Ring Of Honor 2002 Show Reviews

[Jon Von Diesel]

Yes this is my first ever DVD Review, so forgive me if it's lacking in any way. I needed an excuse to rewatch my ROH collection and seen i have every show up till mid 2008, why not?!
So to kill two birds with one stone I'll write up reviews and post them online for you guys to read. I feel ROH is the best way to go as more people are unfamiliar with it and maybe even intimidated by its history and volume of shows but also cause of this and its ever changing roster and style that it has a richness to write about, so hopefully I'll gain some interest to fans & people totally unfamiliar with it. While i have a huge respect for ROH, I'm not an ROHbot so my reviews will be unbiased. Lets start at the beginning.

ROH Show#1 - The Era Of Honor Begins [February 23rd 2002]

We are introduced to ROH by Da Hit Squad boys Monsta Mack (Steve Mack) & Maffia (Dan Maff) as we see footage before the show of them trying to board a coach of fans to pump them up, Spanky (Brian Kendrick) is already on board 'stealing their heat'. The boys put over the fact ECW & WCW no longer exist and that people are bored of WWE and that they are about to get 'hooked on their new drug ROH'. The crowd are truly excited. Then they proceed to some fans gathered outside the building and put over themselves and Ring Of Honor.
The look of the show is very straight forward, just a ring in a gym with chairs & steel barriers round but it has a large crowd that fills the place. The entrance way is a arch of scaffold with a curtain.

Da Hit Squad (Monsta Mack & Maffia) Vs The Christopher Street Connection (Buff E & Mace with Alison Danger)
Out comes the the CSC to the strains of YMCA by The Village People, yep ROH started off its first match ever with the gayest tag team in wrestling coming out (pun not intended) apparently unscheduled according to the announce team, they flirt with and kiss fans and cause general amusement and climb in the ring, then follows alot of comedy homophobia in which Buff E says ROH now stands for Ring Of Homosexuals, then he and Mace start snogging till Da Hit Squad run in and attack which leads to an impromptu tag match. After about a minute of a sick power moves including a burning hammer the pin is counted to a huge pop. Then they erect a table in the corner and place Buff E on it, then Maffia sits on the top turnbuckle and is loaded up by Monsta with Alison Danger (who got involved after the bell), bit like when The Dudleys used to have the putting women through tables gimmick. He then jumps off the top and sit out powerbombs her through Buff E & the table to huge applause. Yeah it may seem strange to open up a show with babyfaces destroying gays & a woman but it may also be clever booking and easing what were bound to be alot of former ECW fans into something new then gradually moving away from that into what they intended to do all along.

Next are very short backstage promos with very young looking Briscoe Brothers & The Amazing Red. Who let the 15 year olds into the back? lol

Jay Briscoe (with Mark Briscoe) Vs The Amazing Red
Match starts with some energetic back and forth. Things get more heated and Jay hits a crazy fisherman's buster on Red, Red recovers and hits a brainbuster, anywhere else these would be finishers but in ROH thats rarely been the case. Jay hits his finisher the 'Jay Driller' but Red puts his foot on the bottom rope, after a bit more action Jay misses a senton and Red hits the 'Red Alert' & 'Red Star Press' in quick succession to get the win. What it lacked in psychology it made up for in fast paced fun and the crowd loved it. Enjoyable stuff.

Backstage Low Ki put over ROH and himself. Then it cuts to footage of Homicide & Boogalou in the hood putting over the fact they are street hoods and they are 'bringing the streets to the ring'
Next up is Xavier giving a young kid (A very young Eric Tuttle) a pep talk, then Scoot Andrews talking about himself. Yeah theres alot of guys to introduce on this show and they do it well, it never feels like you are overwhelmed and upon rewatching seems cool to see them.

Xavier Vs Scoot Andrews
Out come Xavier to one of my favourites tunes, now let me segue off for a second, Xavier is guy that never really got over but i was a big fan, so much so i marked out when he was mentioned in Eddie Guerrero autobiography. He had a great look and a solid style you can easily see why WWE gave him tryouts but things never took off for him in a big way which i think was a shame.
Scoot Andrews goes by the tag of 'The Black Nature Boy', he had a good career on the US indys but retired a few years ago in FIP.
Things start off with the crowd chanting 'A.C. Slater' at Xavier cause of his supposed resemblance to the jock from 'Saved By The Bell' i don't see it myself, this chant would be like the ROH version of the 'Marvin kurly' chants. For bigger guys they go at it very quickly exchanging solid and stiff moves, this match would easily fit in on todays Britwres shows and go down very well, it a very enjoyable match marred only by one sloppy spot. Scoot hits his finish the 'Force Of Nature' but doesn't get the pin cause Xavier's feet are under the ropes, Xavier rolls out the ring, Scoot throws him back in and tries for another pin, Xavier kicks out and unsuccessfully attempts a school boy as Scoot complains at the ref. After more exchanges, Xavier hits a neckbreaker (X-Breaker) for the pin. Yep it was a totally different beast to the previous match.

Backstage guys are running for their lives as Homicide (wearing a Michael Myers mask) is strolling around with a chainsaw

The Boogie Nights (Danny Drake & Mike Tobin) Vs The Natural Born Sinners (Homicide & Boogalou)
The referee is H.C, Loc the former ECW 'extreme official' take note it matters later on. Boogalou starts out torturing both Drake (who looks like Captain Haddock meets Austin Aries) & Tobin with armbars. The match quickly turns into a brawl with the odd wrestling move thrown in, a crazy Topé Con Hilo from Homicide onto Drake who's sat in a chair near the barriers. Back into the ring and Boogalou vertical suplexes Drake straight into position for a top rope Double Foot Stomp from Homicide. After the Boogie Knights absorb alot more abuse, Homicide gets a rubber chicken out (yeah you read that right) and starts beating Drake & Tobin in the face with it (thats gonna leave a mark). H.C. Loc calls for the bell and disqualifies the Sinners, big mistake, as the Knights take their win and run for their lives, Boogalou & Homicide beat down Loc, stab him in the head with a spike and hit him with a 'Cop Killa'

Backstage the Knights grab their stuff plus baseball bats then 'get the fuck outta here' fast as possible. Next we see Buff E & Mace recovering from the beating at the start of the show, Mace says "I don't think we belong here in Ring Of Honor" then Buff E sees Spanky/Kendrick dancing around the locker room and after a quick perv says "Oh i think we really belong here in Ring Of Honor, yes i do". Funny but cliched stuff.

Next is 'The Ultimate Aerial Elimination Match'

Quiet Storm Vs Chris Divine Vs Brian XL Vs Jose Maximo Vs Joel Maximo Vs Amazing Red
Special guest referee is Mikey Whipwreck (well the folk in the match are mostly his trainees). Amazing Red is on double duty it seems tonight. Okay i'm not going to go through what happens in the match too much because as to be expected from these guys its a huge spotfest with a hundred moves a minute and some of it sloppy, its perfectly watchable but its a weakness in the card and alot of these guys vanished from ROH before the year was out and have virtually dissappeared from sight these days. You can hit 99 finishers but a pinfall ain't off one.
Jose Maximo pins Amazing Red with a backslide, Chris Divine pins Brian XL after he's hit by a 'Spinal Shock' by Quiet Storm, The Maximo's hit the Spanish Fly on Chris Divine and as Joel pins Divine, Storm sneaks in a german suplex into a bridge on Jose and Mikey counts the 3 on Chris Divine and Jose Maximo, down to the last two which sees Quiet Storm hit the Storm Cradle Driver on Joel for the win. The tiny Quiet Storm was always my favourite out of these guys but i don't know why at this point, maybe as i rewatch later shows it'll come to me.

Backstage, The Natural Born Sinners are going ballistic backstage and threaten the cameraman. Next up a very lardy Prince Nana is shouting at Rob Feinstein demanding a match, Feinstein finds the young Eric Tuttle tells him he has a 'great body' (i raised an eyebrow here) and sends him to the ring to wrestle.

Prince Nana Vs Eric Tuttle
This is a nothing squash match notable only to be shocked about how different Nana is now to the blubbery version of 2002. Nana wins with a double arm twisting suplex thing, yeah i'm not sure.
Its sweet to see Nana is using the Lil' Kim - Drugs (instrumental) as his theme, which is better known as The Embassy theme later on.

Backstage the four guys from the next match discuss things, Spanky isn't really listening and is showing off to the camera.

Michael Shane & Oz Vs Ikaika Loa & Spanky
These 4 are all from Shawn Michael's Texas Wrestling Academy and whoever scores the pinfall gets an ROH contract. Michael Shane is Shawn's cousin and later was forced to change his name to Matticus Bentley, he was last seen being squashed on Smackdown last summer by Vladimir Kozlov. Spanky comes out in a leather jacket, dancing to 'Christina Aguilera's Genie In A Bottle'. Yep this is why ROH fans can be snobby cause while people are marking for The Brian Kendrick now, ROH fans are like 'big deal i saw him doing that 6 years ago'. The other two guys don't seen to have made a name for themselves despite being much better built, seems charisma and talent is the key to being a star. Despite looking silly, Spanky is obviously the stand out of the match
This is more a WWE style of match, the big lads tend to lumber around and not do anything impressive whilst standing on the apron alot waiting to tag in, whilst Shane & Spanky are great and fortunately most of the match is these two going at it. Corino buries TWA's head trainer Rudy Boy Gonzalez on commentary, something that will come into play later. Its mentioned Ikaika is wrestling with herniated discs in his spine which sounds nuts and may explain his laboured mobility and Spanky carrying 90% of the match for his side. All 4 men end up in the ring for the last stretch as the near falls come, Shane takes Loa over the top to the outside and Spanky hits Oz with Sliced Bread#2 for the victory and the ROH contract. Michael Shane is not happy for the cocky Spanky and the tension between them is obvious as they shake hands.

Backstage Mikey Whipwreck chews out his guys and gets Super Crazy in to translate to spanish too. Elsewhere an obviously pissed off H.C. Loc phones a friend and describes the beatdown earlier on and what happened, he says he's not reffing anymore and its time that ROH saw the real him and he'll make his own spot, in fact "It's time they saw the real us" he says to his mystery friend.I'll leave it to a later review to say who is on the other end of the phone but its the genesis of a long running tag team.

Next match is for the 'IWA Intercontinental Championship'

Super Crazy Vs Eddy Guerrero
Yep it was spelt 'Eddy' before WWE if you didn't know, here he reverts back to it during his *cough sabbatical from WWE cough*.
The crowd chant his name as he's easily the biggest star on the show and you can tell they are excited to see him, then they chant for Super Crazy. You know at the start these two are gonna put on a great match. Eddy slaps Crazy rather than shake hands so Crazy punches Eddy. Its off to some lightning fast mat wrestling, it spills to the outside and Eddy hits Crazy with a brainbuster on the the concrete, roll him in the ring for some 2 counts as he wears Crazy down more, Super Crazy eventually turns the tide and goes for pinfall attempts of his own till Eddy hits him with a top rope hurricarana.Crazy takes more punishment then dodges a frog splash and gets Eddy in a small package for the win. Super Crazy is the new IWA Intercontinental Champion. Eddy then drops the heel stuff and congratulates & hugs Crazy. Really good match, it flew by at 11 mins long but they wouldn't want to leave the main event something impossible to follow.

Backstage Chris Daniels shakes head at Super Crazy as he celebrates. Low Ki cuts another tiny robotic promo

American Dragon (Bryan Danielson) Vs Low Ki Vs Christopher Daniels
Now its main event time and these guys have alot of stuff to follow. Most of the early goings in the match is all 3 hitting each other with stuff and taking turns being in control, any pins or submissions that are attempted are quickly broken up by the third man. There is alot of stiff kicks. Its fast, stiff and inventive, alot of stuff bring the crowd to its feet applauding. The announcers put it over as the greatest match they've ever seen and i believe them, its that good. Its very hard to describe the action as its so fast paced so I'll just talk about the finishing sequence, Dragon traps Daniels in the Cattle Mutilation before he taps, Low Ki climbs to the top and hits a Twisting Phoenix Splash onto Dragon's mid section breaking up the hold, the Low Ki picks up Daniels and hits the Ki Krusher for the pinfall.
Excellent match that never lets up, these 3 work very well together and produced the Match Of The Night easily.
After they get on the mic and argue which leads to a Round Robin Challenge on the next show. Daniels turns uber heel by refusing to shake hands which becomes the trademark of his future stable 'The Prophecy'.

Backstage Eddy Guerrero puts over ROH and the other wrestlers and how being here can make him up his game to be on top and get the 'eye of the tiger' again.
A highlight music video caps off the dvd.
Last thing we see is Daniels leaving the empty venue and sneering at the concept of Ring Of Honor as he exits into the night.

A very good start to a new promotion that would get better and better and provide much great wrestling for the rest of the decade.

