Thursday, September 21, 2017

RoH: Road to the Title Review

RoH: Road to the Title

This is the first independent wrestling show I ever bought and watched. I was still watching WWE at that point and the internet and specifically the Extreme Warfare Boards, where people posted about EWR led me to find out about the existence of independent wrestling and the hype for Ring of Honor was strong and as I've always been a sucker for tournaments this seemed like the perfect show to start with. I watched it on my laptop on the top of a bunk bed in my college dorm and I fell in love right away. My obsession with wrestling took on a new facet there and it only waned when I had to start paying back college loans and RoH started running ten shows a month that made it too expensive to follow. I somehow failed to review this one before which is impressive considering it's always been an important show to me personally. So without any further ado let's get to it.



We start with Mack and Homicide firing up Low Ki and telling him it's his time to shine. Low Ki then starts beating up the wall and yells at the camera. Simple, but effective. We go right into some techno and highlights of the competitors entrances. I will freely admit that I'm dancing to the techno as I type this. I'm going to get this out of the way here instead of complaining about it in the first match write up. RoH production doesn't have their cameras set up right and will never fix this until they get real lighting on the ring so the color from the hard cam and the hand cam is not the same and it gets annoying. The hand cam is also zoomed in too much, but that is a thing they do eventually fix. For commentary we've got Donny B and Steve Corino who do a solid job. Definitely a team RoH broke up too soon as commentary was bad until they got Prazak in the booth.

Bio-Hazard vs. American Dragon Bryan Danielson

A fun quick squash from Danielson. Bio-Hazard looks a little rough at stringing moves together, but with Danielson there to lead him and them both coming from the same wrestling school they keep it together well. Hazard gets a solid showcase and we get Danielson moving on as we all knew he would. 4/10

Paul London vs. Spanky

Two matches in and everybody is from the Texas Wrestling Academy so far. But looking at three out of the four competitors and what they did in the future, that makes sense. The match starts off back and forth with simple chain wrestling and arm drags traded back and forth and slowly builds from there. Both men counter each others finishers and the end starts to ramp up as they both know they have to take it to the next level. Unfortunately that features a brutal botch from the second rope. Commentary says London might have tried to block it, but he gets dropped and hits his feet on the ropes and lands head first on the mat. I'm pretty sure he's concussed because on the next move a suplex he doesn't jump at all and almost gets dumped on his head again. Spanky hits the sliced bread #2 shortly after for the win after a good match. Most of these first round matches are pretty quick since the second round is where the good stuff happens, but still a good match from these two men even with the botch. 7/10

Jay Briscoe vs. Doug Williams

The first of the original new wave of British wrestlers that were making a name for themselves along with Fleisch and Storm who are later in the show in Doug Williams. A solid match from these two men. Jay hits a powerbomb on Williams that looks brutal as Williams is quite bigger than most indy guys. Williams has some kind of weak looking knees, but finishes the match off with the Chaos Theory which became my favorite move for a long time after this match and made me want Williams to win all of his matches so I could see it again. 6/10

Jody Fleisch vs. Johnny Storm

This is the most indy ass wrestling match. Not that it's a bad thing, but it is definitely by the books. Fast paced exchange to start that ends in the indy respect standoff and applause from the crowd. They have a long pinfall exchange sequence. Both men do big dives. Kickout of finisher counter a move and win. It's a fine match, but both men are a little sloppy, which is easy to have happen when you do lots of springboard stuff and they both do. Storm misses the ropes several times and Fleisch's 720 DDT always looks pretty iffy. Not really a good debut, but since they both hit big moves it leaves an impression. Fleisch's springboard shooting star press to the outside is really impressive looking. Fleisch picks up the win after countering a rewind 'rana into a sitout powerbomb. 5/10

Low Ki vs. Prince Nana

Nana jumps Low Ki to start the match and keeps the advantage for the entire match, until the end. Low Ki avoids a running hip attack in the corner then hits an enziguri and Nana is knocked out to end the match. Not much of a match just a way to show how dangerous Low Ki is. 2/10

Xavier vs. Amazing Red

A fast paced spotfest where they hit everything and do some great wrestling. Early in the match Red goes for a phoenix splash on a standing Xavier who catches him and powerbombs the fuck out of him. Really good back and forth stuff from these two guys and Xavier really doesn't get his dues for how good he was at wrestling. Red hits an Infared (a twisting moonsault where I think he spins 540 degrees while moonsaulting) then a standing SSP for the win. 6/10

