Mercedes Martinez is set to defend her ROH Women’s World Championship against Serena Deeb at Death Before Dishonor this Saturday. The promotion who is still waiting to get back on track from its hiatus will have its second pay-per-view event since April. The two veterans had been teaming with each other in AEW before they turned on each other.
Prior to their hiatus at the end of 2021, ROH had reignited its women’s division by crowning a new champion under a new lineage. Rok-C (now NXT’s Roxanne Perez) became the inaugural champion who was defeated by Deonna Purrazzo. Martinez became Interim Champion and eventually Undisputed Champion after defeating Purrazzo on an episode of AEW’s Dynamite in May.
Ahead of her defense this Saturday, Martinez spoke with Steve Fall of NBC’s Ten Count about what can be expected from the upcoming Death Before Dishonor event and the ROH women’s division.
“It’s like a rebirth if you think about it. It really is. Going back from the old days of Ring of Honor to what the potential of what this new Ring of Honor can bring, it’s something exciting. It’s something that I’m glad to have the opportunity to build the women’s division under me and mold what the division can be. But man, if you’re looking at me and Serena, me and Serena have battled and had our feuds, but this is going to bring a new era of women’s wrestling. You’re looking at, not high-flying because we definitely don’t high-fly, right. We’re technical, we’re submissions, and we’re athletes, and we’re wrestlers, and that’s what Ring of Honor really encompasses is wrestling, pure wrestling in its form.” (Transcription – Fightful)
She continues, “You’re looking at chain wrestling and submissions, anything technical, and of course, you’re looking at the power sense of it and those big moments that you wanna take, but I think for me and Serena, we’re taking this very seriously. We’re going in there, showing the world what women wrestlers, and we put that emphasis on the wrestling because that’s what this is all about. It’s, can the mainstream handle two actual wrestlers and putting on a wrestling clinic, and still entertaining because you still have to mix in the sports entertainment. So it’s a rebirth for her, it’s a rebirth for me, and bringing a new level of what the women’s division can bring going forward. So this is just a building block of what we can do for the women’s division here in Ring of Honor,” said Martinez.
Also at Death Before Dishonor, a match between Allysin Kay and Willow Nightingale has been booked for the pre-show.
For the full interview, you can view it below –
