We open with Gary Michael Capetta, who is talking about Jim Cornette. He gets interrupted by Devito and Loc. Devito and Loc want Special K after their actions during the convention show. GMC needs to work on his acting skills as he looks like he’s going to break out laughing during Loc/Devito’s angry rant. GMC says he’ll find out the scoop on Special K later.

We go to a new feature on ROH tapes, and that’s in the ring with Samoa Joe. Samoa Joe says he will show the fans the moves that he does. Oman Tortuga comes out, excited to be the first guest, but he doesn’t realize what’s in store for him. Oman quickly finds out what Samoa Joe wants to do, and looks scared. Joe arm drags him down, and shows us a sleeper chokes hold. Joe then twists his body applying more pressure to Oman. Joe says this is what he’s gonna do to Mark Briscoe tonight. Joe wants to put another move on Oman, but Oman runs the fuck out of the building like a SCOLDED DOG! Joe hypes up his match against Mark Briscoe.

We then go to our first wrestling match of the show, which is Jay Briscoe vs American Dragon. Reviews of all matches are at the bottom. The ring announcers hype up the card as they break the show in half, as ½ ROH and ½ ROH vs AJPW. CM Punk is back on commentary with Chris and Chris definitely needs a little more Punk in his announcing. Get the pun? After watching the match again, I still can’t get over that this was an opening match.

After Jay’s match, Jay walks around the back and walks into Trent Acid. Trent Acid wants a tag team title shot with Johnny Kashmere against Jay and his brother. Jay says he does what Cornette says only. Trent closes this off by saying, “please.”

Up next was Xavier vs John Walters. This was one of the best matches I have ever seen. Seriously, if Muta isn’t enough for you, you need to get this tape for this match alone. This really put Walters over as a bonafide indy superstar. I think Xavier has been and is at that indy superstar level today, but this match was Xaviers comeback so to speak. As I type this, I’ve already watched the tape one time through, seen the show live, and have rewinded this match 3 times. This is an early candidate for DOI Match of The Year, as it occurred on December 27th, 14 days after our 2003 cut off. The human body is not supposed to bend the way these two bent. Again, check out the recap of the match at the end of this review, but this match was just fucking insane.

Matt Stryker vs BJ Whitmer was up next, and this match was for the Field of Honor. Watching this match on tape, after taking a break after watching Walters/Xavier, made this match 10 times better, than watching it live, and having the job of following one of the most brutal matches of all time. Man, that was a run on sentence. Anyway, while this match wasn’t all that live, it did translate better on tape in my opinion. If you buy the tape, feel free to post on the DOI message board or send an email and let me know if you think it was better on tape or live. Responses will be posted here in a future DOI ROH Tape Review.

Up next was the ROH Title match between champion Samoa Joe and Mark Briscoe. ROH did a great job hyping up this feud between the tag team champions and Samoa Joe. This was the main event of the ROH-only part of the show. This was another hard fought match that featured a CM Punk interruption.

Up next was the intermission part of the show. We go to GMC who is with the ROH Tag Team Champions, The Briscoe Brothers. GMC talks about the Briscoes losing their single matches from earlier on. Briscoes need a little work on their promos. They definitely need Cornette with them. Loc and Devito interrupt this. The Carnage Crew want to know what’s up with Special K. Carnage Crew give The Briscoe Brothers respect and ask for a moment alone with GMC. GMC says he has a scoop, and that is that Special K are out in Chicago taping the Colt Cabana show. GMC hypes up the second half of the show.

CM Punk/Colt Cabana vs Tomiaoki Honma/Kazushi Miyamoto was up next. This was a fantastic tag team match. Just clicked on all cylinders. Hopefully Honma/Miyamoto will be brought back for a rematch, as a lot of tag team wrestlers on the indies today could learn something from them.

Kaz Hayashi and AJ Styles brought down the house next. The former NWA Heavyweight champion looked solid in this match. This match was a lot better on tape than live, as I watched it after taking a quick message board break after the tag match previous. The one thing about ROH is that it has great match after great match, that sometimes you get burnt out and don’t appreciate a match as much as you would if you saw it later on. Great match.

Homicide vs Kojma was the next match, and this featured Kojima just being fucking ON. It also saw Homicide get a concussion from a brutal overhead suplex. Watching Homicide land on his head is sick to watch, and it’s amazing he was even able to continue. You can see that he was knocked for a loop in this match. Regardless fun match to watch.

