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Originally written on 12/5/03.
RING OF HONOR
What up DOIites and welcome to another tape review. I literally have 28 tapes sitting here on
my VCR, all piled up, so hopefully I can get injured at work and pick up some workers comp
and bang out these tape reviews. Alot of people have asked for the ROH tape reviews so to satisfy
those people, I will finish up some ROH tapes first, then hit up some WXW, JAP, UCW and a whole
lot more reviews too. With that said, let's get to the McReview of "MAIN EVENT SPECTACLES", or
as it's better known "Teddy Hart flips."
Ring of Honor
"Main Event Spectacles"
11/1/03
Elizabeth, NJ
I saw this show live, and I'm rewatching it again. Like the Final Battle review, I will
give what happens on the tape, then include the live fully detailed review of the show at the end. I'll also
have my thoughts about watching the match again. Well let's go.
Show opens up with Colt Cabana doing yoga. CM Punk approaches him and says "big night, right?"
This is about Cabana's Field of Honor match. Punk talks about his feud with Chris Daniels and
Cabana's match with Danny Maff. Punk runs down the Second City Saints vs The Prophecy feud.
Punk gives some words of encouragement to Cabana.
In a Field of Honor Tournament Match
Danny Maff (aka Mafia) w/Allison Danger d. Colt Cabana
This was a good match which I enjoyed watching again. I forgot about the Allison Danger/Colt dancing part, that was hysterical. Maff wins with the Burning Hammer. Solid opener.
Up next was Jim Cornette and Smaoa Joe. For the full recap, scroll down below for the live review.
We go to the back for a segment with Special K. Special K are celebrating with their tag team titles. Special K talks about their cage match. Everyone seems happy besides Izzy and Dixie, who are scared of the Briscoe Brothers. Dixie looks the most nervous.
Xavier/Nigel McGuiness w/Lollipop d. The Purists (John Walters and Tony Mamuluke)
Seems that The Purists are no more. That’s a good thing for John Walters.. This was a great match. Xavier pins Walters to win it for his team. This match was as great as it was the first time live.
POSTMATCH: As Xavier goes to the back, Prince nana eyes Xavier…
Matt Stryker d. Justin Credible
I didn’t really care for this match. I thought their first match back on 8/9 was a lot better. This match was better on tape then live, as I thought it dragged live, but watching it after taking a break, it wasn’t that bad. Stryker gets Justin to tap for the win.
For the ROH Tag Team Championships
The Briscoe Brothers (Jay and Mark) w/Cornette d. Special K (Dixie and Insane Dragon) w/Becky Bayless, Dana Dameson, Cloudy, Lit, Elax, Jay Lethal, Azraiel and others.
This was a really good match that I enjoyed more on tape than live. I love watching The Briscoe Brothers wrestle, they have to be considered one of the best tag teams in the world today. It’s amazing that these guys are so young as well. Izzy/Dixie aren’t shabby either, but they don’t work together as a tandem in enough feds. Briscoes win this after a Jay Driller.
Homicide w/Julius Smokes d. BJ Whitmer
This was the best match of the show if you ask me. Homicide was ROH’s MVP for 2003. This was a fighting spirit match. This match was fantastic live and fantastic on tape. This was just a great fucking match. Homicide wins after a crazy lariat that almost beheads Whitmer. I’d get this tape for this match alone. Also gotta mention that Julius Smokes add so much more to these matches as well.
POSTMATCH: Steve Corino and Guillotine LeGrande jump Homicide and Julius Smokes.
We go to intermission with Gary Michael Capetta. GMC runs down what happened with Cornette/Briscoes and Samoa Joe. GMC is with Joe. Joe talks about his four way match coming up. That’s all for intermission.
