Well After the Fact Review - Wrestling DVD
Ring of Honor: Glory By Honor - Night 2September 16, 2005
I won this DVD on an ebay auction in October. And I planned to have watched this before I went to see Glory by Honor VI Night 1 in Philadelphia, because I hadn't seen enough of KENTA or Marufuji's ring work. Well, that didn't quite happen (mostly cause I refuse to skip ahead in a wrestling DVD).
(By the way, not that anyone is reading, but I didn't, and still don't intend this to be a Ring of Honor blog, just kindof where my head is at the moment. It'll pass)
I don't do play-by-play, I'll link to several other reviewers at the bottom who are better at that kindof stuff.
- Intro Vignette:
- The Ring of Honor Champion stands outside of Madison Square Garden talking about the legends that have performed there, and walks about 1 block to the Manhattan Center and talks about the legends who are now appearing in Ring of Honor. This worked very well.
- Opening Match:Davey Richards vs Jack Evans
- Decent enough match. Purpose was to further prove that Davey can hang with the big boys of the promotion. To me this was decent, but was a mess. Both have talent, but they don't mesh with each other. Richards wins with the stretch muffler. Fun but nothing special.
Rating:**
- Ceremony With Bruno Sammartino
- Bruno Sammartino comes out with a well-received ovation from the Manhattan crowd. The funny part is that probably none of the crowd has ever seen a Bruno match. Well, other than the Bruno v. Zybsyco match, but that one doesn't count. It's like saying you've seen Steamboat v. Savage at WMIII. He thanks the crowd and puts over ROH, which the fans love, of course. After the ceremony, Samoa Joe starts something with (future ROH Champion) Takeshi Morishima, starting the Joe vs NOAH feud, that never quite happened. It's funny, seeing it now, wondering what could have happened.
- Match 2: Adam Pearce vs Delirious
Both of these men got much better in 2007. A fair match with some funny comedy spots, especially when Delirious goes under the ring and when he nails Pearce with 50 clotheslines. I love that Delirious, playing an insane character, can do things that break the 'rules' of the match experience (like giving someone more than 10 shots in the corner), and the fans love him for it. Shane Hagadorn comes down to ringside and hits Delirious with brass knuckles, and Pearce follows that up with a vicious jumping piledriver... RUDE... Pearce and Hagadorn join forces (eventually leading to the Hangman's 3, but that's much later.
Rating:**
- Match 3: Christopher Daniels vs Colt Cabana vs Jimmy Jacobs
- This is much more like it. The story here is that Daniels is a face in Ring of Honor, for once in his life; Jacobs is still in love with Lacey; Cabana hooked up with Lacey and Jacobs found out about it; Lacey wants the two of them to team-up against Daniels, and Jacobs is too heartbroken to do it. High concept stuff or the latest episode of All My Ringrats? You be the judge.
It's bizzaro world as Daniels shakes hands with Cabana before the match. I'm a huge Cabana fan, as I love anyone who can wrestle and bring humor to the match. Cabana grabs Laceys boobs and looks up her skirt during the match, to the delight of the crowd. Most of this happens while Jacobs sulks in the corner. Too Funny. Back and forth action, with Cabana letting Jacobs get nailed by Daniels. Daniels has some nice moves in this match, of course. But in the end, Cabana is about to nail Daniels with the Colt 45, when Jacobs hits a low blow on Colt, and finishes him with the Contra Code. I'm a fan of this stuff. Very unique, translated well into a match, and lots of fun. Not a GREAT match wrestling-wise, but not bad either.
Rating:***
- Promo Time: Jim Cornette & The Briscoes
- Cornette is awesome at times, but this isn't one of them. Basically, the gist is that Homicide asked Cornette for a World Title shot. Cornette gives him the shot at Final Battle 2006 (cool I won that on an Ebay auction too!!!), but he has to win his match tonight. More insults for New York City before Homicide's music plays and Samoa Joe and Homicide hit the ring, leading us to....
- Match 4: The Briscoe Brothers (Jay & Mark Briscoe) vs Homicide & Samoa Joe w/ Julius Smokes
- Um, everyone in this match is awesome at this point. Okay, that's not true, Julius Smokes kindof sucks, but otherwise. Everyone brawls at first. Some of the best high-impact wrestling from Homicide that I've ever seen. Some great suplexes and throws. The basic story is that Joe and Homicide can dominate individually, but eventually the double-teaming of the Briscoes takes over. Homicide finally finishes the whole thing with a Cop Killah on Jay for the victory. I don't like Joe in brawls like this, but he certainly holds his own. Best Homicide match I've ever seen. Briscoes are awesome as always.
