ROH: GLORY BY HONOR
Murphy Rec Center
Philadelphia, PA
October 5th, 2002
ROH Champion: Xavier (Since 9/21/2002 - 0 Defenses)
ROH Tag Team Champions: The Prophecy (Since 9/21/2002 - 0 Defenses)
A tag scramble is going to kick us off. Natural Born Sinners were booked to be a part of it but Gabe again says Boogalou’s career is likely over after the attack two weeks ago by the Carnage Crew. Homicide has elected to go this match solo because, well, he’s Homicide.
Thanks to a follower on Twitter, Nathan (@midmerc12), I finally found out what’s up with the Boogalou situation. Basically, XPW came calling and tried to poach Boogalou and other ROH talent including Izzy, Da Hit Squad and Homicide. Homicide and Maff immediately turned XPW down and committed to ROH. At the time of the press release from ROH, Izzy, Monsta Mack and Boogalou hadn’t. Judging by this card I assume Monsta Mack committed and I know Izzy and Special K are around for a while so he committed as well. So it appears that Boogalou was the only one that took the bait.
The interesting thing is that this didn’t actually happen until the week before this show, Glory by Honor. So that means there may have actually been an angle shot with Carnage Crew & Natural Born Sinners at the last show, Unscripted, and it was then taken out in post production in the time between Unscripted and Glory by Honor, which would explain Gabe’s rather nonchalant way of ending Boogalou’s career on commentary.
Additionally, this wasn’t XPW’s first time attempting a talent raid on ROH. Months earlier they tried it on the Briscoes, Amazing Red & The SAT’s, but all five immediately shot it down and committed to ROH. It would not shock me if this coincided with the Briscoes story sort of becoming the second most important story in the company and Red getting that push with the Low Ki match. Sort of like Gabe rewarding his guys, which I’m fine with.
You can read the full press release below. Again, huge thanks to Nathan (@midmerc12 on Twitter).
On with the show!
Match #1: Divine Storm w/ Trinity vs. Special K w/ Elax vs. The SAT vs. Homicide [Tag Team Scramble]
Trinity is here now and with Divine Storm. Homicide is the star of the show and it really feels like a way just to really get him over. Which I am completely fine with. You may say that it’s ridiculous to sacrifice three tag teams to one wrestler, but what are they *really* sacrificing here? These three teams mostly stink. Some fun floppy shit and dives. Quick and inoffensive. Homicide hits Izzy with the Cop Killa and follows up with an STF to Dixie for the win.
**
Post-match, Homicide gets a standing ovation. Probably mostly for him staying loyal to ROH but I digress. BUT BAH GAWD THE BACKSEAT BOYZ HOP THE RAILING AND ATTACK HOMICIDE! THEY DON’T WORK HERE! Gabe announces that ROH and CZW have agreed to do some double shots in the near future but he didn’t think that included CZW’s top tag team invading! They grab mics and they want to test out ROH’s best tonight so they’re issuing a challenge. Homicide gets back up and says he’s up for the challenge and he’ll team with anyone in the back, it don’t matter. He wants to fight. AND MY GOD IT’S THE KING OF OLD SCHOOL STEVE CORINO! Feels like something special has begun.
Match#2: Homicide & Steve Corino vs. The Backseat Boyz
The Backseat Boyz observe the Code of Honor but then “shockingly” Corino and Homicide both throw punches at them after the handshake. Gabe is aghast asking “who would’ve thought it would be the ROH guys taking the cheap shots?” Hey dip shit, did you ever watch a Steve Corino match before you signed him? Fuck you! Gabe is also hoping this doesn’t turn into a CZW match. Shut up, nerd. Early on, the Backseat Boyz go to Irish whip Corino & Homicide into each other but they stop and Homicide apologizes to Corino. This is important, remember this. It breaks down into some relaxed rules shit and Homicide has this fun spot on the floor with Acid:
Followed almost immediately by this better one:
Hell yeah. This match is actually super fun. Homicide and Acid are having a nice brawl and Corino & Kashmere are working a solid match inside the ring. Gabe literally spends half the match wondering aloud if this is ROH or CZW rules it’s seriously like every other line. Shut up you fucking hack. He’s the opposite of fun. Whoever his commentary partner is tonight (it’s not Convicted Sex Offender Rob Feinstein) tries to speculate that maybe ROH guys will invade a CZW show and Gabe immediately throws cold water on it. Fucking dork. ANYWHO, back to the match, Corino tries to steal a pin from Homicide after Homicide hit the Cop Killa on Acid but the delay allows Kashmere to break it up. Homicide confronts Corino and then goes to hit Kashmere but he moves so Homicide accidentally hits Corino. AND CORINO GETS UP AND SUPERKICKS HOMICIDE! Corino walks out on his partner and the Backseat Boyz hit the T-Gimmick to win.
