Philadelphia, PA – 4.12.2003

Commentary is provided by Chris Lovey & Ray Murrow.

The show opens with the “not Slugger” security guard, the bald man with sunglasses in an all black suit who is just as tall as Slugger, walking into the building. Kind of crazy that nobody pays this large individual any mind. Although I do not believe he is ever named, his wrestling name was Mega (and later King Mega). He and Slugger actually teamed as The Skyscrapers in JAPW. Rather than calling him the “not Slugger” security guard for all of his appearances, I will call him Mega for sake of ease.

We then cut to elsewhere in the building where the ROH Tag Team champions, AJ Styles and The Amazing Red are with Alexis Laree. Laree says that unlike the Prophecy, Red and Styles want to defend their titles anytime they’re on a show together. She’s there to make sure that Red and Styles defend those titles with honor. She is also going to give her opponent tonight, Ariel, a stiff introduction to Ring of Honor. Paul London enters the frame with a garden hoe he has nicknamed “Alex.” Har har. London is ready to once again be Style’s tag team partner, as he was supposed to be at Expect The Unexpected before he was pulled for emergency sinus surgery. He shows the matching colored tights (that he stole from AJ) and headband (actually a Hard Rock cafe thong) to prove his commitment. Styles tells London that Red stepped in for London and won the tag titles with him, and is committed to him as a partner. London doesn’t seem to grasp the situation, and calls Red a “prop”, which offends Red. Styles puts London in his place, but also says that if London finds a different partner that they can challenge himself and Red for the titles. London says that works but also assures Styles that they’re still friends. He tells Styles he’ll “See him in church on Sunday.” This was the most goofy, and thus the most like the real Paul London, we’ve seen in ROH to date.

This is the first ROH event since Cary Silkin has joined the company as an investor. There is now lighting around the arena being used instead of the house lights, and colored lights for the entrance way as well. It makes a gigantic difference in the quality of the show. It looks, sounds, and feels far more professional.

The Top 5 Rankings are shown during our opening match as well. Doug Williams sits atop the ROH Champion leaderboard as the #1 Contenders Trophy holder, followed by Low Ki, CM Punk, Xavier, and Bryan Danielson.

Da Hit Squad (Mafia & Monsta Mack) vs. The Backseat Boyz (Johnny Kashmere & Trent Acid)

The Backseat Boyz struggled to find their footing against the larger DHS. They attempted to bail on the match twice, but of course, DHS wasn’t going to let that happen. They dragged the BSB back to the ring and took them out with a tope suicida. Acid was so cocky after nailing Mack with a yakuza kick that he didn’t notice Mafia coming from behind. Mafia took down Acid with a German superplex, while Mack powerbombed Kashmere into the corner with such force that the pad fell off. An errant clothesline from Mafia knocked Mack to the floor, and the Boyz capitalized on that error by catching the off guard Mafia with the T-Gimmick for the pin at 8:00. A frustrated Mafia then heads backstage without shaking hands. Mack is puzzled by this, but shakes Trent and Johnny’s hands regardless. The match played out well. Even though they got their butt kicked, the Backstreet Boyz were always pivoting to find a new way to capitalize their opponents, and finally found their opening thanks to an error by the opposition. It was a solid win for the Backseat Boyz to continue their rise up the tag division, and also tease dissension in DHS. **¼

The entire Special K faction comes to the ring while the Backstreet Boyz are still in the ring. Mikey Whipwreck says he has been in great tag teams with Mick Foley and Tajiri, and also trained great tag teams with The SAT and Divine Storm. He tells the Backseat Boyz that he is now going to make Special K the next best tag team in ROH. Enter Dunn and Marcos, who claim that they are the top tag team in ROH. The Carnage Crew then come into the ring. They don’t care who the top team is, they just want to kick some ass. Trent Acid says they can claim to be the top team, as they just defeated Da Hit Squad. He also says that they have other business to tend to, otherwise, they would stick around and show the other teams that they’re the best (Trent was in the CZW Best of the Best III that evening.) Instead, he thinks the other three teams should fight, and they’ll wrestle the winners next month. This sets up an impromptu three way tag match.

