Just a quick foreword before I start. I love the ROH matches and have been to a few ROH shows live. I think after watching this, I enjoy the ROH product better on tape than live, as I feel you can appreciate the wrestling more. I have been lucky with going to ROH shows, as I caught probably the 3 biggest shows of the year (NYC 1st Year Anniversary, Samoa Joe winning the ROH title, and Death Before Dishonor) but sometimes I feel the show is so stacked, that it’s just so much at once. Where as, when you get the tape, you can watch one match at a time, and appreciate what these wrestlers do. With that said, onto the McTape Review of ROH’s “WRATH OF THE RACKET”.

Show opens up with a promo with Colt Cabana talking to Ace Steel about the new Field of Honor tournament. Another benefit about ROH tapes, is that you can see the wrestlers as a complete package by cutting promos, instead of just seeing pure wrestling at the show. Colt seemed natural in front of the camera. Colt and Ace Steel see Homicide and Julius Smokes (J-Train) and they approach them. Colt asks about the Field of Honor (FOH) tournament, and Homicide says he knows nothing about it, and is focusing on his match with Chris Sabin. Julius Smokes lay some verbal abuse and some hip hoppity on BJ and Colt about the tournament. Colt and Ace Steel leave Julius, bewildered and wondering if what Julius said was in English.

Real quick- as the match was just about to begin, a graphic showing who the champions and the ROH rankings were displayed. Cool feature, and for the common fan, let’s you know who’s on top of this promotion.

Oh yea, like normal, I’m not going to give move by move description, because I don’t want to give away the whole entire match and want to ruin every blow by blow move if you watch it.

Cut to the ROH Tag Team Champions, AJ Styles and The Amazing Red. They cut a promo about the Briscoe Brothers, saying how they respect them. They then say they don’t respect the Prophecy at all, and it will be on later. The promo then ends, and we see AJ Styles talking to Red “Off the air”, about Red’s bum knee. Red says he’s fine. The Maximos aka The SAT, Joel and Jose, pass by and tell AJ to keep an eye out for Red. AJ says he will.

Your ring announcers are: Chris Levy and Ray Morrow. (Not sure about spelling)

Special K (Deranged/Hydro aka Jay Lethal) w/Chris Idol and Dixie d. The SAT vs. Carnage Crew (Loc and Masada) vs. Fast Eddie & Don Juan in a Scramble Match
HOT way to start off the show. Some ROH scrambles are sloppy, but this wasn’t one of them. This was probably the best scramble I saw in ROH. I liked it because it wasn’t too long and dragged out, and was just action and cool moves left and right. It didn’t really have the most ring psychology in it, but not every match can do everything all at once. Deranged is becoming a bonafide ROH superstar, he carried this scramble, and was the “heel to beat.” Fast Eddie looked lost left and right. Lots of crazy shit in this match, and great aerial and mat wrestling in this one. Some highspots of the match was the SAT hitting the Spanish Fly on Hydro and Deranged hitting the Code Red. (Flipping powerbomb) Deranged pinned Loc, with assistance from Chris Idol. (he held Deranged’s hands) Great way to open the show.
The announcers are screaming how Special K cheated to win the match in ROH. The announcers are disgusted and talk about how Special K are just ravers who live with their parents. Rough!
Special K celebrates in the ring after the match. Deranged says “Smoking weed is good.” Can’t argue with him. All 4 special K members continue to dance, as the other 3 teams shake each other hands under the Code of Honor. Jay Lethal doesn’t really look like he fits in with the whole Special K thing.

As Special K is celebrating, out walks Jim Cornette. The crowd shows respect for the Cornster. Oh, and Cornette is with his racquet. The announcers call Cornette honorable. LOL, rewriting history. Cornette gets the mic and goes off on Special K. He tells Special K, “If I want any shit out of you, I’ll squeeze your head!” That’s great. He follows it up with, “It looks like you 4 went to give blood, but forgot to say when.” Great stuff by Cornette. Cornette is on a fucking roll with zingers. Cornette makes fun of the scramble matches, and said it looks like the wrestlers got into a blender. I’m loving it. Cornette says he has a real tag team to debut in ROH. All of a sudden The Midnight Express’s music plays, but The Ring Crew Express, Dunn and Marcos come out instead. Cornette is baffled by Dunn and Marcos. Cornette takes a shot at Dunn and Marcos’s size. The Prophecy- Chris Daniels, Mafia and Allison Danger, attack The Ringcrew Express. The Prophecy goes apeshit on Dunn and Marcos. A flapjack and a rocket launcher later, just like the Midnight Express, The Prophecy stands tall in the ring, as Cornette adds in a few tennis racquet hits to the back of Dunn and Marcos. Chris Daniels inducts Cornette as a member of the prophecy. They celebrate in the ring.

