British Monsoon
Member
2nd stop on my ROH first year rewatch, and it's the Round Robin Challenge, a great show with 3 awesome singles matches.
Here's my review of the very first show;
ROH - 2002.02.23 - The Era of Honor Begins.
And on to show #2;
ROH - 2002.03.20 - The Round Robin Challenge - Highlight Video
Good show overall. All the Round Robin matches were awesome, and you can see why the company generated such a buzz in those early days with the focus on Daniels, Ki & Dragon. Check out the highlight video for clips of all the matches.
Here's my review of the very first show;
ROH - 2002.02.23 - The Era of Honor Begins.
And on to show #2;
ROH - 2002.03.20 - The Round Robin Challenge - Highlight Video
. The second ever ROH event kicks off in great style, with Christopher Daniels vs Bryan Danielson. Daniels takes control early on, but they get over how powerful Bryan's strikes and submissions are, and Daniels switches to a more cautious style. They do a good extended test of strength spot, but Dragon eventually traps Daniels in a great looking crossface variant. Daniels tries to counter by rolling Dragon on to his shoulders, forcing him to kick out and break the hold. Daniels is giving Dragon a lot here, as he keeps trying to escape, but Bryan keeps gaining control with a side headlock. Chris runs him into the ropes, but Dragon hits a big standing dropkick and goes again for the headlock, but Daniels just backdrop drivers him right on the back of his head. Daniels takes control and starts working over the neck well with a variety of holds and suplexes, wearing Dragon down and slowing the pace of the match. The crowd rallies behind Bryan and he breaks free, runs the ropes and Daniels goes for a backslide, but Dragon flips over and hits an awesome belly-to-belly suplex. Dragon takes it to Daniels with some stiff strikes, and a vicious snap suplex, all the while doing well to favour his injured neck. Dragon hits the flying headbut and goes for a rolling forearm, but Daniels hits the STO followed by the best moonsault ever. Dragon kicks out at 2! He goes for another rolling forearm, Daniels ducks and Bryan spins straight back again the hit the forearm. They start chopping the crap out of each other and Daniels hits a huge lariat followed by a blue thunder driver for 2. He goes for a forearm, but Dragon counters and goes for the Cattle Mutilation, but Dragon's neck is too badly injured for him to make the bridge. Daniels regains control, hits a sitdown piledriver followed by Angel's Wings and a nasty crossface to make Bryan tap! AWESOME match, some great psychology and great selling from Dragon throughout. What an opener. 4/5
. Next up, Prince Nana is out with the Towel Boy he beat up last month, and has him shine his shoes. He cuts a promo getting over his prince of Ghana gimmick, before Da Hit Sqaud arrive to do their usual reckless squash. They are crazy over with the Philly crowd as they demolish Nana and the Towel Boy. The Christopher Street Connection make an entrance to get revenge for last month, but Monsta Mack picks up the Towel Boy and throws him over the corner and the dumb bastard tries to grab the rope to stop his fall, but ends up landing on top of his head. Da Hit Squad then toss Nana's valet Simply Lucious over the ropes, and everyone does a much better job of catching her. -/5
. Hey, it's Joey Mercury/Matthews and Christian York. And they're up against...aw, fuck. CW Anderson. And Elax. Eh. This isn't all bad, surprisingly, Anderson looks tough and they get over Matthews & York's double teams, including a sick flapjack/DDT combo they hit for the win. Post match, Anderson lays out Elax for costing him the match. 1/5
. Xavier cuts a promo explaining that Scoot Andrews broke his leg and can't compete, and then we hear from his opponent; Little Guido, who is going by James Maritato now and gets over how he wrestled for UWFi in Japan and is going back to that style. They start things off with a fast back and forth, Maritato showing his technical skills as Xavier tries to match him. Xavier eventually gets the upper hand when he counters out of a killswitch attempt, and Xavier hits a big suspended DDT off the ropes. He whips Maritato into the corner and goes for a huricanrana, but Maritato counters into a Boston crab. Xavier breaks free and hits a fall away slam followed by a Russian leg sweep. Xavier hoists Maritato up, but he strikes at Xaviers ribs and counters into a swinging DDT. He locks Xavier in a weird looking inverted Muta lock, but Xavier rolls them into the ropes. Xavier pump-handles Maritato to the mat, hops over and bridges into a pin to score a 3-count out a nowhere. Not a bad match, good work from both guys. 2.5/5
. Next up, we get a rematch from the last show as The Natural Born Sinners of Homicide & Boogalou take on Drake & Tobin, The Boogie Knights. This is even shorter than the last one, and neither of the Knights scores any offence. Homicide gets the 3-count after their dragon suplex/lariat combo. Meh. 0.5/5
