Carnage Classic: Glory By Honor

[Carnage]

I got GBH I and WTC in the mail yesterday and i started watching GBH first, i heard it was a bad show but i have to say so far i disagree...immensly

Match #1
Homicide vs The SAT vs Special K (izzy/dixie) vs Divine Storm

An oddly submission based Scramble with some good triple and even a quadruple submission move. A really good story was told as Izzy tried to do a big dive throughout the match and kept getting stopped, at least four times he tried and was stopped. And when he finally did it (After everyone else dived onto the pile) it was of course, even more awesome. Homicide wins with an STF in one of the better scrambles

Rating: ** (Damn Good for a Scramble)

Match #2 The Backseat Boyz vs Corino/Homicide

Here it is, the match that started the epic Corino vs Homicide feud, and to think it was over TWO YEARS ago now. I do belive that offically makes it the longest running feud in RoH. A really hot start to this match and it continues all the way through. It was booked as CZW vs RoH and they really tried to showcase that in the match with Corino/Cide wrestling stiff and strong style with lots of suplexes, whereas the Backseats were there usual spot oriented, showy selves (how many s's is that?). Corino pushing Cide off Kashmere to go for the pin was a little odd and they could have made his ego trip a little more clear (he wasnt LOOKING at what he was doing, if they wanted to make him a bad guy id have him blind tag cide after he hit the Cop Killa and try and make the pin himself THEN). Then there was the miscommunication between them and Corino superkicking Cide...A good match, but the ending should have been bigger for the saga it started is HUGE.
Very good match though

Rating: **1/2

Winner Gets the FBI Gimmick
James Maritato vs Tony Mamaluke

Guid..er, Maritato cut a great promo about the FBI gimmick and how he was done with it before the match...if only he could have seen his future...Jobbing on Velocity as Nunzio. This match started off AWESOME and they chain wrestled and counter so many submissions so quickly it was almost lost, there was one mis cue that took away for the match SLIGHTLY (not even noticable, but they slowed down after it). But the rest of the match was great, however i think it should have gone several minutes longer. A great match, but these two could have done so much more given time

Rating: ***

Next Up: Red vs Ikuto Hidaka, Joe vs Ki

[Carnage]

Forgot about:

The CSC and Allison Danger vs Matthews/York and Laree

A Fun match that thankfully wasnt very long. This gets me confused...is allison danger ACTUALLY a lesbian? Because if so...that crushes many a dream for me. Christian and York Suck so bad it hurts, So Laree is the only talent on that team. Danger didnt wrestle at all and the CSC did a good job at making this entertaining, but i still feel the CSCs best match was at Night of Grudges

Rating: *

Ikuto Hidaka vs Amazing Red

This was the best effort these two men could pull out of each other, an AMAZING match that is by far Reds best match. This also gets me intrested in searching for more Hidaka matches (anyone care to tell me what promotion he is working for in Japan?). Hidaka did a good job at isolating Reds knees and countering his offense, Red didnt do a very good job selling or hitting his spots, or staying on Hidakas knee. If Red HAD done all this then glory by honor very well could have been remembered for THIS match instead of Joe vs Ki. Red KILLED Hidakas eye with the infra red, but the rest of the match was awesome. Probably one of the best fifteen minute matches RoH has had (this was almost EXACTLY fifteen minutes)

Rating: ***1/2

Don Juan vs Fast Eddie

Fast Eddies debut and he started off hot, a really fast paced short match that got to show off Eddies abilitys. No Botched spots either (which is something that is OK for eddie...i mean, the guy is FREAKING BLIND). Don Juan did a good job at making eddie Look great as well. Good Match to get Eddie over, but didnt serve much other purpose

Rating: *1/2

Up Next: Corino vs Rudy Boy, Low Ki vs Joe, Williams vs Danielso

[Agent Kev]

Carnage said:

This also gets me intrested in searching for more Hidaka matches (anyone care to tell me what promotion he is working for in Japan?).

Hidaka works mostly for MPro although he is a "freelancer" so also shows up time-to-time in other feds (a lot in Zero-One).

The best match I've seen him in lately was his 11/2/03 match versus Minoru Fujita that was kick ass. I also just got 5 MPro DVDrs in from someone in Japan. On one of those is a totally kick ass Dick Togo/Orihara vs. Fujita/Hidaka match (visit Kev's Wrestling Log for more details). Once I finish with those I'll be glad to sell or trade them to you.