BJ Whitmore cuts a promo about himself winning the four corners match at the 7/19 show. He says he is the number 1 contender. He talks about how he is from Ohio, which makes him the hometown hero on the tape, and how he wants the title bad, and will make good on his opportunity.

For the number 1 contendership to the HWA Heavyweight Championship
Nigel McGiness d. Chet "The Jet" Jablonski w/Brock Guffman
PREMATCH: Brock Guffman cuts a promo saying he would talk about what losers the fans are and how great Chet is, but today, he’s here to put over the ROH of product. He puts over Nigel and Chet as legit superstars and says it’s their time to shine, and says they have earned the right to wrestle in ROH.
Good promo here, as I was saying who the fuck are these guys. Sets up the match better. Now that’s great managerial mic skills.
The announcers talk about HWA and what’s going on. While that’s going on, the Live Events graphic comes up, and all the next ROH shows through November are displayed. Smart move by ROH. I don’t know why a HWA match is taking place on ROH, maybe because they had some sort of license issue with them? Nigel McGuiness hit a huge Road Warrior Hawk shoulderblock, which I hope will always be called that. (The flying shoulderblock) As this match goes on, it starts to pick up, and these guys start to prove themselves as “Roh-worthy.” Lots of great work by Nigel on Chet’s back. I love when wrestlers just work a part of the body and stick to it, like how Ric Flair always worked on the leg, Bret Hart worked on the back etc. Crowd wasn’t as hot for this match as the rest of the matches on the show. Nice northern lights fisherman suplex by Chet, never saw that move before. Nigel gets the win, after some weird pin combination, as he had Chets legs wrapped with his legs, and bridged backwards. Good little match and good way to debut two guys that no one from the northeast (where ROH is based) would know.

Promo for the Field of Honor Tournmanet.

Homicide w/Julius Smokes d. “The Future” Chris Sabin
Julius Smokes is excellent in his role as Homicide’s cornerman. Smokes is wearing a Browns jersey, so I guess he was going for the face pop too. Homicide is ROH’s MVP, as he has been having 5 star match after 5 star match from Samoa Joe to Trent Acid to Steve Corino to his four way matches. Sabin is an excellent wrestler and has really branched out all over to ROH to TNA after his ECWA Super 8 matches. The announcers are very knowledgeable about the wrestlers and are doing a fine job of putting over the ROH product. I mean, I didn’t know Sabin was 21 years old and in his second year. It’s good to have announcers know what they’re talking about, and after watching Dutch Mantell and Reynolds on that Heroes of Wrestling Tape, the commentary here is mucho refreshing. Lots of back and forth wrestling in this match. Lots of counters in this match. Sabin hits a nice firemans carry turned into a sit down slam. Big time yakuza kick to Sabin. Smokes is just amazing as Homicides manager. I can’t believe the counters and reversals in this match, it’s crazy. Sabin is able to with stand the pain of the STF, as Homicide lets him out of an STF after 2 minutes. Announcers say they can’t call Homicides finisher the Cop Killa anymore, because of Homicide’s probabtion officer. Excellent way to put over Homicides character, even if Homicides character is just an extension of himself. After putting over Homicides finisher, Homicide hits the Copkilla and gets the pinfall victory. Good match here but unusually short match…
POSTMATCH: Homicide calls Steve Corino a pussy motherfucker. Alrighty then.