Commentary - Eric Gargiulo & Steve Corino
DVD length - 2 hours 31 mins

[Jon Von Diesel]

The second DVD kicks in, the menu music is Push - The Legacy, i used to love the use of dance tunes in early ROH shows, any way kicking off

ROH Show#2 - Round Robin Challenge [March 30th 2002]

The show starts off with Christopher Daniels running down the idea of ROH and puts over how he's top talent and he's gonna continue to prove it like he has done for the last 9 years.
A video replays events from the first show to remind you of certain events that will continue on the coming show.
Da Hit Squad decide to go outside and pump up the crowd again and get a huge crowd of fans outside chanting and cheering. The fans love the Da Hit Squad and Mafia (Dan Maff) really highlights his vocal skills that would cut some good promos over the next couple of years after Da Hit Squad splits. They say they don't know what they are doing later but 'someone is going to get hurt'.
The Code Of Honor scrolls up the screen to highlight the rules.
1)Competitors must shake hands before and after each match
2)No interfering in matches or having others interfere on your behalf
3)No harming a referee or causing others to harm an official
4)No sneak attacks
Any violation in the ring will result in a DQ.
Those rules were followed pretty well for most of ROH's history although very lax these days

Backstage Quiet Storm is trying to convince Chris Divine to let him apply a hold, Chris relents as long as Storm doesn't hurt him, he hits the move, then Bryan Danielson barges in and says thats not how to do it and puts Divine in the hold and torques it in till Divine collapses, then he leaves while Storm grins at his fallen partner.

Christopher Daniels Vs American Dragon Bryan Danielson
This is the first of three Round Robin matches. Daniels avoids the handshake as he always does. The guys square off and grapple till Danielson locks on a sleeper. Daniels gets the ropes, they head back to the middle and grapple some more trying to wear each other down. I spy Gabe Sapolsky & Rob Feinstein at the back laughing and joking, these were better times for those two thats for sure.
They hit moves and counters at a fast pace until Daniels hits a belly to back suplex and Dragon hurts his neck, Daniels immediately targets this weakness and starts working on the neck of Dragon. Dragon eventually gains the upper hand but his neck is bothering him. Daniels hits the BME (Best Moonsault Ever) but Dragon kicks out of the pin at two, Dragon gets a two count on Daniels with a roaring elbow, they trade chops till Daniels hits a lariat gaining another 2 count, then a Blue Thunder Driver for yet another 2 count, Dragon gets in an attempt at Cattle Mutilation but his neck gives out, Daniels hits a piledriver and a rolling neckbreaker then puts on the Crippler Crossface till Dragon taps out. Great hard hitting fast paced match with plenty of logical progression. Its like watching Benoit vs Angle. After Daniels mocks Dragon and the Code Of Honor and forces Dragon to shake his hand while grinning smugly.

Round Robin Results so far - Bryan Danielson - 0 Christopher Daniels - 1 Low Ki - 0

Backstage Prince Nana forces Eric Tuttle to shine his boots. C.W. Anderson cuts a promo saying he can beat Matthews & York later on with anybody as his partner and forces the extremely odd Elax from the ring crew to be his partner in his upcoming tag match.

Prince Nana & Eric Tuttle (with Simply Luscious) Vs Da Hit Squad (Monster Mack & Mafia)
Nana runs the crowd down on the mic and makes Eric shine his boots again. Da Hit Squad for the second show in a row run in and attack their foes from behind. Nana gets gets annihilated, put in a Figure Four Leglock by Mafia whilst Mack Frogsplashes him. Then Eric eats a huge Spear, then a Hart Attack and a Burning Hammer for the pin.
YMCA hits the stereo and The Christopher Street Connection come out with party poppers, they get in an altercation with Nana, Mack picks up Eric Tuttle and hurls him out the ring at all three of them, he drops short and smashes into the concrete, ooops. Simply Luscious flies threw the air next courtesy of Air Mack and lands on the other four on the outside far safer than Eric did. Nana drags Luscious backstage by her hair as she seems unconscious, while Da Hit Squad shake hands with the other 3 on the floor in a jokey manner. CSC then see Eric is unconscious and start grinning as they carry him backstage for god knows what, i dread to think. It was a nothing match but you've gotta laugh at how over the Da Hit Squad are despite showing limited wrestling talent and beating up gays, blacks & women.

Backstage, CSC try to give Eric mouth to mouth till Nana saves him. So they practice on each other. The Boogie Knights are backstage, Drake is laughing about how he's shit in the ring announcers bag and how its a classic rib, but Tobin is more worried about the people looking for them with 'chainsaws and sledgehammers'. He's scared but Drake has a plan to steal the chainsaw that belongs to Homicide, instead they find another rubber chicken and run for their lives as they hear a chainsaw revving nearby.
Next is Joey Matthews (Joey Mercury to WWE fans) & Christian York cutting a promo on CW Anderson.

Joey Matthews & Christian York Vs CW Anderson & Elax
Elax seems off his tits on some sort of illegal substance, no wonder he joined Special K later down the line. Anderson isn't amused. CW starts out against Matthews they wrestle around till York gets tagged and they double team CW, a dazed CW hits the corner and Elax tags himself in and attacks York from behind, York quickly gets the upper hand and tags Matthews for some more double team moves till Anderson storms in and attacks them both and makes Elax tag him back in, he then works over Matthews arm and tags Elax back in, who quickly loses the advantage. Anderson comes back in and takes control, the action picks up a pace with everyone in the ring until Anderson collides with Elax and gets hit by the Problem Solver (same as the Snapshot that MNM used in WWE) for the pin. Decent card filler but nothing special. Afterwards CW destroys Elax with a Spinebuster.

Backstage Xavier tells us Scoot Andrews can't be there cause he has a broken leg so tonight he'll be showing why he's the 'all around best' against James Maritato (Little Guido/Nunzio). James cuts his own promo on his wrestling background as a shooter in Japan and he's going to show Xavier whats he's capable of.

James Maritato Vs Xavier
I'm excited for this match as soon as both guys get in the ring. The familiar 'AC Slater' chants start toward Xavier. The match kicks of with plenty of mat wrestling of which Maritato get the upper hand. Xavier rolls out the ring, when he returns he soon gets the upper hand until he does a handstand on the bottom rope and wraps his legs round Maritato's neck who's sat on the top turnbuckle and Maritato counters it into a vertical boston crab. Xavier gets the upper hand until a massive DDT bounces him out of the ring before he can recover, Maritato does a flying legdrop off the apron which looks to plow Xavier's head into the concrete pretty hard. Back in the ring Maritato applies a Scorpion to Xavier but he doesn't tap. Xavier tries a Cobra Clutch but Maritato counters, a few more moves are tried by both men until Xavier cradles Maritato and gets the three count. Another great win for Xavier in an enjoyable encounter.

A clip shows from earlier in the day of Frank Talent from the PA State Athletic Commission talking to all the roster, Spanky is too busy playing with a toothbrush to care.
Backstage Homicide & Boogalou tell us they are going to 'kill' the Boogie Knights.

The Boogie Knights (Danny Drake & Mike Tobin) Vs The Natural Born Sinners (Homicide & Boogalou)
The Sinners enter to Slipknot whilst wearing horror masks and brandishing a chainsaw, i wouldn't spill their pints. Early on behind the refs back, Homicide beats Tobin with the rubber chicken. Tobin tags in Drake who drops to his knees amateur style and Boogalou who quickly takes him down then tags in Homicide who gives Drake a tombstone followed by a top rope Double Foot Stomp. They tag their partners in and Tobin is powerbombed by Boogalou straight onto Homicide's knee, then hit with clothesline and Dragon Suplex combo for the win. Short nothing match that really added nothing but the odd chuckle.
Backstage Low Ki speaks about beating Daniels on the last show and how he will do it again. Has he ever cut a good promo? Not that i recall.

Christopher Daniels Vs Low Ki
The second Round Robin match. Daniels refuses the handshake which infuriates Low Ki. Low Ki hits him with a Roundhouse Kick and gets a 2 count, he then unleashes numerous kicks and tries for another pin attempt, he wants to beat Daniels quickly and save his energy for Danielson later on. Low Ki keeps the pressure on Daniels and nails in more stiff kicks. Daniels gets the upper hand out of getting desperately lucky and hits some big moves for pin attempts, then ties Ki up with an STF and a Bow & Arrow, then hits a Falcon Arrow. Daniels misses a BME and Ki get the upper hand again for a while. Daniels works Low Ki's neck the hits the Angels Wings for a 2 count, Low Ki makes a comeback and hits a Ki Krusher but is too drained to go for a pin. Ki counters a Rolling Neckbreaker into a Dragon Clutch and Daniels taps out. Really good stiff match, fast paced and full of counters. Daniels disses Ki on the mic afterwards and dismisses his victory.

Round Robin Results so far - Bryan Danielson - 0 Christopher Daniels - 1 Low Ki - 1

Backstage he passes Xavier who congratulates him (Hmmmm nice story depth), passes Ryan Shamrock on the stairs (WTF) and storms into the dressing room only to have to back out to avoid the pissed off Homicide, Boogalou, Mafia & Monster Mack (Low Ki's boyz). Spanky (Brian Kendrick) grabs the camera's attention and starts singing into it.
We see a clip of Red & Quiet Storm playing basketball against Maximo's, they fall out.

Chris Marvel Vs Paul London
More of the Texas Wrestling Academy boys debut. Chris Marvel comes out with fellow trainee Masada. Paul London comes out with his trainer Rudy boy Gonzalez. Corino mentions him and Rudy Boy have heat. Okay this match never gets off the ground, it provides 2 mins of solid back and forth until London hits an Asai Moonsault to Marvel on the outside and Marvel's ankle breaks quite badly and his foot is facing the wrong way and it freaks out Sapolsky & Feinstein as they run out to see. London as we know made it in ROH and went onto bigger things, Marvel however was never seen again.

Backstage Jay Briscoe is stood with his brother Mark talking about his match with Spanky, Mark says the real question is "Are you going to win?" Jay is not pleased and pushes his brother and walks away. Mark grins to himself.

Jay Briscoe (with Mark Briscoe) Vs Spanky
They start off with a lot of chain wrestling, very much different to Jay's match on the first show, showing he has a good scope of skills & styles. They then progress onto more hard hitting moves with some near falls. Spanky likes to showboat. Jay counters a Sliced Bread#2 attempt and Spanky plows his forehead into the ring post accidentally the blood starts to pour out as he gets German Suplexed onto his head. Spanky gets more abuse as he quickly gets a crimson mask of blood, he knocks Jay to the outside then bounces of two sides of the ring ropes and hits a Top Rope Suicida. Back in the ring Jay gets the knees up to counter a frog splash and hits a Powerbomb on Spanky but Spanky grabs the ropes to foil the pin attempt. Spanky finally hits Sliced Bread#2 for the win. Mark complains to Jay that he's lost two in a row now.

We see a clip of Gabe Sapolsky voting on a poll on who's the best Texas Wrestling Academy student, he votes for American Dragon Bryan Danielson who is leading the poll with 64% of votes.

Divine Storm (Chris Divine & Quiet Storm) Vs SAT (Joel Maximo & Jose Maximo) Vs The Amazing Red & Brian XL
This is again under elimination rules. It starts off well with Brian XL and Chris Divine in the ring, some fast slick maneuvers then as others get tagged in it starts to get a little sloppy. This is all Lucha Libre style action with some nice moves, its a shame that it isn't performed as smoothly as everyone would've liked. Joel Maximo hits a superplex on Quiet Storm, but before he can go for a pin, Amazing Red jumps off the top and hits Double Knees to Joel's back, then he climbs onto Joel's back and hits a Red Star Press onto Quiet Storm for the pin, Divine Storm are eliminated. Down to two teams now and after a few more minutes action both Red & XL hit botched top rope moves onto Joel Maximo, neither man landed on him very safely, both of the go to pin Joel but end up arguing over who'll take the pin, Red pushes Brian out of the ring and then gets rolled up by Jose Maximo for the 3 count. Red and XL get into a shoving match afterwards.

Backstage we get yet another Low Ki promo. I want a Danielson promo dammit.

American Dragon Bryan Danielson Vs Low Ki
This is the final Round Robin match and just as its about to start, Ken Shamrock strolls out and gets in the ring, he puts over both guys and asks for the honor of refereeing the match. He then dons a zebra t-shirt and reads the rules out. It starts out with some great mat wrestling and some stiff strikes thrown in too. There's some excellent submission holds applied too. The finish comes when after over 30 minutes, Dragon applies the Cattle Mutilation a torques it to the max till Low Ki passes out and Shamrock calla for the bell. There's no point in me trying to put this match into words because both men go at it full bore, its really a great match that I'd recommend anyone track down especially fans of plenty of mat work. 7 years later it stands up very well indeed. Afterward the crowd want Dragon to talk, he says "Obviously you haven't seen my interviews" meaning promo's are his weak point, ah so that why we've not see much talking from him at this point. He puts over the crowd, Shamrock & Low Ki.

