ROH Road to the Title
ROH Road To The Title (6/22/2002)- Philadelphia, PA
DA HIT SQUAD GET LOW KI PSYCHED FOR THE ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT- good
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK C FIRST ROUND MATCH: American Dragon vs. Biohazard- 3.25/10
Dragon makes Biohazard tap in such a short amount of time that you wonder why the hell Biohazard was in this tournament in the first place.
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK A FIRST ROUND MATCH: Paul London vs. Spanky- 6/10
This was mostly just spots, but it was still quite enjoyable. There was one point where I’m not sure if there was a botch being edited out or the camera just missed the move,
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK C FIRST ROUND MATCH: Jay Briscoe vs. Doug Williams-5.25/10
Before each of these matches there was a little hype package showing highlights of both of the wrestlers in the match. Well… the problem is that ROH didn’t have any footage of Doug Williams, so we just got clips of Jay hitting moves with footage of Doug Williams walking to the ring (taken from this show) spliced in.
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK A FIRST ROUND MATCH: Johnny Storm vs. Jody Fleisch- 7/10
A crazy high-flying match. I’m probably overrating it from a technical standpoint, but this match leaves you with such a sense of wonder. I imagine that this is what it must have been like for people in the mid-90’s the first time they saw a WCW Cruiserweight match.
THE CHRISTOPHER STREET CONNECTION BACKSTAGE- fun.
Mace & Buff E. are giving Jerry Lynn bananas so they can watch him eat them. Jerry, seemingly totally oblivious of their gimmick, is playing the straight man here (pun intended). Then Prince Nana shows up and one of the CSC guys says â€"Oh. Prince Nana. I see you’ve brought your scepter with you.†Lynn and Nana leave, and then the CSC cut a promo about how all of these big tough ROH wrestlers all run away from them. Good stuff.
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK D FIRST ROUND MATCH: Low Ki vs. Prince Nana (w/Elax)- 0.75/10
According to the pre-match video package, Nana seems to have made it into this tournament because Low Ki knocked him out with one forearm shot at the last show. Apparently this feud that has only been built up in one segment just couldn’t wait until the end of the tournament to be blown off, so they had to put the guy who got KOed with one shot into the title tournament.
So Nana jumps Ki before the bell and beats him down. He uses a lot of the running ass to the face in the corner until Ki avoids one and KO’s Nana with an enzugiri. They sell the seriousness of this by having the locker room come rushing out and having Gabe come rushing out to check on Nana. Ki wins by forfeit.
JERRY LYNN & XAVIER BACKSTAGE- Jerry is listening to music. Xavier asks him what band. Jerry tells him, then lets Xavier listen. Xavier then asks Jerry where he bought his headphones, so Jerry tells him. This was an entirely pointless waste of time.
THE MIKEY WHIPWRECK-TRAINED CREW WISHES AMAZING RED GOOD LUCK IN THE TOURNAMENT- much more effective for making me care a bit about the upcoming match than the previous segment, don’t you think?
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK D FIRST ROUND MATCH: Xavier vs. Amazing Red- 4.75/10
Very short, but very action packed. When they go backstage, they both get yelled at by Daniels. Xavier yells at Daniels for picking on the much smaller Amazing Red and tells Daniels to pick on someone his own size, teasing a feud between the two.
SCOOT ANDREWS IS INTRODUCED TO SUMIE SAKAI- Scoot then poses for a few promotional photos, which were entirely pointless.
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK B FIRST ROUND MATCH: Scoot Andrews vs. Christopher Daniels (w/Simply Luscious)- 4/10
Before the match, Daniels introduces the first member of the Prophecy: Simply Luscious. After the match Luscious dares Scoot to hit her, so Scoot brings out Sumie Sakai and makes a match between them right now because apparently he has booking power.
SIMPLY LUSCIOUS (w/Christopher Daniels) vs. SUMIE SAKAI- 3/10
So after bringing Sakai out to fight Luscious on his behalf, Scoot just leaves her alone at ringside, rather than staying out to prevent Daniels from interfering.