The Second City Saints (Colt Cabana & Ace Steel) d. Alex Shelley & Jimmy Jacobs
I know a lot of people don’t like Jimmy Jacobs Bezerker character, but I am a fan of it, and I think it adds a different flavor to ROH. Last time I saw Alex Shelley, he was getting torn apart by Homicide at the J-Cup, so I was interested in seeing how he did in this match. The announcers say CM Punk wasn’t there, because he was in Japan. Again good stuff by the commentators, as I was wondering where Punk was. Jacobs looked very crisp in this match and graced the ring eloquently with some great airplane spins and good mat wrestling. Cabana has really improved and has stood out in ROH, since his mini feud with Raven. Man, does Alex Shelley ever get any offense off? I really hope that Alex Shelley’s parents don’t watch his matches, because he is always getting slapped up like a red headed step child. I have never seen this guy not get his ass kicked lol. The announcers put over the great ROH refs, Paul Turner, Sean Hanson and Ref Garry (no last name needed lol) They talk about the code of honor a bit. Again, just interesting commentary that makes you enjoy the product more. Shelley is able to make a big ass tag to Jimmy Jacobs, and Jimmy Jacobs clears house. Cabana hits a fucking SICK ass german suplex on Shelley. Jacobs hits a huge hurranacarana on Cabana, but Steel follows that up with a fucking BRUTAL spine shocker. HOLY FUCKING SHIT! Cabana hits the Colt 45, as Steel neckbreakers Shelley down. Shelley is every health insurances worst nightmare.
Good tag match. Cabana’s Colt 45 must be seen.

Matt Stryker d. Justin Credible
PREMATCH: Quick graphic saying that Stryker is ranked number 5 in ROH.

Both guys are appreciated by the crowd, as Stryker is from the area and Credible gets ECW respect. Strykers unibrow is freakingly frightening. Announcers make a good point that Credible hasn’t really been challenged like this, in a pure wrestling match, since leaving the WWE. EXCELLENT work by Credible, as Credible is in the corner with Stryker, and as the ref goes to break it, Credible slaps his hands, making it seem that Stryker took a cheap shot at Credibles face. The ref tells Matt to knock it off. Just great stuff. Credible gets the mic about 5 minutes into the match, and talks crap about Matt and Ref Garry, who pushed Credible when Credible pushed him first. Credible goes to leave, but Matt got him and threw him back in the ring. This match was very entertaining and was cool to see two different styles go at it. What’s up with Credible’s towel in the back of his shorts? This match turned into a brawl around the arena, definitely working Credible’s style more than Strykers. After getting tossed into the ring post, Credible starts bleeding above the eye. After more back and forth action, Credible beats down on Stryker, and hits a protected body slam on the floor. Finish sees Credible hit the That’s Incredible, but Stryker is able to get out of it. After a little more wrestling later, Stryker hits the finisher, which has won him so many matches in ROH, the Death Valley Driver, for the pinfall win.
POSTMATCH: Stryker celebrates.
Excellent match that really put Stryker over as one of the best in ROH. Even though this match went all over the place for a while, it really was a good wrestling match. Great job by both of these wrestlers.

INTERMISSION-
Intermission on a tape? We go to a promo with Les Thatcher and the Prophecy. Daniels talks about winning the title and talks about how the Prophecy is going to take over. Cornette is so great at cutting promos, and makes a sex reference to Allison Danger, that would go over most peoples heads. After Cornette is finished, he tells the camera to leave… but the camera follows them, and Cornette says he has some tag team footage to show the Prophecy.

Cut to The Second City Saints, with Lucy the camera woman. They are talking about winning their match and about the Field of Honor. Cabana goes to Sabin and says if you’re really the future, how many chicks I’m I gonna hook up with? LOL good stuff here. Steel plays a perfect comic foil to Cabana. Sabin blows off Cabana about the Field of Honor.

We go back to Daniels and Mafia who are running in the back. They attack The Sat and The Amazing Red. Daniels works on Reds knee, and slams him in the door and chairs him in the knee. This is all happening in front of the fans, as the fans were waiting in line. Excellent stuff here. Mafia adds his in some snot rockets for good measure. SAT and Styles walk Red to the back.

Looked like I was wrong, ROH can do storylines/entertainment/segments. Now if they could incorporate it on their live shows…

Michael Shane d. Slyk Wagner Brown w/April Hunter, Hot Stuff Hernandez and Scoot Andrews
Match started off with Shane and Hernandez. Shane wanted to tag out but Scoot and Slyk wouldn’t tag him. Hernandez seems to be the odd man out in this match. Slyk and Scoot going at it was very interesting, and that would be a good singles match in ROH. Hernandez didn’t seem like he fit in well with his opponents. April was trying to get the crowd behind Slyk, but Ohio wasn’t feelin it. Announcers mention that Red won’t be able to wrestle, but AJ Styles will defend the tag titles with a mystery partner. AJ wouldn’t let anyone know who his partner was before hand, and AJ/?? Vs Daniels/Mafia would be the main event. Match really picked up at the end, as all 4 men hit their traditional moves, and we also saw unique submissions. We then see everyone hit their finishers, from superkicks from Shane from SSP’s by Slyk. Pretty much, the finish was built up with lots of big time moves hit by everyone, but Shane was able to hit the fishermans DDT for the pinfall victory on Scoot.
Another good little match that started off slow, but picked up, like how most of these 4 way matches do, at the end.