. The second match in the Round Robin Challenge here, as Christopher Daniels takes on Low Ki. We get a generic Ki promo pre-match, getting over how he won't tap like Bryan did. Ki goes for a handshake, but Daniels refuses and Ki starts chopping the crap out of him. He goes for the Tidal Krush, but Daniels avoids it only for Ki to hit a big spin kick for a 2 count. Hi goes to work with his kicks, hitting a rolling capo kick for another 2count. Daniels is getting rocked here as Ki works over his neck to soften him up for the dragon sleeper. Daniels runs Ki into the corner and lifts him onto the turnbuckle. He goes for a Liger palmstrike, but Ki grabs hold of his arm and falls back into a Fujiwara armbar over the ropes. He gets back into the ring and Daniels counters with an STO, getting in his first meaningful offence of the match. Daniels follows the same strategy as his match with Dragon, working over Ki's neck with a variety of holds. He hits a big falcon arrow for a 2 count, hits another big STO and goes for the BME, but Ki rolls out of the way. Daniels lands on his feet, but Ki jumps into the ropes and hits a huge disaster kick to regain control. Ki goes up to the top, but Daniels hits the palmstrike and throws Ki off the top by his neck for a near-fall. He hits the Angels Wing's but doesn't hook the leg and Low Ki kicks out at 2. Daniels lifts Ki up for a powerbomb, but he rolls through and hits a Ki Krusher '99 out of nowhere. Both guys struggle to their feet and Ki hits the Tidal Krush for a nearfall. Daniels goes for Angel's Wings again but Ki counters into the dragon sleeper and makes Daniels tap! Another excellent match, they told a great story here and got over how dangerous Low Ki is. Daniels refuses to shake hands post-match and is run out of the locker room by the other wrestlers. 3.75/5
. Paul London vs Chris Marvel - this is Paul's first appearance in ROH, and it's not a great one. Why? Marvel ankle snaps and his foot twists 180 degrees after London's hits an Asai moonsault on the outside about 3 minutes in. Fucking ouch. -/5
. Next up we have Jay Briscoe taking on Spanky. Mark is at rindside again, and they get over the tension between the two as Mark takes the piss out of Jay's loss to Red at the last show. Spanky & Jay start things off well, Spanky's arrogance pissing off Jay and seeing him try and use his power to take Spanky out. However, they get over what a great wrestler is as Spanky has a counter hold for everything Jay can throw, mentioning on commentary how Spanky is the top student of Shawn Michaels wrestling academy. Jay surprises Spanky with some great chain wrestling and scores a La Magistral cradle for a near-fall. Spanky regains control and starts to work over the neck, hitting a big cravate buster from the top rope for a 2 count. Spanky goes for Sliced Break #2, but Jay rams his head into the corner, busting open his head on the ring post, and then hits a sick German suplex. Both guys struggle to their feet, and Jay goes to work, hitting a big sit-out vertical suplex for 2. He goes for the Jay Driller, but Spanky breaks free and kicks Jay to the outside. He springboards in from the opposite side, hopping off the ropes into a crossbody on Jay. Spanky rolls Jay inside and goes for a frog splash, but Jay gets the knees up and hits a big powerbomb only for Spanky to break the count by grabbing the ropes. He hits Sliced Bread #2 and rolls up Jay for the win. Fun match, Spanky's head is a mess. Mark makes more fun of Jay post match and Jay shoves him away. 3/5
. Another Mikey Whipwreck students flipy-do match here, with Divine Storm vs The SAT vs Brian XL & Amazing Red. Surprisingly fun opening segment between Chris Devine & Brian XL, getting a big "lucha libre" chant from the crowd. Quiet Storm and Jose of the SAT go at it next with a nice series of armdrags and counters, until Storm tags in Red who refuses to shake hands with his former SAT partner (who accidently pinned him on the last show). They exchange strikes, until Red's quickness enables him to ground Jose and go for the Red Star Press, but Jose has him scouted and kicks him in the temple instead. Red tags in Quiet Storm, who sends Jose to the outside and hits a bad looking suicide dive. Brian XL sentons over the ropes out of nowhere, and then Red hits a corkscrew Asai moonsault! Quiet Storm and Red go at it in the ring, until Storm hits a big Spianl Shock on Red for a near-fall. The match starts to break down as everyone's getting their big moves in and all semblence of structure is thrown out of the window. Joel of the SAT hits a big suplerplex on Quiet Storm, but Red leaps hos Joe's back into a Red Star Press to eliminate Divine Storm from the match. Brian XL then proves why he's the drizzling shits with some sloppy-ass flippy-do stuff, before Red hits a sunset flip powerbomb out of the corner. Red and Brian go for the pin at the same time and start to argue, then Jose rolls Red up for the 3-count. Started out fine, ended up stupid. 1.5/5
