Alright, we’re on to the next Ring of Honor show after Unscripted. This is Glory By Honor I, held on October 5th, 2002 at the Murphy Recreation Center. As a reminder of who the champions are, all the belts are held by The Prophecy, with Christopher Daniels & Donovan Morgan winning the ROH World Tag Team titles in that tournament, and Xavier beating Low Ki for the ROH World Title. Our hosts are Jeff Gorman and Chris Levi, with Steve Corino having left the announce booth as part of his (concluding) feud with Rudy Boy Gonzalez.

Match #1: Divine Storm (Chris Divine & Quiet Storm) vs. Special K (Izzy & Dixie) vs. The SAT (Jose & Joel Maximo) vs. Homicide in a Scramble Match

Homicide is wrestling alone as Boogaloo was injured at the hands of the Carnage Crew at the last show, and he’s not cleared to wrestle. Well… that’s the worked explanation. The real reason is that he signed an exclusive deal with XPW, but ROH wants to leave the door open for his return. In the mean time, Frack Rob Black. We start out with Special K getting the crap stomped out of them, with everyone getting their shots in, and Chris Divine’s valet/girlfriend hitting a moonsault on Elax (the 3rd member of Special K) before escorting him to the back. Basically, as this is a scramble match, there are no tags. One man goes out of the ring, another man goes in, one fall to a finish. In short, this is a very fast paced spotfest which I’m probably going to lose track of.

Finally, we get some order with Izzy and Joel Maximo in the ring. We get some good chain quick wrestling between the two, with Joel locking a Figure 4 on Izzy, who reaches the ropes. Joel & Izzy tag out, with Jose and Quiet Storm coming in. Lucha Libre chain again, with Jose getting the best of it. Jose and Storm come out, Divine and Homicide come in. Homicide gets a 2-count off a shoulder-breaker, but Dixie breaks it up. Joel comes in, locks Dixie in a torture rack. Izzie comes in, looks to break up the hold, but Jose stops him and sets up a sort of Torture Rack-Boston Crab-Camel Clutch combo with his brother called the Taffy Machine. Meanwhile, Homicide hits the Ace Crusher on Divine and applies a crossface. Storm comes in and applies a crossface on Homicide. Eventually everyone releases the holds when they realize this is getitng rather silly.

We now get the obligatory brawl on the outside with everyone hitting their planchas, topes, and other inside-out moves. During all this we get the occasional near-fall on the inside. We get the Maximo Explosion for 2. Divine hits a modified Manhattan drop into a dragon screw into a leglock that gets broken up. Frell it, I’m just going to call the submission or pin. homicide hits Dixie with the Cop Killa, and then locks Izzy in the STF.

Winner: Homicide by submission at 13:52.
Rating: Overbooked in spots, but otherwise impressive and innovative . ***1/2.

After the match, Trent Acid and Johnny Kashmere (aka the Backseat Boys) of CZW hit the ring with a baseball bat and call out Homicide. Homicide calls for any tag partner from the back, and he gets Steve Corino.

Match #2: Homicide & Steve Corino vs. The Backseat Boyz

Corino & Homicide work the Boyz over in their corner. Things get turned around briefly. Anyway, we get both teams brawling in the ring until Homicide gets DDT’d on the apron, leaving Corino alone with Acid and Kashmere. Kashmere gets a 2-count . Acid ends up on the outside fighting with Homicide while Kashmere and Corino continue on the inside.  Kashmere hits a modified surfboard but to no avail. Kashmere intends to hit a plancha to take out Homicide, but Corino hits a savate kick and a northern lights bomb for 2.

Finally, Homicide & Acid return to the ring. The Boyz get worked over briefly, before regaining control with a pair of spears. Corino locks the Cobra Clutch on Kashmere, until Acid breaks it up with a Yakuza kick and gets a 2-count before Homicide makes the save. Homicide goes for the Cop Killa, but it’s reversed intoa blue Thunder Driver for 2. The Boyz hit their tag team move, the Cosmic Atomic on Corino, but Homicide breaks up the pin.

Homicide hits an exploder on Kashmere, and Corino hits a Fisherman’s Superplex on Acid, followed by a splash by Homicide. Homicide goes for the Cover, but Corino pushes him of and goes for the cover himself, with Kashmere breaking it up. Further, when Homicide goes to save Corino, he accidentally hits him instead. Homicide goes for teh Cop Killa on Kashmere, but Korino kicks Homicide and leaves. The Backseat Boyz hit the T Gimmick on Homicide and get the pin.

Winner: The Backseat Boyz by pinfall at 6:44.
Rating: **1/2 – Good, solid tag match until the very end.

Match #3: The Christopher Street Connection & Allison Danger (w/ Japanese Pool Boy) vs. Joey Matthews, Christian York, and Alexis Laree

Matthews, York and Laree jump the CSC. Finally, we get some order with Mace & York in the ring. Gutbuster & Senton for 2 by York. Matthews is tagged in. Matthews and Mace chain for a bit, and then Buff E. gets the tag. Spinebuster and low-blow headbutt by Buff for the 2-count. Mace gets the tag and the CSC hits a combo bulldog and sidewalk slam for 2. Matthews reverses a suplex to an inverted DDT and gets the tag to Alexis, and she is a Casa… En… Fuego! Tornado DDT for 2 on Mace. CSC recovers though and hits the Gay Basher and tags in Allison, who gets the pin.

Winner: The CSC by pinfall at 4:45.
Rating: * – Meh.

After the match, Japanese Pool Boy gets the stuffing beat out of him. We get a promo with James Maritato about why he wants to end the FBI gimmick (and it bears wrestling that this is his last match in ROH before he goes to WWE… where he ends up wrestling under the FBI gimmick), and if he wins this match, the gimmick dies. Uh-huh.

Match #4: Tony Mamaluke vs. James Maritato (Winner gets the FBI gimmick)

Mamaluke cheap shots James.  Great chain wrestling from both men. Lots and lots of submission holds. 2-count off a Sicilian Slice by Maritato. Mamaluke goes for a superplex but gets shoved off and hit with a missile drop-kick for 2. Maritato gets another 2-count off the Kiss Of Death. Finally, Mamaluke hits a superplex into a Butterfly lock, which Maritato taps out to.

Winner and new holder of the FBI Gimmick: Tony Mamaluke at 8:30.
Rating: ***1/2. Not bad at all. I could see these two guys wrestler for an half hour. Seriously, these guys wrestling are like RVD vs. Jerry Lynn or Masato Tanaka & Mike Awesome – it never gets old.

Match #5: Ikuto Hidaka vs. The Amazing Red

This is going to be crazy. We get some fast chain wrestilng. Hidaka gets a few moves in before Red gets control. So, this goes back and forth,a nd then it goes to the flor, then back to the ring, and then back down again. Red goes for a Tope, but gets hit with a drop kick on the way down. Hidaka takes Red back to the ring and starts to work the legs. Hidaka goes up top and gets nailed y a corkscrew kick by Red. Red eat a DDT but counters a vaulting move with another corkscrew kick that sends Hidaka to the outside. Red goes for a suicide senton and misses, though Hidaka sells it anyway. Red gets Hidaka back in the ring, hits a body scissors to a Fujiwara armbar, but Hidaka reaches the ropes.

More chain wrestling. Red misses the Red Star Press, but gets a 2-count off an Enziguri. Hidaka gets an elevated Drop kick, and Red rolls out of the ring. Red comes in and Hidaka starts working the leg. German suplex into a leg lock by Hidaka (never seen that one before), but Red reaches the ropes. Lots of quick near falls. Hidaka goes for a powerbomb buuuuttttt… (say it with me now) You Can’t Powerbomb Red! Red goes up and not only hits the Infra-Red, but the Red Star Press just for good measure, and gets the pin.

Winner: The Amazing Red by pinfall at 13:41.
Rating: **** – Very good, and would have been even better with a few more minutes, and possibly a feud to build it up.

Match #6: Don Juan vs. Fast Eddie (c) for the ETW TV Title

Both men are students at the Texas Wrestling Acadamy, and this is an exhibition match for them, with Rudy Boy Gonzalez at ringside. Some very nie chain wrestling to start. Apparently Eddie is legally blind. Let it not be said that the disabled can’t do well in wrestling. Great chain wrestling. Juan misses a spear and gets knocked to the outside, and Eddie hits an Asai moonsault! Eddie throws Juan in the ring and goes for a springboard something but gets caught and eats an Ace Crusher for 2. Juan goes up top, but Eddie hits a backflip knee strike and then a fallaway Samoan drop for the pin.

Winner and still ETW TV Champion: Fast Eddie by Pinfall at 3:23.
Rating: *** – very good. I hope both of these guys have promicing careers ahead of them.

After the match, Biohazard and Michal Shane rush the ring and attack Juan and Eddie. Corino comes out next, and talks smack to Rudy Boy Gonzalez. Gonzalez attacks Corino with a microphone, and the previously booked Texas Death Match is on.

Match #7: Texas Death Match – Rudy Boy Gonzalez vs. Steve Corino.

Rudy retains control. Steve is already bust open. Corino gets pinned but gets back to his feet at 6. Rudy takes Steve outside the ring and beats him against the guard rail. Rudy tries to dive/splash on Steve, but Steve moves and regains control. The fight returns to the ring and now Rudy is bleeding. The fight goes back and out of ther ing again, then back in, and Corino tires a cover but gets 2. God, Corino’s blond hair is turning red. Corino applies the Cobra Clutch and chokes Rudy out.

Winner: Steve Corino by knockout at 8:04.
Rating: **1/2. I’m no longer a big fan of the Hardcore style necessarily, unless both parties are bringing something special, and this wasn’t it.

Shane, Biohazard, and Corino continue the assault after the match, but Paul London makes the save with a ladder. Just for good measure, he takes out Shane and Biohzazard with a running senton up the ladder that was leaned against the turnbuckle.

Match #8: Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki (Fight Without Honor).

This is Joe’s first ROH match, and he’s debuting as the Prophecy’s hired gun. We’re starting off with striking before they lock up. Ki and Jo trie to ground and pound. Joe locks Ki in a half crap, and continues working the knee. We continue with strikes. Very MMA-like – except I’m not too enthused with MMA. God, theyr’e beating the crap out of each other. Finally, after a load of 1 counts, Joe gets a 2-count off a German Suplex. Ki hits a load of strikes but only gets 2. Tiger Suplex for 2. They just keep striking. There’s not much more I can do to call this. Ki finally gets the win after a massive flurry of strikes.

Winner: Low Ki by pinfall at 16:23.
Rating: **1/2 – I’m not a fan of the strike heavy MMA at the moment. Maybe if I watched more UFC or K1 or something I’d like this more, but this just isn’t my thing at the present.

After the match, Joe and Low Ki shake hands. We also see, I belive, Prince Nana beating the crap out of Elax. Dunn & Marcos come out and talk smack at Nana, but Mysterious Black Dude from Unscripted comes into the ring and cleans house.

Match #9: Jay Briscoe vs. Xavier (Non-title match)

Mark suggested this match to Daniels, because Daniels wanted a loser to put Xavier against. Both men lock up, and Xavier and Briscoe chain wrestle, with neither man able to get the advantage. Finally, Jay ends up locked ina  leglock, but Jay breaks out. The chain wrestling,continues, with the announcers briefly mentioning ROH’s upcoming #1 Contender’s trophy, as part of their attempt to counter The Prophecy’s won’t-defend-the-title shenanigans. Anyway. Briscoe gets a 2-count on a big kick. Xavier gets a 2-count off a lariat. Jay gets a 2-count off an exchange of blows, and Xavier gets another 2 Count of a torture rack drop.

Briscoe regains control with a Death Valley Driver, and then lariats Xavier out of the ring. Jay goes for a flying double axe handle but misses and eats the guard rail. Xavier then sends Jay on a Magellan-like circuit of the ringside area. Xavier brings Jay back in the ring and ties him into the Tree of Woe. Spear! Jesus – Rhyno and Edge were never so brutal. Inverted Top Rope DDT for 2.

Briscoe gets a 2-count off a German Suplex, then after some exchanges hits a seated facebuster and gets 2 off a top rope leg drop. Xavier locks on a modified cobra clutch in to a cobra suplex. We suddenly get (apparently) clipped for some reason, and Jay Briscoe gets the pin with the Jay Driller.