Jerry Lynn is up next. Lynn talks about the pure wrestling title. Lynn said that’s exactly what he’s made of. Alrighty then.

Up next was the match that I truly believe elevates ROH into the next level. I think that Great Muta/Arashi vs Christopher Daniels/Danny Maff is the key match on ROH’s biggest show that makes Ring of Honor the second biggest promotion in America today. As far as the match itself, yes Muta isn’t what used to be, but Muta at his current condition is still better than most wrestlers today. The pop Muta gets when he first walks into the ring is deafening and translated very well onto the tape. This is a match that I will definitely watch again on my free time as it features 2 of the best in the world today (Daniels/Muta), a guy who is ready to break out and just start making a huge name for himself (Maff) and Arashi, who I have only seen this one time.

POST SHOW PROMOS:

We open up “Live from Chicago” with Colt Cabana. He’s wearing a lovely tuxedo T-Shirt. Cabana talks about the show that just happened. Cabana is “Live from Chicago” despite just wrestling on the same show. Cabana brings out Special K as his first guests. Special K talk about living the good life. That means living off their parents and partying like Jake The Snake. Becky Bayless comes out says “Am I late again?” Dixie says that’s not what we want to hear. Funny shit. Becky is playing a ditz. It’s more like Becky is acting like she’s Dana Dameson. The Carnage Crew come out and break this shit up. Devito says he has a 13 year old daughter. Apparently his daughter was at a rave, and someone slipped her X. Devito is pissed at Special K. Loc calls out Special K and says this is personal now. Carnage Crew says they will kill Special K. Cabana sobs as his show is ruined now.

We go to the Prophecy, who consists of Daniels, Maff, BJ Whitmer and Allison Danger. Maff is still pissed off that he told Punk that he had nothing to do with Lucy, when Whitmer really did abduct Lucy. They are in an empty hallway, which echoes their voices. Daniels gets the groups together and tries to put them on the same page. Daniels talks about the Prophecy and what’s in store for 2004. Daniels puts over Maff and wants Maff’s loyalty. BJ looks so out of place here. BJ is there because he is loyal to Daniels and he knows what Daniels can do for him. BJ talks smack on the Second City Saints. Daniels closes this off saying everyone will worship the ground they walk on.

Final McWord
Simply, the best ROH tape I have seen. There is not one bad match, and I’d even say there’s not even one good match. I’d say the tape is full of great matches. 8 quality wrestling matches that really showcase what Ring of Honor is all about. All I have to say, is if you’re a wrestling fan, buy this tape. Walters/Xavier is one of the best matches I ever saw. Seeing the Great Muta wrestle on American soil and misting Maff was historic for ROH.

To purchase this tape go to
www.rohwrestling.com
Or buy the tape directly at
http://www.rfvideo.com/merchant/index.cfm?action=moreinfo&id=8304

Now if you wish, scroll down to read my full review/recap of the show.

Ring Of Honor presents “Final Battle 2003”

From Philadelphia, PA in front of the largest ROH crowd ever.
Attendance was said to be over 1500, as it was announced during the show. Honestly, I thought it might’ve been over the 1600 mark as the place was fully packed, save the empty space here and there in the bleachers. Just a great wrestling environment, even if some of the diehard ROH fans, might take it too seriously.

Your refs are Sean Hanson, Gary Moorer and Paul Turner.
Show started off with Ring Announcer Steve D’Angelis warmly welcoming the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission. A hearty booooooooooo was heard by all. D’Angelis talks about the magnitude of this event and thanks the fans for bringing ROH to the next level. Would they reach the next level? Read on for more. D’Angelis then said the show would be broken into two halfs- the ROH show and the ROH vs AJPW show, which the crowd popped like it was the second coming of Jesus Christ. After this we had our first match.

The American Dragon Bryan Danielson d. (1/2 of the ROH Tag Team Champions) Jay Briscoe
Great match here. I think this gets opening match of the year award. ROH is so stockpiled with talent, that these two were on first and not in the main event, like they have been previously. Props to Jay Briscoe for working two highly competitive matches. The match featured lots of chain wrestling and submission holds. American Dragon has mastered the art of pro wrestling. Lots of false finishes in this match. Jay Briscoe popped out the Jay Driller and the Yakuza kick for only a two count. Dragon hit multiple suplexes that Jay was able to wiggle out of at two. The finish saw American Dragon apply a butterfly reverse full nelson submission on Jay Briscoe, to which Jay tapped out to. Crowd wanted the tap out finish bad, and were happy.

