This show was Ring of Honor's debut at Michaels, in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Maryland wrestling was acknowledged at various times in the show. Anyway, let's get into the review.

Gary Michael Capetta starts the show off. He runs down some of Maryland's wrestling history. He talksa bout the Shane Shamrock Cup. GMC runs down the importance of the Baltimore area in wrestling's history. He talks about Ron Simmons winning the WCW World title in Baltimore. GMC keeps blabbing on, but all of a sudden, he gets cut off by...

Prince Nana. Nana takes the mic from GMC and says he wants a title shot. The crowd gives him a "We Don't Care" chant. Nana tells the crowd that they don't have any respect. Nana then gets cut off as out walks...

Samoa Joe with the ROH World Heavyweight title makes his way to the ring. Joe gets face to face with Nana. Nana says he wants a title shot right now. This sets up...

For the ROH World Title
(c) Samoa Joe d. Prince Nana
Nana goes right to work and gets the upperhand. He hits the running ass into the corner of Joe. Joe regains his strength and opens up on Nana. All of a sudden, he gets behind Nana and chokes him out. Samoa Joe wins this match in 2 minutes. What the fuck? Nana got jobbed hard.
POSTMATCH: Joe talks about Ring of Honor. Joe says he's happy to be in Maryland. He says tonight he will choke out Jay Briscoe, like how he choked out Nana. Out comes Jay Briscoe. Jay yakuza kicks Joe in the jaw, and they get into a brawl. Mark Briscoe comes out and breaks it up. We got a match for later on, TONIGHT.

We then go to the Colt Cabana show. We're told that we're live from The Second City. Colt is wearing his tuxedo shirt again. Colt's shows name is called "Great Times, Better Memories." Cabana says CM Punk will be here. He always says that lol. Cabana introduces his first guests, the ROH Tag Team Champions, The Backseat Boys. Kashmere and Acid come into the show with cigarettes in their mouth. Cabana says he has a no smoking sign, so asks them to respect it. The Backseat Boys oblige. Cabana says he has some jokes for the BSB. Cabana's joke doesn't make the BSB laugh. BSB talk about winning the ROH Tag Team Titles. BSB talk about their upcoming match tonight. Trent Acid talks about being the best tag team and how they have beaten everyone, including Da Hit Squad. Cabana and Kashmere exchange some pleasantries. BSB talk about their dollar bill gimmick, when female fans stick dollars down their pants. Cabana says he's out of time and that we won't be seeing CM Punk tonight.

The Rottwielers (Slugger & Grim Reefer) w/Julius Smokes d. Dunn & Marcos, Sonjay Dutt & Slyk Wagner Brown and Danny Doring & Josh Daniels
For some reason Sonjay and Slyk were a tag team and Doring and Daniels were a tag team. Odd. Oh, Chris Levy and CM Punk are your announcers. Punk is one of the greatest announcers today. This was a pretty good match. Reefer and Sonjay had a great sequence together. They kept going for waist locks, and in the end Reefer took it over with a head scissors. The crowd was going nuts for it. These guys had a great singles match together, and looked really good together in the ring. Slyk hit a great top rope drop kick on Slugger. Slugger was the odd man in this match. Dunn and Marcos hit a great double team move on Doring and Daniels. Reefer hit his swanton bong on Dunn. Sonjay then came in and hit a fantastic ace crusher then a corkscrew moonsault. Josh then threw a wicked german suplex on Sonjay. Slyk then ran in and hit his Slyk press slam followed up on a moonsault. Doring then ran in and hit the bareback on Slyk. Reefer hits a frogsplash, and instead of going for the pin, Slugger picks him up and hits the bodybag on Dunn for the 1-2-3. Good match here.

Field of Honor Block A Match
Matt Stryker d. Chris Sabin to go 2-0 in the FOH
Sabin goes to 0-1
This match was ok, but sloppy for these two. Lots of counters in this match. During the match, Punk keeps asking what happened to Lucy. Sabin almost broke his neck as he got powerslammed by Stryker. I said it alot, and I'll say it again, Punk adds so much to the commentary, as he is funny, knowledgeable and gives you everything about the match in his words. Stryker hit a sloppy powerbomb on Sabin. Odd for Stryker. Finish saw Stryker hit the Death Valley Driver on Sabin, and rolled through it, and hit another Death Valley Driver. During this, Sabin got busted up pretty fucking bad above the eye. The camera shows what happened to Sabin. The refs try to wake up Sabin. The crowd gives a deserving ovation to Sabin as he gets up all bloody. Man, Sabin was busted open bad.
POSTMATCH: Stryker meets Sabin in the back. Stryker says all he was trying to do was beat you man. Sabin says it's all part of the game. Both men walk away, with Stryker feeling proud and Sabin feeling defeated.