The Backseat Boyz (Johnny Kashmere and Trent Acid) d. The SAT’s (Joel and Jose Maximo) Special K (Jay Lethal/Azraiel), Carnage Crew (Loc and Devito) and what people are calling Hart Foundation 2003 (Teddy Hart and Jack Evans)
EVERYONE knows how this match ends. This match is all about watching Teddy Hart, but if you forget about him, this was a great match. Jack Evans is not to be overlooked, this guy can go. This match is probably why you buy the tape, as it’s the most talked about, and is a spot fest dream match. The Carnage Crew might be one of the more underrated teams on the indies today. These guys are all about kicking ass in style. Every big move was hit in this match. As this match went on, it’s amazing that Ref Hanson didn’t fuck anything up. He’s a big time referee and stood up to the plate in a match like this. Not any referee could do what he did in this match. After watching this match on tape, I liked it a lot better than I did live. When it happened live, the show was already 3 hours old (with the showcase) and it took a ½ hour to set up the cage, tiring me out a bit. Watching it on tape gives it much more justice. It’s amazing no one got injured in this match.
Oh, and for the record, the Teddy Hart post match celebration was edited out. I think that was a bad move as a lot of people wanted to see this again. Unless this footage is released on a special tape, I think this was a bad move on ROH’s part not to include this.
Fourway match
If Samoa Joe pinned anyone, they would not be able to get a title shot at Joe’s belt.
If Corino/Punk/Daniels won, they would get a title shot at Joe’s belt.
Steve Corino and CM Punk d. Chris Daniels and Samoa Joe in a 4 Way Match.
PREMATCH: I didn’t remember this or say this live, but Nick Knowledge, former USA Pro announcer and former Jac Sabboth employee, gives CM Punk a verbal bashing. He tells Punk to die 943 times. Wow, what the fuck? I think Nick Knowledge has snapped and he is a wild man at these ROH shows lol. If anyone knows Nick Knowledge, this is definitely worth seeing lol.
As far as the match, I didn’t think it was good as it could’ve been and didn’t like it too much. With the talent in the ring it could’ve been better. Then again Punk was hurt before this match. The finish also was sort of anticlimactic. Check out the live review below for more, but my feelings haven’t changed about this match, despite time not being a factor.
We then go to the back for a confrontation with Matt Stryker and Xavier. This was to hype up their Field of Honor match. Stryker tells Xavier how much he wants to win the tournament. Xavier downplays him and laughs him off. Xavier runs down his past history in ROH, as former ROH champion. Xavier goes to leave and walks right into John Walters. Walters wants another match with Xavier. Xavier laughs him off too.
Cut to Rob Feinstein who talks about the ROH double shot on 11/28 and 11/29. He tells everyone about the upcoming matches on those shows. He talks about both main events. Kind of pointless to plug these shows now lol.
AJ Styles d. American Dragon
This was an excellent match. This was one of ROH’s better matches, and that is saying a lot. This was a true main event in every sense of the word. If you’re a wrestling fan, you need to see this match. Styles wins with the Styles Clash.
Promo time:
We go to Colt Cabana, who is hosting his talk show. It’s called “Great times great memories.” He’s donning a tuxedo shirt lol. Cabana says he has 3 guests tonight. The first guests are the Carnage Crew, Devito and Loc. Carnage Crew are drinking beer during their segment. Cabana and Carnage Crew talk about beer and college. Funny stuff. Talk then moves onto the Backseat Boyz and how the Crew aren’t fans of them. Cabana talks about Special K and their life style. Loc says he’s been buggin and druggin his whole life lol. This is pretty funny. Hey they even talk about strip clubs lol. Cabana recites a poem called “The Nudy Bar” to the Carnage Crew. Cabana is just naturally charismatic. Great stuff.
We go to Steve Corino now. Corino talks about his feud with Homicide. He talks about his double shot matches for ROH. Corino is great at cutting promos, and this is another example. Corino does a great job of showing how much a barbed wire rope match means. Corino says that after beating Homicide, he is leaving ROH, because he has nothing left to prove. Corino talks about holding prestigious titles all over the world. Corino also puts over CM Punk at the end.
Back to Gary Michael Capetta. GMC inteyrviews Cornette and The Briscoes. LOL Cornette is hilarious. “Gary Michael Capetta, are you still alive?” That’s great. Gotta pop for Cornette’s Jack Daniels shirt too. Cornette talks about how great The Briscoes are. Cornette calls himself a savant in this business. GMC talks about the people in ROH that want Cornette out, meaning The Prophecy and Samoa Joe. Cornette downplays both of them in classic style. Man oh man, why isn’t he on Raw every week? Cornette kicks GMC out of his lockerroom, but Samoa Joe walks in. The door closes and we hear BANGING! That means Cornette got roughed up by Joe by gawd! Joe walks out of the locker room with a smile.
