ROH "Night Of Appreciation" Review

[Guest Phoenix Fury Legdrop]

(I'm putting this in the Smark Krew & Misc. Promotions folders, so if it doesn't belong in one, it'll be in the the other.)

 

You see, I want to review the newest tape to my collection, Ring Of Honor's third tape, "A Night Of Appreciation". However, due to three factors (I would have to write it out since my comp isn't anywhere near a VCR & TV, I get writer's cramp very easily, and I'm really, really longwinded with my PBP), I won't be doing PBP. However, if I think there's a cool spot that the world shall know about, it will be mentioned.

 

Now, if you're not too offended by that, on with the review...

 

RING OF HONOR: A NIGHT OF APPRECIATION

 

The tape starts out with a series of vignettes. First, H.C. Loc meets up with his new partner, Tony DeVito (of Da Baldies fame) before the show while the ring crew is setting up for the show. Just for the hell of it, they beat up a couple of ringboys, including throwing one into a row of chairs in what I thought was a nice-looking bump.

 

We then see a montage of the events between American Dragon, Low Ki, and Christopher Daniels leading up to tonight, where two new players will be added (A.J. Styles and Donovan Morgan).

 

Then, Divine Storm and Brian XL are ~STRETCHING~! Quiet Storm asks Brian, "Dude, let me try this sweet submission on you, dude!" or some other weird Saskatawan-esque surfer talk dealing with a submission. Brian denies the request, saying that since he's a high-flier, he doesn't need to mess with submissions.

 

Then we go outside, where The Christopher Street Connection are standing amongst the RoH fans from Boston & NYC. They claim not to be the hardest-hitting tag team in Ring Of Honor, but the "hardest-kissing", which leads to some tonsil hockey. Then, Da Hit Squad chase them off, and follow up with basically the same "rah-rah" promo they do every month.

 

Then, we see Quiet Storm walking up to American Dragon and asking him to show a buddy of his (Brian XL) "one of those tight submissions". Dragon says, "Sweet.", and let the stretching begin!

 

We then see Boogalou "chillin'" with Da Hit Squad, all sad and stuff about Homicide (Boogalou's regular tag partner in the Natural Born Sinners). Then, Tony Devito enters the room for two purposes: to call Boogalou "Booga-looga-looga-lou", and to warn Boogalou about The Carnage Crew (Loc & Devito).

 

Then we go back to XL & Chris Devine, and XL breaks out my new favorite saying, "He's a bey-bey-beeyotch!". We also get a close-up of what looks to be Devine's bad acne (though I could be wrong) as he tells XL that wrestling's all about different styles.

 

We then go to a meeting with PA State Athletic Commissioner Frank Talent with all of the guys working the show tonight. Spanky sneaks into the meeting a little late. Talent puts over Eddy Guerrero, and then yells at Spanky for listening to his Walkman and not paying attention. Talent is bizarrly charismatic.

 

We go back to Devine & XL. Before long, Devine sees AmDrag and Storm walking and walks off.

 

Then, AmDrag comes up from behind XL and locks in a ab-stretch/crossface combo while explaining how to lock it in and what he's doing at that moment in time. This whole "submission" vignette thing was very much enjoyable.

 

Then, we get to see a re-cap of the Christopher Street Connection-Hit Squad feud so far in RoH.

 

Steven DeAngellis is now in the ring, and Steve Corino & Donnie B. (Nova's twin brother) are on commentary. Da Hit Squad storm the ring, and chase DeAngellis out. They call out the CSC, and out they come. When they get close to the ring, a brawl ensues outside. Then, Alison Danger (the CSC's valet) gets on the mic, and announces that it's now a Three-Way Dance: Hit Squad vs. CSC vs. Prince Nana & his servants (Simply Luscious & Elax The Exploited Child)

 

DA HIT SQUAD vs. CHRISTOPHER STREET CONNECTION vs. ELAX/PRINCE NANA/SIMPLY LUSCIOUS

 

This was a plain and simple cluster. It starts out as five-on-two, but then the CSC and the Nana-led group get into it after Allison Danger hits on Simply Luscious. Then, Da Hit Squad destroy everyone, and get the win after a burning hammer on Simply Luscious. I don't think this was really a match, as much as wanting to get the comedy/gimmicky stuff out there early.

 

WINNER: Da Hit Squad

RATING: DUD

 

A re-cap of Jay Briscoe's losses so far in Ring Of Honor is shown, followed by a promo with Jay & Mark Briscoe where they argue about Jay's win-loss record so far.

