411 Video Review: Ring Of Honor: Crowning A Champion.

Live from Philadelphia. Your hosts are Donnie B and Steve Corino.

Low Ki cuts a promo about his career in Ring of Honor so far.

We get a video package of the 4 people in tonight’s ironman match.

Steve Corino and Simply Luscious are backstage. Corino talks about his relationship with Simply Luscious. Luscious is her usual herself in this promo.

Steve Corino: Who is the best professional wrestler in the world?
Luscious: Christopher Daniels.

The Christopher Street Connection are backstage eating bananas. They walk into Special K’s dressing room but are thrown out and have their bananas stolen.

James Maritato is backstage telling Tony Mamaluke that the FBI is dead, finish, caput. Looking back- that’s pretty funny. The Natural Born Sinners interrupt and because Mamaluke is a smartass- a match is made for Honor Invades Boston.

Jeremy Lopez v. Tony Mamaluke

Lopez is a regular from NWA Wildside. Mamaluke is an indy regular who has made occasional appearances in TNA.

They lockup and trade waistlocks. They face off in the middle of the ring. Lockup- Lopez gets an armbar- Mamaluke reverses. Lopez gets a take down and hooks a bow and arrow. Mamaluke escapes but walks into a near fall. Lockup- Lopez locks in a waistlock and a snap mare. He dropkicks him in the back. Lockup- Mamaluke gets a headlock and takes him down. Lopez reverses a headscissors but Mamaluke goes back to the headlock. Lopez locks in the headscissors and they face off. Lockup- Lopez gets a headlock and gets a shoulderblock. Mamaluke drops him on the ropes and slingshots out with a guillotine legdrop. Mamaluke hooks a camel clutch and jumps on the back. Lopez blocks a belly to back suplex and gets a forearm shot for two. Lopez gets a boot and a neckbreaker for two. Mamaluke gets a tornado DDT for two. Cover-two. Lopez gets a chicken wing crossface but Mamaluke makes the ropes. Lopez brings the chops but Mamaluke gets an armdrag and hooks a cross armbar. Lopez tries to roll out and gets a near fall. Lopez rolls through and gets a variation of a wheelbarrel suplex. Lopez forearms him but a blind charge hits boot. Lopez blocks a tornado DDT and boots him. Lopez hits a double underhook DDT and a double underhook suplex for two. Mamaluke blocks a suplex and they trade waistlocks. Mamaluke hits a double underhook DDT and locks in a facelock for the tap out win. Decent match but with some good scientific wrestling but the match just didn’t hook me in or make me care. **1/4

Divine Storm are backstage discussing strategy. They run into the CSC who are eating bananas again.

Prince Nana and Jacobs Ladder v. York and Matthews (w/Alexis Laree)

We get a look back at Low Ki killing Nana. He asks not to be hit in the head because of it. Jacobs Ladder is Nana’s new servant.

Nana and Ladder attack to start and kick some ass. Christian York comes back and heel miscommunication befalls Nana and Ladder. York and Matthews hit a double enziguri on Nana. Uh-oh. Nana bails. They hit their double team finisher- legdrop to the back of the head on Ladder- for the win. DUD

Nana is backstage and runs into the CSC.

The CSC (w/Allison Danger) come out and kiss some fans. They get into with York and Matthews and Alexis. They find one member of the team attractive- Alexis. Alexis decks Allison but gets decked herself. A brawl breaks out. Donnie and Corino are pretty funny here. Alexis spears Allison down and punches her out. CSC save her and they put a sparkle on her ass and spank her. York and Matthews save. This feud would be blown off later on in the year.

Earlier today the people from TWA arrived.

Michael Shane and Bio-Hazard v. Paul London and Don Juan with the winners getting an ROH contract

All four of these guys were trained in TWA- the school that used to be run by Shawn Michaels. Rudy Boy Gonzalez took over and trained all these guys and got them all wrestling in Ring of Honor. None of these guys have broken out so far so this match is designed to give these guys a chance to shine. The winner gets a contract in ROH. A contract means that ROH pays for your transportation to the show and your accommodations.