The Ring Crew Express (Dunn & Marcos) vs. The Carnage Crew (DeVito & Loc) vs. Special K (Dixie & Hydro)

Angel Dust, Brian XL, Deranged, Hijinx, Izzy, Lit, Mikey Whipwreck and Slugger are in Special K’s corner. The highlight of this match was uncharacteristic dives from The Carnage Crew. Loc surprised everyone with a cannonball senton off the apron, and DeVito followed that up with a slingshot somersault senton. Otherwise the match was basically moves and everybody breaking up each other’s pin attempts. The Carnage Crew had Dunn pinned with their spike piledriver, but Hijinx distracted the referee while Whipwreck gave both Loc and DeVito Whipper Snappers. Hydro then pinned Dunn at 5:25. That was fun, much less annoying than most scrambles and Carnage Crew matches have been to date. **¼

Slugger is giving out “body bags” to people when Mega goes face-to-face with him once again. Angel Dust slaps Mega and pays for it with a full nelson facebuster. Slugger is held back by other Special K members and they head backstage.

ROH Tag Team Championship Match
AJ Styles & The Amazing Red vs. The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe)

Styles & Red have been champions since 3.15.2003 and this is their second defense. Alexis Laree is in their corner. This is a rematch from last month, where Styles pinned Mark with the Styles Clash to win the bout. 84% of fans apparently voted for this rematch online. The challengers are aggressive from the jump, attacking the champions right after shaking their hands. After missing stereo tope con hilos, Red and Styles land a criss cross suicide dive and tope con hilo. Jay superkicks Styles while Mark Hot Shots Red onto the guardrails. In the ring they’re briefly able to keep Red isolated, but Styles jumps in and helps Red with a Code Red on Mark when he’s able. Mark finds himself trapped in the champions corner until Jay sneaks in a blind tag. Because of this, the Briscoes are able to surprise Red with a side slam/flying legdrop combo. Red is almost pinned by a brainbuster from Mark. Red ducks a clothesline and weaves Mark into a DDT, giving him an opening to tag in Styles. Styles gives Mark a pump-handle stomach breaker and drops Jay with a German suplex/facebuster combo. Mark both saves his brother from the pin and kicks Styles in the back of the head. Red immediately jumps off of Styles’ back and cracks Mark in the face with a Shining Wizard. When Mark kicks out of Styles’ torture rack bomb, he and Red set Mark up for the same Frankensteiner/Styles Clash combo that won them the match last month. This time, Jay shoves Styles out of the way, and Mark powerbombs Red into a neckbreaker from Jay. Mark wants a pescado on Styles on the floor, but instead, Styles counters into a Styles Clash on the floor. Jay hooks Red for the Jay Driller after booting Styles through the ropes. Red counters into Maximo Explosion, and then lands the Red Star Press on Jay for the pin at 11:00. This is pretty much an ideal rematch – faster, more intense, with both teams showing growth from the first encounter. ***¾

BJ Whitmer vs. CM Punk

Colt Cabana is in Punk’s corner. Trinity, who we saw fraternizing with Raven a few shows ago, sits in the corner like Raven and also strikes Raven’s pose right in front of Punk. Trinity attempts to dive onto Colt, who catches Trinity and takes her backstage.

Whitmer ends the opening exchange for control by up-kicking Punk to the floor. When Whitmer follows with a tope con hilo, he partially hits his head on the floor. In the ring, Punk capitalizes on this by pulling Whitmer’s throat onto the top rope before taking him out with a springboard dropkick. He does more damage to the head with a hammerlock DDT. Punk decides to set up a table ringside and looks to crucifix bomb Whitmer through it. Whitmer slides out of Punk’s arm, but does take a Shining Wizard for two. Whitmer uses the ropes to escape a Boston Crab and blocks a running facewash kick with a jumping knee strike. After trading suplexes, strikes, and nearfalls, they get into a forearm exchange that Punk ends with an eye rake. Punk pitches Whitmer to the floor next to Chekov’s table. Whitmer is able to maneuver to the apron where he Kawada kicks Punk through the ropes. Punk slaps Whitmer and brings himself out to the apron with Whitmer. Punk blocks a boot and forearms Whitmer before German suplexing him off of the apron and through the table! Referee Paul Turner checks on both men and then calls for the bell at 12:21. This was an interesting watch, and unique, but there was not much to sink your teeth into on its own. It was entirely to set up future Whitmer and Punk interactions. **¾

Some footage is shown of Samoa Joe and many ROH officials helping Punk and Whitmer separately to the back, with the crowd applauding them.

