Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — At Our Best

Ring of Honor — At Our Best by J.D. Dunn Twitter.com/jddunn411 Brightkite.com/jddunn411 Facebook.com/jddunn411 This would be the final show in ROH’s second chapter. This is also the last show before “The Feinstein Incident.” After this show, Feinstein’s influence was toned down and then eliminated in the summer. The result is what you see today. Big-ass crowd for this one at 1,800, in part because they’re piggybacking on WrestleMania XX at MSG. March 13, 2004 From Elizabeth, N.J.. Your hosts are Ray Murrow and Chris Lovey. Samoa Joe demonstrates his own brand of “Pure Wrestling” to explain why ROH doesn’t need a Pure Title. During the fanfest, Ox Baker, of all people, harasses Dusty Rhodes for saying he ran Baker out of Florida. Dusty challenges him to get in the ring if he has a problem. Like a good heel, Baker says he didn’t sign for a match, so he’s going to let Dusty off the hook. Sugar Shawn Price catches up with Julius Smokes who says he has a message for the world. That message: invest in gold fillings. Opening Match, Six-Man Mayhem: The Amazing Red vs. Jack Evans vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Teddy Hart. We get lots of pair-offs early, but it doesn’t get interesting until Red and Teddy Hart get in there. That’s only because Hart is a giant douchebag. If nothing else, the opening few minutes demonstrate just how much Jack Evans has matured. Sonjay busts out a nice 619 move under the bottom rope and then cuts of Jack Evans dive. He nearly breaks his dome trying to springboard off the ropes. Mark works in the SSP, but Red’s dive is broken up by Jimmy Rave (not yet the crown jewel). Rave has the audacity to put Hart in the Sharpshooter. Regular partners Jack Evans and Teddy Hart team up for a sick SSP Decapitation. Of course, it only gets two. Sonjay hits a dragonrana but gets SQUASHED by a 630-senton from Evans. The Cutthroat Driver DESTROYS Jack’s skull, though. Red peppers Mark with kicks and finishes Sonjay with the Red Star Press at 11:07. There were some great moves in there, but that’s all they were. It felt like an exhibition of great moves rather than a match. ** In the back, CM Punk tells Colt Cabana and Ace Steel to shape up and get serious. Gary Michael Capetta interviews Julius Smokes and asks him just where Homicide is. Lost in Cleveland? Homicide is chillin’, but he wants a match with Joe. Smokes calls Joe “fatass” quite a lot. Too much to be healthy. Special referee Ricky Steamboat informs AJ Styles and CM Punk about the rules of the Pure Title. Punk tells Steamboat *he* better be aware of the rules. Xavier (w/Prince Nana) vs. Slyk Wagner Brown (w/April Hunter). Hoo-ahhh! I want more April Hunter on my screen. TNA, I’m looking at you. Brown hits a suicida early on, and with Slyk, “suicida” is an almost literal term. They trade chops and fight to the floor. Slyk belly-to-bellies Xavier into the corner and hits a spinning sideslam. Xavier hits a wicked corner dropkick, but Slyk locks in the Argentine Kneerack. Xavier makes the ropes and they go into a number of reversals. Xavier comes out of it with a Dragon Suplex and rolls over into a Gannosuke Clutch (Camel Clutch with a Full Nelson) for the submission at 7:25. Xavier is usually pretty watchable, but I was impressed that Slyk was able to keep up with him without botching anything significant. **1/4 Nigel McGuinness vs. Jerry Lynn. Wow. Six years later and it’s a main event feud. Nigel is much skinnier, greener, and more respectful here. Lynn does an excellent job of putting him over here, leaving himself open for the things Nigel was a master of (European combinations, and forearm uppercuts). Oddly, I did not see a single lariat. I did see Nigel rebound off the ropes, but he used a flying crossbody. Just didn’t look right. Lynn can’t put Nigel away. The fans actually seem to turn on Nigel for this, although it could be anti-Sinclair sentiment. Lynn decides to pack it in and hits the Cradle Piledriver moments later at 11:00. Solid match that allowed Nigel to showcase his European style of wacky mat wrestling. No real hint that he’d become as big as he has, though. **1/2 The Solution hops in the ring and call out Dunn & Marcos because the Solution is not booked for tonight. Um, I think their anger is misplaced. Dunn & Marcos clean house on them, which probably answers the question of why they weren’t booked. #1 Contender’s Trophy: John Walters vs. Matt Stryker. Stryker continues to get more heelish here or “more aggressive” as Lovey says. The crowd starts out into it when the