Quickie: ROH Death Before Dishonor XI

I don’t know how many were fully aware, but ROH announced the day of its Death Before Dishonor XI event that they would be having a free stream of it on GoFightLive, in what appeared to be an attempt to move past the issues with a new and improved GFL system. I went ahead and watched the stream tonight, and while I can’t give a full recap of the show (I had errands that took up some of the time), I feel I can give a decent overall impression of the show.

Before I get into the show itself, I want to address the stream. There will likely be many people that write about any and all tech issues with the stream, so let’s start out by saying YES, there were problems with the stream tonight. The upside with tonight is quite simply that we didn’t have to pay for a stream that didn’t always hold up. Also, the stream worked a solid 90% or so of the time, so let’s focus on the positive shall we? Personally, there were only two gripes I had with the streaming issues: missing on part of a very emotional BJ Whitmer segment, and missing a bit of the ending. (Before and after the final pinfall, but I did get to see the actual move that finished the match lol)

Of what I got to see of the show, however, I saw some really good in-ring action. The thing I love about wrestling is when it tells a story in and out of the ring; I can’t speak for whatever non-match stuff happened, but the wrestlers told great stories in that ring tonight, and for that I am thankful. This was the second time I’d seen ACH in action (the first being National Pro Wrestling Day in February), and I continue to be amazed by what he does. A lot of other great things happened tonight, really enjoyed the main event (minus tech glitches of course). The aftermath where Cole attacks Jay Briscoe was nicely done, it’ll be nice seeing Adam Cole in that role as the cocky heel champion. I’m actually excited for ROH storylines going forward.

Wish I could say the same for the future of iPPV. I think there were enough glitches to say ROH should probably stick to the current system of VOD. They’re not the only ones struggling with iPPV problems, for the record. Until I see more and more good streams, as far as I’m concerned iPPV as a system has failed. Other than the tech problems, though, DBDXI was a great show that is worth a watch on VOD when you get the chance.