Winner: Jay Briscoe by pinfall at 13:19.
Rating: *** – It was looking like a good match, but the apparent clipping hurt it. That said, the match really told a good story, with Xavier not quite taking Jay seriously at first, and then trying to fight back later, after he realized he was in for more of a challenge.

Match #10: Falls Count Anywhere – The Carnage Crew (HC Loc & DeVito) vs. Da Hit Squad (Mafia & Monster Mack).

Da Hit Squad enters through the fans. I’m going to have difficulty calling this match because, well, this is going to end up like a Public Enemy match – a lot of hitting people with stuff, not a lot of actual wrestling. Oh, and it’s going to go everywhere in the arena. Which it does do. Ultimately, Mafia gets piledriven off the hard camera postition thorough a table, onto the hard gym floor for the pin.

Winner: The Carnage Crew by pinfall at 7:53.
Rating: ** – Your standard hardcore brawl, but with bad camera work. Seriously, with the ECW arena, the camera position was such that no matter where the brawl went, you could generally tell what was going on, more or less.

After the match, Mafia is apparently injured. Meanwhile, Joey Matthews is out of it, and apparently Special K knows why.

Match #11: 3-Way Dance for the “Showstopper” Name – Spanky vs. Michael Shane vs. Paul London

London and Spanky work Shane over until they have a few mis-communications too many and turn on each other. Spanky gets 2 off a baseball slide. Shane ejects Spanky and works over London. 2-count off an Enziguri. London manages to regain control and hits 2 northern lights suplexes and a blizzard suplex for 2.

Shane regains control and hits a hangman’s neckbreaker for 2. London hits a shooting star press (off of Spanky) for 2. Spanky dropkicks London for 2. London goes up top, gets kicked off the top rope. Shane suplexes Spanky to the outside, but Spanky hangs on to the rope. Spanjky skins the cat and just in time, as Shane goes for a baseball slide and hits London instead. Spanky hits a pescado on Shane. London goes up next for an Asai Moonsault and gets caught.

Shane works over Spanky on the outside, and London clocks Shane. the fight returns oto the ring and London gets a 2-count. Finally, after much back and forth. Spanky hits Sliced Bread 32, but Shane superkicks Spanky so Shane can pin london at 10:20. So, we now have Spanky and Shane fighting on the outside. SHane takes it back in the ring and covers but only gets 2. The fight goes back outside, then back inside. Spanky goes for a diving elbow drop but gets drop kicked for 2. Shane applies a headlock but SPanky responds with one of his own. Shane hits a second rope elbow for 2. Shane hits Sliced Bread #2 but lands too far away and can’t capitalize. They continue fighting, fairly evenly. Spanky gets a 2-count off an Enziguri. Frog splash for 2. Shane gets a 2-count off a floating DDT. Shane hits a super kick and the picture picture perfect elbo for the pin.

Winner: Michael Shane by pinfall at 19:27.
Rating: **** – Very awesome match.

After the match Shane cuts a promo which I can’t hear because their mixing sucks. Basically, he entered in the match to keep anyone else from referring to themselves as the Showstopper, and he’s not going to use the name anyway. Okey then.

Match #12: Christopher Daniels (w/ Simply Luscious) vs. Doug Williams. If Williams wins, he can never shake hands in ROH again. If Daniels wins, he must shake hands.

Obviously, no handshake here. We get chain wrestling to start. daniels starts working the arm, while Williams works the leg. Doug is really working over Daniels. Daniels Regains control and gets a 2-count off a series of elbow drops. Another 2-count off a russian leg sweep. Williams goes for the Chaos Theory, but Daniels reverses it into a Stunner. Daniels covers but only gets 2. Williams briefly regains control, but Daniels gets 2 off an Inverted Atomic Drop & neckbreaker. Williams gets 2 off a floating DDT. Springboard Knee drop for 2. Spinning Fisherman Buster for 2. Daniels breaks out of the Chaos Theory and hits a STO. Daniels gets 2 off a Blue THunder Bomb. 2 Count out of the Best Moonsault Ever. Finally, after a series of near falls, Williams hits the Chaos Theory but Daniels rolls through the pin attempt and gets a 3-count using the ropes for leverage.

Winner: Christopher Daniels by pinfall at 13:14.
Rating: ***1/2 – Pretty good, but I would have liked more time.

After the match, Dick Togo comes out and nails Daniels with his crutch, and Jay Briscoe hits the Jay Driller, and the faces celebrate. After the show, James asks Tony to wrestle serious, or at least give it a try. The Prophecy cuts a promo on Jay Briscoe, and tries to recruit Steve Corino, who prefers to stick to his own agenda.

A little background coming in:

At the Four-Way Iron Man match for the Ring of Honor title (I still need to get that event, by the way), Low Ki came out with the win, and became the Ring of Honor World Champion. Coming into Unscripted I believe he’s gotten a few title defenses under his belt, before facing Xavier (who made it into the quarter-finals at Road To The Title before getting beat by Red).

However, the start of the show is going to be a tournament to crown the first ROH Tag Team Champions – and unlike Road To The Title, we’re actually going to crown the champions at this show!

On the one hand, it’s another tournament show, and as I’ve said before, Tournaments tend to be meh, just because of the nature of the format.

However, since this is a Tag Team tournament, the tag team part may work in the tournament’s favor. I’ll be keeping an eye on this as I watch the event.

Ring of Honor: Unscripted

Location: Philadelphia, PA (at the Murphy Recreation Center).
Date: September 21st, 2002.
Commentary: Ray Murrow and Chris Levy.

We start out with Gary Michael Cappetta (who is apparently ROH’s new interviewer) in the ring with Paul London. London’s scheduled partner, Spanky is unable to participate in the tournament for the ROH Tag Titles for some reason, so London’s going to announce his new Tag Partner… “American Dragon” Brian Danielson. Danielson comes out to the ring, but before he can say word one, out comes Michael Shane to start some shit with London. London takes out Shane and drops out of the tournament to take on Shane later in the night in a Street Fight. This leaves Danielson in the tournament without a partner. This brings us to…

Quarterfinal Match: The SAT (Jose & Joel Maximo) vs. The Prophecy (Christopher Daniels & Donovan Morgan w/ Simply Luscious)

Daniels and Morgan jump at the SAT at the bell (since they don’t do that whole “hand shaking” thing – see my last recap), but SAT takes control with some great double team moves. The SAT lock Daniels and Morgan in a Boston Crab and Camel Clutch (respectively). Daniels is released and sent out of the ring. Morgan (still in the hold) eats a dropkick and baseball slide for 2.

Morgan gets the tag to Chris, but Joel shuts him down as soon as he comes in. The SAT dominates for a bit more, before Morgan manages to get Joel out of the ring by pulling down the top rope when Joel bounces off. Chris then goes and knocks Jose off the apron. Donovan works Joel over a bit on the outside before throwing him in the ring and getting tagged in, after deciding that Joel fits the part of Ricky Morton perfectly. Morgan and Daniels work in and out for a bit, before Daniels gets a 2-count off a back heel kick.

Joel floors Donovan and Chris and makes the Tag to Hose, who comes in like a Casa! En! Fuego! He wails on the prophecy for a bit, before The Prophecy manages to regain control Jose is sent outside, with Daniels and Morgan following. Joel builds up a head of steam for a suicide dive, only to have Luscious grab his ankle. Daniels comes in and tries to jump him, but Joel pulls down the top rope. At this point female “ringside fan” who Daniels and Morgan had been arguing with during their entrance, jumps the rail goes up top, and hits a perfect Asai moonsault to take out Daniels before carrying Luscious to the back. Meanwhile, the SAT nail Morgan with the Maximo Explosion (like the Doomsday Device, but instead of a clothesline, it’s a Tornado DDT). Daniels is back in. The SAT goes for the Spanish Fly, but is sort of blocked by Morgan, who pulls one of the Maximos off, though the other Maximo hits a solo Spanish fly for 2. Morgan hits the Sayonara (sitout double underhook facebuster) for the pin.

Finish: The Prophecy wins by pinfall with the Sayonara at 7:40.
Rating: *** – I originally gave this four-stars, but that might have been the not-Wrestlemania talking.

We go back stage to the Far East Connection, Dick Togo and Ikuto Hidaka, who are talking amongst themselves, only to be startled by the Christopher Street Connection, with their manager Allison Danger (Steve Corino’s sister), and Japanese Pool Boy – their valet, who are there to flirt. This FEC doesn’t take them very well, and threatens them until they leave. We then go to The FBI – James Maritato (who is trying to drop what he considers a comedy gimmick) and Tony Mamaluke, who are getting ready for their next match and arguing over the entrance music. Hmm… tag team partners not getting along, never a good sign.

Tournament Quarterfinal: The Far East Connection (Dick Togo and Ikuto Hidaka) vs. The Full Blooded Italians (Tony Mamaluke & James Maritato)

Hidaka and Maritato start, with some stellar chain wrestling that only stops for Hidaka to tag in Togo and Maritato to tag in Mamaluke, who picks up right where their partners left off. Togo finally gets a little bit of control and tags in Hidaka, and locks Mamaluke in and Abdominal stretch, while Hidaka connects with a standing dropkick to Mamaluke’s face.

Mamaluke manages to make the tag to James, who gets the same move and appears to lose a tooth. Hidaka follows this up with a baseball slide to James’ prone head. As an aside to the Britpack and others from countries that don’t play Baseball – do your wrestling announcers call what we would call a “baseball slide” a “football tackle”? Anyway, James tries to get up but stumbles into hostile territory. Hidaka sends James for the ride, goes for a powerslam but James reverses it into an Ankle Lock.

Hidaka reaches the ropes but gets cheap-shotted by Mamaluke, which annoys Jim. Tony gets tagged in and hits an ankle breaker into a dragon screw. Tony keeps working on Hidaka’s leg. 2-count off a leg drop. The FBI applies a double Fujiwara armbar on Hidaka, before the ref breaks up half of the hold. Jim keeps working over the arms before the FEC regains control with an double leglock. Tony breaks up that hold. Sit-out powerbomb by Hidaka as a desperation move. Both men go for the tag and get it.

All four men end up in the ring, in a big brawl. Spinning DDT by Togo on Tony for 2. James get tossed out of the ring. Togo hits a double underhook facebuster, then goes up top and connects with a senton for the pin.

Finish: The Far East Connection by pinfall with a senton at 9:46.
Rating: **** – Excellent tag match. I’d love to see these two teams wrestle a longer match.

Post match, Gary Michael Cappetta interviews Maritato and Mamaluke. Maritato basically blames Tony for the loss and says that by holding on to the “comedy gimmick” he’s holding both men back, and challenges him to a match at the next show. Tony gets pissed off at the gimmick being labeled as a comedy gimmick and he challenges Maritato to a match right now.

James Maritato vs. Tony Mamaluke

Right after the hand shake, Mamaluke hits a belly to belly suplex, James goes to the apron for a breather, and evades a baseball slide. Mamaluke goes for a russian leg sweep off the apron, but James shoves tony through the guard rail. So, apparently it’s “Take Home a Disgruntled ECW Alum Night” at Ring of Honor. Darn – shame I missed it.

Maritato gets whipped into another guard rail, showing that no, they’re not pre-treated, they’re just shitty. Tony grabs the ring bell and goes to hit Jim with it, only to end up eating guard rail himself with a drop toe hold. Considering how easily dented they appear to be, it’s probably chewable. The two men brawl on the outside for a bit, with Jim getting bust wide open. They return to the ring, and Tony connects with a belly to back suplex. Cocky pin for 2. Maritato hits a victory roll for two. Maritato gets a 2-count off another drop kick. Maritato hits a low blow and covers. Maritato gets a hand on the ropes, but the ref is out of position and counts 3.

Finish: Tony Mamaluke by pinfall with a low blow at 2:59.
Rating: *** – That’s how you do a short match.

After the match, Maritato declares the victory doesn’t count due to shenanigans. I declare that he needs to eat more dairy, like cheese, which would complement the whine. James repeats his challenge, with the added stipulation that if James wins, the FBI becomes a serious team. Backstage, Chapetta interviews American Dragon, who introduces his new tag partner, Michael Modest.