Round Robin Results - Bryan Danielson - 1 Christopher Daniels - 1 Low Ki - 1

Next up is a music video featuring a pumping dance track
Backstage Mikey Whipwreck is shouting at his students again, he throws Brian XL out the locker room cause he's not one of his boys and says next show he'll find Amazing Red a worthy partner.
Elsewhere Paul London is congratulating Dragon on his win till Spanky arrives and makes out Dragon rigged that poll from earlier (so there was a point to that clip earlier). Dragon points out he is better than Spanky, London points out he wasn't in the poll, then Rudy Boy Gonzalez (their trainer) butts in and says he ask Gabe to book a match with all of them in to see who's best on the next show.
Next is another video recapping the show set to William Orbit's 'Barber's Adagio For Strings' and another dance track i don't know.

Okay this show had way too many bouts being ten in all and not much going for a handful though 3 of them only lasted 2 - 3 minutes. Its worth buying for the 3 amazing Round Robin matches though and they are what made this show very good. Xavier vs James Maritato was also a good bout that easily gets lost next to the main 3 matches of the Round Robin. Paul London's debut could have been pretty good had it not been ruined by his opponents leg breaking in half two minutes in.

Commentary - Eric Gargiula & Steve Corino
DVD Length - 2 Hours 55 mins

[Jon Von Diesel]

Time for the third show which has the theme of appreciation for Eddie Guerrero. Not much goes on during show about Eddie so that title is used pretty loosely.

ROH Show#3 - A Night Of Appreciation [April 27rd 2002]

We start by seeing HC Loc on the phone to the same guy from the segment on the first show, the guy then appears in the foreground, its Tony DeVito (formerly of The Baldies in ECW fame), they greet, then DeVito throws a kid into the wall and ring crew member into some chairs just for his own amusement, this typifies his character for the next 4 years, he's an ass but you can't help but like that. And like that, the Carnage Crew is born.
Video package puts over past and upcoming happenings.
Quiet Storm, Chris Divine & Brian XL are backstage stretching, Storm asks XL if he can try a submission hold on him, XL refuses saying he's a 'highflyer' and can't be tapped and just cops an attitude that annoys the other two.
The Christopher Street Connection declare that they can warm up the crowds outside better than Da Hit Squad did on the previous two shows, they go outside and amuse the crowd by generally being camp and then by kissing until they get chased off by Da Hit Squad who proceed to carry on the tradition on crowd rousing. Mafia rattles off some lines stolen from Roddy Piper.
Backstage Quiet Storm convinces American Dragon he has a friend who wants to see a submission, Dragon is up for it. Brian XL is still bitching to Chris Divine when Dragon comes up from behind and locks in a hold, XL is screaming like a girl while Quiet Storm laughs. Maybe its stuff like this that made me like Quiet Storm cause it was pretty funny.
Elsewhere Da Hit Squad are talking to Boogalou who says Homicide isn't there, in walks DeVito with a big grin and tells Boogalou to 'get ready cause its coming' then laughs and leaves. The other three look non plussed, not realising he's talking about what the Sinners did to Loc on the debut show.
Next up is Frank Talent from the PA State Athletic Commission talking to the boys again, he puts over Eddie Guerrero and berates Spanky for not paying attention.
I'll give ROH a lot of credit for putting all these segments together cause it really helps get things over more with a DVD audience of people that will be unfamiliar with most of the roster.

Da Hit Squad (Monsta Mack & Mafia) Vs The Christopher Street Connection (Buff E & Mace with Allison Danger) Vs Prince Nana & Simply Luscious (with Elax)
Da Hit Squad hit the ring first and scare ROH Ring Announcer Stephen DeAngelis (Yes the ECW Ring Announcer guy) who acts scared in a very cheesy way. Da Hit Squad tell the CSC to bring their 'faggot asses' out to the ring right now. DHS attack the CSC before they can get in the ring. Allison Danger appears in the ring for the first time since being put through a table 2 months earlier. She screeches on the mic and i can't make out a word of it barely. She tells Da Hit Squad its gonna be a three way tag match. Prince Nana, Simply Luscious & Elax suddenly jump DHS from behind. Its a 6 on 2 beat down, all their past opponents attacking at once. Mafia is laid out by Nana then Mace hits the gayest Bronco Buster ever by gyrating his crotch all over Mafia's face. Mafia looks at the camera after with disbelief and mouths the words 'What the fuck?!' before popping up and nailing both Mace & Elax with a German Suplex at the same time but he's quickly taken again. Nana throws Elax out of the ring and chooses Luscious as his partner. Luscious is more interested in the lesbian advances of Allison Danger which annoys Nana who then gets into a shoving match with CSC boys until Da Hit Squad take all 4 opponents out with double spears. Then take out Nana, hit big German Suplexes on Mace & Buff E and nail Simply Luscious with a Burning Hammer for the pin. After they destroy Elax and put him through a table. The fans enjoyed the amusement as did i but as a match it sucked as bad as it sounds.

A video plays showing Jay Briscoe's losses on the last two shows. Backstage Mark annoys Jay by mentioning the losses whilst he's trying to promo.

Jay Briscoe (with Mark Briscoe) Vs Tony Mamaluke
Starts with some rapid mat grappling till Mamaluke falls out the ring, he returns and they continue grappling. Then some holds and reversals. Mamaluke keeps going for submission moves but Jay gets the ropes each time. Tony Mamaluke is like Mark Sloan with a ponytail. Mark Briscoe is shouting encouragement to Jay throughout. Mamaluke looks to have the upper hand till Jay counters a backslide into a Jay-Driller (Double Under-hook Piledriver) and scores the victory. Mark looks disappointed that his brother has won. Mamaluke shakes hands but disrespects Jay as he's not happy he lost. Its a decent match in the undercard but nothing special

Backstage Jay's mum and dad congratulate him, Mark points out he almost lost and gets told off by the folks. Works pretty well even though it must be embarrassing to have your folks involved in your backstage skits. Next Mamaluke comes backstage to get berated by James 'Nunzio/Little Guido' Maritato for doing the comedy FBI stuff from ECW, funny i never saw no comedy in that match. Yorke and Matthews cut a promo next

Divine Storm (Quiet Storm & Chris Divine with Brian XL) Vs Joey Matthews & Christian York
Matthews and Storm start out with some fast paced back and forth till tagging in their partners for more of the same, its all standard stuff. Corino on commentary puts over that Quiet Storm is a quiet guy, what?!, he's the loudest guy in the match, he's the only guy in ROH who shouts his finishers name before hitting it. York gets knocked to the outside and while the ref jumps outside and makes Matthews return to his corner, while he's distracted Brian XL jumps in the ring and dives out onto York. Both members of Divine Storm get pissed about his interference and an argument ensues and they tell XL to leave. Back in the ring Divine gets a 2 count on York from a sit out powerbomb. Matthews & York hit the Full Effect on Quiet Storm but Divine pulls Matthews out of the ring and jumps on York and they fall out of the ring. Matthews gets back in the ring and counters Storm's Storm Cradle Driver attempt but falls victim to a leglock submission and taps out giving Divine Storm the victory. Standard mediocre tag match.

A video recaps Xavier's wins over Scoot & Maritato. James Maritato puts over how he was the master of the 3 way dance in ECW and how he will win tonight. Scoot Andrews promos next and yells about how Xavier was lucky he had a broken leg last month and tonight he'll beat him and James Maritato.

Scoot Andrews Vs James Maritato Vs Xavier
More huge 'AC Slater' chants at Xavier as they all shake hands. It starts off quick, all three guys tussling till Maritato is knocked out of the ring and then Xavier & Scoot go at it, Scoot counters a head scissors into a face buster for a 2 count. Xavier gains control and goes for a neckbreaker but Maritato grabs his leg and catapults him over Scoot, he falls backwards and DDT's Scoot at the same time, Maritato gets a 2 count on Scoot from this but Xavier breaks up the pin. Xavier gets a 2 count of a flying clubbing forearm on Maritato, then hits Maritato with some knee strikes until Maritato hits a flying dropkick to his face, Scoot goes for his finish on the dazed Xavier till Maritato stops him after some brawling all 3 men are laid out. Scoot hits a Force Of Nature on Xavier for a 2 count after Maritato breaks it up. After a few more pin attempts Maritato counters a crossbody block from Xavier into a Fujiwara Arm Bar for the tap out. Xavier's suffers his first loss.

Backstage Luscious is stomping around and shouts at Rob Feinstein for booking her in such crap earlier and he promises her something better next month.
AJ Styles cuts a promo saying him and Low Ki will have 'a battle'

AJ Styles Vs Low Ki
They start of with some fast mat work then go for a test of strength which Styles wins. Then the stiff strikes start as they try for quick pin attempts on each other. At one point Ki knocks AJ out of the ring with a stiff Mafia Kick. Low Ki locks in a painful looking Dragon Sleeper in the ropes, then goes for a Ki Krusher which AJ Styles counters into a massive DDT. AJ hits his Sunset Flip Reverse DDT for a 2 count. Low Ki hits AJ with alot of stiff Kawada Kicks to the head, some guy in the front row goes wild, calm down fella. Low Ki gets another 2 cont from a Tiger Suplex. AJ takes another massive kick to the head, the commentary team say "By 9am tomorrow morning AJ won't even remember how to piss straight", such his the abuse his head has taken. Low Ki attempts a Phoenix Splash but AJ gets his knees up. AJ gets Low Ki in a Razor's Edge and flips it into a sick DDT for only a 2 count. AJ misses his Spiral Tap. Both men force themselves up and start slugging it out on their knees. Low Ki rolls up AJ when he goes for the Styles Clash and gets a very close 3 count. It looked like AJ kicked out in time but the ref gives Low Ki the win. That was an excellent match that blew away everything that came before it and gave the rest of the card a hard act to follow.

Backstage Christopher Daniels runs down Low Ki & Dragon but puts over his opponent from later tonight, Donovan Morgan.

Dunn & Marcos Vs The Carnage Crew (HC Loc & Tony DeVito)
Dunn & Marcos (aka The Ring Crew Express) get attacked straight from the bell. Sounds like a 'boring' chant went up, well i guess they needed to bring the crowd down after that stellar match that just happened. Loc hits Dunn with a MK Ultra for a 2 count, then Dunn absorbs a Dropkick Doomsday Device from both men. DeVito hits a Release Northern Lights Suplex on Dunn into the turnbuckles, thats just nasty, DeVito is very pleased though. He goes for a Moonsault but Dunn moves and tags in Marcos. The Express briefly get the upper hand before absorbing dual Rock Bottoms. Then Dunn is hoisted up into a Razors Edge and given a Neckbreaker Powerbomb double team move for the finish. After the bell the Carnage Crew hit the Ring Crew Express in the heads with car hubcaps and shook their hands as they are left laid out.
It was a fun match that soon shut up the boring chants and was a good indicator of what to expect from both teams in the future. Carnage Crew would be like mid card dual Steve Austin's till 2005, not everyones cup of tea but i loved them, never got into Dunn and Marcos but they were popular jobbers for quite some time.
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Backstage Donovan Morgan says he appreciates Christopher Daniels kind words and he will make an impression in his debut.

Donovan Morgan Vs Christopher Daniels
No Handshake which is only a big deal when the announcers make it one it seems. They start out mat wrestling going hold for hold. Donovan keeps working headlocks till Daniels hits a Back Suplex. Daniels attacks Morgan's neck as thats his favourite body part to attack as seen on previous shows. When Morgan gets the upper hand he also goes for his opponents neck, the commentators put over how similar these guys work. Morgan gets a leg submission on Daniels but the ropes save him but not from the huge overhead throw that comes next. Both men are evenly matched. Daniels hits an Exploder Suplex, followed by an STO, then he hits the BME but only scores a 2 count. After he recovers Morgan jumps off the top rope and nails a big DDT onto Daniels for a 2 count. Morgan hits a Back Suplex for another 2 count. Daniels manages to apply a Crossface Submission but Morgan gets the ropes. Morgan hits a Twisting Fisherman Suplex but Daniels get the ropes, Morgan hits it a second time and gets the pin. After Morgan puts over Morgan on the mic but runs down ROH again, he refuses to shake hands but offers to watch his back anytime he wants. Pretty good wrestling match that was second to only the Low Ki / Styles match so far.

Next we will have a Gauntlet to see who the best is from Shawn Michaels Texas Wrestling Academy
Backstage Rudy Boy Gonzalez talks to his TWA trainees from the gauntlet but Spanky is just goofing off and gets a mouthful about showing some respect from Michael Shane, who obviously doesn't like him which we pretty much established on show#1. Rudy tells the boys to do their best.

TWA Gauntlet Match One
Paul London Vs John Hope
For some reason, either for length or cause it sucked or something i have no idea this match is just a 20 second highlight video. We see London dive to the outside and get hit with a sit out powerbomb on the concrete, London get tossed onto the ropes, London get hit with a Belly To Belly Overhead Suplex and finally London hitting the Shooting Star Press for the win. As far as i recall John Hope was never seen again anywhere.