Final McWord
A big debate going around amongst ROH fans is what tape is better, Final Battle or Main Event Specatacles? After watching both tapes, I gotta give the nod to Final Battle. Don’t count MES out though, this is a great show. AJ Styles/American Dragon and Homicide/Whitmer were two fantastic matches. The cage match and the tag title match were also great to watch. Like I said in the live review at the time, the tape is much better than the show live. You can decide if that is a good thing or bad thing. With ROH there are a lot of great matches, and with a tape you can pause or stop then watch again.
The promos during this tape was good too. I really enjoyed the Colt Cabana stuff as well as Jim Cornette.
Overall, I highly recommend this tape. To purchase it go to www.rfvideo.com or go directly to:
http://www.rfvideo.com/merchant/index.cfm?action=moreinfo&id=8195
Now here is the full recap of the show live:
In a Field of Honor Tournament Match
Danny Maff (aka Mafia) w/Allison Danger d. Colt Cabana
Really good match. Maff wouldn’t shake hands with Cabana before the match, due to his membership in the Prophecy, who don’t believe in the Code of Honor. Well, a minute into this match, Cabana put Mafia into a wrist lock, and turned it into shaking Mafia’s hand, and the crowd popped huge. Cabana throws Mafia down, and Allison Danger ran in. Cabana takes Danger, and starts dancing with her, and the DJ put on some dancing tunes to boot. Hilarious, even though it wasn’t “honorable”, but I don’t think you’ll find the die hard ROH fans complain about it. Lots of killer suplexes were shared between both athletes. Match saw Mafia build towards his finisher, The Burning Hammer, only to be denied a few times. Colt was never able to get off his Colt 45, but hit a few of his signature moves. Finish saw Mafia finally hit the Burning Hammer for the clean pinfall victory. Great opener, both men have a bright future in ROH and in wrestling in general.
By winning this match, Mafia created a 3-way first place tie, between himself, Colt Cabana and BJ Whitmore in Block B of the FOH tournament. It was later announced that all three would wrestle a triple threat match to decide the winner of Block B.
After winning this match, Samoa Joe and Jim Cornette ran out to the ring, and attacked Mafia and Allison Danger, from previous incidents on the 8/9 ROH show. Wow, a promotion remembering their history, cough WWE lol. Chris Daniels ran out and got Mafia and Allison, his fellow Prophecy members out of harms way. The Prophecy takes off, and we got Corny and Joe in the ring. Cornette cuts this really good promo talking about ROH. He also takes a few shots at Vince Russo, saying the only job he will be working at soon is at a jiffy lube. Crowd appreciated that. Cornette also took a shot at Ed Ferrera, and calls him a pussy. I understand that Cornette hasn’t seen eye to eye with Russo and Ferrera, but why make those comments? The only reason I could think of, was to get the ROH crowd behind Cornette. Cornette had the crowd in the palm of his hand, but then started to get repetitive after a while, which the crowd didn’t like. This was pure genius. Cornette says he has new talent to back, and he will debut them here tonight. He keeps putting over this new talent, which got annoying and got the crowd antsy. All of a sudden, The Briscoe Brothers came to the ring. Cornette is like what the fuck are you cats doing here? (Not in those words) Briscoes are like well we are here to swerve the crowd and beat up Joe dog. (Not in those words) Cornette then wallops Joe in the back with his famous tennis racket, and the Briscoes beat up Joe, and the refs help Joe to the back. Crowd is now fuming at Cornette, after loving him 5 minutes previously. Cornette says there is no money to be made with an existing champion (Joe) and will take the Briscoe Brothers to the top and get them the ROH Tag Team Championships, later on in the show. Cool angle here, and Cornette is a god and one of the best managers today.
Xavier/Nigel McGuiness w/Lollipop d. The Purists (John Walters and Tony Mamuluke)
What’s with all the tag matches tonight? Keep reading for more tag matches. This match was excellent. Nigel has really impressed me in the two times I’ve seen him wrestle. Walters continues to be one of the brightest wrestlers in the indies today. Xavier, the former ROH Champion, shined in this one as well. Just a great wrestling match. Walters and Nigel had a great wrestling standoff, that the crowd respectfully appreciated. Finish saw Xavier pin Walters, as Mamaluke thought he was pinning Nigel. Good way to get Xavier’s smart and cocky character over. PAW Match by all 4 men.
