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ROH YEAR ONE ARCHIVE: A LOOK BACK AT RING OF HONOR'S INFANCY IN 2002

ROH GLORY BY HONOR

GLORY BY HONOR I RESULTS
by Buck Woodward

Here are brief results from the October 6th Ring Of Honor event at the Murphy Recreation Center in Philadelphia, PA.

- Show opened with a moment of silence for Ted Petty.

- Homicide won a 4-team match by himself (his partner, Boogalou, from what I understand, went to work for XPW) over The SAT, Divine Storm and Special H.

- The Backseat Boyz of CZW jumped the rail and challenged Homicide to a match. Homicide said he would team with with anyone from the ROH locker room. Steve Corino came out, leading to a tag match, which the Backseats won when Corino turned on Homicide and walked out on him.

- Rob Feinstein and John Zandig (who was accompanied by several CZW wrestlers) took to the ring and talked about the Philadelphia wrestling scene. They announced that on November 5th, Ring Of Honor will run at the Murphy Rec Center at 5pm, so that fans may go three blocks away and see the CZW show at Viking Hall the same night.

- The Christopher Street Connection & Alison Danger defeated Joey Matthews, Christian York & Alexis Laree.

- Tony Mamaluke defeated James Maritato by submission, winning the rights to the FBI gimmick.

- The Amazing Red defeated Ikuto Hidaka.

- ETW TV Champion Fast Eddie defeated Don Juan.

- Steve Corino defeated Rudy Boy Gonzalez in a Texas Death Match.

- Low Ki defeated Samoa Joe in a "Fight With No Honor". (Note: This was a stiff, brutal match, and the general opinion was that it was the best match on the show)

- Prince Nana defeated Elax.

- The Insane Clown Posse mad a brief appearance for a tag team squash match, and were given chants of "Don't Come Back".

- Jay Briscoe defeated ROH Champion Xavier in a non-title match.

- The Carnage Crew defeated The Hit Squad in a Falls Count Anywhere match.

- Michael Shane defeated Paul London & Spanky in a Three Way Dance for the rights to the "Showstopper" nickname, which he then announced would never be used again.

- Christopher Daniels defeated Doug Williams. Dick Togo, on crutches, made an appearance after the match, hitting Daniels with his crutch.

ROH GLORY BY HONOR THOUGHTS
by Jess McGrath

I was at last night's Ring of Honor show in Philadelphia along with Jim Quigley, Scrap Dog, Buck Woodward, and Mike Johnson. Generally I thought it was a good show but not at the level of some of their previous efforts. There was a sentiment that the show was overbooked and deviated too much from the traditional ROH format. I'd agree with the former but not necessarily the latter. It was a very long show. And I surely could have done without the Insane Clown Posse (tough to complain when they go less than a minute though). But a few of the things I found most enjoyable about the show would not be considered ROH-style stuff: the Hit Squad-Carnage Crew brawl, the run in and beatdown after Jay Briscoe beat Xavier, etc.

The opener was about as hot an opener as one could hope for. Tons of dives and great spots. Only negative to it was that it made it that much tougher for the matches that followed. In particular, I thought Red-Ikuto Hidaka suffered in terms of crowd reaction because they had seen all the big dives and spots in this one, and two guys moved a lot slower than eight. … Corino & Homicide vs. Backseats was a very good match. I liked this one a lot. Backseats looked strong, and the Corino turn on Homicide at the end not only was logical, but it got over big. … Good decision to move the 11/9 show to 5 PM. It just makes no sense to split the indy crowd. … Mamaluke and Guido was a nothing match. No reason for Guido to risk getting injured when he's negotiating for a WWE deal. … The six-person match had no chance following everything before it. Alexis Laree has a great look and shows good fire. And the Japanese Pool Boy gimmick is one of my cult favorites. … Red-Hidaka, as I mentioned above, didn't get the crowd reactions one figures it would have. I thought it was an OK match but nothing special. I had seen so many highspots in the opener, it was tough to get into them here. … Fast Eddie-Don Juan was short and fine. … I loved Steve Corino's promo on Rudy Boy Gonzalez before their match, especially the line about how he sometimes asks Simply Luscious when they're in bed to call him Rudy. Guess the Corino and Luscious real-life relationship is no longer a secret. Corino got some good color. I enjoyed the finish because it was different. … Low-Ki and Samoa Joe, I just didn't think it was stiff enough. Just kidding. Those guys KILLED each other. The chops blew Flair-Garvin out of the water. Both looked seriously banged up afterward. Definitely the best match of the show. … Lots of people unhappy about the Insane Clown Posse being on the show. To me, it was so short, it barely had time to register with me. Their fans were pretty unhappy about the shortness of the match (less than a minute). … Xavier doesn't do it for me as champion. His big weakness is a lack of fire. Crowd was pretty quiet during his match with Jay Briscoe, though they popped huge for Briscoe getting the pin. The run-in and beatdown afterward was fun. They need to do more of that. … Hit Squad and Carnage Crew had their typical entertaining brawl, going all over the building this time. The piledriver off the stage through the table looked great. The challenge for booker Gabe Sapolsky will be to keep this program fresh. … Interesting reaction from the crowd to Michael Shane's win. I got the impression they did not like it, and not in a heat on the heel way. Paul London and Spanky are both super over, and the audience was not happy about both losing. Shane's promo afterward was kind of bland. … Chris Daniels and Doug Williams was OK. They were in a tough spot after seeing so many matches and so many moves in one night. The finish was a love it or hate it thing, depending on your opinion of what the product should be. … For the 11/9 show, they announced Christopher Daniels & Donovan Morgan defending the tag team titles vs. Low-Ki & Doug Williams, plus a gauntlet match to determine a number one contender with Red, Shane, London, A.J. Styles, C.M. Punk, and American Dragon.

