Opening Match: Boston Massacre Match: The Carnage Crew vs. Da Hit Squad (Honor Invades Boston – 8/24/02)
Mafia hits a big german suplex on Loc. Devito finds some barbed wire and hits Mafia with it. Mafia quickly returns the favor. Meanwhile, Loc and Mack brawl around ringside and utilize the guardrail. Mack wraps barbed wire around Loc’s head while Mafia hits Devito with a chair. Da Hit Squad are assaulted with more chair shots and go grab barbed wire boards. In the ring, Devito sends Mack into a barbed wire board. Mafia spears Devito through a barbed wire board and hits a burning hammer on Loc for the win at 11:04. There’s not much to say here, as this was violence for the sake of violence. This type of match wasn’t uncommon in Ring of Honor’s early days and I’m glad they moved away from it. *½
Match #2: Barbed Wire Ropes: Homicide vs. Steve Corino (War of the Wire – 11/29/03)
They stare each other down. Corino retreats to the floor to regroup. Back in, they tease going into the barbed wire. Homicide avoids going into the barbed wire by sliding to the floor. They exchange pin attempts and find themselves at a stalemate. Corino is the first to utilize the barbed wire, busting open Homicide’s forehead. He slingshots Homicide neck-first into the barbed wire. Homicide gains some revenge by stabbing Corino in the forehead with a fork. He stomps a barbed wire bat into Corino’s ear. They brawl on the floor and Corino drapes Homicide across the barbed wire. In the ring, Homicide suplexes Corino through a barbed wire table. He throws a piece of the guardrail into the ring. Corino regains the advantage and props the guardrail onto two chairs. He suplexes Homicide through the guardrail! Corino connects with a lariat but Homicide kicks out at one. He follows with two consecutive piledrivers but Homicide won’t stay down. Corino applies a barbed wire-assisted sleeper. Julius Smokes has no choice but to throw in the towel for Homicide, giving Corino the victory at 21:01. I enjoyed the storytelling of both men coming into this match with the mindset that they wouldn’t have to brutalize each other only to find that they needed to use the barbed wire to gain any sort of advantage. The finish may feel like a bit of a cop-out, but this was appropriately violent and engaging for the most part. ***¾
Match #3: ROH World Title: Cage Match: Samoa Joe © vs. Jay Briscoe (At Our Best – 3/13/04)
Jay immediately tries to escape but Joe stops him. Jay finds an opening to connect with a yakuza kick and hits a snap suplex. Joe ducks an enzuigiri and hits a dead-lift german suplex. He lawn darts Jay into the cage and wraps a chain around the cage door to prevent anyone from escaping. Jay is bleeding from the forehead. Joe takes over, connecting with a facewash kick. Blood is pouring from Jay’s forehead. He tries to climb over the top but Joe brings him back down with a superplex. Jay hits a saito suplex and once again tries to climb over the top. Joe gives chase and Jay hits an ace crusher from the top rope. They exchange strikes. Jay delivers a low blow and connects with a lariat. They battle on the top rope and both fall to the canvas. Joe facewash kicks Jay into the cage. The caging comes undone and Jay almost escapes through the cage wall. That was unintentionally awesome. Joe hits a powerbomb and transitions into an STF. There’s a visual. Jay is able to reach the bottom rope. He connects with an enzuigiri and hits the Jay Driller. Both men are down. Mark begins to climb the cage but AJ Styles stops him with a Styles Clash onto the floor. Joe stops Jay from climbing over the top of the cage with a Muscle Buster from the top rope. Joe retains his title at 14:23. Joe’s dominance against the Briscoes in a singles capacity was established throughout the course of their feud. In the opening minutes of tag team matches, Joe would usually get the better of either Briscoe until they resorted to double teaming. This match was a natural extension of that story. Joe dominated for over half of this contest and it was quite the spectacle to watch Jay stage his comeback. Everyone remembers this match for the amount of blood loss suffered by Jay, but there’s actually a coherent story in the middle of everything. ***¾
