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ROH – The Round Robin Challenge DVD Review

October 9, 2007 | Posted by Jacob Ziegler
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ROH – The Round Robin Challenge DVD Review  

ROH – ROUND ROBIN CHALLENGE – PHILADELPHIA, PA – MARCH 30, 2002

Introduction

Christopher Daniels is backstage, talking about how Ring of Honor is no better than any other place that he’s worked in. He declares that he will shake no one’s hand. He also says that he will prove that he is the best Independent wrestler out there by beating both American Dragon and Low Ki tonight.

Next is a video package highlighting the events from the first show last month, as well as clips from tonight’s show. I don’t like how they show clips from what we’re about to watch.

Da Hit Squad is excited about tonight’s show. Monsta Mack wants a repeat of the last show where they got the fans all excited. I could live without seeing that again. These guys are so irritating.

CODE OF HONOR

– Competitors must shake hands before and after each match.
– No interfering in matches or having others interfere on your behalf.
– No harming a referee or causing others to harm an official.
– No sneak attacks.
– Any violation in the ring will result in a DQ.

Quiet Storm wants to try a new move on Chris Divine, who is initially hesitant. American Dragon busts in and shows him how it’s done. I wish he’d do that to Storm instead of Divine.

MATCH #1: The Round Robin Tournament – Christopher Daniels (0-1) vs. American Dragon (0-1)

Eric Gargulo and Steve Corino are the hosts once again. Both men start out quick and aggressive, since they both have to face Low Ki later tonight. Dragon’s match with Ki will be the main event, while Daniels will face him in the middle of the card. They exchanges holds and counter holds in the early going. Dragon slows it down and goes to a headlock. Daniels makes a comeback and goes to work on the neck. They trade chops and Daniels wins the battle when he goes right back to the neck. Dragon makes the comeback but his neck is still hurting. He tries a suplex but can’t hit it, so he nails a DDT instead. Daniels comes back with an STO and the Best Moonsault Ever, but Dragon kicks out. Roaring forearm by Dragon gets two. Daniels goes for a clothesline but Dragon counters to the Cattle Mutilation. He can’t lock it in because of the neck, but he settles for the Rings of Saturn. Daniels hits a piledriver, and it’s weird how foreign that move looks since you don’t see it much anymore. Daniels hits the Last Rites and locks on a Crossface and Dragon actually taps out at 14:23. Daniels now has the momentum going into his match with Low Ki. That was a good opener, and they didn’t do too much so that the later matches can shine too. Daniels flouts the Code of Honor after the match. Danielson shakes Daniels’s hand though.
Rating: ***½

Prince Nana and Eric Tuttle are backstage, and Nana makes Tuttle shine his boots.

CW Anderson comes to Ring of Honor tonight. He’ll be facing Joey Matthews & Christian York. He said Ring of Honor doesn’t allow handicap matches, so he has to pick any scrub for a partner. And he does indeed pick a scrub.

MATCH #2: Da Hit Squad (1-0) vs. Prince Nana & Eric Tuttle

Gargulo needles Corino about his relationship with Luscious. Corino denies it of course. Nana gets on the microphone and bad mouths the crowd. He makes Towel Boy shine his boots again. Da Hit Squad comes out and destroys both Nana and Tuttle. Nana bails to the locker room and Tuttle takes a beating. Mafia hits the Burning Hammer to get the pin at 1:51. Eh, boring.
Rating: DUD

The Christopher Street Connection is back and start coming towards the ring. They argue with Nana on the way, and Da Hit Squad grabs Tuttle and tosses him onto everybody. Luscious comes in the ring, and she gets the same treatment.

The CSC drags Tuttle to the back and they try to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Prince Nana objects to that idea, because I believe he owns the Towel Boy. Buff-E and Mase just make out with each other instead. You really have to give these guys credit for going all out with the gimmick.

The Boogie Knights are in another area backstage. One of them says that he took a shit in Eric Tuttle’s bag, and it’s about the coolest thing ever, if you ask him. The other one is concerned that the Natural Born Sinners are chasing them with chainsaws and sledgehammers. I think the second jobber has a point. They go to look in their suitcase for one reason, and there’s a rubber chicken in there. The sound of a chainsaw is heard. That’s pretty bush league.

