Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor – War of the Wire

Ring of Honor — War of the Wire
by J.D. Dunn

November 29, 2003

From Framingham, Mass.

Your hosts are Chris Lovey and CM Punk.

Gary Michael Capetta catches up with Steve Corino as he’s arriving at the arena who admits he’s concerned about tonight. He says it didn’t have to come to this. Homicide failed to turn back the Backseat Boyz, started a riot and destroyed his eardrum. Capetta tells Corino that, because of the importance of the match, cameras will follow Corino and Homicide all night.

Samoa Joe promises that his time is not over despite Mark Briscoe getting the pin on him at “The Conclusion.”

Capetta finds Homicide and Julius Smokes. Homicide tells Capetta not to bother him.

Opening Match: Hotstuff Hernandez & Fast Eddie vs. The Backseat Boyz.
Hotstuff throws Trent Acid around to start. He works in a double jump leapfrog and takes Acid’s head off with a lariat. Kashmere tries to cheapshot Hernandez, but that doesn’t work. Instead, he tricks him into coming off the ropes, and Acid yanks down the ropes to spill Hotstuff to the floor. The Backseats isolate Fast Eddie. Punk on the Backseats’ doubleteam: That was gay! He also threatens to ruin every event until he finds out who took out Lucy. Eddie hits a neckbreaker on Acid and gets the hot tag to Hotstuff. Hernandez tries a double backdrop suplex. Not pretty. He tosses the Backseats to the floor and tosses Eddie out on top of them. Not pretty. As if that’s not enough, he hits his over-the-top tope. Much prettier. Fast Eddie hits a Rolling Fallaway Slam on Kashmere, but Acid makes the save. The TWA guys team up for a Doomsday Enzuigiri, but it only gets two. The Backseats send Hotstuff over the top and catch Eddie with the T-Gimmick for the win at 8:45. **

Corino sits around in the locker room. About as thrilling as it sounds.

Scramble Tag: Angel Dust, Hydro, Lit, Dixie & Hijinx vs. The Carnage Crew, The SAT & Slugger.
The faces dominate to start. Hydro looks really good for Special K, though. Punk calls Lit “Marty McFly” because he’s wearing a vest. Special K gets literally nothing for the first five minutes. The faces even bust out a quintuple Taffy Machine. Special K hit a series of dives, then Slugger dives off the top, taking out everyone. The SAT hits the Dream Sequence on Angel Dust, and then the CC and SAT quadruple team him. Ray Murrow replaces CM Punk who is off to prepare for his match. Special K takes them all out and tries to quintuple team Slugger, but he gives them all clotheslines. Special K goes for quadruple top-rope huracanranas, but they get powerbombed instead. Joel and Devito team up for a spiked piledriver then the Spanish Fly! Devito and Joel argue over who should get the pin, leading to a meltdown of the face team. Dixie sneaks in and rolls up Devito for the win at 11:34. **1/2

Gauntlet Series: CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave.
Rave hasn’t had a lot of luck in RoH to this point, despite hard effort. That’s about to change. Alison Danger joins the commentary crew, but Lovey keeps pressing her about Lucy, so she leaves. Punk dominates early because Rave’s moves are so vanilla that Punk doesn’t pay them much respect. Rave takes AJ Styles’ advice to heart and goes right after Punk’s leg with a dropkick. Punk tries a springboard crossbody, but Rave avoids him and locks in the anklelock. Rave ranas Punk into the barrier, but Punk regains the advantage, whipping Rave into the barrier. Nice bit of psychology as Punk snapmares Rave over and thinks about kicking him in the back, but his knee is still messed up, so he goes with a low dropkick instead. Punk locks in a sleeper. Rave fades and then powers out, prompting sarcastic chants of “Hogan” from the crowd. Rave counters another sleeper to a kneebreaker and a side Indian Deathlock. Punk reverses it but can’t hold on because of the knee damage. Punk tries his Cross-arm Shoulderbreaker, but it hurts his knee more. Rave goes for a Shining Wizard, but Punk rolls through into a Single-Leg Crab. Rave makes the ropes and hits the SHINING WIZARD! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Punk sets him on top, but Punk goes low and finishes with the Pepsi Plunge at 11:48. **3/4