Tournament First Round Match: Divine Storm (Christ Divine & Quiet Storm) vs. “American Dragon” Brian Danielson & Michael Modest

Danielson and Storm lock up, with some great chain technical wrestling. Storm tries to lock on a Fujiwara armbar ,but Modest breaks the hold. Storm tags in Divine. More chain wrestling, including an attempt to hit a Famouser by Divine which Dragon tries to reverse, only to have that reversed into a ‘Rana. Divine takes down Dragon and locks on a chicken wing variant. The hold started out looking like Fujiwara Armbar, so I’m going to call it a Fujiwara Chicken-Wing.

Dragon tags in Modest, who drills Divine with a series of forearms in the corner. Modest continues the offense with a series of running elbow drops to Divines throat, capping up with calmly walking over divine and giving a big grin. Modest tags Dragon in. 2-count by dragon. Dragon serves divine a big plate of chops before tagging in Modest, who hits an Uranage suplex for 2.

Divine goes for a ‘rana but doesn’t have the leverage (read: the move is no-sold), so he goes for a Russian Leg Sweep instead. Storm comes in to stop Dragon and hits the Spinal Shock (a back-to-back Atomic Drop.) Divine works over Modest in the corner, while Storm pursues Dragon to the floor. Dragon and Storm trade forearms on the outside, while Divine connects with a brainbuster on the inside. Divine goes up top, Modest follows and Modest hits a Fisherman’s Superplex and bridges for the pin.

Winner: Danielson and Modest by pinfall with a Fisherman’s Superplex at 6:22.
Rating: **** – Great wrestling, as well as showing off a few moves that are, at least, new to me.

The next scheduled match was Da Hit Squad vs. The Natural Born Sinners – however, The Carnage Crew jumped the Sinners before the match, “injuring” Boogaloo, and then attacked Da Hit Squad in the ring, eliminating them as well. So, Danielson and Modest get a bye.

Semi-Final: Far East Connection vs. The Prophecy
Daniels and Togo start out and lock up with some chain wrestling, leading to a DDT by Togo. Both men tag out, giving us Morgan and Hidaka. I’ll take this point to mention that Simply Luscious is absent from ringside. Morgan and Hidaka trade forearms and chops respectively, leading to more chain wrestling. Hidaka, being new to ROH and unfamiliar with The Prophecy, realizes that they haven’t shook hands, and puts his hand out for Morgan to shake, leading to a cheap shot, a tag to Daniels, and all 4 men brawling in the ring, Morgan and Togo on the outside, Daniels and Hidaka on the inside briefly, until they take it to ringside as well, with Daniels hitting a bodyslam on the floor, and then an elbow drop off the apron.

Daniels rolls Hidaka back in the ring. Hidaka regains control and tags in Togo. Togo starts with ah ead lock, moves to a front facelock as Daniels tries to regain a vertical base, and then slams him back down and locks on a STF. Morgan breaks up the hold. Hidaka gets tagged back in and cranks up the speed a little bit. Drop Kick & DDT double team by the FEC for 2. Belly to back suplex for 2. Daniels regains control with a low blow and tags in Morgan.

Morgan hits a series of suplexes on Hidaka for 2. Tag to daniels, followed by an elbow drop and leg drop series by both men for 2. Springboard moonsault by Daniels for 2. Morgan gets the tag and works over Hidaka some more. Hidaka reverses a back drop into a sunset flip for 2.

Daniels comes in, nails Togo off the apron with a forearm and hits a snap mare and flying mare on hidaka for 2. Hidaka gets draped on the top rope and guillotined with a leg drop for michaels for 2. Morgan comes in and applies the Camel Clutch for a bit, before continuing to Ricky Morton Hidaka, with submission holds on the head and back.

Daniels gets tagged in, and sends Hidaka to the ropes, only to get caught with a Tornado DDT. Both men get the tag, and Togo is a House On Fire! Facebuster and Tornado DDT for 2. Togo locks on a Crippler Crossface and Daniels comes in for the save. Hidaka comes in, tosses Daniels out of the ring and hits a springboard senton on to Daniels. Meanwhile, Morgan hits what appears to be a Belly-to-belly Tazplex. Morgan then hits a series of a Vertical suplex – fisherman’s suplex – fisherman’s neckbreaker for 2, with Hidaka breaking it up. Hidaka slams morgan and Togo hits his big senton, makes the cover but gets it broken up by Daniels at 2. Daniels drags Morgan to his corner and tags himself in. Hidaka and Daniels are the legal men. Daniels connects with the Angels wings, but Hidaka kick out. Daniels hits a bodyslam and goes up top and hits the Best. Moonsault. Ever – Daniels covers but gets the pin broken up.

Hidaka goes for a modified tarantula (modified with Daniels neck on the ropes, getting choked). Hidaka goes up and hits a missile dropkick followed by a bridging German suplex for 2. Hidaka hits a sitout powerbomb for 2. Morgan gets togo out of the ring and follows. Daniels hits a STO and Morgan holds down Hidaka’s feet as Daniels gets the pin

Winner: The Prophecy by pinfall with an STO with a side of shenangans at 13:48. They advance to face Dragon and Modest in the final round.
Rating: **** – Very solid tag match, with good psychology.

EDIT: Here’s more of this part of the show!

Our next scheduled match is Dunn and Marcos vs. Prince Nana and Alex Arion. However, Nana isn’t up to wrestling since he got a concussion after his match with Low Ki at Road To The Title. So, instead he’s going to let Arion wrestle a singles match against Dunn, while he watches at ringside with a poorly fitting amateur wrestling helmet on.

Alex Arion vs. Dunn

Arion levels Dunn, getting a series of 2-counts. Dunn tries a little offense but gets quickly shut down. Arion goes up and hits a big splash for the pin.

Winner: Alex Arion by pinfall with a top rope splash at 1:34.
Rating: DUD – Why are we getting a squash match?

After the match, Nana beats down Dunn and Marcos, and then cuts a promo offering Arion a job as his manservant. Arion responds with a super-kick to the head, and storms to the back, leaving Nana alone in the ring. Fortunately, the kind and generous souls of the Christopher Street Connection (along with Japanese Pool Boy and Allison Danger) come out to check on him. They check on his head, after a little difficulty on which head they’re going to check on first. They decide to kiss Nana’s boo-boo to make it all better, which Nana doesn’t take kindly to, and Nana sprints to the back.

Next, in a rather lame parody of the “Gay Marrage” angle that happened around that time on Smackdown with Billy and Chuck, Buff E proposes marrage, but Mace says he isn’t up to that commitment yet, so instead they make out in the ring. Before this segment gets too absurd and runs on too long, we get a run in by Alexis Laree, who the CSC humiliated on a previous show which I haven’t recapped yet. Laree hits a split punch on Buff E (shades of Johnny Cage), causing him to drop to his knees, his head in Mace’s crotch. Mace doesn’t know how to take this – it’s so sudden and so experimental… which is why he doesn’t notice Laree is in the ring until her boots made contact with his face, in the form of a drop kick. Danger beats feet, while Japanese Pool Boy stands up to Laree, slapping her, which is about as intelligent of stomping on Bruce Banner’s toe. Laree gores JPB, followed by a tornado DDT.

We then go to footage from the last show, when Xavier called Low Ki out for a title shot at this show.

ROH Title: Low Ki vs. Xavier

Both men lock up, with some slow chain wrestling between the two. Xavier kicks Low Ki in the chest. Ki gives this “you call that a kick” look, and then kicks the shit out of Xavier. Dueling kicks between Xavier and Ki gets Ki in the corner and Xavier hits a series of big knees, leading to a chop battle between the two.

Ki starts clubberin’ Xavier with a series of big Mongolian chops, followed by a bodyslam and elbow drop. Xaviers gets back to his feet and lays into Low Ki with a series of strikes leading to, well, astrike battle between both in, leading to Ki locking on a Fujiwara armbar, which Xavier reverses into a pin for 2.

Both men part for a breather, while the fans start a chant battle. They lock back up in a test of strength, or a “Greco-roman knuckle-lock” as Jesse Ventura would call it. Ki uses the hold to get a series of kicks to Xavier’s face, to which Xavier responds with a suplex and a side headlock. Lo Ki breaks out, eats a shoulder block, and stops another with a dropkick to the leg, sending Xavier to his knees, spinning opening him up to Ki’s Kick Combo Of Doom ™, which Ki gets 2-count off of.

Xavier manages to take control after some strikes and a botched tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. He hits a Torture-Rack Samoan Drop for 2. Turnbuckle slam and running back drop by Xavier for 2. Xavier locks on a reverse chinlock, which he ultimately releases and follows by a series of strikes, with a high knee for another 2. Xavier goes for the X-breaker, but gets literally kicked out of the ring. Ki works over Xavier on the outside before sending him in. Ki hits a corner clothesline into a bridging vertical suplex for 2. Xavier powerslams Ki into the turnbuckle to regain control.

Xavier hits a double-underhook flying mare with a bridge, which he later turns into a pin for 2. Ki gets sent to the outside, and Xavier goes for a baseball slide, but Ki catches him and gest in some more strikes, and then tosses him back in. Ki goes up top and hits a flying elbow for 2. Snap mare and strikes for 2. If I keep having to write “strikes” I’m going to go on strike.

Series of near falls and submission holds by both men. As this goes on, Christopher Daniels comes out to watch from the entrance way. daniels works of Ki’s leg and goes for a 450 splash but misses. Ki connects with his signature kick combo and signals for the Ki Crusher, but then sees Daniels at ringside, and gets distracted by him, and then rolls out of the ring to confront him. Xavier persues and chop blocks Ki’s knee. Daniels places one of the anchor blocks for the Safety rail (metal pole with a large heavy weight at the end) on Ki’s chest, and Xavier drives it into his chest with a chair, leaving Ki bleeding from the mouth (probably a work, with a blood pack – it looks fake.) Daniels taunts Ki as he crawls back to the ring, and Xavier is taunting the fans, cementing his heel turn and alliance with the Prophecy. Ki finally crawls back to the ring, and gets pinned by Xaviers 450 splash.

Winner: Xavier by pinfall with a 450 splash at 25:43 and he is the new ROH Champion.
Rating: *** – Decent match with a great heel turn.

After the match, The Prophesy drapes a ROH banner over Low K

Before I get too far into the next couple matches, a few thoughts on this heel turn, I’ve been thinking about this when I saw the show, and t his was actually rather nicely foreshadowed, though some of the events we didn’t see on the shows I’ve recapped, but were mentioned in passing by the announcers. Let’s run ‘em down shall we?

1. At Road To The Title, Christopher Daniels was very upset when Xavier failed to eliminate Low Ki from the running.
2. At Crowning a Champion Xavier asked Low Ki for a title shot, should Ki win. Ki accepted.
3. At the show immediately prior, Xavier asked Ki to cash in his title shot, leading to this card’s match.

Rather nicely done, I would say. I’d say it’d even be sufficient to push

Takao Omori vs. Sonny Siaki

Siaki is 1/2 of the Flying Elvis’s in TNA. Omori is 1/2 of the tag team “No Fear” in Pro Wrestling NOAH
Omori attacks immediately, getting control early on. Siaki regains control with a mule kick for 2. Siaki and Omori get some nice chain wrestling in. Omori locks a reverse chin lock on Siaki, and tries to work it into a Camel clutch. Siaki prevents the hold from getting fully applied, so Omori turns it into a leg scissors, which Siaki forces him to break through a pin attempt. Omori continues to dominate the match with a 2-count off a piledriver, leading up to Omori’s finisher, a modified Vertebreaker, and the pin.

Winner: Takeo Omori by pinfall with a Vertebreaker at 7:37.
Rating: *** – Siaki barely got any offense win. It wasn’t quite a Col. DeBeers squash, but it was close.

After the match, CM Punk comes out, making his ROH debut, and cuts a promo putting over ROH, and taking a shot at the WWE, and says his debut match would be on the November 9th show. Colt Cabana comes out as well, and also hypes his appearance at… a show on the 11th, I didn’t catch the month. I’d presume it’s December because it’s not on either November show I have. Finally, we go backstage to Jay, who cuts a promo against his brother, Mark, who had been hassling him for most of the previous shows, and beat Jay at ROH’s Boston show, busting him open. Jay swears never to lose again.

Jay Briscoe vs. Amazing Red

Prior to the match, Mark Briscoe tries to tell Red something he can say to Jay to give him the advantage (presumably his, Mark’s, win-loss record). Red responds with a superkick to Mark that knocks him through a nearby door. Anyway, this match is a rematch of the first booked match in ROH history, and the first booked match I’ve recapped in this thread.