Field of Honor Block B Match
Colt Cabana d. BJ Whitmer to improve his record to 2-0 in the FOH tourney
BJ Whitmer drops down to 1-1
This was a really fun match to watch. Cabana is oozing charisma. Punk's commentary was great during this. This match had an old school feel in it, as we saw the hand mercy, wristlocks and more. Every time I watch a Cabana match, you leave wanting more. The guy can go. Cabana took a breather, and kept stalling to get into the ring druing the middle of this match. BJ hit his suplex sequence in this one. Cabana hit a beuatiful Million Dollar Manesque fistdrop. Cabana even locked in the iron claw in this match! Holy shades of Texas Tornado Batman! Colt hit a rolling bridge into pinning combination on BJ for the win. Never saw that before. I still think BJ is one of those guys who can have a great match as long as his opponent brings him to that level.
POSTMATCH: Cabana cuts a promo. He talks about going up in the FOH rankings. He talks about his talk show. Cabana talks about pinning Danny Maff next. Those be fightin' words.

We go to AJ Styles who is giving more advice to Jimmy Rave. Styles has been on Rave's case for some time now.

For the ROH Tag Team Championships
Special K (Dixie and Insane Dragon) w/Becky Bayless, Chris Idol, Lit, and Elax. d. (C) The Backseat Boys (Trent Acid and Johnny Kashmere) to become the new ROH Tag Team Champions.
This was a great tag team match. Backseat Boys are one of the best today. They are always on their game. By watching the tape, you can see this wasn't your normal ROH building. For one the chandeliers were near the top rope. The ceiling was shorter than most ROH buildings. This limited the high flying moves in this match. Lot of big time moves in this one. I really liked this match. Izzy aka Insane Dragon and Dixie really got to show off their wrestling in this one, and showed they are more than 2 skinny white kids. Trent Acid kept connecting with his Yakuza kick, but only got two. Backseats laid out all the members of Special K. Backseats do the deal with the T-Gimmick on Izzy. As the ref was about to hit 2, Lit breaks the Code of Honor, as he pulls Ref Paul Turner out of the ring. While the ref is out of the ring, Dixie runs in and hits Trent Acid with the tag belt. Dixie hits a face slam on Trent Acid and we got new champions. Good match.
POSTMATCH: Backseats leave in disgust. Out comes HC Loc w/o Devito. We're told that Devito had to work overtime at his real job. Imagine if you heard the WWE said Goldberg couldn't be here because he had to work overtime at the grocery store? That was one of the first mistakes I heard on the commentary in a while. Special K get the advantage on Loc. All of a sudden, The Rottweilers (Reefer/Slugger/Julius Smokes) run out and beat the crap out of Special K. Slugger hits some big man moves on Special K and lays them all out.

AJ Styles d. CM Punk
PREMATCH: Punk cuts a promo about drugs. He runs down prescription drugs and says the people who use them are lesser then him. Punk is great on the mic. Punk talks more about his straight edge lifestyle. Punk closes his promo with "... That means I'm better than you." If I'm the WWE, Punk is the first person I go after, because he is the complete package.

This was a fantastic match. This is what wrestling is all about. Both guys had a feeling out process in the beginning, as we saw many submissions and counter submissions and counter counter submissions. AJ Styles might be the best pure wrestler in the world today. This match was about 27 or so minutes long. The Styles Clash was teased at various points in this match. Every move in this match meant something- you don't see that too often. Punk went for the Pepsi Plunge in this match, but had it reversed, but then he reversed the reversal to hit a powerbomb. SO many reversals in this match, I can't beleive it. The ultimate reversal was the finish, as AJ Styles reversed a shining wizard from Punk into the Styles Clash for the win. Excellent PAW match.

ROH TAPE INTERMISSION TIME
Gary Michael Capetta is with The Backseat Boys. GMC asks them what's up with them losing. GMC asks a bunch of questions. Kashmere ignores him and is silent. Acid is pissed, and says they got beat by 5 guys. Kashmere walks away, and Trent goes to chase him.

We then go to a Special K segment, where it looks like they are partying in a hotel room. Lit is throwing up something. They are celebrating with the belts.