In a “Fight Without Honor” Match.
AKA a No Holds Barred Match
My Match of The Night pick
John Walters d. Xavier

Holy fucking wow. Phenomenal. I’ll tell you, most of the matches tonight were very similar. Great wrestling, and all that great stuff, but this match was the only thing that was different on the show. I’ve seen Xavier have a great ladder match with Low Ki before, and after seeing this, Xavier definitely has earned Shawn Michaels Ladder match status. Where to start with this one? Well first off, Prince Nana walked out in case anyone needed assistance. He seemed to be scouting the match. There was lots of wrestling and lots of ladder moves. Among the big moves, were John Walters Alabama slamming Xavier through a ladder, that was on the middle rope. Fucking unbelievable. At one point in the match, John Walters was laying on the ladder, which was held up by the guardrail and the ring. Xavier got on the top rope, jumped, then RVD springboarded in the middle of the top rope, and moonsaulted backwards, and put Walters through the ladder. The pain that both guys took during this match was just awesome. These guys weren’t finished though. These guys made love to each others heads with skull-caving chair shots, that had Xavier bloody. When was the last time you saw Xavier bleed like he was fucking Dusty Rhodes? After more wrestling and chair brutality, Xavier set up a table outside, and pushed Walters on to it. Some in my area complained about how Walters got on the table, but give me a break, these guys killed each other, and you’re going to complain that he didn’t land on the table naturally? Sometimes you gotta suspend your belief and feel the magic of pro wrestling, as this match displayed tonight. Anyway, Walters was on a table outside, and Xavier jumped to the middle of the top rope, and hit a picture perfect 450 splash to a loud HOLY SHIT chant. Both guys were knocked out and slowly made their way back into the ring. Xavier had Walters down, and was going for something off the top of the ladder, but as he climbed to the top, and before he could turn around, John Walters was right there, and hit the lungblower from the top of the ladder. Lions Tigers and Bears oh my was that brutal. These guys still weren’t finished. As Walters went for the pin, Prince Nana broke it up, so it seemed like his alliance was with Xavier, which it was. Walters was pissed, but determined. Xavier got a 5th or 6th wind, and was able to upperhand Walters. Xavier then hit his Xbreaker from the top rope, but Walters got out at 2. Amazing. Both men were dazed at this point. Xavier then set up a ladder and a chair into the corner. He then put a bigger ladder in front of it. He then went to climb the ladder to get Walters again, but Walters climbed the other side of the ladder. Walters then did the RVD/Eddie Guerrero powerbomb from the ladder, crashing Xavier through debris. Walters finally got the pin, and I was glad I made the trek out to Philly. If the DOI Year End Awards weren’t printed, this would get my nomination as a Match of The Year Candidate. Instead it will be thrown into the 2004 contenders. PAW match, and if any wrestling fan doesn’t respect these two, they shouldn’t be calling themselves a wrestling fan. POSTMATCH: Xavier, previously from The Prophecy, who don’t believe in the Code of Honor Handshake shit, got the mic. He said he respects Walters. Walters told Xavier the same thing, and asked for Xaviers hand. Nana said Xavier has left The Prophecy, and has joined him in The Embassy. Xavier shakes hands and embraces with John Walters. Both men said they’d like to wrestle each other again
. Seriously match of the night. While others might like Muta and the other Japanese guys, this match did it for me.

The Field of Honor Tournament Final was up next.
Matt Stryker d. BJ Whitmer to win the FOH
Wow. This match got booed to hell. I honestly think this match wasn’t going to go anywhere, due to the match previous. How do you follow a match like that? I thought a Special K thing or promo was coming up, to let the fans settle down and have a chance to relax, but it was followed up with a 25 minute match that bored the hell out of everyone. The match never seemed to click, which was odd, as these guys had a great match back in CT to get in the FOH. It was still a good wrestling match, but just not entertaining. Stryker worked Whitmers knee for most of the match, and took off his brace and pulled down his knee pad. Stryker kept going for submission after submission, but Whitmer was able to get the rope or break it. Stryker hit the figure four a few times and the Brock Lock. (Octopus Stretch) Stryker even applied a reverse Indian death lock, which Whitmer powered out of, to the crowd’s dismay. Stryker finally wins with The Stryerlock, to a HUMONGOUS pop, because the match was finally over. I guess too much of a good thing is bad?