Speaking of bush league, Joey Matthews (Mercury) and Christian York (who looks a lot like Jimmy Rave) promise to be “in full effect.” ROH was a very different place in 2002.

MATCH #3: Joey Matthews & Christian York vs. CW Anderson & Elax

Elax appears to either be on drugs or have smudges all over his brain. Anderson wants to prove the point that he can beat any team with any partner. That seems like a strange point to want to prove. York and Matthews have been teaming together for quite a while. Anderson starts off the match, and then actually tags out to Elax a few minutes later. Anderson comes right back in and goes for Matthews’s arm, and incorporating some power moves into his attack. He tags Elax back in, who continues the arm work. Anderson goes for the Standing Suplex and it takes two tries to hit it. York comes in the ring and is an alleged house of fire, but he’s not so very good. The match breaks down into a brawl, with the referee not even trying to gain control. Elax hits Matthews with a missile dropkick. Anderson hits York with a spinebuster. Anderson gets tossed into Elax, and that allows York and Matthews to hit the Snapshot (not called as such, of course) for the win at 7:05. That started off decent, but once York came in it got worse, and the last few minutes were a mess.
Rating: *½

CW Anderson is pissed off at Elax, and blames him for the loss. So he gives him the spinebuster. You picked him, dude.

Xavier is backstage and cuts a generic sounding promo. He says he’s about competition, and is upset that Scoot Andrews broke his leg and can’t have a rematch with him. He faces James Maritato (Nunzio) instead. Maritato is backstage as well, and he explains why he’s going by his real name instead of Little Guido.

MATCH #4: Xavier (1-0) vs. James Maritato

Maritato is trained as a shoot fighter, and that’s the aspect he’s going to focus on in ROH rather than cheap gimmickry. Maritato goes after the arm early, and Xavier counters by going for the leg. It’s a back and forth match in the early going. Xavier hits a sort of gourdbuster off the ropes on Maritato, and hits a series of forearms and punches. Xavier tries a powerslam, but Maritato gets a tornado DDT out of it. Xavier rolls to the floor but Maritato hits a dive on him and tosses him back inside. Maritato locks on what’s called an Oriental Scorpion. Out of nowhere Xavier gets a cradle to get the pin at 7:13. That was competent but not exciting or anything. It looks like they’re pushing Xavier and he’s not ready for it.
Rating: **

Earlier this evening, an extremely old man named Frank Talent of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission is talking to the ROH roster about the movie “Field of Dreams.” That’s nice. He tells them not to bleed and not to curse. Spanky mocks him in the background. So cursing is a disqualification?

The Natural Born Sinners are pissed off backstage. They’ve got a rematch with Tobin and Drake, the Boogie Knights, tonight. Homicide literally threatens to kill them.

MATCH #5: The Natural Born Sinners (0-1) vs. The Boogie Knights (1-0)

The Knights lucked out and got a DQ win on the last show, so this is for the Sinners’ redemption. Boogalou and Tobin start. The Sinners use the rubber chicken early on, and this time they make sure the referee is not looking. Drake gets tagged in and challenges Boogalou to go on the mat. Boogalou takes him down and tags in to Homicide. He goes to work with a suplex and a piledriver. He follows that up with a double stomp off the top rope. The Sinners are dominating here. A combination Lariat / German Suplex gets the pin for Boogalou at 2:49. That didn’t do much for me, but put the Sinners over big.
Rating: ½*

Low Ki is backstage getting ready for his Round Robin Challenge match with Christopher Daniels. Ki says that after tonight, Daniels will definitely respect him.