Matt Stryker d. Justin Credible
This match was a rematch of the “Wrath of the Racket” show, from 8/9 in Dayton, Ohio. It wasn’t as good as the initial bout, but was a decent match. Stryker is ROH’s breakout star. Lots of submission moves in this one. At one point in the match, Credible hit Stryker with That’s Incredible, but Stryker kicked out easily, which sort of pissed off the crowd, as that would’ve been the perfect finish. Stryker puts Credible in an Indian Death Lock for the tap out/submission win.
At this point, a mockingly “We Want Jeff” chant broke out, to which a lot of people booed. Gotta give ROH fans props for being the noisest bunch and making the show more enjoyable because of that. Steve D’Angelis, the ring announcer, told everyone if they wanted Jeff, ROH Tapes featuring Jeff Hardy are on sale at the vendor tables. Funny shit.
For the ROH Tag Team Championships
The Briscoe Brothers (Jay and Mark) w/Cornette d. Special K (Dixie and Insane Dragon) w/Becky Bayless, Dana Dameson, Cloudy, Lit, Elax, Jay Lethal, Azraiel and others.
Good match. This was the 3rd time in as many shows that the ROH Tag Team Championships have changed hands. It was good to see Dragon and Dixie get a lot of offense in this match and earn respect. Props to Dana Dameson on making her ROH debut. The Briscoes are fucking incredible, and it’s good to see they gave up football for wrestling, even though that statement might be me being selfish. Jay Briscoe hit a Shooting Star Press from the top rope, into Special K, who were awaiting on the cold floor. After some great back and forth wrestling, which saw Izzy hit a nice front flip dropkick, Briscoes hitting the Doomsday Device, the match finally came to an end as Jay Briscoe hit the Jay Driller for the win and the titles. As Briscoes were celebrating, after regaining the tag team titles, Cornette says that was for you, and “WHAAAAAAAAAAAATAAAAAAAAA RUSH!” I liked that.
In what was billed as a “Fighting Spirit Match”
Homicide w/Julius Smokes d. BJ Whitmore in what I thought was Match of The Night
Homicide is ROH’s MVP no ifs ands or buts. This guy continues to have great fucking matches with whoever he steps in the ROH ring with and steals the show. I am also jumping on the BJ Whitmore bandwagon, as I never seen this guy look bad. Julius Smokes continues to be fucking hilarious, and he was decked out in his pimp gear tonight. Whether Homicide needs a manager or not is another question, as Julius could probably help someone else out more, but I understand the Homicide/Smokes relationship. Homicide hit a fucking sweet flipping suicide dive. Whitmore was busted open in the face, after some Homicide kicks. Homicide hit his running kicks to the face in the corner moves, and the crowd loved it, and asked for one more, and Homicide complied. This match certainly lived up to Homicides strong style, as both wrestlers took potential career ending suplexes and kicks. Homicide hit the cop killa, and everyone thought it was over. Somehow, Whitmore kicked out, inciting “BULLSHIT” chants from all over. Whitmore rolled outside of the ring, and looked like he was going to get counted out, but rolled back into the ring. Homicide finally took the win in this match after a devastating Lariat. If you saw this Lariat, you can see what the difference between a Lariat and a Clothesline, man I got major respect for Whitmore in taking that and getting back up on his own power. PAW match.
After respecting the Code of Honor, Whitmore went to the back. Homicide and Julius celebrated, and started making their way to the back, until all of a sudden, Steve Corino and Guillotine LeGrande made their way out and attacked Homicide. They left, and we go to intermission.
After a few more intermission beers, it was time for the next match, which was the steel cage tag team scramble match.
