Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor – Honor Invades Boston

Ring of Honor — Honor Invades Boston (08.24.02)

From Wakefield, Mass.

Your hosts are Donnie B. and Steve Corino.

Low Ki opens us up by announcing that this isn’t just some entertainment show to him. This is his life. He tells AJ Styles to prepare for a fight.

Earlier, in the arena parking lot apparently, Special K overloads on X, and Elax offers them some water. Get it? Special K! And they’re a bunch of ravers.

Opening Match: Quiet Storm vs. The Amazing Red.
They start with a blowjob lucha sequence. Storm doublecrosses him on a handshake and stomps him down in the corner. Red comes back with a spinning headscissors and an enzuigiri to send Storm to the outside. Red follows him out with a tope con hilo. Back inside, Red delivers a running kick in the corner, but that only pisses Storm off. They trade slaps, and Red loses his bandana. Storm hits a neckbreaker and a Gory Driver (Hangman’s Neckbreaker Drop). Storm actually hits the Canadian Destroyer. Red counters a headbutt to the Ace Crusher. The Infrared and Red Star Press are enough for the win at 6:07. Just some spotty stuff to get the fans pumped up. After the match, Special K (Dixie, Elax, Brian XL & Izzy) attack both guys because they’re a bunch of partying punks who don’t care about the business. The Maximos and Chris Divine make the save. *1/4

Scramble Match: Chris Divine & the Maximos vs. Brian XL, Izzy & Dixie (w/Elax).
A scramble match basically means Lucha rules, so you don’t have to make a tag, you can just come in anytime your partner leaves the ring. Joel Maximo outchops Izzy. He kicks him in the head, but Izzy no-sells it and enzuigiris him back. Maximo drops him right on his head and sends him to the floor. Chris Divine and Dixie go at it, and Divine drops him right on his head with a brainbuster. Brian XL and Jose Maximo go at it, and Brian takes an awful attempt at a bump over the top. I think this may be fake! Izzy makes up for it with a springboard roundoff moonsault. Brian goes back in and Fosberry Flops onto everyone. Elax gets in on the act, taking everyone out with a dive off the top. Back in, XL gets a sloppy Dragaonrana on Joel for two. The Maximos and Divine lock in “the Human Taffy Machine” (just a series of goofy lucha holds). Divine takes Dixie out with a Tiger Suplex. Izzy hits Divine with a dropsault but gets flipped onto his face. Dixie gets caught going for a top rope rana, and the Maximos load up Dixie and Izzy for a stacked superbomb. Elax sneaks in and goes up, but Divine catches him and delivers a Full Nelson Facebuster (Breakdown, Memory Lane) from the top. That’s sick. Good thing he’s stoned. The Maximos hit Spanish Fly on XL for the win at 8:11. Much like Roger Ebert’s comments on the Friday the 13th franchise, you can pretty much cut and paste my comments when you see any combination of these guys. “Sloppy and spotty, but somewhat fun.” **

After the match, Chris Divine calls out Low Ki for an impromptu non-title match.

Chris Divine vs. Low Ki.
This is the second impromptu match in a row. Divine hits a chop off the handshake, but Low Ki comes back with a series of kicks. He punts Divine into the air and hits the Tidal Wave. The Dragon Clutch finishes at :56. Divine thanks him for the ass-whuppin’. 1/4*

Christopher Daniels, leader of the prophecy, joins us from Japan. He says we might even see a new member of the Prophecy. He blames Low Ki for all of his troubles and promises revenge.

Dunn & Marcos vs. The Christopher Street Connection (w/Allison Danger).
This is the CSC’s first real match after months of build up. Marcos gets his head taken off by one of the CSC. They don’t even have names yet. The other one slithers his dick all over Marcos’ face. Marcos ranas CSC #1 into the turnbuckle and makes the HOT TAG TO DUNN! I’ve always wanted to type that. We’re clipped to the CSC making out and finishing Dunn with Gay Basher (Doomsday Device with a Thesz Press) at 3:42 (shown). The ironic thing is that, for a promotion that prides itself on being anti-sports entertainment, Ring of Honor was doing better sports entertainment than the WWE at the time. *1/4

Scoot Andrews vs. Mike Tobin.
Scoot cheapshots him off the handshake and guillotines Tobin with a legdrop. Tobin comes back with a springboard guillotine legdrop. He goes for a springboard senton, but Scoot moves. They botch something, which Donnie calls a miscommunication, breaking kayfabe. Scoot finishes with the Force of Nature at 1:53. Andrews’ perennial rival Xavier walks down and challenges Scoot to a rematch. 1/4*