**3/4
This is the start of something beautiful.
So of course now it’s time for the Christopher Street gang.
Match #3: York & Matthews and Alexis Laree vs. Christopher Street Connection & Allison Danger
This sucked and I’m not even going to give it the time of day. Joey Matthews deserves better. Mickie isn’t there quite yet. CSC beat down Laree and Danger pins her. Moving on.
1/4*
Little Guido cuts a pretape going over his history of tag partners including shout outs for JT Smith and Tracey Smothers. He loves them and had a great time but he knew the comedy stuff would only get him so far. Then Tony comes in, they got serious and they won the ECW Tag Titles. He would love to still team with Tony but if he’s not going to get serious then they have to part ways.
Match #4: James Maritato vs. Tony Mamaluke [Rights to FBI Gimmick on the Line]
Tony Mamaluke is such a piece of shit. I mean I’m sure he’s a fine person or whatever. Never heard anything about him. But in the ring once that bell rings he just sucks. When Guido tries to control this he starts to pull something half decent out, but Mamaluke’s control segments are fucking brutal. Guido’s not good enough at all to carry a sack of shit like this. Mamaluke ends with a Guillotine Choke. Whatever.
*1/2
Match #5: Amazing Red vs. Ikuto Hidaka
So Gabe announces that this is the end of Hidaka & Togo’s brief US Tour and unfortunately Togo is hurt so he won’t be facing Doug Williams later tonight. Which is a bummer. This is a really fun spot fest but I want to see more out of Red. He kind of plateaus after the Ki match. Ikuto is fine but he’s not Dick Togo. Red wins with the Infared but his shin NAILS Hidaka in the eye and he’s busted open and a knot forms immediately.
**1/2
Match #6: Fast Eddie (c) vs. Don Juan [ETV TV Championship]
These are two TWA guys. Rudy Boy is at ringside. ETV is the promotion Rudy Boy runs along with the TWA. Fast Eddie is legally blind. And it shows. This stink. Fast Eddie wins in less than 4 mins. I don’t care. But you can tell Gabe has a hard on for this kid. Not in that way, but, well you know.
*
Post-match, Rudy Boy celebrates with both of his students but Michael Shane & Bio-Hazard run out to attack them. They get into a stand off with Rudy but then Steve Corino comes out. He mocks Rudy, asking what else can he take from him? He’s got his students listening to him, and gives Shane a high five, and he’s got his girl (Luscious). Rudy Boy calls Corino a Dusty Rhodes wannabe so they brawl and their match is on RIGHT GOD DAMN NOW.
Match #7: Steve Corino vs. Rudy Boy Gonzalez [Texas Death Match]
This really didn’t do much for me. It was an 8 minute match. Not sure it needed this particular stip. Just make it a street fight. Texas Death is like one of the “final boss” levels of stips. Anyway, Corino’s busted open from the prematch fist fight so Rudy has the advantage early. Corino made his comeback and laid Rudy out with a body scissors Cobra Clutch. Rudy didn’t get back up for the 10 so Corino wins.
**
Post-match, Corino, Shane & Bio beat down a defiant Rudy Boy. Paul London runs out with a ladder, maybe the worst run-in weapon ever, but the heels bail to the floor. Corino dares London to do the dive he did last month but he doesn’t. The heels regroup in the entry way with their backs turned, AND NOW LONDON DOES THE SPOT FROM LAST MONTH BUT THE LANDING IS EVEN CRAZIER!
London goes back to check on Rudy Boy and Shane does a terrific job of selling the dazed effect from this as well as anger at London. A fan with a thick Delco accent yells “NICE JOB SHANE YOU BEAT ON A 50 YEAR OLD MAN DICK HEAD”.
HELL YEAH.
So ROH does an awful job of setting this up but Gabe slips in at the last second that this is happening because Samoa Joe is a hired assassin of the Prophecy to keep Ki away from Xavier and the belt.