The Backseat Boyz (Johnny Kashmere and Trent Acid) d. The SAT’s (Joel and Jose Maximo) Special K (Jay Lethal/Azraiel), Carnage Crew (Loc and Devito) and what people are calling Hart Foundation 2003 (Teddy Hart and Jack Evans)
This match caused a lot of controversy, so first let me get to the match, and the controversy second. I hate these scramble matches. I fucking hate them. They make no sense and are just acrobatic shows, that belongs at a circus not at a wrestling show. It’s not a shot at the wrestlers who do them, I just don’t like these types matches. For a promotion that’s all about workrate, it’s mind boggling that these scrambles are a staple of the promotion. I also understand that fans love these and you have to give what the fans want to see. With that said, this match was decent, and that says a lot, since I fucking hate these scrambles. The hat gets tipped off to Jay Lethal who got Spanish Flied by The Sat’s from the top of the cage. Holy shit. Watching Lethal than wrestle 4 minutes later, was good to see, as I thought he might’ve been injured. Gotta give props to Devito and Loc who wrestled people and were using the cage as a weapon, instead of 8538 flips to hurt people. Backseats threw Azrael into the cage with a lot of force, and hit a cool move sending Azraiels head almost 10 feet away from his body. Jack Evans and Teddy Hart were FUCKING STUPIDLY INSANE. THESE GUYS FUCKING JUMPED FROM THE TOP OF THE CAGE AND HIT 900 DEGREE FLIPS FROM THE TOP TO THE FLOOR 2 TIMES EACH. Crowd loved this, and I gotta admit, I stood up to see if they were alright as well. Thankfully they were. Evans is nuts and so is Hart. While Evans might’ve been the one that “sold” better, you can’t deny Harts talent. Backseats eventually get the win, after pinning Jay Lethal. I’m happy to report that no one was injured after this match.
Controversy Time.
After the match, Teddy Hart went to the top of the cage, and did a moonsault. What the fuck? Hart did it again not once, but two more times! Holy fuck! Talk about exposing wrestling. How am I supposed to, or any fan supposed to, believe that any thing you just did hurt, when you just jumped from the top of the cage 3 times and moonsaulted? A 25 minute match, and this guy can jump from the top 3 times and moonsault? Holy Jesus on a cross Batman. Hart even threw up afterwards. Watching Hart flip 3 times, took away all the heat that the BSB’s got from winning that match. HOWEVER…. The crowd fucking loved it, and were going nuts, and kept cheering for Hart to do it again, and Hart complied. That was my initial reaction.
I’m doing this review/results during the Giants/Jets game, after waking up at 1:00 PM after a long night. I go on the ROH board to see some reactions, and everyone is fucking blasting Teddy Hart! Listen, that crowd was going nuts for Hart, and a few people put up some ROH reports bashing Hart for not selling, sort of what like I said above. I mean, how do you do all these moonsaults and showboat like that. That’s wrong. That’s my opinion though. What I’m saying is that everyone was cheering for Hart live at the show, I did say what I wrote above to Mr. Myers and my two other friends sitting next to me when this happened. Then, when I go to the ROH board, only a few are defending Hart, while everyone was saying they were booing him and didn’t appreciate it. Trust me, if it wasn’t for internet reports, people would still be praising Teddy Hart for what he did. I’m not saying to formulate your opinions on internet reports, but if you like what you saw, don’t feel bad to admit it, as you’re paying money to see the show, and have every right to voice your opinion. I personally thought it sucked, but I knew there were at least 700 who disagreed with me, and I can respect that, just don’t let internet reports change your views on something you saw live, or didn’t even see yet. I’m not going to get into the consequences of Hart’s actions, as that’s not my business, but all I gotta say is that I hope Evans doesn’t get punished, and is allowed to come back. I also hope that Teddy Hart appears again on ROH shows, as he is a young wrestler and deserves a second chance.
How many fucking tapes do you think this incident will sell? One has to think that many people are going to want to see it again, and people who missed the show are going to want to see this incident. Either way, ROH wins.
Fourway match
If Samoa Joe pinned anyone, they would not be able to get a title shot at Joe’s belt.
If Corino/Punk/Daniels won, they would get a title shot at Joe’s belt.
Steve Corino and CM Punk d. Chris Daniels and Samoa Joe in a 4 Way Match.
