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ROH YEAR TWO ARCHIVE: AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT RING OF HONOR'S SOPHOMORE EFFORT

ROH BITTER FRIENDS, STIFFER ENEMIES

RING OF HONOR IN FAIRFIELD, CT LIVE REPORT; STEVE CORINO & DANNY MAFF INJURED
by Mike Johnson

Ring of Honor debuted in Fairfield, CT on Saturday 8/16 at Sacred Heart University. The show, which drew in the area of 400 fans, featured the following results:

*Homicide came out and challenged Steve Corino to face him right there. Corino's cornerman Guillotine LeGrande came out and said Homicide would face Corino, but not now. Prince Nana came out to face Homicide, with Homicide beating him with an STF variation via submission.

*Tony Mamaluke and John Walters defeated Dunn and Marcos.

*Matt Stryker fought BJ Whitmer to a 15 minute draw in a bout that was to determine who would enter the Field of Honor, the promotion's round robin tournament. Gary Michael Cappetta came out and announced that due to their performance in the bout, both men would be invited into the tournament. Good Match.

*Special K's Izzy and Dixie defeated The Backseat Boyz, The Carnage Crew, and The SAT in a Scramble Match. Entertaining.

*Alexis Laree pinned Special K's Becky Bayless. This was what you would expect with Special K with lots of interference and spots designed to bring the crowd down after the previous bout. Fine for what it was designed to be.

*Christopher Daniels pinned Xavier to win the promotion's #1 Contender's Trophy. This never really seemed to get out of the gates, although it was Xavier's first match back with the promotion. Crowd was really into Daniels.

*Special K's Deranged defeated Slyk Wagner Brown, Jonny Storm, and Special K's Hydro in a Four Corner bout. Brown was trying hard to impress but gassed out towards the end. He nearly killed himself with a shooting star press. Storm was as unimpressive as he was in CZW. Deranged was the star of the bout. Hydro is solid. The highlight was a spot where Brown wrapped Hydro in a handstand Tarantula over the ropes, followed by Storm and Deranged adding submissions of their own. Crowd was into this.

*In a non-title match, ROH champion Samoa Joe forced CM Punk to submit to his sleeper. Punk cut a good promo about his Steel Cage Match with Raven before the bout. Good match. Christopher Daniels attacked and laid out Joe, having a quick staredown with Punk afterwards. Joe worked on Punk's leg during the match. When Punk was walking around after the show, he was still limping and selling it.

*Homicide defeated Steve Corino when Corino's cornerman Guillotine LeGrande threw in the towel while Homicide had him locked in his STF variation in an excellent match. A clean shaven Corino came out wearing all his current championships, accompanied by LeGrande and personal ring announcer Bobby Cruise (PWF/Zero-One USA) who ran down all of the accomplishments of Corino's career, which took close to five minutes. An instant classic. Corino had "green boys" in the corners throw streamers for his introduction as well. This was an excellent back and forth match with Homicide bleeding a gusher. While brawling around ringside, they used a strand of barbed wire on each other. Corino tried to walk out at one point, but Homicide's crew prevented it. This had tremendous heat and may have been the best showing by either in the promotion. The towel being thrown in let the air out of the heat for some of the crowd. Corino got a standing ovation when he finally left the ring. Corino suffered two black eyes, a broken eardrum [Note from Mike Johnson: Corino never regained hearing in the ear], and needed 8 stitches in his arm to close a wound from the barbed wire. He lost feeling in his arm while in the STF for the finish. Homicide will be debuting for Zero-One in Japan in September and is growing his hair out.

*Low Ki was announced the winner in a bout against Danny Maff. After several minutes of good back and forth action, Maff was struck with a hard kick by Ki and was out on his feet. The promotion rang the bell and announced Ki was the winner, asking fans to clear out of the building and that the event was over as officials and other workers came into the ring to check on him. Ki was visibly upset and frustrated over the situation, striking ROH's camerman Doug Gentry and stalking around the ring. Maff was coherent and talking to others while in the ring. He was stretchered out via ambulance and examined at a local hospital, being released the same night and returning home. Tests for a concussion proved to be negative, so it appeared that Ki simply caught Maff at the wrong place at the wrong time and run his bell, but Maff is OK. [Note from Mike Johnson: Maff was later diagnosed with a neck injury and was out of the ring for several months.] The promotion announced on their message board that the finish obviously wasn't the planned one, but might be used in the future in their storylines.

Notes: The promotion runs next on 9/6 in Cambridge, MA with Raven vs. CM Punk in a Steel Cage Match and AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Homicide....There are no current plans for Steve Corino to work another match for the promotion ....The promotion did not announce a return date to the venue, but have dates announced in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Maryland upcoming.

ROH Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies can be ordered at ROHWrestling.com.