ROH
Glory By Honor II
9/20/03
The last Murphy Rec Center show in Philadelphia, PA.

We start the tape with a Colt Cabana promo. He talks about his upcoming 4 way match later on in the show. He talks about major "ramifications" of the outcome of his match, and talks about placing in ROH's Top 5. He talks about this double tape ROH release and how he is gonna make an impact.

We cut to Dan Maff, who is in Bayonne, NJ. He is sitting in a chair with a neckbrace. Maff talks about Glory by Honor 1, and his match then. Maff talks about hatred and having hatred for Low Ki. (Low Ki injured Dan Maff at the 8/16 show) Maff talks about the injuries he recieved from Low Ki. Maff talks about his fellow Prophecy member, Christopher Daniels, winning the ROH title later on in this tape against Samoa Joe. Maff brings out his cell phone and lets everyone know that Allison Danger is giving Maff updates of the show. Maff says he'l be back later on.

Cut to Low Ki. We are shown "Memories of the Rec Center." ROH had to move out of the Murphy Rec Center due to not having enough room for its fans. It's good to see a promotion leaving a building on a note like that, not because the building doesn't want wrestling. We are shown classic highlights of the 2/23/02 match between American Dragon/Low Ki/Chris Daniels. This was ROH's first show, and this was the first main event in ROH. We see footage of Low Ki and American Dragon just kicking the crap out of Chris Daniels. We cut to the end and we see Low Ki hit a twisting phoenix splash on American Dragon and hitting a Ki Krusher 99 on Chris Daniels for the win.

Cut to some Field of Honor bios.

AJ Styles gives Jimmy Rave some wrestling advice.

We got to a music package with the ROH champions and top 5 rankings being displayed.

We finally start the main part of the show, and wow does the building look a lot different here, then it did in the 2/23/02 clips. One of the announcers on the tape is CM Punk, a much refreshing voice than the normal ROH commentators.

In a Block B Field of Honor Match
BJ Whitmer d. Jimmy Rave
CM Punk is hilarious on the commentary booth, and played off the regular ROH announcer nicely. One of the funnier lines was the straight man saying "You have to appreciate BJ Whitmer." CM Punk follows it up quickly, with "No I don't." This match was a catch as can wrestling match and was short but fun to watch. BJ Whitmer picks up the pin with a fucking sick top rope powerbomb, that has to be seen to be believed. That move was really just incredible. (Pun intended.) Whitmer betters his record in the FOH tourney.
POSTMATCH: Both guys take a long time to get up after that insane fucking move. Eventually both make it their feet and shake hands.

Cut backstage to BJ Whitmer who talks about his win and the importance of FOH. Whitmer talks about raising to the upper echelon in ROH.

We cut to Jimmy Rave, who is being talked down to by AJ Styles. AJ makes Jimmy Rave feel worse about losing.

We go to Samoa Joe who talks about his upcoming title match with Christopher Daniels. Samoa Joe runs down his previous victories against formidable opponents such as Dan Maff, Homicide and Doug Williams. We see close ups of Samoa Joe's hands, and shit they look like 2 stacked roast beef sandwiches. Joe finishes his promo, and Steve Corino says what's up to Joe. Corino is accompanied with Guillotine Legrande. Corino talks about Joe's title, and how he brought Joe into ROH. Corino wishes good luck to Joe in his title match.

We cut to more memories of the Rec center, and this time we're treated to Eddie Guerrero vs Super Crazy from the 2/23/02 show. Super Crazy defeats Eddie Guerrero after Guerrero misses the frogsplash.

More FOH bios, this time with Xavier and John Walters.

In a Field of Honor Block A Match
Xavier d. John Walters
PREMATCH: Lollipop comes ringside. Prophecy member, Allison Danger, comes to the ring to accompany ROH. Xavier is forced to chose which woman he wants in his corner. He picks Lollipop over his Prophecy teammate, Allison Danger.

This match had alot of submission wrestling and lots of counter wrestling. This was a great match, and ROH was smart to feud these two. (12/27 was their blowoff match, which stole that show.) The crowd was conflicted over both these guys as chants of "Let's go Xavier" and "Let's go Walters" both broke out. CM Punk heels out the another ROH announcer for making a New Kids On The Block reference. A big ass move in this match was Xavier hitting a huge 450 splash from the top rope to the outside on Walters. Both men hit alot moves to jar the other ones neck. Xavier gets a pin out of nowhere, as lowblows Walters, and mahistrol cradles Walters for the pin.
POSTMATCH: Xavier celebrates with Lollipop and refuses to shake hands with Walters. Walters gets the mic and talks to Xavier. Walters says he doesn't respect Xavier and says Xavier is a disgrace to the code of honor. He says next time they are in the ring, Xavier will respect him. Xavier says anytime anyplace.