Homicide vs. Christopher Daniels

This match marks Homicide’s first use of “You’re Not Ready” by 50 Cent as his theme song in ROH. Allison Danger is in Daniels’ corner. Homicide attacks Daniels’ knee, but a distraction from Danger gets him to release a knee lock, enabling Daniels to catch him off guard with a DDT. As Daniels hooks him for Angel’s Wings, Homicide counters into an exploder suplex. Homicide follows up with a facewash knee for two. After Daniels fails to take out Homicide with a German suplex, Homicide wipes out Daniels with a tope suicida on the floor. Homicide misses a diving headbutt back in the ring. Daniels capitalizes with a uranage and the BME for two. He also stops Homicide’s chops with an STO and gets two with a release German suplex. Homicide escapes an Angel’s Wings attempt. He goes for the Cop Killer, and when Daniels slides out, Homicide mows him down with a lariat for two. Daniels elbows Homicide and maneuvers him into the Angel’s Wings for a very close nearfall. Homicide ducks an enzuigiri and looks for an STF. Daniels rolls Homicide away, but when he attempts a clothesline, Homicide blocks and pulls Daniels down into a Mouse Trap for the pin at 11:20. The vibe from commentary was that they really wanted to showcase Homicide’s technical acumen, and Daniels helped in doing just that. Homicide winning with a unique cradle variation also emphasized that point. In that sense, this match was successful, but it did feel unimportant in the grand scheme of the stories both of them had going on at the time. ***

After the match, Homicide extends his hand for a handshake. Before Daniels can decide if Homicide will be the first hand he shakes in ROH, CW Anderson interjects and superkicks Daniels. CW, along with Jack Victory and Samoa Joe, beat down Daniels and Homicide. Joe chokes out Homicide while Anderson pummels Daniels as Victory holds his arms. Mafia comes out and attacks Joe. Commentary explains he is saving his trainer. Mafia and Daniels end up facing one another after Daniels takes out Anderson and Victory. Daniels rips off Mafia’s Hit Squad t-shirt to reveal a Prophecy shirt. Daniels then introduces Mafia as the newest member of the Prophecy. Mafia drops his Hit Squad shirt on Homicide’s face and heads to the back with Daniels and Laree. As the referees are checking on Homicide, he asks why the shirt is on his face. The referee explains what happened and Homicide cannot bring himself to believe them.

Backstage, Gary Michael Cappetta catches up with BJ Whitmer, who can’t remember anything from his match earlier in the night. CM Punk sits besides Whitmer. He says they had one hell of a match and that the fans love him. Next time, he says he will go easier on Whitmer so he won’t quit on him again. Whitmer doesn’t seem to take kindly to that sentiment, even though the way Punk said it made it sound as if they were with good intent.

Cameras then cut to J-Train and Lowlife Louie beating up two unknown brawlers, presumably two guys associated with The Group for tonight’s bunkhouse match. They yell a bunch of nonsense at the camera as well.

We’re shown 35 seconds of highlights from the 1:38 match between Alexis Laree and the debuting Ariel. Laree pinned her with a DDT.

Samoa Joe vs. Hotstuff Hernandez

Hernandez’s theme going from Donna Summer to Nelly to the Ruff Rydas’ anthem absolutely rules. Commentary plainly states that this is a non-title contest. I mention that, because it’s been misreported some places online as a title match. Joe attacks Hernandez’s left shoulder. Hernandez manages to catch a yakuza kick in the corner and spin Joe into a lariat. A spinwheel kick leads to Hernandez taking out Joe with a dive over the top rope and to the floor. When Hernandez goes for a suplex back in the ring, Joe blocks with a jump-up enzuigiri. Hernandez blocks a discus forearm with a belly-to-belly suplex. When he tries a pump-handle slam, Joe slips in the rear-naked choke, but Hernandez backs him to the corner right away before it can be locked in. A double choke slam gets Hernandez two, only for Joe to grab his arm and lock in a modified triangle choke. The referee calls for the bell at 6:40, awarding the match to Joe via KO. Hernandez got to showcase some of his impressive offense against the top guy in the company and came out looking like a top prospect. Even in losing, he showed he could hang with the champion. It was effective in breaking him out of the pack of all the other TWA students, if nothing else. **¾