Michael Shane is the cockiest from the TWA bunch as he thinks because he is related to Shawn Michaels that he should be called “The Showstopper.” Paul London has been the most impressive so far as he is slowly getting over with the ROH faithful.
London and Hazard start. Hazard tags out to Shane before the match starts. Lockup- Shane takes him down and blocks London from rolling out. London reverses and works on the arm and then locks in a headlock. London gets two armdrags and a spinkick. CLIP! London dives out to the outside on to Hazard and Shane. Shane attacks Don Juan and hammers away. Don Juan gets a flying forearm and an elbow gets two. Tag London. London forearms him but gets dumped onto the apron. London misses a moonsault and lands on his feet but Shane responds by suplexing him into the corner for two. Corino is HILARIOUS here just ripping on Rudy Boy Gonzalez. Hazard comes in and knees London. He hits a suplex for two. London elbows him and hits a top rope flying headscissors. Tag Don Juan. Juan gets a sunset flip for two. Hazard boots him and jawbreaks him. Bridge suplex gets two. Tag Shane. Shane chops him and hits a superplex on him for two. Tag Hazard. Hazard hits a snap suplex on the neck. Tag Shane. Shane runs in and gets a near fall. Tag Hazard. Hazard hammers away and hits a roll through. He goes up top for a moonsault but hits knees. Juan hits a DDT and tags Paul London. London cleans house. He dropkicks Shane and flips right onto Hazard for a near fall. Don Juan gets dumped out. London bodyslams Shane and hits a moonsault for two. Shane superkicks him but Juan saves. A pier-4 brawl breaks out. London kicks Hazard into the kidneys but Shane makes sure to save him. Shane jams his left knee into the back of London but Juan saves. Hazard kicks the hell out of him but Juan gets a dragon screw legwhip. Shane saves with the picture perfect elbow. London stops Don Juan from getting a pinfall since he wants the cover. Shane runs in and takes out Juan leading to Shane covering Juan and London covering Hazard at the same time. The ref counts Shane’s pinfall.

Match was a huge mess as these guys were very green and the match seemed to fall apart at the end. *

Shane cuts a promo on Spanky- since he calls himself the Showstopper. Shane takes offence to that since he’s related to HBK. London runs in and claims that he’s the Showstopper. They slap each other and a brawl breaks out. London misses the Shooting Star Press and Shane misses the Picture Perfect Elbow. Rudy Boy makes the save allowing Corino to make more hilarious comments towards him. Rudy bitches them out and demands they go to the back. Backstage they brawl some more and a match is made for Honor Invades Boston.

We get a recap of Divine Storm and DHS having a squabble at Road To The Title to set up…

Da Hit Squad v. Divine Storm

Divine Storm yell at them and get flipped off in response. A pier-4 brawl starts up. Quiet Storm kicks some ass on Monster Mack but walks into an overhead suplex. Mafia slams Divine but he blocks the Burning Hammer. Divine actually gets a DVD on Mafia for two. Spinebuster gets two. Mafia blocks a Diamond Cutter and trips him up. Mafia runs into Divine’s face and suplexes him. Mack hits a frog splash but Storm saves and hits a frog splash of his own for two. Storm hits a top rope Diamond Cutter for two. Storm is dumped leaving Divine 2 on 1. He is able to block the Burning Hammer but gets his ass kicked. Clothesline from Compton causes him to try and bail. Divine gets an overhead suplex and botches a headscissors. Mack powerbombs him for the win. This was a big clusterfuck and not a very good one at that. DHS are better when they’re in scramble matches as they don’t get exposed for not having much talent like they did in this one.ѕ*

Jay Briscoe (w/Mark Briscoe) v. James Maritato

Jay Briscoe is only 18 year olds yet he already is a big name wrestler on the indy scene. Since he is so young he doesn’t win many of his matches but that doesn’t matter to Jay- All he wants is to gain experience and more knowledge about the sport. Mark Briscoe is Jay’s brother who also is a wrestler. Since he is only 17 he cannot wrestle in Pennsylvania and it seems he is jealous of Jay for being able to wrestle. Mark has constantly been getting on Jay for losing match after match in ROH. The one time Jay won a match- his brother claimed it was a fluke.

James Maritato is Nunzio in WWE. In ROH his gimmick is that the FBI is dead and gone and he was going back to his roots as a scientific wrestler who relies on that to get over.