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK B FIRST ROUND MATCH: AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn- 6.5/10
TAG TEAM STUFF- Dunn & Marcos claim to be the top tag team in ROH. Da Hit Squad jump them from behind and claim that they are the top tag team in ROH. Then Divine Storm came out, Quiet Storm of all people began, as Donnie B. so eloquently put it, â€"weaving a web of obscenity that will hang over the Murphy Rec. Center for years to come.†Then the SAT came out and a brawl started. During the brawl the Christopher Street Connection came out and started making out in the ring, but they were jumped from behind by the Natural Born Sinners. The Sinners went to beatdown the CSC, but the beatdown was clipped, and based on what I see here, I assume that is because it was pretty botchy. Then the Carnage Crew came out and brawled with the Natural Born Sinners. Then Da Hit Squad got back into the brawl and they teamed up with the Natural Born Sinners to put the Carnage Crew through a table. Maff once again declares Da Hit Squad to be the best tag team in ROH, and Homicide takes offense to this, but he and Boogaloo leave without any further violence.
BACKSTAGE SEGMENT WITH LOW KI- first the Natural Born Sinners come back through the curtain to complain to Low Ki about Da Hit Squad. After the Sinners leave, Da Hit Squad show up and they complain to Low Ki about the Natural Born Sinners.
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK A FINALS- 5.75/10
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK C FINALS- 6.5/10
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK D FINALS- 8.25/10
Yeah… this was the match with the famous Matrix Minute… and the best way I can convey how awesome that spot was is to tell you that fans were jumping to their feet half-way through it. But make no mistake, this match is not all about the Matrix Minute. There was a ton of other stuff in here… but the Matrix Minute did set a good tone for this match, because this match was freakin’ awesome!
BRIAN XL JUMPS AMAZING RED- good, but it would have been better if his promo was audible in any way at all (it was more the mic’s fault than his, though).
HOMICIDE PROMO- he challenges the Carnage Crew to a Bunkhouse Brawl on the next show.
BRIAN XL ARGUES WITH DIVINE STORM- eh.
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK B FINALS- 7.75/10
DONNIE B. MAKES AN ANNOUNCEMENT- Or at least he tries to, but is interrupted by Daniels. Spanky comes out and tells Daniels to shut up, then forearms him. Donnie B. then announces that ROH will be on TV starting in September on WGTW, channel 48 in Philadelphia. This TV show would only last a few months, as it turned out it was not helping ROH and was cutting into DVD sales, and thus wasn’t worth ROH paying for the timeslot.
SHOW-ENDING SEGMENT TO HYPE UP THE TITLE MATCH NEXT MONTH- this really just felt like a random brawl with a cheesy ending.
AJ STYLES PROMO- good
SPANKY & DRAGON BACKSTAGE- they set up for a 2 out of 3 Falls match in Boston which would never take place due to Spanky signing with the WWE.
CARNAGE CREW PROMO- they talk about beating up the Natural Born Sinners, then they randomly attack the ring crew. Someone needs to teach these guys how to Be A Star.
To close the show, we find the cameraman spying on Steve Corino and Simply Luscious making out. Corino seems to have no problem with this, as instead of being angry about this creepiness, he takes the opportunity to rub it in Rudy Boy Gonzalez’s face that he is making out with one of his students.
The announcing on this show, like all early ROH shows, was utterly horrible. A diving Curt Hennig neck snap was referred to as a â€"snap suplex.†Yeah. That bad. Corino and Donny B. also tried to claim that what was clearly a standard wooden basketball court was actually cement. The AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn match in particular was filled with run-on sentences used to make points that either made no sense, went nowhere, and had completely horrendous transitions.
At one point Corino commends Nana’s strategy of jumping Low Ki before the bell and wondering why more people don’t do that to Ki. Well, Steve, that would be because jumping someone before the bell IS CHEATING and this is the promotion whose whole gimmick at this point is that cheaters would be shunned by both the locker room and the office.
Overall, this was a pretty bad show, aside from the Storm vs. Fleisch match and the last two. It was a lot shorter than most of the other early ROH show, but it still feels like it takes forever to get through, and way too many of the matches are completely skippable.