NNice chain offence between Jay and Red. Further chain wrestling moves. The fight goes out to rignside though the offense stays pretty even. Jay goes for a powerslam which is reversed into a reverse DDT for 2. Climbing kick by Red. Jay responds with a lariat that practically decapitates Red. Jay reverses a corner drop kick into a leglock. Red misses a Swanton Bomb and then eats a mule kick for 2. Jay hits a body slame and goes up top, but Red catches him and hits a sunset flip power bomb. Red Star Press for 2. Red tries a standing sunset flip powerbomb , reversed into a jackknife powerbomb by Jay, followed by a second powerbomb and a Jay Driller for the pin.

Winner: Jay Briscoe by pinfall with the Jay Driller at 7:48.
Rating: **** – Jay’s really starting to get over, and this match is helping. Now, frankly, I probably wouldn’t have given this match the fourth star were it not for Jay’s promo right before it (see my last recap). However, that promo helped a lot towards building up this match. It helped that that promo reminded me a lot of some of Tommy Dreamer’s promos from his feud with Raven, back in the day.

After the match, Dixie & Elax of Special K run in and attack Red, with SAT running in for the save. Apparently, Special K’s gimmick is that they’re stoners. After they get beat down, some big black guy from the audience in a suit and sunglasses comes in and pounds the crap out of the Ref before returning to the audience to watch the rest of the show. And now, for the moment we were all waiting for…

Street Fight: Michael Shane vs. Paul London

Shane and London waste no time laying into each other with some incredibly fast offense. After working each other over in the ring, they move to ringside and then back in again. I’m not even going to try move-by-move, instead stickign to the high spots and near falls, with some contextual stuff.

London ships Shane out of the ring, but Shane grabs the top rope and tries to skin the cat, only to get speared when he’s halfway through the motion. I wonder why nobody did that with his cousin, HBK? Shane whips London into the guard rail so hard it knocks down a hole side of the guard rail. London gets a steel chair, but ends up being too busy showing off his shiny chair to the fans that he ends up eating it after gaking a suicide senton from Shane, busting London open. London then gets the chair thrown into his face by Shane after they get back into the ring, but Shane only gets a 2-count. 2-count after Shane suplexes London on the chair. Shane wedges a chair int he ropes, and goes to thrown Paul into the chair only to end up eating it himself, as London I guess feels that, as it is Twin Day, they should both be sporting crimson masks. Shane gets out a ladder but ends up eating that with a spring board kick by London. London sets up the ladder in the corner, but Shane slams him on it with a belly-to-belly suplex on the ladder. Is anyone else noticing a pattern here?

Carrying on with the pattern, London ‘rana’s Shane off the apron through a table which Shane had generously prepared earlier in the match. London searches under the ring and what does he find, but a Jeff Hardy Ladder ™. You know the kind, the ladder that you find at Home Depot with “You Must Be Fucking Kidding” on the height listing. London sets that one up in the corner and finally breaks the vicious (literally) cycle by back dropping Shane on it. Unfortunately, this bends the ladder out of shape, and I don’t think that they have the budget in ROH for a second Jeff Hardy Ladder to put under the ring, so I guess they won’t be using this one anymore.

Shane rolls to the outside and starts partway to the entrance curtain, only to have London run up the ladder and do a Suicide Plancha on Shane, leading to our first scatological chant of the evening. Both men come back in the ring, and London hits a seated leapfrog senton over the set up standard ladder… reversed into a Sit-out powerbomb by Shane for 2! Shane goes up top and hits the Picture Perfect Elbow for 2! London goes up and hits the London Calling (Shooting Star Press) for 2!

London sets up the battered Jeff Hardy ladder and starts to climb, to chants of “You Sick Fuck” Shane knocks him off and starts to climb on his own to the top of the ladder… Picture Perfect Elbow Of Doom! 1… 2… Kick out! Shane starts to go back up, but London stops him with a moonsault. London starts to climb the ladder again, now to a chant making it’s debut here in ROH – “Please Don’t Die!” London reaches the top of the ladder… London Calling! 1… 2… 3!!!!!

Finish: Paul London by pinfall after a London Calling off the top of a 15 foot ladder at 20:38.
Rating: ***** – Holy. Fucking. Shit. If you thought he was good in WWE, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The fans who were there were chanting “Match of the year” for a reason… a good one.

After the match both men embraces in the ring before Shane wastes London with a Lariat. We then get some brief video from before the event, with Donovan Morgan asking Mike Modest, his mentor, to join the Prophesy, and being rebuffed.

Final Match for the ROH Tag Team Championships: The Prophesy (Daniels & Morgan) vs. American Dragon and Mike Modest

Daniels and Morgan start. Nice chain wrestling between the two. Morgan gets tagged in and starts to work on modest, leading to further chain wrestling. Modest and Morgan start to do the Puro Shoulder Block Spot, but after the 2nd block Modest just floors Morgan instead. Dragon gets tagged in and starts wearing down Morgan with submission holds. Morgan gets the tag to Daniels, and Dragon finds himself being Ricky Mortoned by the Prophesy, primarily the leg.

The Prophecy beats Dragon over inside and outside of the ring, with Dragon finally getting the tag after a neck-wringer suplex. Modest leg scissors and diving headbutts Morgan (the other legal man) for 2. We get all 4 men in the ring. Morgan takes Modest to the outside, and Daniels gets both with a backflip clothesline. Dragon hits a tope suicida on Daniels and it appears he may have injured his knee.

Modest and Daniels are in the ring. Belly-to-belly Tazplex followed by a Bridging Fishermans Buster for 2. Morgan and Daniels gets tagged in and then gets a proper Tazmission Plex by Dragon, leading into the Cattle Mutilation that is broken up by Daniels. Dragon sets up Morgan up on the top ropes for something, only to have it reversed into a sit-otu superbomb, followed by the Best Moonsault Ever. Morgan covers for 2, and Daniels gets tagged in, and hits a Blue Thunder Driver for 2. We get all 4 men in the ring for a bit, until Morgan and Modest take it outside, and Daniels and Dragon keep it in the ring. Dragon sets Daniels up on the top rope for a belly-to-back superplex, but Morgan grabs Dragon’s ankle so he can reverse it into… something I can’t recognize for 2. Daniels picks up dragon and then and connects with the Last Rites for 3.

Winner: The Prophesy wins by pinfall with the Last Rites at 14:33 and are the new ROH Tag Team Champions – The Prophesy holds all the belts.
Rating: *** – Good match, but a few blown spots and well, that last match wore me out.

After the match, the Prophesy is awarded their trophy (ROH isn’t using Tag Belts yet). Dragon and Modest aren’t happy, and smash the trophy in the ring with a steel chari.

After the show, the Prophesy celebrates, plan to get the trophy fixed… but theres no rush because at the next show, none of the belts will be on the line – because the prophecy will be flexing their muscles. Also, they want to have Xavier take on some rube in the ring, in a non-title match. Mark happens to over here this, and suggests his brother Jay. Daniels excepts and we have a match. Also, Dick Togo and Doug Williams will wrestle each other, to see who gets to wrestle Daniels. You know, that’s a plan that sounds positively cunning. So cunning, that you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel…

Overall: **** – Very good card, definitely worth picking up… though that might be all those Wrestlemania’s talking.

Previously On Ring Of Honor…

At Round Robin Showndow: Low-Ki, American Dragon and Christopher Daniels, throughout the night, had their round-robin tournament. Daniels made Dragon tap, but tapped to Low-Ki, who in turn tapped to Dragon, leading Daniels to cut a promo saying that this settled nothing, and refused to wrestle unless the ROH Title is on the line (which is rather tricky since at the moment there wasn’t an ROH title). Additionally, Da Hit Squad squashed Prince Nana and “Towel Boy” Eric Tuttle, with the Christopher Street Connection running in for “the save” ultimately leading to a beat-down on Simply Luscious… again. Spanky gets a win over Jay Briscoe and the difficulties between Divine Storm (Chris Divine & Quiet Storm), The SAT (Joel & Jose Maximo) and Amazing Red and Brian XL after the Ultimate Elimination match at the last show lead to a 3-way tag between the 3 this time (in what is apparently another mindless spot-fest. ).

At A Night of Appreciation (for Eddie Guerrero): We learned the guy that HC Loc was talking to on the phone was fellow ECW Alum Tony DaVito. Da Hit Squad squashes the CSC again (with Luscious getting beat-down again). Jay Briscoe finally gets a win over ECW alum Tony Mamaluke. James Maritato debuts and beats Scoot Andrews and Xavier. AJ Styles debuts and gets beat by Low Ki. Loc and DaVito debut as the carnage crew and squash a couple of jobbers. Paul London makes his debut during the Texas Wrestling Acadamy gauntlet match between American Dragon, Spanky, Michael Shane, Paul London, and John Hope – which Spanky wins. For the main event, Eddie and Amazing Red beat the SAT – and after the match we get a quick Squash between Eddie and Brian XL (who Eddie nicknames Little Bow Wow), after Brian disrespects Eddie.

This leads us to ROH: Road To The Title – a tournament to determine who has a shot at being ROH Heavyweight Champion at the following event.

ROH: Road To The Title

Arena: Murphy Recreation Center

Alright, this show is going to be focused around a tournament to see who gets a shot at the ROH Championship at the next event. The tournament is bracket-style divided into 4 blocks, with 4 wrestlers per block. Whoever wins each block will advance to the final at the next event, where the 4 will square off in an 60 Minute Iron Man match to see who wins the title – the man who wins the most falls within the time limit wins the belt. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, on with the tournament.

Pre-Show: Back-stage, Low Ki’s trainer pumps him up for the tournament – not that it takes much, the very mention of Christopher Daniels Low Ki up big time. Ki says (addressing Daniels) that it is not over, and the title will be his.

Our Announce Team is Steve Corino and Donnie B.

Block C – Match 1: Biohazard vs. “American Dragon” Brian Danielson.

Biohazard is a new guy wearing a Sub-Zero face mask (but in black and green… which I guess makes it a Reptile face mask), and is another student of the Texas Wrestling Acadamy. Our referee is John Finnigan. Biohazard gets control early on. Flip-over face slam for 2. Biohazard keeps working over Dragon – Cradle Fisherman’s Suplex for 2. Dragon no-sells a series of chops and regains control . A lot of running moves by Dragon. Dragon hits a reverse vertical suplex and locks on the Cattle Mutilation for the submission.

Winner: American Dragon by submission with the Cattle Mutilation at 2:25.
Rating: ** – Good match, but there was some great ring chemistry between Dragon and Biohazard, and both guys got an even amount of offense, but it was short – which tends to be the problem with tournaments – the matches never take as long as you (the fan) would like. Donnie says that Biohazard will be back – which is good, as he was pretty good, and I’d like to see more of him.

Block A – Match 1: Brian “Spanky” Kendrick vs. Paul London

However short this is going to be, this’ll still be good match, and their first time squaring off in ROH. They start off with some chain mat wrestling, leading to Spanky getting a 1 on a pin attempt. They then go for a test of strength into an arm lock on London. London rolls through and eventually reverses the hold into an arm bar of his own, ultimately leading to some more quick chain-wrestling. London hits a leg-scissors that puts him back in control, and hits a series of quick arm-drags, capping a drop-kick, a whip into the ropes, and a spinning heel kick. Kendrick rolls to the outside. Spanky shoulder blocks London on his way into the ring and gets a belly-to-back suplex for 2. Running shoulder block for another 2. London regains control, goes for a monkey flip, but it gets reversed to a stomp to the mush. Spanky starts tuning up the band, and gives a sliding kick to London’s face for 2. Vertical suplex into a small package for 2. London breaks out of a corner splash into a… I have no idea what that’s called. London whips Spanky into the corner, Spanky reverses into a ‘rana. London regains control with a super-kick into Spanky (who is coming off the ropes), and we get our first “Holy Shit” chant of the night. London starts to go up top, Spanky tries to stop him 3 times. London goes for the shooting star press, but Spanky rolls out of the way. Spanky picks up London and goes for the Sliced Bread #2, but London catches him and crotches him on the top rope. Springboard back-brain kick from London knocks Spanky to the outside, and London goes for a somersault plancha. London sends Kendrick back in and hits a slingshot moonsault for 2. Spanky regains control, goes for a belly to back, blocked by London, and hits the double-arm chicken-wing facebuster for 2. London goes up top, but gets crotched. Spanky goes for an avalanche and botches it spectacularly, though Donnie and Steve do a good job covering. Spanky gets the cover but only gets 2. Spanky goes for a less ambitious brainbuster and drags London over to the ropes, goes up top but gets crotched with a super kick. Spanky goes for a moonsault, but ends up leaping over London, but lands on his feet. London goes for a kick, misses, gets spun by Kendrick, who hits the Sliced Bread #2 for 3.