Scoot Andrews vs. Xavier.
This is our third impromptu match, but Xavier’s opponent, Prince Nana, no-showed. These two have wrestled on several RoH shows already, with Scoot winning last month to save his RoH career. Xavier hits a thrust kick early but takes a facebuster. Xavier baseball slides into Andrews and slingshots into a moonsault. Back inside, Xavier drives Scoot into the turnbuckle and drives several knees into his head. Xavier goes for a bulldog, but Scoot counters to a bulldog. Scoot counters a sunset flip to a reverse neckbreaker, but Xavier drives him down with a Crucifix DDT. 450 SPLASH! That’s enough to finish off Scoot at 4:07. *1/4

Earlier, I assume, Michael Shane and Biohazard arrive at the arena. Shane brags about being able to fly in and get his own nice rental car. He offers to take Hazard with him if he’ll park the car and carry his bags.

Michael Shane (w/Biohazard) vs. Paul London (w/Rudy Boy Gonzalez).
Shane is a big jerk, and he stole London’s Ring of Honor contract last month, so Rudy Boy set up this match. Shane attacks him from behind and fires away with rights. London spears Shane and pummels him because he’s angry and all. Shane gets backdropped on top of Biohazard and then London topes on both of them. Back in, London rolls him up for two and hits the dropsault. Shane whips him into the ropes, but London stops short and moonsaults on him. London jumps up to the top rope, but Shane pushes him off through the fence rail! Shane stops to pose before attacking London’s dead body. Shane is so much more interesting here than he is as Matt Bentley today. Back in, Shane drops an HBK elbow for two. London blocks a charge and goes for a Tornado DDT, but Shane counters to a belly-to-belly suplex into the turnbuckle. He locks in a surfboard clutch. London comes back and jams Shane’s head into the mat. London misses a spinning wheel kick, and Shane hits him with a spinning front kick. Shane goes up, but London crotches him. Shane shoves him to the mat and hits either a double ax-handle or an X-Factor, depending on if you believe the announcers or your eyes. The Haas of Pain follows. London makes the ropes and reverses a Boston Crab to a small package for two. London ranas him! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! London’s wheel kick sends Shane to the floor, and London springboards into a cannonball. Shane falls to the ground clutching his ankle. For a bit of context, Paul London accidentally broke Chris Marvel’s ankle legit at Round Robin Challenge (not included on the DVD). London tosses him in and lets the trainers look at him. Rudy and London talk things over as the ref considers calling the match due to injury. Instead, Shane pops up and small packages London for the surprise win at 12:43. Great ending that makes Shane look like a total bastard. ***

After the match, Simply Luscious enters the ring on behalf of Christopher Daniels to offer Michael Shane a spot in the Prophecy. Rudy Boy gets on the mic and begs Shane not to live without honor. Shane turns and SUPERKICKS Simply Luscious. Rudy is relieved until Shane SUPERKICKS HIM TOO! Biohazard and Shane team up to destroy London. Great stuff that puts Shane on the map as a big star.

Recap of the brawl between Daniels & Morgan and Low Ki & American Dragon following the Night of Appreciation main event.

