20 YRS AGO – ROH Live Event Report (8-9-2003): Styles, Nigel, Samoa Joe, Homicide, Colt Cabana, Ace Steel, Sabin, more

The following was originally published 20 years ago this week on PWTorch.com…

Ring of Honor
August 9, 2003
Dayton, Ohio
Report by B.J. Bethel, PWTorch Contributor

The success of Ring of Honor during their first trip to Dayton wasn’t going to hinge on fan reaction or how many people purchased the video, it hinged on how many people actually show up for the event. If ROH doesn’t draw at least 400 fans, they probably don’t come back to town, plain and simple. That would be a major dent in any plans the promotion may have in moving out of the northeast.

For ROH’s first trip to Dayton, that wasn’t a problem. At least 550 fans showed up for their Aug. 9 show, more likely in the neighborhood of 600. A quick walk through the parking lot, and you would spot license plates from as far away as Missouri and Ontario, Canada. Reports had fans coming in from as far away as Toronto, St. Louis and Kansas City. For their first trip, the promotion accomplished what it had to do. Now, the question is, would ROH put on the kind of show to bring these people back?

(1) Deranged & Hydro of Special K defeated Fast Eddie & Don Juan, Loc & Masada of Carnage Crew and SAT. The tag team scramble started out basic enough. Carnage Crew asserted itself as the power team of the match, but went out of their way to show they could hang with the smaller guys when it came to keeping it quick. That was one thing that really impressed me during the night, the larger guys showed they had the bulk and muscle, but they you didn’t catch them no-selling moves and they quickly showed that they were able to throw a leg lariat or make a quick counter. This is definitely something I hope turns into a trend elsewhere. As for the rest of the match, it started off deliberate with some mat work and “Look Ma’ I can wrassle!” counters before quickly escalating into a “can-you-top-this” spot-fest. I think they call this match a scramble because these guys will be scrambling to Dr. Andrews office in the next six months to have their what‚s left of their spine fused. This match had some of the sickest spots I’ve ever seen, including a double SAT moonsault from the top rope to the outside with one SAT member nearly squashing a ringside fan and decapitating himself on the guardrail. Other notable moves included Special K combining an electric chair with a springboard DDT. Special K won the match with a ‘rana cradle. Pure spotty ferocity. The last time I saw ferocity like this, me and the bro both got food poisoning at KFC and we got in a fight over the last open stall. “The Brawl For The Last Stall.” Sigh. That wasn’t as hard on the stomach as some of these bumps.

Jim Cornette made his first appearance of the evening, to a standing ovation. Once he made his way to ringside, a contingent of fans started an “IWA” chant in response. “You call that a wrestling match?!” Cornette said. Cornette went on a rant against the crowd and the match they just witnessed when Dunn and Marcos appeared. After some verbal confrontation, Chris Daniels and Dan Maff came out to the old Midnight Express theme and attacked Marcos and Dunn. Cornette is announced as the newest member of the Prophecy.

(2) Nigel McGuinness pinned Chet Jablonski. Brock Guffman came to the ring with Chet and said he wasn’t going to do his usual line of flippant remarks, then stated that he was probably the father of every person in the building. Guffman turned things around and went babyface and put over both guys in the ring and the promotion Basic psychological mat stuff from both guys. Chet took a shot to the mouth early and started bleeding. Both guys battled back and forth with wristlocks and arm bars to courtesy pops from the crowd. Chet caught Nigel with a sweet over-the-shoulder brainbuster. He missed a senton though, which allowed Nigel to roll him up for the pinfall. Nigel earned the #1 contenders spot in the HWA with the win.

(3) Homicide pinned Chris Saban. Some feeling out early on in the match and some counters before things begin to pick up speed and get higher impact. Saban countered a body press with a tilt-a-whirl into a backbreaker. He also caught Homicide with a cobra clutch-type move and pulled it into a DVD. Homicide would recover and nail Saban with a Vert-a-breaker for the pin and the win.

(4) Colt Cabana & Ace Steel defeated Jimmy Jacobs & Alex Shelley. Shelly and Jacobs came to the ring to “You Got The Touch,” the last song I ever pictured as a wrestling theme. Steel put in most of the work early on in the match, before things got more formula and Jacobs played face-in-peril. Cabana showed some good heel work, stuff you would never see allowed in WWE. Cabana hit a nasty release German suplex on Jacobs at one point. A neck breaker/tiger driver combo of sorts from Steel and Cabana got the win.