Match #4: Scramble Cage: The Carnage Crew vs. Special K (At Our Best – 3/13/04)
Dixie and Loc start for their respective teams. Dixie attempts to escape the cage but that just makes Loc angry. Devito enters next and the Carnage Crew are in firm control. Deranged gives Special K some life. He hurricanranas Devito into the cage wall but Loc powerbombs him into the cage. Izzie starts climbing the cage despite it not being his turn to enter. A ladder is brought into the ring as well as the rest of the members of the factions brawl at ringside. Izzie lands a moonsault from the top of the cage to the floor. Dusty Rhodes comes out and starts connecting with a series of bionic elbows on Special K. Good Lord. Ox Baker runs out and brawls to the back with Rhodes. I don’t know. Justin Credible makes an appearance and starts caning everyone. Everyone ends up at ringside. Slim J lands a corkscrew dive from the top of the cage followed by Masada with a 450 splash. Devito piledrives Angeldust from the top of the cage through a table for the win at 11:31. My comments about the first match apply here. Still, the crowd ate this up and I guess there’s something to be said for that. *
Match #5: Chicago Street Fight: CM Punk and Ace Steel vs. Dan Maff and BJ Whitmer (Death Before Dishonor II Part 2 – 7/24/04)
Maff and Whitmer beat down Steel while keeping Punk out of the ring. Punk lands a dive onto Maff. Whitmer blocks a dive from Steel with a chair shot. Maff and Whitmer regain control, whipping the Second City Saints with their belts. Punk and Steel are both busted open at this point as well. The Second City Saints gain control of the belts and return the favor. After some brawling on the floor, a ladder and a table make their way into the ring. Punk connects with repeated facewash kicks to Whitmer. Punk uses the ladder to ram a chair into Whitmer’s face. Maff low blows Punk and Whitmer follows with a barbed wire bat-assisted russian leg sweep. A barbed wire board is propped in the corner. Maff cannonballs Punk through the barbed wire board. Steel sends Maff into the barbed wire board remnants and hits a tiger driver. Everyone grabs a chair and exchanges chair shots…unprotected chair shots to the head. This is sick. The fans start throwing their chairs into the ring and we have a chair riot! Maff overhead suplexes Punk into the chairs. Punk responds with a german suplex. You cannot see the canvas at this point. Maff props a ladder in between the barricades and sets Steel onto it. Whitmer tries to dive onto Steel, but Punk sends him into the chairs. Punk tombstones Whitmer from the middle rope through a table for the victory at 27:56. That was a pure spectacle and the perfect match for ROH to use as an example when talking about how crazy a blowoff to a feud can be. There was never a moment throughout the course of the twenty-eight minutes where I didn’t believe that these two teams hated each other. Obviously, the chair riot stands out as memorable but the real indicator for me is that this match still seems violent nine years later. Check this out if you haven’t seen it yet. ****
Match #6: Boston Street Fight: Loc and Devito vs. BJ Whitmer and Dan Maff (Weekend of Thunder Night 1 – 11/5/04)
Maff saves Whitmer from an early Carnage-plex. Whitmer drop toe holds Devito into the barricade. Everyone brawls around ringside and into the crowd. Devito spikes Maff with a DDT onto the entrance ramp. Loc grinds away at Whitmer’s forehead with a wrench. Everyone is pretty much busted open at this point. Maff hits a big german suplex on Devito. Whitmer throws a chair at Devito’s head and starts brawling with Loc. Maff absolutely plasters the Carnage Crew with chair shots. Allison Danger tries to throw a garbage can into the ring to no avail. The crowd actually responds to that. Whitmer goes after Danger. The Carnage Crew hit stereo garbage can shots on Maff for the win at 7:50. You’ve never heard a quieter crowd for this type of match. There was a DDT onto the entrance ramp and sick chair shots to the head, yet Allison Danger botching throwing a garbage can into the ring received the loudest reaction. ½*