Match #8: Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe [Fight Without Honor]
I’ve wrote in this review numerous times how there’s different levels to a Low Ki match. There’s people that he put strikes who he’s just going to abuse and there’s people who aren’t afraid to get in there and go shot for shot with him. But Samoa Joe presents a rare third kind: someone who can actually out strike Low Ki. It adds such a unique layer to this in that not only does Joe immediately target Ki’s bad knee, but he either has him on the mat or he’s straight up out striking Ki, and it sends Ki reeling and falling into the ropes early, already dazed. Ki is only able to take control about 1/3 of the way through because he starts setting traps for Joe like he’s King Kong. Joe totally whiffs on a Helluva Kick and gets caught on the top rope so Ki just empties his special bar and lights Joe the fuck up with strikes to the head and shoulder. Joe sells the shoulder and Ki immediately goes to work on that, which will also help neutralize the possibility of Joe locking in his main arm for the Choke. Ki gets a decent amount of time to wear Joe down, but Joe doesn’t die and starts catching Ki slipping, paying him back ten fold with some big slams and throws. They come to a stalemate, and then something special happens:
HELL YEAH. Standing O from the crowd. Low Ki gets the advantage and Joe’s wobbly, losing his balance and falling to a knee. Ki unleashes the Kawada kicks — legit like maybe 13-14 in a row. Joe STILL fights back and Ki has to shake out his leg because he’s starting to hurt his bad leg from the kicks! He pummels Joe with brutal MMAish style forearms to the back of the neck and head and finally after a handful of knee strikes, the mighty beast collapses where he stands and Low Ki covers to win! What a match. What a debut for Joe. That’s how you get someone over in defeat.
****1/4
Post-match, Ki offers Joe his hand and Joe accepts it. Interesting tidbit given that the Prophecy hired Joe for this.
Match #9: Prince Nana vs. Elax
All of a minute. Nana wins.
1/4*
Post-match, Dunn & Marcos come out to do their schtick. And then the large African American gentleman comes into the ring from the crowd again to double chokeslam them before leaving. Still no idea who he is.
Gabe announces during the next match that next month ROH will be introducing a #1 Contd’rs Trophy. Stop with the trophies.
Match #10: Xavier vs. Jay Briscoe [Non-Title Match]
As a reminder, since ROH has apparently stopped any sort of backstage segs or recap videos, this is set up because the Prophecy has refused to defend their titles on ROH’s biggest show yet and because Mark Briscoe suggested the Prophecy fight his brother if they’re looking for a loser. This was okay but it went far too long for what was being offered. Jay is still young and inexperienced and Xavier just isn’t good enough to captain this. Xavier has full control for a while leading into the finish. He refuses to pin Jay and keeps prolonging it. Jay finds an opening and surprises Xavier with the Jay Driller and covers for the huge upset.
**1/4
Post-match, Daniels & Joe immediately hit the ring and start beating Jay down. Xavier gets back up and joins in. Daniels & Joe lift Jay off the mat and hold him in the air by his limbs and Xavier does a 450 onto him. Nice. Low Ki & Doug Williams run out to clear house and the heels bail.
Match #11: Da Hit Squad vs. Carnage Crew [Philadelphia Street Fight]
This was a blast for what it was. While not on the level of CC/NBS, this was a traditional ECW style brawl around the arena and WAY better than the last time these two teams encountered each other. Fun spots early on where again, the biggest underdog in ROH — the fence — takes its second and third big hits of the night.
They brawl to the back of the rec center where there’s a small stage and the Carnage Crew hit Maff with a spike piledriver through a table off the stage. Rules.
***
Backstage, Joey Matthews is passed out with Christian York trying to wake him up. Elax is seen peeking in and laughing from a bathroom and it’s heavily implied he slipped him a Mickey. Dixie and Izzy are too busy drinking water out of the sink like hogs to care.
SPANKY’S BACK! But I’m pretty sure this is his last match as he’s WWE bound.