Donovan Morgan vs. American Dragon.
This is the long-delayed blowoff of the B-side of the Low Ki/Daniels feud. Daniels made the decision to live without honor; then when his old cohort Morgan came to RoH, he recruited him into the Prophecy. Dragon and Low Ki, of course, live by the Code of Honor and were insulted by Morgan and Daniels showing disrespect to Eddy Guerrero. Morgan is a NOAH employee, so he likely wasn’t available before this. If this falls below ***, it will be a huge disappointment. It’s back-and-forth right away with neither man gaining an advantage. Morgan tries to take it to the floor, but Dragon darts back in and demands that things take place in the ring. Nice bit of character psychology there as Dragon lives by the code of honor that stresses in-ring action. Back in, Dragon manages to ride him down and stretch Morgan’s arm out. The announcers talk about blood feuds being outside of the code as Dragon and Morgan battle over an armlock. Dragon has largely dominated the early portion, adopting Donovan Morgan’s arm like he’s Angelina Jolie and the arm is a small Cambodian child. In other words, the arm is his now. That ends when Morgan catches him with a backdrop suplex and takes Dragon to the floor. Morgan whips him back and forth to the railing as we see Morgan thriving in his environment. Back in, Morgan continues to overpower Dragon with strikes and locks in a Legscissor Full Nelson. Dragon reverses to a surfboard but takes an Exploder for two. Dragon slips out of another suplex and hits an enzuigiri. Another enzuigiri nets two. A running forearm sets up a Northern Lights Suplex for two. Morgan blocks another charge and drives him down with a second-rope DDT. That’s about as well as I’ve ever seen that move executed. Now the nearfalls come fast and furious as both guys trade rollups. Morgan ends that with a belly-to-belly suplex for two. They trade forearms with Dragon winning on a rolling forearm. He comes off the top with a Dynamite Diving Headbutt for two. Dragon goes for the Fujiwara armbar, but Morgan counters to the GOLDEN GATE SWING! It gets two, but Dragon reverses to CATTLE MUTILATION! Morgan holds out…for a 15-minute time limit draw (15:00). Well, that sucks. Crowd wants five more minutes, Dragon wants five more minutes, Morgan wants five more minutes, but the ref is adamant. Crowd chants, “Kill the ref!” until he runs to the back. After the match, Dragon tells Morgan that he’s proved himself, and he’s too good for the Prophecy. He asks Morgan to shake his hand and be a real wrestler. Morgan takes his hand…and gives him a Pedigree! Anyway, because these two are good technical wrestlers with somewhat similar styles on the mat, they decided to emphasize their differences in personality with Morgan trying to work strikes and brawl outside the ring while Dragon tried to keep it clean. The only knock was there wasn’t enough of it! ***3/4

Outside, Da Hit Squad talk about the Carnage Crew and promise more Noo Yawk violence.

Inside, the Carnage Crew gloats about last month’s match and attacks the ring crew.

Boston Massacre Match: Da Hit Squad vs. The Carnage Crew.
No code of honor for this match, obviously. Da Hit Squad put the Crew through a table at “Road to the Title,” and the Crew had a pretty good brawl with the Natural Born Sinners at “Crowning a Champion.” This, however, is not as good. Lots of blood, guts and barbed wire. Mack wraps some barbed wire around Loc’s head. Oh, he’s just like Jesus, only drunk, smelly, and not at all pious. I-I guess he’s nothing like Jesus. Outside, the tables are turned as a cowbell gets involved. Mafia takes a cowbell to the head. Oh, he’s gonna be wearin’ gold-plated diapers. Da Hit Squad get killed with chairs and head to the back to get…BARBED-WIRE BOARDS! They tease going into the barbed wire until Devito whips Mack into the board. It doesn’t break, though. Devito misses a swing with Boogalou’s hubcap, so Mafia spears him through the barbed-wire board. That leaves Loc to take the Burning Hammer from Mafia at 11:02. I think most of us got our fill of this kind of stuff in ECW. *

Don Juan vs. Biohazard (w/Michael Shane).
Shane walks with a mock limp after his subterfuge in the Paul London match. Both of these guys are TWA guys, but they’re not the top guys. Think nWo B-team. Biohazard dominates early with his second-rope necksnap. Juan comes off the second rope but gets caught in a Northern Lights for two. Biohazard picks up the win with a wicked backdrop suplex at 2:11. Shane pulls Don Juan up and makes him shake Biohazard’s hand. Just a squash to put Shane’s buddy over. 1/2*

Maverick Wild vs. Alex Arion.
These guys are New England Championship Wrestling, a local fed. Lots of decent mat stuff and armdrags to start. Arion dominates most of the early part of the match with his armdrags. I wonder if he’s a big Steamboat fan. You can bet he would be if Jim Ross was calling the match. Maverick comes back a seated dropkick and a goofy senton where he Bret-bumps himself off the turnbuckle and falls backward. Arion comes back with chops and avoids a Stinger Splash. Arion superkicks him for two, but Maverick comes back with a spinning wheel kick. Arion catches him with a front facedrop off an Electric Chair. His frogsplash hits knees, though. Wild picks him up, but Arion Wheelbarrow rolls him for the pin at 5:50. Both this match and the last had a very “exhibitiony” feel to them. I liked both of these guys, though. *3/4

Recap of last month’s altercation between the Natural Born Sinners and Maritato & Mamaluke as Boogalou asks Maritato for some advice.