PREMATCH: Steve Corino with his entourage, MLW title and NWA Southern Title came to the ring. His ring announcer started listing off all the guys who held the NWA title. A lot of people liked this, but I fucking hated it. Corinos pre match entrance was in the 23 minute range. This show was 5 hours and 45 minutes long, and this could’ve been cut out. What is this a USA PRO show? Why are ROH shows going so long in time now? That’s a personal thing of mine, I hate long shows, and there was no reason to have a 20 minute entrance when the show is already over 5 hours long. (If you include Showcase Matches) I do however, think that it was a great way to draw heat, and would’ve liked this segment if it happened earlier in the show, but I was just burnt out after sitting there for 5 plus hours in a hot, humid filled, sweaty building. After Corinos entrance, we finally had a match, but even that had stalling to begin, as Daniels wouldn’t shake anyone’s hand. I later found out that CM Punk had an injury, so maybe the stalling and the time was beneficial to Punk’s health.
This match never seemed to click, then again, not too many 4 way matches don’t. Joe hit his signature knees to head move, and we saw the Angel Wings by Daniels. Crowd was booing this match and Corinos entrance previously, maybe they didn’t dig all the stalling either? Finish saw Corino and Punk hit a double northern lights suplex on Daniels for a double pin. ROH officials declared duel winners, so Punk and Corino are now the number 1 contenders for the ROH title, which didn’t make sense, since AJ Styles vs American Dragon was billed as a number 1 contenders match as well.
After the match, Corino and Punk argued about a number one contenders match. The crowd BOOED the fuck out of this, and thank god, because this show was going so fucking long. Punk said let’s go 5 minutes, and crowd chanted some vulgarities. Corino then gets the mic, and says well if they don’t want it, let’s give it to them. Good way to save face on this situation.
Steve Corino vs CM Punk went to a no contest, as both men walked out of the ring after 2 minutes passed. This match will be great later on down the line, but no one wanted to see it after sitting there for so long, and another phenomenal match coming up next.
At this point CM Punk was going to the back but started arguing with a fan. Well that fan pushed Punk, and Punk unloaded on him and sent the fan 5 rows back. Security, Gabe and Monsta Mack broke up the fight. People are speculating if this is a shoot or a work, but I’m going to say it’s a shoot for now, as Doug the camera man wasn’t taping this incident, like how he was taping the ROH riot, back in NY.
AJ Styles d. American Dragon to become the third number 1 contender of the night.
Everything I said about the crowd being tired and not wanting to see any more.. .SCRATCH IT. The crowd, including myself, were amped to the max for this match. The crowd was split in half with LETS GO AJ! LETS GO DRAGON! Chants. Crowd was on fire, like a gonnoreah piss. PAW match here. Excellent mat wrestling, submission wrestling and overall a great match. Lots of unique moves, such as Dragons reverse full nelson submissions that he applied numerous times. Styles reversed one of the Dragons nelsons into a modified version of the Styles Clash. After regaining his compsure, Styles got up, and hit a picture perfect Styles Clash and was victorious. Hats off to both.
Final McWord
Like I said before, the show was too long. Maybe it’s cause I see a lot of wrestling a week, but I ain’t down with these long shows. Lots of good matches on this show. I really enjoyed AJ/Dragon and Homicide/Whitmore. The cage match was unique. The Briscoe/Special K match was really good. Some of the showcase wrestlers could’ve been replaced with better talent that was already at the show. I saw Deranged there, and ROH would have to be clueless not to bring him back. Deranged is the reason why Special K took off and is one of the best, if not the best, light heavy weight wrestlers today. I don’t know too many lightheavyweights, shit, I don’t know too many heavyweight wrestlers who could’ve wrestled a match with Low Ki, like Deranged did a few months ago. I said this in the ROH McTape Review I did, and it seems that ROH caters more to their tapes than to their live shows. I mean there were a few storylines in this show, but outside of I beat him so now I get a title shot, there is a lot to be desired. But… when you watch the tapes, then things start to make sense. I’d like to see ROH try to bring what they bring to the tapes into their live shows, but it might take a titan tron to do something like that. ROH fans are a rabid bunch, and ROH has something really special here. I mean, at one point in the show, AJ did these Austinesque kicks to Dragon, and the crowd popped like it was the second coming of Jesus Christ. Lots of promotions would cut off a nut for those kind of die hard fans that appreciate the product.
All in all, a good show, that will probably be better on tape than live.
Sean “The MiC” McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com
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