TWA Gauntlet Match Two
Paul London Vs Michael Shane
First big move is London trying to Power Bomb Shane but it gets reversed into a face plant. Seconds later Shane ducks a Spin Kick and hits London straight in the chops with an Enziguiri for a 2 count. Corino mentions Rudy Boy hates him again on commentary. London hits a Frankensteiner followed by a Dropsault for a 2 count. Then he hits a Northern Lights Suplex for another 2 count, then a roll up for yet another 2 count, Shane recovers and hits a Spear on London for a 2. Shane applies a Leg Submission but London gets the ropes. London misses a Shooting Star Press and Shane hits one of HBK's Flying Elbows from up top and gets the pin on London.

TWA Gauntlet Match Three
Michael Shane Vs Spanky
These guys hate each other and are soon exchanging chops. After a few bigger moves Spanky takes a break outside. Spanky returns but Shane keeps the upper hand with dropkicks and a neckbreaker. Spanky pushes Shane off the top rope when he goes up and gets the advantage as Shane is busted open. Back in the ring Spanky viciously assaults his cut till Shane clotheslines him over the rope to the outside, they brawl outside then back into the ring where Spanky knocks Shane to the outside, more brawling then back in the ring yet again. Spanky can't put him away so starts kneeing Shane in the head. Shane gets away and out of desperation hits a Tumbleweed onto Spanky but is too exhausted to capitalise. Spanky starts punching Shane viciously in the head, Shane loses it and becomes a house of fire and knocks Spanky over the rope, Spanky tries to skin the cat but is met with a dropkick halfway up. Shane hits a Halo Suicide Dive to the outside onto Spanky. Corino rips on Rudy Boy more calling him "a big fat oaf".Back in the ring, Shane ducks an Ensuguiri and cradles Spanky up for a 2 count, after a few more exchanges Shanes goes up top then feels faint from blood loss and falls into the ring, Spanky covers for a 2 count. A few more counters a piece and Shane superkicks Spanky and goes for a pin but Spanky grabs the rope, a couple more exchanges and Spanky gets the Sliced Bread#2 for the pinfall.

TWA Gauntlet Match Four
Spanky Vs American Dragon Bryan Danielson
They lock up and grapple, early on Dragon goes for a leg submission but Spanky struggles to the ropes, more bridges, armbars and headlocks follow as they go hold for hold. Dragon gets the upper hand on his more tired opponent with chops, a suplex and some big elbow drops followed by a 2 count. Spanky gets in a hangman on the top rope then botches a springboard attempt and gets tangled on the ropes ripe for a kick to the head from Dragon. Spankys strides are ripped in the crotch, good job he doesn't wrestle commando. After more back and forth Dragon suplexes Spanky by his neck, then follows up with some stiff shots and a belly to back Suplex. Spanky takes over for a bit and goes for a Suplex but he's too tired and drops Dragon roughly on the mat but tries to cover with a quick pin attempt. Spanky stay on the offensive for a while longer till Dragon hits a huge belly to back Suplex that folds Spanky up, some more blows and a big Yakuza Kick can't put Spanky away. Spanky manages to hit a Sliced Bread#2 but Dragon kicks out at 2. Dragon takes over and hits a Dragon Suplex with a bridge for a pinning combination but Spanky's limp leg falls onto the ropes to stop the count by pure luck, A shocked Dragon pulls him into the centre of the ring and makes the cover but Spanky kicks out at 2. Both men go up top and Spanky gets in a top rope Sliced Bread#2 and pins Dragon. A decent bout which Spanky was lucky to win.
Spanky gets on the mic and boasts about his win and says he wants into the title tourney next month.Dragon gets on the mic and it keeps cutting out. Out comes Christopher Daniels with another mic and tells them both they aren't in his league and that he will win the tourney. Scoot Andrews is out next and says pretty much the same and gets in a argument with Daniels till Xavier comes out and says he wants in the tourney too, Jay Briscoe is out next, then Prince Nana, they both want in too. The sound quality is terrible and its hard to catch what most of the guys say.Low Ki arrives and Nana slaps him, Low Ki lays him out with a stiff punch. Low Ki puts over Jay, then Scoot, then Xavier, just laughs and shakes his head at Spanky (Low Ki laughed, thats a rare sight), He then puts over Dragon. Daniels isn't amused at all this, so Low Ki tells him he is not worthy of being ROH champion cause he has no honor and will only be champion 'over his dead body'.

A video package shows the story so far for Amazing Red and the Maximo's

The SAT (Joel & Jose Maximo) Vs Eddy Guerrero & The Amazing Red
I should note at this point that Eddy was already back in WWE and comes to the ring wearing the WWE Intercontinental Title. He arrives to a huge pop and is playing face in this appearance.
The match kicks off with Red and Jose Maximo and a series of dropkicks and armdrags till Eddy tags in and assists Red in hitting a Satellite Head Scissors on Jose. Joel comes in but Eddy nails him with a Tilta-whirl Backbreaker. Joel and Eddy grapple but Eddy comes out on top, they up the pace till Eddy slaps a Sharpshooter on, Joel is in agony but gets to the ropes. Eddy hits a Back Suplex followed by a Slingshot Senton for a 2 count. After a short while the Maximo's get the upper hand and lock in a double team Surf Board / Dragon Sleeper combo. Red unsuccessfully tries to stop them and gets tossed to the floor. Joel starts to wear Eddy down with suplexes till Eddy gets him with a Superplex from the top. Eddy tags in Red, who hits a Satellite DDT and a Red Star Press for a 2 count. Red's flurry is brought to an end by a Sit Out Powerbomb and Jose is tagged in. The Maximo's take turns in working Red over for a length of time till Eddy gets the hot tag, he gives Jose a Brainbuster for a 2 count, several more moves are attempted but countered by each until Eddy throws Red into the air to the top turnbuckle onto Jose's shoulders for a huge Hurracarana, soon as Red gets to his feet he runs and leaps out of the ring onto Joel and ends up in the front row of fans. Eddy finishes off Jose with a Splash Mountain for the win. Pretty good match and the rookies worked well and avoided the spotfest and sloppy tags from the last two shows. The crowd chant Eddy's name. All the guys hug and shake hands, then Brian XL jumps the ring and grabs a mic and says something not sure what the sound echo's to much, Eddy basically offers out and XL jumps him, Eddy destroys him, hits Brainbuster followed by a Frog Splash, the crowd pops huge. It even gets a 3 count and Eddy is declared the winner as XL limp body gets thrown to the floor by the SAT. Eddy cuts a tearful passionate promo, he appreciates everyone there and they appreciate him and the shows name suddenly seems very fitting.

Backstage Danielson & Low Ki talk about how fantastic what happened just before was with everyone showing respect for Eddy. They find Spanky eating Pizza and singing to it, they get into it about him not showing his respect for Eddy like everyone else, he cops a attitude and says they pay to see him not Eddy, what a jerk. Christopher Daniels & Donovan Morgan enter and after a few harsh words start brawling with Dragon & Low Ki in the locker room till everyone wades in a breaks it up. Daniels makes his escape whilst cursing Ring Of Honor some more.

This is the weakest show so far but still had enough good stuff to be enjoyable. Theres way too many shitarses on the roster but i suppose it makes the top guys look a million dollars by close comparison.

Commentary - Donnie B & Steve Corino
DVD length - 2 hours 59 mins

[Jon Von Diesel]

Its coming to the time to introduce a ROH Title and that starts on this show with a 16 man tournament which will take the Winners of 4 blocks of 4 guys onto the final on the next show.
This show also features the first use of UK talent and Jerry Lynn and features its first proper women's match. Lets continue then......

ROH Show#4 - Road To The Title [June 22rd 2002]

We open the show backstage with a close up of Low Ki's tattoo, the camera pans out and Da Hit Squad are pumping up Low Ki with inspirational words, the name 'Christopher Daniels' gets him roused and Homicide tells him to "Kill that motherfucker". Low Ki starts hitting the brick wall then shouts into the camera at Christopher Daniels telling him its not over and the title will be his.
Video intro showing the guys on the show plays.

First Round, Block C, Match 1
Bio-Hazard Vs American Dragon Bryan Danielson
Bio-Hazard starts it off quick with some kicks before the bell has even finished reverberating, and follows up with a Springboard Back Elbow, he's laying it into Dragon early, hits some knees to Dragon's chest followed by a Gutwrench Suplex then misses a second rope springboard Moonsault, Dragon tries to go for a move but its countered into a Northern Lights Suplex with a bridge for a 2 count. They then exchange chops and Dragons gets the upper hand at last and hits 2 big clotheslines and a snap suplex, then a reverse Suplex and locks in the Cattle Mutilation forcing Bio-Hazard to tap out. Nice but short bout.

First Round, Block A, Match 1
Paul London Vs Spanky
Out comes Spanky dancing in a white and gold leather jacket, Hmmm seems familiar. Who would have thought these two would team up and be WWE Tag Team Champions for about a year.
It starts with a fast paced series of holds and flashy counters, things get faster with monkey flips, somersault head scissors and Dropsaults being employed. London hits a Spinning Back Heel Kick and sends Spanky to the outside. Back in the ring Spanky uses the exact same Reverse Suplex that Dragon used in match one to get the upper hand. He gets a 2 count on London after a sick Back Drop Suplex. After a few more exchanges Spanky tunes up the band then hits a dropkick to London's face while he's trying to get up. That nets another 2 count. Spanky goes for a Suplex into a Small Cradle Package for another 2 count. Spanky is annoyed he can't put London away and they exchange forearm shots till London knocks Spanky down with a twisting cannonball off the second rope for a quick breather. After a few more moves and a Hurracarana on London, Spanky misses a kick and London nails him in the jaw with a Superkick. Both men are down, London gets upto the top rope but misses a Shooting Star Press. Spanky attempts the Sliced Bread#2 but gets crotched on the top rope by London, then knocked to the outside by a big springboard kick to the back of the head. London then somersaults the top rope onto Spanky on the outside. London rolls Spanky back in a hits a Asai Moonsault for a 2 count when Spanky gets a foot on the ropes. London plants Spanky with a Double Underhook Sit Out Facebuster for a 2 count. London goes for another SSP but Spanky cuts him off then goes for what might have been a Superplex but ends up with a messy tumble into the ring for them both, looks like Spanky went for the move before London was ready. Spanky goes for another couple of pin attempts on a dazed London. Spanky goes up top but London cuts him off with a dropkick to the back but can't capitalise. Moments later Spanky nails him with the Sliced Bread#2 for the win. A good match but nothing special.

First Round, Block C, Match 2
Doug Williams Vs Jay Briscoe
They start off going hold for hold something Doug is obviously better at but Jay tries his best and uses rope breaks. Mark Briscoe strolls to ringside to watch. You have to be 18 or older to wrestle in Philly so thats why 17 year old Mark hasn't wrestled on a show yet. Jay gets out of a Takeover Headlock with a Head Scissors Hold but Doug is out and back into a headlock in no time. Jay gets to his feet and send Williams off but is met with a shoulder block and is soon back in a headlock (Doug is one of the few people who can make a headlock seem awesome). Mark seems happy his brother is getting schooled. Jay gives Doug a big Back Suplex to get out of it and gets a 2 count. He hits Doug with a Dropkick, then the Three Amigos Suplexes but drops the third on into a Facebuster and scores another 2 count. Doug recovers with a High Knee then gets a 2 count with a Flying Knee from the top rope. Jay soon gets back in the drivers seat and hits a big PowerBomb followed by a top rope Leg Drop for a 2 count. Jay goes for the Jay Driller but Doug keeps blocking it. Doug hits some European Uppercuts and then gets and uses his opportunity to hit the Chaos Theory for the win. Doug gets a standing ovation from the fans while Mark chastises his brother for losing and laughs behind his back. A pretty decent match and a nice introduction into ROH for Doug Williams.

First Round, Block A, Match 2
Jonny Storm Vs Jody Fleisch
They start off by flipping around and ducking about and then do a Double Nip Up, the crowd loves it. Jonny kicks Jody to the outside, then jumps to the top and does a twisting senton onto Jody. Back in the ring they do more twista and flips till Jody kicks Jonny to the outside, the crowd get excited for what they'll see but Jody aborts the move after Jonny moves and comes in behind him for something that gets botched, they redo the spot and Jonny once again gets knocked to the outside and Jody does a Springboard Shooting Star Press onto him. The crowd start chanting 'Holy Shit'. Back the ring they do that old quick near falls reversal thing that i do not know the name of, if it even has a name. Theres been too many 2 counts in the last minute to count. Both men head up top and Jonny gives Jody a huge overhead throw to which he lands face first. Both men are down and another 'Holy Shit' chant starts. Jonny nearly botches again but hits a top rope Franksteiner on Jody. Jody then botches another move but they modify it into a rollup attempt for a 2 count on Jonny. Jonny does a Rewind Franksteiner into a pinning combination for a 2 count. Jody recovers and gets in his Springboard 720 DDT but Jonny gets a foot on the ropes. Jonny counters another attempt at the Springboard 720 DDT and goes for yet another Rewind Frankensteiner but Jody counters it into a Powerbomb and gets the win. A fun but lacking in substance match with too many botches.