Tony Mamaluke & James Maritato vs. The Natural Born Sinners.
Mamaluke and Maritato get into it right away over Mamaluke not wanting to shake hands. After that, Mamaluke and Boogalou go at it amateur style. Maritato and Homicide go at it next with Homicide getting a figure-four segueing into an STF. James makes the ropes. The Sinners gimmick is rather odd because they’re both good technical wrestlers, but the gimmick is a couple of thugs. Homicide unloads the chops on Mamaluke, and the Sinners unload the Michinoku Pro stuff on the paisans. Boogalou powerbombs Mamaluke on Homicide’s knee. Mamaluke finally gets the tag out, and Maritato is a house of fire. He dropkicks Homicide’s leg out from under him but makes the mistake of bringing Mamaluke back in. Tony gets a nice Argentine Single Leg Crab. Mamaluke switches from working the leg to the lower back. He gets two off a Bridging German, but Homicide kicks out and hits a pair of Exploders. Boogalou avoids the Sicilian Slice from Maritato, and Mamaluke winds up hitting his own partner. James comes out of it okay, though, as he wheelbarrows into a Fujiwara Armbar. Homicide runs in and catches him with the Ace Crusher and goes up. Mamaluke catches him and superplexes him into a Butterfly Bodyscissor Lock. Boogalou and Maritato break it up with double dropkicks. Maritato misses a charge, spilling himself to the hardwood floor. That enables Homicide to hit (eventually) the Cop Killa (Vertebreaker) for the win at 12:31. Not bad at all. ***

Recap of the problems between Jay Briscoe and his asshole younger brother Mark.

Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe.
This has been brewing since day one. The story is that Mark can’t wrestle in Pennsylvania because he’s only 17, so he just accompanies his brother to matches and makes an ass out of himself by giving condescending advice and making fun of Jay after his losses. Last time out, he cost Jay a match to James Maritato, so Jay told him to be ready because Massachusetts has no such age limit. Call me a mark, but I really wanted to see Mark get his comeuppance, which is what makes the ending so good. Btw, these two have met before in CZW, in case you were wondering. They slap each other silly off the handshake. Mark rides him down and slaps him in the back of the head. Jay reverses and forearms him upside the head. Mark reverses to an Anklelock, but Jay reverses that to an anklelock with a legscissors. Then, they HIT THE REVERSALS! Nice spot as Mark ducks his head, so Jay just stops short, picks him up and chops him right in the nipple. Jay no-sells a series of shoulderblocks, and Mark is probably the only person he could do that with and have it make sense. Jay hits a running Yakuza kick. With the no-sold shoulderblocks and Yakuza kick, I guess it’s pretty obvious they’ve been watching some NJPW main events. To the outside, Mark grabs him and rams Jay into the ringpost. Jay is busted open, so Mark works the cut. Back in, Jay hits a floating dropkick and LEVELS his brother with a lariat. Mark catches him with a belly-to-belly suplex to take the advantage back. A spinning wheel kick hits the cut, and Jay ranas him into a series of punches. A DDT plants Jay on his head for two. Jay comes back with a dropkick to the knee and stomps Jay’s hand. The sitout gourdbuster sets Mark up, but Mark crotches him and delivers a WICKED AWESOME springboard Ace Crusher. That spot is so sweet I take two in my morning coffee. It gets two. Mark sets him up with a Tombstone Piledriver, but he misses a kneedrop off the top. Jay works the injured leg with a pair of Dragon Screws. He hits a nice Argentine Rack to a press backbreaker, but Mark counters a lariat to an Exploder. The knee psychology kicks in as Mark goes for a springboard plancha on Jay, who has rolled to the outside, but he can’t get it and has to settle for a regular plancha that Jay simply swats aside. Nice stuff there. Back in, Mark delivers a springboard dropkick in spite of the pain. Jay drops him with the Jaydriller (Crucifix DDT). They trade forearms, and Mark delivers a German Suplex after failing at a Dragon Suplex. It gets two, but Mark gets his Dragon Suplex. It also gets two, and Mark can’t believe it. A Fisherman’s Buster sets up a moonsault, but it misses! Jay destroys him with a lariat and a DVD into a cradle. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Jay slips out of the Cutthroat Driver and hits a SCREWDRIVER! Jay goes up, but the Senton…MISSES! Mark hits his brother with a Shining Wizard, scoops him up and finishes with the Cutthroat Driver (DVD with an armlock) at 16:56. Mark shakes his unconscious brother’s hand and walks out. As they carry Jay’s dead body to the back, Mark sneaks up and taunts him about being 1-0. This was like some sort of bizarre parallel universe version of Owen vs. Bret by way of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Mark definitely had the Owen thing going as the cocky younger brother jealous of his older brother for reasons which you can fill in the blanks. Jay tried to keep everything solid and respectful, even as he was destroying the little guy’s knee. It’s obvious that they must have seen a buttload of AJPW and NJPW growing up, because there are specific sequences lifted right out of those main event matches. I suppose you could consider it another MOTYC, even though I personally don’t like so many headdropping moves not getting the win (yes, even in Kobashi matches). Other than that, it’s PLATINUM! ****1/4

