Ring of Honor took a significant hit in early 2004, when promotion owner and founder Rob Feinstein was exposed as a pedophile in a digital sting operation. Feinstein had been the man pushing for ROH to exist in the first place, looking to fill a void in his "RF Video" distribution that had been left open after the death of ECW, and the new promotion had done so admirably, providing something uniquely different but still extremely popular. Feinstein stepped down as the head of ROH in disgrace, leaving one of the shining beacons of American independent wrestling suddenly in dire trouble. TNA, a frequent partner of ROH who had loaned them several of their stars, including AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels, quickly distanced themselves from this potential trainwreck. Ring of Honor desperately needed a savior, and fortunately for them, there was one waiting. Enter Cary Silkin, who not only stabilized the company, but began to greatly expand it's influence. It was under Silkin that ROH began to gain a foothold across the US, distributing it's own mail-order content without influence from Feinstein, and that business quickly took off. Silkin also worked on giving ROH a more international fanbase, taking the company on the road to England, Canada, and most importantly, making the obvious choice to start making inroads in Japan, an easy call given how much the company's product mirrored that of popular puroresu. It was those Japanese connections that would play a pivotal role in keeping Ring of Honor afloat all the way to today, as well as lead to one of the company's greatest matches, which is what will kick off my latest three reviews from the 19th anniversary anthology.
- This, ladies and gentlemen, is an iconic showdown, not just in Ring of Honor history, but in the annals of wrestling in the 21st century. It's Samoa Joe versus Kenta Kobashi, from an event in New York City that simply bared their names. For those unfamiliar with Kobashi, he remains perhaps the most accomplished Japanese competitor ever, with an absolute bevy of classics to his name, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake throughout his time in All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah. The crowd here in NYC are overjoyed at this opportunity to see him wrestle, and the respectful but rowdy tone is set right from the off, as Kobashi is enveloped in multi-colored streamers after his introduction, a true Ring of Honor special. Kobashi then proceeds to try and chop Joe's head off in a 23 minute spectacle that was, at least in my opinion, more than worthy of every bit of praise it's received in the ensuing years. Joe is fabulous in this one, competing at an unbelievable speed to try and mask Kobashi's physical decline, but even though Kobashi is past his peak, he proves that he still has enough left to keep up with Joe. The two men bludgeon each other with chops, kicks, and knees throughout this match, and just as the striking starts to get a little long in the tooth, they move on to bigger moves, with Joe getting knocked over the barricade by a hellacious Kobashi chop, then responding with a sick twisting Buckle Bomb. Kobashi is a mad man for taking that bump, he could've just rested on his laurels in front of a crowd that would go ballistic for him reading the paper, but Kobashi simply has to be great, he knows nothing else. Joe turns it on from this point, getting a near fall with a Muscle Buster, then delivering a powerbomb and smoothly transitioning into his STF. Kobashi is the perfect face in peril here, desperately clawing towards the ropes while the crowd eggs him on with chants of "please don't tap". Kobashi nearly gets the break with his left hand, so Joe applies a crossface. Kobashi's right hand then grasps at the ropes, so Joe moves to a modified Rings of Saturn, but Kobashi's fighting spirit too great to be overcome, as his right leg hooks around the bottom rope. From there, Kobashi becomes the aggressor, dumping Joe on his head over and over again with half and half suplexes, before delivering a series of vicious spinning chops to the side of Joe's neck. It's a set-up for a thunderous running lariat that ends it, as the legend delivers another triumphant victory. Afterward, the crowd showers Kobashi with chants of "arigato" and "match of the year" as he and Joe hug and each get their opportunity to bask in the applause. My goodness, this was great, carried on the strength of one of my favorite crowd responses I've seen in wrestling. The folks in New York were excessively loud and clearly had a lot of fun, but they still clearly put over the action in the ring, not themselves. It's worth noting that this match took place entirely without commentators, so the crowd was put into the position of calling the match on their own, reacting to the biggest moves and putting over the story of Kobashi's valiant struggle. This is pro wrestling as it should be.
