“While the mediocre European is obsessed with history, the mediocre American is ignorant of it.†– Anonymous
The Opening Chapter
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Pulse Wrestling has the best Ring of Honor coverage out on there on the wrestling website circuit. Pulse Glazer, Big Andy Mac and the others that they have recruited have made the Pulse the most knowledgeable Ring of Honor pundits out there. They’ve done so well that they have helped Ring of Honor non-fans or novices like myself, Vinny T., and Brad Curran at least to take a look at the fledgling promotion to see what all the fuss is all about. Well I have finally bitten the bullet and picked up Ring of Honor’s three nationally distributed DVDs. I couldn’t really not pick them up when I could get all three for $25, and I just spent that much to get The Life & Times of Mr. Perfect only a week earlier.
And being I’m all about wrestling history, this a great time for me to learn and experience the history of the one of the most talked about, and certainly the most polarizing, promotions going in the world today – Ring of Honor. So over the next three columns I will be reviewing each DVD in my own distinct style. I don’t do match ratings, and I don’t do a lot of play-by-play, as I find myself glossing over a lot of that when I read a review. You’re all smart kids; you’ll see my style as I go along. So let’s start with “Stars of Honor,†which is a compilation of matches featuring wrestlers who have since gone on to national or international fame. It will be like three large “Assignments†in place of regular columns.
ROH World Championship
Samoa Joe (champion) v. CM Punk
“All-Star Extravaganza II,†Elizabeth, NJ, 12/4/04
According to the fantastic commentary that goes along with these matches from Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard (Is that Gabe playing a character?) I learn this is the third and final ROH World Championship match between Joe and Punk. Apparently the first two both went to sixty-minute draws and this is Punk’s final shot against Joe. The announcers do a great job of explaining the match’s psychology, including the no-time limit clause for this on. Punk starts out trying outwrestle and wear down the bigger Joe, especially using the headlock as a wear down hold. Announcers play up how well these two know each other. Punk gets busted open, and Joe takes advantage of the cut. Joe busts out some big moves like a beautiful STJoe and an elbow suicida. They continue to trade offense and both pull out great moves back and forth as my notes just list off moves back and forth. Punk will running lariats and a tornado DDT, Joe back with a beautiful snap powerslam and a stretch “4.0†style submission. Crowd has gone back and forth between chanting for Joe and for Punk. Joe puts Punk in a sleeper and Ricky Steamboat of all people stops the ref from ringing the bell. Was Steamboat kind of a heel here? Punk tries the ‘80s style comeback from the sleeper, but Joe won’t let go. It picks up for the finish with Joe getting the Million $ Dream roll-up and a crucifix and Joe counters back with La Magistral. The tempo is really picking up as you can sense a finish coming. Joe tries a roll-up with the feet on the ropes and the crowd is on top of him for it. Punk gets an O’Connor Roll, but Joe switches into a choke, hits a German suplex, a half nelson suplex and back into the choke, at which Punk has no choice but to tap.
This was really great stuff here. I’m only going to really mention it here, but the announcers are just great and really add to the match, especially for newbies like me. You could sense a Flair-Steamboat vibe in that this match played off their first two match-ups.
FIP World Heavyweight Championship
Homicide v. Antonio Banks
“Do or Die IV,†Elizabeth, NJ, 2/19/05
This is here not only because Homicide has become a national star with TNA, but Antonio Banks has now gone to become the “MVP†Montel Vontavious Porter in WWE. The announcers take a nice dig in the pre-match introduction about how not everyone coming into ROH can become a MVp. The background here is that Homicide is the FIP Heavyweight Champion and Banks is a star down in FIP. This is for that belt, and a regular roster spot in Ring of Honor for Banks. It plays as Banks’ size, power and strength against Homicide’s experience, quickness, speed and aerial ability. Banks busts out his “Drive-by†Kick and the face washes that he now uses regularly on SmackDown! They look much crisper nowadays. The announcers play up that Homicide’s signature moves including the Cop Killer and the lariat. Homicide’s first attempt at a lariat is blocked into fujiwara armbar. The finish finally sees Homicide hit three lariats that don’t take Banks down so he gives him a low blow and gives him a fourth lariat for the win.
This just seemed like nothing more than a semi-competitive squash match. Banks showed some nice moves, but this evidently just a vehicle to let Homicide shine.