Winner: Paul London by pinfall with the Sliced Bread #2 at 9:57.
Rating: ** – This could have been a 3 star match, but the spectacularly botched brainbuster (as well as a few other things) drops this down a star. Fortunately these two have better matches to come.

Block C – Match 2: “The Anarchist” Doug Williams vs. Jay Briscoe

Before Nigel McGuinness came from the UK to ROH, there was Doug Williams. Doug and Jay circle up, and we start with some chain wrestling, focusing on the arm. Donnie is clearly reading off cue cards here during part of his commentary.

Donnie: The English style is clearly lacking next to the US style, Japanese Style or Mexican style of pro wrestling.
Me: You’re lucky Chris “Watching the Dynamite Kid got me into wrestling” Benoit didn’t hear that line. Or, for that matter Bret “My brother in law was the British Bulldog, and Dynamite Kid and I were like this when I got in the business” Hart as well.

Williams brings Jay down, locks a knee-and-ankle-lock on Jay, forcing him to go to the ropes. Mark Briscoe comes out to watch his brother as Jay reverses a headlock into a head-scissors. Doug breaks out of the hold into a side-headlock. Jay breaks out, they do a few running chain holds, and then locks the headlock right back in. Doug gets taken down with a belly to back suplex, and then Jay goes for 2 chained vertical suplexes into a facebuster for 2. Doug reverses a whip in the corner and hits a series of jumping knees, then goes up top for a knee drop for 2. A few reversed holds between the two, and Jay hits a powerbomb for 2, followed by a top rope guillotine leg drop for another 2. Jay goes for the Jay Driller, but Doug counters it, so Jay goes for a double chicken-wing instead. Doug breaks out with an European uppercut (fitting), hits a few strikes, and then hits the Chaos Theory (a German suplex, rolls through it into another German suplex) for 3.

Winner: Doug Williams by pinfall with the Chaos Theory at 8:14
Rating: *** – Very nice. Williams and Briscoe did very well, and I’d love to see more of Williams in ROH (or anywhere else for that matter).

Block A – Match 2: “The Phoenix” Jody Fleisch vs. Johnny Storm

Apparently both these guys are from the UK, and both are high-flyers – Jody having wrestled in Michinoku Pro in Japan. They start off with some chained high flying and running moves. Applause from the audience. They’re apparently wrestled each other over 125 times over the past 3 years. Jody gets sent to the outside, Storm goes up top and hits a senton on Jody. Storm rolls back in and waits for Jody. Jody regains control and Storm gets sent outside. Storm dives under the ring and out the other side, and quickly rolls back in. Jody goes for a belly to back but blows the spot. Jody super-kicks Storm, and then gets clotheslined over the top. Storm starts to get to his feet only to get nailed by a springboard shooting start press. Cue “Holy Shit” chant #2. We get a few chained traded pinfalls, all 2-counts. Jody goes up top, goes for a moonsault, but Storm catches him and gives a release German suplex that flips Jody over and has him landing face first by the opposing turnbuckle. “Holy Shit” #3. Storm goes for the pin for 2. Jody goes for a Tornado DDT, but Storm reverses it. Storm goes for top-rope Frankensteiner for 2. Jody blows a front flip for 2… fuck it. It’s a mindless spot-fest, but unlike the spot fest from the last ROH event I recapped, it feels really sloppy. It’s kind of fun, but it’s still really sloppy feeling. Johnny Storm goes for a Frankensteiner, but Jody reverses it into a power-bomb for the 3.

Winner: Jody Fleisch by pinfall with a power-bomb at 7:01
Rating: ** – Could have gotten a higher rating, but this match felt sloppy as hell. Flair/Steamboat these guys ain’t.
Side Note: Donnie, please let Steve get a word or two in edgewise. Thank you.

After the match, Jody and Storm get a “Please Come Back” chant – which I do hope these guys do. The match was sloppy, but they really could do better. If felt like they could do much, much better. Meanwhile, back stage, the Christopher Street Connection is taking great amusement over Jerry Lynn eating a banana.

Block D – Match 1: Low Ki vs. Prince Nana

Nana previously disrespected Ki with a bitch slap, to which Ki responded with a forearm to the face which knocked him out. Nana sneak attacks Low Ki as soon as he enters the ring and starts working him over in the corner. Nana whips Ki in to the corner for a corner splash followed by a butt splash. He continues with a few stomps, and moves Kin in the corner for a few chops and another butt splash. Nana picks up Ki, Ki delivers a few right hands and stiff chops. But Nana works Ki into the corner and another ass splash. Ki regains control, delivers a massive series of chops. Nana whips Ki in the corner, hits a belly splash, goes for yet another ass splash and misses. Ki is up, and enziguri’s Nana’s soul right out of his body, and straight to Hell!!!!!!!. Ref John Finnigan calls for the bell, and Ki wins by KO.

Winner: Low Ki by referee stoppage (knockout) with the Raging Demon Enziguri (my name, not theirs) at 3:53.
Rating: ** – Not a great match, but the Enziguri of Doom gets it a star it wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. (For the record, the KO is a work, not a shoot. My initial reaction was that it was a shoot, and they do a great job of setting it up as being an legitimate injury, especially by Steve Corino, but I checked and apparently is a work.

After the match they carry Nana out of the ring. Backstage Lynn and Xavier talk music before Xavier goes out for the next match.

Block D – Match 2: Xavier vs. Amazing Red

Red’s apparently changed his entrance music to “It’s Going Down” by the X-Cutioners feat. Mike Shinoda. Xavier and Red lock up, and Xavier manhandles Red, literally tossing him from one turnbuckle to another (though, to be fair, it’s a small ring.) Red recovers, and hits a tornado DDT on Xavier. Xavier rolls to the outside, and Red hits a suicide senton on Xavier. Red sends Xavier back in the ring, and whips him into the corner for a nice plate of chops. Red goes to whip Xavier into the opposite corner, Xavier reverses. Red goes up top, Xavier goes to stop him, but gets a boot to the head (shoomp). Red goes for a corkscrew senton… or something, but Xavier catches him (or rather, saves the move from botching – as Red really would have missed the move) and then power-bombs Red in the middle of the ring. Xavier picks up red, sends him into the corner for some big knees, then drags him to the center of the ring for one last knee and a two-count. Xavier picks up Red and goes for a pumphandle slam but Red goes for a ‘rana – but Xavier does a hand stand, bounces off the ropes, and uses that momentum to a mule kick to the head. Red gets back up and regains some momentum, landing a Sunset Flip Powerbomb for 2. Red keeps working over Xavier but gets his offense reversed into a pumphandle facebuster 2. Xavier goes up for a 450 Splash but Red’s out of the way. Another Tornado DDT by Red on Xavier for 2. Red goes back up, Xavier catches him, goes for a Splash Mountain (crucifix powerbomb) but You Can’t Powerbomb Kidman Red as Red flips out and goes for a spinning heel kick to the head, and then another. Red goes up top.. Infrared and Red Star Press for 3!

Winner: The Amazing Red by pinfall with the Red Star Press at 4:22.
Rating: *** – Now that’s what I’m talking about. Why couldn’t we have gotten a match this good in the first half?

So, the Block D quarterfinals will be Low Ki vs. Amazing Red. Xavier goes backstage and gets chewed out by Daniels (sporting some nice red tinted shades, by the way) for losing to Red, because he was counting on Xavier to eliminate Low Ki, and he warns Red that he better take Low Ki out, and that’s “and that’s the prophecy, according to me!” Daniels’ catch phrase kicks Low Ki’s catch phrases ass. Daniels then mutters to himself that he doesn’t care who wins – he’ll take ‘em out. Prior to the next match we get a brief bit of video from the last event, with Scoot Andrews challenging Daniels, and calling him a pedophile (classy… especially considering what happens with Rob Feinstein later).

Block B – Match 1: “The Black Nature Boy” Scoot Andrews vs. “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels

Daniels has changed his entrance music as well, to “Beautiful People” by Marilyn Manson. On his way to the ring he lets us know he runs this promotion, and never to forget it. He cuts a promo in the ring before the match, swearing that his goal is has read the prophecy, foretelling that he would bring about the end of Ring of Honor. He announces the formation of The Prophecy and that it’s first member is Simply Luscious (who I guess got tired of getting put through tables by Da Hit Squad).

Scoot rushes to the ring, and Daniels lays the boots to Scoot on his way in. Scoot gets an inverted powerbomb early on. Drop kick on Daniels for 2. Daniels counters with a knee into a neckbreaker. Daniels whips Scoot into the corner, hits a few rights, goes for a bulldog but gets countered into a STO for 2. Scoot goes for the Force Of Nature (pumphandle slam), but Daniels counters that into a STO, into a double underhook powerbomb by Scoot for 2. Scoot gets a… I don’t know what that move is. Scoot grabbed Daniels hands, crossed them over his neck and chest, and then slammed him back first into the mat. Anyway, it only got 2. Scoot rushes in, but gets caught in a STO, followed an uranage (which you might know as The Rock Bottom) and Daniels goes up for the Best Moonsault Ever

Winner: Christopher Daniels by pinfall with the Best Moonsault Ever at 2:28.
Rating: ** – Short, but okay.

After the match, Luscious very weakly slaps Scoot and tells him to take his best shot. Scoot, unlike Da Hit Squad, would never hit a woman, but Sumie Sakai would (Sumie Sakai is a woman’s wrestler from Japan and… well, if you’ve never seen Joshi Puroetsu before, it’s something completely different). Luscious gets worried… and who wouldn’t? Okay, Sakai’s not Megumi Kudo – though if it was Megumi Kudo, I’d say even Daniels would probably want to clear the ring.

Simply Luscious vs. Sumie Sakai

Anyway, we get a quick match between Sakai and Luscious. It starts really slow, but builds, and I’m kind of impressed with Luscious ring work once she gets up a head of steam. However, why am I not doing an in-depth recap of this match? Because we were about a minute in before I realized this wasn’t going to be a squash, and I couldn’t be arsed to rewind to the start of the match and start recording the information on this match. If I did, this would probably become a 3 part update. Sakai wins in about 3-4 minutes.** rating – it had potential, but the chemistry wasn’t quite there.

Block B – Match 2: AJ Styles vs. “The New F’n Show” Jerry Lynn

TNA was pretty new at this time, and still on the weekly pay-per-view stage. Lynn and Styles circle up and lock up. Chain wrestling between the two, starting on the arms, and working into aerial chain wresting leading to a round of applause. Lynn takes control, and works the neck and head Styles, and gets a clothesline for 1. Lynn locks Styles into a bow and arrow hold. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for 2 on Styles. Lynn gets styles in the corner and goes for a Tornado DDT, but Styles stops it, only to get hit with an Overhead suplex into the turnbuckle for 2. Lynn looks to go for an Airplane spin into a Cop Killer, but Styles breaks out after the spin and hits super-kick to the side of Lynn’s head for 2. Lynn and Styles each go for a suplex, each blocking the other, before Styles goes fuck-it and hits Lynn with a neckbreaker for 2. Lynn regains control and hits Styles with a front-face bulldog. Lynn goes for a DDT but Styles gets out. Styles hits an arm drop and then continues working Lynn’s arm to block that Cradle piledriver. Lynn gets a foot on the rope to break out of the hold. Styles gets whipped into the corner, flips over the ropes, goes for a shoulder-block on Lynn but Lynn evades it and hits Styles with a leg drop. Lynn goes for a suplex again, AJ Styles reverses it into a suplex but Lynn manages to land on his feet, only to have it reversed into a cutter. With Lynn now down, Styles continues working Lynn’s arm. Lynn whips Styles to the ropes, Styles bounces off the 2nd rope, flips over, and hits a reverse DDT on Lynn for 2. Styles goes for the Styles Clash (Belly to back inverted mat slam) but Lynn reverses it into a Power Bomb, Styles reverses into a kick, which Lynn reverses into enziguri. They then chain near-falls, finally capping with Lynn regaining control and getting a Tornado DDT for 2. Styles regains control, and hits a fireman’s carry backbreaker for 2. Styles goes up top, but Lynn stops him, and crotches him on the top rope. Lynn goes up to stop Styles, but gets shoved down and Styles hits the Spiral Tap (somersault corkscrew senton) but only for 2. Lynn hits a DDT, then hits a fireman’s carry slam for 2. Lynn signals for the Cradle Piledriver, but Styles reverses into the Styles Clash for 3.