Match #12: Paul London vs. Spanky vs. Michael Shane w/ Bio-Hazard [Triangle Match for Showstopper Name]
This was fine but it probably could’ve just been a straight triple threat because it did not need to go 20+. Fun story in the beginning where both Spanky and London hate Shane so much and for different reasons. And it really starts to come across like a handicap match. But their hate for him boils over to the point where they can’t be satisfied with someone else hurting him. So they take turns where like London will be stomping on Shane and Spanky will gentle move London away so he can stomp on Shane. And then they amp it up, the gentle moves become pushes and then the pushes become shoves and then before you know it Spanky and London are fighting. It then comes to Spanky & London having a match with them only taking a reprieve to keep Shane at bay. Spanky hits London with the Sliced Bread #2 but Shane throws Spanky out and covers London to steal the elimination at around ten minutes. Then Spanky and Shane go ANOTHER ten minutes. This mistake here is that SPANKY’S missed like the last 3-4 shows, so his issue with Shane has cooled off whereas the Shane/London beef was probably the 2nd or 3rd best story in the company. I don’t think Shane/London continues after this, or at least not much longer, so you kind of did London no favors here by having him get eliminated early and rather cheaply by Shane. Now Spanky & Shane go the aforementioned extremely long time and they kind of lose the crowd and the entire atmosphere of what’s been a hot night cools off tremendously. Spanky sells the exhaustion but I nitpick that too like I did with the Ki/Xavier match. Just a few months ago Spanky wrestled one of the most grueling sixty minute matches I’ve ever seen. He shouldn’t be equally as gassed here. That’s bad on his part like it was on Ki’s. Anywho, Shane ends up getting the victory and now owns the Showstopper name.
**1/4
Post-match, Shane grabs a mic and still has great heat with the crowd. He says he’s killing off the Showstopper name because he’s better than it.
Again, the Showstopper name was something Spanky/Shane had their beef over when ROH first began. With Spanky missing the last few shows and London/Shane being elevated, the Showstopper bit (which was already lame as fuck) honestly became super outdated. Spanky went on that NOAH tour when ROH was still figuring things out. And in his absence, ROH has started to morph into the incredible company it was from 2003-2007ish. It’s crazy but sometimes that happens. A great example of this is ECW. Yes, the name change is part of it, but think about how different ECW is from September 1994 to February 1995. The look and feel change, they stop using a ton of dead weight like Tommy Cairo and Rockin’ Rebel. And ironically, Dreamer goes on an AJPW excursion for like 2 months in late ‘94/early ‘95, and he walks in to a very different ECW than what he left. It’s not as noticeable as this Spanky/ROH one because Tommy’s feud with Raven caught fire almost immediately, whereas Spanky is walking back in as the cold part of a hot angle.
But I digress. Sometimes I like rant.
Last show they announced in December, Abdullah the Butcher would be coming in for a match. But now tonight they announce that match will be ABDULLAH & HOMICIDE VERSUS THE CARNAGE CREW IN A BUNKHOUSE MATCH! Good to see Homicide gets his revenge on the Crew.
It’s main event time. Last month, this was set to be Togo vs. Williams with the winner facing Daniels later in the night, and in that match, whoever faced Daniels would put his right to shake hands on the line. As mentioned earlier, Togo is hurt and missed the back end of his US trip after the last ROH show, so it automatically becomes Daniels/Williams and if Daniels wins, Williams can’t shake hands, but now if Williams wins, Daniels HAS to start shaking hands.
Match #13: Christopher Daniels w/ Simply Luscious vs. Doug Williams
Alright this pissed me off. These are two of my dudes and I dunno. They had a fine match but none of it felt like it mattered. Like a modern WWE TV match. It doesn’t help that the last match really killed the crowd. Also the fact that this is a 13 match show that may be boiled down to 3 hours for a DVD but was probably 4-5 hours live. But these aren’t the reasons it pissed me off. It pissed me off for the same reason I just got pissed at Spanky in the last match. These two were just in the fatal four way iron man match in a 100 degree building! AND THEY’RE FUCKING DOING EXHAUSTION SELLING AT LESS THAN TEN MINUTES IN? It’s not even like they’re working at some super fast pace or getting into a fight like Ki/Joe earlier. They’re just out there having a match! Gabe tries to cover for the dead crowd by saying they won’t applaud just because they see cool moves they want the wrestlers to earn it — meanwhile, the crowd is cheering for the most basic shit just to be nice. What a dope. I hate him. They do all this back and fourth feeling like it’s building to something finally and then Daniels sort of just haphazardly ends it with a roll up. Whatever.
**1/4
With that loss, Doug Williams can never shake hands in ROH again. In a FANTASTIC bit, Daniels laughs and LEGITIMATELY OFFERS HIS HAND TO SHAKE FOR DOUG. Suddenly, Dick Togo limps out and attacks Daniels from behind with his crutch. Then Jay Briscoe runs out and plants Daniels with the Jay Driller in revenge for earlier. Luscious pulls Daniels out and they bail. Where were Xavier and Morgan and Joe?
