Claudio Castagnoli Defeats PAC To Retain The ROH World Title At Death Before Dishonor

Claudio Castagnoli defeated PAC to retain his ROH World Championship at Friday's Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view. 

In what was his ninth title defense, Castagnoli came storming out of the gate with a lot of offense, taking down PAC with an uppercut and Swiss Death combination very early into the contest for a near fall. However, "The Bastard" would gain control of the match by targeting Castagnoli's knees after evading a Giant Swing, following which the action spilled over to the outside. Ultimately, the two men found themselves in a deadlock when PAC locked in the Brutalizer, only for Castagnoli to break out of the submission hold with an Air Raid Crash. As both men tried to one-up each other, PAC attempted an old heel trick by ripping off the turnbuckle pad, until Wheeler Yuta stopped him. 

The distraction allowed Castagnoli to hit an uppercut followed by the Ricola Bomb for the pinfall victory. After the match, the Lucha Brothers came out to help their Death Triangle partner, PAC, as a brawl broke out between them and Blackpool Combat Club's Castagnoli and Yuta. Thereafter, Best Friends and Orange Cassidy joined in the action and cleared the ring. The segment ended with Cassidy taking down Castagnoli with an Orange Punch.

The title match between Castagnoli and PAC came about after the latter walked out on his BCC teammates during Wednesday's Blood & Guts bout. During the closing stages of the brutal contest, a miscommunication led to Castagnoli and PAC shoving one another, causing an irate PAC to respond by using a bolt cutter to unlock the cage door and retreat to the backstage area. After the match, Castagnoli vowed to teach PAC a lesson for abandoning his team.

With Friday's win, Castagnoli completed his ninth successful title defense of 2023, following victories against the likes of Josh Woods, Christopher Daniels, Blake Christian, A. R. Fox, Eddie Kingston, Metalik, Robbie Eagles, and Komander. The Swiss wrestler captured the ROH World Championship with a win over Chris Jericho at Final Battle on December 10, 2022.