411 Video Review: Ring Of Honor: Do Or Die

Ring of Honor: Do or Die

As usual- thanks to RF Video for this tape. You can order Do or Die right here-

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Homicide and Julius Smokes are backstage. Homicide talks about his gangster past which all changed when he had his kid. And tonight- He’s going to win the title for his kid
We are backstage on Deranged’s R U Hizigh Cam. They plan to have a rave one day and start walking to the ring. It’s not their time yet so they get sent back.

B.J Whitmer v. Dan Maff (w/Allison Danger)

Dan Maff has become the new enforcer of the Prophecy. This is his first match as a member.

Maff won’t shake hands until later. C.M. Punk is on commentary for this one. A sequence leads to Maff shouting at him. Maff kicks him and chops him. Whitmer blocks a chop and hits an exploder suplex. Whitmer forearms him but misses a high knee. Maff bails. Whitmer follows him out and chops him. He whips him into the brand knew guard rail and then whips him into another one. They make a loud gunshot noise when whipped into them. It’s a nice touch. Whitmer gets sent into the rail and Maff is PISSED. Maff with a back elbow and he kicks him in the back. Maff stiffs him in the back and hits a big back senton for two. Maff’s hand is busted open. Maff goes to the chinlock. Whitmer elbows out and kicks him the back. He chops him but Maff won’t go down. Whitmer forearms him but Maff lariats him. Maff chops him and stomps away. Maff with a face wash and hits an ass to the face. He goes for a cannonball but walks into a high knee from Whitmer. That gets two. Whitmer forearms him and knees him. He hits a running knee but Maff gets an exploder suplex. Maff with another head drop suplex but Whitmer blocks the Burning Hammer. Maff blocks a superkick but Whitmer Germans him. Allison Danger runs in and crotches Whitmer on the top. Burning Hammer wins it. This was a good match- Maff is so much better off breaking away from Da Hit Squad. ***1/4

Maff and Danger are celebrating when out comes Julius Smokes. He says something to Danny Maff about turning his back on Homicide and ripping off DHS. Julius drops the N-bomb and they argue. Low Ki comes out and Maff flees. Low Ki makes fun of Maff for needing a woman to beat Whitmer and is pretty pissed at him for joining the Prophecy. Low Ki says one day- they’re going to fight. Maff leaves for good and now Low Ki turns to Smokes. He tells him this is a ring for athletes- not thugs. Julius Smokes struts in response. He tells Smokes that he doesn’t belong in ROH. Smokes takes off his shirt and out comes Homicide. Low Ki takes off his sling and hypes Homicide up and tells him to get rid of Smokes. Trent Acid shows up and kicks Homicide.

Slugga and Hydro v. Dunn and Marcos

This is from the Showcase hard and is clipped to just highlights.

Tony Mamaluke v. Jason Cross

Lockup- Mamaluke gets a waistlock- Cross reverses. Mamaluke takes him down and works on the arm. Cross rolls through and gets a hammerlock. Mamaluke with a headlock takedown. Mamaluke works on the arm. Cross works on the arm. Mamaluke with a hiptoss and he hooks a short arm scissors. Cross bridges up with Mamaluke on his back and takes him down. He knocks him off the apron and hits a spinning splash to the outside. Mamaluke sends him into the rail. Cross comes back and sends him into the post. Cross hits him with a somersault plancha and back in- it gets two. Mamaluke hits him with a Hieso suplex and hits a DDT with his feet draped over the rope for two. Mamaluke knees him and hooks a neck vice. They trade waistlocks and Mamaluke hits a suplex and then a Northern lights suplex. He bridges up and gets a near fall. Mamaluke with a shin breaker and a dragon screw legwhip. He hooks a horse collar but Cross makes the ropes. Cross with an enziguri and they slug it out. Cross dropkicks the knee and hits a Kamikaze for two. Cross hits a cross over neckbreaker for two. Mamaluke goes for a spinning DDT but ends up hooking him into a stretch. Cross reverses with a suplex into the corner. Cross hits two brainbusters for two. C.M. Punk is getting pissed that he won’t hook a leg. Another brainbuster but he misses the Shooting Star Legdrop. Mamaluke charges but gets sent into the rail. Cross with a release dragon suplex for two. Mamaluke pushes the ref into the ropes- crotching Cross on the top. Mamaluke hits a superplex and rolls through into a front choke. This turned into a really good match by the end and Punk helped play up the story of Cross’ inexperience costing him, ***1/2

Rob Feinstein is backstage with Iceberg. Iceberg thumbtacks ROH to his head. The Outcast Killahs are upset that they’re not booked for tonight. Rob books them against Iceberg.

