ROH Death Before Dishonor 2026 Post-Show Media Scrum: Action Andretti on Aligning With The Opps, Deonna Purrazzo on Future Athena Match, Athena on All She Has Gone Through During Her ROH Women’s World Title Reign, Potential More Media Opportunities For ROH Beyond HonorClub, Ilja Dragunov Free Agency, Rebel

Aug 22, 2026

Ring of Honor held a media scrum following Friday’s ROH Death Before Dishonor 2026 event at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Some of the notable highlights included:

During her portion of the media scrum, ROH Women’s Pure Champion Deonna Purrazzo gave her praise to Steph De Lander for the match they had on the show and for “betting on herself” by leaving another company in reference to her departure from TNA Wrestling earlier in the year.
On the topic of the Battle of the Brave show that she and her husband and former TNA talent Steve Maclin ran, Purrazzo stated that she learned a lot about promoting wrestling. Purrazzo thanked ROH owner Tony Khanfor offering replacement talent when some names fell through and she hopes to run another show next year.
On the topic of ROH Women’s World Champion Athena, Purrazzo stated that she hopes that they will eventually meet in a match and see who will be the best.
During her portion of the media scrum, ROH Women’s World Television Champion Red Velvet gave her praise to Skye Blue, Marina Shafir, and Zayda Steel for the match they had together at the show.
On the topic of if she was in her prime right now, Velvet stated that returning from knee surgery was a new chapter for her and she never had to fight back from an injury like that before and while there were some low points, she got through them.
During his portion of the media scrum, ROH World Television Champion Action Andretti gave his thoughts about his title win over “Blackheart” Lio Rush in a Fight Without Honor match. Andretti stated “This is my first singles title here in Ring of Honor and AEW and I said it after the match: That match just wasn’t about becoming the new Ring of Honor Television Champion. That match wasn’t just about ending my feud with Lio Rush. That match was to remind everybody who the f*ck Action Andretti is!”
On the topic of him being aligned with The Opps and if he has spoken to Samoa Joe, Andretti stated “Joe’s a busy man. He’s on the big screen right now making TV shows so, I’m sure we’ll be seeing him very soon, and I think he’ll be pretty happy to see me with The Opps as the Ring of Honor Television Champion.”
On the topic of his goal for his title reign, Andretti stated that he wants to take the ROH World TV Championship and defend it everywhere, no matter where or against who.
On the topic of if “Blackheart” Lio Rush wants another title shot, Andretti stated that he can come and get it. Andretti also stated that he wants to get rid of RUSH’s ROH World TV title belt and bring back the classic title design that was once held by Samoa Joe.
During her portion of the media scrum, ROH Women’s World Champion Athena gave her thoughts about what she has gone through her record-setting title reign. Athena stated “I do nothing but try to promote myself and my company that I absolutely love, day in and day out. Do you guys actually know too much about Athena? Athena doesn’t stay on social media a lot, so let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. During my championship reign, I’ve dislocated my kneecap, I’ve had severe sprains to my ankle, I had a severe injury to my neck, but yet day in, [the title] meant the world to me and so amny sitting at home hoping for the opportunity to not only step in the ring with me in a proving ground, but step in the ring against other champions. I come here to not only defend for myself, but for ROH. Forever is not just a word, it is truly forever motivating. Forever being determined, not bowing down to anyone that makes you feel less than. I am forever me.“
On the topic of if it was a goal of hers to win AEW Women’s gold, Athena stated that she was ready to take on that responsibility but she can’t forget about ROH. Athena stated that she needs to find the right moments and her ime will come and future opponents will be right under her foot.
During his portion of the media scrum, ROH owner Tony Khan hinted several times that there may be more media opportunities for ROH beyond the paywall of HonorClub and more ways for people to watch ROH in the future. Khan also gave his praise for the quality of ROH’s pay-per-view events including the Death Before Dishonor 2026 show.
On the topic of Ilja Dragunov’s current free agency and AEW’s potential interest in him, Khan stated “I’m not sure about the contractual status, but that’s a tremendous, tremendous professional wrestler, absolutely. I don’t know exactly what the contractual status is of people that don’t work here, I can’t keep track of those things and there is no way for me to know that, but one thing I do is that’s a great wrestler.“
On the topic of Nick Wayne, Khan gave his praise of Wayne calling him a “true prodigy” in wrestling and stated that it was Darby Allin who introduced him to Wayne. Khan also stated that Wayne was “absolutely tremendous” against Bandido for the ROH World Championship and would love to see a rematch at some point.
On the topic of the 2300 Arena, Khan gave his praise stating that it is a great home for both AEW and ROH.
On the topic of Jay Lethal’s ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship victory with The Lethal Twist, Khan praised Lethal on his achievement of being the first person in ROH history to hold every men’s title in his career.
On the topic of a potential future ROH television deal, Khan stated that he would like to get more eyeballs for ROH’s television but the media landscape is evolving and there will be more media opportunities for the company in the future.
On the topic of the upcoming Rebel Heart AEW Dynamite show and the support shown towards Rebel for her battle with terminal ALS, Khan stated “Well, Rebel’s a great friend to all of us. Rebel’s been a great part of AEW from the very beginning. We haven’t seen Rebel on AEW TV in a long time but it’s gonna be great to have an episode of AEW TV dedicated to Rebel and fighting this terrible disease, ALS, and so, AEW: Rebel Heart next month, it’s gonna be raising money to fight ALS and it’s an honor to Rebel. We all care for her very, very much and she’s very much a part of the AEW family. She always will be, and even though she’s not on TV every week, you can believe everybody’s got Rebel in their hearts and we’ll be thinking about Rebel every week until the AEW: Rebel Heart Wednesday night Dynamite show next month.“

Full ROH Death Before Dishonor 2026 post-show media scrum video:

Source: F4WOnline.com, Fightful.com 1, 2, 3, & 4