Matt Stryker vs. CM Punk.
Punk would seem to be entering Screwedville. Stryker even has a smile on his face. It doesn’t last long, though, as Punk comes out like a cornered animal, choking Stryker out and staying on top to make sure Stryker can’t work the leg. Stryker fakes him out, pausing to tie his boot and then diving after the knee. Stryker tries to whip him across the ring, but Punk collapses. STRYKERLOCK! That’s enough for the submission at 3:50. This was just here to transition to Stryker’s segment. *

Colt Cabana vs. Matt Stryker.
In the aisle, Punk tells Cabana to get serious because Styker sure as hell is. Of course, this is all comedy mind games for the first few minutes. Colt turns heel by refusing to dance. They finally get into it as Stryker tries an overhand knucklelock, but Cabana hits a swinging neckbreaker. Cabana plucks Stryker’s eyebrow! A buttbutt gets two for Cabana. He blocks the Poisoned Rana, but Stryker rolls through the other way for two. Cabana tries a no-look springboard crossbody, but he probably should have looked because Stryker has to move into him to make sure he hits it. Stryker runs up the ropes and catches Cabana with a belly-to-belly suplex. THESZ PRESS! Murrow calls that an eighties reference. Zuh? The quebrada gets two, but Cabana hits the Schwein Neckbreaker for two. Stryker finishes Cabana moments later with the DVD, though. (8:58) **1/4

Gauntlet Finals: BJ Whitmer vs. Matt Stryker.
These guys had a good match to qualify for the Field of Honor at “Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies.” That match ended in a draw because both men are so evenly matched. Obviously, Whitmer should be able to take advantage of Stryker’s fatigue here. Whitmer doesn’t screw around, going for the Exploder early, but Stryker keeps countering. They brawl on top over a suplex, but they both fall off the top to the floor. Stryker hits his head on the apron on the way down, prompting the officials to come out and check on him because he’s not moving. Whitmer gets sick of waiting and yanks him up and into the ring. The Exploder drops Stryker right on his head, and Whitmer picks up the victory without breaking a sweat. (4:35) *

In the back, AJ Styles berates Jimmy Rave for not heeding his instructions. IS THAT A TWISTED SISTER PIN ON YOUR UNIFORM?! Rave gets sick of listening to him and storms out, but it was all just part of AJ’s plan to get him fired up.

Tension begins to mount in the respective camps of Homicide and Steve Corino.

The Outkast Killaz vs. Slyk Wagner Brown & April Hunter.
This is JIP and is a sort of “do over” from “Glory By Honor II’s” pre-show. The Killaz doubleteam and pin April exactly one minute in. (1:00 shown). The only reason this seems to have made the tape is so New Yawker Xavier can come out and run down local hero Slyk Wagner Brown and Bostonite John Walters. 1/4*

Xavier vs. John Walters.
Walters has been trying repeatedly to get a win over Xavier, but it just ain’t happening. Walters accuses him of trying to score cheap heat. They slug it out on the mat because it’s a whole Boston vs. New York thing. Xavier pauses to stall, firing up Walters even more. Walters gets a nice jump into a top-rope huracanrana. Xavier tosses him to the floor and hits a Corkscrew Quebrada to take back the advantage. Back in, Xavier counters a backcracker to a chinlock. Xavier actually busts out the Dick Murdoch Cattle Brand (or Gravedigger, if you prefer). Walters crotches Xavier on top and goes for the backcracker off the top and botches it badly. The Hurricane DDT sets up the backcracker for real, but it only gets two. Xavier comes back with the Top-Rope Reverse DDT for two. These two just don’t seem to be meshing well, despite the fact that they’ve met three times before. Xavier goes for Kiss Your X Goodbye, but Walters reverses to a rollup for the win at 11:26. Walters does have a decent reputation as a catch-as-catch-can wrestler, but he should have more than enough in his arsenal to take out Xavier solidly instead of as a fluke. After the match, Xavier attacks Walters from behind and cracks him in the head with a chair. He then hits him in the head with a ladder, which would be a hamfisted way of setting up a ladder match, but there’s nothing that particularly makes sense for them to be climbing for. **1/4