Match #7: Fight Without Honor: Loc and Devito vs. BJ Whitmer and Dan Maff (Final Battle 2004 – 12/26/04)
Ringside brawling and chair shots quickly ensue. Maff props a ladder in between the barricades near the entrance ramp. He boots the ladder into Loc’s face, which busts him open. Devito does a good job of fending off the Prophecy. Maff sets Loc onto a ladder in the ring and connects with an elbow drop. The Carnage Crew hit a spike piledriver on Maff. Whitmer goes crazy with a kendo stick but Loc quickly takes him out with a saito suplex. Both teams battle on top of two ladders in the ring. Devito suplexes Whitmer off the ladder while Loc and Maff get crotched on the top rope. Mick Foley comes out and says that while he’s impressed, this match needs some thumbtacks. Fortunately, he has some with him and pours them all over the ring. Loc sends Maff through a ringside table with a neckbreaker. Whitmer plants Devito into the thumbtacks with an exploder for the victory at 14:59. This was much better than the Weekend of Thunder brawl, as the violence escalated and the spacing of the big spots allowed the crowd to become invested. The thumbtacks felt novel for Ring of Honor at the time and provided a fitting ending to this feud. **¾
Match #8: Chicago Street Fight: Homicide vs. Colt Cabana (Better Than Our Best – 4/1/06)
Cabana comes out of the gates hot, back dropping Homicide and firing off punches. The action goes to the floor where Homicide finds an opening by ramming Cabana into the barricade. They battle over a coat hanger and try to choke each other. Homicide lands a dive to the floor. Cabana brings a ladder into the ring but Homicide makes him feel it with a tornado DDT. Cabana ends up on a table at ringside. Julius Smokes holds him at place while Homicide splashes him through it. Homicide brings a barbed wire board into the match. Cabana sends Homicide through a ladder with a nasty suplex. Homicide saves himself from going into the barbed wire by hitting a russian leg sweep. Cabana pulls out a fork and stabs Homicide in the forehead. He throws rubbing alcohol into Homicide’s bloody face. Homicide goes into convulsions, as he should. Good Lord. He buys some time by low blowing Cabana. Homicide rallies on a chair riot. This would be the second chair riot in ROH history, with the other happening at Death Before Dishonor II Part 2. Chicago has a thing for these chair riots. Cabana hits a superplex onto the chairs! Homicide responds with a Pepsi Plunge and connects with a lariat for a nearfall. Cabana ties Julius Smokes in the ropes. He powerbombs Homicide through a table and connects with a lariat. Cabana hits the Colt 45 for the win at 26:36. Watching this match in isolation is probably not the best idea, as I’m sure there were many little intricacies that you miss if you haven’t watched their entire feud play out. Still, this was the sort of brutality that you might not expect from Cabana today. The rubbing alcohol being thrown into Homicide’s face was sickening and you really got the sense that Cabana could find peace after this war. ****
Match #9: Cage of Death: Team ROH (Samoa Joe, BJ Whitmer, Adam Pearce, Ace Steel, and ?) vs. Team CZW (Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, Necro Butcher, Nate Webb, and ?) (Death Before Dishonor IV – 7/15/06)
Joe and Claudio start the match for their respective teams. Joe kicks him to the floor and follows out with a dive. Joe connects with a facewash kick into the cage. Claudio whips him into a propped ladder. In the ring, Joe charges with a forearm and connects with an enzuigiri. He lays in another facewash kick to the crowd’s delight. Whitmer comes out next. He catches Claudio with a leg lariat and Team ROH remains in control until Hero enters to even the sides. The Kings of Wrestling gain the advantage because they’re the Kings of Wrestling. Bryan Danielson enters and cleans house. It doesn’t take long for him to reveal his true identity, as he clips Joe’s leg. Jim Cornette runs out in a blind rage. Nate Webb is the next participant for Team CZW as Danielson exits the cage with a smile. Joe has to be carried out of the cage by staff members. Even Pearce’s entrance can’t change ROH’s fortune, as