Samoa Joe grabs a seat in the middle of the ring. Gary Michael Cappetta asks Joe an inquiry that I can not understand due to the audio quality. Joe says the ROH Title is the best in the industry and believes the fans in attendance tonight came to see a World Title match. Joe confirms with GMC that the next match is a triple threat match, and then Joe asks for the competitors to come to the ring. Matt Stryker, Colt Cabana and the debuting Tom Carter fka Reckless Youth make their individual entrances while Joe waits in the ring. This is also the first instance of Colt using “Copa Cabana” by Barry Manilow as his theme in ROH. Joe shakes hands with all three men. Joe explains to them that he is adding himself to this match, and if Joe is personally defeated, the person who defeats him will be rewarded with a future title match. Joe then throws the first strikes to start the match.

Samoa Joe vs. Colt Cabana vs. Matt Stryker vs. Tom Carter

All three men team up on Joe to start, leaving themselves to fight amongst themselves for a little while. Joe appears on the apron and strikes Stryker from behind, and while Stryker is game to square off with the champion, Cabana keeps himself in the ring as to not give Stryker a chance to be in the ring with the champion. Carter also dropkicks Joe from inside the ring. When Carter was Stryker in a modified Regal Stretch, Joe baseball slide dropkicks Stryker. He also overhand chops Carter on the back of his neck. Stryker all the while has refused to tag out, regardless of his condition. He ends up taking Cabana to the floor with a Cactus clothesline. When Joe looks to dive onto both of them, Carter cuts him off with a running knee strike from the apron, Joe comes back with an STO, and Stryker breaks up his pin. Stryker impresses with a Death Valley Driver, but Cabana breaks up his pin attempt. Cabana gets two on Stryker with an Air Raid Crash onto his hip. Carter has Cabana pinned with a super tornado DDT. Joe breaks up the cover and pitches Carter to the floor. Cabana slips out of the Island Driver and tries Colt .45. Joe converts that into the Coquina Clutch. Carter dives off of Stryker, who is laying on the top turnbuckle, and frog splashes onto Cabana. Incredibly, Joe holds onto the choke, and Cabana taps out at 13:20. This was a well laid out match, as you had everybody looking to earn a title match, but also needing to fend each other off to get that opportunity and trying to prevent anyone but themselves be in the ring with Joe. Joe also looks like a fighting champion, even in a non-title context, by immediately giving three people a chance at earning a title shot after he just went through a singles match himself. The finish was also pretty awesome. ***

Samoa Joe puts over Ring of Honor before heading backstage.

We then cut to the outside of the building where Iceberg and David Young are brawling, throwing each other into a fence in the process.

