Lee Moriarty, Red Velvet become new champions at ROH Death Before Dishonor
For the first time in both of their AEW & Ring of Honor runs, Lee Moriarty and Red Velvet can each call themselves ROH champions after Friday’s Death Before Dishonor.
Moriarty won the Pure title after pinning Wheeler Yuta while using the ropes which was legal due to both men using up their allotted rope breaks under Pure rules. After the match, Yuta showed Moriarty respect by handing him the title himself.
Moriarty earned the shot by taking Yuta to a ten-minute draw in a June Proving Ground match. They are now 1-1-1 against each other in ROH after Yuta defeated Moriarty in a November 2023 bout.
The win ends the 245-day third Pure title reign for Yuta which was elongated due to him being out of action for a considerable amount of time due to a concussion. He defended the title three times after winning it in November, but this was his first defense since January.
Then in the next match, Velvet took out inaugural ROH Women’s TV Champion Billie Starkz to become the second-ever titleholder.
The closing sequence came when Starkz pulled out an old trick and pretended to be injured as she had against Queen Aminata in the TV title finals. She then sprung up and hit Velvet with an enziguri and began mugging to the crowd. Velvet then faked her own injury which threw Starkz off, allowing Velvet to hit Mama’s Recipe to get the victory.
Velvet is now 3-0 against Starkz in both AEW and ROH action and is on a four-match win streak. Starkz never defended the title after winning it at April’s Supercard of Honor.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.