Oman Tortuga v. Iceberg

Iceberg squashes him. DUD The crowd Konnans him post-match. Iceberg beats up Diabalo. Dunn and Marcos save.

Persephonie v. Alexis Laree

This match is clipped to just highlights of the match. Persephonie wins with a double underhook driver.

Matt Stryker v. “The Technician” Tom Carter

Lockup- Carter gets a headlock, Stryker reverses, Collyer reverses and they go on the mat and trade headscissors to applause from the crowd. They lock wrists. Carter flips him over for a near fall as the crowd is divided. Carter takes him down with a headlock and locks in a hammerlock. Stryker with a headlock but Carter reverses and works on the arm. Carter drags him over and retains the wristlock. Carter with a headlock and a hammerlock and he locks in the headscissors allowing the commentators to go over the Code of Honor. Stryker gets a headlock. Carter rolls over and gets a cross armbar- Stryker makes the ropes. Lockup- Carter gets a waistlock. Stryker rolls over and they jockey for a pinfall before Carter makes the ropes. Lockup- Stryker with a hammerlock. Carter reverses into a hammerlock. A stand off is reached in the centre of the ring. Lockup- Stryker goes for a Russian leg sweep but Carter blocks it and he hooks a cross armbreaker. Stryker tries to roll over and pin him. Stryker reverses into a leg lock. Stryker with a bow and arrow. Carter ends up on top for two. Lockup- Stryker takes him down and locks in a front facelock. Carter reverses into a hammerlock. Stryker with an elbow and he kicks out his leg and locks in a camel clutch. Carter tosses him off and hooks an STF. Stryker makes the ropes. Carter rams him into the turnbuckle but Stryker boots him and snapmares him over for two. Carter with a faceplant and a Swanton for two. Carter forearms him and gets a dropkick. Carter locks in a leglock but Stryker hits the thigh to break. Carter works over the midsection and locks in a chinlock. Stryker elbows out and hits a powerslam for two. Stryker brings the European uppercuts for two. Cover-two. Stryker hooks the chinlock. Carter elbows out but Stryker dumps him on the apron and kicks him off. Stryker hits a plancha. Carter DDTs him on the apron and goes up top but Stryker pops up and suplexes him. Punk leaves to go get ready for his match and Ray Murro joins him. They trade forearms (the wrestlers not the commentators) and Stryker hits a leg lariat. Carter reverses a DVD into a brainbuster. Frog splash gets two. Stryker boots him but Carter grabs the leg and rolls him up. Another roll up by Carter. Stryker rolls him up for two. Carter backslides him. Stryker with a small package. Stryker forearms Carter and a double KO results. Carter headbutts him but walks into a DVD. Carter rolls through into a crucifix for two. Stryker hits the DVD for two as the crowd is divided. Carter hits an inverted DDT from the middle rope for two. Carter with a dragon screw legwhip and he hooks an inverted Texas Cloverleaf but Stryker makes the ropes. Stryker blocks the inverted Texas Cloverlead but Carter starts dropkicking him. Stryker blocks a shinbreaker but Carter clubs him. Stryker gets a sunset flip but Carter rolls through into an inverted Texas Cloverleaf. Stryker grabs his leg and gets a small package for the win. ***3/4

This was everything Stryker v. Collyer should’ve been. Instead of just mat wrestling for the sake of mat wrestling- These guys sucked you into the match with Carter doing everything he possibly can to defeat Stryker. This was one awesome match and it sold me on Stryker.