 

TONY MAMALUKE vs. JAY BRISCOE

 

This match was the best of the undercard IMO. They did a hell of a job with the mat work in this one. They meshed really well together, and I wouldn't mind seeing a re-match between these two. It'll be interesting to see how damn good Jay Briscoe is in 5 years, considering he's only 18 now, and he's fricking awesome. Mamaluke may be the most underrated guy on the indies right now, but hopefully word gets out soon that he isn't just a monster bump machine and is a hell of a technical wrestler. Oh, Briscoe wins the match after reversing a backslide into The J-Driller (Tiger Driver '91), which was a cool finish. Like I said before, this was some damn good stuff.

 

WINNER: Jay Briscoe

RATING: *** 1/4

 

We follow Jay & Mark Briscoe backstage, where their parents congratulate Jay on his victory. Mark acts all jealous and stuff, and says that despite Jay's victory, Mamaluke almost beat him. Funny stuff. The Jay vs. Mark feud looks to have some promise, inside and outside the ring.

 

The camera then zooms up the stairwell, where James Maritato catches up with Tony Mamaluke, and tells him to stop doing the FBI gimmick.

 

DIVINE STORM (Chris Devine & Quiet Storm) (w/ Brian XL) vs. CHRISTIAN YORK & JOEY MATTHEWS

 

This was an enjoyable little match. The work was especially strong when Quiet Storm was in the ring. Out of all the Whipwreck students, he looks to be the only one with potential to be more than a one-trick pony. He's the only one who has taken the time to learn more than the quasi-lucha highspot style that the S.A.T. over-use. Joey Matthews looked better in this match than most of his ECW run. Devine was there to be there. Didn't disappoint or impress. York wasn't very good in this match, though usually he's bad-horrible, so it's a step up for him. The only real purpose of this match on the show was to establish that XL was an annoying little guy who disrespected the Code of Honor for his own gain (by hitting a moonsault from inside the ring to the floor onto York without touching the ropes), and Divine Storm wouldn't put up with it (by sending XL back to the locker room after his little highspot). Near the end, York & Matthews hit another one of their "innovative" double-team moves that are so special that the announcers have to give it a stupid name that makes little to no sense, this being the "Side Effect" (double torture rack into a double DDT that it looked as if they almost botched it). However, Storm picks up the win with a leglace into a cool-looking anklelock variation on Matthews.

 

WINNERS: Divine Storm

RATING: **

 

We then get interviews from James Maritato & Scoot Andrews to build up their match.

 

XAVIER vs. JAMES MARITATO vs. SCOOT ANDREWS

 

There are two ways a three-way-dance can come out: the American Dragon-Chris Daniels-Low Ki way, or a big cluster leading up to a bunch of broken-up pinfalls going into the finish. This went the way of the latter. Just a bunch of spots thrown together for the sake of having a match. And to make matters worse, Maritato, who usually can work well to make a cluster look better than it is, looked a little off. Scoot was, well, Scoot. Not too bad, yet not too good. Xavier was alright, and for the most part was the one who the other two got their heat on. Finish came when Maritato reversed a top rope flying move from Xavier into a Fujiwara armbar.

 

WINNER: James Maritato

RATING: * 3/4

 

AJ Styles cuts a short promo, promising Low Ki that their match would be a battle.

 

A.J. STYLES vs. LOW KI

 

Man, this match was damn good. Not as good as the MOTYC's from the previous two shows, but damn good. Lots of cool spots, the action was back-and-forth, and it didn't turn into an all-out spotfest, which is always a good thing. A.J. was noticeably stiffer with his strikes here than anything I've ever seen him do in Wildside (Of course, he was working with Low Ki.) There were a lot of spots I enjoyed, such as A.J. rolling out of the Ki Krusher '99 into a cradle, A.J. hitting a quebrada, but instead just hooking Ki's head and hitting a reverse DDT, and A.J. hitting the Cliffhanger (crucifix powerbomb into a DDT) and Low Ki taking it like a man, head-first brainbuster style instead of the usual facebuster bump (which got a standing ovation after Low Ki kicked out of it), and Low Ki's cool Dragon Clutch Tarantula. There is one spot of Low Ki's that sort of disturbs me, though I really don't know why, seeing as if I've seen sicker stuff done before, and that's the spot where he bends the opponent over, grabs him by the head, and just repeatedly kicks him in the face. Anyway, the finish is Ki rolling Styles up into a small package, and getting what looked like a 2-count, though it was counted as a 3-count (in order to build A.J. up and build heat for a re-match in Boston). The thing about the finish, to me, was that if you really want to build someone up, you give them a clean win instead of a shady finish. They gave Spanky & Donovan Morgan clean wins to build them up on the same night. Why not A.J.?