Best Two Out Of Three Falls
Bryan Danielson vs. Paul London

Danielson tries to get the mental advantage by faking out London with a slap, taking his hand away when asking for a dropkick, and also forcefully kicking London after escaping a headscissors. London opted to try and get in Danielson’s head by repeatedly trapping him in a headlock. On top of the mental advantage, those headlocks looked to have damaged Danielson’s left ear as well. Danielson, though, was able to break a headlock with a backbreaker. Danielson does more damage to London’s lower back, while getting in some uppercuts and open hand strikes to the head as well. London survives a suicide dive and a diving headbutt, and also ducks a discus forearm, countering into a backslide for two. London delivers a leg lariat off of the second rope and then rolls him into a modified Mouse Trap pin for two. Danielson cuts off London on the middle rope and German suplexes him for two. Danielson then sets up London for a superplex. Mid-move, London shifts his weight, landing on Danielson in a lateral press and pins him at 20:31. London starts the second fall on top after taking Danielson down with a superkick. Danielson fails to take London down from the top rope, so he dropkicks London’s leg, resulting in his leg getting stuck on the top rope. Referee Paul Turner tries to keep Danielson away as Danielson looks to attack the trapped knee, and frees London from the ropes. London endures more damage to his knee until he uses Danielson’s momentum to pull off a German suplex. London pummels Danielson, following him to the floor, and then back in. As he is coming in, Danielson grabs his leg and takes him down with a dragonscrew leg whip. Danielson digs his knee into the back of London’s head while hyperextending on a half-crab. London taps out at 26:34, tying up the match at one fall apiece. Danielson continues to attack London’s knee at the start of the third fall. London kicks him in the head repeatedly to get him away. Danielson kicks out from a leg-wrapped DDT, and London’s knee crumples as he slams him. As they throw forearms, Danielson knocks down London with a rolling variation, and immediately gets on Cattle Mutilation when London kicks out of the pin attempt .London quickly gets his feet on the ropes to escape and also surprises Danielson with a prawn hold for two. Danielson gets to his feet first and rocks London with a pair of step-up enzuigiri’s. He follows up with a dragon suplex for two, and then puts London in another half crab. This time, London grabs the ropes. As they fight in the corner, London gets the best of Danielson by taking him down with a folding powerbomb. As London ascends the ropes, Danielson shoves London off and to the apron. He then places London in a seated position on the top turnbuckle and forearms his shoulders repeatedly. He successfully pulls off the belly-to-belly superplex that London countered to get the first fall. London kicks out of his pin, so he puts the half crab while kneeling onto London’s skull, the move Danielson won the second fall with. This time, London crawls to the bottom rope to escape. Danielson looks for an avalanche super belly-to-back superplex, but London headbutts his way free. London turns himself around so he is seated on the top rope and facing out into the ring. Danielson crawls back up. London headbutts Danielson multiple times before taking him down with a super tornado DDT. London slowly makes his way back to the top turnbuckle. He delivers a London Star Press to Danielson’s back. London grabs his knee in pain before he rolls Danielson onto his shoulders and pins him 39:39 to win the match two falls to one.

This was laid out so brilliantly. In the first fall alone, they went from looking to one up each other mentally to trying to one up each other physically, then to desperately needing to get the first fall as they both expended a lot of energy and took a lot of punishment. All of that allowed for London taking the first fall by using Danielson’s momentum against him, not needing to use much of his own energy. Danielson was then able to attack London’s knee when the opening presented itself and made good on the work he had put into damaging London’s lower back earlier in the contest to score the second fall via submission. Exhaustion set in as the third fall began, and both of them went back to what worked to get them their respective falls to try and close things out in their favor. London managing to get in his finishing move, and also having just enough gas in the tank to roll Danielson over to pin him, exemplified just how much of an effort they put into the match, which goes to show just how important this match was to both of them. It still holds up as a classic, and one of the best matches in ROH’s earlier years. The crowd was electric from start to finish, split amongst who they wanted to see win. The forty minutes flew by and was super fun to watch. Seek this out if you have never seen it. ****¼

Officials are checking on a dazed Danielson after the bout and pull him up to his feet. The crowd applauds as London extends his hand for a shake. Even though he has a glazed look on his face, Danielson is able to weakly accept the handshake. After this, Danielson would leave ROH for a little over six months to go on an extended tour in England, a tour that would change his outlook on professional wrestling.

J-Train and Lowlife Louie Ramos enter from the back and into the crowd. Iceberg and David Young brawl in from outside of the building. It’s explained that Corino called in Young for his team as a favor for getting him booked in ZERO-ONE, and Homicide booked his biggest rival from NWA Wildside, Iceberg, in response. Ringside, we see Homicide and CW Anderson brawling in bunkhouse attire. They enter the ring, officially starting the match.

