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Ring of Honor
Wrath of the Racket – Dayton, OH 08.09.03
Running Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
Available at RFVideo.com
The main menu gives you the choice of playing the entire show from start
to finish or “Match by Match”.
The DVD opens with the Second City Saints (Colt Cabana and Ace Steel) backstage talking to the hand held camera, which is supposedly being operated by Lucy. Colt has heard about the upcoming Field Of Honor but doesn’t know exactly what it is. Thy approach Homicide to see what he knows about it. Homicide is more concerned with his match later tonight that with the Saints. Julius Smokes then tells them what he knows but is completely unintelligible.
AJ Styles and Red are in the back talking about their tag title defense against the Prophecy on tonight’s show. After the camera man says “cut”, we see the SAT and AJ talking to Red about his knee injury and telling him to ice it up before the match.
The first match is a Scramble Match. The commentators explain the rules of the match, which are, one fall to a finish with no tags necessary. The teams in the match are Fast Eddie and Don Juan, Carnage Crew (Loc and Masada), Special K (Deranged and Hydro), and the SAT.
ROH Top 5 rankings are shown.
Loc starts off dominating Deranged before the SAT come in. The commentators point out that Fast Eddie is legally blind. You learn something new every day.
It was an amazingly fast paced match with all the guys hitting their signature spots. Fall away slam / neckbreaker combo off the second rope by Eddie and Juan. Spanish Fly by SAT on Hydro. The last two men in the ring are Deranged and Loc. With help from Hijinx, Deranged scores the pinfall.
The post-match rave is interrupted by Jim Cornette. Cornette wants to know what the hell he just saw. He didn’t come to see this, he came to introduce a tag team. The Midnight Express’ music hits and Dunn and Marcos come out. The Prophecy attack! Christopher Daniels announces Jim Cornette as the latest member of the Prophecy.
Backstage interview with BJ Whitmer about his title shot tonight.
Nigel McGiness defeats Chet Joblonski to become the #1 contender to the HWA Championship. Good match by both men. They kept the crowd interested and vocal throughout the match. During the match some “Live Events” appeared on the screen. My only complaint with that is the fact that the DVD was released long after these live events even took place.
Chris Sabin faced Homicide (with Julius Smokes). Excellent match which saw some great chain wrestling as well as some submission moves. Homicide was able to nail Sabin with the Copkiller for the pinfall.
The next match saw Alex Shelley and Jimmy Jacobs take on Colt Cabana and Ace Steel. Colt Cabana has it all. He can work the mic and can work in the ring. This DVD allowed his personality to shine. Shelley and Jacobs held their own but Shelley was pinned after the Colt 46 (Combo Colt 45 and neckbreaker).
Matt Stryker defeated Justin Credible with a DVD. It was so nice to see Credible in an actual match. He has been used in brawls and street fights for so long, it’ shard to remember that he can actually wrestle. Justin hit “That’s Incredible’ for a 2 count. He went for a second one butt Stryker reversed it and went for a DVD. The DVD Was reversed and Credible hit a crucifix but Stryker picked him up into a DVD for the victory. Another great match.
Les Thatcher is outside where he interviews the Prrophecy. After the interview the camera shows Cornette saying to the Prophecy, “Want to know how the Rock N Roll Express lost the titles to the Midnight Express in the 80’s?” They all leave.
Cabana and Steel are still in the back trying to learn more about the Field of Honor.
The Prophecy attack Red and the SAT as they are signing autographs during intermission. They destroy Red’s knee with a chair.
Slyk Wagner Brown (w/ April Hunter) vs Michael Shane vs Hotstuff Hernandez vs Scoot Andrews was next. Scoot had taken some time off for the birth of his baby. It showed. Slyk, who is one of the most consistent and talented wrestlers on the indy scene has somehow been “demoted” to showcase cards for ROH. I cannot figure out why for the life of me.
The match began with Hotstuff dominating Shane until a low blow slowed Hotstuff down. Slyk hit a nice neckbreaker off the top rope on Hotstuff for a 2 count. Asai by Slyk onto Shane and Andrews at ringside. Hernandez with a plancha onto all three. Back in the ring Scoot hit the Force of nature on Slyk for a 2 count but Shane broke the count and hit a fisherman DDT on Scoot for the pinfall. Excellent outing by Hotstuff, Slyk, and Micheal.
Jimmy Rave defeated Slim J with a crossface to earn a spot in the Field of Honor. Lots of talk by the commentators about next week’s show in CT. Again, I can not figure out why the show is being hyped so much (other than to sell the DVD) since the DVD’s come out long after the live shows take place. The commentators did do a good job trying to cover up a missed spot by Slim J by saying he should stop partying so much with Special K and focus on the wrestling.
Samoa Joe defended the ROH World title against BJ Whitmer. Joe caught Whitmer in a vicious single leg boston crab early in the match. The two men brawled to the floor where Joe eventually hit his “ole’ ole’ kick”. BJ held his own but was unsuccessful in his attempt to capture the gold.
In the back, the Second City Saints are searching for Rob Feinstein. They come across Nigel as well as Dunn and Marcos who are no help.
The main event saw Christopher Daniels and Dan Maff against AJ Styles and Homicide (who was subbing for the injured Red). The match started fast and spilled to the floor. AJ and Homicide got Cornette and Danger in a rowboat, in the ring. The match was fast paced and went back and forth until a Styles Clash on the tennis racket scored the three count for AJ.
After the match, Cornette shakes AJ and Homicide’s hands. Daniels is pissed. The Prophecy then begin to beat down Cornette. Red limps in to make the save but the Prrophecy soon outnumbers him. Samoa Joe is next in and clears house. Cornette raises Joe and Red’s hands and put over ROH and the fans.
In the back, Homicide comments on Corino.
Samoa Joe congrats BJ on a good match.
Corino comments on Homicide.
Second City Saints FINALLY find Feinstein and he invited Colt into the Field of Honor tournament.
This was a great DVD. The video quality is excellent. Far above what I ever expected. The sound is excellent as you can cleary hear all mic work that is done in and out of the ring. The commentary is very well done. The backstage promos and angles are a great way to keep fans updated on storylines as well as explain things that happen later in the show (like the Red injury). The promos also allow talent, like Colt Cabana, to shine. Professional packaging rounds out a great DVD. If you want to start your ROH DVD collection this is a great one to start with!!
