Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Back to Basics

Ring of Honor — Back to Basics
by J.D. Dunn

The idea here is that Austin Aries is off in Europe defending the ROH Title, so this show goes back to a more traditional format (hence, “Back to Basics”). At the last show, Homicide and the Havana Pitbulls won a “trios tournament” that allows them to book their own matches. Homicide decided to use his win to book a title match with Austin Aries, the man he beat to win the tournament.

Since Aries was already booked in a European tour this week, he decided to use his Generation Next stablemates to soften up his nearest challengers. Roderick Strong will run interference against Homicide, while Jack Evans takes on Spanky.

So, with that in mind…

March 12, 2005

From Woodbridge, Conn.

Your hosts are Jimmy Bower and Mark Nulty.

Empty Arena Match: Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries (03.09.05).
This match is not on the DVD, but it is included on “Do or Die IV.” Joe interrupts Aries at a session at the ROH training school and basically calls him a pussy in front of his students. He’s like a crazed South Pacific version of Martin Kove. Aries can’t very well back down from that, so he tells Joe that he’ll give him a title shot if Joe can beat him inside of 15 minutes. What’s cool is that they’ll occasionally cut into the match for Aries and Joe to demonstrate *why* they’re doing what they’re doing. Aries spends much of the early part of the match working Joe’s knee, but really he’s just trying to last out the time limit so he doesn’t have to face Joe again. Aries actually explains the psychology of why the 450-splash is better than a normal splash. Joe gets Aries in the Coquina Clutch, but Austin stalls for the 15:00 time limit. The ROH students have to pull Joe off Aries. Pretty damned good, considering nothing was really on the line and no one outside of people who buy exhibition DVDs would see it. Aries screams that Joe is a has-been. ***

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Good Times, Great Memories:
Colt Cabana (“wakka, wakka”) opens the show by announcing he’s going to wrestle in not one, but two matches. His special guests are Dunn & Marcos who are “rockin’ like Dokken.” Nigel McGuinness interrupts the show and tells Cabana to get serious about their match tonight.

Elsewhere, Lacey has a similar message for her version of Special K. She thinks they can make a lot of money off the name “Special K,” so they have to win the rights to that name tonight.

Opening Match: Colt Cabana vs. Delirious.
This is really Delirious’ coming out party. Although he’s had several matches before, he really started to set himself apart here. Yes, the lizard man took time to become more of an individual. Delirious complains about a hair pull and tight-pulling before they even lock up. He turtles and then puffs up when Cabana sets him on the top rope. You know you have a comedy match when fucking Colt Cabana has to play straight man. Colt uses the old Pepper Gomez “Hey, look!” move, but Delirious comes back with the Banana Phone Armbar. Colt turns things serious by going after Delirious’ knee. Delirious comes back with a mis-timed frogsplash, but Cabana hits a helicopter slam for the win at 7:49. Colt appears to have hurt on the finish. Funny stuff from Delirious, but this was just an average squash to get the fans warmed up. *3/4

Dunn & Marcos vs. Alex Law & Ricky Landell.
You think there’s a copy of “Guitar Hero 2” at Kevin Dunn’s house? Law and Landell are Corino’s students. This is a very basic match, which makes sense, considering the participants. Dunn no-sells one of Law’s clotheslines, and you know you’re low on the totem poll when that happens. Dunn catches Landell in the Gory Bomb. Marcos tags in and hits a neckbreaker, then a Falcon Arrow. The students hit a nice double-team necktie takedown, but Dunn & Marcos finish shortly thereafter with the Electric Chair Senton at 5:45. Not bad for four guys who have less than a decade of combined experience. *3/4

Spanky vs. Jack Evans.
Evans serves Spanky before the match, so Spanky comes back with the soft shoe. DANGEROUS! Jack double-crosses Spanks with a rollup for two and hits a dropsault. Jack gets cocky, though (no, seriously), and Spanky monkeyflips him to the floor. An Irish Whip sends Jack out to the crowd. Back in, Spanky applies the Boston Crab, but Jack makes the ropes. Spanky goes for Sliced Bread #2, but Jack cartwheels into a counter. AMAZING! He then one-ups it with a SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP! Back in again, Jack gets two off his Firebird Senton. Jack jumps over a Spanky charge but runs right into a Superkick. It gets two. See, now that was a perfectly good place to finish. Instead, Spanky hits Sliced Bread #2 off the top for the win at 7:26. I continue to be astounded by Jack Evans. **3/4

Gary Michael Capetta comes out and announces that Spanky has cemented his status as a contender. However, the only way Spanky can be assured of a title match is if his friend James Gibson loses tonight. Roderick Strong interrupts and says Spanky will have to go through him to get a title shot. Evans attacks from behind, and we get a big beatdown.