- We now head across the pond to Liverpool, the site of Ring of Honor's first UK show, Unified, main evented by the promotion's biggest match of 2006, where Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness put the ROH World and ROH Pure titles on the line in a unification match. This is a complete home field advantage for McGuinness, who has a partisan crowd on his side due to his English roots, and he also has a big step up because this match is contested under his special "Pure wrestling" rules. This means each man only gets three rope breaks, closed fist punching is banned, and they must each obey a strict 20 count outside the ring, with the gold able to change hands on a count-out or disqualification. This is a brutal match, uncomfortable to watch at times due to the head trauma that each man suffers. The sickest display comes when Danielson rams McGuinness' head into the ring post, busting McGuinness open the hard way, only for McGuinness to fight back with a series of full force headbutts. I cringed with each one he delivered, but it did do an effective job of selling the vitriol and passion each man was putting into this contest. I really loved Danielson's heel work, riling up the crowd by requesting he be announced as "bigger than the Beatles", a scummy thing to do, especially in Liverpool, and he continues to verbally spar with members of the audience whenever he gets a chance (though Danielson does get a big cheer for an insane diving crossbody into the crowd). This sets up McGuinness to be even more appreciated when he gets his shots in, and the crowd goes nuts for several of his near falls, almost winning it with the Tower of London and a few big lariats. But in the end, Danielson is just too vicious to falter, locking in the Cattle Mutilation, with McGuinness unable to force a rope break as he's already used the allotted three. Nigel manages to get to a seated position, not going down without a significant fight, but Danielson takes him right back down to the canvas, hammering away with brutal elbow strikes to the jaw, leaving the Pure Champion unconscious and forcing the referee to call it. The Pure title would be retired for the next 14 years, and this was about as good a way as it could be sent out.
- Our final review for this post comes from ROH's Man Up pay-per-view in the fall of 2007, where the Briscoe Brothers defend the tag titles against Kevin Steen (Kevin Owens) and El Generico (Sami Zayn, possibly) in a "Ladder Wars" match. This is absolute chaos, as all four men take big bumps galore, off of, onto, and through many different ladders. Everyone gets a moment to shine, with Mark Briscoe, the daredevil, leaping to dropkick the ladder to stop Steen from winning, and taking flight with a 450 Splash onto Generico and a ladder. Generico gets to hit several Yakuza/Helluva Kicks, Steen tosses Jay through a ladder and Awesome Bombs Mark onto one on the outside, and both Briscoes combine for some devastating offense, hip tossing Generico through a ladder and nailing the luchadore with an electric chair drop/diving clothesline combo that sees Jay leap through a set-up ladder. If all that wasn't enough action for you, the Briscoes introduce a giant maintenance ladder into proceedings, and the stakes get seriously raised when two of the smaller ladders are then hooked between the lower rungs and the turnbuckle, each setting up a platform for two insane moves. For the first, Steen drives Mark Briscoe through the ladder platform with a Package Piledriver, and then Jay Briscoe responds by putting Generico through the second ladder platform with a J-Driller (double underhook piledriver). That was pure insanity, and both Steen and Jay then scale each side of the ladder, where it looks like Jay has the match won, knocking Steen onto the wreckage of the ladder beneath him. But then comes the scariest part of every ladder match, which is unhooking the prize from the ring up top. Jay has a mighty difficult time, which provided a much needed bit of levity for me after the absolute carnage I've spent the past couple hours watching. Steen calls an audible and climbs back up so Jay can fend him off again, and finally, the belts come free and the match is over. If you love watching men torture every part of their body with ladders, this was absolutely the match for you, this was one of the more insane ladder matches I've ever seen, and that's saying something.
Next time on my dive into Ring of Honor wrestling, Bryan Danielson stars, battling a monster from Japan and teaming up with another future WWE star in Tyler Black (Seth Rollins). Plus, El Generico and Kevin Steen duke it out in a brutal Unsanctioned match. See you soon.
- Henry
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