POSTMATCH: The ROH locker room, including AJ Styles, comes out to congratulate Stryker on the win. The crowd is still booing this as they had enough. Stryker thanks BJ Whitmer for an incredible match, which the crowd boos again lol. Stryker says he wants to be the pure wrestling champion, when the tournament for that arises. Then what was the point of FOH then? Crowd had had enough of this and pretty much kept booing, even when Stryker tried to thank the fans. This reminded me of The Rock, after Summerslam 2002, where he lost the WWF Title to Brock Lesnar. He tried acknowledging the fans and tried to be super face, but the crowd just booed him to hell. While Rock got booed cause he was going to Hollywood, I don’t know why Stryker got the shoulder, even though it was pretty funny.

Bill Apter comes out, representing Total Wrestling. He gives an award to Rob Feinstein, declaring ROH as Classiest Promotion of The Year. I’m guessing there weren’t too many other candidates though lol. Apter gives him a good looking plaque. All of a sudden, CM Punk comes out again. He said that how can ROH be the classiest promotion of the year, when half the boys are drinking beer in the back? He wants Apter to create a Classiest Wrestler of the year award, and present it to him. Punk takes a shot at Philly fans before leaving.

For the ROH Heavyweight Title
Samoa Joe d. (1/2 of ROH Tag Team Champions) Mark Briscoe
What does it say when your Heavyweight Champion is the 4th match? Personally, I think Joe vs one of the Japanese guys would’ve elevated the title even more, but instead he defended it against a tag team wrestler, leaving the belt a little stagnant on ROH’s biggest show of the year. Despite that, it was still a solid match. Joe whipped out some E-Honda Streetfighter II offense, when he went apeshit with his hands all over Mark’s face and body. Joe is really the people’s champion, as everyone loves him and goes nuts for him. Very good match here, and it was cool to see Mark get a lot of offense on Joe, as it does make the tag champ look strong. Joe puts Mark in a sitdown sleeperhold, and Mark’s hand hits the canvas three times for the knockout submission victory. Good job by both guys.

POSTMATCH: CM Punk is out yet again, this time to talk smack to Joe. He said that now that the “B show” is over, it’s time for the A show to begin. Joe takes offense and says he’s the champ and wants Punk out of his ring. Punk eventually leaves the ring. After leaving, Joe makes his way to the back, and Punk jumps back in the ring. Made Joe seem more intimidating and powerful… just like a champion should be. Punk talks more about Lucy and this angle. As Joe is about to finally get to through the curtain to leave, the Prophecy- Chris Daniels, Dan Maff and Allison Danger barge through and attack Joe. Maff and Joe disappear towards the back. Punk runs out and attacks Daniels. Daniels gets the upperhand, but Classic Colt Cabana comes out and assists Punk in beat up Daniels. Punk then beats up Allison Danger. Allison took a nasty front bump into the turnbuckle, she’s one tough mofo. Punk strangles and chokes Allison, as Daniels is being held down and tied down in the ropes by Cabana. Punk says this is for what you did to Lucy. All of a sudden, BJ Whitmer runs out and joins the fracas, aligning himself with the Prophecy. He attacks both guys, Punk and Cabana. Punk/Cabana bail. BJ says that he was the one who attacked Lucy. N-word what? What the hell? Daniels anoints BJ into The Prophecy. Allison Danger starts to recover. Dan Maff comes back, after his tango with Samoa Joe. Maff is fucking pissed and steamed. He promised on his fathers grave, (his father recently passed away in September, I believe) that he had nothing to do with Lucy’s disappearance. Maff said he swore twice, and why is Daniels making him to look like a liar? Daniels says he is aware, but he didn’t mean to, and this is the Prophecy’s ultimate plan. Just like how Maff joined the Prophecy, this is BJ’s moment and attacking Lucy was their ultimate plan. What ultimate plan is that? To join the Mark Gastineau beat up women club? Maff is still mad, but eventually is calmed down by Daniels, and all 4 members of the Prophecy do their hand signal and leave the ring.

It was great to see ROH incorporate storylines into the live show with a great angle like this. The one thing that was confusing is who the fuck are the faces and heels in all this? You got Punk who is fantastic at being a heel feuding with the top heel group. Joe wants both of them. It’s a huge story that will probably continue to unravel. I just thought the heels going at each other was odd, but different. I think everyone is waiting for Dan Maff to break away from The Prophecy now as well.