Cut to Chris Daniels, who is with Allison Danger. Daniels talks about winning the ROH title here tonight, against Samoa Joe. Daniels says he bought Samoa Joe into ROH to beat up Low Ki, and Joe catapulted himself to ROH Heavyweight Champion. Daniels talks about the road of destiny. Daniels talks about his history with Joe. Corino shows up to talk to Daniels. Corino says Daniels is number 1 and wishes him good luck, and tells him to win the title. Seems that Corino is playing the middle man.

Another Memory at the Rec Center is shown. This time it's from 3/30/02, and it's the Low Ki vs American Dragon match. We are shown Low Ki Ki Krushering Dragon from the top rope. Ken Shamrock is the special guest referee. Dragon defeats Ki with the cattle mutilation.

Teddy Hart d. TJ Wilson
This was before Teddy Harts flips from the top of a cage in ROH. Too bad it was, because CM Punk's commentary probably would've been very interesting. This was a very fast match. Both guys used alot of submission moves to start the match before going to the top. The announcer runs down the Code of Honor and some cheap plugs for RF Video. Both guys looked really good in this match. Man, the tape is worth it alone just for the CM Punk commentary as he talks about his upcoming match with Terry Funk. Just imagine RAW, with Chris Jericho alongside Jim Ross. TJ Wilson hit a beautiful flipping firemans carry from the top rope, but was only able to pick up a 2 count. Hart was able to hit a shooting star press for the win. Crowd gives a "Please come back" chant. Funny how fast that changed lol.
Teddy Hart makes his way to the back, and he's confronted by Special K, who says he's not a real highflyer. I guess that's the real reason why Teddy flipped on 11/1 lol.

Raven promo time. Raven talks about his feud with CM Punk. ROH let Raven and Punk chose opponents for each other. Raven chose Terry Funk to fight Punk, and Punk chose Corino to fight Raven. Raven wants a Raven rules match against Corino.

More Memories from the Rec Center. This time it's from 7-27-02. We see clips of a brutal bloodbatch between Natural Born Sinners vs Carnage Crew. This match is sick and everyone spilled enough blood to save 78787 lives as blood donors. Boogalou gets Devito to tap out by camel clutching him in the mouth with barbed wire. Wow.

Steve Corino w/LeGrande, Simply Luscious, and posse d. Raven
PREMATCH: Corino has his usual long entrance. Today, before announcing Corino, the announcer goes through some of the men that Steve Corino defeated, such as The Headbangers and Doink The Clown for example.
During the commentary, we find out that Steve Corino wasn't too happy with CM Punk for putting him against Raven. Punk says he told Corino secrets on how to beat Raven. This was a good old school wrestling match. After about 10 minutes or so, a steel chair made its way into the ring. Corino propped the chair in between the ropes in the corner, and whipped Raven back first into it, sending Raven flying out of the ring. Raven was able to rebound however, and superkicked, then unloaded some offense on Corino, including clotheslines and bulldogs. Raven then got the chair and did his drop toe hold on the chair to Corino. Raven looked like he had the match won, but Simply Luscious ran in. At this point, CM Punk left the commentators booth, which was conviently, not on camera. Raven goes to spank Simply Luscious, but Corino stops it and puts Raven in a Million Dollar Dream. Raven gets out of the hold, and evenflow ddts Corino. It looks like Raven is going to get the win, as the refs hand is about to hit 3, but before the ref can slap 3, CM Punk pulls the referee out of the ring. Punk runs in the ring and Raven chases him, only to walk into a Steve Corino superkick. Corino pins Raven.
POSTMATCH: Punk beats up Raven some more. Corino tells Punk he doesn't needs his help. Corino slaps Punk across the face. Punk stares down Corino, and leaves the ring. Surprisingly, Corino and Raven shake hands after the match.

More Memories at the Rec Center. This time it's a 4 way match between Low Ki, Chris Daniels, Spanky and Doug Williams to determine the first ever ROH Heavyweight Champion. This match took place on 7/27/02. We see clips of this match and the crowd going nuts during it. We are told that the temperature is 100 degrees. This match was contested under a point system. We see all the falls that took place in the match. This match has been described as the fastest hour in ROH history. Low Ki wins this match and becomes the first ever ROH Champion. A "match of the year" chant broke out during the conclusion of this match. We are then shown Low Ki celebrating his win in the ROH locker room. Low Ki collapses on the floor after wrestling 1 hour in the extreme heat. Low Ki cuts a promo about being the prestigious ROH champion. He dedicates his title win to the then recently departed Russ Haas. Low Ki also dedicates the match to Charlie Haas. Very emotional stuff.