For a Field of Honor Spot
Jimmy Rave d. Slim J
Slim J looks like a skinny eminem. Announcers put over the importance of the Field of Honor, even though the whole tournament wasn’t announced. Match was ok, but hard to follow up that last match. These guys flowed together nicely nad seemed to have good chemistry in the ring. As I was watching this match, my friend came over, who only watches WWE, and laughed at Slim J’s look and gimmick, but was impressed after the match. So was I. Slim J had a lot of unique offense. Rave was able to pick up a big win, after getting Slim J to tap out to the Crippler Crossface.

For the ROH World Title
© Samoa Joe d. BJ Whitmore
Very fucking stiff strong style match. Samoa Joe moves very agile for a man his size. BJ Whitmore is all banged up, as he has a face mask and a knee brace on. This match looked very painful, as the submission moves applied looked like you could send your opponent to the hospital. A must see match for anyone fan of strong style wrestling, and for just a fan of wrestling in general. I thought that Joe would be the heel in this match, due to BJ being from the area, but that was not the case. Lots of JOE! JOE! JOE! Chants. BJ really wrestled up to Joe’s level in this match, and looked strong throwing Joe around the arena. Good mat wrestling here, as Joe hit a nice rolling cradle, after burying knees into Whitmore side. Lot of suplexes and slams by Whitmore. Whitmore looked like he had this match won at numerous points in the match, but wasn’t able to hit the big move that he needed. Samoa Joe hits a huge german suplex, where he wrapped up Whitmores arms together, to retain the title in this big time match defense.
POSTMATCH: A big ROH chant breaks out, and both men respect the Code of Honor.

Cut to another promo with Colt and Ace, who are still looking for Rob Feinstein to explain to them about the Field of Honor. They run into Nigel McGuiness who tells them that Rob is in the back. Steele calls Dunn and Marcos nerds. Good stuff here. These two broke up the show nicely with their silly shit. Colt talking about force fields is a pisser.

For the ROH Tag Team Championships ©AJ Styles/Homicide d. Chris Daniels/Mafia w/Cornette and Allison Danger
Prematch: AJ Styles walks out with the NWA TNA World belt as well as the ROH Tag belt. Homicide is announced as AJ’s partner, and this match is for the titles. Homicide is accompanied by Julius Smokes.

This was why the Homicide/Sabin match was short, as Homicide was on double duty. This match was fucking incredible, just PAW on all fucking levels. Match was full of energy and the crowd was going nuts the whole time. BIG ASS DOUBLE suicide dive flips from the ring, over the barrier, into the Prophecy. Has to be seen. It was just like when RVD used to do it in ECW. At one point in the match, Homicide and Styles hit a rowboat on Cornette. This was definitely a match for a best of tape. The height AJ Styles gets off a simple knee drop is amazing. The match was built as AJ vs Daniels and Mafia vs Homicide. Good way to continue their feuds. AJ Styles and Chris Daniels have to be the top 2 wrestlers that have never been on an episode of Raw or Smackdown. It is made clear during this match that Homicide was subbing for Red, not replacing Red, as the ROH Tag champion. Humongous mafia kick by Homicide to Maf in this match. Maf counters that with a intestine killing cannonball. This match was clicking on all cylinders and every little thing in this match made sense and was entertaining to watch. Definitely worth getting the tape for, for just this match alone. Daniels was able to get off the Angel Wings on Homicide. Finish saw the ref get distracted, and saw Cornette try to the give the tennis racket to Daniels, but miss. Can you believe that ROH, the promotion of honor, has tennis rackets in its main event? Unbelieveable. AJ Styles is able to capitalize and hits the Styles Clash on Daniels, on the racket, to pick up the big pinfall victory to retain his tag titles.

POSTMATCH: Cornette lives up to the code of honor and shakes hands with Homicide and AJ. Daniels is pissed that Cornette is shaking hands, because The Prophecy aint down with the shaking hand shit. Mafia then threw Cornette to the ground. Maf and Daniels take liberties with Cornette on the ground. All of a sudden, Red comes out to save Cornette. Red clears the house for a bit, but is over powered easily due to his bad leg. Out comes Samoa Joe and he clears house and saves Red and Cornette. Huge ROH chants.

