Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor – Scramble Madness

Ring of Honor — Scramble Madness (11.6.02)

From Wakefield, Mass.

Your hosts are Jeff Gorman and Chris Levy.

The Prophecy kicks off the show by saying none of their titles will be on the line. Daniels’ idea is to capture the #1 contender’s trophy from AJ Styles so that Xavier never has to defend his RoH Title again! Samoa Joe interrupts and tells Chris Daniels he doesn’t pay him enough to turn his back on the Code of Honor, so when Dunn & Marcos interrupt and ask for a tag title shot, Daniels makes a handicap match between them and Samoa Joe. Joe shows way more personality here than on TNA.

Opening Match: Jay Briscoe & Mystery Partner vs. Mark Briscoe & Mystery Partner.
We’re in Massachusetts, so 17 year-old Mark can wrestle again. Last time they came to Boston, Mark and Jay had a ****+ match, but nothing was settled, so they get to choose partners and go at it again. Jay picks longtime Briscoe friend and confident The Amazing Red while Mark picks…Christopher Daniels! Daniels reveals that he’s not just Mark’s partner, he’s his master! Mark has joined the Prophecy! Whoa, that’s a big bombshell to drop at the opener. Not only does it tie together two storylines (Jay vs. Mark, Jay vs. the Prophecy), but it also eliminates a potential tag team that could challenge Daniels & Morgan. Jay begs Mark to reconsider and even asks Daniels not to involve his family in their feud, but it’s no go. Mark suckerpunches his brother, and they go into some wicked kicks with Jay hitting a big Yakuza kick to his mug. Daniels stomps a mudhole in Red and taunts Jay. Daniels makes such a wonderful prick. Jay and Mark do some wicked awesome mat wrestling. It’s Red, though, who gets caught in the wrong corner when Daniels backdrops him to the hardwood floor. A long beatdown follows as Red plays face-in-peril. The Best Moonsault Ever only gets two. Mark gets his spiffy springboard Ace Crusher, but Jay makes the save. Finally, Red catches Daniels with a huracanrana and makes the HOT TAG TO JAY! Mark tags in and takes a DDT. Daniels breaks up the Jaydriller, and Mark takes his brother over the top with the Cactus Clothesline. Red tags himself in and hits Daniels with a spinning ganmengiri. The Pendulum Bomb gets two. Red tries another rana, but Daniels reverses to the Last Rites at 15:47. The work was fine, being more of a WWE-style match with RoH workrate. The big draw to the match, though, is the characterizations and angle that make this way above par. After the match, Christopher Daniels goes up to the Briscoes’ parents in the crowd and tells them Mark belongs to him now! ***1/4

In the back, Joey Matthews (today’s Joey Mercury) and Special K make plans for their big ten man. Alexis Laree (today’s Mickie James) storms in and demands to know why Joey is such a douchebag. Joey just laughs her off, so she says she wants nothing to do with him.

Alexis Laree vs. Mace (w/Allison Danger).
Allison hit on Alexis, but Laree wasn’t a lesbian (then), so it pissed her off. Sadly, the announcers tell us that Mace and Buff E have broken up. Laree hits a satellite headscissors and a tope. Mace hits a horrible corner clothesline and mocks the crowd. Mace tries to crawl over her in the usual CSC fashion, but Laree grabs him by the nuts. Laree eventually catches Mace with a Tornado DDT for the win at 2:37. Allison grabs Laree and kisses her, prompting a freak out from Laree. Sloppy, but too short to be really offensive. 1/4*

In the back, Steve Corino complains that Homicide stabbed him in the eye with a fork last week. He says he’s going back to Japan because Ring of Honor sucks.