Ring of Honor Tag Team Championship: The Briscoe Bros. vs. Christopher Daniels & Dan Maff (w/Alison Danger).
Mark Briscoe was briefly in the Prophecy before reconciling with his brother, but it doesn’t really figure in here. The Briscoes are coming off a win over AJ and Samoa Joe in which Mark Briscoe pinned Samoa Joe! The Briscoes play default babyfaces here. Daniels accidentally takes out Maff early with the Arabian Moonsault. Oops. Mark follows him out with a Shooting Star Plancha. Briscoe gets caught in the wrong corner and plays Ricky Morton, with the Prophecy working over his neck. The idea is that the Briscoes are a bit lost because Samoa Joe took out Jim Cornette at “Main Event Spectacles.” Unfortunately, Lovey cuts off Punk in the middle of a very cool character-building speech about hating someone because you see something of yourself in them. Mark hits a heel kick enzuigiri, but Daniels cuts off the tag. Maff hits Mark with his cannonball for two. Finally, Mark tosses Daniels into Maff and gets the HOT TAG TO JAY! Jay cleans house like a good little monster face and hits a double neckbreaker drop. Daniels cuts him off, though, and hits the Best Moonsault Ever for two. They all start hitting big moves and going for pins, but there’s always someone to break up the pinfall attempts. Alison Danger actually breaks up a pin at one point, so the ref shoves her down. Mark lifts her up for the Cutthroat Driver, but Daniels saves her and assists her with a DDT. The Prophecy goes for a Rocket Launcher in a nice little dig at Cornette’s team. Jay catches up with Alison Danger and gives her the FALCON ARROW! The Briscoes catch Maff going for a lariat and drop him with the flapjack (another Midnight Express staple). They hit a Springboard Doomsday Device, but Daniels makes the save. ANGEL’S WINGS! Jay makes the save. Jay avoids an enzuigiri and hits Daniels with the Jaydriller to pick up the win at 18:21. There’s nothing really wrong with the match itself, but both teams are essentially heels, and the crowd has been dead since the intermission. ***

Ring of Honor Championship: Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles.
You may be sick of it by now, but this was their first big match. They tagged the night before with against the Briscoes, but they were unsuccessful when AJ accidentally hit Joe with the Discuss Lariat. Lots of feeling out to start with Joe steamrolling AJ, and AJ coming back with a kip-up rana. Joe one-ups him with his own rana. Styles comes out on top early and tries too early to go for the hard-hitting offense. Joe shrugs it off and boots AJ to the floor with a straight kick. AJ cuts off the Olay Kick but takes a thrust kick instead. Styles comes back with a lariat over the barrier and takes things back in for a Styles Clash attempt. Way too early, though, so he has to settle for an awkward powerbomb. Joe comes back with the Facewash and his own powerbomb. CROSSFACE! AJ makes the ropes. Joe spins AJ around with the Rolling Cradle and gets cocky. Pelé Kick! Quebrada DDT! AJ just can’t put him away, though, and Joe cuts off his offense with a running enzuigiri. They tease a double KO after a slugfest. AJ Scoop Powerbombs Joe off the top and follows up with the STYLES CLASH! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! AJ doesn’t know what to do now, so he goes for another Quebrada DDT. Joe catches him and counters to the ISLAND DRIVER! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! AJ ducks a swing and hits the Discuss Lariat. He goes up, but Joe catches him in the MUSCLE BUSTER! COQUINA CLUTCH! AJ squirms toward the ropes, but Joe nearly cracks him in half leaning back. AJ passes out at 16:43. This isn’t on the level of their later TNA stuff, but it was still pretty good for the time. Unfortunately, since Joe was feuding with the Briscoes, and Mark Briscoe had a title shot coming up, the outcome was not exactly in doubt. ***1/2

In the bathroom, Special K mocks the Carnage Crew because they came here in the Escalade their grandmas bought them.