Boogalou was missing from the ROH show because he took the offer from XPW. He debuted there on last night's ECW Arena show under a mask as part of a team challenging Mexico's Most Wanted for the tag team titles. XPW wanted the Hit Squad to do a dancing hip hop gimmick, which they were not interested in doing.

ROH GLORY BY HONOR THOUGHTS
by Mike Johnson

Ring of Honor's Glory By Honor event last night in Philadelphia was highlighted by a phenomenal stiff battle between Zero-One's Samoa Joe and Low Ki. Words cannot describe how insanely brutal and hard hitting this one was. Think Ron Garvin vs, Ric Flair taken way beyond the extreme. Ki came out the winner in a true must see bout.

There was tons and tons of international talent on the show: The Amazing Red defeated Ikuto Hidaka in a really good match. Christopher Daniels pinned Doug Williams in a bout with a stipulation where Williams can no longer adhere to the promotion's Code of Honor because he lost, therefore he couldn't shake hands with anyone. Williams had his foot on the ropes. Odd they would finish out their first "big" show with a finish like that. Daniels apparently injured a rib during the bout. Dick Togo, who was unable to work because of his ankle injury suffered at MLW on 9/26, hit the ring and broke a crutch over Daniels back to close out the show.

Spanky lost a Three-Way to Michael Shane, with Paul London also in the bout.

Steve Corino, sporting new tights worked twice, defeating Rudy Boy Gonzales in a Texas Death Match that seemed way too short and never really clicked, and a tag match where he and Homicide lost to CZW's The Backseat Boys when Corino turned on Homicide. Corino did mic work before the bout with Gonzales to distance himself from ROH and the Code of Honor to build himself as a freelancer/Zero-One talent. This was a show for you if you live for workrate, dives, and guys being dropped on their heads.

The promotion returns to Philadelphia on 11/9 with a special 5 PM start so fans can attend that night's CZW event at the ECW Arena at 8 PM.

Some various notes to add to Jess McGrath's coverage:

A number of workers came out injured at the Glory by Honor event on 10/5 in Philadelphia. Christopher Daniels is believed to have suffered a broken rib during the main event against Doug Williams, which likely ended the match before scheduled. Daniels felt the rib pop out and back in. Daniels left right after the show for a Japanese tour, so there is no update yet. Bio-Hazard suffered a chipped tooth from a Paul London kick. Ikuto Hidaka suffered a black eye and heavy swelling on his face taking The Amazing Red's Infra-Red off the top rope.

The stiffest bout of the night, Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe saw both men come out with huge bruises on their neck and numerous bruises elsewhere. Low Ki was actually pulled from the show on Friday due to his ankle and rib injuries, but was put back on early the day of the show.

Insane Clown Posse, who were entirely rejected by the Philadelphia fans on Saturday night, were added to the show just 90 minutes before the show began. A representative of the group offered to let ICP appear for free, as they were making an appearance at a haunted house in the area. ICP also offered to bring 25 paying fans. The promotion added them for a quick squash. The locker room was not happy about ICP being on the show and ICP isn't expected back.

There are no further plans at this time for a continued ROH-Combat Zone Wrestling relationship. The promotions made their agreement on 10/3 to have the CZW workers appear and for ROH to move their next event to an earlier start. The Backseat Boys were added to the show the next day as a one-time deal.

Ring of Honor's side of Boogalou leaving the promotion was that he no-showed the event and was fired after stating he would be there and knowing what their plans were for him. He was previously advised by the promotion to take the XPW offer as there were not plans to give him a major push and they want to get behind Homicide as a single.

ROH Glory by Honor I can be ordered at ROHWrestling.com.