Cornette then cuts another promo, this time putting ROH over as one of the elite promotions today. Cornette was on all night and just watching Cornette today, reminded me of how great Cornette was when he was on TV every week.

ROH PROMOS:(Exclusive to the tape)
Homicide cuts a promo on Steve Corino, with Julius Smokes. Homicide talks shit about Colby as well. Smokes calls Corino a bitch ass wigga. Word. Smokes tells Corino not to be scurrrrrrrred. Sort of like Macho Man telling Hogan not to be scurrred lol.

We go to Samoa Joe. Joe respects Whitmore and says it was a tough match. Joe talks about sacrificing himself for the ROH title. Joe talks about beating London in Londons last match before going to the WWE. Joe talks about beating Mafia the day after Mafia buried his father. Rough. Joe also talks about beating Homicide and almost breaking his neck. Joe talks about potential challengers, and mentions Low Ki, Punk, Cabana and Stryker. Joe said Low Ki wouldn’t be the first ROH champion if he was around. This promo started off good, but started to drag at the end.

We then go to Steve Corino. Corino talks about Homicide and how the internet ruined the riot in NYC. Corino said he hated seeing all of Homicide’s gang members in NY. Corino says Homicide is horrible ring name and “it’s not marketable.” Hmm interesting. Corino is on fire cutting this promo. I wonder if Corino is going to rip me up for reviewing this show on the internet lol. Corino implies that Homicide has 15 kids that he doesn’t support. Corino says that he doesn’t need ROH, but Homicide does. He says that he don’t give a shit about ROH fans, like how Homicide does. Corino must’ve been ripped up on the internet or something, because he goes off on the internet. LOL , he said the internet could wack off to Homicide. Sort of like how Zevon does to DRS. (See I told you I could throw that in lol) Corino talks about Japan. He said he makes so much money in Japan, and said that Homicide is a punk and an internet mark. Corino calls ROH a sinking ship and promises to ruin Homicide’s career after August 16th. FUCKING excellent promo. Too bad it wasn’t live or on a TV, as this would “sell tickets.” I’m glad I got the Aug 16 show too, so I can see this match. This promo should be watched by any indy wrestler looking to make a name for themselves.

Back to Cabana and Steel who have found Rob Feinstein, the ROH owner. Cabana hangs up Rob’s cell phone call. Cabana asks Rob about Field of Honor. Rob lets Cabana in FOH. Rob says he had enough and leaves Cabana and Steel. Feinstein really needs more control over his employees.

Final McWord
Excellent tape. Not the best ROH show I’ve seen, but I’ve been spoiled by going to probably the top 3 shows. This tape has 2 keeper matches in the tag title and world title matches. The rest of the matches on the show were good, and there were no bad matches. The announcers were fucking on all night, and I can’t wait to watch more ROH tapes, just for the announcing alone. (I don’t know why, I’m just a mark for announcers lol) The presentation of the tape was 5 stars, as watching the wrestling was just like watching wrestling on TV, in terms of camera angles. You can see that ROH puts a lot of time in putting out their tapes, and it’s worth buying a ROH tape for the quality of the tape, quality of the angles and quality of the wrestling alone. I liked the Jim Cornette stuff on the show, and every time he was on the show, he made it interesting. Ditto Cabana. Samoa Joe is doing great work as the ROH champion, but I think it’s time for Chris Daniels, the person synonymous with ROH, to get a run with the gold. Deranged is really breaking out as the best wrestler in Special K, and I think he can turn ROH upside down with some big one on matches, similar to his match with Low Ki in July.

Overall this was a good tape and any ROH fan should pick it up. Anyone looking for great wrestling and funny ass backstage skits, look no further.

The Field of Honor tournament is going on now, and some FOH matches will take place on November 1st in Elizabeth, NJ. That show looks really fucking hot, and is headlined with AJ Styles vs American Dragon, Samoa Joe vs. Steve Corino vs. Chris Daniels vs. CM Punk and much more. Check out www.rohwrestling.com for all info.

I’ll be back sometime this week with another McTape Review, as I review ROH’s August 16th show, “Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies”, with the Steve Corino vs Homicide match. Hopefully Steve won’t be mad that there is an internet review up lol.

Thanks again to Gabe for putting me on to this tape.
Sean “The MiC” McCaffrey
Send all email to: BULLSMC@aol.com