Winner: A.J. Styles by pinfall with the Styles Clash at 15:32.
Rating: *** – Very good. These guys need to wrestle each other more often.

After the Match, Dunn and Marcos (dunno who they are) come in the ring and declare themselves ROH’s greatest tag team. To which Da Hit Squad take offense and run in and squash the poor schmucks. Nice to see them beating up somebody other then the Christopher Street Connection. We get a little clipping here, but I really don’t think we’re missing anything. Marcos gets hit with the Burning Hammer.

Steve Corino: He could have a broken neck – or worse, he could still be alive.
Me: You’re all heart Steve.

After that they declare themselves themselves number 1 tag team… we get clipping again and now Divine Storm is out to dispute their claim. Quiet Storm (cutting the first promo of his career) proceeds to heartily mock Da Hit Squad’s gimmick of being the hardest hitting tag team in RoH, proclaiming that they ain’t shit, and that Divine Storm is the top tag team. Now, that this point the SAT enters. Let it not be said that Da Hit Squad can’t take a hint – they realize where this is going, flip off both the SAT and Divine Storm, and each member both get double-teamed. After Da Hit Squad gets chucked out of the ring, Divine Storm and the SAT start working on each other. Why am I not calling this as a match, because according to the back of the box, we’ve got three more teams yet to get involved in this mess. Meanwhile all 3 teams are brawling on the outside, which means one of the high flyers is going to go up top in the ring, and take everyone else out (in this case being Joel Maximo).

With everyone out of the ring… *sigh* it’s time for the Christopher Street Connection (now managed by Allison Danger – Steve Corino’s real-life sister) to make their presence known. We then clip to the CSC making out in the ring, only to be stopped by the Natural Born Sinners. The Sinners take out the CSC and Danger (which makes Corino’s enthusiasm odd, actually), and Homicide hits both of the NBC with the Cop Killer – and the Carnage Crew finally make their presence known, with Loc getting some much needed payback on the Sinners (who they have not wrestled yet). Hit Squad rolls in and takes out the Carnage Crew, saving their traveling buddies, (the Sinners) and ultimately putting the Carnage Crew through a table. Da Hit Squad reiterates their claim to being the top tag team, to which Homicide responds “What the fuck is that” and respectfully (*snicker*) disagrees. The Sinners head backstage, irate, going past Low Ki who failed his Listen check and didn’t catch any of the exchange in the ring.

Block A – Match 3 (Quarterfinal): Brian “Spanky” Kendrick vs. “The Phoenix” Jody Fleisch

Some chain wrestling (both technical and aerial) between Spanky and Jody, ultimately leading to Spanky rolling to the outside. Spanky starts working the arm, but Jody breaks out, and gives Spanky a boot to the mush. Spanky rolls out side again. Jody goes for a springboard plancha, but Spanky grabs the top rope, crotching Jody. Spanky slingshot sentons back in. Spanky continues working over Jody, and goes for the Sliced Bread #2. Jody tries to crotch him on the top rope, but Spanky moves to the outside, only to get kicked off the apron. Jody goes to the top rope, and goes for a moonsault onto Spanky, but barely catches his him, but does catch his leg on the safety barrier. Jody rolls Spanky back in, and goes back up top goes for a shooting star press, but Spanky rolls out of the way and Jody lands on his feet. Jody gets an sunset flip for 2. Jody goes back up again for a 720 DDT, Spanky gets out of the way, and then gets a 2 count. Spanky gets the Sliced Bread #2 for 3.

Winner: Spanky by pinfall with the Sliced Bread #2 at 5:15.
Rating: ** – Quick, decent, with one blown spot (which was impressively recovered from).

Block C – Quarterfinal: “The Anarchist” Doug Williams vs. “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson”

Dragon and Williams lock up, and trade holds. Dragon rings Williams bell with an enziguri. The chain wrestling continues, with Williams ultimately locking Dragon’s legs in an modified deathlock, before Dragon rolls out and locks on a head scissors. Williams goes into a headlock which is then reversed into an anklelock by Dragon. Williams locks Dragon into what looks to be a reverse bow and arrow, into a body scissors on Dragon’s legs. Dragon gets broken free, only to get locked in an abdominal stretch. Dragon gets loose goes for a running cross body, only to get caught – literally, and hit with a backbreaker (which Williams then turns into a hold, and then turns back into a bow and arrow). Williams keeps working on Dragon’s back with an armlock suplex for 2, then locks him in a standing back bow & arrow, and rams Dragon repeatedly into the turnbuckle while keeping the hold locked on. Williams delivers a series of high knees to Dragon, while Corino dumps on the UK style of pro wrestling. Williams goes up for a frog splash, but Dragon hits him with a drop kick in mid air. Dragon locks on a toe-hold and Williams locks a toe hold of his own, and they both roll all the way out of the ring. Dragon rolls in, and Williams gets on the apron. Dragon goes to suplex Williams into the ring, but Williams reverses it into a suplex of his own. Williams and Dragon chain 1 counts. Chain speed wrestling to a swinging DDT on Dragon for 2. Williams and Dragon trade European Uppercuts, and Dragon hits a vertical suplex, goes up, and hits a Diving headbutt for 2. Williams hits the Chaos Theory, and Dragon kicks out at 2. Williams is thrown off by this, and Dragon takes advantage with a series of quick kicks to the cranium. Williams gets whipped to the corner, and Dragon hits a belly-to-back suplex for 2. Dragon goes for the Cattle Mutilation, but Williams bridges out of it, and hits an Ocean Cyclone suplex (think of it as the bastard child of the Belly to Back Suplex, and a vertical suplex) for 3.

Winner: Doug Williams by pinfall with an Ocean Cyclone suplex at 14:35
Rating: *** – At last, business is finally picking up.

Block D – Quarterfinal: Amazing Red vs. Low Ki

As the match starts, the fans are chanting “You Killed Nana” at Low Ki. After the hand shake Red cheap-shots Ki. They both trade kicks and start into some chain aerial moves, not really going for holds so much as trying to land strikes on each other. They go for a test of strength and Red gets backed into the corner, we get a series of trade near falls before going back for the strikes. Ki goes for a sweep, Red jumps it and hits the Red Star Press for 2. Red hits what I’d call a float-over jumping cutter for 2. Red goes for an frankensteiner, but You Can’t Powerbomb Kidman Frankensteiner Low Ki! Low Ki tosses him off and hits a back heel kick for 2. Ki goes for a black-flip kick in the corner, but Red hits a springboard drop-kick to stop it. Red gets whipped onto the ropes, and evades a kick by Low Ki. Red goes for a shoulder block, but gets hit with a boot to the chin. Ki tries to kick Red several more times, before finally landing a back heel kick that sends Red crashing into the guard rail – the same rail that Fleisch’s knees ran into. Ki chucks Red in the ring and pins Red for 2. Ki slams Red down spine first on the ring. Red finally gets some offense in with a Tornado DDT. Ki rolls to the apron, and Red drop kicks him off. Ki gets up using the apron for support, and the fans see where this is going and start moving out of the way. Red goes for a plancha, but Ki leaps to the apron and gets Red with a high knee. Ki signals for the Ki Crusher. Red reverses it into a roll-up for 2. Red goes for a frankensteiner, but You Can’t Powerbomb Kidman Frankensteiner Low Ki and Ki tries to turn it into a power-bomb… but You Can’t Powerbomb Kidman Red. Ki tries to turn Red around for… I guess… an Electric Chair drop, but it turns out You Can’t Apparently Can Powerbomb Frankensteiner Kidman Low Ki After All… but only if it’s a reverse frankensteiner. Red drags Low Ki away from the ropes and goes up top for the Infrared… and misses! Ki’s back up, Red goes for the reverse frankensteiner again, but he went to the well once too often. Ki hits the Ki Crusher into the turnbuckle, sending Red’s lifeless form to the outside. You bastard, you killed Red! Ki rolls out and sends Red back in. Ki goes back up top and goes for an Infrared of his own, but Red moved out of the way, and Ki rolls through… wait a minute, Red’s alive! Ki goes back up top, Red hits a spinning heel kick to Ki, but Ki manages to hang on. Red goes for the frankensteiner again, but Ki blocks it because… oh you know why. Super Ki Crusher! Low Ki makes the cover and it’s over.

Winner: Low Ki by pinfall with a Ki Crusher off the top rope at 11:17.
Rating: *** – Very well done. Why couldn’t the rest of the show been like this.

After the match, Brian XL runs in, and the audience starts a “Little Bow Wow” chant, and cuts an completely inaudible promo, before attacking the recovering Red from behind and delivers a beat down in the ring. The SAT runs in for the save, hitting Brian XL with the Spanish Fly (double backflip STO off the top rope). Oh, by the way…

Note to ROH front office: You might want to have Steve Corino refrain from referring to Brian XL as a “nappy-headed goof,” especially in the wake of remarks by Don Imus. Mind you, Imus had not yet made these remarks at the time this event was recorded – nonetheless, that’s something that I figured would be worth bring to your attention.
-Yours, Count_Zero.

With that out of the way, we go to backstage where the Natural Born Sinners are incredulous over Da Hit Squad’s assertion of their status as top tag team in ROH. However, DHS will have to wait until after the Sinners take out the Carnage Crew (their words) in a Bunkhouse Brawl at the next event, in their first formal match.

Block B – Quarterfinal: AJ Styles vs. “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels w/ Simply Luscious

Start: 2:25:23. Finish: 2:47:06
Styles and Daniels are both alums of the end of WCW, though they never wrestled each other there. By the way, did I mention that I that I love Daniels’ shades? After they put out Christopher Daniels T-Shirts, they really should have moved on to the shades.

Anyway, Daniels and Styles start with a long stretch (3 minutes straight) of fast chain wrestling. Before slowing it down… slightly, and continuing the chain-wrestling, with both Daniels and Styles working over each others arms and necks swapping holds, without particularly any pin attempts, but a lot of near falls and even offense. Styles finally gains a bit of control after another 5 minutes of chained holds, gets Daniels on the apron, and drop kicks him off. Styles hits a spinning pescado on Daniels. Styles rolls back into the ring. Daniels gets back on the apron, goes to suplex Daniels to the outside, Styles vaults over onto the apron and hits gets hit with a low blow. Daniels moves in, gets a running start and shoves Styles off the apron and into the safety rail, and the claret is flowing for Mr. Styles. Daniels firmly in control, working Styles over inside and outside of the ring.

Corino: The blood of AJ Styles is on Daniels’ hands, and it Daniels is clearly enjoying this! He has a grin on his face like a clown at a children’s birthday party!
Me: Steve, what clown did you hire? Pennywise?!

Flapjack by Daniels for 2. Daniels goes for a Lionsault, but nobody’s home. Daniels goes for a suplex, but Styles reverses into a brainbuster. Daniels rolls out of the ring. Daniels and Styles fight on the apron. Styles slaps Daniels halfway into the ring, leaving him balanced on the ropes… springboard guillotine leg drop by Styles for 2. STO into a modified sleeper by Daniels. Styles reverses it into a 2 count. Daniels balances across the top rope, leg drop for 2. Daniels hits a modified powerbomb for 2. Styles levels Daniels with a Lariat and hits a power slam for 2. Front face drop by Styles for 2. Daniels hit a STO, and then a rotating Powerbomb for 2. Daniels went for the Best Moonsault Ever, but Styles grabs the top rope and knocks Styles off. Crucifix Facebuster for 2. Styles goes for the Styles Clash, but Daniels rolls through for an ankle lock. Styles breaks out, and Daniels and Styles trade near-falls. Styles bounces off the ropes for the float over reverse DDT, but Daniels reverses for the Last Rites (rolling cutter) for 3.