James Gibson v. Roderick Strong
“Best of the American Super Juniors Tournament,†Asbury Park, NJ, 4/2/05
The story here is that James Gibson is in Ring of Honor to rid himself of the restraints and bad gimmicks of the national promotions and prove himself as a top wrestler. They start off with a “Greco-Roman knucklelock†and some typical indy stuff before an “indy standoff.†It’s goes back and forth a lot with the story that Strong his trying injure Gibson’s back for his plethora of backbreakers. Strong’s first backbreaker of the evening is of the uranage style. Gibson (you know how hard it is not to type Noble every time?) really plays up the injured back. Jaime gets a nice comeback with a swinging neckbreaker, a running Regal-style knee and a top rope Frankensteiner. The finish is pretty good as Strong reverses the Tiger Driver into a slingshot, where Gibson lands on the second rope and moonsaults onto Strong, who then catches him in a backbreaker. Jaime then locks in his patented Dragon Sleeper, but Strong switches it into his Stronghold (which I would describe as a modified Crab or Haastruction) before Jaime rolls him up for the three.
It was kind of cool seeing James Gibson in more of a wide open atmosphere. It’s hard to believe he was the young guy who was once Jaime-san and was just beginning to break out as Jaime Knoble in WCW’s last days.
“American Dragon†Bryan Danielson v. Spanky
“Best of the American Super Juniors Tournament,†Asbury Park, NJ, 4/2/05
Now we are talking! Two of my all-time favorites. Danielson is in his bald Amish look at this point. They actually start with a handshake, enforcing the old “Code of Honor.†The story goes here that it is the high-flying and speed of Spanky against Danielson’s mat wrestling ands aggressiveness. It opens with a lot of feeling out as the announcers hype up how much they know each other and how they trained together. They also talk about Danielson’s signature maneuver the Cattle Mutilation, and explain the slow nature of the match as they know neither man wants to make a mistake being that they know each other so well. Danielson dominates most of the match with mat based moves and submission, while Spanky’s brief forays into offense are filled with high-impact, high-energy, high-flying moves. The Dragon even busts out “I have until five†here, which I didn’t think came until later. At one point Danielson locks in a royal butterfly into a modified gutwrench/suplex move. Spanky gets up and tries to get cute, but gets a kick in the face for his troubles…haha. Another high point is Danielson’s ridiculous twenty six-rotation airplane spin.
The finishing sequence is great however. Danielson misses a top rope headbutt, and Spanky responds by missing a frog splash, which was a great tribute to Benoit and Guerrero. Spanky hits Sliced Bread #2 for two. Another frog splash gets two. Danielson manages to look in a Sharpshooter and really sits on it. Spanky finally fights out after a long time. You can see how both worn out both men are. They both go up top and Danielson hits a top rope back suplex, which Spanky kicks out of. Danielson goes back to Cattle Mutilation and Spanky rolls out of and gets a two count from. Spanky then hits a roaring elbow, but Sliced Bred is blocked. Danielson responds with a forearm and gets the win with a Regal-plex.
Dragon dominated the majority of the match and was clearly the better athlete of the two during this match. It started out a lot slower than I hoped or expected, but it really picked up with that closing climax. Good stuff here.
Homicide v. Matt Hardy
“Redemption,†Dayton, OH, 8/12/ 05
Back in 2005 Matt Hardy got released from WWE during the outbreak of the Edge-Lita scandal. By this point it had become an internet sensation and Hardy had re-signed with the company, but he had a few bookings with Ring of Honor first in order to play up the reality of the angle.
The match starts with dueling chants for both men as the announcers talk about a battle of ROH versus WWE, or us versus them. Needless to say, the crowd is jacked. The announcers work up a nice little angle that Edge may have paid off Homicide, one of Ring of Honor’s true heels at the time, to injure Hardy. Hardy, meanwhile is here to wrestle grassroots, with no limits. They play up that Homicide is usually a heel, but here he may be a face defending Ring of Honor’s…uh…honor. They go to the outside as they once again play up the no mats on the outside gimmick. The talking heads actually surprise me by ignoring the action briefly to plug that night’s main event and ROHWrestling.com. It’s funny when Hardy goes up for a superplex he takes his shirt off and you can actually hear girls scream. The announcers get a nice dig in as they say “Hardy is figuring out what Homicide is all about.†“He’s no Gene Snitsky.†They also talk about Hardy plugging ROH on RAW. It’s funny when Hardy goes for his WWE patented yodeling legdrop the crowd boos. Homicide ends up hitting a lariat, which Hardy kicks out of, as once again the commentators point out the dangerousness of that move. Homicide blocks the Twist of Fate and hits an Ace-crusher as the crowd is now firmly behind Homicide. The finish is a rare one for ROH as Low Ki comes out to provide a distraction and help Homicide, but Jay Lethal makes the save. In the mess, Hardy hits a sports-entertainment style roll up for the pinfall.