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(5) Matt Stryker pinned Justin Credible. Huge ovation for both guys when they came out. Credible came to the ring with his familiar theme and attitude from his ECW days. Credible is in terrific shape, by the way. Credible spent most of the early portion of the match trying to gain heel heat, which he did. Both guys ended up on the floor, where they took turns throwing each other into the sheet metal covering the guardrails. Credible tried leaving at one point, but was dragged back to the ring by Stryker. Justin bladed at one point, as the match went to full-out brawl at the mid-point. Back in the ring, and both guys worked some counters and tried hitting their respective finishers for no-avail. Credible reversed the Stryker Driver into That’s Incredible, but Stryker kicked out at about the one and a half count, much to the dismay of the crowd who felt Credible got disrespected. Stryker immediately recovered and nailed his finisher for the clean pinfall. Both guys hugged afterwards with Credible shaking hands and doing the “We’re Not Worthy” thing in the ring before leaving.

During the intermission, Amazing Red and the SAT we’re signing autographs. Corny, Daniels and Maff ran out and attacked them at the table and beating them down. It was later announced that Red was injured and Styles would have to pick a new partner during the tag title defense later in the show.

(6) Michael Shane defeated Hotstuff Hernandez and Slyk Wagner Brown and Scoot Andrews. Hernandez dominated the early portion of the match with his size. Slyk and Hernandez battled during the middle portion before Scoot and Slyk combined for a double bulldog/DDT/leg drop combo. Sly landed funny on an SSP, but came back later with a nice pump handle into a Michinoku Driver II. Shane, with his mouth busted open, hit a cradle DDT on Scoot Andrews to get the pinfall.

(7) Jimmy Rave defeated Slim J. Slim J looks like Eminem’s skinny cousin with a severe case of crotch rot, as he grabbed himself during most of the match. The match was mainly spot-setup-spot until the finish when Rave locked on a crossface to make Slim J tap.

(8) Samoa Joe pinned B.J. Whitmer. Huge pop for Whitmer, the local, who has strong support from the HWA and IWA fans in the crowd. Dueling Joe and Whitmer chants started the match off. Whitmer wore a faceguard during the early portions of the match, but took it off when the two decided to have a slap contest. Guess who won that? Lots of stiff shots and blows during this match, which separated it from the rest of the show. The two spent a good portion of the early part of the match putting each other into the guardrails. Whitmer ended up eating some running knees while laying against the sheet metal. Not nice. Some good psychology and selling from Whitmer. The two traded some nice kicks and blows before Joe won the match with a cradle German suplex to get the pin.

(9) A.J. Styles & Homicide defeated Chris Daniels & Dan Maff (w/ Jim Cornette and Allison Danger). Big pop for Styles at the beginning of the match. Styles and Homicide didn’t waste any time. Double summersault planchas over the rail onto the heels highlighted the early portion, as the faces took the early advantage. The heels finally got the momentum when Homicide missed a suicide dive and hit his own manager and missed Maff. Homicide played face in distress as Daniels and Maff took their turns working them over. Cornette got in his interference as well, helping Daniels when he had Homicide locked into an abdominal stretch. Still the best, after all these years. Daniels nearly had the pin when he nailed hanging Tiger Driver for a two count. Cornette threw Daniels his racket, but Daniels ended up losing it and Styles gave him the Styles Clash on it for the pinfall. After the match, Cornette shook the faces hands and blamed Daniels for the loss. As Styles and Homicide left the ring, the heels began a beat down on Cornette until another babyface ran in (I have no idea who he was). He took some punishment until Samoa Joe ran in and cleaned house. Cornette and Joe shook hands. Cornette went for the mic, but some in the crowd started a loud IWA chant, which was drowned out by an ROH chant. Cornette told the fans that they were right and he was wrong about the Prophecy and put over the company.

Overall, the show was a lot of fun. The first match bordered on nuts (not to mention the risk of killing the heat for the rest of the first half of the show), and the Rave/Slim J spot-fest was nothing you haven’t seen anywhere else, but the rest of the card was really good. A good mix of psychological wrestling and the high-risk stunt-style high spots we’ve grown accustomed to. I saw some tonight that I didn’t think were anatomically or humanly possible (that’s not exactly a good thing). The matches had a good feel to them for the most part and you could tell there was a lot of care in booking things so it didn’t look like it had all been purposely laid out in the back. There were some missed spots here and there, but nothing too terribly bad. I’ve heard complaints that the company doesn’t save anything for the main event, that wasn’t the case tonight. I thought they did a good job of keeping the crowd hooked through out and saving something for the guys in the last tag match. The crowd was into the entire show and it looks like ROH has successfully started making a niche for itself in the midwest, especially with Heartland helping them out, such as providing them a ring and such. This could really end up being something special

Most importantly, ROH has carved out a niche for itself. There fans out there who have obviously warmed to this product. If they can find a profitable way to put the show on TV and keep their talent alive, who knows where they can go.

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