Backstage Buff E & Mace are getting excited by watching Jerry Lynn eat bananas, nice innuendo. A disgusted Prince Nana walks past.

First Round, Block D, Match 1
Prince Nana (with Elax) Vs Low Ki
Nana calls a guy thinner than him a fat slob, go figure. Elax reminds me of Gizmo from the Gremlins movies but in human form. Low Ki comes to the ring and does his usual somersault into the ring entry only to be jumped by Nana soon as he gets to his feet. Nana starts putting the boots to Low Ki and the bell sounds to officially start the match. Low Ki gets thrown from pillar to post and then Suplexed for a 2 count. Nana again throws Ki into the corner then hits a Big Splash then the Running Big Butt to the face. Well thats all Nana's repertoire done must be time for Ki to come back and kill him. Elax is happy or retarded not sure which. Nana starts stomping on Ki and then chopping him before hitting another Running Big Butt. Low Ki exchanges chops with Nana but gets stomped into the corner again and hit with yet another Running Big Butt. Low Ki loses it and starts hitting some huge chops but Nana gets in another Big Splash and then misses a fourth attempt at a Running Big Butt (Jeez Nana has a huge moveset doesn't he) Low Ki hits an uber stiff Enzuigiri. Nana is out, the ref calls for the bell and Sapolsky & Feinstein hit ringside. Elax fans his face pathetically reminding you instantly that the knock out is worked either that or he is staying in character as a tool. Nana is carried to the back and Low Ki looks tough again for a man thats just taken lots of ass to mouth offense. Poorest match so far.

Backstage Xavier introduces himself to Jerry Lynn, they discuss metal and Jerry puts over Soilent Green who he has on his headphones. Its like a cheesy advert for Relapse Records complete with cheeky wink at the camera.
Elsewhere The SAT and Divine Storm bury the hatchet with Amazing Red and wish him luck.

First Round, Block D, Match 2
The Amazing Red Vs Xavier
They lock up and the larger Xavier just tosses Red the full length of the ring with ease. Its speed against strength, Red ducks Xavier's moves and nails him with a Satellite DDT and knocks him out of the ring then Red Somersaults over the top rope onto Xavier. Back in the ring Red hits some chops and kicks all over Xavier before attempting a Twisting Senton and get caught mid air and Powerbombed. Xavier uses some Muai Thai knees to Reds face followed by a big Knee Lift for a 2 count. Red jumps on to Xavier's shoulders and does a Frankensteiner but Xavier handsprings off it and hits a big kick to Red's face. Xavier is making the mistake of being too lenient with Red because he is smaller, so Red is given chance to recover and gets in a Double Spin Kick and a Sunset Flip Bomb for a 2 count. Xavier recovers and gets Red with a Pump Handle Face First Powerslam for a 2 count. Xavier takes his time going for a 450 Splash and Red moves out of the way of it. Red hits him with a crazy top rope somersault DDT for a 2 count. Red wriggles out of a Splash Mountain attempt but Xavier knocks him down then goes for a Lionsault but Red moves and hits a Spinning Kick, goes up top and nails the Infrared(Spiral Tap) followed by the Red Star Press for the win. Match told a nice story of the big man underestimating or being too easy on the smaller man and losing. Xavier gives Red his due then heads to the back straight into Christopher Daniels behind the curtain who asks him what the hell he's playing at, tells him he was counting on him to get rid of Low Ki and he can't even beat Amazing Red. Red then comes to the back and Daniels threatens him telling he better eliminate Low Ki or they'll be hell to pay, Red slides away as Xavier tells Daniels to pick on someone his own size and get ready for Low Ki or Red.

Backstage Scoot Andrews is posing for Promo photos when he gets introduced to Sumie Sakai

First Round, Block B, Match 1
Christopher Daniels (with Simply Luscious) Vs Scoot Andrews
Daniels comes out and cuts a promo about wanting to end Ring Of Honor and that his new Prophecy following will do just that. Then introduces the new member Simply Luscious (I guess counting the absent Donovan Morgan & Daniels himself she is the 3rd member of the group so far even though the commentators say she is the first member to join). Scoot runs out and this quickly gets underway. Scoot gets an Inverted Powerbomb on Daniels. Scoot follows up with a dropkick. Daniels fires back with a Neckbreaker. Scoot counters a Bulldog into a Side Suplex for a 2 count. They counter each others power move attempts until Scoot scores with a Doctor Bomb for a 2 count. Daniels eventually hits an STO, then a Uranage followed by the BME (Best Moonsault Ever) for the pin. A pretty rushed match from two good talents.
After the match Simply Luscious gets on the mic and tells Scoot he was The Prophecy's first victim and dares Scoot to hit her. He says he doesn't hit women but he knows someone who does, then introduces Sumie Sakai

Simply Luscious (with Christopher Daniels) Vs Sumie Sakai (with Scoot Andrews)
Luscious reverses a go behind into a roll up for a 2 count, Sakai gets a 2 count from a Backslide. Sakai hits 2 Dropkicks and a Bodyslam for another 2 count. Luscious returns a Dropkick and a Powerbomb for a 2 count of her own. Luscious beats Sakai down till she comes back with another couple of Dropkicks. Luscious fights back with a Suplex. Sakai fires up with some strange ass chops and locks in an Abdominal Stretch. Sakai does a poor Bodyslam on Luscious (who made no attempt at taking it) and then goes up top for a Moonsault for the win. Pretty poor match

First Round, Block B, Match 2
AJ Styles Vs Jerry Lynn
Jerry gets the better of the Lock Up, its then hold for hold, counter for counter at a fast pace. Jerry tries to submit AJ with a Bow & Arrow but he spin flips out of it onto Jerry for a pin attempt. Jerry Belly To Belly Overhead Suplexes AJ but AJ lands on his feet and kicks and chops Jerry then sends him off but Jerry grabs AJ in the air spins him round and nails a huge backbreaker for a 2 count. Jerry Overhead Suplexes AJ into the turnbuckles for another 2 count. AJ knocks Jerry down with a Superkick for a 2 count.AJ hits a Neckbreaker for another 2 count. Jerry fires back with a Bulldog for another 2 count. AJ blocks a DDT by grabbing the ropes and then goes to work on Jerry's arm for awhile. Jerry gets in a Leg Drop to the back of AJ's head on the ropes to gain a breather. Jerry tries to Suplex AJ but AJ lands on his feet and hits a Reverse DDT then rolls Jerry into a Cross Arm Breaker. Jerry breaks out but falls victim to AJ's Springboard Backflip Reverse DDT for a 2 count. He goes for the Styles Clash but gets backdropped by Jerry who gets his own Cradle Piledriver blocked and knocks AJ down with an Ensuigiri. Both men are down but recover and exchange a series of pinning combinations until Lynn gets in a big Belly To Back Suplex. The ref starts a 10 count on the exhausted men, they both get up and Jerry nails AJ with a Tornado DDT for a 2 count. AJ comes back and drops Jerry neck first across his knee for a 2 count. AJ goes up top but Jerry crotches him and goes up too but is knocked down and receives the Spiral Tap for another 2 count. Jerry makes a comeback with a DDT and Neckbreaker for a 2 count on AJ. Jerry gets his Cradle Piledriver reversed into the Styles Clash and AJ gets the three to win. A very good match from these two talented workers.

Next up we have Dunn & Marcos in the ring saying they are the top tag team in Ring Of Honor until Da Hit Squad jump them from behind and proceed to totally destroy them with sick moves and capping off with a Burning Hammer. Da Hit Squad then declare themselves the top tag team in Ring Of Honor. Next out are Divine Storm to dispute that, Quiet Storm tells them they've not even had a proper match just beat people up and that they "Ain't shit!". The SAT then hit the ring and things quickly turn into a brawl. Da Hit Squad are taken out then the other two teams go at it till all six men are laid on the floor. Then 'YMCA' hits and the crowd all jump up and cheer as The Christopher Street Connection with Allison Danger come to the ring, Mace and Buff E start kissing until The Natural Born Sinners arrive and attack them, they take turns spanking Allison Danger then Homicide takes out Mace with a Cop Killa, then The Carnage Crew finally come for vengeance and beat the Sinners down with car hubcaps and bust Boogalou open. Loc is happy he's got his revenge for what they did to him on the debut show. Da Hit Squad return to the ring and take out The Carnage Crew. Then Da Hit Squad and Sinners put Devito on a table on the outside and Mafia Sit Out Powerbombs Loc off the apron through Devito and the table. Da Hit Squad then proclaim they just proved they were the top team which doesn't sit well with the Sinners at all. They get angry and leave. Both teams return backstage and Low Ki tries to understand whats gone on. Low Ki tells the camera to stay away because its family business.

Block A Final
Jody Fleisch Vs Spanky
Lots of fast paced moves to start off, then Jody gets a Hurracarana and a Spinning Heel Kick sending Spanky to the outside. Jody looks like he's going to try for the Springboard SSP to the outside again but Spanky punches the top rope causing Jody to get crotched. Spanky flips into the ring onto Jody and then hits him with a Suplex for a 2 count. Spanky starts to wear Jody down but only getting 2 counts, he tries to go for Sliced Bread#2 but gets sent to the outside again. Jody goes for a Twisting Springboard Moonsault and takes out Spanky and a guard rail. He rolls Spanky in the ring and goes for an SSP but lands on his feet as Spanky moves out of the way. Jody misses a 720 DDT attempt and Spanky rolls him up for a 2 count. Spanky gets mad and hits a Sliced Bread#2 for the pinfall. Decent match, it says alot that this first time match up is better than Jody's match with Jonny (who he's faced over a 150 times) earlier on the show. Spanky is now through to the 4 Way 60 Minute Iron Man Match final on the next show.

Block C Final
Doug Williams Vs American Dragon Bryan Danielson
They start by taking turns grabbing a body part and expertly taking each other down. These two start putting on a mat wrestling clinic. The Announcers have no clue what to call some of Doug's moves as they've never seen them before. Doug starts to try to wear Dragon down with a Abdominal Stretch, a Backbreaker, a Bow & Arrow and a Gory Special. Doug gives him a couple of Running High Knees then goes up top but gets drilled in mid air by a Dropkick from Dragon. They both lock in the same leg submission and slowly roll out of the ring whilst interlocked in the hold. On the floor they finally release each other. Dragon returns to the ring and tries to Suplex Doug back inside but Doug blocks it and Suplexes Dragon to the floor. Corino is again ranting about Rudy Boy Gonzalez. Back inside the ring Doug traps Dragon in a Rolling Cradle for a 2 count. Doug hits some European Uppercuts before Dragon fires back with a Neckbreaker Suplex. They then start exchanging European Uppercuts and Punches till Dragon Superkicks Doug right in the kisser. Dragon hits a Snap Suplex then goes up top and nails Doug with a Diving Headbutt for a 2 count. Doug hits the Chaos Theory moments later but Dragon kicks out at 2. Dragon gives Doug two Kicks to the head then takes him up top for a top rope Belly To Back Suplex but only gets a 2 count. Dragon goes for Cattle Mutilation but Doug reverses it into a Reverse Gutwrench Suplex and gets a messy looking pin for the 3 count. Really good match. Doug Williams is now through to the 4 Way 60 Minute Iron Man Match final on the next show as well.

Block D Final
The Amazing Red Vs Low Ki
The first minute of this match is very memorable and hard to describe. Red cheapshots Low Ki on the handshake, Ki responds with a stiff kick and then we get a display of moves like something out of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon then a face off with the crowd jumping to their feet and going insane. Low Ki brings a whole new dimension of attacks from a simple Greco Roman Knucklelock. Red tries to kick Ki but he uses Ninja like blocks then a Dragon Screw Leg Whip but they still both keep exchanging martial arts kicks of which Low Ki is superior. Red ducks a kick and sweeps Low Ki's legs out and hits a Red Star Press for a 2 count. After a bit more back and forth, Red nails Ki with a Flying Neckbreaker for another 2 count. They exchange more kicks till a Rolling Heel Kick from Ki takes Red down hard.Ki flings Red into the corner and starts cartwheeling toward him but Red hits him with a Missile Dropkick in mid air. After dodging a few more of Low Ki's kicks on the apron,, Red finally gets a Rolling Heel kick to the mush and flys to the outside into the same guard rail Jody Fleisch crushed earlier. Low Ki tosses Red back inside for a 2 count. Ki tosses Red about by his ginger afro hair then tries for another pin but Red kicks out on 2. Low Ki brutalises Red further until he gets Ki with a Satellite DDT then Dropkicks Ki to the floor. Red looks to dive to the outside but Low Ki flies up with High Knee to the face and knocks him back inside the ring. Red counters a Ki Krusher attempt into a lightning fast roll up and get a 2 count. Red hits a Reverse Frankensteiner and they are both down. Red recovers first and goes up top to deliver the Infrared but Ki rolls out the way in time. After a couple of exchanges Low Ki gets Red up in Ki Krusher position and charges into the top turnbuckle with him causing him to fall out to the floor. Ki tosses the limp Red back in the ring and goes for a Phoenix Splash but aborts after Red rolls out of the way Red knocks Ki silly on the top turnbuckle and climbs up to attempt a Franksteiner but Low Ki blocks it and hits a top rope Ki Krusher for the win. Another really good match like the one before it but a totally different type of match. Low Ki also heads to the ROH Title final on the next show. After Low Ki leaves Brian XL hits the ring and grabs a mic. He cuts an unintelligible promo due to the shoddy PA and then attacks Red. I'm guessing he's bitter about what happened at the end of the last show. The SAT run to the ring and save Red and take out XL with the Spanish Fly.