Necro Butcher quickly evens the sides. Ace Steel brings some life by attacking everyone with a cowbell. Necro matches his insanity and cuts off his momentum. Hero grabs the microphone to begin a CZW chant and introduces their final member – Eddie Kingston. Team CZW takes firm control. Of course, Hero and Kingston can’t get along forever and they start brawling. All of a sudden, Homicide’s music hits and the crowd blows the roof off. Necro Butcher is just standing with a bloody face and a barbed wire bat in his hand, looking like a videogame character. All of this is just awesome. Homicide gives his team forks and the match just becomes one huge brawl. Hero mockingly stands on a chair and applies a cravate on Homicide. Homicide yanks him off sends him through a chair with an ace crusher. Pearce connects with a flying elbow drop on Webb. Homicide hits Claudio across the chest with a board. Whitmer plants Kingston with an exploder onto the floor. Hero lands a moonsault from the top of the cage onto Team ROH. Whitmer and Necro battle in the ring. Necro takes a sick back suplex through a propped chair. They battle on the apron and crash through a ringside table. Homicide catches Webb with the Cop Killa onto a barbed wire board to give Team ROH the victory at 40:21. The ROH/CZW feud brought an energy that might not be able to be matched for quite some time. The Danielson segment, Kingston’s debut, and Homicide’s entrance were all great touches that made this feel like a true blowoff. It’s been said before, but the only criticisms against this match may be a little too lengthy heat segment for CZW and the fact that they couldn’t get any offense going once Homicide entered the match despite still having a numbers advantage. However, this is almost necessary viewing if you’re interested at all in the ROH/CZW feud and this feud-ender will probably remain one of the more talked about independent wrestling matches of its time. ****¼
Match #10: Barbed Wire Ropes: BJ Whitmer vs. Necro Butcher (War of the Wire II – 7/28/06)
They exchange punches at the opening bell and try to send each other into the barbed wire. Necro drives Whitmer chest-first into the barbed wire and hits him across the back with a barbed wire chair. Necro hits a chair slam and starts taking over. Whitmer is bleeding pretty badly from his forehead. Homicide comes to ringside to encourage Whitmer, who hits a piledriver and a brainbuster. Necro connects with a lariat and brings out the wire cutters. They fight over the tool. Whitmer cuts off one side of barbed wire from the ring. Necro delivers a low blow and hits a tiger driver from the apron through a barbed wire table at ringside. It takes awhile for both men to escape from the barbed wire. In the ring, Necro hits another tiger driver onto some thumbtacks. Whitmer sends Necro feet-first into the thumbtacks and hits an exploder onto them. If you were worried about this match being violent, well, don’t worry. Necro hits a death valley driver through a propped barbed wire table. Whitmer puts a barbed wire board on top of Necro and hits him with a chair repeatedly. Homicide slides a ladder into the ring. Whitmer dives from the ladder and splashes a barbed wire board onto Necro for a nearfall. Whitmer follows with an exploder for the win at 26:09. Whereas Homicide/Corino slowly escalated the violence and told a story, this was straight-on violence from bell to bell. Maybe Necro gets dumped feet-first into thumbtacks quite a bit elsewhere, but spots like that felt novel in ROH and this match had a lot of those moments. I don’t think Whitmer winning was a surprise, but the brutality that he went through undoubtedly made the win that much sweeter. ****
Match #11: Cage Match: Homicide vs. Adam Pearce (Chicago Spectacular Night 2 – 12/9/06)