Ring of Honor Championship: Low Ki vs. AJ Styles.
Low Ki won the title in a four-man marathon match last month. He beat AJ Styles in AJ’s debut, but there was some controversy, so AJ gets the first shot. Of course, these guys were tearing down the house in TNA at the same time, so fans should be used to this. Nice mat reversals open as AJ crucifixes Low Ki’s legs in a wishbone, but Ki reverses to an Argentine Knee Rack. AJ reverses that to a Hangman’s Neckbreaker, but Ki kicks out of it. AJ wins a test of strength, and they get pissed and battle it out with kicks. Ki ends it with an enzuigiri that sends AJ staggering back to the ropes. Ki tries to fight from his ass, but AJ kicks him upside the head. Ki comes back with strikes and hits a reverse elbow for two. AJ tries his kip-up rana, but Ki blocks it and kicks him in the back. AJ charges right into a thrust kick and gets ROCKED! AJ suckers him into that kip-up rana and hits a running knee against the ropes. AJ returns that thrust kick but gets his legs swept out from under him. Ki goes for his buzzsaw kick, but AJ sweeps the leg. Ki actually goes for a kip-up rana, but AJ counters to an unsuccessful Styles Clash attempt. Ki heads to the outside and kicks AJ’s brain out the side of his head as AJ is going for a tope. Back in, Ki gets Kawada on AJ’s ass with a series of short kicks. AJ ducks a springboard side kick and delivers the backdrop into a front facebuster for two. Ki blocks the Styles Clash and counters to a huracanrana for two. AJ misses a charge and winds up in the Hanging Dragon Sleeper! Of course, that’s an illegal hold because of the ropes, so the ref breaks it. Ki gets two off it anyway and goes up for the Phoenix Splash. AJ crotches him and hits a Crucifix Facebuster! That gets two. AJ goes up and misses a corkscrew legdrop (Spiral Tap), bouncing his head off the mat. Styles ties him up in the tree-of-woe and delivers a diving forearm to Ki’s exposed face. That gets two, and they battle from their knees. Ki suddenly ends that with a giri and drops AJ on his head with a brainbuster for two. Ki goes for the Phoenix Splash again, but AJ gets his knees up! Styles doublepumps on a brainbuster! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! AJ charges, but Low Ki moves, sending AJ bouncing off the back of his head. Not sure what he would have done had he hit that. Ki goes for the Ki Krusher, but AJ counters to a small package for two. AJ unloads a FLURRY of strikes, but Low Ki counters his rana to a Jackknife Powerbomb! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Low Ki tries a Dragon Sleeper, but AJ blocks and powers him up to an Emerald Frosion. Ki slips out of that and counters to the KI KRUSHER! ONE, TWO, THREEEEE! (19:47) AJ staggers to his feet, shakes Ki’s hand, and says, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Cumberdale.” Then, he stumbles to the back to find his missing frontal lobe. ****1/4

After the match, Ki finds Xavier standing by the entrance. Xavier congratulates him and asks for a shot next month. Low Ki tells him to be ready. Xavier’s such a nice, clean-cut lad. Not at all the type who would stab you in the back.

Post-Show: Michael Shane tells Rudy Boy not to ride his coattails anymore. He also tells the Prophecy to get bent because he enjoys shaking the hands of a bunch of losers. He also calls out Spanky for thinking he’s the better man. After all, Shane has the blood of HBK flowing through his veins.

Elsewhere, the Carnage Crew attacks Da Hit Squad with hubcaps, interrupting Dunn & Marcos’ promo about being the top team in Ring of Honor.

The 411: This is probably the most schizophrenic of the Ring of Honor shows to date. It's all or nothing here as everything is either good-very good or a squash match. Clearly, in 2002, this was the superior promotion to TNA, but TNA adopted a more aggressive strategy and has emerged as the #2 promotion in America. Still, for fans fed up with sports entertainment, this is your outlet. Despite what you might hear, there actually are storylines, and *gasp* they make sense! This show managed to elevate two new stars in Mark Briscoe and Michael Shane, adding to an already stacked uppercard of the Prophecy, Low Ki, Dragon and Styles. Now all they need are tag team champions…but that's another story. Easy thumbs up here.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]