THE COLUMN OF HONOR PREVIEWS R
By: Joe Mistretta
1/22/2004 10:35:00 PM
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Ring Of Honor will return to Glen Burnie, MD next Thursday with an 8:00pm
bell time at Michaels 8th Avenue. After learning that CM Punk and Homicide
would not be going to Japan both were added to the show in a rematch of
their show stealer on 4/26/03 at "Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II".
The match didn't get a lot of hype because it was on one of the Pittsburgh
shows that aren't talked about much even though they were both very good
shows.
It was at first teased that Homicide would take part in a new kind of match,
but after finding out Punk could work the show the decision was made to make
the rematch and hold off the new style match for a different show. Most of
the card was reworked including the edition of a Six-Way Mayhem match with
Slyk Wagner Brown, Caprice Coleman, Hydro, Sonjay Dutt, Jack Evans, and
Chris Sabin. The match will start with two men in the ring and four on the
apron and then continue under scramble match rules.
The March 13th convention card has now been titled "Do Or Die II" and will
mostly feature new wrestlers that haven't wrestled in the northeast before.
There are some familiar ROH names on the card like Jimmy Jacobs, The
Christopher Street Connection, Don Juan, Josh Daniels, and Slyk Wagner Brown
w/April Hunter. Rainman, Caprice Coleman, and Todd Sexton who all worked
the 1/10 Ohio show are also on the card.
The convention, which only costs $5 to get into is also going to feature a
Roddy Piper autograph session. If you have tickets in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd
row for the night show you get free admission to the convention. I have to
be honest there are some guys on the card that I've never heard of but if
ROH is booking them I think they deserve a chance. The full roster list for
"Do Or Die II" is in the upcoming shows listings.
Mike Johnson is running a NY/NJ bus trip to ROH's "Second Anniversary Show"
for $65, which will include a big treat for ROH fans. If you go on the bus
trip you will see a special screening of Ring Of Honor's much talked about
1/10 "The Battle Lines Are Drawn" show! Who knows when this show will
actually be released so this is going to be a great chance to get a sneak
peek at what many are calling one of ROH's best shows of all time. For more
information on the bus trip email agentclpt@aol.com.
Locker Room Scoops Notes: John Walters is in the Pure Wrestling Title
tournament on 2/14 in Quincy, MA. There is one open spot remaining in the
tournament... Special K members Dixie, Hydro, Izzy, Slim J, Angel Dust, and
Abyss will all be at the 3/13 Elizabeth, NJ show and are searching for more
people to bring for Scramble Cage II... "Final Battle 2003" will be released
in about a week. "Empire State Showdown" will be released in 1-2 weeks.
"Punk vs. Raven: The Conclusion" will be released in 3-4 weeks. CM Punk
does commentary on the "Final Battle 2003" release. The reason Low Ki was
in Homicide's corner and the reason Carnage Crew want to kill Special K will
be revealed on the 12/27 tape... ROH"s summer schedule should be released in
the next couple of weeks... Look for a Second City Saints vs. Prophecy match
on the 3/13 Elizabeth, NJ show.
Upcoming Shows: Lots of changes were made to the Glen Burnie show that
takes place next Thursday. A full talent list was also announced for the
3/13 convention card. Below are upcoming shows matches and rosters:
1/29 Glen Burnie, MD
- Jay & Mark Briscoe w/Jim Cornette vs. Samoa Joe & Jerry Lynn - ROH Tag
Team Titles Match
- CM Punk vs. Homicide
- Dan Maff vs. Matt Stryker vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Xavier - #1 Contenders Trophy
Match
- John Walters vs. Chad Collyer - 3 Rope Break Rule In Effect
- Slyk Wagner Brown vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Caprice Coleman vs. Jack Evans vs.