They jockey for position. Briscoe gets a waistlock into a full nelson and takes Maritato down. Maritato locks in a full nelson and a hammerlock. Briscoe gets a headlock but Maritato gets a waistlock. Maritato gets a takedown but is tripped up. Maritato is able to lock in a Fujiwara amrbar and Briscoe makes the ropes. Briscoe locks in a crossface but the hold doesn’t last long. Maritato gets a rollup for two. Maritato trips him up and gets another Fujiwara armbar. Briscoe gets some elbows and he gets a jumping Stone Cold stunner for two. Briscoe hammers away. Briscoe goes up top. Maritato follows but gets tossed off. Briscoe jumps off and walks into a clothesline. Maritato hooks an armbar. Maritato misses something off the rope and Briscoe gets a DVD. Briscoe with a running knee for two. Briscoe with a front fallaway Niagra Slam. Maritato pushes him off the top and hits a nice double dropkick for two. Maritato chops him and they do an awkward looking sequence that leads to Briscoe reversing a superplex with a front face drop for two. Maritato blocks a powerbomb and hits a dropkick for two. Maritato hits a top rope legdrop for two. Briscoe blocks the Kiss of Death and hits a 360 DDT for two. Mark Briscoe walks to the back distracting Jay. Maritato hits the Kiss of Death for the win. Jay loses again. The match was going along just fine until the really stupid ending. It’s a shame how WWE is wasting Maritato right now. **1/2

Backstage Christopher Daniels and Simply Luscious are praying it looks like. Daniels talks about his ROH past and what the Prophecy will do. The mission of the Prophecy begins tonight.

Doug Williams is backstage stretching from poor bugger.

We get a video package of Natural Born Sinners v. Carnage Crew

Natural Born Sinners v. Carnage Crew in a bunkhouse match

A pier-4 brawl starts us off. Homicide is wearing a Michael Myers mask and a bulletproof vest. A boot gets involved as does a bullrope. Homicide gets sent into the barb wire. Homicide gives DeVito a taste of the barb wire. Homicide is busted open. Loc hits a back suplex on Homicide. DeVito is busted open and he SMOKES Homicide with chairshots. Loc cowbells Buggaloo. Homicide bleeds all over the place and KILLS DeVito with a chair. DeVito gets raked in the rails. Boogaloo uses a cowbell as Homicide gets chaired again. Homicide fights off DeVito with a boot. They break a rail and fight all over the place. Boogalooo saves Homicide and gets his ass kicked by Devito. These chairshots are sick. Loc is busted open and he gets beaten with a weightlifting belt. Boogaloo chairshots Loc for good measure as Loc’s arm is now bleeding. DeVito misses a dropkick! Boogaloo continues to chair Loc. Homicide hits the Shining Wizard for two. DeVito blocks the Cop Killah and hits a stiff clothesline. DeVito hits an overhead suplex into the turnbuckle- which is also covered in barb wire. DeVito gets some barb wire, puts it on Homicide and moonsaults onto him. Boogaloo saves. Homicide hits a Diamond Cutter on Loc and Boogaloo clotheslines the barb wire into DeVito. Homicide with a plancha through the ropes but Loc moves and he goes FLYING into the rail. Boogaloo sticks barb wire into DeVito’s mouth and wrenches back and that’s the finish. Holy shit- this was an absolutely sick brawl that had tons of cool spots and wasn’t boring unlike the Carnage Crew-DHS brawl. They also kept it short to make sure no one was burnt out. ***1/2

Boogaloo continues beating on DeVito but Loc comes back with hubcaps and they beat the hell out of Natural Born Sinners with them. DHS make the save but the NBS don’t seem to appreciate it.

Spanky is walking around and sees Daniels doing something. Spanky goes over all his competitors strengths. He may not have what they have- but he’s beaten Daniels, beaten Low Ki and was trained by William Regal- so take that Williams. Spanky cuts an awesome promo about the sacrifices he’s made to become a wrestler.

Danny Drake is in a wheelchair which means Mike Tobin needs a partner. Dunn and Marcos are announced as his partners- pissing Tobin off.

AJ Styles v. David Young v. Adam Jacobs for the NWA X Division Title

No real backstory here- Both guys have faced each other many times in various matches in NWA Wildside.