 

WINNER: Low Ki

RATING: **** 1/2

 

Chris Daniels then cuts a promo, putting over Donovan Morgan, and putting down the Code Of Honor. Good stuff.

 

DUNN & MARCOS vs. CARNAGE CREW (Devito & H.C. Loc)

 

Squash filler. This was supposed to put Loc & Devito over as badasses, but they put them over two guys who look to be straight out of a middle school classroom in the mid-80's. They looked to weigh as much as one of the hubcaps that Loc & Devito carried around. Finish is Carnage Crew hitting a Black Tiger Bomb/neckbreaker double-team combo on one of the two skinny Poison fans. (by the way, Dunn & Marcos were trained by H.C. Loc, so that may have had a factor with them working this show.)

 

WINNER: Carnage Crew

RATING: DUD

 

Donovan Morgan then cut a bland promo.

 

DONOVAN MORGAN vs. "FALLEN ANGEL" CHRISTOPHER DANIELS

 

You know, for a guy who's being built up as the main ROH heel, Daniels sure is getting face pops. Anyway, this was tremendous. Everything looked good and made sense. One thing I noticed in both this match and the Mamaluke-Briscoe match is that the headlock is being put over strong now, as opposed to just being a resthold. The opening minutes of this match revolved around Morgan keeping Daniels locked in a headlock as Donnie B. & Steve Corino put over the headlock strong on commentary. After that, they break out a bunch of cool armbars, suplexes, and other stuff. The finish was nice, as Morgan hits his spinning fisherman's buster, but Daniels gets his foot on the ropes. So he does it again in the middle of the ring and gets the win. Extremely strong match, but then again, when you got guys who can work like these two, you shouldn't really expect much less.

 

WINNER: Donovan Morgan

RATING: ****

 

After the match, Daniels calls Morgan back into the ring for a handshake, but pulls his hand at the last second. Daniels then puts down the Code Of Honor again, calling it a "farce". But he does say that he'll watch Morgan's back in the locker room.

 

We go to a video montage of all the TWA students to hype the next match, the Heartbreak Gauntlet Series.

 

Then, we go backstage in a stairwell, where Rudy Boy Gonzalez has all of the TWA guys at, giving them instructions or something. Spanky walks in, and calls the TWA guys (and girl) "a bunch of DING-A-LING JABRONIES". Funny line. Then, everyone argues about Spanky being disrespectful, and who will win. Paul London gets in a hilarious line, where he just yells out "I break ankles" (referring to "The Round Robin Challenge" show, where he broke Chris Marvel's ankle doing an Asai moonsault), and then steps back and acts like he didn't say it. Rudy Boy says that he'll choose the order of who goes in for the Gauntlet match.

 

GAUNTLET MATCH: John Hope vs. Paul London vs. Michael Shane vs. Spanky vs. American Dragon

 

(Simply Luscious joins in on commentary, and Corino hits on her until she leaves mid-way through Spanky vs. Shane.)

 

JOHN HOPE vs. PAUL LONDON

 

Clipped heavily. Hope must have really sucked in order for the match to be so bad that it was clipped to five or so moves. London wins with the Shooting Star Press, which he does do well.

 

RATING: n/a

 

PAUL LONDON vs. MICHAEL SHANE

 

I don't see the big deal with Michael Shane. He has a nice looking elbow drop, but that's about it. However, I am really liking Paul London's work that I've seen so far. He just does everything so damn well, and he does a lot of stuff. Very solid stuff in this match, with nothing looking too bad. Finish comes when Shane hits his one cool move (the top rope elbow drop).

 

RATING: **

 

MICHAEL SHANE vs. SPANKY

 

This was pretty damn good, though I would have rather seen London vs. Spanky (but I'll probably buy the next tape, so I'll see those two work each other), but this was the best Michael Shane match I've seen yet. Spanky is his awesome self (as usual), and Shane looked decent, too. Shane blades after falling off of the apron onto the floor, and it actually comes into play later in the match, when Shane goes for the top rope elbow drop, but he's lost enough blood that he gets really dizzy and falls off of the top rope. Nice touch. Spanky wins with the Sliced Bread #2 (I'd like to thank Spanky for using a "Mr. Show" reference for his finisher).

