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ROH YEAR THREE ARCHIVE: LOOKING BACK AT RING OF HONOR'S MOST CONTROVERSIAL YEAR

ROH BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN

Ring of Honor debuted in Wilmington, Ohio on Saturday 1/10 at The Roberts Center. Complete results of the show saw:

*Matt Stryker defeated Alex Shelley when Shelley passed out while locked in a leg submission and the referee stopped the bout. The match was held under ROH's "Pure Wrestling Rules" where after three rope breaks, a wrestler can no longer use the ropes to break a hold. This was said to have been a really good match.

*Nigel McGinness defeated Cody Hawk. McGinness was bleeding from above the eye.

*Chris Sabin pinned Jimmy Jacobs.

*Jimmy Rave defeated Rainman, Caprice Coleman and Todd Sexton in a Four-Way Bout, pinning Sexton. I was told Coleman looked really good here.

*AJ Styles pinned Homicide in what was said to have been a great match.

*Seth Starfire pinned Mike Mondo. Both are from Ohio Valley Wrestling.

*Special K of Joey Matthews & Slim J & Dixie & Hydro defeated Dunn and Marcos and The Carnage Crew in a Scramble Match after the interference of the debuting Abyss (NWA: TNA), who was Special K's paid bodyguard.

*ROH Tag Team champions Mark and Jay Briscoe defeated ROH champion Samoa Joe and American Dragon Bryan Danielson. Samoa Joe failed to save Danielson from being pinned and ended up slapping Danielson's face after the bout. Said to have been a great match. Jim Cornette did not make the show. Not sure why.

*The Second City Saints of CM Punk, Ace Steel, and Colt Cabana went to a no contest against The Prophecy of Christopher Daniels, Danny Maff, and BJ Whitmer. This was a bloody brawl. The finish saw Punk declare he was going to murder Daniels, then hit him with the Pepsi Plunge (top rope pedigree) through a table, and was taken out. The referee was taken out with a vicious chairshot and another official came out and rang the bell. Tracy Brooks (NWA:TNA, Canadian independent BCW) was in the corner of the Second City Saints. Lucy returned as well, facing off with The Prophecy's Alison Danger. This was said to have been an awesome brawl.

One report I've received is that the attendance was in the 500 range.

ROH NOTES & NEWS
by Mike Johnson

Ring of Honor management is buzzing about their Wilmington, Ohio event from this past weekend. Several in the promotion have told me they felt the six man main event (CM Punk & Colt Cabana & Ace Steel vs. Christopher Daniels & BJ Whitmer & Danny Maff) may have been the best match in the history of the promotion (which covers a lot of ground and is a huge statement), going over 30 minutes with a bloody brawl. There is no word on an Ohio return.

As Jess McGrath reported in his Moonsaults column several days ago, Jim Cornette missed the Wilmington, Ohio show due to a miscommunication which led him to travel to the site of the promotion's previous Ohio event in Dayton. Although Cornette was said to be his usual colorful self upon realizing the mixup, everything is fine and he will be returning on 1/29 at the promotion's Glen Burnie, MD event.

On Friday 1/9, the promotion held a joint event in Woodbridge, New Jersey. With the exception of the Carnage Crew/Backseat Boys mixed tag match, none of the show was booked by ROH's regular booker Gabe Sapolsky. There were plans at one point for Shane Douglas to tease throwing down the ROH belt and then instead endorse ROH champion Samoa Joe after his match with Balls Mahoney, but they were dropped after the poor fan response to Douglas when he worked Justin Credible earlier in the night. The show will be released as a "Fancam" style video/dvd without commentary.

NWA:TNA's Abyss debuted for the promotion in Wilmington and will be back on 3/13 in Elizabeth, New Jersey in his role as Special K's bodyguard. Tracy Brooks and NWA Wildside's Slim J will be returning to the promotion as well.

As we noted on the Newsline report of the 1/9 show, Justin Credible sliced his palm open during the Douglas match. Credible went to a local hospital where they crazy glued the cut closed and he is OK and won't miss any action. Nigel McGinness needed stitches after busting himself open hardway against a ringpost at the promotion's 1/10 Wilmington, Ohio show.

The promotion has come to realize that their biggest weakness at this point is the timeliness of their home video and DVD releases and is working hard to get the videos out faster as the demand is more than they ever could have expected for a promotion this young. They have three different DVD production companies working on encoding the videos for DVD release.

ROH Battle Lines Are Drawn can be ordered at ROHWrestling.com