In a Field of Honor Block B Match
Maff goes to 1-0 in this tournament, and Jimmy Rave is eliminated
Danny Maff w/Allison Danger d. Jimmy Rave
This was Dan Maff's return to Ring of Honor, after suffering the concussion back in August. Maff beat the fucking piss out of Jimmy Rave. He takes him on the outside, and jsut throws him all over the place like a ragmuffin bitch. Rave hit a DDT on Maff, and Maff sold it like he was out for the count. Maff then popped up and hit a sick lariat. Rave steals Reefers crossface head scissors combo and Maff pops up and hits a well, burning, Burning Hammer. Incredible. Match was more or less a respectable squash.
POSTMATCH: AJ Styles tells Jimmy Rave he is dissapointed in him. AJ gives more words to Rave and runs him down.

Dan Maff w/Allison Danger is in the back, and he cuts a promo about winning the FOH. He says he wants Low Ki, and said he took Ki's best shot, and he's still here.

Dan McDevitt of Maryland Championship Wrestling is out next. This was another one of these feel good Maryland moments. Dan talks about MCW, and how MCW is dead now. Dan said the only promotion that was worthy of coming in this building was ROH. Dan talks about the impact and prestige of the Shane Shamrock Cup. Dan talks about ROH returning on 1/29. Dan then says that Ring of Honor will be hosting the Shane Shamrock Cup in July. The crowd popped like wild men for that. Crowd popped huge for this segment.

Raven d. Justin Credible
Man, as I type this, I'm drinking a 12 pack of Heineken. I didn't realize I was reviewing a Sunday Night Heat episode, but alas, Raven and Credible were up first. After seeing the match, if these guys were allowed to go like they did here, and didn't suffer from the HHH effect they'd both be wrestling in NY this past Sunday. This was a solid match. Credible kept trying to get away from Raven's offense in this bout. This match poured out on the outside, with Credible getting the clear advantage. Credible worked on Raven's right knee for the majority of the match, as he kept putting the knee in various submissions. Towards the end, Ref Turner got bumped down. Raven went for a drop toe hold, but had it reversed, but then hit it when Credible ran at him with the chair. Raven then hits the evenflow DDT for the pinfall.

4 Corner Survival Match
Xavier d. Homicide w/Julius Smokes, JOhn Walters and Mark Briscoe
I thought this was the best match on the whole show. The match was fucking amazing. Mark Briscoe always seems to shine in these multi man matches. Xavier and Homicide started the match off, as Xavier slapped Homicide in the face. There were a few AC Slater chants at Xavier. ROH seems to be big on these four corner matches, and the announcers did a good job selling it. After Homicide/Xavier, Walters and Briscoe got in the ring and showed off their pure wrestling skills. Julius Smokes is one of the best corner man today. He really has defined that role. Briscoe hit a nice plancha on Homicide in this match. Both got back in the ring and Homicide put Briscoe on the top rope and threw him halfway through the ring. Xavier then got in, and Xavier and Briscoe had a great exchange, that saw Briscoe hit a nice sunset flip. Homicide and Walters then got in the ring, and Homicide hit some stiff ass victim kicks on Walters. Walters rebounded though, and got up and hit a big time top rope dropkick. Walters hit a nice double submission on Briscoe and Xavier, like a camel clutch and a leg lock at the same time. Homicide then bounced off the ropes and hit a huge ass yakuza kick to break it up. Homicide hit a big superplex on Briscoe, and Walters tried to go for a powerbomb, but missed. After that, we finally got to see Xavier and Walters go at it. This is one of the bigger feuds in ROH. Walters hita huge ass jawbreaker, but Homicide broke up the pinfall at 2. Homicide then capitalized on Walters, and hit a fucking sweet ass cannon ball suicide dive. Mark Briscoe then saw what was going on, and hit a top rope shooting star press on the two men on the outside. Xavier then jumped off the top rope and hit an arabian springboard press. Walters then looked like he was going to go for something, but stopped short, and gave Xavier the finger. Xavier got in, and fucked up Walters and went for a 450, but ate mat. Homicide then hit a stunt DDT on Walters for good measure. Xavier then went for a perfectplex on Briscoe, but only got 2. Walters then hit a flipping suplex on Xavier for a 2. Homicide then hit a diamond cutter on John Walters, but he only got 2 as well. Homicide then went to go for a copkilla on Walters, but Walters turned it into a lungblower. Xavier and Briscoe then went on it, and exchanged a powerbomb sequence. Sick shit. Homicide then hit a copkilla on Mark Briscoe, but Walters broke the pin. Walters then hit a top rope dominator for a 2. Xavier then hit a kiss your X goodbye on Walters and picks up the pinfall. Amazing fucking match. PAW.