Christopher Daniels vs. Scoot Andrews

Daniels picks up a quick win over Andrews which was surprising because I remember Andrews doing well early in RoH, but guess they needed to get the match over quick for Daniels to cut a promo and then Simply Luscious cutting her promo afterward. 2/10

Sumie Sakai vs. Simply Luscious

Simply Luscious is not very good at wrestling, but Sumie is very good so it turns out to be fine. Luscious is often lost when trying to figure out what to do between moves, but she can execute the moves she knows well. Sakai hits a couple of big missile dropkicks then a moonsault to pick up the win. Steve Corino's commentary on this match may be worse than attitude era Jerry Lawler, it is brutal. 2/10

AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn

This is the best match of the first round by a large amount. These two get plenty of time to work the match and they're both great at it. Styles focuses on the arm of Styles so he can't lock in the cradle piledriver. Lynn just wrestles like Lynn because he's great at that and it's good to watch. The beginning is even until Styles gets some good shots in on the arm. The two have a great pinfall exchange sequence that ends with Lynn hitting a big bridging German suplex for a two count. My favorite part of old school AJ is seeing him hit the Spiral Tap even if it only gets a two count. Styles blocks an attempt at a piledriver from Lynn then lifts him up into the Styles Clash for the win. 7/10

Jody Fleisch vs. Spanky

Solid match from these two. Less wild than Fleisch's first match. Fleisch does a springboard moonsault to the outside that destroys the guardrail, but apparently doesn't hurt himself too much on it. They go back and forth a little more before a sliced bread #2 gets the win for Spanky 6/10

Bryan Danielson vs. Doug Williams

Great technical wrestling exchanges and plenty of hard hitting strikes. This is a damn good match. Williams winning is a real surprise as Danielson was one of the big three in RoH and felt like a lock for the finals which is a nice choice, and makes the results of the next two matches less certain. The definitive moment in this match is both men locking in a leglock and rolling to the ropes then outside of the ring with neither man letting go. Williams hits a beautiful Chaos Theory, but Danielson kicks out. The finish of the match is a kind of weak looking suplex into a sloppy submission hold/cover for three, but doesn't take too much away from a really well wrestled match by both men. 8/10

Low Ki vs. Amazing Red

This match starts out with what is called the matrix minute and is an impressive display of dodged strikes and kicks and running dodges that led to the amazing displays we get from Ospreay and Ricochet today, and it's still looks good after all these years. Low Ki hits Red with all of the kicks he can and Red fights back and plays the underdog perfectly. I forget just how unique a presence Low Ki is in the ring. Nobody else has ever moved and fought like him and it's just awesome to watch. Ki's most painful looking move is the Krush Rush when he lifts Red up for the Ki Krusher then runs him into the corner and drops him to the outside. They go back and forth with great counters and moves until Low Ki blocks a top rope hurrincanranna and turns it into a top rope Ki Krusher. Just an awesome athletic display from both men. 8/10

AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels

This match is built like the biggest match of the night and it carries that title well. It's back and forth until they start fighting on the apron. Daniels gets in the ring and kicks Styles off the apron and into the guardrail busting him open. Daniels goes to work opening the cut up further and trying to wear Styles down. Eventually Styles makes the comeback and they brawl to the apron again. This time Daniels gets draped over the second rope on the inside and Styles hits a Lionsault on him. Also get to see Styles kip up 'rana which I haven't seen in a while. Styles goes for a Styles Clash, but Daniels picks his leg into an ankle lock. They go through a quick pinfall exchange then start going back and forth again. Styles goes for the Lionsault into a DDT, but Daniels snapmares him over then hits the Last Rites for the three count. Really good match between these two, but they have way better matches in the future. 8/10


Overall it's a pretty good show still. A lot of the first round is a little weak because they have a lot of matches they want to get to, but the Styles/Lynn is really good and the last three matches are all awesome as well. And all very different kind of matches which has always been the drawing point of RoH. It's still cool to go back and see a lot of the big names in wrestling back in their early days and see just how far they have come. If you see this show for $5 somewhere pick it up. Or if RoH ever realizes they should have a streaming service this match is one you should watch. RoH has definitely had better matches, but this one has a lot of import to the history of RoH.

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