Non-Title: Xavier (w/Simply Luscious) vs. Jeremy Lopez.
Lopez worked a match a few shows ago. You might remember him from WCWSN or NWA-Wildside. He was trained by Dean Malenko, and it shows. Xavier works the arm early, but Lopez keeps him off balance with a series of clotheslines. Xavier takes over with chops and gets two off a brainbuster. Lopez fires back, but Luscious trips him up. Xavier nails the Inverted Samoan Drop, but he opts for an arrogant cover. Lopez grabs his ankle and reverses to the anklelock. He gets a Tornado Kobashi Driver for two followed by a Tiger Bomb for two. Xavier blocks a charge and delivers a Cobra Clutch Suplex, planting Lopez on his head. Sick. Lopez reverses the X-Breaker and hits the Chickenwing DDT. Xavier hits the X-Breaker for real and finishes with the 450-splash at 10:45. Nothing special. **

Tony Mamaluke & Matt Thompson vs. Da Hit Squad.
Matt Thompson is a 6’8″ cruiserweight. Despite Mamaluke deciding to drop the FBI gimmick, he still hasn’t found new tights. Mamaluke manages to keep Mafia down, but once Thompson tags in, it’s all downhill for his team. Mamaluke winds up taking most of the beating, though, because Thompson is way to green at this point. Mamaluke plays face-in-peril for a long time, leading the crowd to get antsy to see Thompson. Finally, he gets the hog tag, and the crowd ERUPTS! Thompson hits a quebrada off the top. That’s freaky. He’s like Georghe Muresan. The match breaks down, and Mamaluke locks in the Butterfly Lock on Mack. Unfortunately, he’s not legal, and Mafia is able to hit Thompson with the Burning Hammer for the win at 9:50. *

10-Man Scramble Tag: Joey Matthews, Izzy, Deranged, Slim J & Angel Dust vs. Divine Storm, the Maximos & Red (w/Trinity)
All of these guys are nuts, leading to the title of the show. In a scramble, you don’t have to tag. Special K, of course, are a bunch of cranked out psychos. Izzy and Deranged are out of Jersey All-Pro Wrestling. Slim J looks just like Eminem and used to work for NWA Wildside. He works with a very fast pace, though, so he’s fun to watch. Thankfully, they decide to go all MPro on our asses and build the match through more of a lucharesu style than traditional lucha libre. They all pair off to start, as per the formula. The highlight sees Red send Slim J head over heels with a clothesline. That just looks silly with 150-pound Red looking like Stan Hansen. The ref gets freaked out as the turnbuckle pad falls off. Then, suddenly the match grinds to a halt as Joey grabs an out-of-place headlock. All the faces get sent to the floor, leading to an insane 5-MAN DIVE by Special K! The SAT come back and hit a series of moves so complicated that David Mamet is still trying to figure it out. The faces do QUINTUPLE SLIDING DROPKICKS to Deranged who was tied in the tree-of-woe. Joey isolates Divine, and Special K hits a QUADRUPLE ENZUIGIRI! Well, all except Angel Dust, who timed his late and lands on Divine’s face. CUE THE INNOVATION! Everyone starts diving in and hitting a series of convoluted powerbombs and DDTs. The faces catch the heels going up to all four corners, so they bust out QUADRUPLE LYGERBOMBS! The heels kick out and hit QUADRUPLE MOONSAULTS! Red hits the 718 on Slim J. That looked sick. Slim staggers back into the Storm Cradle Driver. MAXIMO EXPLOSION on Deranged! The Maximos set up Deranged with the Doomsday DDT (Tornado DDT from the top rope off your partner’s shoulders). That allows Red to finish with Infrared at 17:47. This is the closest you will find to American Lucharesu working. Just one insane spot after another. ***1/2

Handicap Match: Samoa Joe vs. Dunn & Marcos.
Notice that they put the badass in the ring with a joke team, not the tag team champions. WWE take note. Anyway, Joe just slaughters them, yanking Marcos’ shirt over his head and hitting him with the Samoan Cutter. He turns to Dunn and finishes him with the Island Driver (Emerald Frosion) at 1:39. 1/4*