Winner gets “Special K” name: Azrieal & Dixie vs. Deranged & Izzy (w/Lacey, Cloudy & Cheech).
This is, for all intents and purposes, the death of Special K. Before the match, Lacey’s Special K offers to take the name off their hands without fighting. I’ll let you guess how that works out. Deranged builds up speed and…locks in a chinlock. The face team actually keeps things slow and basic early. Azrieal applies an Octopus Stretch, but Izzy reverses to a surfboard. Azrieal avoids a dropsault and wrenches Izzy’s neck. Cloudy trips up Dixie, allowing Izzy to snap his neck on the ropes and take over. They actually work in a false tag spot, a rarity in ROH. Azrieal gets the tag for real a few moments later, but Izzy & Deranged team up for a hella cool Neckbreaker Code Red. Yeah, I said hella. It seemed appropriate. Deranged hits Az with a roundhouse and a double-stomp (irony), but Azrieal blocks a top-rope rana and counters to a Cradle Bomb off the top at 12:40. Deranged is dead, and so is Special K because Azrieal and Dixie certainly don’t want it. Oh well. The Kansas City Chiefs probably wouldn’t have been too happy with their logo being bastardized that way. This was a great spotfest, despite some of the sloppy points. The format was surprisingly traditional too. **3/4

Homicide (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Roderick Strong (w/Jack Evans).
Strong is old-school, so he makes a deal to send Smokes and Evans to the back so he and Homicide can settle this like men. The idea here is Strong is a good technical wrestler, but Homicide is just too crazy and dangerous. In fact, he goes out into the crowd to take a swipe at a few wiseguy fans. Homicide takes it to the floor early, but Strong actually takes advantage out there by whipping him into the barrier. Back in, Strong works Homicide’s back (natch) and keeps things relatively well-grounded. But he takes one chance too many, and Homicide sidesteps his charge, sending Roddy to the floor and following with a tope con hilo. Strong gets a Full Nelson Backbreaker, but again, he takes a risk that doesn’t pay off as Homicide catches him going up and crotches him. Strong gets another backbreaker and a Boston Crab, but Homicide makes the ropes. Homicide gets two off a Top-Rope Butterfly Superplex and two more off a belly-to-belly. ACE CRUSHER! LARIAT! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Strong kicks out of one, but a second one finishes a plucky Strong at 18:27. Strong wasn’t yet on the level where he could be a legitimate threat to Homicide, so this felt more like a squash down the stretch. Strong did his job and softened Homicide’s back, though. **3/4

In the back, Azrieal and Dixie confirm that they’re throwing the “Special K” name away.

Four-Corner Survival Match: Lacey vs. Allison Danger vs. Daizee Haze vs. Cindy Rogers.
Yes, Lacey and Allison can actually wrestle when they get a chance. We get a lot of mat wrestling for all four women. The story is that Haze hit Danger with a dropkick when they wrestled a few weeks earlier and bruised Allison’s face. The rest is just exhibition to introduce the crowd to the gals. Daizee gets some decent puro moves with a Gedo Clutch and a Rolling Cradle. She also hits Allison with another missile dropkick in a play on their last match. Lacey hits Rogers with the Hawaiian Crusher, but Allison pulls her off and tags herself in. Lacey is pissed but gets thrown to the floor, allowing Allison to finish with the STO (Christopher Daniels’ old move) at 8:46. They worked in a lot of moves you won’t see in the WWE (even from most of the guys), but it was just a series of spots to get the fans back in it after the intermission. *1/2

ROH Tag Titles: Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer vs. Nigel McGuiness & Colt Cabana.
Nigel and Colt defeated the champs in a non-title match as part of the feud between Jim Cornette and Bobby Heenan. This was scheduled to be the main event, but Steve Corino is a no-show, so they’re bumping this up in order to give him more time to show up. Colt and Nigel dominate when it’s actual wrestling or when it’s two-on-two. The champs are able to make headway by cheating, though. Maff jumps Colt illegally to give them the advantage. Colt plays face-in-peril for a while, and we see our second false tag of the evening. Maff picks a fight with McGuiness, causing Nigel to drop off the apron just when Colt is able to squirt free and get to the corner. Unfortunately, Nigel can’t get back in time, and Colt gets dragged back to the other side. Colt eventually does get out of trouble with a quebrada on both of the champs. HOT TAG TO NIGEL! Nigel cleans house and brings Colt back in. Colt goes for the Helicopter Slam, but Whitmer slips out and goes for the Exploder ’98. Colt is able to counter one to a rollup, but Whitmer elbows Colt’s injured neck and hits the Exploder for real at 13:59. This was okay, but I never really got the feeling that the challengers had a chance despite being the more-pushed team. **1/2