Carter doesn’t want to shake hands and that brings out Gary Michael Cappetta. Carter is frustrated about his loss and tells Stryker who he is. He claims that everyone in ROH is copying him and complains about his bookings. He challenges him to a tap-out match next month in Philly. Stryker accepts but only if he’ll shake hands. Allison Danger comes out and recruits him for the Prophecy. Carter decides to shake hands.

Special K v. Second City Saints (w/Lucy) v. The Briscoe Brothers v. Carnage Crew in a scramble match

Special K and Carnage Crew don’t like each other for various reasons. Carnage Crew don’t like CM Punk because Punk looks down on them for drinking beer. The Briscoes recently had two unsuccessful title shots against Amazing Styles. There’s your backstory.

Cabana starts gyrating in the ring. Cabana and Jay start. Lockup- parity is shown. This lockup was so important that we cut backstage to-

Gary Michael Cappeta is backstage with Samoa Joe. He calls Homicide a common thug and brings up Round Robin Challenge II where he got his ass kicked. He runs into a locker room and beats the shit out of Maff

We’re back to Cabana getting a shoulderblock and dancing. Jay kicks Cabana in the back and starts chopping. Jay gets a headlock and Cabana gets a hurricarana for two. Jay rolls him up for two. Cabana hammers away and gets a boot. Running knee by Cabana and he hammers away. Jay dumps him on the apron and drops him on the rope. Jay with a pescado to the outside. DeVito clotheslines Dixie. Dixie dances and gets tossed on the top. Dixie gets a swinging DDT on DeVito and dances again. DeVito dumps him in the corner but Izzy saves. Mark comes in and gets neckbreakered by Loc. Dixie goes low on both Carnage Crew and dumps them out. Dixie hits Sliced Bread #2 on Mark for two. Mark with an exploder suplex and Punk comes in. Loc comes in and forearms and Izzy comes in and takes out Mark. Everyone soon gets dumped except Izzy and Punk. Izzy wants to smoke weed with Punk so Punk clotheslines him. Punk and Jay trade forearms and Punk gets a tilt-a-whirl slam. Punk drives him into the mat but gets dropkicked by Loc. Loc hammers away at Cabana but Cabana gets a backbreaker. Punk hits a springboard senton onto Loc. Dixie and Izzie come off the top onto Punk and Cabana. Cabana dumps Dixie. Heel miscommunication befalls the Second City Saints as Cabana accidentally legdrops Punk. The Carnage Crew hit a swinging suplex onto Izzy but the Briscoes save. Mark with a suplex onto DeVito but Loc clotheslines him. Jay hits a Mafia kick onto Loc. Jay forearms Loc but Loc suplexes him on his head. They got a spike piledriver on Izzy but Dixie saves. Izzy hurricaranas DeVito. Dixie dives onto Jay Briscoe. Mark dives onto Special K and Loc. Cabana and Izzy go as DeVito does a moonsault to the floor. Cabana hits Dixie with the Colt .45 and Punk hits Izzy with the Pepsi Plunge onto DeVito. T **

I don’t know what happened here but this was a pretty dull scramble match. I think Punk was holding back for the 4-way later and that hurt the match overall.

Punk gets on the microphone. He tells Izzy and Dixie that he’s better then them. Punk asks people to do the X symbol. Everyone who does the X is better then everyone else because the non-straight edgers are weak! Punk cuts a tremendous promo about how this is his revolution and how all of Raven’s disciples are nothing now. Punk goes after Hat Guy as Cabana keeps trying to tell him something. He’s about to tell everyone why he hates Raven when Cabana grabs the mic and starts acting goofy. Lucy won’t be Cabana’s girlfriend sadly. Punk finishes by running down his straight edge beliefs. A tremendous promo by Punk.

Gary Michael Cappeta is with B.J Whitmer whose been having some bad luck. Daniels interrupts to inform everyone what happened to Maff. Whitmer gets in his face about Danger interfering. Daniels gives him his same old Prophecy speech. Daniels challenges Joe to an Empty Arena match.