Young attacks everyone to start but gets spinkicked by Jacobs. Young powerbombs Styles but gets nailed by Jacobs. Styles takes Jacobs out and Styles and Young go. Young gets a hurricarana on Styles but Jacobs comes in and botches a neckbreaker. Jacobs gets dumped on the apron. He flies in leading to a double German suplex spot. Young gets dumped to the outside and Styles takes out Jacobs. Styles misses a moonsault and Young rams him into the ringpost. Young moonsaults Styles off the apron and Jacobs hits a suicide dive onto everyone. Back in- it gets two for Jacobs on Young. A bloody Styles comes in and hits double reverse DDTs onto both of them. Styles covers Young for two. Styles kicks Jacobs and hits a running dropkick onto them. Young Germans Styles and powerslams Jacobs. Young goes up top but Styles takes him down. He goes for the Styles Clash but Jacobs dropkicks Young to block it. Styles pushes Jacobs off the top into a Young spinebuster. Styles hits a top rope front flip into a hurricarana onto Young. Styles covers Young for two. Young misses a corner dropkick and Styles hits a twisting thing-a-mingy (Corino’s words- not mine) to eliminate Young.

Jacobs superkicks Styles for two. Styles hits a flying forearm and chops him. Jacobs boots Styles and hits a swinging DDT for two. Styles hooks a sit through Boston crab and gives him a backbreaker. Styles goes up top but gets crotched. Jacobs goes for a top rope hurricarana but it’s reversed into a top rope Styles Clash for the win. This match was too short but had some great action while it lasted. ***

It is announced that at the next Philly event- Steve Corino will return to the ring, there will be a tag team tourney and Michael Modest will be there. Rudy Boy Gonzalez comes into the ring allowing Steve Corino to make fun of him some more. Gonzalez is pissed that Corino has been mocking him on commentary. Rudy Boy says that at Unscripted- He’ll face American Dragon. (Note: That match never ended up taking place)

Dunn and Marcos and Mike Tobin (w/Danny Drake) v. Brian XL, Dixie and Black Gordman, Jr.

They just show a highlight package of this match but DUNN AND MARCOS ACTUALLY WIN A MATCH! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD. This is a holy shit moment. Post-match Slugger shows up and chokeslams everyone.

Carnage Crew challenge DHS to a Boston Massacre match.

Video package of Andrews v. Xavier

Scoot Andrews v. Xavier

Scott and Xavier have been feuding since ROH began. Scoot has never been able to defeat Xavier yet- despite coming ever so close.

This match is clipped to hell but basically Scoot beats the shit out of him. Xavier even gigs for good measure. Xavier blocks the Forces of Nature with a rollup for a close near fall and begins to take control as it seems like they’ve stopped clipping. The X-Bomb gets a close near fall. Andrews is able to come back but soon misses a dropkick leading to another close near fall from Xavier. Scoot comes back with the Forces of Nature for the win. Since they clipped almost everything out- I can’t really rate it.

Low Ki v. Spanky v. Doug Williams v. Christopher Daniels (w/Simply Luscious) in a 60 minute ironman match to determine the first ever Ring of Honor champion

When ROH began- everyone knew a champion had to be crowned. At Night of Appreciation- 16 wrestlers threw their hats into the ring for the chance to become champion. 4 groups were formed with 4 wrestlers in each block. The winner of each group would be put into this match.

Road to the Title was where it all went down. The 16 wrestlers were a whose who of indy wrestling. There were the TWA guys like Spanky, Paul London and Biohazard, FWA superstars like Doug Williams, Jody Fleisch and Jonny Storm, high flyers like Amazing Red, strong style experts like American Dragon, hard luck Jay Briscoe and the three biggest names on the indy scene in Low Ki, AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels.

After Road to the Title- only four men remained. Spanky was able to best two high flyers in London and Fleisch. Doug Williams, an unknown coming in, defeated Jay Briscoe and in a major upset- defeated the American Dragon. Low Ki beat the piss out of Prince Nana and had a hard fought win over Red. Daniels defeated Scoot Andrews and bloodied and eventually defeated AJ Styles.

After the matches were complete- the belt was unveiled with Spanky, Williams. Low Ki and Daniels in the ring. Daniels yanked the belt away before it could be unveiled and Low Ki just snapped. He locked in a Dragon Sleeper and nearly killed Daniels by refusing to release the hold.

Spanky and Low Ki are also at odds. At ‘Night of Appreciation’ the whole locker room came out to pay tribute to Eddy Guerrero. Except for Spanky. Spanky’s lack of respect really pissed off Low Ki. Daniels has also been miffed at Spanky’s odd nature.

Doug Williams is the one man who has no issues with the others. Road to the Title was his first ROH show so all most people know about him is that he’s British, is a great technical wrestler and he owns a victory over American Dragon.