. Main event time here, and the last match in the Round Robin Tournament as Bryan Danielson takes on Low Ki. I remember this match being amazing back in the day, so I'm eager to see if it's held up. Ki isn't showing much wear and tear, but one of Dragon's eyebrows is cut open and his chest is bruised. Before the match can get started, Ken Shamrock appears from the back. He shakes both guys hands and cuts a promo saying how impressed he was with their submission skills, and requests to ref their match. Both guys agree, the ref gives Shamrock his shirt and he calls for the bell. They start things off tentatively, with Bryan trying to ground Ki early on. He goes for a cross armbreaker, and transitions into a triangle choke, but Ki powers out into a mount and reigns down big rights and lefts on Dragon's skull. Ki sinches in a waist lock and goes for a rear naked choke, but Dragon breaks free with elbows to the ribs and counters into a surfboard before trying for a choke of his own. Ki forces his way out and again tees off with some big strikes from the mount. Dragon goes back to the headlock and begins to wear Ki down, but Ki breaks free and goes for a spin kick which Bryan blocks and they stare each other down. They lock up and Low Ki takes Bryan down into the mount, goes for a big forearm but Bryan catches the arm and locks in a cross armbreaker. Ki rolls through and goes for another rear naked choke and both guys roll into the ropes. Shamrock calls for the break, but neither lets go so he grabs Ki by the arms and drags the two back into the centre of the ring, haha! Ki locks hold of the arm, but Dragon powers out and deadlifts Ki into a big powerbomb. Both guys make it to their feet and they lock up, Ki taking him down once more with an armbar. Dragon escapes and locks in an STF, but Ki makes it to the ropes and Dragon relinquishes to the hold. Ki doesn't get to his feet, but edges towards Dragon on the mat, and when Dragon approaches Ki hits a huge kick to the face, sending Dragon rolling to the outside. Dragon makes it back in before the count, but he looks dazed as Ki takes him down with a rear waist lock. Dragon counters and locks in a Muta lock variation, before going for an ankle lock and grapevining the leg. Ki responds with some big kicks to Dragon's back and forces him to break the hold, but is now favouring the leg. He goes for some fucking nasty Kawada kicks to Dragon's injured eye and sends him to the outside again.
A bloody Dragon gets back in and instantly takes Ki down, firing with some huge fists and locking in an armbar as Ki scrables to the ropes. They go for a test of strength, and Dragon locks the arms, going for Cattle Mutilation, but Ki resists so Dragon hits a big back suplex. He locks the arms from behind again, but Ki hits a capo kick right to Dragon's injured eye. Both guys struggle to their feet and start exchanging blows. Ki snapmares Dragon over and hits a huge kick to the back, before dropping the knee over Dragon's injured eye. Ki goes for the dragon sleeper, but Bryan rolls him onto his back. Ki won't let go though, and Dragon powers up to his feet, stumbling into the ropes and sending them both to the floor. Ki still won't let go of the sleeper and Dragon looks out of it as Ki rolls him back in the ring, but instead of going for the count he hits a double stomp to the ribs and goes for the Ki Krusher. Dragon counters with a huge forearm smash followed by a bridging dragon suplex for a nearfall. He hits a snap suplex and goes for the flying headbut, but Low Ki gets a knee up to Dragon's injured eye! He whips him into the ropes and Ki hits the Tidal Krush followed by his own dragon suplex for 2. Ki then locks in Cattle Mutilation on Bryan, but Bryan gets out of it and locks in Ki's dragon sleeper! Ki makes it to the ropes, but Bryan hits a nice cravate bomb for 2. He whips Ki into the corner, runs in with the forearm and hits a northern lights suplex for another 2 count. They exchange vicious strikes and Bryan whips Ki into the ropes. Ki goes for the disaster kick, but Bryan counters with a nice standing dropkick! They lock up, and Ki finally hits the Ki Krusher, but Bryan kicks out just before the 3! Ki goes up for a phoenix splash, but Bryan gets the knees up. He hits a dragon suplex into the Cattle Mutilation, but can't hold the bridge. Ki goes up to the top, and Bryan hits a huge belly-to-back for another nearfall. He places Ki in the top and goes for another big move, but Ki escapes and hits a goddamn Ki Krusher from the top rope! Both guys are exhausted, but Bryan has the presence of mind to roll to the floor. Ki drags him back in and goes for the pin, but Bryan gets a foot on the rope. Ki returns to the Kawada kicks and stiff chops, then trying once more for the Tidal Krush. Bryan counters by grabbing Ki out of the air into a fucking nasty fisherman buster and locks in Cattle Mutilation, but Ki refuses to tap and Shamrock eventually calls for the bell, declaring Dragon the winner by KO victory. This match pretty much set the standard for ROH main events, and though they did do a LOT, they made it work and effectively sold the toll the match took on both guys, who look absolutely shattered after this 30 minute+ main event. 5/5
Good show overall. All the Round Robin matches were awesome, and you can see why the company generated such a buzz in those early days with the focus on Daniels, Ki & Dragon. Check out the highlight video for clips of all the matches.
