RING OF HONOR
Death Before Dishonor
Rexplex, Elizabeth, NJ
Guesstimated attendance: 1000+ Huge.

As I write it's 3:30 AM so this one will be very short and to the point. I lost my notes so I might miss some stuff or sligjhtly screw up the order here.

Show started with another Special K rave. Not how I would have started the show. After far too long the returnig Low Ki finally came out and broke it up, leading to Low Ki vs Deranged. Good match won with a sick Ki Krusher by Low Ki. Deranged is good but needs to add some mass to look hist best next to guys like Ki. Deranged took about 500 stiff kicks to the head during this one.

Matt Striker beat Jimmy Rave in a short, very entertaining match. I'm not a big collyer fan so I actually liked this better than the Collyer/Striker match that was originally planned. Rave looked really good here.

Carnage Crew vs Texas Wrestling Academy crew had too many insane stunts to even describe. Rudy Boy's boys won an intense match that had the crowd going nuts. It was hard to see a lot of this due to people standing up.

Tom Carter vs Doug Williams was one of those methodical, very technical matches that some people love. Not my fav type of match. Williams dominated most of the match but Carter ended up geting the pin.

Homicide v Whitmer v Caban v Maff was another off-the-charts 4 way match from ROH. Fantastic match that saved what felt to me liike a slightly inconsistent first half of the show. Whitmer got the duke, which surprised me. Fantastic stuff from all 4 men. Whitmer was bleeding heavily from either a busted nose or a hardway cut.

Special K beat SAT and Backseat Boys in one of the better scramble matches I've seen from ROH. SAT appeared to have Mikey on the verge of defeat when he hit a sudden whippersnapper for the win. Backseats gave SAT the T gimmick afterwards for costing them the match.

Jeff Hardy v K Krazy v Joey Matthews wasn't as bad as most people will say it was, but it wasn't very good either. Hardy did himself no favors with the ROH regulars when he slipped on the ropes making his entrance. Very Shockmaster-esque moment. Hardy wore a mask during the early part of the match for no discernable reason. ROH crowd HATED Hardy who probably never got such a hostile reaction in his whole life. Hardy won a sloppy unimpressive match, and legions of teenage and preteenage girls left immediately afterwards, noticably thinning the crowd for the remainder of the show.

The Purists [Tony Mamaluke and Hurrican John Walters] beat the Job Boyz, I mean the Outcast Killaz. Kind of a nothing match but I'd like to see the Walters/Mamaluke team again. Both W & M are excellent and Killaz actually hit some nice spots too, but this match just never gelled.

CM Punk defated Raven in a dog collar match that brought back happy memories of ECW and even Crockett's NWA and Watts' UWF. Danny Doring was in the crowd and Punk made fun of him saying because of drinking [which straight edge Punk will never do] he is washed up never-was. Dog collar match started slow but got INCREDIBLY hot as it wore on. Both men bled rivers. They brawled all over the arena and Raven did spots where had fans stand and hold a chair while he threw Punk into it. At the end Raven went for a chairshot from Hell and got the ref instead. He hit the evenflow and had Punk down for about a 25 count but no ref. Colt Cabana hit the ring and crotched Raven. Doring jumped the rail and took out Cabana but all this lead to a Punk pinfall to end the fued. After, Punk tied Raven to the ropes and said he was going to send Raven on a downward spiral to hell and force him to go off the wagon and drink, and then forced him to drink a beer. TOMMY DREAMER hit the ring and saved Raven!!!!!! Dreamer tied Punk to the ropes, and Dreamer and Raven shook hands and then embraced. ***HUGE GIANT MARKOUT MOMENT*** The 2 forced the straightedge Punk to drink some beers, and Dreamer did the Sandman spot where he smashes the beer can on his head. Dreamer departed to "Man In The Box". Did I say, ****HUGE FUCKING GIGANTIC MARKOUT MOMENT****!!!??? The most emotionally satisfying end to a fued that I've seen in a long time, maybe in years. You really just had to be there.

Red & AJ Styles won the tag title match over the Briscoes when Styles hit the Styles Clash on Mark Briscoe. Excellent match.

Samoa Joe beat Paul London with a sleeper type submission to retain the title in London's last independent match. Just a great match. Fans threw streamers for London a la Japan. Afterward the whole locker room came to the ring and went down on one knee to London in a sign of ultimate respect. London thanked the other wrestlers, the promotion, and the fans in solid heatfelt farewell speeech. Perfect capper to a great show. London said some day he wants to come back and take everyone in the crowd out for milk and cookies after the show. Hey, I didn't know London was an Andy Kaufman fan. Just one more thing to like about the guy. Crowd gave London the respect he deserved, no 'you sold out' chants or any of that garbage. A fitting end to a show that looked shaky a couple of times but turned out to be excellent.

BACK TO ADAMS INDEX