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.
