Tony Khan Wanted Eddie Kingston For ROH Death Before Dishonor, Impossible Due To G1

The Ring of Honor World Championship will be defended at Death Before Dishonor 2023 on July 21, with Claudio Castagnoli putting the belt on the line against PAC after the two came to a disagreement during the Blood & Guts II match on the July 19 AEW Dynamite.

Originally Castagnoli was set to put the title on the line against Mark Briscoe before the ‘Sussex County Chicken’ picked up an injury, and AEW/ROH President Tony Khan revealed on a pre-PPV media call that he originally wanted Eddie Kingston for the main event, but it proved impossible due to Kingston’s participation in the New Japan G1 Climax Tournament:

"I was hoping maybe even some possibility that Eddie could fly back to participate in Death Before Dishonor and then go back to Japan, and I certainly would have accommodated the travel if that was possible. It wasn't possible,” said Khan. “Mark Briscoe, I had slotted for something different on the card. It turned out that also was not viable for another reason. There have been so many things that came up and it can be like a domino effect. It's very challenging. With Mark Briscoe's injury, it was very challenging because Mark had been dealing with injuries for a while and I think some of us almost took it for granted because Mark is such a fighter and amazing person with an amazing spirit. People sympathise with Mark for many reasons, and he's such a compelling wrestling character and always has been. I felt Mark could be an emotional hook for this pay-per-view in a lot of ways and it was a pivot. With Eddie going to Japan, I thought it would be cool with Eddie having a big moment winning the STRONG Championship and he passed on some wisdom to Mark Briscoe.

“I knew he [Briscoe] was dealing with some injuries, but honestly, he had been dealing with them for a long time, and I think the pain had become too much to manage and it had become very challenging for him. To be honest, he hadn't told many people about that, including our doctors. The people who knew really well knew he was hurting. I think Mark was no selling it. I know he was no selling the doctors on how much pain he was in. That's why they were surprised that this had become a lifestyle challenge for him. When he came to me and said, 'It's worse than I was letting on. I'm not sure I can do this.' That meant changing everything.”

Khan revealed that weeks of promos had been shot for Briscoe vs. Claudio, before noting how he’d do anything for the record setting multi-time ROH World Tag Team Champion:

"If Mark comes to me and says he needs something, I'm going to do it, no matter what it is. If he needs time to heal up and needs me to pivot the pay-per-view, I'm going to do that for him, without questions. I'll do it for pretty much anybody, but I'll do it with a smile for Mark Briscoe. It meant changing pretty much everything again," Khan said.

H/T: Fightful

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