DA HIT SQUAD GET LOW KI PSYCHED FOR THE ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT- good
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK C FIRST ROUND MATCH: American Dragon vs. Biohazard- 3.25/10
Dragon makes Biohazard tap in such a short amount of time that you wonder why the hell Biohazard was in this tournament in the first place.
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK A FIRST ROUND MATCH: Paul London vs. Spanky- 6/10
This was mostly just spots, but it was still quite enjoyable. There was one point where I’m not sure if there was a botch being edited out or the camera just missed the move,
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK C FIRST ROUND MATCH: Jay Briscoe vs. Doug Williams-5.25/10
Before each of these matches there was a little hype package showing highlights of both of the wrestlers in the match. Well… the problem is that ROH didn’t have any footage of Doug Williams, so we just got clips of Jay hitting moves with footage of Doug Williams walking to the ring (taken from this show) spliced in.
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK A FIRST ROUND MATCH: Johnny Storm vs. Jody Fleisch- 7/10
A crazy high-flying match. I’m probably overrating it from a technical standpoint, but this match leaves you with such a sense of wonder. I imagine that this is what it must have been like for people in the mid-90’s the first time they saw a WCW Cruiserweight match.
THE CHRISTOPHER STREET CONNECTION BACKSTAGE- fun.
Mace & Buff E. are giving Jerry Lynn bananas so they can watch him eat them. Jerry, seemingly totally oblivious of their gimmick, is playing the straight man here (pun intended). Then Prince Nana shows up and one of the CSC guys says â€"Oh. Prince Nana. I see you’ve brought your scepter with you.†Lynn and Nana leave, and then the CSC cut a promo about how all of these big tough ROH wrestlers all run away from them. Good stuff.
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK D FIRST ROUND MATCH: Low Ki vs. Prince Nana (w/Elax)- 0.75/10
According to the pre-match video package, Nana seems to have made it into this tournament because Low Ki knocked him out with one forearm shot at the last show. Apparently this feud that has only been built up in one segment just couldn’t wait until the end of the tournament to be blown off, so they had to put the guy who got KOed with one shot into the title tournament.
So Nana jumps Ki before the bell and beats him down. He uses a lot of the running ass to the face in the corner until Ki avoids one and KO’s Nana with an enzugiri. They sell the seriousness of this by having the locker room come rushing out and having Gabe come rushing out to check on Nana. Ki wins by forfeit.
JERRY LYNN & XAVIER BACKSTAGE- Jerry is listening to music. Xavier asks him what band. Jerry tells him, then lets Xavier listen. Xavier then asks Jerry where he bought his headphones, so Jerry tells him. This was an entirely pointless waste of time.
THE MIKEY WHIPWRECK-TRAINED CREW WISHES AMAZING RED GOOD LUCK IN THE TOURNAMENT- much more effective for making me care a bit about the upcoming match than the previous segment, don’t you think?
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK D FIRST ROUND MATCH: Xavier vs. Amazing Red- 4.75/10
Very short, but very action packed. When they go backstage, they both get yelled at by Daniels. Xavier yells at Daniels for picking on the much smaller Amazing Red and tells Daniels to pick on someone his own size, teasing a feud between the two.
SCOOT ANDREWS IS INTRODUCED TO SUMIE SAKAI- Scoot then poses for a few promotional photos, which were entirely pointless.
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK B FIRST ROUND MATCH: Scoot Andrews vs. Christopher Daniels (w/Simply Luscious)- 4/10
Before the match, Daniels introduces the first member of the Prophecy: Simply Luscious. After the match Luscious dares Scoot to hit her, so Scoot brings out Sumie Sakai and makes a match between them right now because apparently he has booking power.
SIMPLY LUSCIOUS (w/Christopher Daniels) vs. SUMIE SAKAI- 3/10
So after bringing Sakai out to fight Luscious on his behalf, Scoot just leaves her alone at ringside, rather than staying out to prevent Daniels from interfering.