Hardy looked good, but he didn’t really seem to wrestle all that different. It seemed more as if the rest played to Hardy in order to make it more of a sports-entertainment style match.
Roderick Strong v. Matt Hardy
“Punk: The Final Chapter,†Chicago Ridge, IL, 8/13/05
This is Matt’s third and final match on his Ring of Honor, as they note that Hardy is 2—0 so far. The announcers play up Strong’s hard chops and backbreakers and wonder how Hardy will take them initially. They also finally make a passing note about the reaction that Jeff Hardy got during his brief stop in Ring of Honor years earlier, and how Matt has been treated much better by the ROH faithful. I wondered if they would mention that at all. They also put over Strong as a potential candidate for the 2005 MVP. Matt sells the first chop from Strong beautifully. They sell that Matt has been wrestling so well against these top ROH guys because he scouted them before he arrived. The pair then go back and forth for quite a time as they whip the crowd into a frenzy. Dueling chants start up again. The finish sees Hardy hit a Side Effect (which the announcers don’t call). He then goes for another one, but Strong reverses into a roll-up for the victory.
It was great for Hardy to put over at least Ring of Honor star on his way out. I understand he wanted to remain strong as well going into his high-profile run against Edge, but this was a nice “thank you†to ROH.
At this point I want to make mention of the really nice intros that Prazak and Leonard do in a control room before each match, giving the viewer a brief insight of the who, what, where, when and why for each match included.
Christopher Daniels v. Christian Cage
“Generation Now,†Cleveland, OH, 7/29/06
Christian Cage only did a couple shots in Ring of Honor, but apparently he beat Daniels in a previous tag match. Both men are very active in TNA at this point, as Cage is a top main eventer while Daniels and AJ Styles are the NWA World Tag Team Champions. But here in Ring of Honor, Daniels is the big star and main event guy while Cage is just a visiting outsider.
It starts again with dueling chants as the commentators play up this first-time meeting. Allison Danger is in Daniels’ corner. It’s a long feeling-out process and back-and-forth. Apparently Cage also did an RF Shoot Video while he was in Ring of Honor during this time. It ends up being a pretty even match, with both men sharing portions of the offense. They both get to hit a lot of their big moves. Once again the finish is a great one as Cage hits a couple of his signatures in the inverted DDT and then puts on the Texas Cloverleaf. Cage then slaps Daniels ands taunts him, which Daniels responds with a shot. He then hit him with a BME and into the Koji Clutch. Cage gets out and hits his frog splash. Both are back up and Cage blocks Angels Wings, but Daniels blocks the Unprettier. Then out of nowhere “Fallen Angel†nails the Angels Wings and gets the somewhat anti-climactic win.
It was an alright match, but seemed like one of the weaker matches of this bunch, probably second only to Homicide-Banks.
Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal v. Homicide & Low Ki
“Punk: The Final Chapter,†Chicago Ridge, IL, 8/13/05
This just started out immediately into a crazy brawl that is quite hard to recap. The four men just go into a wild brawl in and outside of the ring. The announcers explain the history and hatred between these four, including the incident that led to Lethal’s first blade job. It finally settles into a standard tag match where the heels work over Lethal. The stand tag formula on Lethal is predictable, but the heels’ offense is good enough to really keep it entertaining. Lethal finally gets the hot tag after enduring the Steiner Bulldog and a piledriver. Joe takes control and locks Homicide in an STF that is saved by Low Ki by doing a crazy double-stomp off the top onto Joe. Jay is back in as the story goes that Lethal is working for his first pinfall against either Ki or Homicide. It develops into a wild brawl again. Lethal finally catches Low Ki with a dragon suplex, but Homicide elbow drops the referee for the disqualification. This was the first DQ I’ve ever seen in ROH, but Homicide actually dropping an elbow on the poor ref was an inventive way to do it at least. From there the four just go into an arena brawl throughout the crowd. At this point the announcers just go completely silent and let the action speak for themselves. Lethal actually uses a tennis shoe as a weapon seems almost comical and out-of-place here. Joe suplexes Homicide onto the entrance ramp while Low Ki double-stomps Lethal, which draws generous “holy sh!t†and “you killed Lethal†chants from the ROH faithful. Joe then plows through the crowd throwing chairs at the Rottweillers the whole way. The heels run as it seems like a logical ending point, but they came back and jump Joe. Homicide and Joe then brawl to the back in order to leave Lethal and Low Ki, the real story of the match, in the ring alone. Then Homicide returns and quizzically the heels stand tall as the clip fades.