Pearce splashes Homicide in the corner but gets caught by a lariat. Homicide hits rolling suplexes. Pearce connects with a short-arm lariat along with a knee to the face. Shane Hagadorn runs out and gives Pearce a leather strap. Since Hagadorn can’t do anything right, this plan backfires and Homicide starts punishing Pearce, busting him open in the process. Homicide bumps Todd Sinclair and grabs a fork. He starts carving up Pearce’s forehead with the fork. Homicide hits a tornado DDT. Pearce responds with spinebuster and applies the figure four. They go back and forth reversing the pressure on the figure four. They battle on the top rope and Homicide hits a super ace crusher. Homicide follows with a lariat for the victory at 15:24. Pearce was under-appreciated in this capacity at the time and gave Homicide a solid enough cage match that had the crowd vocal. The match also felt just right at fifteen minutes and didn’t overstay its welcome. There weren’t any mind-blowing spots but you need a stipulation match like this every once and while to ground everything else. ***¼
Match #12: Last Man Standing: BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs (Battle of the Icons – 1/27/07)
Whitmer attacks Jacobs with a chair during his entrance. He continues the assault in the ring and Jacobs beats an early ten count. Jacobs low-bridges Whitmer to the floor and connects with a dropkick through the ropes. Jacobs is busted open from the chair shots. They brawl into the crowd and exchange chops. Back in the ring, Jacobs returns the favor with a chair shot and introduces the railroad spike. Now both men are busted open. Whitmer hits a spinebuster onto a set of chairs. Jacobs spears Whitmer off a ringside table and into the barricade in an awesome spot. Lacey helps Jacobs bring a table into the ring. Jacobs looks to spear Whitmer through the table but eats a chair shot. Whitmer hits an exploder off the top rope but picks Jacobs up before the ten count. Brent Albright runs out and suplexes Whitmer through a table. Jacobs gets to his feet and picks up the win at 15:34. They were having a solid brawl (as usual) until the screwy finish. It’s not so much that Albright interfered that’s the problem, but rather why he waited sixteen minutes before doing so. Also, Albright had to attack Whitmer during the ten count and Todd Sinclair didn’t restart the count. Obviously, those are nitpicky criticisms but they left a sour taste on what was an otherwise appropriately violent brawl. ***
Match #13: Philadelphia Street Fight: Roderick Strong, Rocky Romero, Davey Richards, and Matt Sydal vs. Austin Aries, Delirious, Erick Stevens, and Matt Cross (Death Before Dishonor V Night 2 – 8/11/07)
The brawl immediately goes out of the ring and into the crowd. Delirious and Romero brawl towards the back of the building. Sydal and Cross battle on top of the bleachers. Everyone works their way towards them. Cross punches Sydal off the bleachers and he falls onto everyone. Cross leaps off the wall and dives onto the group. That looked as awesome as it sounds. The action settles down back at ringside. Richards lands a plancha to the floor, sending a pile of chairs into Cross’ midsection. Sydal grabs a ladder but Delirious sends him into it with the Panic Attack. Romero knees Delirious into the ladder and the No Remorse Corps take over. Delirious fights back with a cobra clutch suplex on Strong onto a ladder. Romero knockout kicks Delirious but Cross throws a chair at his head. Romero dodges an enzuigiri from Cross but falls victim to a fireman’s carry neckbreaker. Cross double stomps Romero into a chair. Sydal fisherman busters Cross through a chair. Stevens TKOs Sydal onto a ladder. Strong powerbombs Stevens onto the floor. Sydal sets up a table in the crowd. Cross lands his flagpole press from some scaffolding and through the table. Stevens attempts a dive from the apron but Strong waffles him with a chair shot. Strong traps Aries’ leg in a ladder and repeatedly hits it with a chair. Stevens powerslams Richards from the apron through a table at ringside. Strong sets a ladder across two chairs. He slams Stevens from the top rope onto the ladder and applies the Stronghold. Stevens taps out and the No Remorse Corp pick up the victory at 33:50. These eight men just looked like they were having fun out there and it made for an incredible weapons-based brawl that used its environment to the fullest. This almost felt like a Guerilla Warfare match in PWG where the crowd is molten and you never know where they’re going to go in the building or what weapons they’ll utilize. While you could argue that thirty-four minutes was excessive given some dead periods, everyone came out of this match for the better and some of the big spots will stick with you. ****¼
