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Last night's Death Before Dishonor XI event was a good night for the company if you were in Philadelphia. It was the first time the company had been back in their birthplace in a long time and the crowd was really receptive. They ran a strong angle at the end of the show with new ROH champ Adam Cole turning heel on Jay Briscoe to spark a new top storyline. The undercard was really good. Michael Elgin, Kevin Steen and Tomasso Ciampa all looked great in their tournament matches. Cole put in a career performance. Live, it was a strong show and while the company had a good house, I have to think it would have been even larger had the show been tonight and not yesterday- but I don't think anyone who was there walked out anything but blown away by a really well worked, well booked show.
If you were watching on iPPV, however, it was obviously a different story. While there are times users have issues because of their own bandwidth and internet connections, I decided to watch the quality of the stream while I was in Philadelphia by loading "ROH" into my Twitter search feed on my ipad and perusing the new comments after each match. While this is hardly scientific, it allowed me to get a broader idea of how the return to iPPV was received. The first part of the show was fine, except for some low audio that was quickly corrected by Producers Go Fight Live. The second half had a lot of issues including the stream crashing, pixelization and more. Unfortunately for ROH, Go Fight Live's promise of a flawless iPPV did not come to fruition. In asking around, the production was completely handled by GFL, so the blame has to fall on them, but for the average fan watching, they just see it as a poor ROH experience. There were a lot of people within the company really upset that it went down, because obviously, they wanted last night to be a nice surprise for the audience and step one of making good. You do have to credit the company for trying to do just that, although they obviously have some ways to go with getting things right. We've reached out to ROH to see if there will be any sort of official statement.
ROH is doing a sale where if you order the DBDXI DVD now, it's only $14.95 at this link. The show is absolutely worth a purchase. It was a truly thumbs up show with Cole vs. Ciampa, Cole vs. Elgin, Elgin vs. Steen, Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young, the 8 Man Tag, Ricky Marvin vs. Roderick Strong and American Wolves vs. Forever Hooligans all standing out.
Mike Bennett has signed a new deal here.
Obviously, the Briscoes are back as well. That has to be seen as a HUGE positive as they are the grandfathers of the promotion at this point. What Tommy Dreamer was to ECW, they are to ROH.  The Briscoes were featured in a really great piece on Philly.com.
BJ Whitmer announced last night that his career was done inside the ring in a really emotional speech. Whitmer will still be undergoing additional testing to see whether nerve damage he suffered in the Toronto injury against Mike Bennett was permanent.
The new Business Manager of the company, Jason Stryker, was at the show last night and has been in the position for several weeks.
ROH announced that Tomasso Ciampa would miss today's TV taping in Philadelphia, PA. He's actually getting married this weekend, which Kevin Kelly mentioned on commentary during the iPPV. Our best to Ciampa and his wife on the nuptials.
Former ROH talent Pelle Primeau and announcer Sugar Sean Price were visiting at the show. Price has completely changed his look, having lost a ton of weight and turned the rest into muscle and is now working as a personal trainer. His story is a really inspirational one.
The ROH on Sinclair series cleared the Seattle market this weekend. I was told there will be some other additional markets being announced for TV very soon.Â
ROH will be taping ROH on Sinclair TV today at the Philadelphia National Guard Armory, featuring:
*Adam Cole's first appearance as ROH champion.
*Jimmy Jacobs' chance to return and show he is an honorable man.
*Eddie Edwards vs. Kevin Steen.
*ROH Tag Team champions ReDragon vs. C&C Wrestle Factory vs. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team champions The Forever Hooligans.
*ROH TV champ Matt Taven vs. Jay Lethal.
*Ricky Marvin vs.
Davey Richards.
*Michael Bennett & Maria Kanellis vs. Cheeseburger & Bob
Evans.
*Tadarius Thomas vs. Mark Briscoe.
*Adam Page vs. ACH
 PWInsider.com is seeking live spoilers from the taping.
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