Street Fight: Paul London & Rudy Boy Gonzales vs. Michael Shane & Biohazard.
The story: London & Shane are graduates from Rudy Boy and Shawn Michaels’ TWA Academy. London’s a nice guy. Shane’s a jerk. Biohazard is also from TWA, but he’s just along for the ride with Shane, earning the nickname “Milhouse” from the fans. Okay, that’s pretty clever. Shane and Biohazard attack during the entrance because there’s no Code of Honor. Rudy fakes them out with a dive then launches London out on top of them. Levy is still on the “Ring of Honor fans are respectful and don’t try to put themselves over” kick. It would have been more convincing if they hadn’t just finished a chant of “you fucked up” at Rudy Boy. Biohazard arguably breaks kayfabe by asking the cameraman where the ladders are. London takes the ladder from him, and this can’t lead to anything healthy. London sets up for something off the ladder stretched across the ring apron and ring barrier. Biohazard kicks it, crotching London on the rungs. Rudy Boy dropkicks Shane through a table. Back in, Biohazard Fisherman Suplexes Rudy on the ladder and “hits” a swanton on him. London sets up for the SSP, but Shane crotches him. Rudy superkicks Shane, setting him up for the SSP. The ref botches the count, though. Shane superkicks Rudy, but London makes the save. They team up to clothesline Shane over, and Rudy hits a superbomb on Biohazard. London hits the running SSP, and that’s enough to finish off the feud at 14:24. This was an unfortunately sloppy and heatless blowoff. *3/4

Six-Man Tag: The Carnage Crew vs. Alex Arion, Don Juan & Fast Eddie.
The CC has added a third member by the name of Masada. Picture a bigger version of Matt Hardy. The indy faces dominate early, and Fast Eddie (who is legally blind) hits an Asai Moonsault onto the CC. The CC take over on Don Juan. Devito gives him a Northern Lights Suplex into the turnbuckle. Loc eventually misses a moonsault. Arion gets the hot tag and cleans house on the CC. Eddie and Juan team up from a sloppy springboard rana. Arion hits the Superfly Splash, but Loc hits him with a chair. The CC team up for a spiked piledriver off the second rope to finish Eddie at 7:27. The Carnage Crew is not cut out for this kind of match. *

Samoa Joe vs. Homicide.
Homicide forked Steve Corino in the eye at “All-Star Extravaganza.” Joe is actually a friend of Corino’s from Zero-One, so we get this match. Joe hits the Facewash and Olay kick. Homicide screams, “My fuckin’ eye!” Homicide gets desperate and hits a tope, trying to speed up the tempo. Now Joe is down in the corner, so Homicide hits a pair of Shining Wizards. Joe catches him running in and DRILLS HIM with an STO. Homicide rolls to the outside and takes an enzuigiri. Back in, Joe gets a dubious two off a Dragon Suplex Bridge. Homicide comes back with a huracanrana. Joe hits the Death Valley Driver and a Burning Lariat. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Foot on the ropes. Homicide ducks another lariat and hits a backdrop. Joe gets pissed, and they start slapping each other silly. Joe goes for another lariat, but Homicide ducks and schoolboy rolls him for the win at 9:56. I was hoping for much more, especially from the ending, but this wasn’t bad at all. **1/2

#1 Contender’s Trophy: AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels (w/Simply Luscious).
Daniels beat AJ at “Road to the Title” to move on to the title match at “Crowning a Champion.” AJ actually got the first title match at “Honor Invades Boston” and then won the #1 contender’s gauntlet over American Dragon at the last show. Daniels is trying to take the trophy so that his buddy Xavier will never have to defend the title again. Lots of back and forth stuff to start with AJ doing his usual gymnastics act and Daniels being a little more grounded. Daniels takes over with a monkey flip into the turnbuckle and takes things to the outside. AJ gets dropped on the railing but hurdles it a second time. Back in, AJ busts out the Indian Deathlock Bridge (a la Muta). Daniels catches AJ going up, though, and crotches him. AJ actually tries to counter that to a rana, but Daniels counters to a DDT. AJ avoids the Best Moonsault Ever but takes a DDT. AJ tries a handspring elbow, but Daniels catches him and turns it into a Blue Thunder Driver. The STO sets up the Best Moonsault Ever. It only gets two, and Daniels gets into it with a fan. They go into the usual AJ vs. Daniels reversals, which you’re probably familiar with. Daniels tries a sunset flip, but AJ blocks and counters to the Styles Clash at 15:12. Mark Briscoe and Xavier hit the ring to attack Styles. He fights them off but takes an enzuigiri from Daniels. Jay Briscoe and the SAT make the save, and AJ hits Xavier with the Styles Clash. Disappointing, considering some of the stuff they did before and after. ***