Cut to a promo with Jim Cornette. Cornette hypes up his 11/1 appearance at the Rexplex. Cornette says he will be with Samoa Joe... that didn't pan out exactly lol.

For the ROH Heavyweight Title
(c) Samoa Joe d. Jay Briscoe
Incredible freakin match. Their cage match was better in my opinion, but this is no slouch. It's just a testament about how good these two work against each other. Joe has been a great champion for ROH. Like the cage match, Joe just started kicking ass right away. The match told a pretty good story, which was that if Jay hit the Jaydriller, then he would be new champion. The beginning of the match saw alot of mat wrestling. Mark Briscoe also came out to second his brother. Joe hit a nice swinging back drop. He also hit a good variation of a full nelson submission, then opned up Jay with some victim kicks, and a high ass boston crab. Joe hit his ole kicks on Jay. Jay finally got some life, and hit Joe with a pair of Yakuza kicks. The match then went to the outside, and Jay threw Joe all around the ringside area. Jay hit one of the best dropkicks I've ever seen, as he hit a nice floater on Joe. It looks nice, but it couldn't hold Joe down. Joe then threw Jay outside and threw him around. He then put Jay in a chair and hit the running kick to the face. Man that's just ugly. Joe then got in the ring, and after a few moves, put Jay in a tight, tight, tight STF. Jay got the rope to break the hold. Joe put Jay in a rolling cradle, and still only got 2. Jay finally got some offense off with a backdrop and a facebuster. Jay then went for the Jay driller, but he couldn't get it off, so he ddt'ed him. Jay then hit a big time legdrop, but only for another 2. Jay then went for a DVD, but again, for 2. Jay then went for the Jay driller again, but instead got a dragon suplex for his efforts from Joe. Joe then hit an island driver, but he gets a 2. Wild wild match. Joe then hits a huge ass lariat for the pinfall. The crowd booed because they didn't want the match to end. PAW match.
POSTMATCH: Mark Briscoe gets in the ring to confront Joe for being cocky with his brother. Joe then chokes out Mark Briscoe. This got a FUCK YOU JOE chant. Joe then leaves. The crowd gives a standing ovation to Jay Briscoe.

END SHOW PROMOS:
Chris Daniels is up first. He talks about the Prophecy and how they are doing big things. He then talks about losing to Samoa Joe. Daniels says he wants a rematch, and he'll get the win then. He says he's 100% committed to becoming ROH champion. Daniels then talks about Steve Corino. He then gives some metaphors, painting out his situation with Corino. He likens Steve Corino as being a snake. Daniels then talks about CM Punk. He talks about the battles between the Prophecy and the Second City Saints. Daniels congrats Maff and Xavier for winning tonight. Daniels talks about the impact he's made on ROH. He says ROH isn't big unless Chris Daniels is there. Good promo.

John Walters has something to say. He talks about Xavier cheating him out of victories. He says Xavier has cheated him time and time again. Walters talks about being a hard competitor. Walters is fuming at Xavier and says he has been disrespected by him. He talks about his father. Walters makes the challenge to Xavier and says losing isn't an option.

We go to the Backseats. Johnny Kashmere tells Trent Acid it's time, before walking away from him.

We then go to Xavier. Xavier downplays John Walters promo. He says Walters isn't worth his time. Xavier makes a tag match, because he already beat him in a singles and 4 corner match. He says it's on.

Cut to the Briscoes. They say Joe won the battle but the War has just begun. Scary.

Final McWord
Another solid show by ROH. There is alot of good stuff here. I really enjoyed the AJ Styles vs CM Punk match alot. The four way was great too, as well as the World Title match. I am really digging the ROH tapes as they explain more and things seem to flow better than the live shows.

As far as if it is worth getting? I'd recommend it, as the show is tightly run and has lots of angles going on, with great wrestling. CM Punk on the commentary is great, as he really livens up the matches. I also like how even though certain people weren't at the show, they still got promos to hype up the next one.

You can pick up the tape at RF Video, whose name will be changing soon. Here is the link: http://www.rfvideo.com/merchant/index.cfm?action=moreinfo&id=8179
The cost is 20 bucks and it's worth it if you're a wrestling fan.

For more on Ring of Honor, go to www.rohwrestling.com

I'm out! Enjoy St Patricks day, I know I have already lol

Sean "The MiC" McCaffrey
BULLSMC@AOL.COM