BRM Reviews Glory By Honor

[Big Red Machine]

ROH Glory By Honor (10/5/2002)- Philadelphia, PA

TAG TEAM SCRAMBLE MATCH: Homicide vs. the SAT vs. Divine Storm (Chris Devine & Quiet Storm, w/Trinity) vs. SPECIAL K (Izzie & Dixie, w/Elax)- 7.25/10. This is what a spotfest is supposed to be! Awesome action, with enough people in the match that guys have the proper time to sell.

The Backseat Boyz hit the ring and corner Cide, then demand an interpromtional match between ROH and CZW.

THE BACKSEAT BOYZ vs. STEVE CORINO & HOMICIDE- 6/10. Corino and Cide start to fight and Cide walks out on Corino, beginning a feud that would last for four years.

CHRISTIAN YORK, JOEY MATTHEWS & ALEXIS LAREE vs. THE CHRISTOPER STREET CONNECTION & ALLISON DANGER- 4.5/10, but it did its job perfectly, which was make Mickie look good.

LITTLE GUIDO PROMO-this was an awesome promo by Guido about wanting to drop the FBI gimmick. (Four months later, he would start the gimmick all over again in WWE).

WINNER GETS THE RIGHTS TO THE FBI GIMMICK: Tony Mamaluke vs. James Maritato (Little Guido)- 6.25/10. Some really good hold for hold wrestling here.

AMAZING RED vs. IKUDO HIDAKA- 7.75/10. Great action. This definitely delivered. As close as you can come to 8 without being 8.

ETW TELEVISION TITLE MATCH: Fast Eddie(c) vs. Don Juan- 5/10

TEXAS DEATHMATCH: Rudy Boy Gonzalez vs. Steve Corino (Michael Shane & Biohazard)- 3/10. This was pretty bad.
GRRRR. Gabe refers to Simply Luscious as Corino’s “real life” girlfriend. YOU’RE THE DAMN BOOKER, GABE! COME ON!
After the match, the heels beat Rudy Boy down until Paul London makes the save with a ladder. HOLY SH*T that was a crazy bump!

FIGHT WITHOUT HONOR- Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe- 8/10. Definitely not your typical Fight Without Honor. This was, for all intents and purposes, a clean wrestling match… but it was definitely a fight! Nothing overly-spectacular here, but GREAT story telling combined with an even better atmosphere and some REALLY stiff strikes earns this an 8/10. Not a bad ROH debut for Samoa Joe. Of the top of my head, the only people who have been in ROH for the long term (i.e. not special appearances or foreign stars) that have had better debuts than this are AJ, WGTT, and (of course) Dragon, Low KI, & Daniels in their history-making three-way at the first show.
After the match, Joe shook Ki’s hand, which would set event s in motion for Joe to leave the Prophecy and feud with Daniels, which wouldn’t be resolved for another 3 and a half years.

Prince Nana squashes a jobber, then gets confronted by Dunn & Marcos. Nana bails, but Slugger comes out and destroys Dunn & Marcos.

NON-TITLE MATCH: Jay Briscoe vs. ROH WORLD CHAMPION Xavier (w/Simply Luscious)- 7.25/10. Great match with a great story. Xavier played his part well as the disrespectful heel champion. Gabe did a great job on commentary here of explaining allof the motivations in this match up and all of the stories behind it.

FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE MATCH: The Carnage Crew vs. Da Hit Squad- 5.5/10. Hardcore Brawl.

ELIMINATION MATCH: Spanky vs. Paul London vs. Michael Shane (w/Biohazard)- 7.5/10

DOUG WILLIAMS vs. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS (w/Simply Luscious)- If Daniels wins, Williams is never allowed to shake hands in ROH again, but if Williams wins, Daniels must shake his hand- 7.25/10. I LOVE the finish! It was PERFECT for this match. Props to Gabe for thinking it up.

Overall, this show was pretty good, but not the greatness that ROH would later become known for.