Backstage the Sinners are still pissed off and challenge the Carnage Crew to a Bunkhouse House match on the next show.
Elsewhere Brian XL asks Divine Storm where they were when he needed them, they give him a mouthful about being a disrespectful punk and he storms off.

Block B Final
AJ Styles Vs Christopher Daniels (with Simply Luscious)
They go fast and furious hold for hold for several minutes and are pretty evenly matched. This match has the potential to steal the show and combine the elements of the two matches that proceeded it.
AJ Dropkicks Daniels off the apron and to the floor and then hurdles the top rope onto him. Daniels eventually gets back on the apron and tries to Suplex AJ to the floor but he lands on the apron next to Daniels, they exchange blows but Daniels low blows AJ and climbs back in the ring and pushes AJ off the apron head first into the guard rail which busts AJ wide open. Daniels goes for the cut continuously punching it, in and all around the ring. Daniels still can't get more than a 2 count so he goes for a Asai Moonsault and misses. This gives AJ the chance to nail Daniels with a Brainbuster. They end up back on the apron and AJ kicks Daniels in the balls then hangs him on the ropes and Lionsaults onto his torso. Daniels recovers and faceplants AJ and locks in a Koji Clutch, AJ rolls it over into a pinning predicament and Daniels has to release him at the 2 count. Daniels dumps AJ on the top rope and goes to the top and Legdrops the back of AJ's head and then gets another 2 count. A sit out Powerslam gets another 2. AJ takes down Daniels with an Ensuigiri, follows up with a discus lariat and then a Powerslam for a 2 count. A German Suplex followed by a Facebuster also only gets AJ a 2 count. Daniels ducks a Spin Kick and gets his STO on AJ and both men are down. Daniels recovers quicker and nails AJ with a Blue Thunder Bomb and goes for the BME but AJ hits the ropes and causes Daniels to tumble into the ring head first. AJ drills him with a Facebuster for a 2 count. Daniels counters the Styles Clash attempt into an Anklelock. AJ breaks loose with some stomps to Daniels back. Daniels gets a 2 count with a Small Package Roll Up, AJ goes for Backslide for a 2 count of his own. They exchange more 2 counts till AJ goes for the Springboard Back Flip DDT and Daniels counters it half way through into the Last Rites for the 3 Count. A very good match worthy of the main event. Christopher Daniels goes onto the final with the rest.
Announcer Donnie B (he's the twin brother of Mike 'Nova' Bucci by the way hence the resemblance) comes out to the ring to make an announcement. Daniels grabs the mic and makes his own announcement which is that he thinks the 'Code Of Honor' is a farce. Spanky comes to the ring and grabs back the mic and tell Daniels, all the boys in the back and fans out front wanted him to shut the hell up and then he punches Daniels in the face. Daniels runs off and Donnie B continues the announcement that ROH will have its own TV show starting in September.
Afterwards all 4 finalists gather in the ring and the referees unveil the new ROH Title belt. Daniels declares the belt his and gets in a tug of war with the referees over it, Then it breaks down into a brawl with all 4 guys. Spanky takes Williams to the outside whilst Low Ki locks Daniels in the Dragon Sleeper, no one can get him to let go. The locker room empties out into the ring trying to break it up and talk Ki into releasing the hold but he won't and they carry Low Ki and Daniels out of the ring and to the back whilst the hold is still clamped on. Insane!

Backstage AJ Styles cuts a promo, he says his boys from NWA Wildside, Adam Jacobs & David Young are coming up next month for a 3 way dance so they can show us a thing or two.Then says next time he sees Christopher Daniels he'll break his hand so he'll have a reason not to shake hands.
Elsewhere Rudy Boy Gonzalez is looking for Simply Luscious.
In the locker room, Dragon is getting changed and Spanky walks in a congratulates himself and mocks Dragon for losing, so Dragon challenges him to a 2/3 Falls match in two months time. (Note: As far as I'm aware this match never happened at all possibly due to scheduling conflicts)
While leaving the building The Carnage Crew talk about how badly they are gonna beat up The Natural Born Sinners and then kick the crap outta two ring crew guys to give an example.
Outside the building in the dark we see Luscious and Steve Corino kissing, Corino looks at the camera and chuckles and says "Thanks Rudy Boy".

This show seemed to be split equally 3 ways into matches that were very good, matches that had lots of potential but no time to evolve into much and poor matches. There is some good stuff here but its no way a classic show.

Commentary - Donnie B & Steve Corino
DVD length - 2 hours 59 mins

[Jon Von Diesel]

Time for Ring Of Honor to award its first champion with the new belt that was unveiled at the last show. This will be done in a 60 minute Iron Man match with 4 talented guys with differing styles, it can't get much more epic than that. This show also marks the first ROH appearance of Alexis Laree (Mickie James)

ROH Show#5 - Crowning A Champion [July 27th 2002]

The show opens with Low Ki walking around the ring in an empty arena talking us through his matches so far and about how he will win later on tonight.
A music video plays showing highlights of the four finalists from their previous matches in ROH to hype up the main event.
Next up Steve Corino is backstage with Simply Luscious, and says whats going on with him and Simply Luscious is the most talked about thing in ROH (Yeah right) and thats she has been unfairly treated. Her joining The Prophecy is purely business while things between them is purely personal.
Elsewhere the Christopher Street Connection are enjoying more bananas when they hear dance music, they are stopped from joining the party by Brian XL, Izzy & Dixie who don't want their kind joining the party. I guess this is the first appearance of Special K, the biggest stable in wrestling history i think.
Tony Mamaluke asks James Maritato if he has any more green FBI shirts left, Maritato tells him to forget the FBI nonsense its over now. Boogalou approaches and asks Maritato about shoot fighting, Mamaluke butts in and says the only 'shooting' Boogalou's type understands is taking someone in an dark alley and sticking it to them. This annoys Homicide and the Sinners challenge the Italians to a tag match in Boston (Show#6)

Jeremy Lopez Vs Tony Mamaluke
They start out with some mat wrestling, plenty of good holds, they are very evenly matched until Mamaluke hangs Lopez limply on the bottom rope then vaults the top rope and drops a Guillotine Legdrop on him. He beats on Lopez till Lopez connects with a Spinning Elbow to Mamaluke's face for a 2 count. Lopez follows up with a Yakuza Kick and a Flying Neckbreaker for another 2 count. Lopez sits Mamaluke up top but Mamaluke counters straight into a Tornado DDT for a pair of 2 counts. Lopez quickly locks in the Crippler Crossface but Mamaluke gets to the ropes. Lopez hits some Chops and High Knee's but Mamaluke locks on a Keylock. Lopez twice rolls Mamaluke into pinning position for 2 counts but Mamaluke rolls over and keeps the hold locked on both times. Lopez manages to get to his feet and in an impressive display of strength lifts Marmluke off the floor and backdrops him to finally get free of the hold. Lopez hits some Elbows and avoids another Tornado DDT attempt and nails Mamaluke with a Double Under-hook Tornado DDT of his own.and then hits a Tiger Driver (Double Under-hook Sit Out Powerbomb) for a 2 count. After a few reversals Mamaluke hits a Implant DDT and stays locked on to roll into a Guillotine Choke. Lopez taps out.
A nice little opener that was very enjoyable, i totally didn't notice it had no commentary on till it was nearly over, it drew me in that much.

Backstage Quiet Storm is ranting to Chris Divine about who's the hardest tag team in ROH, then notices Buff E & Mace watching with more bananas, they tell them to get lost. Buff E says he's seen Brian XL with a new crew but he's not telling who. Quiet Storm says they don't care what Brian XL is up to.

Prince Nana & Jacob's Ladder Vs Joey Matthews & Christian York (with Alexis Laree)
This starts with Nana on the mic claiming he can't be hit in the head cause of the injuries Low Ki inflicted on him a month ago. Nana & Ladder attack on the handshake and beat Matthews & York down pretty good. Nana hits a Big Splash and a Flying Big Butt on Matthews. York starts hitting Ladder and ducks an Elbow from Nana that also hits Ladder. York ducks an Ensuigiri from Nana and he and Matthews hit a Double Ensuigiri of their own on Nana's supposedly injured head. Nana rolls out the ring and leaves in disgust. Ladder takes a Guillotine Legdrop from York whilst he's on Matthews shoulders for the 3 count. Not much of a match and i don't recall ever seeing or hearing of Jacob's Ladder ever again. Just filler.

Backstage Nana is accosted by the Christopher Street Connection, who he tells to stay away from him.
The Christopher Street Connection and Allison Danger then head out to the ring and get on the mic and tell Yorke, Matthews & Laree they found one of them very attractive. Allison grabs the mic and says that she knows Laree finds her attractive. Laree punches her in response so Mace punches Alexis and it breaks down into a brawl which ends with Danger spanking Laree.

We see the Texas Wrestling Academy guys arrive earlier in the day after a 25 hour drive. Michael Shane has an attitude which even irks his tag team partner Bio-Hazard.

Michael Shane & Bio-Hazard Vs Paul London & Don Juan
Winner of the pinfall will get an ROH contract which means they can fly to shows instead of long drives. Starting out is Michael Shane & Paul London, they exchange holds till London hits some Arm-Drags on Shane, then theres a jump in the footage for some reason and we next see London do an almost botched Somersault Dive over the top rope onto Shane & Hazard on the outside. Shane runs back in and flips Don Juan into the ring and he's suddenly the legal man with no tag made. After a few exchanges Don Juan tags London back in. London somersaults over Shane from the top but Shane grabs him on landing and Belly To Belly Overhead Suplexes him into the turnbuckles. Corino calls Rudy Boy who's at ringside a 'big potato with legs' and other names on commentary. Shane tags in Hazard who hits some knees to London, then a Gutwrench Suplex and a Backdrop Suplex off his shoulder to get a 2 count on London. London hits Hazard with a stiff Elbow to the face and follows up with a Headscissors and tags Don Juan in. Juan Crucifixes Hazard into a Sunset flip for a 2 count. Hazard hits a Chinbreaker and a Northern Lights Suplex with a Bridge for a 2 count. Hazard tagged in Shane who chops Juan then nails him with a Superplex for a 2 count. Shane tags Hazard back in and he hits a Somersault Neckbreaker from the 2nd rope on Juan, Shane tags himself in a tries to steal the pin with a 2 count. He tags Hazard back in again after failing. Shane showing his guile there. Hazard loads Juan onto his shoulders for a Fireman's Carry into a Rolling Senton, he goes quickly for a follow up Moonsault but Juan gets the knees up and hits a DDT on Hazard. Both men make the hot tags. London gets in first with two Clothelines and a Backdrop on Shane, then a Backdrop on Hazard, Shane again comes at London who Dropsaults him and at the same time Moonsaults onto Hazard behind him.for a 2 count. London Powerslams Shane then hits him with a Moonsault for another 2 count. Shane nails London with a Superkick but Juan breaks up the pin. All four men are fighting in the ring. Hazard misses a Somersult Neckbreaker and London gets Clotheslined by Shane into a accidental pinning predicament from Hazard, London kicks out at the same time Shane tries to break it up. Shane locks in the Haas Of Pain on London till Juan drops a Legdrop on Shane to break it up. Juan Dragon Screw Leg Whip's Hazard to the mat and goes for a pin, as he does, Shane hits a huge top rope Flying Elbow Drop but Juan moves and Shane nails Hazard instead. Juan recovers and gets a 2 count when London pulls him away. The partners argue and Juan turns round into a Ensuigiri from Shane, London runs at Hazard and nails a Leg Hook DDT on him, Both Shane & London make the cover but the ref only sees one cover and counts and awards the match to Michael Shane much to London's dismay. Shane now has a contract with ROH.
Afterwards Shane gets on the mic and runs down Spanky and says he'll never be as good as he is. London returns to the ring and grabs the mic and says that he is the best. Shane slaps him and they start brawling. London misses a Shooting Star Press and Shane Cotheslines him then goes for the top rope Flying Elbow Drop but also misses as London moves. Rudy Boy, Juan & Hazard run back to the ring to break it up. As they move back stage Rudy says he arrange a match between them both next month.