Hydro vs. Chris Sabin - Six-Way Mayhem Match
- Jimmy Jacobs vs. Alex Shelley
- Loc & Justin Credible vs. The Backseat Boyz vs. Izzy & Dixie - No DQ Match
- The SAT & Qenaan Creed vs. Chad & Dino & TBA - MCW Flashback Match
- Live edition of Colt Cabana's "Good Times, Great Memories" with Dunn/Marcos
2/14 Quincy, MA "Second Anniversary Show"
- Pure Wrestling Title Tournament with AJ Styles, Jimmy Rave, Doug Williams,
Jay & Mark Briscoe, John Walters, Matt Stryker, and one more person TBA
- Samoa Joe vs. Winner of 1/29 #1 Contenders Trophy Match
- Also appearing The Carnage Crew, The Backseat Boyz, Special K, Chris
Sabin, Alex Shelley and more
3/13 Elizabeth, NJ Convention Card "Do Or Die II"
- Autograph Session with Rowdy Roddy Piper
- Appearing Jimmy Jacobs, Caprice Coleman, Danny Daniels, Rainman, Roderick
Strong, Christopher Street Connection, Special K, Todd Sexton, Don Juan,
Steve Madison, Jerelle Clark, Jared Steel, Josh Daniels, Slyk Wagner Brown
w/April Hunter, Brad Bradley, The Outcast Killaz, The Solution, and more
3/13 Elizabeth, NJ
- Loc & Devito & Justin Credible & Masada vs. Dixie & Hydro & Izzy & Angel
Dust & Slim J & Abyss & whoever they pick up at a rave - Scramble Cage II
- Also appearing Roddy Piper, Christopher Daniels, Dan Maff, BJ Whitmer, Allison Danger, CM Punk, Colt Cabana, ROH World Champion Samoa Joe, ROH Tag Team Champions Jay & Mark Briscoe, AJ Styles, John Walters, Matt Stryker, Jimmy Rave, and more
4/23 St Paul, MN
- Appearing Bobby Heenan, ROH Tag Team Champions Jay & Mark Briscoe, AJ
Styles, Christopher Daniels, Dan Maff, BJ Whitmer, CM Punk, Colt Cabana,
Matt Stryker, John Walters, The Carnage Crew, Jimmy Rave, Alex Shelley,
Jimmy Jacobs, Abyss, and more
4/24 Chicago Ridge, IL
- Appearing Bobby Heenan, ROH Tag Team Champions Jay & Mark Briscoe, AJ
Styles, Christopher Daniels, Dan Maff, BJ Whitmer, CM Punk, Colt Cabana,
Matt Stryker, John Walters, The Carnage Crew, Jimmy Rave, Alex Shelley,
Jimmy Jacobs, Abyss, and more
5/22 Philadelphia, PA
Other Notes: I went to the CZW show at the Arena on Saturday night and sat
through five plus hours of wrestling. CZW has really got to cut down their
cards because people get burnt out watching the prelim stuff and don't get
up for the main event matches. It was great to see New Jack and his promo
was the first good thing that happened on the show. New Jack isn't overused
by a 1,000 promotions like Sandman or Sabu so when you get a chance to see
him it actually means something. They did a big angle that led to the debut
of the Carnage Crew's Devito to set up a tag team main event with Devito and
Jack vs. Zandig and Wifebeater.
The show then got on a real role with four really solid wrestling matches in
a row. Sonjay Dutt and Jimmy Jacobs had a really good back and forth match,
and I'd love to see a rematch. Dutt looks to be starting a program with The
Grim Reefer. A four-way match followed with Ruckus vs. Joker vs. Sabian vs.
Chris Cash was also a really good match. Joker and Chris Cash have stepped
up their game in the past couple of months and Ruckus is doing a nice job
with his new heel persona. Sabian is a smaller guy who reminds me of Brian
XL a lot.
The first match of the extreme strong style tournament was the next match
with Dan Maff beating Homicide. It's funny that this match happened in CZW
before ROH and hopefully we'll be seeing more matches between these two in
the future. As the tournament name says they worked a stiff strong style
match with Maff working over Homicide's shoulder. After the match The
Backseat Boyz attacked both guys before being run off by the H8 Club. The
H8 Club then got into it with Maff & Homicide exchanging pushes and words.
I hope those are two future programs because Maff & Homicide as a tag team
would be great in matches against The Backseat Boyz and H8 Club. With Nick
Gage's recent ROH appearance I'd love to see Nate Hatred brought in to do a
H8 Club-Carnage Crew program. Both promotions could make a lot of money
with that feud.
The last of the four matches was a solid Jimmy Rave-Alex Shelley Iron Man
Title submission match. This resembled what the pure wrestling division is
going to be like with tons of great submission and mat wrestling. The match
was very good live and will probably be even better on tape. Shelley is a
great wrestler who I think is going to make a big impact in ROH and the pure
wrestling division this year.
Justin Credible also made his CZW debut teaming with The Backseat Boyz in a
CZW Tag Titles match against Rebels Army. It was a different kind of match
for the Backseats and I thought they worked well with Justin. Credible got
a good pop from the arena crowd and looked good in the match, even after
getting hit with a stiff shot that you could visibly tell pissed him off.
The main event was your usual CZW bloodbath street fight match that Zandig
and Wifebeater won. Devito took some brutally stiff shots in this match.
CZW returns to the arena along with World-1 for a huge doubleheader on
February 7th.
Joe Mistretta can be reached at Jobowski2001@msn.com.
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