In 95 degree heat, with no air conditioning, four of the best wrestlers in the world will battle it out for one hour to determine who will be the first ever Ring of Honor champion. You get two points if you score a pin or submission and you lose one point if you are pinned or forced to submit.

Low Ki and Daniels start. Daniels tags out to Williams. Williams takes him down and ducks an enziguri. Williams leglocks him and locks in a front face lock. Low Ki reverses into an armbar. Williams armdrags him over but Low Ki gets a headscissors and flips him over. They trade armbar reversals but Low Ki tries to kick out. Williams retains the armbar despite Low Ki’s attempts to escape. Williams gets a judo throw and they lock wrists. Williams gets a submission hold but Low Ki is able to roll over for two. Tag Spanky as the commentators go over the Code of Honor. I was waiting for that. They lock wrists and Williams chokes him out with his hands and knees his back. Williams kicks him in the back for good measure. Spanky runs him into the turnbuckle and reverses the hold. Williams armdrags him to break. Spanky takes him down and they trade facelocks. Spanky locks in an armbar. Spanky tags Daniels. Williams works on the arm but Daniels reverses. Williams reverses, Daniels reverses and they both roll through at the same time leading to a Williams hammerlock. He sends him into the turnbuckle while holding onto the hammerlock. Daniels backdrops out but Williams rolls through with a sunset flip for two. Williams tags Spanky. Spanky works on the arm and locks in a headlock. Spanky runs into him and goes back to the headlock. Daniels tries to suplex out but Spanky lands on his feet and continues with the headlock. Spanky takes him down but walks into a boot. Spanky armdrags him and goes back to the headlock. Daniels suplexes out. Daniels elbows out and takes a shot at Low Ki. Low Ki comes in and is pissed off. He takes it out on poor Spanky. Low Ki with a headscissors but Spanky reverses and works on the leg. Tag Williams. Williams trips him up and continues to work on the leg. He locks in a standing leglock as Low Ki tries to chop out. He doesn’t succeed and Daniels is tagged in. Daniels works his leg and tags Spanky. Spanky comes in and works on the leg. Low Ki reverses into a dragon sleeper and Spanky quickly escapes and tags Daniels. Daniels forearms him and goes to a slam but Low Ki starts chopping him. His rally is short lived but Daniels allows Low Ki to tag Doug Williams. Daniels headbutts him and he tries to chop him but that just pisses Williams off. Williams locks in a cross armbar but Daniels makes the ropes. Williams continues working on the arm but Daniels keeps finding the ropes. Williams brings the European uppercuts but puts his head down and gets booted. Daniels nails Low Ki but walks into a clothesline from Williams. It gets two. Williams tags Spanky. Spanky forearms him and armdrags him. Spanky locks in an armbar. Daniels rolls over and gets a near fall. Daniels neckbreaks him and then does it again. It gets two. Daniels tags Williams. Williams locks in a brutal camel clutch like move. Spanky is able to tag Low Ki. Low Ki comes in and locks in a chinlock. Williams jawbreaks out and works on the leg. Low Ki kicks out but Williams continues to work on his leg and boots him for good measure. Low Ki tries to rally but Daniels just walks in and beats on Low Ki. Williams hooks the Torture Device and slams him down. Williams tags Spanky. Spanky works on the leg but Low Ki keeps coming back with punches and chops. Spanky goes back to the leg with a dropkick for two. Spanky keeps working on the leg. Low Ki gets a desperation kick and another one. Low Ki whips Spanky into the corner and Daniels gets a kick in as well. Low Ki covers for two. Low Ki with a snapover suplex on the neck for two. Low Ki with a drop suplex and he kicks him. Daniels tags Low Ki and comes in and cheapshots everyone. Daniels suplexes Spanky for two and hooks a crossface bridge type hold. Spanky reverses but Daniels rolls through and gets a near fall. Spanky tries to fight back but Daniels takes him down. Blind charge by Daniels eats boot and Spanky gets a tornado neckbreaker. Spanky tags Low Ki and Williams refuses to tag in so it’s Daniels v. Low Ki. Low Ki starts kicking the hell out of him. He misses a kick and Daniels chopblocks him. It gets a near fall. They trade chops and Daniels goes to the eyes. He goes after Spank and gets a cheapshot. Spanky flies in but accidentally hits Low Ki. Doug Williams runs in and DDTs Daniels but he walks into Sliced Bread #2. Low Ki hits a backdrop suplex onto Spanky. Everyone is out. Spanky goes up top but Low Ki pushes him out. Daniels dumps Williams. Low Ki goes for a cartwheel spin kick but Daniels chopblocks him and hits the Last Rites for fall 1.