“Lone Wolf” Andy Anderson v. “Hurricane” John Walters

Lockup- no one takes advantage. Lockup- Anderson gives Walters a clean break and they trade slaps and headlocks. They trade hammerlocks and Walters takes Anderson down. Punk joins us on commentary as both guys fight on the mat and trade reversals. Walters with a rollup for two. Anderson with a spinebuster and he gets a back suplex. Anderson with a delayed vertical suplex for two. Anderson brings the chops and forearms. They trade waistlocks and Walters hits a powerbomb for two. Walters grapevines the leg but Anderson makes the ropes. Walters slams him but misses a splash. Anderson with a Razor’s Edge for two. Walters blocks a second Razor’s Edge but a blind charge eats elbow. Walters takes Anderson down from the top. Anderson rolls throuhh a sunset flip but Walters bridges up and hits a DDT type manoeuvre for two. They trade forearms. Anderson rolls through a backslide and hits a spinning powerbomb. **

Jimmy Rave v. Frankie Kazarian v. CM Punk (w/Lucy) v. Christopher Daniels (w/Allison Danger)

Punk and Rave start. Lockup- Rave pushes him back. Lockup- Punk pushes him back and chops him. Lockup- Rave tosses him. Punk complains about a hair pull. Rave nails him in the back so Punk jumps out of the ring. Punk comes back in and they lockup. Punk takes him down with a headlock. Rave armdrags Punk twice. Tag Kazarian. Lockup- Kazarian takes him down and works over Rave’s legs. Rave makes the ropes. Lockup- Kazarian with a waistlock. Rave works on the arm but Kazarian reverses and grabs the arm. Rave reverses and chops him. Rave with an overhead suplex and he tags Daniels in. Daniels nails Kazarian and hits a dropkick. Kazarian boots Daniels and gets a neckreaker. Tag Rave. Kazarian boots him and forearms him. Dropkick but they soon collide in mid ring. Punk and Daniels are tagged in. Daniels mocks Punk and then Punk mocks Daniels. Lockup- Punk works on the arm. Daniels reverses and gets a hammerlock. Punk reverses into a headlock. They collide in mid ring but neither man moves an inch. Lockup- Daniels gets a headlock. They shoulderblock each other in mid ring again and again no one moves. They shove each other and lockup. Punk grabs the arm but Daniels reverses. Punk snap mares him but Daniels takes him down. Daniels with a hammerlock. Punk elbows him and gets a takedown into a hammerlock. Daniels gets a headlock but Punk armdrags him. Punk with a dropkick but Daniels sends him into the corner. Daniels stomps away. Daniels grabs his legs but Punk lands on his feet and hits a chinbreaker. Blind rag by Rave. Punk goes after Rave and gets dumped out by Daniels. Rave clotheslines Daniels out and hits a plancha. Kazarian hits a pescado onto all of them. Back in- Punk kicks Rave in the back for two. Punk hits a delayed brainbuster. Rave fights back with forearms but walks into a powerslam. It gets two for Punk. Kazarian comes in and hammers away. Rave with a backdrop and he tags Daniels. Daniels hits a running clothesline. Kazarian rolls out and tags in Punk. Back elbow by Daniels gets two. Daniels with a gutwrench suplex on Punk for two. Punk rakes his eyes and tags in Rave. Rave forearms him and chops away. Rave with a leg to the head for two. Daniels rams him into the mat and tags in Kazarian. Kazarian stomps away but gets booted. Rave with an eniziguri. Rave knees Punk in the head and hits the Shining Wizard. Daniels saves. Rave hits Daniels with an inverted DDT. Rave knocks Kazarian and Punk down with forearms. Rave catches Punk in a crossface but Kazarian kicks him in the chin. Rave with a bridge back suplex on Kazarian for two. Daniels headbutts Rave to the floor but Punk hits a superplex on Daniels for two. Punk hits a butterfly backbreaker. Danger trips up Punk so Lucy trips up Daniels. Daniels and Punk take care of their women and Daniels gets a takedown into a nearfall onto Punk. Rollup- two. Punk boots him. Danels boots him but Punk blocks Angel’s Wings and backdrops him. Daniels blocks Shining Wizard and they slug it out. Kazarian suplexes Daniels and superkicks Punk for two. Kazarian slams him and slingshots in with a legdrop for two. Punk DDTs Kazarian for two. Punk goes for the Pepsi Plunge but Rave saves. Rave gets a nearfall but Kazarian hits him with the Novocaine- Daniels saves. Daniels rams Kazarian into the turnbuckle and he chops him. Kazarian with an ocean cyclone suplex for two. Daniels with a chinbreaker but Kazarian lariats him. Kazarian with a slingshot legdrop for two. Daniels hits him with the STO. Kazarian blocks a suplex but walks into the Last Rites for the Daniels win. This was a fun match but just went on for way too long. Everyone looked really good though and the Punk v. Daniels stuff was excellent. ***

