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Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor – Round Robin Challenge
March 19, 2006 | Posted by
8.5
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Loading...So, on Ring of Honor’s debut show, Low Ki won a fantastic Triple Threat match over American Dragon and Christopher Daniels, but neither loser was satisfied. They wanted singles matches. Low Ki came up with the idea of having each man wrestle one another to find out just who the best in RoH is. See how easy that was to book?
They don’t exactly endear themselves to me by A) infamously misspelling Robin on the box art and B) using an obnoxiometal video package, but they more than make it up when the announce the code of honor – no ref bumps, no interference, no screw jobs.
Ring of Honor — Round Robin Challenge (03.30.02)
Daniels spurns a handshake, breaking the code of honor. Dragon levels him with a forearm as the announcers speculate on who has the advantage when they have to face Low Ki later. Dragon gets a rear naked choke, but they’re in the ropes. Daniels forces him over with an overhand knucklelock, but Dragon counters to a Crippler Crossface. A headlock from Dragon follows. Daniels stuns Dragon with a backdrop suplex. They exchange chops until Daniels kicks him in the arm and nails Dragon with a clothesline to the back of the neck. Another suplex works that neck farther. Dragon tries his own suplex, but his neck is too weak, so Daniels reverses to an inverted bulldog. Daniels goes for a backslide, but Dragon flips over him and tosses him aside with a belly-to-belly suplex. Dragon lays in the forearms, including a running forearm in the corner. Daniels blocks his attempts at a suplex, so Dragon drops him with a snap DDT. DIVING HEADBUTT! It gets two. Dragon spins for a Roaring Elbow, but Daniels counters to an STO and gets two off the Best Moonsault Ever. Dragon ducks a swing and hits that spinning elbow. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Daniels comes back with the Shoryuken and a lariat for two. A Blue Thunder Driver gets two. Dragon ducks another swing and goes for Cattle Mutilation, but he can’t roll over because of his neck. Instead, he goes for a 3/4-Nelson, but Daniels is in the ropes. Daniels recovers and drops him with a piledriver! ONE, TWO, TH-No! Daniels delivers a rolling neckbreaker and finishes with the crossface at 14:23. Daniels gets on the mic and tauntingly forces Dragon to shake his hand. ***1/2
The announcers spend most of the time talking about Luscious and Corino’s pre-match interview and how she’s a graduate at the Texas Wrestling Academy. Nana gets some heat insulting everyone at ringside and then making Tuttle shine his boots. Da Hit Squad hits the ring and attacks from behind (Isn’t that against the code?). One of the Squad slaps a figure-four on Nana while the other splashes him off the top. Tuttle tries to save but gets speared. Nana is gone by now, so Da Hit Squad hits a Wheelbarrow Hart Attack and finishes Tuttle with a Burning Hammer at 1:50. The Christopher Street Connection interrupts, and brushes against a departing Nana. The Squad attempts to press slam him out onto all of the heels, but they aren’t paying attention and let him drop. Da Hit Squad repeats the spot with Luscious, and they get it right. Da Hit Squad seem so out of place in Ring of Honor. Nana drags Luscious to the locker room by her hair while the CSC gives Tuttle emergency mouth-to-dick. Funny moment as Da Hit Squad stops to shake their hands because it’s part of the code. 1/4*
Daniels slaps away the handshake again. GERMS! Ki misses the Tidal Wave (Handspring into a spinkick) but hits a spin kick for two. A abise giri (Koppou Kick) gets two more. Ki ducks a swing and locks him in a side clutch, but Daniels counters to a cradle for two. Low Ki starts hitting him with kicks, causing Daniels to flip him off. Ki kicks his finger and spins right around into another kick to the side of his head. Sweet. Daniels tries a Shoryuken, but Low Ki blocks and counters to a cross armlock on the ropes. Daniels gets punted back into the ring, but he comes back with a pair of STOs. A running lariat gets two more. Daniels sets him on the ropes and drops a leg across his neck. A single leg crab segues into an STF then into a bow-and-arrow, but Low Ki is in the ropes. A Falcon Arrow gets two, and Daniels sets him up with a Rock Bottom. Ki avoids the Best Moonsault Ever and delivers a springboard spinkick. Daniels blocks the Iconoslam and delivers the Shoryuken in the corner. ANGELS WINGS! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Low Ki kicks out and hits a desperation KI CRUSHER! The Tidal Wave knocks Daniels down, but it only gets two. Daniels goes for the same neckbreaker he hit on Dragon, but Low Ki counters to the Dragon Clutch! Daniels holds out for a bit, but he has to tap out at 11:01. Didn’t have quite the same psychological throughline that the first match in the RR had, but they’re on roughly the same level. Daniels gets on the mic and tells him it was a fluke, so he’s not shaking his hand. ***1/4
Briscoe has apparently been lobbying RoH for a second chance after losing to Red at “The Era of Honor Begins.” Meanwhile, Spanky has gotten a big head after winning his contract last month. Spanky latches onto a side headlock and won’t let go. They go into a series of counters off a wristlock. Briscoe accidentally gets crotched on the rope, but he slingshots back into a rolling cradle. Briscoe sets Spanky on top, but Spanky drops his face on the top turnbuckle (allegedly). Spanky blocks a Fisherman’s Buster and dropkicks Briscoe in the face. A 3/4-Nelson Tornado Chinbreaker sets up a Sliced Bread #2 attempt, but Briscoe counters to a German Suplex. Spanky is cut open. Jay gets two off a sitout gourdbuster. Spanky rolls out of a powerbomb and hits a leg lariat. Spanky hits a Tiger Wall Flip but gets a boot to the face (allegedly). Spanky elbows Jay to the floor and double springboards into a suicida. Briscoe blocks a splash by getting the knees up. He drills Spanks with a powerbomb, but Spanky gets his hand on the bottom rope. Sliced Bread #2 finishes moments later at 11:20. On the outside, Mark berates his brother for going 0-2. **1/2