Da Hit Squad (Monsta Mack & Mafia) Vs Divine Storm (Quiet Storm & Chris Divine)
This carries the heat over from the last show and Quiet Storm again shouts obscenities at Da Hit Squad till they start brawling in and around the ring. Mafia goes for a Burning Hammer on Divine but he counters out of it and picks up Mafia for a big DVD (Death Valley Driver) for a 2 count. Divine then hits a big Spinebuster for another 2 count. Mafia gets the upperhand after countering a Flying Neckbreaker attempt and the Cannonballs Divine in the corner. Mafia Butterfly Suplexes Divine and Mack then Frog Splashes him. Quiet Storm attacks Mack and then hits a Frog Splash of his own on the big man and gets a 2 count. Storm the hits a Flying Neckbreaker on Mafia from the top rope for another 2 count. Storm gets thrown out of the ring by Mack. Divine escapes another attempt at a Burning Hammer but gets a 'Clothesline From Compton'. Storm tries to get back in the ring but Mafia dives through the ropes and Spears him back to the floor. Inside Divine hits a big Belly To Belly Overhead Suplex on Mack, then takes him down again with a Flying Headscissors. Divine tries for a Franksteiner but Mack counters it into a huge Powerbomb for the 3 count. Afterwards they all shake hands. Again it was a filler match but very watchable.

Backstage Xavier wishes Low Ki luck for later on and asks him to give him a shot at the title later on if he wins it. Ki agrees and they shake hands.

Jay Briscoe (with Mark Briscoe) Vs James Maritato
Briscoe desperately avoids Maritato's opening attack and loses his elbow pad in the process. Jay then gets the upper hand and takes Maritato down for a few seconds but Maritato escapes and they exchange a series of holds. Briscoe looks like he might be going for a DVD but Maritato spins of his back into a Arm-bar submission till Jay gets his foot under the rope, Jay takes Maritato down and locks on a STF but Maritato gets to the ropes. Mark Briscoe looks on unimpressed. He distracts Jay and Maritato goes straight for Jay's leg taking him down which makes Mark laugh. Both men tussle till Jay does a Leg Hook Stunner on Maritato for a 2 count. Jays comes of the top rope but gets a mid air Clothesline from Maritato for a 2 count. Maritato goes for another Armbar but Jay quickly gets the ropes. Jays ducks a Crossbody from Maritato and then nails him with a DVD. Jay is too tired to go for a pin so rests then hits a Dropkick for a 2 count. After more scuffling Jay hits a Front Niagra Slam, then goes up top with Maritato but Maritato pushes him off then hits a Missile Dropkick to Jay's face for a 2 count. Mark is happy that Jay is getting a beating it seems. Back up top again Jay counters Maritato into a Face Drop Superplex off the top for a 2 count. Jay goes for a Powerbomb but Maritato lands on his ass and jumps up and Dropkicks Jay in the face for a 2 count. Maritato goes up top and hits The Sicilian Slice Legdrop on Jay for another 2 count. Jay wriggles out of a Kiss Of Death attempt and hits Maritato with a big Tornado DDT for a 2 count. Mark Briscoe insults his brother and starts walking out with his middle finger up at his brother. Jay is distracted until Maritato spins him round and hits the Kiss Of Death (same as Christian's Unprettier/Killswitch) for a pinfall victory. Mark returns to the ring and is very happy his brother lost. Good match from these two and a little bit of story progression too.

Backstage Christopher Daniels is with a praying Simply Luscious. He preaches his own sermon on is own greatness and how ROH is full of hypocrisy and when he wins the title later on he will rebuild ROH in his own image with his values. Must have been a two take interview cause there's an obvious cut in the middle of it.
Elsewhere Doug Williams is knee racking some kid whilst looking deranged and threatening the other 3 guys in the main event with the same.

Next is the Bunkhouse Match and a video recap of the build to it is shown.

The Natural Born Sinners (Boogalou & Homicide) Vs The Carnage Crew (H.C. Loc & Tony DeVito)
This one descends into a brawl as soon as everyone is in the ring, Homicide is still wearing the Michael Myers mask and a bulletproof vest. After he removes them DeVito wastes no time introducing his face to some barbwire while Loc works over Boogalou with a Cowbell. Homicide gets the upper hand on DeVito and cuts him open with barbwire and a 'Ghetto Fork'. Loc attacks Homicide from behind and blood splatters the camera lens. Loc hits a Dragon Suplex on Homicide and he rolls out the ring his face becoming a crimson mask. Inside Boogalou nails Loc with a Belly To Back Release Suplex. DeVito grabs a chair and hits Homicide with 3 brain smashing shots to the head. Loc Tornado Face Plants Boogalou and starts gouging his forehead with the Cowbell. Homicide takes another sick chairshot and then hits Devito in the face with a Boot, All 4 men are just smashing each other with everything they can pick up and bleeding everywhere. Homicide is whipping the Carnage Crew with a belt. Boogalou takes over smashing Loc with a chair whilst DeVito and Homicide return to the ring. Devito misses a Dropkick and Homicide drills him with a Shining Wizard for a 2 count. DeVito counters the Cop Killa into 2 Short Arm Clotheslines and a Northern Lights Suplex into the barbwire. DeVito lays the barbwire on Homicide's chest and then Moonsaults onto him from the top. Boogalou breaks up the pin attempt that follows. Boogalou wraps the barbwire round his arm and Clotheslines DeVito. Homicide dives through the ropes and takes out Loc and a large section of the barriers. Boogalou wraps the barbwire round DeVito's head with the wire in his mouth and torques back, Devito taps out whilst screaming loudly as you can with barbwire in your mouth. Pretty bad ass hardcore match that really showed these guys don't just talk the talk, they also walk the walk.
After the bell Loc attacks the Sinners with hubcaps and he and DeVito beat them down till Da Hit Squad run in and scare the Carnage Crew off. Homicide doesn't appreciate the save and goes mental at Da Hit Squad and storms off.

Backstage, Spanky converses with himself puts over what he brings to the table and how he's sacrificed more than any of the others to get where he is now.
Elsewhere the Boogie Knights arrive, Drake is in a wheelchair and can't wrestle. Tobin says no one will team with them cause everyone hates them. Rob Feinstein turns up and teams them with Dunn & Marcos who are trying unsuccessfully to carry Drake and his wheelchair down some stairs.

AJ Styles Vs Adam Jacobs Vs David Young
This is a 3 way dance elimination match between the NWA Wildside guys is for AJ's NWA TNA X-Division Title. Young starts out by punching both the other two guys but is taken down by a Spin Kick from AJ. AJ whips Jacobs toward Young who catches him and Sit Out Powerbombs him but then eats a Kick from AJ. Young and AJ scuffle and Young leaps up and gives AJ a Franksteiner. Jacobs hits Young with a mistimed Neckbreaker which the crowd boo cause it looked so lame. Jacobs hits a Sunset Flip on Young, who had a waistlock on AJ. AJ backflips over the top to his feet and covers Young at the same time as Jacobs. Young kicks out at 2. Jacobs tosses Young to the outside then turns into a kick to the chops from AJ. AJ tries to Moonsault off the apron onto Young but Young moves and smashes AJ face onto the apron then hits a Asai Moonsault onto AJ. Jacobs goes up top and Suicide Dives to the outside onto Young. All 3 men are down. Jacobs rolls Young back inside for a 2 count. A bloodied AJ returns to the ring and nails both men at the same time with his Springboard Backflip DDT. He gets a 2 count on Young, then starts fighting with Jacobs till Young grabs him for a German Suplex. Young then Powerslams Jacobs. AJ gets Young in Styles Clash position and Jacobs Dropkicks Young in the face. Jacobs stomps on AJ then puts him up top, AJ pushes him away straight into a Spinebuster from Young. AJ somersaults on to Young's shoulders and drills him with a Frankensteiner for a 2 count. AJ follows up with the Spiral Tap and gets the 3 count, David Young is eliminated. Jacobs wastes no time in Superkicking AJ for a 2 count. AJ hits a crazy Flying Forearm that sends Jacobs flying. Jacobs recovers and nails AJ with a Tornado DDT from the second rope for a 2 count. AJ looks like he was going for a Styles Clash but changed it to a modified Boston Crab but Jacobs won't give in. AJ gets up and picks him up and hits a Backbreaker. AJ goes up top but Jacobs cuts him off and looks to be going for a Top Rope Frankensteiner but AJ counters it a hits the Styles Clash from the second rope for the win. AJ retains his title in a decent bout. I don't think Young or Jacobs made any further ROH appearances.
During a break its announced Corino will make his ROH in-ring debut on Show#7 as well as a tournament to crown the first ROH Tag Team Champions. Rudy Boy Gonzalez hits the ring and takes the mic, he says he's heard all the things that Corino has said about him and that Corino can face American Dragon. (As far as i can surmise this match never came to pass as Corino missed said show.)

The Ringcrew Express (Dunn & Marcos) & Mike Tobin (with Danny Drake) Vs Black Gordman Jr, Brian XL & Dixie
Ok this match is shown in highlight form to a dance track so i can't really describe much. It looks like Brian XL & Dixie turned on Gordman Jr. and took him out before bailing to the back. Gordman then gets hammered by his three opponents and pinned. Gordman looked like he took a few botched moves as well, no wonder the poor sod never returned. Apart from the fact he looks like the bastard love child of SJK & Will Ferrell, i know nothing of Black Gordman Jr or if he is in any way associated with the old Mexican wrestler Black Gordman.
After the final bell we return to usual viewing with commentary. The winers are celebrating in the ring when a huge black guy (later to be called 'Slugga') strolls into the ring and chokeslams Tobin, then Double Chokeslams both Dunn & Marcos. Drake tries to escape in his wheelchair but is caught and wheeled into the ring post, then tipped over onto the floor. The huge man then leaves through the crowd.

Backstage DeVito rants about Da Hit Squad and challenges them to a Boston Massacre match on the next show.

A video plays the history of Scoot & Xavier. If Scoot loses tonight then he'll leave ROH.

Xavier Vs Scoot Andrews
Scoot starts off with a roll up off the handshake at the bell for a 2 count then follows with a Drop Toe Hold and another cradle for another 2 count trying to take out Xavier straightaway. Scoot hits a couple of running clotheslines, then the footage jumps to Scoot hitting a Dropkick for a 2 count, then the footage jumps to Xavier chopping Scoot before Scoot throws him over the top rope, footage cuts to them outside Scoot runs Xavier head first into the ring post then into the barrier, footage skips again to Scoot throwing him into another barrier, then skips to show Xavier's head is bleeding a he is tossed into the barriers again face first. Footage cuts to back in the ring and Scoot is pummeling the open cut before drilling Xavier with another Dropkick for a 2 count, followed by a Tiger Driver for another 2 count. Xavier counters the Force Of Nature into a roll up but Scoot gets out at 2. Xavier hits some Chops and big Forearm to the face for a 2 count. Xavier hits some knees and a Razor's Edge for another pair of 2 counts. Xavier hits some European Uppercuts but Scoot fires back with a Sit Out Facebuster. Xavier avoids an attack by Scoot and hits the Kiss Your X Goodbye (Pumphandle Michinoku Driver) but only scores a 2 count. Xavier backflips from a springboard but Scoot catches him before falling over accidentally, to cover the botch Xavier goes for a pin with a 2 count. Back on their feet Scoot gets him back on his shoulder as intended and nails Xavier with the Force Of Nature (Pumphandle Piledriver) for the pinfall. Scoot keeps his job at ROH. It was a ok bout, it was trimmed i'd say for length as the VHS tapes ROH used to use were only 3 hours therefore all shows were required to be under that length, most ROH shows run 2h 59m. Nearly all the ring entrances on this show were cut off too. Cause it was trimmed the match had no commentary either which would've helped.

Now its time for the main event which is scored on points, you get 2 points for a pinfall or submission and lose 1 point if you're pinned or submitted. Who ever has the highest score after 60 minutes is the first ROH Champion.