Daniels gets on the mic and gives props to Kazarian and Rave. He turns his attention to Punk. Daniels jaws with the fans and then puts Punk over for following his own code. He offers him a shot at the Prophecy which Punk interprets as fear to face Punk and the Second City Saints. Punk agrees to join the Prophecy if Daniels shakes his hand. Daniels refuses and Punk says that he’s a dead man.

Jody Fleisch and Slim J v. Backseat Boys

Special K and the Backseats haven’t liked each other since they crossed paths. At Epic Encounter- Special K won a scramble to earn a meeting with the Backseats. They decided to send Jody Fleisch and Slim J into the fight.

Fleisch and Acid start. Fleisch grabs a headlock but misses a crossbody. Acid gets one and they trade a bunch of stuff that leads to an Acid dropkick. Fleisch kips up and they trade a bunch of stuff that gets blocked. Flesich gets dumped on the apron and kicks Acid. Acid blocks the DDT, Fleisch blocks the Yakuza kick and they face off. Kashmere and Slim J are tagged in. Slim J is really small. I mean- smaller then Spike Dudley. They trade armbars and J gets a leg scissors takedown. Kashmere takes him down. Fleisch comes in and works on the arm. Tag Slim J. J works on the arm and tags Fleisch. Fleisch works on the arm. Tag Slim J. He- you guessed it- twists the arm and tags in Fleisch. They do more tags and Kashmere is pissed off. Acid runs in and it’s a pier-4 brawl. Acid superkicks Fleisch. They catch J coming off the top and give him a back first 3-D. The Backseats do a somersault plancha onto all of Special K. They do another pier-4 brawl that leads to the Backseats clotheslining them for two. Acid kicks the hell out of J but Fleisch comes in and they do double team moves on his neck. Fleisch gets a bodypress for two. Fleisch with a standing shooting star press for two. J comes in and gets two. J hammers away and dances. Blind charge by Acid hits boot and he hits a double underhook piledriver for two. Special K double suplex him for two. Acid ducks the 720 DDT but Fleisch puts him on the top. Fleisch goes up top but gets pushed off. Fleisch crotches him and they both go up again. Acid hurricaranas him off the top and goes to makes the hot tag to Kashmere but gets cut off by J. Acid rolls through an attempted double clothesline and makes the hot tag to Kashmere. The Backseats clean house. Kashmere drops J right on his head for two. The Backseats hit the Dream Sequence on J but Fleisch cuts them off with the 720 DDT on Acid. Kashmere saves him. J slingshots off the rope with an inverted DDT onto Kashmere for two. Acid blocks a hurricarana but misses the Yakuza dick. J hits a reverse hurricarana and they roll to the outside. They brawl into the crowd and Fleisch and J find a scaffold and move it. They climb up and hit STEREO MOONSAULTS OFF A 20 FOOT SCAFFOLD OH MY GOD HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT. Back in- J covers Acid for two. Fleisch covers Kashmere for two. Fleisch tries to go up top but his knee is too fucked up to do it. Fleisch tells J to do it. J goes up top but gets crotched by the Backseats. They hit him with a top-rope T gimmick for the win. ***1/2

Samoa Joe v. Homicide (w/Julius Smokes) for the ROH Title

Samoa Joe and Homicide have quite the backstory. At All Star Extravaganza Samoa Joe choked out Homicide in a 6-man tag. At Scramble Madness they had a one on one contest that Homicide won with a Gannosuke Clutch. At Final Battle they were scheduled to be participants in a fatal four way but Joe’s stable mate Steve Corino laid out Homicide. At the First Anniversary Show- Homicide’s posse got into it with the Group. At Expect the Unexpected Joe became the #1 contender by winning a 4-way that included Homicide. Afterwards Joe got into it again with Homicide’s posse and Homicide attacked Joe. At Night of Champions- Homicide and DHS took on The Group in a 6-man tag that ended in chaos when Homicide gave Simply Luscious the Cop Killah. That same night- Joe became the ROH champion. At Round Robin Challenge 2 Homicide became the #1 contender by defeating Punk. Winning the title means that Homicide will be able to provide a better life for his 6 year old son- so he doesn’t have to join a gang like Homicide did.