These six met in a six-way elimination where the SAT pinned their regular partner, Red, and Divine Storm pinned their regular partner, Brian XL. I guess both were feeling rather betrayed, so they got together, and we have this match. Simple, logical booking. Doesn’t take much to entertain me. Divine and XL go first with a series of lucha counters. Joel and Quiet Storm go next, and this is a bit sloppier. They slap each other around before shaking hands. Jose and Red go next, and Red refuses to shake his hand after last month. These guys look like they have no idea what the other one is thinking. Virtually everything’s timing is off here. Finally, Storm hits a rolling plancha to one of the Maximos. XL dives out on top of them. Red tries a springboard but slips off the ropes. He tries again and hits a corkscrew plancha. Jose drops Divine with a DVD and hits XL and him with a tope. Joel drops Storm with a superplex, but Red sneak in with a knee off the top and finishes Divine Storm with a Red Star Press off Joel’s back at 7:44. Red avoids Joel’s wild swings and delivers a spinning enzuigiri. Joel comes back with a Backdrop Driver (Schwein), which should have been the finish, but it only gets two. XL comes in and takes a Spinning Faceplant from Jose for two. He hits the X-Clamation Point (Ki Krusher) for two. He tries a Rolling Vertical Splash, but Jose counters to a powerbomb for two. XL and Red sandwich Jose with spinkicks. Red delivers a Red Alert. Actually, he just hit Maximo’s knees, so I’m not sure who was supposed to sell what. Brian XL springboards into a rolling legdrop, but XL and Red get into a fight over who will take the pin. In all the chaos, Jose sneaks up on Red and rolls him up in a schoolboy for the win at 12:16. I understand the psychology of the finish what with Red wanting revenge for the perceived double-cross last month, but it probably could have had a better finish than a schoolboy after all those headdropping moves that Red has kicked out of. Also, when you build a match based on spots, and all of those spots are noticeably off, you really don’t have much to show for it. Very disappointing. *
If Dragon wins, the whole thing is a wash. If Ki wins, he’s tops in RoH, and Dragon is sunk at 0-3. Before the match, Ken Shamrock (who stole the Rock’s sideburns when he left the WWE in 1999) offers to ref the match because they are both such great shooters. Ki tries a kick early, so Dragon takes him to the mat. There’s your psychological set up right away. Dragon is more of a mat-based buy while Ki is a striker. Dragon winds up with a Pendulum Swing and rolls over into a naked choke. Dragon mounts him and tries to rip his face off. Ki reverses to a bodyscissors, and they wind up in the ropes. Shamrock pulls them back to the center where Dragon counters to a slam. Low Ki takes him down and goes for a cross armock, but Dragon reverses to a bow-and-arrow crossface/anklelock. Ki makes the rope and gets a lucky swift kick to Dragon’s temple. A dazed Dragon spills to the floor, his eye split open again. Dragon gets back in and takes him down into a side leglock, but Ki rolls through and gets out of it. He peppers Dragon with kicks, sending him to the floor once again. Back in, Dragon grabs a double chickenwing, and they struggle against one another until Dragon gives him a back suplex. Ki powers up out of a Cattle Mutilation attempt and hits a Pelé kick. Dragon lays in the strikes, but that’s Ki’s game, so he shrugs them off and kicks away. Back to the mat, Low Ki cinches in a shinni no make and scissors the body. Dragon powers up and pushes them both to the floor. Dragon starts to fade on the outside. Back in, Dragon counters the Ki Krusher, but the Swandive Headbutt hits Low Ki’s knee. Ki delivers the Tidal Wave and puts Dragon in his own Cattle Mutilation. Dragon counters that to the Dragon Clutch, which is Ki’s normal submission move! Low Ki makes the ropes. A 3/4-Nelson Suplex sets up a Northern Lights Bridge from Dragon. It only gets two. Ki goes for his springboard spinkick, but Dragon counters with a dropkick. Low Ki blocks a suplex and counters with the BRAINBUSTER! A series of kicks sets up the KI KRUSHER! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! The Phoenix Splash hits the knees, and Dragon is able to recover and hit the Dragon Suplex for two. Dragon sets him on top and delivers a Super Backdrop Suplex to Ki. They battle on the top, and Low Ki delivers a TOP ROPE KI KRUSHER! Ki is out of it, though, and Dragon rolls to the floor to avoid the pin. Back in, Dragon goes for the Tidal Wave, but Dragon catches him in the Dragon Suplex. He can’t get that, so he takes him over in a Cradle Driver. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! American Dragon takes him over in Cattle Mutilation (Bridging Double Chickenwing), but Ki toughs it out. Dragon takes him over again and flips over into another Cattle Mutilation. This time, Ki can’t take it and passes out to give Dragon the win at 32:10. Incredible match certainly isn’t for all tastes. It was an amazing effort, though, mixing mat-based submission wrestling with high impact moves. My biggest complaint is the anticlimactic ending, but it’s a minor quibble. Of course, Low Ki and Dragon shake hands after the match. ****1/2
The 411:Â There isn't much to recommend outside of the Round Robin, but those three matches are well over half the DVD and worth your trouble to track down. The final match is another worthy MOTYC for the promotion, although it is very mat-based for the first ten minutes, which might be a turnoff to WWE fans. It did have a great story, though, and by the end, even I was cheering for Dragon to pull it off. |
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| Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]  legend |