Winner: Christopher Daniels by pinfall with the Last Rites at 22:43
Rating: **** – Beautiful match. Daniels and Styles pulled out all the stops here, with some excellent chain wrestling at the beginning, going almost the first 10 minutes match without even trying once for a near-fall. Magnificent.

Thus, the Final Four, who will wrestle in the finals for the ROH Championship at the next event are Christopher Daniels, Low Ki, Doug Williams, and Brian “Spanky” Kendrick. We clip for a bit, with Donnie B. in the ring with a couple announcements. The first is that… Christopher Daniels is going to grab the mike and interrupt the first announcement. Spanky comes out and tells Daniels to shut up and gives Daniels a shot to the mouth. Donnie B gets the mike back, and announces that they’ve got a TV deal on a local network. We clip again with the Final Four and John Finnegan going to unveil the ROH title. However, Daniels tries to steal the belt, ultimately leading to the Final Four getting into a brawl in the ring, and Finnegan rolls out of the ring, realizing that this is not a good place for a Ref right now. We end with Low Ki refusing to release a choke hold on Christopher Daniels. They ultimately carry Low Ki and Daniels, with the hold still applied, out of the ring.

After the event, Styles promotes a 3 way dance between himself and 2 other NWA-Wildside wrestlers. Rudy Boy Gonzalez goes looking for Luscious, and Spanky gloats with American Dragon, leading to a 2-out-of-3 falls match between the two at their event in Boston. Oh, and the Carnage Crew beat up a couple members of the ring crew to show what they’re going to do to the Natural Born Sinners… so who are the faces in this match again – or are they both heels?

Overall Rating: *** – A very, very meh undercard, redeemed by a stellar main event. The Quarterfinals overall were excellent. The undercard though could have been better… but that’s what you get with a tournament, I guess.

ROH: The Era of Honor Begins

Background:
ECW was dead to begin with. Prior to its demise, one of its main distributors for tapes of its events was RF Video, run by Rob Feinstein, who had made a fair amount of cash distributing video of events of independent wrestling promotions, including ECW (which became their biggest seller). To boost revenues following , Feinstein started a new promotion to fill the gap left by ECW’s demise, using both ECW alumni who were not currently under exclusive contract with WWE (or other promotions) and young candidates from wrestling schools like Shawn Michaels’ Texas Wrestling Acadamy. As a change from the ECW style, and to differentiate itself from the WWE, and from promotions local to South Philadelphia which had co-opted the ECW style (CZW, XPW*) central to the concept of Ring of Honor was the “Code of Honor” rules which, Kayfabe-wise, all wrestlers were supposed to follow, be they faces or heels.

Now, not all wrestlers did this, and at least one wrestler made it his gimmick not to follow it. However, this was ROH’s big thing at first, they run it down in the event, so I might as well get it out of the way now before I start the summary.

The Code of Honor (as of Era of Honor Begins)

1. You must shake hands before and after every match.
2. No outside interference — no interfering in others’ matches or having others interfere on your behalf.
3. No sneak attacks
4. No harming the officials.
5. Do not get yourself disqualified

Now that I got that out of the way, time for… The Event

ROH: The Era of Honor Begins

Arena: Some High School Gymnasium

Pre-Show:
Da Hit Squad (Mafia and Monsta Mack) start out OOC, getting ready for a meet-and-greet on the bus with the New York Fans who came by tour bus to see ROH’s debut. They then get in character, on the bus, and shoot (sort of) on WWF, and start what is, perhaps, the first filmed ROH chant, and we learn that they are “The Stiffest Players In The Game.” I guess that’s a shoot? Brother?

Da Hit Squad then goes and hangs with the Boston fans and basically does the same short of thing, leading to the start of the actual show.

Our announce team is Eric Gargulo on Commentary and “The King of Old School” Steve Corino on color.

The Christopher Street Connection (Buff-E and Mace) come out to “YMCA” with their manager, Allison Danger. They are, judging from the announce team’s reaction, heels, as they “Don’t stand for respect, which is what Ring of Honor is all about.” From their ring attire, body language, and dialog, I’d say their gimmick is that they’re supposed to be gay. However, from the audience reactions, I’d say the audience loves ‘em.

I can’t really say I get the point of having characters be heel because they’re gay, especially since they’re getting a bit of face fan reaction from the audience, at least during their entrance. Once they step in the ring, though, we get a chant of the other-f-word from the audience, to which Buff-E responds “I may be gay, but you’re queer.” Witty. Steve Corino is shocked by this admission. I, on the other hand, don’t see the point of having characters be Heels based on their sexual orientation. Buff-E declares RoH to stand for “Ring of Homosexuals”, and starts making out with Mace. Da Hit Squad runs in for the save, and we finally have a match at 13:22 into the DVD.

I wish I was kidding with that time stamp.

Da Hit Squad vs. Christopher Street Connection

This is an outright squash match. Christopher Street Connection gets in no offense, DHS gets in much, much more.

Winner: Da Hit Squad with a Burning Hammer at 1:22.
Rating: * – all I can say for this match is that DHS’s workrate looks good.

After the match, Da Hit Squad gets the tables and puts Allison Danger, and Buff-E through ‘em with a sit-out power bomb, Pitbulls style. So, from what I gather, Da Hit Squad are like Public Enemy but with workrate of the Pitbulls, in that they can do suplexes and power bombs. DHS puts on another promo while the Refs clean the Christopher Street Connection out of the map.

Jay Briscoe of the Briscoe Brothers cuts a cut a quick promo backstage with Mark, saying he can deliver in both singles and tag competitions.

The Amazing Red cuts another promo, basically saying he begs to differ.
Jay Briscoe (w/ Mark Briscoe) vs. The Amazing Red

Apparently the Briscoes aren’t using “Gimmie Back My Bullets” yet for their entrance music. Also, as a side note, Mark apparently isn’t old enough to legally wrestle in the state of Philly, so he’s just at ringside as a manager.

We start with some chain mat wrestling, as well as speed moves from Jay and Red, swapping holds back and forth, ending with Red being sent over the top rope to the outside. Jay goes for a pescado and misses. Red sends Jay into the ring and delivers a series of right hands. Red sends Jay into the ropes, Jay counters with a leg lariat. Chain running stuff leading to Red booting Jay in the face. Jay pulls the old fake handshake trick (punch variant). Jay goes for an arm-wringer, Red reverses with a boot to the gut, followed by an enziguri. Series of reversals into the corner, into a Muscle Buster by Jay for a 2-count. We get our first “Holy Shit” chant of the evening. Jay looks to go for the top rope. No idea what Jay was trying to do, but Red blocks it and hits Jay with a vertical suplex. Series of punches followed by hard kicks to the head and shoulder of Jay. Jay counters with a boot of his own. Jay goes for the Jay Driller (double underhook piledriver), Red counters for a bridging pin, which Jay breaks out of. Jay goes for Jay Driller again, but You Can’t Powerbomb Kidman Piledrive Red… except Jay hits the Jay Driller. Red sells it like Rock sells the Stunner. Red gets a foot on the ropes at 2. Jay goes up top again, Red hits the ropes to crotch Jay. Jay gets back up again. Red goes for a springboard kick off the ropes, but Jay’s flying forearm has priority.* Half-nelson suplex by Jay. Jay goes back up again, either hoping 3rd times’ the charm or showing a distinct lack of pattern recognition. Cannonball Senton… misses. Red goes up top and connects with the Infrared* (corkscrew senton), and the Red Star Press (standing shooting star press).

Winner: Amazing Red w/ the Red Star Press at 08:07
Rating: *** – Much better, why couldn’t we have gotten this match earlier! Rather then that annoying squash with Da Hit Squad.

* Eric mis-calls the move as the “Red Alert”

Low-Ki cuts a promo back stage, telling American Dragon and Christopher Daniels to be ready. Yeah, that’s his catch-phrase

The Natural Born Sinners (Homicide and Boogalou) cut a promo about being from the streets. So, they’re The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa), but with actual wrestling talent? Okay.

Xavier tells… somebody to keep their chin up, and then Scoot Andrews cuts a promo on Xavier, promising Xavier will be his stepping stone.

Xavier vs. “The Black Nature Boy” Scoot Andrews

For the record, I’m just guessing with these match times, as apparently ROH can’t be arsed to buy a ring bell at this time.

Chain mat wrestling from Xavier and Andrews, focusing on the arms. Xavier and Scoop trade body slams, and then get back into trading holds. Xavier goes for head-scissors, Scoop trades into a facebuster. Double-underhook suplex by Scoop for 2. Scoop goes for some big chops in the corner, Xavier counters into what was supposed to be a running power bomb (or atomic drop or something), but blows it and drops Scoot on his head. Xavier gets a bit of offense in and but gets countered into a hard power bomb. They trade chops for a bit, and then Scoot cuts Xavier in half with a clothesline for 2. Scoot goes up top for a big leg drop, and misses. Xavier forearms, knee strikes, and elbow drops the crap out of Scoot, and then hits him with a belly to back suplex for 2. They trade moves for a bit, and Scoot gets a 2-count off a reverse DDT. Scoot hits a few more moves, and then goes for the Force of Nature (pump-handle piledriver), but only gets the 2 off that before Xavier gets his foot on the rope. Xavier rolls to the outside while Scoot argues with referee John Finnegan (yes, ECW’s John Finnegan). Scoot finally goes, and rolls Xavier in the ring, and gets the 2 count. Scoot argues with John again, Xavier goes for a school boy for 2. Scoot goes for the Force of Nature again, Xavier slips out of it for a neckbreaker and the 3.

Winner: Xavier by neckbreaker at 10:11.
Rating: *** – More solid wrestling, and I have to say I liked the chain wrestling here a bit more than the chain wrestling at the last match. I’m noticing a trend here with the 2-counts on the finishers, which doesn’t do much for the finishers in question.

Backstage, the Natural Born Sinners are scaring the crap out of people with a chainsaw, and are wairing masks (a Michael Meyers from Halloween mask for Homicide, and a Hannibal Lecter mask for Boogaloo.)

The Boogie Knights (Drake and Tobin) vs. The Natural Born Sinners (Homicide and Boogalou)

Official is HC Loc (another ECW alum – this will come up later).

Both sides spit in their hands for the handshake. Drake starts for the Knights, Boogalou starts for the Sinners. Chain submissions between the two. Boogalou tags in Homicide, and Drake does his Ricky Morton impression for a bit, until Boogalou clotheslines Drake to the outside and starts taking him out at ringside. Drake gets seated in a chair, and Homicide gives him a swanton tope. Tobin counters with a pescado onto the Sinners. The Sinners send Tobin into the ring post, Drake back into the ring and nail Drake with a suplex and double-stomp. Drake gets control with a Rishi bomb, followed by a springboard swanton by Tobin for 2. Tobin makes it back in control for 3 seconds, before Boogalou takes him out as well. Tobin and Boogalou tag out, Homicide and Drake tag in. Homicide cleans house, and then double teams Drake again. The Sinners deliver a series of rubber chicken shots on the Knights, leading to a disqualification by HC Loc.

Winners: The Boogie Knights by DQ at 8:00.
Rating: *** – Decent match until the finish. You’d think they’d get disqualified for the use of a decent foreign object, like a chair, or a bat, or kendo stick or something.

After the match, Natural Born Sinners beat up HC Loc, including spiking him in the head repeatedly, busting him open, giving us our first blade job, followed by Loc getting hit with the Cop Killer (Reverse double underhook piledriver).

Backstage, the Boogie Knights decide now is a very good time to leave, and the Christopher Street Connection commiserate over their injuries they got from Da Hit Squad, and Buff-E thinks Spanky is hot.

In the ring Towel Boy (ECW vet) cleans the ropes for the next match.

Ultimate Elimination Match: Quiet Storm vs Joel Maximo vs Jose Maximo vs Brian XL vs Chris Divine vs The Amazing Red
Our special referee is Mikey Whipwreck (another ECW vet).

We start with Brian XL and Joel Maximo in the ring. This using Lucha Libre tag rules (no physical tags required, one man leaves the ring, another comes on). I’m not even going to try to keep track of the moves, as they’re going to come too fast and too furious. I guess you could call this Aerial Chain Wrestling. We get a bit of Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better with missile dropkicks and tope suicidas, leading back to a series of aerial chain wrestling and big spots. Basically this match is a big, almost mindless spot fest. However, it’s a fun big mindless spot fest.