In the locker rooms, everything turns somber. Corino’s crew acts like he’s going to a funeral. In the other locker room, Julius Smokes sings a prayer for Homicide.

While the barbed-wire is being set up, CM Punk confronts Christopher Daniels about Lucy once again. Daniels answers with “not telling,” so Punk lays Daniels out with Daniels own Last Rites.

Barbed-Wire Match: Steve Corino (w/Guillotine LaGrande) vs. Homicide (w/Julius Smokes).
This was so old-school NWA and beautiful in a sick way. No ring ropes. Just wire. This came about when Homicide and Corino teamed up over a year ago at “Glory By Honor” to take on the Backseat Boyz. A doubleteam went awry, and well you can figure out the rest. So after a year of stabbing each other in the eyes with forks, Bunkhouse Brawls, Homicide hitting Ronnie Stevens with the Cop Killa, and busting each other’s eardrums, we get this match. Punk really puts over how dangerous this match is. Both guys tease going into the wire early, putting over how afraid they are of it. Homicide goes for the pinfall early, trying to get out of the match with his body intact. He winds up being the first to go into the wire, though. Corino actually slingshots Homicide’s neck into the wire! Sick! I love it. Homicide comes back with a chairshot and a DDT to a barbed-wire 2×4. Things get really personal as Homicide goes after the ear, stabbing him with a fork and stomping the barbed-wire 2×4 into his ear. In desperation, Corino monkeyflips him into the wire. So much for getting in and out without killing each other. To the outside, Corino hangs Homicide upside down in the wire and prepares to hit him flush with a chair. Homicide begs for Smokes to save him, and thankfully Smokes arrives in time, picking a fight with Guillotine LaGrande in the process. Back in, Homicide comes back with the corner knee, and they each tease going into the table. Homicide ducks a swing and T-Bones Corino through the table. Homicide powers out of a Cobra Clutch and smashes Corino through the rest of the table. To make matters worse, Homicide grabs part of the railing and throws it in, hitting Corino in the head! Corino plays a little possum and reverses a whip into the wire. LaGrande helps Corino set up the barrier on some chairs, and Corino suplexes Homicide through the barrier. Homicide comes back with the Muta low dropkick into a Shining Wizard. He locks in the STF, the move he won with last time when LaGrande was forced to throw in the towel! LaGrande comes in again, but this time he goes into the bag and THROWS RUBBING ALCOHOL IN HOMICIDES EYES! Smokes and LaGrande get into it on the outside. Corino, the sick bastard, wraps Homicide’s neck with barbed-wire and puts him in a Cobra Clutch Sleeper with the wire! Smokes grabs the towel but freezes like Rocky IV. When Corino yanks Homicide back into a bodyscissors too, Smokes has no choice but to throw in the towel for Homicide at 21:01. This match had a few things going against it that bump it out of RoH fans minds as one of the great matches in RoH history. The first is that it’s not really an “RoH style” of match, and many fans look down on this type of match. The second is that it came a day after the blowoff for the Raven vs. Punk feud of the year. Still, this was a brutal, dramatic brawl filled with blood and hatred and cruelty to your fellow man, and it deserves a second look. Homicide still refuses to shake hands. ****1/4

In the back, Corino is just happy that it’s over. He says that Smokes saved Homicide’s life tonight. He wonders what it’s going to take to either good rid of Homicide or end this feud. Great stuff from Corino as he just looks so punch drunk and spent that he’s hollow.

“Good Times, Great Memories” with Colt Cabana. This week’s guests: the Spanish Announce Team. Colt is surprised to find they speak English. He wants to know how “El Rojo” is doing. That’s “Red” to all us Yankees.

Elsewhere, Matt Stryker confronts BJ Whitmer about hitting him when he was down. He thought they were friends. Whitmer tells him winning is all that matters. Hmm…

The 411: If you're looking for great, athletic wrestling, this is probably not the best show to get. Nothing is really bad, but none of the regular matches are worth going out of your way for. What does earn this the thumbs up is the main event blowoff for being the perfect conclusion to a bitter feud. Thumbs up for "War of the Wire."
Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]