MATCH #6: The Round Robin Tournament – Christopher Daniels (1-1) vs. Low Ki (1-0)

Daniels made Dragon tap out in the opening match tonight, and he hopes to have similar success against his second opponent. Daniels brushes off the handshake just to piss Low Ki off. Ki responds with a big kick to the head for a near fall. Ki continues to work on the head and throws in a few chops for good measure. Daniels makes a brief comeback but Ki puts on a Border City Stretch. Daniels rolls him up out of that for two. Ki follows with his ridiculous series of three kicks where he pounds the mat between the second and third kick. That gets two. Daniels makes the comeback and goes on offense for several minutes. He works on the neck, hoping to gain another submission victory. Daniels hits a Falcon Arrow for two. He tries the Best Moonsault Ever but Ki moves out of the way and this a big spinning kick to the face. A nice series of reversals leads to Daniels hitting the Iconoclasm for two. He hits the Angels Wings but Low Ki kicks out. Ki fights back and hits the Ki Krusher but can’t go for the cover. Daniels tries the Last Rites but Ki reverses it to the Dragon Clutch to get the submission win at 11:02. That was pretty solid and probably had another 5-10 minutes in it. I like that both matches have ended by submission so far.
Rating: ***¼

Daniels gets on the microphone and still refuses to shake Ki’s hand, even after he tapped out clean. The commentators are aghast. Xavier congratulates Daniels on his way back. Ryan Shamrock is spotted. Daniels wanders into Da Hit Squad and the Natural Born Sinners, none of whom are too happy with him. Spanky is still backstage acting like a goof.

Earlier today, the SAT, Amazing Red, and Divine Storm reveal that they are terrible basketball players. Red’s team wins and Divine Storm are like, so mad.

MATCH #7: Paul London vs. Chris Marvel

Eric Gargulo mentions how Terry Funk put London over huge in a recent RF Shot Interview. Both of these guys are from the Texas Wrestling Academy. They do some mat wrestling type stuff in the early going. London gains the upper hand and Marvel rolls to the floor. London hits an Asai Moonsault on the floor and Marvel lands awkwardly on his leg and holy crap that is broken. The bell rings at 2:08 and I’m not sure if it’s a no-contest or if London wins the match via Marvel not being able to continue. No official announcement is made, but since London broke the other guy’s leg, I’d say that makes him the winner.
Rating: ¼*

The Briscoes are backstage and Jay is fired up for his match with Spanky tonight. Mark mocks Jay for losing last month, and Jay shoves him.

MATCH #8: Spanky vs. Jay Briscoe (0-1)

This is Spanky’s first singles match in Ring of Honor, since last month he was in a tag bout. Spanky grounds Briscoe with a headlock early on. They continue to mat wrestle, with neither man gaining an advantage. Spanky uses some high flying tactics to take control. He also displays some prominent arrogance, dancing around while he controls the action. Spanky hits a tornado stunner, which comes off a bit awkwardly. Briscoes tosses Spanky into the corner and his head hit the metal behind the turnbuckle and he’s busted open. A German Suplex follows and both men get back to their feet. Briscoe takes control as Spanky is losing energy by losing so much blood. A sit-out gourdbuster by Briscoe gets two. They go up top and Spanky blocks whatever Jay was going for and knocks him to the floor. Spanky hits an impressive double springboard dive. A series of reversals sees Spanky hitting the Sliced Bread #2 to get the pin at 11:23. That had some issues in the early going but got pretty good after Spanky got busted open.
Rating: **¾

Backstage a couple of unidentified ROH workers are looking at a Texas Wrestling Academy poll to see who their best student is. They all vote for American Dragon. He won 64% of the vote, by the way.

MATCH #9: The SAT vs. Amazing Red & Brian XL vs. Divine Storm

Eric Gargulo references last month’s five-way match, but it was actually a six-way. Now we’ve got a three-way tag team match, with Red & Brian XL being mismatched partners. The contrived spottiness starts almost immediately. I’m not really interested in calling this action, because I’m not at all interested in the action in the first place. Red gets the pin on Quiet Storm to eliminate his team. We’re down to Red & XL against the Maximo brothers. Red hits a Code Red off the top rope but that of course isn’t enough to get a fall. A schoolboy rollup is enough to get the pin for the SAT victory at 12:13. It’s been said many times before but after a million headrops and flippity flips the fact that a rollup gets the pin is really stupid. Red and XL get into a shoving match outside the ring.
Rating: ½*

Low Ki cuts a horrific promo about his second Round Robin Challenge match, this one against the American Dragon. His catchphrase is atrocious.