Low Ki Vs Spanky Vs Doug Williams Vs Christopher Daniels (with Simply Luscious)
Tags are in effect, Daniels and Ki start off but Daniel tags Doug and bails out before Ki can get his hands on his hated enemy. Doug takes Ki down quickly after avoiding an Enzuigiri and locks in a Butterfly Choke but Ki escapes and locks on an Armbar but Doug reverses it into his own Armbar before Ki flips Doug away with a Headscissors. Doug locks in another Arm Lock and Ki struggles to get out, kicking Doug in the head doesn't work so he reverses it on Doug till Doug throws him across the ring with a Judo throw. They go into a Knucklelock from which Doug quickly has Ki Reverse Surfboarded. Ki gets a couple of Elbows to Doug's jaw and flips out into a pinning position for a 2 count. Ki tags in Spanky. They Knucklelock up and Doug wraps him into a Double Arm Choke which Spanky has trouble breaking out of so he steps out of it and reverses it onto Doug but Doug easily powers out of it. Spanky Drop Toe Holds Doug and they grapple into the corner where Daniels tags in from Spanky. Daniels puts a Wristlock on Doug who rolls through and into a Wristlock on Daniels, Daniels tries to flip out unsuccessfully so he rolls through and manages to reverse it on Doug. Doug then reverses that, then Daniels does, then Doug tries again but Daniels rolls through and keeps the Wristlock on, so Doug backward rolls through and puts Daniels into a Hammerlock and smashes his arm into the buckles twice, then crushes Daniels head between his thighs before doing a Sunset Flip for a 2 count. Doug has wrestled rings round all 3 guys so far and he tags in Spanky. Spanky Armbars Daniels bad arm and drops a knee on it and starts working it over. Daniels escapes that but gets a series of Headlocks on Daniels. Daniels escapes with a Back Suplex. Daniels beats Spanky down and tags in Ki via a slap to the face, Ki is pissed but keeps his mind in the game and goes straight to work on Spanky. He wraps a Leg Grapevine in Spanky's head but Spanky manages to slip out and starts attacking Ki's right leg. Spanky tags in Doug. Doug goes straight for Ki's bad leg with a Leglock, they start chopping each other whilst still in the hold till Doug gets bored and jars his leg and tags in Daniels. Daniels starts kicking the crap outta Ki's leg, soon as Ki looks like regaining ground, Daniels rakes his eyes and tags in Spanky. Spanky also goes after the leg of Ki. Ki tries to lock in a Dragon Sleeper whilst on his back but Spanky scrambles loose. Daniels tags himself in off Spanky and attacks Ki from behind punching him about the ring till he stumbles into a corner and Doug gets tagged in. Daniels hits Doug with a few blows and angers him into flooring Daniels with a huge European Uppercut. Doug locks in an Arm Submission but Daniels gets the ropes to break it. Daniels absorbs more European Uppercuts before cheapshotting Ki in the face while he's on the apron. Doug hits a Lariat and gets a 2 count. Doug tags in Spanky. Spanky goes straight to work on Daniels' arm. Daniels whilst in an Armlock rolls Spanky onto his shoulders for a 2 count. Daniels gets a desperation Neckbreaker on Spanky and regains control. He hits another Neckbreaker for a 2 count. Daniels tags in Doug who goes to work on Spanky's neck till Spanky gets to tag Ki back in. Ki hits some chops on Doug and applies a Reverse Chinlock. Doug gets free with a Jawbreaker and pounces on Ki's bad leg with a Leglock, Ki tries to kick his way out of it so Doug Knee Drops it, then applies a different Leglock until Ki Elbows Doug's knee so much he has to let go, at this point Daniels runs in the ring and stomps Ki several times to cut off his comeback. Doug then kicks Ki's leg out soon as he gets up. Doug hoists Ki up into a Knee Rack but Ki won't give in so Doug dumps him in a heap and tags in Spanky. Spanky goes to work on the leg also and even hits a flying Dropkick on it. Ki manages to kick Spanky in the face twice and throws him into the turnbuckle where Daniels kicks Spanky in the back off the head and Ki covers for a 2 count. Ki hits a Snap Neckbreaker on Spanky and gets another 2 count. He hangs Spanky on the top rope and kicks him, Daniels tags himself in off Ki and then puts the boots to both men. Then he gives Spanky a Headbutt and a Suplex for a 2 count. He goes for a submission on Spanky's bad neck but Spanky rolls out and applies a Armlock to Daniels bad arm. Daniels rolls him over for a 2 count which breaks the hold. Daniels delivers another Headbutt then a Neck Lock. Spanky gets free, hits a Chinbreaker across his knee on Daniels and tags in Ki. Daniels wants none of Ki so goes to tag Doug who drops off the apron to stick it to Daniels. Ki delivers plenty of Punches, a Rolling Heel Kick and then some stiff Kicks to Daniels chest till Daniels ducks one and Chopblocks the bad leg of Ki. Daniels Headbutts Ki and scores a 2 count. They both exchange Chops and Daniels rakes the eyes, then punches Spanky, Spanky jumps up top and tries to hit him back with a Missile Dropkick but he moves and Spanky hits Ki instead. Daniels goes to attack Spanky but Doug joins in with a Flying Clothesline on Daniels. Dougs hits Spanky then gives Daniels a Tornado DDT. Doug turns and gets caught by Spanky into Sliced Bread#2, Ki grabs Spanky into a Released German Suplex, Daniels STO's Ki. All four men are laid out and the crowd goes wild. Ki throws Spanky out and Daniels tosses Doug out so its back to the legal men again. Ki comes cartwheeling across the ring but Daniels dives shoulder first into his bad leg, ouch that looked painful. Daniels nails him with The Last Rites for a pinfall victory.

Score so far: Daniels = 2pts, Spanky = 0pts, Williams = 0pts, Low Ki = -1pt

Daniels celebrates then goes for another pin on Ki but Spanky breaks it up at 2. Spanky pulls Ki to the ropes and tags himself in then hits Daniels with a Elbow and a Dropkick for a 2 count. A Dragon Suplex nets another 2 count. Daniels take Spanky down with a handful of hair and tags Doug in. Doug goes straight to work on Spanky's neck with some holds then drops a knee on his face for a 2 count. Spanky gives Doug a knee of his own and tags Daniels in. Daniels Dropkicks Doug and goes for a Suplex but Doug switches it into a Wakitagame Armbar till Daniels gets in the ropes with his feet. Doug continues to pummel the bad arm of Daniels with Kneedrops and painful holds. Doug wakes a dazed Spanky up with a Chop to the head and then tags him in. Spanky eats a DDT for a 2 count. Daniels then Chinlocks Spanky but he gets reversed into a Fujiwara Armbar by Spanky. Daniels breaks loose so Spanky tags Doug in. Doug goes back to work on the arm of Daniels till Daniels gets the ropes then fires back at him with Headbutts and Forearms to the face, Doug applies another Armbar but Daniels slips out and hits a Sit Out Spinebuster on Doug. Daniels tags Spanky who races in to pin Doug several times scoring seven 2 counts in a row. Doug fires back with a Cutter and puts Spanky in a Leg Sleeper only for Daniels to lean in the ring and rake Doug's eyes to stop any possible tap out. Doug tags Daniels in. Daniels Side Suplexes Spanky then punch Ki off the apron. Spanky comes back with a Side Russian Legsweep for a 2 count. Spanky hits a Neckbreaker then tags Doug in. Doug drops a Jumping Knee Drop on Daniels head and goes to work on the arm again. Daniels manages to roll Doug onto his back for a 2 count causing Doug to break the hold and Clothesline Daniels for a 2 count. Daniels rakes the eyes and tags Spanky back in. Spanky only has enough gas in the tank for a couple Dropkicks then he tags Daniels again. Daniels hits a Backbreaker and holds it on his knee as Spanky flips into the ring and Sentons onto Doug's upper body. They send Doug off but he avoids the Clothesline, kicks Spanky away and Over Head Suplexes Daniels. Doug hits the Chaos Theory on Spanky but Daniels breaks the pin at 2. Daniels STO's Doug and applies the Koji Clutch. Ki comes off top with a Double Foot Stomp to break the hold. Ki gets to a corner and tags himself in with a Chop to Daniels and goes for a Dragon Sleeper on Doug but Doug gets him up into a Gory Special and smashes him off several turnbuckles face first before Dropkicking him in the back. All four are down and get another ovation from the fans. Doug and Ki are up first exchanging blows till Ki locks on a Triangle Choke, Doug keeps trying to power out and on his third attempt Ki rolls him up for a 2 count then applies an Armbar. Doug lifts Ki up into a Back Suplex to break the hold. Ki hits some blows to Doug who falls into the corner and Spanky tags himself in without anyone but the ref realising. Ki goes to Slingshot Doug but he reverses it into the Chaos Theory, Spanky runs in and Doug releases Ki in mid move and he flies over Spanky and grabs his neck on the way down and spins him into the Dragon Sleeper for a quick tap out, the crowd go crazy for this awesomely executed sequence.

Score so far: Daniels = 2pts, Low Ki = 1pt, Williams = 0pts, Spanky = -1pt

Daniels attacks Ki from behind and tags Spanky to make himself legal then Bodyslams Ki for a 2 count. A clothesline and a Asai Moonsault score another 2 count. Daniels blocks a kick and rolls Ki over into a Leg Submission. Ki escapes with help from Spanky and Spanky drags Ki to the corner and tags in. Spanky hits a Flying Forearm on Daniels then goes up for a Frog Splash but Daniels moves out the way. Daniels goes for an STO but Spanky blocks it with the ropes. Spanky cradles Daniels for a 2 count. Spanky hits a sort of middle rope swinging Pedigree for a 2 count. Daniels hits a Chinbreaker and tags in Doug. Doug smashes Spanky face first into the mat three times for a 2 count.Doug hits both Spanky and Daniels with High Knee's. Ki wanders in and goes to pin Daniels but Doug drops a Knee from the top rope to break it up. They're all in again and laid out. Spanky gets a 2 count on Doug. Ki foils Spanky's Sliced Bread#2 attempt on Doug. Doug Suplexes Spanky but Ki breaks up the pin. Ki kicks Doug in the head then nails him with a dozen Headbutts till Daniels tags himself in off Ki and nails Doug with a STO and the BME for a 2 count. He goes for the Angels Wings but Doug flips him over the top rope. Spanky tags himself in off Daniels as he falls past. Spanky gets a 2 count from a Crossbody Block on Doug. Ki tags himself in off Spanky. Ki and Doug grapple and Ki locks in a Dragon Sleeper hanging in the ropes but breaking on the count. Ki gets a 2 count on Doug after Spanky breaks the pinfall up. All four men are brawling in the ring. Spanky runs up Daniels in the corner and hits Sliced Bread#2 on Doug for a 2 count, Daniels breaks up the pin. Spanky and Daniels grapple over the top to the floor. Ki then hits a Phoenix Splash on the still laid out Doug for a 3 count. Ki actually missed Doug and landed on his head but they covered it up best they could.

Score so far: Low Ki = 3pts, Daniels = 2pts, Williams = -1pt, Spanky = -1pt

Daniels tries to pin Doug too but both Ki and Spanky stop him. Ki and Daniels go at it only stopping to take out Spanky together so they can attack each other uninterrupted, they Clothesline each other on to the mat. Daniels recovers first and plants Ki with a Uranage, then misses the BME and is laid out. Ki goes for another Phoenix Splash but Daniels gets the knees up. Daniels tags Spanky who hits a Snap Suplex on Ki for a 2 count. He goes for the Sliced Bread#2 but Ki stops him in mid air a gives Spanky a Tombstone Piledriver. Daniels breaks up Ki's pin attempt and throws him out the ring. Daniels hits Spanky with a Burning Hammer. Doug then gives Daniels a Piledriver but Ki breaks up the pin at 2. Ki goes for the Tidal Wave but Doug catches him in the air and drills him with a Powerbomb for a 2 count when Spanky breaks it up. Ki blocks Spanky's Superplex attempt and nails him with a 450 Splash from the top. Daniels tags himself in and goes after Spanky but is met with a DDT from Spanky who gets a 2 count. Spanky hits a Frog Splash on Daniels but Ki makes the save on the 2 count. Ki tags himself in but gets Backdropped by Spanky for a 2 count. Daniels tags himself in as Spanky jumps over the top to Crossbody Doug on the outside. Daniels Sunset Flips Ki to get a 2 count. Daniels gets a couple more 2 counts as Doug DDT's Spanky on the outside. Ki and Daniels slug it out till Daniels hits him with a Blue Thunder Bomb for a 2 count. Daniels locks Ki in his own Dragon Sleeper. Ki wriggles out of it and drills Daniels with his own Last Rites finisher as the time hits the hour. Low Ki wins the match and is the first ROH Champion. Quite frankly a brilliant match that everyone must see with four of the world's best wrestlers giving it their all.
Afterwards Doug and Spanky congratulate the new champion whilst Daniels walks out saying he was the only guy not pinned. Doug watches him go and says into the camera "What an arsehole".
Ki is left alone in the ring to celebrate, then he walks backstage and collapses on the floor in tears. He turns to the camera and dedicates the match to his 'brother' Russ Haas (who died 7 months earlier) and to Charlie Haas too. They all go way back and worked in JAPW together.

Backstage Jay Briscoe is getting changed when his brother walks in. Jay asks him what his problem is and Mark mocks him. Jay says the next show is in Boston and Mark can legally wrestle there so he challenges him to a match on the next show.
Elsewhere Luscious tries to console a livid Christopher Daniels who attacks the referee and asks how can he have pinned Low Ki but Ki is now champion. He claims Ring Of Honor has screwed him and he is on a mission to destroy Ring Of Honor.

Really good show, the undercard had some good bouts and some filler but the amazing main event takes up over a third of the disc and really makes the whole thing a must see DVD.

Commentary - Donnie B & Steve Corino
DVD length - 2 hours 59 mins