Lockup- Homicide works on the arm. Joe trips him up but Homicide locks in a front facelock. Homicide works on the arm but Joe reverses and works on the arm. Homicide rolls out and works on the arm. They do some more mat wrestling and afterwards go back to their corners. Joe knees Homicide and nails him in the jaw. Homicide gets two running boots and dropkicks him. Homicide with a drop toe hold and he goes for a crossface but Joe makes the ropes. Homicide dumps him out but when he follows him outside Joe rolls back in. Homicide hits a running knee but Joe no-sells. Homicide thumbs him in the eye and kicks him in the face. Homicide hits a knee into the corner and goes for a running boot but Joe KILLS him with a urinage. Joe chops him in the back and kicks him in the stomach for two. Joe continues kicking him and hits a suplex (dropping Joe right on his head). Joe bails. Homicide follows with a baseball slide but Joe catches him and chucks him right into the guard rail. Joe seats Homicide in a chair but misses a running boot. Joe catches him and belly to bellys Homicide right onto the floor. He puts Homicide into the chair and hits a running kick. Joe starts clapping his hands and going OLAY OLAY OLAY OLAY OLAY. He then makes himself even cooler by kicking Homicide in the face again- through a rail. Julius threatens to stab his ass. Homicide gigs. Joe covers him for two back in. Joe bites Homicide and hits a sick German suplex. He hits a dragon suplex and then a release German suplex for two. They trade slaps and Homicide boots him twice. Homicide gets a swinging DDT and Joe bails. Julius Smokes gets Homicide a table. Homicide does a tope con hilo onto Joe and his head goes flying through a table as a result. It gets two. Joe chops him and powerbombs him RIGHT ON HIS HEAD. It gets two. Joe locks in a crossface (screaming so hard that his gum falls out) and then locks in a choke hold. Herrrrrrrrrrrrrre’s Low Ki. Low Ki hypes Homicide up and Homicide locks in an STF but Joe makes the ropes. Joe clotheslines him thrice but Joe knees him and just knees the shit out of him. Joe and Low Ki starts arguing and Joe knees Homicide right in the head. Joe slaps Homicide’s face. Low Ki tells Homicide to get the FUCK up and he slaps him. IT’S ON NOW BITCH. Homicide suplexes Joe right on his head and hits the Ace Crusher. Homicide kicks him right in the back and goes up top. He hits a double stomp off the top for two. Homicide keeps booting Joe in the head and suplexes Joe. Joe bails. Joe is knocked out on the floor and the refs come out to check on him. They roll him back in and Homicide covers him for two. Homicide keeps Mafia kicking him and chops him. Low Ki and Smokes start arguing. Homicide goes up top as Low Ki and Smokes keep arguing. Joe uses the distraction to hit a Ki Krusher off the top of the rope. This match was one of the sickest matches I have ever seen. ****1/4

Homicide is distraught in the ring. I had him- I FUCKING HAD HIM!

Samoa Joe (with his right eye swollen shut) is backstage talking about what the belt means to him.

Christopher Daniels (w/Allison Danger) v. Samoa Joe in an Empty Arena match

Joe takes him down and they roll around trading punches. A bunch of security comes out to break it up. Well that was lame.

Daniels is forced into his locker room and cuts an intense promo about his war with the Group.

The Bottom Line- The usual great show from ROH that offers something for everyone. From crazy spotfests to excellent technical wrestling- this show will appeal to you in some way, shape or form. The main event is worth the price of admission.

You can pick up the tape here-

http://www.rfvideo.com/merchant/index.cfm?action=moreinfo&id=7935

Highly Recommended