“I Quit” Bunkhouse Match
Homicide, Dusty Rhodes, Iceberg, J-Train, Louie Ramos & Becky Bayless vs. The Group (CW Anderson & Jack Victory), Bar Room Brawler, David Young, Guillotine LeGrande & Ronnie Stevens

The ROH turnbuckle pads have been removed, as the match is not sanctioned by ROH. Victory and Young wear down Homicide as J-Train, Louie Ramos, and Becky Bayless look on from the crowd. Anderson joins in, but stops when they hear the theme music of The Midnight Rider. The Rider enters from the crowd with a cowbell. It’s a ruse, a cunning attempt to trick the Group, as the real Dusty Rhodes enters from behind and takes out Victory, Young, and Anderson with bionic elbows and jabs. Anderson and Victory are busted open by Rhodes’ cowbell. Eventually, LeGrande and an unknown brawler (Bar Room Brawler) enter the fray, which also brings J-Train and Ramos into the bout. Rhodes pulls Stevens into the match and kisses her – yikes! Homicide bashes Victory with a trashcan. He then digs a stake into his mouth as Dusty Rhodes on the microphone tells Victory to say “I Quit.” Victory refuses, so Homicide pulls out his fork and digs it into his mouth. Dusty holds the microphone to his face and he quietly says I Quit. The match is awarded to Homicide’s team around 10:45. This was ultimately a nothingburger of a match, mostly an excuse to get Dusty in the hopes of selling more tickets and tapes. I understand that was the name of the game at the time, and while it was probably a tip of the cap for ROH to have him, the match he was involved in stunk. You’ve seen much better. *

Dusty thanks the fans and hugs all of his partners to end the event while the Midnight Rider theme plays. Backstage, Dusty is with Homicide and J-Train. He says he came tonight looking for Steve Corino and Corino chose to run away. The truth is, Corino was in Pro Wrestling NOAH this weekend, and would actually end up wrestling Dusty the next weekend in New Jersey for IHPW. Dusty says Homicide has rid ROH of Corino’s men, and that Corino himself is next. Homicide then basically says the exact same thing Dusty did but adds that Corino is a dead man.

We then go to Colt Cabana and CM Punk. Cabana says there is a lot of history between the two of them, but he has aligned himself with Punk because he believes in what Punk says. Punk says it’s funny that Cabana mentions history, because the first year of ROH was about integrity. Punk says he is not going to compromise his integrity, which is why he was going to shake Raven’s hand after their match, but when he did, Raven tried to hit him with the Raven Effect DDT. Now, Raven sends Trinity out to play mind games, but Punk says those do not work on them. History is what makes the Second City Saints who they are, and history is what they are going to make in ROH. When Gabe calls “cut”, Cabana pitches some catchphrases to Punk to get his opinion. Punk gives him grief for being unoriginal and unserious.

Ringside, The Carnage Crew are yelling at the ring crew for being too loud as they take down the ring as they are trying to cut a promo. Go cut a promo somewhere else then! They antagonize Dunn and Marcos in the process. Oman Tortuga tells the Carnage Crew to go home to their wives, and both he and Diablo Santiago get beat up. The Carnage Crew then decide to go to the bar instead of going home to their ugly wives. Same shit, same ass.

The Prophecy of Christopher Daniels, Allison Danger and Mafia are backstage. Daniels says because Group member Michael Shane superkicked him last month, he could not be in Xavier’s corner for his title match against Samoa Joe, and because of that, Xavier lost the title. Daniels vows to get revenge on Shane on April 26th in Pittsburgh. Allison Danger then welcomes Dan Maff, Mafia’s new name, into the Prophecy. Monsta Mack enters the picture and says he just wants to know why Maff did this. Maff says he is sick and tired of watching everybody else pass them by. Obeying the Code of Honor got him straight to the midcard, so now he is following a new path. Despite Maff telling Mack that he “carried him”, Daniels tells Mack to not take this personally, but to take this opportunity to change and evolve, just like Maff has. Da Hit Squad is scheduled for a match on April 26th, and this will be the final match for Das Hit Squad in ROH. Maff says they’ve seen it all and done it all, and he has no plans for them to go out as losers. Maff also looks into the camera and asks if Cabana is ready to make the sacrifice. Mack says he isn’t sure where Maff’s head is at, but agrees that Da Hit Squad won’t go out as losers. After April 26th, Monsta Mack is dead, and in his place will be “The Brooklyn Bull” Steve Mack. There will be a lot of pain for the Second City Saints that day.

With the production changes, multiple storylines simmering, Joe as champion, and the incredible Danielson and London match, we’re finally starting to feel like the ROH people remember and love. The titular match is absolutely worth going back and watching if you have never seen this show, I found this to be an enjoyable watch overall.