James Gibson vs. Rocky Romero (w/Julius Smokes & Homicide).
If Gibson wins, he gets the winner of next month’s Aries vs. Homicide match. Jamie comes out like a total badass, which is jarring considering his career path on Smackdown. He totally no-sells Romero’s attempt at mind games and slaps him around. The announcers explain that Gibson is just too seasoned to fall for anything like that. Romero has some success with his strikes, but Gibson is able to out-wrestle him early. Romero eventually gets a botched rana and a wicked-looking Octopus. They both go for crossbodies and collide for a double KO spot. Jamie no-sells a lightning legline and levels Romero with a lariat. He counters a bodyscissors to a powerbomb and drops him with a suplex. Rocky blocks a superplex and counters to a sunset flip powerbomb. Jamie avoids a missile dropkick and rolls into La Majestral Cradle for two. Romero tries a jujigatame, but Gibson makes the ropes. Jamie tries his own Front Guillotine, but Romero makes the ropes this time. Romero goes back to the arm with a hammerlock, but Gibson rolls him onto his shoulders to force a break. Jamie goes back to the Front Guillotine for the tapout at 16:54. Nice. Homicide threatens Gibson before walking out. Roderick Strong and Jack Evans run down to soften Gibson up, but Spanky makes the save. Spanky stops to congratulate him and accidentally calls him “Jamie Noble.” He also says he wants to be the first to challenge Gibson if he wins. Although Romero wasn’t quite up to the challenge of turning in a great singles match yet, the battle of striker/submission wrestler versus traditional mat wrestler was played about as well as it can be here. This is the good stuff. ***

In the back, Lacey chastises her boys for losing the “Special K” name, but she has a backup plan for their marketing — “Lacey’s Angels.” Gee, I wonder how that will work out for them.

#1 Contenders Tag Match: CM Punk & Spanky vs. Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal.
Corino is still suspiciously absent, so Spanky offers to take his place because he’s here to win titles. The announcers play up the tensions between Punk and Corino after the “Trios Tournament.” Bower also talks about the investigation into who attacked Jay Lethal on the last show. Lethal opens up, exchanging some decent counters with Punk and Spanky. Then, Joe tags in and just bowls over Spanky with his size advantage. Punk comes in and applies his usual tactic against Joe: the headlock. Famous last words: Bower hypes the Best of the Super Juniors tournament and runs through the talent that has been signed and finishes with, and I quote, “I don’t see what could go wrong.” HA HA! Just wait. I can only assume that show had happened by the time they recorded this commentary because that is just too ironic. Joe gets a sickening running kick as Lethal holds Spanky upside down and defenseless. Lethal nearly paralyzes Spanky with a backdrop suplex. Jay gets caught in the wrong corner for the bulk of the match as Punk gets a bit heelish (foreshadowing). He and Spanky even work in the partner-assisted Abdominal Stretch. Joe gets the tag and tosses Punk. Punk slingshots back in to save Spanky from a cross-armlock. Lethal blocks Punk & Spanky’s double-team, but Punk reverses his Dragon Suplex to a German Bridge for two. Joe makes the save. Punk sets Lethal up for the Pepsi Plunge, but Stevie Richards, of all people, comes down to the ring and superkicks Punk. Huh? The ref is outside breaking up the brawl between Joe and Spanky, so he’s clueless. Lethal hits Punk with the Dragon Suplex to pick up the win at 26:00. This was a solid match, but given all the things that were going on at the time, there was no way Joe and Lethal were walking out losers. The ending was puzzling (Stevie Richards?) and seemed botched for some reason. ***1/2

Good Times, Great Memories, Part 2:
Despite his neck injury, Colt agrees to do his show. Nigel McGuiness interrupts Dunn & Marcos again to dissolve the team with Colt because Colt doesn’t take things seriously.

We get a brief recap of the history of Special K. Lots of dancing, techno music, chicks making out, high spots and craziness.

Bower rounds things out with a news clip saying that Dan Maff has been in an accident and will be forced to retire. Considering the things Maff is accused of, that’s about as graceful an exit as he was going to get, and kudos to ROH for not turning it into some kind of angle.

The 411: This show got rave reviews at the time for returning to the early ROH formula, but it was just a placeholder show to set up a bigger show down the line, and it felt like it the whole way. No Embassy. No World Champion. Very little heat. It all added up to a show less than the sum of its parts. Unless you really cared about Special K, this is one of those rare skippable shows. Thumbs down for "Back to Basics."

Final Score:  5.5   [ Not So Good ]