Intermission. Made a quick trip to a beer warehouse, which was only 2 minutes from the arena, and refueled. 20 minutes or so later, the show restarted with the ROH vs AJPW portion of the show.

CM Punk/Colt Cabana d. Tomiaoki Honma/Kazushi Miyamoto
CM Punk is the next big thing in wrestling- he’s the complete package and is always entertaining and can wrestle with anyone. This was a great tag team match, that was definitely the best tag team match of the night to a lot of people. CM Punk just went from going nuts about his girl Lucy 20 minutes ago, to completely forgetting about it and turning it up in this match. That was sort of weird. This match was really good and featured a Japanese style of wrestling by both teams. Punk Pepsi plunges Honma for the victory.

AJ Styles d. Kaz Hayashi
Great match by both men. No USA chants broke out, despite a few people chanting it. The crowd adored the AJPW guys tonight. Just a back and forth wrestling match that captivated the audience. AJ picked up the win with the Styles Clash.

Satoshi Kojima d. Homicide
PREMATCH: Kaz/Honma/Miyamoto came out to watch and lend support to Kojima. Homicide had a poem before his entrance which was mad dramatic. Homicide was accompanied by Low Ki and Monsta Mack. Surprisingly, nothing was chanted for or against Low Ki. During the match, Low Ki, and Mack as well, stayed low in there corner in a successful attempt of not taking anything away from the match, and let Homicide and Kojima shine.
Kojima was hilarious. He pretty much played a WWE Funaki character. When the ref tried to break a move in the corner, Kojima said, “I DO NOT UNDERSTANNNN!” 2 minutes later, in the same spot, Kojima said “I’m JAPANESE GOD DAMMM IT!!” Kojima even poked Homicide in the eye, and then bowed to the ref as he went to reprimand him. Just great stuff. As far as the match, it was rolling smoothly until a certain spot. Both guys wrestled outside and traded blows. Kojima then overhead suplexed Homicide, and Homicide landed right on his fucking head, knocking him silly and losing some awareness. Homicide diamond cutted Kojima twice in the same spot for only a 2 count, and got up and looked hurt. Kojima then lariated Homicide for the pinfall. I haven’t received any confirmation, but I’m hoping he’s ok, and thinking he is, because he wrestled in Texas on Sunday night. The match was still pretty good, despite Homicide’s state.
POSTMATCH: Kojima thanked the fans and said “Next show, I want to be back.” Crowd loved it.

MAIN EVENT
For the All Japan Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championships
The Great Muta/Arashi d. Dan Maff/Chris Daniels w/Allison Danger
In the beginning of the match, Nick Knowledge chanted “YOU FAT FUCK!” to Arashi, which the ROH loyal quickly took offense to and blasted Nick with some “Asssssssshole” and “Shut the fuck up” chants. Don’t know why Nick decided to do this, but it was funny to see the ROH fans quickly unite against this new found common enemy lol. Despite his age and body, Muta was able to put on a great show, and did exactly what everyone expected, and what everyone wanted. Muta misted Dan Maff early in the match and the crowd popped like it was Hogan slamming Andre, and for 1500+ to make so much noise, it was exciting to be a part of. Arashi just seemed like one big tough motherfucker and seemed like he was ready to tear peoples asses apart then chain wrestle. He just laced in on Maff and Daniels. After another Mist to Maff, Muta hit the shining wizard on Chris Daniels for the pinfall. This wasn’t a 5 star match, but it was special and is something that anyone who saw it will appreciate for the rest of their wrestling fandom life.

Final McWord
This was the show that did take ROH to the next level. You can go to all the wrestling message boards and all the wrestling websites and all the wrestling dirtsheets and they will all tell you that this was a big ass show for ROH. ROH delivered tonight. Think of it this way- TNA with a PPV deal and some syndicated TV only draws 1000 or so people every Wednesday night in the same town. ROH is able to take their product all over the East Coast and draw huge crowds. With a show like this tonight, and with the RF Video sales, one would have to think that ROH is more successful financially than NWA TNA. I think ROH can be considered the number 2 wrestling promotion in America. Meeting Muta was fucking great and a lifetime experience.

Overall, while I’m a fan of entertainment mixed in with wrestling, this was a good show, and easily the show of the year. I liked how ROH set up some angles on their live show, instead of waiting for the tape to execute it.

Sean “The MiC” McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com