Winner:
Jose Maximo eliminated The Amazing Red at 10:49
Chris Divine eliminated Brian XL at 11:20
Joel Maximo eliminated Chris Divine at 12:31
Quiet Storm eliminated Jose Maximo at 12:31
Quiet Storm eliminated Joel Maximo at 16:01 with the Storm Cradle Driver.

Rating: **** – This match was fast, furious fun, which gets a lot of the high-flyers over with the fans.

After the match, Steve Corino heads backstage while Quiet Storm and Joel Maximo shake hands.

Backstage, The Natural Born Sinners realize that the use of a rubber chicken in their match against the Boogie Knights was not such a bright idea, and then they chase the camera man out of the locker room. Meanwhile, Rob Feinstein gives Towel Boy (whose real name is Eric Tuttle) his shot… against Prince Nana. Steve Corino tells Towel Boy to “get himself over.”

Prince Nana vs. Towel Boy

Prince Nana doesn’t believe this. To give you an idea, Prince Nana weighs 235 lbs. Towel Boy, I figure, weighs 165 lbs, soaking wet. Towel Boy wipes the ropes, and then Prince Nana clotheslines Towel Boy inside out, then gives ‘em a big splash in the corner., followed some Flair Chops in the corner. Towel Boy goes for a German suplex, Nana reverses it for 3. Squash match.

Winner: Prince Nana with a suplex at 1:10
Rating: 0 – It wasn’t even good for a squash match.

After the match, Nana shakes Towel Boy’s limp, unconscious hand. I think Towel Boy’s gonna need last rites.

Backstage we see the wrestlers from the Texas Wrestling academy chit-chatting, with Spanky dancing for the camera.

Texas Wrestling Academy Challenge for a ROH contract: Michael Shane & Oz vs. Brian “Spanky” Kendrick & Ikaika Loa

All 4 of these wrestlers are from the Texas Wrestling Academy. This is a standard tag match, with the caveat that whoever gets the pin gets an ROH contract. And no, Oz is not Kevin Nash. They are accompanied to the ring from trainers from the Texas Wrestling Academy, including Rudy Boy Gonzalez (who trained Shawn Michaels himself)

Spanky and Oz start. Apparently Loa has an herniated disc or two. Chain submission wrestling. Spanky back-flips out of hold, showboats, and gets a few forearms and a boot to the mush for his trouble. Spanky reverses out of another move, tries to go for another speed mood, but gets another boot instead. Loa tags in, Oz tags in Shane and double-teams Loa. Shane gets a head scissors on Loa for 2. Suplex for 1. Loa tags in Spanky. Spanky and Shane lock up, move to the corner and trade forearms, moving into chops, and finally Spanky gets a side headlock after a knee to the gut. Shane breaks out and they trade deep armdrags. Spanky and Shane trade reversals for a bit, Spanky goes for a ‘rana, Shane reverses into what looks to be a spinebuster for 2. Spanky keeps playing… heel in peril? Shane goes up top for a senton and misses. Spanky tags in Loa. Loa dominates Shane. Elbow drop for 2. Loa tags in Spanky. Spanky goes with some punches in the corner, Shane reverses, delivers some punches of his own. Spanky counters a lariat with a… weak drop kick (only one foot connects) for 2. Spanky surfboards Shane. Shane reverses an Irish whip. Spanky blocks a kick, goes for a lariat, only to be hit by Shane’s lariat as well. Spanky revives first and tags in Loa, who continues to dominate Shane, who realizes that while he’s HBK’s cousin, at the moment he might as well be named Morton. Loa gets a belly to back, but the ref is distracted by Oz. So the Ref only gets there in time to count 2. Loa gets a vertical suplex for 2. Loa puts Shane on the top turnbuckle. Loa goes for a Super German Suplex, but Shane elbows him off. Shane goes up – missile dropkick. Both men down. Shane and Loa get the tag, and Oz is an House! En! Fuego! Fisherman’s suplex for 2. Loa runs in for the save but Oz sends Loa to the outside (with his head pinballing between the mat and the bottom rope on the way down – ow). Boot to the head by Oz for 2. Flying Elbow by Shane, for 2. Loa returns into the ring, and Shane and Loa trade chops in the corner. Shane whips Loa coast to coast, goes for the big corner splash and misses. Spanky is in the ring. Running double boot in the corner, and he signals for the Sliced Bread #2, but fails to notice Oz. German Suplex from Oz for 2 (Loa makes the save). Oz and Shane flapjack Loa and grape-vine him. Spanky makes the save with a double dropkick, goes for the Sliced Bread #2 on Oz, but Shane counters with a super-kick. Oz gets 2, and Loa makes the save. Shane clotheslines Loa out of the ring, and Spanky finally lands the Sliced Bread #2 on Oz for 3.

Winner: Brian “Spanky” Kendrick with the Sliced Bread #2 (Shirauni, or springboard backflip three-quarter facelock diving reverse DDT) at 12:30.
Rating: **** – a much better tag match than The Natural Born Sinners vs. The Boogie Knights.

Backstage, there is dissension amongst the disciples of Mikey Whipwreck, leading to Mikey having to chew ‘em out. Mikey gets Super Crazy to translate to those who speak English as a second language. This does precisely no good. Considering it’s mostly shouting, I’m not surprised. HC Loc is on the phone with someone… and is not pleased with being the “Extreme Official” and is going to make his own spot.

IWA Intercontinental Championship match: Super Crazy vs. Eddie Guerrero

*Pours a root beer on the curb for Eddie*
I shouldn’t have to tell you that both are ECW vets. Eddie was getting ready at this time for his return to the WWE after being fired for a drunk driving arrest. The crowd’s pleased as punch to see Eddie, Eddie’s reaction is… subdued. Somber. What I would give to know what Eddie was thinking as he stood in the ring right then. John Finnigan is the ref, and if we had Joey Styles on commentary we might as well have been in ECW.

Super Crazy goes for an additional handshake, and Eddie slaps him. Chain submissions, and Eddie takes control quickly. Vertical suplex for 1. Eddie and Super Crazy exchange head-drags into head-scissors a few times. Belly-To-Back for 2. Eric and Steve shill the Eddie Guerrero Shoot Video (which I really should pick up if I can find a copy). Eddie locks Super Crazy in a sleeper. Crazy breaks out and delivers a series of arm-drags, into a mounted 10 in the corner (thus allowing the fans to demonstrate their knowledge of Spanish.) Eddie roles to the outside, Crazy goes for a Asai Moonsault but Eddie blocks it, and works crazy over on the outside, hitting Crazy with a stalled Vertical Suplex on the concrete (which Eddie kind of struggled to hold.) Eddie rolls Crazy back into the ring and delivers a slingshot senton for 2. Fallaway slam for another 2. Eddie tries to wear crazy down in… a submission hold, I forget the type. Crazy gets control back, goes for an Lionsault for 2. Crazy goes for a missile dropkick for another 2. Crazy goes back up top, Eddie blocks it and hits the Top Rope Rana for 2. Eddie whips Crazy, Crazy reverses it and hits a spinning heel kick for 2. Eddie reverses a brainbuster into a powerbomb for 2. Eddie hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, and moves into the Three Amigos (3 vertical suplexes) or rather 2 of them.. Eddie goes up top, misses a senton. Eddie goes for another tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, but Crazy reverses into a small package for 3.

Winner: Super Crazy with the Small Package at 10:41.
Rating: *** – I would have liked to rate this higher but Eddie wasn’t quite at 100% here. I would have loved to have seen these two go at it at a One Night Stand, or a rematch or something, but I can’t quite give it a 4-star rating.

After the match, Super Crazy celebrates in the ring with his belt. As Crazy heads back stage, Christopher Daniels looks on in disgust. Low Ki introduces the main-event for you.

Triple Threat Match: “American Dragon” Brian Danielson vs. Low-Ki vs. “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels

Dragon and Ki team up on Daniels right away, and then lock-up. Daniels breaks up the lock-up with a drop kick. A Low Ki chant starts. This is going to be a pain in the butt to recap. Daniels dominates. Tor start. Daniels suplexes Dragon into a tree of woe in the corner, and Low Ki drop-kicks Dragon. Ki hits Daniels with a series of kicks, but Dragon comes in and locks Ki in the Cattle Mutilation (Bridging grounded double chickenwing). Daniels bodyslams everyone (and everyone on top of everyone else). Daniels locks Dragon in a Boston Crab and Ki in a Camel Clutch… at the same time. Dragon starts working Daniels’ shoulder over. Ki takes the momentum over with a series of kicks on Dragon, followed by Daniels suplexing Ki. Daniels lands a gutwrench suplex on Dragon for 2. Ki gets a series of kicks on Daniels for 2. Dragon chop the crap out of everyone and locks Daniels in an amalgam Cattle Mutilation and Scorpion Deathlock. Ki breaks Daniels out of the Cattle Mutilation, but Dragon holds on the deathlock. Belly-to-belly on Ki for 2. Dragon rolls over Daniels for a 2 count pin, before breaking the hold. Low Ki and Dragon trade kicks, to see whose better, before deciding to play a round of Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better, with kicks, on Christopher Daniels’ back. This goes on for a bit, before Ki and Dragon try to kick Daniels at the same time, miss (because Daniels has collapsed), and kick each others legs. Low Ki recovers and continues wailing on Dragon. Daniels recovers and decides to show his appreciation for their kicks earlier, and locks Low Ki in a Boston crab. Daniels lands a neckbreaker-DDT combo on both Ki and Dragon for the 2 (or rather 3 two-counts in a row.) Daniels goes up top, but Ki and Dragon counter with some chops and a double-arm drag. Dragon gets control, but Ki takes over with a kick for 2. Daniels vultures Dragon for 2, and then a suplex on Ki for another 2. Daniels goes for a slam on Ki, but ends up partially setting Ki on Dragon, then lets Ki go so he can get a Tornado DDT. Low Ki lands a Tidal Wave (Sprinboard kick to the head) on Daniels for 2. Daniels goes for a super-belly to back suplex, Dragon counters. Daniels goes up top, and locks dragon in an Abdominal stretch. Ki breaks the hold with a kick. Low Ki locks Daniels in the Hanging Dragon (Tree of Woe Abdominal Stretch). More chain wrestling. Ki enziguris Dragon into a Blue Dragon Driver from Daniels for 2. Low Ki and Daniels trade blows in the corner, leaving Ki dazed on the top rope. Dragon goes for a superplex on Ki. Daniels adds a belly-to-back superplex of his own, leading to a triple-super-plex..Daniels appears to be up first, but Dragon lands a Dragon DDT, and a Dragon Suplex for 2, with Ki making the save. Low Ki locks the Dragon Clutch on Dragon, and Daniels makes the save. Daniels lands the Triple Jump Moonsault on Low Ki for 2, with Dragon making the save. Dragon, Ki and Daniels continue to trade blows, with Dragon seeming to be in the best position. Dragon locks Daniels in the Cattle Mutilation again, but Low Ki breaks it up with the Twisting Phoenix Splash (corkscrew shooting star press). “Holy Shit” chant from the audience. Ki Crusher (fisherman driver) on Dragon for 3.

Winner: Low Ki with the Ki Crusher at 20:05.
Rating: **** – Very good match, an excellent main event. ROH had many better matches to come, but this match really helped set the stage for what ROH would later deliver.

After the match, we get our first “Ring of Honor” chant, and I believe I heard a “That Was Righteous” chant. Dragon gets on the mike, and calls out Low Ki for a one-on-one next time, because even though Ki pinned him, he didn’t beat him.. Daniels grabs the mike and provides a bit of a correction – in the form of telling Dragon and Ki to go to hell, as they didn’t pin him, and they couldn’t pin him one-on-one, and says even if he had to wrestle both of them in singles matches on the same night, he’d win both. This would later become the Round Robin Tournament at the next event (which I don’t have on DVD). Low Ki accepts the challenge and sets up the round-robin tournament. Low Ki and Dragon shake hands, and then turn to Daniels… who extends his hand, runs it across his head, flicks off sweat, and rolls out of the ring and goes back stage. Of course, you realize… this means war…

After the show, Eddie puts over Ring of Honor, we get a recap video, and we get some brief video after the show has wrapped and everything has been packed up with Daniels leaving, saying dismissively “Ring of Honor… Jesus.”

Overall Rating: **** – Very good show, with some very good matches. Definitely worth a look.