Backstage, Tony Mamaluke is leaving and looking sad. Guido comes out and asks if that’s it, if he’s even gonna say good bye. Mamaluke hesitates but then walks back and hugs Guido. They then verbally suck each other off for a bit. Guido pleads with Mamaluke to put the FBI gimmick behind him and be the Shooter like his trainer Dean Malenko and he promises him he’ll have so much more success. Tony thinks about it and says James is right and they hug. Tony says goodbye and he hopes to see him soon and Guido says it’ll be sooner than you think.
Guido finally leaving the indie scene for the WWE and as a final joke he leaves a gift behind for the industry that never took him as seriously as his counterparts: the inspiration for an all time bad run from Tony Mamaluke. And the implication at the end that the WWE was gonna come calling for Mamaluke is hilarious. WWE were signing so many bad guys from 2002-2009, and they brought Mamaluke in for what, like 3-4 matches in 2006 when they needed warm bodies for the ECW revival? Mamaluke had connections between Guido and then Dreamer, Paul E and later Nova all being office. Do you realize how much you have to suck to be a mid tier ECW and WCW alumnus with friends working at WWE and you can’t even get a shot to go work in Ohio Valley? Or Deep South? Or HWA? Or fuckin’ Dory Jr’s farm, for Christ sakes?
AND, this little segment also means Gabe had TWO matches on the show where the stip was a gimmick was on the line and the result was the winner immediately trashing the gimmick. It’s either pudding brain booking or edge-lord “were true wrestling” nonsense but either way I hope Gabe wakes up with a head cold tomorrow.
But, the show brings the nose up with an awesome closing segment…
The Prophecy are backstage and Samoa Joe is with them. Daniels puts all of them over and does the hard sell on Joe. He says that next month on 11/9, they’re going to take out all of their enemies at once starting with Jay Briscoe. Xavier says Briscoe beat him once but it won’t happen again. Luscious interjects poking fun at Xavier telling him to watch out for that Jay Driller. Xavier’s pissed but Daniels calms Xavier down and Joe laughs. Daniels ends the promo and they all kinda stand there for a second, and Daniels then talks to the camera guy asking if that take was good, and the camera guy says yeah they’re all set. Steve Corino walks on, having just been off camera, and goes to leave with Luscious. Daniels politely stops him (his whole cadence and tone have changed since this part is supposed to be a SHOOT~) and he asks Corino why he’s hanging out with Michael Shane after what he did to the Prophecy. Corino again repeats he’s got no problem with the Prophecy but what Luscious does with them is business and she does with Corino is personal, and he’s really not here to look out for the Prophecy, he’s here to look out for himself. Daniels doesn’t like that but then Michael Shane walks on and gets in Xavier’s face. Xavier cuts a cornball little promo about what being ROH champ means (I thought the Prophecy hated ROH?) and Shane says he can take that title anytime he wants, and he’s entering the #1 Contd’rs trophy gauntlet next month. Joe slowly moves over to seemingly back Xavier, thus doing his job, but then we see he’s kind of laughing at Xavier getting punked out while standing with Corino. Joe and Daniels break it up and Corino’s ready to go and calls Shane and Luscious. Daniel’s changes his mind and says Luscious can’t leave yet because the Prophecy have to discuss business. Corino rolls his eyes and then looks at Joe and says “Norma Jean’s?” And Joe smiles and high fives him. Dudes rock. I’m assuming they’re talking about the Norma Jean’s strip club in Baltimore? But I’m not sure why they’d go from Philly to Baltimore for a strip club when there’s a ton in Philly. I dunno. Anyway, Daniels asks Joe where he’s going in a really soft voice which was funny, and he says they have Prophecy business to discuss. Joe tells Daniels he does his business IN the ring, and if he wants him to hang around after the show to be his boyfriend, it’s gonna cost him extra. Daniels & Xavier look distressed as the show ends.
Overall this wasn’t the best show in ring wise outside of Joe/Ki being a near all timer, but angle wise this is a HUGE show that kickstarts both Corino/Homicide and Prophecy/Group. Can’t wait. Punk, Cabana and Joe are here. Everything’s falling into place.
No comments:
Post a Comment