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK B FIRST ROUND MATCH: AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn- 6.5/10
TAG TEAM STUFF- Dunn & Marcos claim to be the top tag team in ROH. Da Hit Squad jump them from behind and claim that they are the top tag team in ROH. Then Divine Storm came out, Quiet Storm of all people began, as Donnie B. so eloquently put it, â€"weaving a web of obscenity that will hang over the Murphy Rec. Center for years to come.†Then the SAT came out and a brawl started. During the brawl the Christopher Street Connection came out and started making out in the ring, but they were jumped from behind by the Natural Born Sinners. The Sinners went to beatdown the CSC, but the beatdown was clipped, and based on what I see here, I assume that is because it was pretty botchy. Then the Carnage Crew came out and brawled with the Natural Born Sinners. Then Da Hit Squad got back into the brawl and they teamed up with the Natural Born Sinners to put the Carnage Crew through a table. Maff once again declares Da Hit Squad to be the best tag team in ROH, and Homicide takes offense to this, but he and Boogaloo leave without any further violence.
BACKSTAGE SEGMENT WITH LOW KI- first the Natural Born Sinners come back through the curtain to complain to Low Ki about Da Hit Squad. After the Sinners leave, Da Hit Squad show up and they complain to Low Ki about the Natural Born Sinners.
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK A FINALS- 5.75/10
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK C FINALS- 6.5/10
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK D FINALS- 8.25/10
Yeah… this was the match with the famous Matrix Minute… and the best way I can convey how awesome that spot was is to tell you that fans were jumping to their feet half-way through it. But make no mistake, this match is not all about the Matrix Minute. There was a ton of other stuff in here… but the Matrix Minute did set a good tone for this match, because this match was freakin’ awesome!
BRIAN XL JUMPS AMAZING RED- good, but it would have been better if his promo was audible in any way at all (it was more the mic’s fault than his, though).
HOMICIDE PROMO- he challenges the Carnage Crew to a Bunkhouse Brawl on the next show.
BRIAN XL ARGUES WITH DIVINE STORM- eh.
ROH TITLE TOURNAMENT BLOCK B FINALS- 7.75/10
DONNIE B. MAKES AN ANNOUNCEMENT- Or at least he tries to, but is interrupted by Daniels. Spanky comes out and tells Daniels to shut up, then forearms him. Donnie B. then announces that ROH will be on TV starting in September on WGTW, channel 48 in Philadelphia. This TV show would only last a few months, as it turned out it was not helping ROH and was cutting into DVD sales, and thus wasn’t worth ROH paying for the timeslot.
SHOW-ENDING SEGMENT TO HYPE UP THE TITLE MATCH NEXT MONTH- this really just felt like a random brawl with a cheesy ending.
AJ STYLES PROMO- good
SPANKY & DRAGON BACKSTAGE- they set up for a 2 out of 3 Falls match in Boston which would never take place due to Spanky signing with the WWE.
CARNAGE CREW PROMO- they talk about beating up the Natural Born Sinners, then they randomly attack the ring crew. Someone needs to teach these guys how to Be A Star.
To close the show, we find the cameraman spying on Steve Corino and Simply Luscious making out. Corino seems to have no problem with this, as instead of being angry about this creepiness, he takes the opportunity to rub it in Rudy Boy Gonzalez’s face that he is making out with one of his students.
The announcing on this show, like all early ROH shows, was utterly horrible. A diving Curt Hennig neck snap was referred to as a â€"snap suplex.†Yeah. That bad. Corino and Donny B. also tried to claim that what was clearly a standard wooden basketball court was actually cement. The AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn match in particular was filled with run-on sentences used to make points that either made no sense, went nowhere, and had completely horrendous transitions.
At one point Corino commends Nana’s strategy of jumping Low Ki before the bell and wondering why more people don’t do that to Ki. Well, Steve, that would be because jumping someone before the bell IS CHEATING and this is the promotion whose whole gimmick at this point is that cheaters would be shunned by both the locker room and the office.
Overall, this was a pretty bad show, aside from the Storm vs. Fleisch match and the last two. It was a lot shorter than most of the other early ROH show, but it still feels like it takes forever to get through, and way too many of the matches are completely skippable.