Colt Cabana d. Chris Sabin, Matt Stryker and AJ Styles in a 4 way match
We start the match, with CM Punk on commentary saying, "I had to go to the bathroom, did I miss anything?" Funny. Really good match here. This was a one fall elimination math. This was just a great wrestling match. The Colt Cabana promo in the beginning of the tape more or less foreshadowed him winning this match, but then again, you could've found out the winner by going to the show live. I thought the interaction between Stryker and Sabin was really hot to watch. Both guys have a similiar style with Sabin's having a little more flair. Towards the end, Matt Stryker hit a huge german suplex on Styles. Sabin gets flipped over the top rope by Cabana. Cabana then hits the Colt 45 on Matt Stryker for the win. That's a sick finisher. Good job by all 4 guys.

Cut back to Bayonne, NJ, where Danny Maff is on the cell phone with Allison Danger. Maff inquires about the Field of Honor tournament, and Xaviers loyalties to the Prophecy. Maff tells Danger to go to Rob Feinstein, and tells her to tell him that there is no way Maff is pulling out of FOH. He says he will be at the next ROH show to wrestle in FOH in Baltimore, MD. (The 10/16 show) Maff tells Danger to call him back after Daniel's match.

More memories from the Murphy Rec Center. This time we backtrack in time to 9/21/02, to see highlights from a Michael Shane vs Paul London match. Just a fucking incredible match this was. Both guys kicked out of everything short of a gun shot. This was the start of the "PLEASE DONT DIE" chants. London hits a sick SSP from 15 high off a wobbly ladder for the win.

Cut to Gary Michael Capetta, who's hosting intermission in the locker room. GMC is with Colt Cabana. Cabana talks about his big win against AJ, Sabin and Stryker. Cabana says he got something big planned for later on. CM Punk joins Cabana. Punk talks about history with Steve Corino and Raven. GMC closes the promo.

Rundown of upcoming ROH shows and events.

A Tag Team Gauntlet was up next. The winner of this gauntlet would become ROH Tag Team Champions. Due to an injury to the Amazing Red, AJ Styles and Red were forced to vacate the championships. The results are as follows:
1) Hydro, Deranged & Angel Dust of Special K beat The Carnage Crew of Justin Credible, Loc & Devito by DQ
2) Jay & Mark Briscoe defeated Hydro & Deranged.
3) Jay & Mark Briscoe destroyed Dunn & Marcos, The Ring Crew Express.
4) Izzy & Dixie of Special K beat the Briscoes.
5) The Backseat Boyz of Trent Acid & Johnny Kashmere defeated Izzy & Dixie to become new ROH tag team champions.
Overall, this was easily the best gauntlet match I've ever seen. Again, CM Punk's commentary is hilarious, especially during the drug influenced Special K matches. CM Punk is appalled at Chris's commentary, when Chris calls Becky Bayless a slut. Credible kissed Becky during the first match, where Chris says this is the 10th guy Becky kissed today. Punk is shocked. Funny shit here. I guess the reason I'm raving (there's another pun) about the commentary is because ROH is not known for their great commentators, and I think it would be a good idea to have a special guest commentator on future tapes. If you're a fan of tag team wrestling, this match and tape is for you. I forgot why, but conspicuous by their abscense from this match, were The SAT, who are one of ROH's main tag teams. Still, an excellent display of tag team wrestling.
Skipping to the finals of this match, the Backseat Boys d. Izzy and Dixie, when the BSB hit the T-Gimmick on Izzy for the victory.
POSTMATCH: Special K jumps the Backseat Boys, when the BSB were celebrating their victory. Special K opens up hard and destroys the BSB. The Briscoe Brothers make the save, and wipe out Special K, with a SSP from Mark Briscoe. Teddy Hart then runs out, and he hits a 720 corkscrew on Special K, proving that he can fly to Special K. The Backseat Boys celebrate and thank Teddy Hart.

More Memories from The Rec Center. This time with Low Ki and Samoa Joe in a brutal match with major stiff strikes and chops. This was from 10/5/02. Low Ki wins the match by just literally kicking Joe senseless.

Cut to a Homicide promo. Homicide is in Japan wrestling for Zero 1. Homicide tells Julius Smokes to take care of business and start up the Rottweilers. Homicide has some words for Low Ki. Homicide challenges Low Ki and says Low Ki has disrespected his roots. Homicide wants Samoa Joe in a one on one pride match. He says he don't care if it's a title match or not. Homicide leaves by saying "Ichiban".

This concludes Tape 1.

Final McWord
Excellent stuff here. The tag gauntlet was the best gauntlet match I've ever seen. The "Memories from The Murphy Rec Center" was a great touch to this tape. Catching up and reliving old ROH moments and seeing best of ROH footage is a great touch to this tape. I'll be back with more and summarize everything in part 2 of this review.

Be back soon with a Glory By Honor Part II review.

Sean "The MiC" McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com