Rating:***1/2
- Intermission:
- Three backstage vignettes. I went through these quickly as I wanted to get to the action.
- Cabana is backstage with Lacey icing his balls when Jacobs comes in celebrating. Lacey rips him for pinning Cabana.
- Something weird with KENTA, not sure the purpose, to be honest.
- Bruno backstage with Danielson and Marufuji. Congratulating them both... Moving on.
- Match 5: ROH World Tag Team Title Match: Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli)
- Only thing I like worse than Claudio as a face is Claudio as a heel, even dumber. Okay, he's Swiss, so naturally he wears a tie to the ring and carries a briefcase? And he's with a wrestler with superhero inspired tights? And they call themselves Kings? Uck!
On the flipside, Personal Jesus is heard over the speakers and I'm a happy man. Here come the champs!
Back and forth matchup. Some classic good guy versus bad guy tag stuff, but the Kings are sloppy and Gen Next are artists, so it's crap to me. Hero and Cladio do nothing impressive for me. The whole point of the match is that the Kings need to cheat to gain any advantage over the superior team of Aries and Strong. In the end, Claudio hits Aries in the ribs with the briefcase, and Hero hits his finisher on Strong. Kings hit a double-team finisher to pin Aries for the win and the belts.
Rating:**
After the match, an injured BJ Whitmer tells Jacobs to watch his ass, cause he's coming back for him.
- Match 6: GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Naomichi Marufuji vs Nigel McGuinness
- Marufuji is accompanied by lots of other Japanese officials. McGuinness is hot over. And the ring announer makes a big deal of reading the official sanctioning by NOAH of the GHC Heavyweight Title match occuring in the United States. Adds something to the match, not sure what, but it adds something.
The match was solid. I enjoy Nigel's unique brawling style. Reminds me of a very tall Steve Austin with better movement around the ring. I know this surprises no one who follows NOAH, but Marufuji is awesome!!!! Amazing wrestler. He's like Muta and Van Dam rolled up into 1. Skill versus high impact is the basic story of this one. Nigel hits his moves: Lariats, Headstand in the corner, Tower of London. Marufuji takes all of them. Marufuji hits Nigel with kicks from everywhere. Eventually, Marufuji hits a move called a Shiranui (basically a Sliced Bread #2 with both men on the top turnbuckle) to win. I very much enjoyed this match.
Rating: ****
- Main Event: ROH World Title Match: Bryan Danielson vs KENTA
- Kenta comes down to the ring with all of the NOAH wrestlers that came on this trip. Danielson walks alone ("It's the FINAL COUNTDOWWWWWNNNNN!!!!!!). Please forgive, but I'm just not going to capitalize Kenta everytime in this match. I know it is a term of respect, and so that no one confuses him with Kenta Kobashi. But I'm going to continue with Kenta, until Kobashi comes down to ringside.
Fun feeling out process. Danielson is such a throwback to 80s wrestling, it's wonderful. I would love to have Danielson face Flair, just for the first 5-6 minutes (the rest might suck). Danielson's shoulder has tape on it, mostly to remind the audience that it is injured. Kenta attacks the shoulder all match. Danielson feels the sharks swimming around his title reign, and will do anything to kepep the title.
Danielson and Kenta have a nice brawling section of the match on the outside of the ring, neither man gaining a true upper-hand. The back and forth in this match is great. Danielson ducks a great move, and rolls through to get a single leg crab. Over-and-over Kenta attacks the arm of Danielson, but Danielson keeps coming back.
Danielson gets Kenta in a roaring elbow, follows it with a crossface chickenwing. Fans are screaming, "Tap", but Kenta does not. Just tremendous action. Back and forth, these two warrior give everything they have. Towards the end of this 30 minute match, Kenta nails Danielson with the Go To Sleep, and covers him. The crowd is pumped so much, they almost don't see the referee stop the count to Danielson's foot on the ropes. Awesome stuff. Danielson hits his series of elbows to the face on Kenta and puts him in the Cattle Mutilation for the submission victory. AWESOME!
Maybe the best match that I've seen in Ring of Honor (I've missed most of the truly great ones, so just let it go).
Rating:***** (Full monty!!!)
Overall rating:
I really enjoyed this card. Kenta earned his reputation with me with this match. I keep trying to find a great Hero or Claudio match, and still haven't found it. Whatever Kool-Aid is out there, I haven't found it to drink. I love Joe and Homicide vs Briscoes, and had a lot of fun with the three way match. Worth picking up for full price, and if you can get it in a deal, even better.
Overall Grade: B+
Pick it up here.
Other Reviews:
411 Mania's Garoon & Ziegler
Here's someone with a video review on You Tube
Big Andy Mac at InsidePulse.com
The Dude at MovieTome.com