Daniels: 2 Spanky: 0 Williams: 0 Low Ki: -1

Daniels covers him again but Spanky saves. Spanky drags Low Ki over and tags himself. Spanky hits a running knee for two. Spanky hits a suplex for two. Low Ki is gassed on the outside. Daniels tags Williams. Williams locks in a choke type hold and jumps on his arm for two. Spanky with a facebuster and he tags Daniels. Daniels dropkicks him. Williams blocks a suplex and takes him down with an armbar. Daniels makes the ropes. Williams works on his arm. Williams tags Spanky. A blind charge by Spanky hits boot and Daniels DDTs him. It gets two. Daniels hooks a chinlock but Spanky reverses into an a Fujiwara armbar. Daniels elbows him and Spanky tags Williams. Williams rolls through and continues to work on Daniels’ arm. Daniels fights back and elbows him. Blind charge by Daniels hits the turnbuckle. Williams locks in another armbar. Daniels breaks it and locks in a chinlock. Williams elbows out but Daniels rakes the eyes. Daniels with a spinebuster and he tags Spanky. Spanky runs in and only gets two. Cover-two. Cover-two. Cover-two. Cover-two. Cover-two. Cover-two. THAT’S AWESOME. Williams gets a Diamond Cutter out of nowhere and goes for a sleeper. Daniels rakes Williams’ eyes and Williams tags him in. Daniels hits a side suplex and nails Low Ki. Spanky comes back with a side Russian leg sweep for two. Spanky with a neckbreaker and he tags Williams. Williams with a knee drop and he goes back to the arm. Daniels tries to roll him up but Williams clotheslines him for two. Daniels goes back to the yes and tags out Spanky. Spanky hits a front back heel kick and gets another kick and tags out to Daniels. Daniels hooks a backbreaker but Spanky flies into break it. They go to double team Williams but he fights them off and hits an overhead suplex on Daniels. Williams blocks a hurricarana and hits the Chaos Theory but Daniels saves. Daniels boots Williams and he hooks a submission hold but Low Ki comes in with a stomp onto Daniels to break it up. Low Ki chops Daniels and hooks a version of the Dragon Sleeper. Williams reverses and gets him in the Vertebreaker position and sends him into all the turnbuckle pads. Williams tops it off with a dropkick. Williams elbows him but Low Ki comes back with strikes. Low Ki with a hurricarana and he hooks the Tidal sleeper. Williams tries to powerbomb Low Ki to break. Low Ki rolls through and gets a small package. Low Ki with an armbar. Williams powers out and both are down. Low Ki comes back with strikes and Spanky tags himself. Williams hits the Chaos Theory onto Low Ki who flies right into Spanky and hooks a choke hold for the tap out win.

Daniels: 2 Low Ki: 1 Williams: 0 Spanky: -1

Daniels comes in and beats on Low Ki. Slam gets two. Daniels clotheslines him and hits a lionsault for two. Low Ki boots him and kicks him. Daniels gets a rollup and then hooks a leglock submission hold. Spanky comes in and breaks it up. Spanky hits a flying forearm onto Daniels but misses something from the top. Spanky cradles him for two. Spanky boots Daniels and hits a double underhook kinda Pedigree for two. Daniels hits a jawbreaker and Daniels tags Williams. Williams hooks a Hangman’s neckbreaker and drives Spanky into the mat thrice for two. Williams knees him and then Daniels clotheslines Spanky. Williams hits the high knee on Daniels and Low Ki runs in for the cover. Williams comes off the top with a high knee to break it up. Williams forearms Low Ki out and Spanky rolls Williams up for two. Spanky goes for Sliced Bread #2 but Low Ki makes sure to block it. Williams suplexes Spanky but Low Ki runs in and beats the hell out of Williams. Daniels is tagged in and hits the Picture Perfect Moonsault for two. Williams blocks the Last Rites and dumps Daniels out. Spanky hits a crossbody for two on Williams. Low Ki comes in and hooks a choke hold but Williams is in the ropes. Low Ki covers him but Spanky saves. Daniels run in and nails Low Ki. Spanky hits Sliced Bread #2 on Williams but Daniels saves. Daniels and Spanky roll out to the ring. Low Ki hits a spinning Senton off the top onto Williams for the fall.