guys are on the mat, even starting the dreaded dueling chant. Stryker and Walters start to lose focus, though, just trading high impact moves. Meh. The crowd gets bored until Walters gets a complicated backpack chinbreaker into a pendulum swing. Stryker makes the ropes. Walters with the Strykerlock, but Stryker is in the ropes. The real Strykerlock follows, and Walters passes out at 12:30. Stryker really didn’t set that up in the match. Both guys are good when they’re in there with good opponents and great when in there with great opponents, but they didn’t bring out the best in each other. Just some mat wrestling and big impact moves without much rhyme or reason. ** Colt Cabana & Ace Steele (w/Traci Brooks) vs. Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer (w/Allison Danger). The SCS put Christopher Daniels through a table and knocked him out of ROH, so Maff & Whitmer want revenge. Big brawl to start. Maff powerbombs Steele into the buckle to set up a series of shots. Cabana and Steele counter Colt whirlybird Irish whipping Steele into a dropkick on Maff. The ladies get in for the requisite chickfight. Dives to the floor follow, and both teams take it to the audience. Chairs get involved, and the ref finally has to throw the whole thing out at 7:55. They’re not done, though. Maff drags Steele to the ring and NAILS him with a chairshot. SOMEBODY’S GONNA DIE! Finally, a bunch of jobbers run down and separate the two teams. Very Mid-South-ish. The fans don’t like the no-contest, but what better way to build to a high-intensity rematch? *** ROH Pure Title: AJ Styles vs. CM Punk. Ricky Steamboat is your special guest referee because last time out, Punk was screwed out of a few ropebreaks. The rules for Pure Wrestling (for the uninitiated), you can use the ropes three times to save yourself and no more, no closed-fists or you lose a ropebreak, 20-count on the floor. That comes into play early as AJ uses the ropes, but Punk refuses to break, so Steamboat earns the ire of both men. Punk keeps using mind games until AJ decides he’s had enough and slaps him silly. IT’S TIME TO PLAY THE FEUD! Steamer steps in between them, though. AJ misses the discus lariat and gets dropkicked into the barricade. AJ works in the leapfrog of the barricade spot. Back in, Punk applies the camel clutch and threatens to twist AJ’s head off. AJ considers using the ropes but reverses to a Mutalock. Now Punk has to use the ropes. They fight to the top for a suplex, but both guys fall to the floor! Both guys roll in, Punk blocks a Shining Wizard. Punk tries his own, but AJ counters to the Styles Clash. Punk counters to his own Styles Clash, and AJ uses his last ropebreak to stop the pin. Punk chokes AJ against the ropes and claims Steamboat is powerless because AJ doesn’t have any ropebreaks. Of course, it’s a choke, though, so he doesn’t have an argument. AJ goes for the quebrada DDT, but Punk blocks and counters to a sleeper. AJ makes the ropes, but it’s meaningless. Punk drags him back in and puts him out. Styles’ arm drops three times, but before Steamer can signal AJ comes to life. I know a lot of fans hate that, but the “drop three times thing” is not really a rule, it’s more of a rule of thumb. AJ roars back and clocks Punk with a discus lariat for the win at 24:08. Excellent job of working the stipulations without letting them overwhelm the match. Both guys did their own stuff but much more measured. Great storytelling too. **** After the match, Samoa Joe storms the ring and gets in AJ’s face. Steamboat separates them without incident (outside of some fan throwing something at Joe). Punk complains about Steamboat’s officiating and says he’s the future while Steamboat is the past. Punk tries to drag Ricky back in the ring, so Ricky goes nuts with a chop and an armdrag. #1 contender Matt Stryker says he’ll challenge Joe if Joe retains tonight. If Jay Briscoe wins, though, he’ll have to think about it. Samoa Joe reminds everyone that he holds the real title. Homicide beat him, but he needed a noose. And Stryker… pfft. Highlights of Hydro (Jay Lethal) defeating Roderick Strong and Austin Aries defeating Danny Daniels. I’m guessing they put this in to highlight the importance of Generation Next a few weeks later. ROH World Title, Cage Match: Samoa Joe vs. Jay Briscoe (w/Mark Briscoe). This was ROH’s way of elevating both the World and Tag Titles by feuding the champions with one another. Jay Briscoe won a title shot in late 2003 at Beating the Odds, but he couldn’t defeat Joe. Jay’s brother Mark also tried unsuccessfully to wrest the title, even with the help of