Have you seen ROH "Unscripted" yet? I thought Togo/Hidaka had some kick ass tag-matches on that show versus Mamaluke/Maritato and The Prophecy.

I also REALLY dug his match with Naohiro Hoshikawa from Zero-One from 7/7/02.

[IWSfan4life]

Looks like a great show so far, and I have no idea how I bypassed it. I may have to get this one for sure.

-jason Burke

[Carnage]

I have Unscripted and i do think The Far East Connection were the best tag team in the tourney

Im probably gonna finish this show up later today, but i also have WTC staring me in the face and The NoaH Dome Triple DVD, plus i want to rewatch Kawada vs Misawa at some point...

Well, im glad i have the weekend off!

[Carnage]

Corino vs Rudy Boy

Corino is busted open real fast in this one and this match is bascially Corino trying to pull a good match out of Rudy, and failing. Corino bleeds like a champ but even that can make up for Rudy Boys complete lack of entertainment value

Rating: *

Low Ki vs Joe

This is a good showcase of both mens toughness, but after a while it just gets repetive. They actually repeat the same kick sequence and reversal three times, even using the same place in the ring. A real good strong style match with some agonizing submissions, but it is definitly not a classic compared to the ROH matches of 2003 and 2004. Brutality defined, yes, but overall not a very amazing wrestling match

Rating: **

Note: Id always heard that Micheal Shane saved Paul Londons life when he did the dive off the ladder and almost landed on the gaurdrail "at unscripted" but watching unscripted when London does the run up the ladder flip to the outside he really dosent even touch the gaurdrail and just lands on Shane, who dosent really catch him. Turns out this was actually his attempt to redo that move onto Shane at GBH following the corino-rudy boy match, but London was way to far to the right and literally landed on the gaurdrail. And if Shane hadnt caught him London would have been SERIOUSLY injury, that spot is worth watching just to show Shanes one good contribution to the WWE and RoH...saving Paul Londons life

Jay Briscoe vs Xavier
This was a really good wrestling match between this two and definitly the best match on the show so far. This was a breakout match for Jay as he showcased a lot more offense and chain wrestling ability than he had in any of his previous matches (- his match against Mark). Really good match with a hot finish

Rating: ***

Spanky vs London vs Shane

This was a very well worked match that had a good story going throughout the match with London and Spanky trying to work together but that didnt last very long (hey look...Foreshadowing!). London got eliminated early and most of the match was Shane vs Spanky and although it was at Shanes slow pace it was still very well wrestled and with a lot of back and forth revearsals. Good flow towards the end up Shane did dominate on the offense and kind of killed the earlier momentum, both men have had better matches against one another in RoH.

Rating: **3/4

Up Last: Daniels vs Williams

Micheal Shane vs Paul London vs Spanky

[AndyKaid]

I'm gonna disagree about the 3-way elimination match. I just saw it for the first time since it happened two days ago, and it doesn't hold up too well IMO. After London got eliminated, the match takes a sharp nose dive with Shane doing some really HHH-level plodding offense. He was in control waaaay too long, esp. for it being Spanky's last match in ROH (for the time being). And I wouldn't say it was his best either. If you look at his other matches- vs. Jay Briscoe, vs. American Dragon (from the HBG), vs. Paul London, vs. Jody Fleisch, the four way at Crowning a Champion, and his recent match vs. Homicide... all of them are significantly better IMO.

[Carnage]

I did think that the match toned down a lot after London got eliminated and it would have been a thousand times better if it came down to London vs Spanky. But i still enjoyed the heel tactics of Shane and Spanky doing everything he can to defeat him, but just not prevailing this night

It may have been going to far saying it was one of there better matches because as soon as i typed that i remembered how much i liked the Heartbreak Gauntlet from NOA. So this is a GOOD match for both men, but the breif encounter they had against one another at NOA AND there tag team match at The Era of Honor Begins was better. So upon futher reconsideration i guess it wasnt as good as i said...So...

Rating: **3/4

[AndyKaid]

Carnage said:

Rating: **3/4

Yeah, that sounds about right. Despite a lot of stuff being better, it was still a good match and one of the better ones that evening.