Low Ki: 3 Daniels: 2 Williams: -1 Spanky: -1

Daniels runs in and tries to cover anyone. Daniels goes for a suplex but Spanky stops him. Daniels and Low Ki beat on Spanky but then turn on each other and start chopping the hell out of each other. They both clothesline each other and are both out. Daniels throws Low Ki down but misses the Picture Perfect Moonsault. Low Ki goes for his spinning Senton but hits the knees. Spanky comes in and hits a suplex for two. Low Ki blocks Sliced Bread #2 and hits a tombstone on Spanky. Daniels saves. Daniels dumps Low Ki and hits a reverse DVD on Spanky but Spanky kicks out. Williams piledrives Daniels but Daniels’ foot is on the ropes. Low Ki goes for the tidal wave but Williams catches him in a powerbomb. Spanky saves him. Spanky goes for a superplex on Low Ki but Low Ki pushes him down and hits the 450 Splash. Low Ki rolls out of the ring but Daniels throws him back in. Spanky blocks a slam and hits a DDT for two. Spanky hits a frog splash but Low Ki saves. Spanky blocks a suplex and hits a backdrop suplex on Low Ki for two. Spanky flies out of the ring onto Williams. Daniels comes in and gets a sunset flip on Low Ki for two. Shoulderblock- two. Daniels hits a version of the STO for two. Spanky hits a spinning DDT on the apron to the floor onto Williams. Daniels nails Low Ki and hits a spinning powerbomb for two. Low Ki is able to get a quick takedown. Low Ki blocks Last Rites twice but he misses a kick. Daniels hooks the Dragon sleeper. Low Ki is able to roll out of it as time expires.

Final score: Low Ki: 3 Daniels: 2 Williams: -1 Spanky: -1

Low Ki can barely stand. Spanky and Williams shake hands and hug. Williams and Low Ki shake hands. Spanky and Low Ki shake hands and embrace. Daniels stands on the outside refusing to partake in any of it. Daniels comes into the ring but walks out rather then shake hands.

Low Ki walks backstage where he is met by his trainer Homicide. He collapses in exhaustion with a towel placed on his head. He promises to be a great champion and dedicates the match to Russ Haas in a very classy move.

Mark comes in and taunts Jay about losing tonight. Jay goes to attack but Mark reminds him that he’s underage and can’t fight in Philly. Jay challenges him to a match at Honor Invades Boston.

Simply Luscious is consoling Daniels. Daniels attacks a referee claiming that he was screwed. He promises death to Ring of Honor.

Spanky used his unpredictable nature to his advantage as his high flying moves cause tons of headaches for his competitors. He even managed to connect with Sliced Bread #2. Yet he is not the champion.

Doug Williams was in control whenever he was in there it seemed. He beat the piss out of all three competitors and survived Sliced Bread #2. For a few seconds he was off his game but other then that- he was dominant. Yet he is not the champion.

Christopher Daniels was the only man to never be pinned. He was the only man to pin Low Ki. Yet he is not the champion.

Low Ki was the first man pinned in the match. He had his knee ripped to shreds as the other three competitors worked him over with sheer brutality. But by picking his spots and working a smart strategy- he was able to get pinfalls. And because of that-

Low Ki is the champion.

I give the match ****3/4. There a few problems in the match (people tagging out for no reason, the rules not being enforced at all and a few lulls in the action) but this a tremendous match that sees 4 people pushed to the limits under excruciating conditions all for one goal- the ROH title. Some of the sequences here are unreal, the psychology is sound and all 4 guys give it their all. And that equals one great match.

The Bottom Line- While this show is not as consistently good as other ROH shows (i.e. there’s a lot of crap on here) the main event is just unreal to watch and totally makes this tape a worthwhile purchase. There’s also a really fun bloody brawl if technical wrestling isn’t your thing. The DVD has a match between Eddy Guerrero and Low Ki as an extra so I would recommend either the DVD or VHS.

You can pick up the DVD here- http://www.rfvideo.com/merchant/index.cfm?action=moreinfo&id=7173

You can pick up the VHS here- http://www.rfvideo.com/merchant/index.cfm?action=moreinfo&id=7171

Highly Recommended