MATCH #10: The Round Robin Tournament – American Dragon (0-2) vs. Low Ki (2-0) – Special Guest Referee: Ken Shamrock

Before the match can start, Ken Shamrock comes out and shakes both men’s hand. He wants to referee this match since both guys have impressed him thus far. Everything’s on the mat early on, as they’re going for a shoot-style match. They stay on the mat with both guys getting submission holds mixed with strikes. This is certainly different. Ki plays a bit of Antonio Inoki to Dragon’s Muhammad Ali and gets a solid kick out of it. Dragon goes to the floor for a breather. Gargulo announces that Donovan Morgan is coming to the next ROH show to face Christopher Daniels. Low Ki will face the debuting AJ Styles on the next show. Also, Eddy Guerrero will be back for one more show. Eddy would be back with WWE by that point, so that’s a pretty big deal. Ki unleashes some kicks finally and Dragon goes to rest on the floor. Dragon’s eye is taking a beating and it looks pretty gross right now. Ki continues to mostly control the action. They fight outside the ring and Ki locks on a sleeper. There are no countouts in ROH, but the referee can disqualify you if you stay outside for an excessive amount of time. Back in the ring Ki tries to Ki Krusher but Danielson avoids it and hits a nice Dragon Suplex for two. Ki hits a vicious Tidal Wave on Dragon. Now he uses a Dragon Suplex for a near fall. Dragon is able to get a Dragon Ki Clutch on the man who normally uses it and Ki is fading. He reaches the ropes. Dragon invents (as far as Corino knows) a cravat suplex. Both men get up and start trading chops. Ki hits a brainbuster as Corino oversells the quality of the match. What’s wrong with just saying “this is a great match,” instead of saying “this is one of the greatest matches ever in the history of wrestling?” Ki hits a Ki Krusher but Dragon actually kicks out. Ki goes for a Phoenix Splash but Dragon had his knees up in plenty of time. Dragon controls now and gets Ki in a position for a super back suplex, but Ki blocks it and goes for a Ki Krusher from the top. He pulls off the move but hurt himself in the process so he can’t make the cover. Ki goes for the Tidal Wave but Dragon catches him and hits an awesome looking suplex with a pin for two. He then locks on the Cattle Mutilation. After several minutes in the hold, Ki passes out and Dragon is declared the winner at 32:07. That started slowly but they were able to lure you in and it got really good in the second half. It’s not a match I’ll watch very often, but it was very different and it’s hard not to respect how well they pulled it off.
Rating: ****¼

They have a long jerk-off session after the match, to hammer home how good the match was. Dragon gets on the mic and thanks everyone.

We close this show with another video package highlighting the events of the second ever ROH show. The music is fairly maddening.

Backstage, Mikey Whipwreck is yelling at his students and some other guys are there too. Mikey says he’ll find Red a partner.

Dragon, London, and Luscious are standing backstage talking. Spanky accuses Dragon of stuffing the ballot box to win the TWA poll earlier. They get all snippy with each other. Rudy Boy says he’ll try to get a match with all of them in it on the next ROH show.

We get another video to close out the show with yet another video package. The music in this one is even worse, and everything is in slow motion. I don’t get it. It does tell us that on the next show on 4.27.02 will be a Night of Appreciation for Eddy Guerrero. Matches include Low Ki vs. AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels vs. Donovan Morgan, Amazing Red & ? vs. SAT, a Texas Wresting Academy Gauntlet Match, James Maritato vs. Xavier vs. Scoot Andrews, Jay Briscoe vs. Tony Mamaluke, Joey Matthews & Christian York vs. Divine Storm, as well as Da Hit Squad, Prince Nana, and more, including Eddy Guerrero’s last ROH appearance.

The 411: This was a unique and well done concept show, with all three matches in the Round Robin Tournament delivering. Spanky and Jay Briscoe looked good in the undercard, and while London didn’t get much of a chance to show anything due to the ugly injury, you could already tell he was good by this point, so there’s another guy to look forward to seeing. The rest is pretty much a miss for me, but there’s enough good stuff to keep me interested in getting to the next show.
 
Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]  legend

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Jacob Ziegler

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