This was a nice wild brawl and a change of place from the rest of this DVD. It was obviously only a chapter of these guys’ wild fued, but it was quite entertaining.
Extras
Mick Foley in ROH
This is little extra shows Mick Foley in the ring with CM Punk. He of course gets the hometown cheap pop and plugs his kids’ book “Tales from Wrescal Lane.†As he and Punk talk, WWE gets mentioned and gets booed. TNA then gets mentioned and gets a bigger boo and “f*ck TNA†chant from the crowd. Foley wants to pull out a pic of Foley and Jushin “Thunder†Liger for Punk, but instead pulls out a pic of Foley and Yurple the Clown. Who said ROH doesn’t do sports-entertainment? He finally finds the Liger pic and gives it to Punk. I must say that Foley does look truly obnoxious in a jean jacket and bright red sweatpants. Foley then said he would eventually go back to WWE, which the crowd boos, so Punk quips that “at least it’s not TNA.†Crowd then chants “f*ck TNA†once again. They then talk about Samoa Joe for awhile and I slowly lose interest in Foley.
It was cool to see Foley in Ring of Honor putting over a young promotion like ROH, but this pretty much felt just like a WWE segment with worse production values.
CM Punk-Samoa Joe Retrospective
This was basically a home video style package of CM Punk and Lenny Leonard talking over highlights of the first two Joe-Punk matches and Punk’s thought processes going into them.
It was a nice little segment, but I felt it came off too much like a bad home movie. I guess if I was more familiar with their rivalry I would have gotten into it perhaps.
Bruno Sammartino in ROH
Bruno Sammartino comes out to put over ROH as a legitimate wrestling option, until Larry Sweeney interrupts the proceedings while still putting Bruno over as a legend. He introduces Tank Toland and Chris Hero to everyone. He hypes up Hero, and says Hero will take Bruno out. Nigel McGuiness runs in for the save. Then as expected, the good guys catch Sweeney and Bruno drops him with a punch.
It was a nice segment to put over Ring of Honor and having someone the caliber of Bruno Sammartino in their organization. And it did all the right things by letting the heels get their comeuppance in the end.
The Perspective
This is a nice introduction to fans that aren’t familiar with the Ring of Honor product, but yet want to see some wrestlers that they are already familiar with. The matches range from really good to decent at best, but when putting together a compilation like this I can understand that the substance of players involved trumps the quality of the match. Of the three DVDs I’m glad I picked this one to look at first, and am anxiously excited to review the next two that follow after.
For this week the vault is closed…
Linked to the Pulse
Norine has a really nice tribute up to one of her favorites – Harley Race.
My buddy Glazer has seen how much fun it is to write about WWE and has decided to do the same.
Vinny plugs Ring of Honor’s amazing DVD sales.
This Day in History
I figured if we are talking history around here we should pay homage to what has happened on this very day in the years gone by. It will either make you long for the old days or be happy for what we have now.
1981 – Jack Brisco defeated Ted DiBiase for the Missouri State Heavyweight title
1989 – Demolition defeated Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard for the WWF Tag Team title
1989 – Tony Anthony defeated Dustin Rhodes in a tournament final for the USWA Southern Heavyweight title
1993 – Sabu defeated Shane Douglas for the ECW Heavyweight title
1999 – WWF Rebellion was held at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, England
1999 – Naoya Ogawa defeated Gary Steele for the NWA Heavyweight title
2000 – Vince Russo vacated the WCW Heavyweight title
2000 – Booker T defeated Jeff Jarrett for the vacant WCW Heavyweight title
2000 – Mike Sanders defeated Elix Skipper for the WCW Cruiserweight title
2000 – Reno defeated Sgt. A-Wall for the vacant WCW Hardcore title
1912 – Paul Boesch was born
1966 – “Yokozuna” Rodney Anoia was born
1969 – Jun Akiyama was bon
1971 – Mean Marc Ash was born
1995 – John Ayres died of liver cancer at 42