30-Minute Ironman Match: “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson vs. Doug Williams.
This is the usual Ironman rules, rather than the rules from “Crowning a Champion.” This is a rematch from “Road to the Title” where Williams upset Dragon to move on to the title match. Obviously, this was going to be mat-based. Williams goes after Dragon’s ankle early, but it’s more of a feeling out period. A cool spot comes as Williams whips Dragon into the ropes and runs to the corner so when Dragon comes off the ropes, he has no idea where Williams is. Williams takes him down with a clothesline. I won’t bother recapping much of this because it is so mat-based and based around counter wrestling. The first ten minutes, though, is a stalemate of counter after counter. Neither man even seems to be able to come up with a cogent strategy because the other guy is always ahead of him. Finally, Williams goes for that dart to the corner off an Irish whip move, but Danielson sense him coming and hits him with a Rolling Forearm. Williams counters a backdrop into a Gory Special into a backslide, but it only gets two. Williams gets Dragon in an upside-down Butterfly and rams him into the turnbuckle. Dragon returns the favor, using it to set up a SUPERPLEX! Dragon can’t capitalize fast enough to get a pin, though. A corner forearm sets up a Northern Lights Suplex for two. Danielson gets two off a Dragon Suplex, and another one picks up the first fall at 18:23. (Dragon 1, Williams 0)

Williams gets thirty seconds to rest. Dragon immediately goes for Cattle Mutilation once the match restarts, but Williams powers him up to an Ace Crusher. Williams tosses him to the floor and hits a tope. Not exactly his forte. Back in, Williams hits a series of knees and a German Suplex. That sets up a swinging shinni no make. Dragon snap suplexes him over and hits Williams with a flying headbutt off the top. Williams goes for Chaos Theory, but Dragon dives through the ropes, sending both of them to the floor. Dragon catches Williams going up and goes for a Super Backdrop Suplex. Williams shifts his weight in mid-air, putting himself on top. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! A series of corner whip counters ends when Williams hits Dragon with a Tornado DDT. William is up. CHAOS THEORY! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Dragon kicks out! ROLLING GERMANS! ANOTHER CHAOS THEORY! Danielson’s foot is on the ropes, though. A brainbuster gets two more. Danielson responds with forearms and the SUPER BACKDROP SUPLEX with about 30-seconds left. Dragon crawls to a cover, but Williams reverses to a Crippler Crossface! Dragon…holds out for the 30:00 time limit. Dragon wins 1-0. I didn’t like this as much as some, and I’m someone who likes 70’s-style mat wrestling. The first ten minutes felt more like filler than setting something up down the road. Sometimes things that happen early in the match need something later to justify them and, outside of the Rolling Elbow reversal spot, this didn’t have it. Also, Williams’ style isn’t meant for a dramatic down-the-stretch catch-up sequence. They would have been better off reversing the roles with Danielson, who really can kick it up a notch when needed, trying to break a tie. ***1/4

In the back, Danielson offers Williams a rematch via promo.

A frustrated Williams wonders what more he can do to beat Dragon. He proposes a 2/3 Falls match.

Elsewhere, Luscious breaks up the Prophecy promo with babytalk to her boyfriend Steve Corino. Daniels objects, so Samoa Joe walks out on him, claiming he doesn’t get paid for this. Daniels tells Xavier not to worry about next month because Simply Luscious will have his back.

Oh, but AJ Styles makes a deal with Alexis Laree to be in his corner. She doesn’t help too much this time, though, because the entire Prophecy jumps them and leaves them laying in the hallway.

The 411: While it started out with a great angle with Mark Briscoe being recruited into the Prophecy, the show went downhill in terms of angle development. It certainly did have a little bit of everything, with the Scramble Tag being the best match on the card and providing the spotfest. However, there seems to be a dividing line between those kinds of matches and the more important stuff with Daniels, Shane, the Briscoes, and others at the top of the card. Very mild thumbs up.

Final Score:  5.5   [ Not So Good ]