 

RATING: **3/4

 

AMERICAN DRAGON vs. SPANKY

 

This was awesome. A slight notch down from their KOTI 2001 match, but it was definetely better than the Super 8 match they had in 2001. They were damn stiff with each other. Dragon just tore up Spanky's chest with some wicked chops. And both guys came out looking strong, Spanky by winning the match, and Dragon by kicking out of the Sliced Bread #2 (unlike some promoters, Feinstein protects his guys' finishers well, which makes someone kicking out of a finisher that much more special). The (cool) finish comes when Spanky hits a SUPER Sliced Bread #2, with him on the top rope, and Dragon on the second rope.

 

WINNER: Spanky

RATING: ***3/4

 

Promo with about eight guys (Spanky, AmDrag, Chris Daniels, Scoot Andrews, Xavier, Jay Briscoe, Prince Nana, & Low Ki) to set up the ROH Title Tournament follows.

 

A re-cap of the S.A.T.'s saga going into tonight's main event follows, leading to:

 

EDDY GUERRERO & RED vs. THE MAXIMOS

 

Eddy gets a monster pop (which he deserves by far). This was a lot of fun. Eddy looked like a superstar, and the others didn't look too bad either. The Maximos played the Midnight Express to Red's Ricky Morton & Eddy's Robert Gibson. The locker room clears out to watch the match half-way through. Near the end, Eddy teases the frog splash, but doesn't get to hit it. The Maximos set up the Spanish Fly, which Red breaks up. One Maximo goes to the outside (I forget which Maximo is which), and Red hits a cool-looking no-touch hilo dive onto him, and Eddy finishes up with his old finisher, the Black Tiger Bomb, on the other Maximo. Fun match, and I dug it. Eddy looked like he was having fun, which is always a good thing.

 

WINNERS: Eddy Guerrero & Red

RATING: **3/4

 

The Maximos, Eddy, & Red do the handshake thing, and then Brian XL comes out to interrupt. Eddy says, "You that 'Lil' Bow Wow' guy that they told me about?", and then challenges him to a match, which he wins in seconds with a brainbuster and frog splash. Eddy then does his farewell speech. There were parts I couldn't hear because the mic was somewhat muffled. But it was still a nice moment, and a great way to end the show ring-wise.

 

We then go backstage again, where Low Ki & American Dragon talk about how cool it was to pay tribute to Eddy Guerrero. They catch Spanky serenading his pizza ("I love pizza! I love pizza! You're my only friend, pizza!"). Low Ki yells at Spanky, and he doesn't pay attention. So he breaks Spanky's headphones. Spanky says that the fans paid to see him, "The Show Stopper", not Eddy Guerrero, as Low Ki & American Dragon look at him in a confused way. Then, Daniels & Morgan come into the room, and accuse Ki & Dragon of "marking out for Eddy Guerrero." Apparently, them are fightin' words in Ring Of Honor, as a brawl then ensues. Atlas Security breaks it up, and Spanky then accuses Morgan/Daniels of getting him heat with Low Ki and American Dragon. The show ends with Daniels once again complaining about the Code Of Honor, and a "To Be Continued" graphic showing up on the screen.

 

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Besides the two squashes, this was a great show. The non-squashes were decent-great, with Ki vs. Styles as MOTN. The skits improving immensely, with Spanky's skits being simply awesome. Commentary was SO much better than I expected, seeing as if we basically got two color men in Donnie Bucci & Steve Corino. Donnie really impressed me with his color work, though he probably should speed up selling the effects of certain holds, as the match will move on as he's still in the middle of explaining a move. Simply Luscious's input in the commentary during the TWA Gauntlet was bad, though all she did was get hit on by Steve Corino. The one negative, though, is the CONSTANT shilling for RF Video and ROHwrestling.com. They advertise both on the box of the tape. If you need to, take five seconds out between matches to put up a shill graphic for both. But when it gets to the point where Steve Corino says to check out ROHwrestling.com to check out between Prince Nana, the Christopher Street Connection, Simply Luscious, & Allison Danger who's sleeping with who, then the shilling is getting a little extreme.

 

To paraphrase Kevin Nash, "Buy the tape!" Really, you'd be doing yourself a big favor if you bought the whole ROH series.

[Guest Retro Rob]

Good job. Can you review either the first or second show as a follow up? I would be very interested in reading either of those.

[Guest Phoenix Fury Legdrop]

Thanks for the compliment. I'll probably be doing the first show within the next week, since I don't own a copy of the second show (I'm cheap). I also got some Wildside and two Super 8's. I tried to review WWE/F once, but it was like the same match over and over, so I got bored quick.