uber-manager Jim Cornette. What they did get was Joe’s attention, so he decided he’d get a partner and go after their tag titles. While Joe had the advantage in singles matches, tag team wrestling was where the Briscoes excelled, so despite the fact that Joe was able to recruit some impressive partners (Bryan Danielson and Jerry Lynn), he was never able to defeat them. Now, Jay Briscoe has one final chance to take the World Title from Joe. Jay immediately tries to scale the cage, but Joe drags him down and headbutts his wrist, trying to break it. Well, that’s a good strategy. Jay gets busted open early, and it’s a gusher. The storyline is set up pretty quickly as Jay tries to use his quickness on several occasions to avoid Joe and dart for the door. Joe, on the other hand, just wants to destroy Jay. In fact, Joe kicks open the door and, instead of just walking out, he chains them both in the ring just so he can deliver more punishment. Jay hits a backdrop superplex and goes up. Joe catches him, but Jay hits a Super Ace Crusher for a double KO spot. Jay low blows his way out of a Dragon Suplex. They battle it out on the top rope. Jay knocks Joe back in but collapses himself. Joe recovers and hits Jay with an Olé Kick, but a second one knocks a hole in the cage. Jay tries to scurry through the hole with help from Mark, but Joe drags him back in and applies the STF. Jay refuses to give up even though he has strands of dried blood hanging off his forehead. Jay boots him and HITS THE JAYDRILLER! Jay is out, though, and can’t cover. Mark Briscoe goes up to interfere, but AJ Styles runs down and gives him the Styles Clash on the floor. Jay goes up, but Joe recovers and catches him on the top of the cage. SUPER MUSCLE BUSTER! ONE, TWO, THREE! Joe retains and blows off the feud at 14:16. Jay was totally overmatched in there, but he used his resourcefulness to keep things interesting. The Jaydriller even had people believing for just a moment. His sickening blade job is truly a sight to behold as well. This one seems to have been forgotten because it’s from the era that people don’t like to talk about, but it’s definitely worth a look for a great example of a blowoff match. ****1/4 Scramble Cage Match: The Carnage Crew vs. Special K. The Carnage Crew are Loc, Devito, Masada & Justin Credible. Special K are being represented by… every indie spotmonkey available. Seriously, the entire faction, which must be roll like 15 deep at this point, is part of the match. Special K got Devito’s daughter high and did her in a hotel room (or so the story went before it got cut off). The CC are outnumbered, but it’s one-on-one for the first two minutes. Loc straps the crap out of Dixie. The CC actually win the coin flip, making it a two-on-one with Loc and Devito making Dixie their bitch. Deranged is in next and gives us tickets to the gun show. Everyone gets tired of following the rules, so all of Special K hops in the ring. Lit (or one of them) backflip kicks Masada off the top of the cage into the ring. It looks pretty bleak for the Carnage Crew until Dusty Rhodes arrives and starts handing out elbows. Ox Baker comes down and drags Dusty out, though. Ladders and chairs and tables get involved. Justin Credible goes nuts with a kendo stick. Everyone fights to the floor, setting up the Slim J spaztwister press. The Carnage Crew grab Angel Dust and give him the Super Piledriver off the cage through a table. That gets the pin at 12:25. Mindless crap, but entertaining mindless crap. I miss this kind of unpredictability. When buying a ticket to ROH, who in the hell would expect Dusty Rhodes and Ox Baker to get involved in the main event? **3/4 In the back, the Carnage Crew celebrates with Dusty. Then, in one infamous, glorious moment, Dusty realizes that he smells somethin’. “Thumbuddy muthta thit in owa bagth.” The Mystery of the Shitty Bag, which was my favorite volume of Encyclopedia Brown, would wind up with the dissolution of the New Carnage Crew. Elsewhere, Samoa Joe attacks Julius Smokes and accepts a challenge from Homicide. That’s something he’d come to regret.

The 411: ROH's biggest show to that point, and it certainly was a memorable one. Ring of Honor has since lost the edge they had in the RF shows, and I kind of miss the "anything can happen" nature of the events. The title matches were outstanding, and the Scramble Cage, while not really 'good' in the wrestling sense, was a nice capper if you like seeing people trying to kill other people (and, hey, who doesn't?). Solid thumbs up for At Our Best

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]