Vengeance, this one easily beats out both shows.

Best Match: Second City Saints vs The Briscoes
Worst Match: 4 Corner Survival

Overall Grade: A-

---