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DVD Review
By Brett Schwan
Ring of Honor
"Beating the Odds" - Wakefield, MA, 09.06.03
Available at RFVideo.com
The DVD begins with C.M. Punk and Colt Cabana in the locker-room. Punk
retells the history of his feud with Raven. He brings up Raven’s
failures and promises to leaves him hanging in X
This leads into a promo where Colt Cabana says tonight he is not goofing
around and his upcoming Field of Honor match will be his biggest test
so far in ROH.
Raven is sitting in his locker-room and cuts an anti CM Punk promo. Tonight he is going to kill him. He laughs.
AJ Styles is shown offering advice to Jimmy Rave.
Match 1: Colt Cabana defeats Jimmy Rave in a Field of Honor match. Priot to the match, the camera cuts to Colt stretching in the back. There is a graphic that has some stats like Cabana's first ROH match and his record in the Feild Of Honor. Excellent touch (they had a similar graphic for Jimmy Rave as well).
A few moves into the match and the camera cuts away to the RF Video table and the Backseat Boyz arriving late. Soon, words are exchanged between the Backseats and Homicide adn eventually all hell breaks loose with Homicide and Julius Smokes getting into it with the Boyz. (I'm not quite sure why they had to cut to this DURING the match and why it couldn't have been show either before or after).
Back to the match. We are told how Jimmy Rave got into the FoH by beating
Slim J at "Wrath of the Racket".
Good match, Cabana with a few comedic spots. The finsih came when Rave
applied the Crippler Crossface, but Cabana fought out and hit the Colt45.
AJ is backstage with Jimmy Rave. Styles tells Rave that he should have worked Cabana's neck more during the match.
Colt Cabana shows that he has honor by displaying welts all over his neck and chest. "I'm going to be on top and Colt Cabana…Superstar…will be born!"
Match 2: Slyk Wagner Brown (w/April Hunter) beat Diablo Santiago (w/Oman Tortuga) Before the match, Oman approaches April but is speared by Slyk. Slyk hits some great spots (does anyone expect less from a talent like him?) The finish saw Brown powerbomb Diablo. After the match, Oman grabbed the mic and propositioned April Hunter. April retalliated by slapping him and beating him down.
Match 3: The Backseat Boyz beat The S.A.T. & The Ring Crew Express & Special K (Izzy & Dixie) in a scramble match. Jose hit Dunn with the Maximo Explosion, but the Backseats teamed up and Trent hit a high knee for the pin. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the scramble matches but this one was pulled off to near perfection.
Match 4: Matt Stryker beat John Walters in a Field of Honor match. Match 2 in the Field of Honor. The graphic used in the first match is now gone. That's a shame. Stryker worked on Walter's leg for the majority of the match. Walters made comeback with a nice Tornado DDT. Walters reversed a Death Valley Driver attempt and picked up Stryker for a powerbomb. Walters' leg gave out and Stryker fell on him for the pin. After the match Walters got on the mic and said, at the next ROH show, "For the first time in my career I'm guaranteeing a victory."
Backstage, Homicide wants Trent Acid, tonight, and is willing to take himself out of the Fatal Four Way to do it.
Special K are on their way to the ring when Deranged wants to know who they are fighting. Hi-jinx tells him they are going to a have a party! Becky Bayless is mad because they always wrestle and she thought they were going out tonight.
Match 5: The Carnage Crew beat Special K (Deranged, Angel Dust & Hydro). After a superkick knocked down Slugga, Julius Smokes came to ringside and convinced Slugga to join the new Rotweillers. Justin Credible with a "That's Incredible" off the second rope, on Deranged for the win. After the match, Loc and Devito set up Becky Bayless for a spike piledriver but are stopped by Credible. Justin tells them to put her through a table. Loc with a piledriver, off the ring apron, through the table! WOW.
Intermission - Gary Michael Cappetta announces that Glory By Honor II will have a tag team Gauntlet for the ROH Tag Team belts as the Amazing Red and AJ Styles were forced to forfeit their championship due to Red's ACL surgery. Cappetta then interviews Jay and Mark Briscoe who are interrupted by the SAT. (The SAT then ask why the Briscoe's went after Red's knee if they knew it was hurt. Not the brightest question ever asked.)
Match 6: Mark Briscoe beat B.J. Whitmer. At one point, Briscoe suplexed Whitmer onto the floor, ran back into the ring and hit a shooting star press onto him. The end of the match came when Mark went for a moonsault and Whitmer moved out of the way. However, Mark landed on his feet only to get hit with the "Exploder". Whitmer climbed to the top rope and pushed off Mark Briscoe twice. The third time Briscoe ran up and hit Whitmer with a Rock Bottom type move, from the top, for the victory.
Match 7: Homicide (w/Julius Smokes) beat Trent Acid (w/Johnny Kashmere). Fantastic match between these two men. At one point, Acid suplexed Homicide to the outside of the ring and followed up with an Asai moonsault onto Homicide, who was in the crowd! Acid hit the Backseat Driver onto a chair. Homicide hit the "Koji Cutter" on Acid but Kashmere pulled the ref out of the ring at the two count. Kashmere was chased by Julius Smokes until Trent Acid attakced him. Homicide began chasing Kashmere and followed him into the ring. Kashmere ducked and Acid hit a Yakuza kick on Homicide for a two count! Homicide went for the CopKilla, but Acid slipped out and rolled up Homicide> Homicide kicked out, hit the KopKilla and gets the pinfall.
The Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels is with Allison Danger and talks about defending his title tonight. Great promo by one of the best mic workers in the business!
Match 8:Jay Briscoe beat Samoa Joe and Chris Sabin and A.J. Styles. The stips of this match were as follows: If Samoa Joe wins, the guy he pinned would never get a title shot again. If any of the other of the three men win, they would become the number one contender and get the next title match after Joe wrestles Christopher Daniels at Glory By Honor II. Everyone took turns beating the hell out of Briscoe. Samoa Joe clocked AJ with his Ole Ole Ole kick. When Samoa got greedy and went for a second one, he was speared by Chris Sabin. Samoa Joe and Styles knocked each other out with a double enziguri while Briscoe hit the "JayDriller" on Sabin for the pin.
Capetta is now at ringside while they are setting up the cage. He brings out Justin Credible for an "impromptu shoot interview". Some inaudible questions from the crowd, followed by a few other questions that were real intelligent like "Did Bret Hart ever screw Sunny?" Great question to ask Credible! Ugh.
Match 9: Raven beat C.M. Punk in a Clockwork Orange House of Fun match. For those of you not familiar with the House of Fun, it is a steel cage match with weapons on the inside of the cage. Seconds into the match and Punk is bleeding like a stuck pig. CM Punk fought back and set up a chair to do the Raven drop toe hold spot. Raven countered it. Raven won after going to the top rope and hitting "The Raven Effect" through a table for the pinfall.
Samoa Joe is backstage. He says Christopher Daniels can take his "destiny" and shove it up his ass. Joe says he is Pro Wrestling and will beat the crap out of Daniels. Short, but intense promo.
While the main event was a bit of a dissappointment to me, the rest of the matches made up for it. Homicide v Trent is a must see and the tag team scramble, fatal four way, and Slyk v Diablo match were all phenomenal.