Match #14: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Ladder War: Jay and Mark Briscoe © vs. Kevin Steen and El Generico (Man Up! – 9/15/07)
Both teams brawl into the crowd. Mark spears Steen into a set of chairs while Jay just hurls Generico into some chairs. Mark runs into some men in ski masks in the crowd. I bet they’re just innocent bystanders. Generico absolutely waffles Jay in the head with a chair shot. A ladder is brought into the ring. Generico dropkicks Jay to the floor and tries to climb. Jay stops him with a sit-out gourdbuster. The Briscoes biel Generico into a ladder propped in the corner. Generico goes into convulsions because he’s awesome. Steen back suplexes Jay onto the ladder. Generico yakuza kicks a ladder into Jay’s face. Generico tries to climb but gets caught by a nasty german suplex. All four men are down as the crowd chants for them. Mark puts a ladder on top of Generico and lands a shooting star press. Jay leg drops Steen through a ringside table. The Briscoes send staff to get them the super-tall utility ladder. The crowd surfs the ladder to ringside. The Briscoes hit a doomsday device on Generico. Mark had to dive through the ladder to hit that maneuver. Steen slows down the Briscoes by just hitting them with a ladder. Smaller ladders are positioned under the big ladder. Jay sends Generico through one of the smaller ladders with a Jay Driller. Jay punches Steen through the other smaller ladder and grabs the belts. The Briscoes retain their titles at 27:21. Gabe Sapolsky would go on to say that he regretted booking this match due to the violence and what both teams had to put their bodies through. There were obviously high expectations but that’s only because ROH did a good job of holding off doing this type of match until it was warranted. Everyone remembers the aftermath, but this Ladder War delivered exactly what it promised and provided a fitting end to the feud. ****¼
Match #15: Street Fight: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Necro Butcher and Joey Matthews (Take No Prisoners – 3/16/08)
This match starts in the lobby of the building. Necro hits Mark in the head with a shovel and throws him into some scaffolding. Mark responds with an unprotected chair shot to the head. Matthews does the same to Jay. In the ring, the Briscoes hit stereo superplexes. Lacey and Daizee Haze continue to brawl around ringside. They make their way into the ring, where Haze hits a german suplex. Necro punches Jay in the face and connects with a boot. The Age of the Fall chokeslam Jay through some chairs. Mark reenters the match and gives his team some hope. The Briscoes catch Matthews with stereo shoulder tackles and chop him in the corner. They kind of hit the doomsday device. Necro punches his way out of the doomsday device and victory rolls Mark for a nearfall. The action goes back into the crowd. Mark hits Necro in the head with a chair shot. Matthews sets up a table in the ring. Mark jumps off some scaffolding and splashes Necro through a table. Jay hits the Jay Driller on Matthews after putting him through a table for the win at 15:34. Mark continues to be absolutely crazy in these type of matches while Necro actually showed off how dynamic he could be by keeping this match together at points. This wasn’t the best brawl on this compilation, but it made the most out of its fifteen minutes and this is the kind of match you want on pay per view every now and then, so it worked in that capacity as well. ***¼
Match #16: No Disqualification: Necro Butcher vs. Jimmy Jacobs (Take No Prisoners 2009 – 4/4/09)
Necro brawls with Jacobs around ringside and throws him into the crowd. He crotches Jacobs onto a railing and tries to throw him off a balcony to no avail (thankfully). There’s a food court below and I can only imagine what people were thinking. Necro rolls Jacobs down the stairs. Back at ringside, Jacobs gains control by utilizing a screwdriver. Necro has been busted open. He fights back with a chair slam and throws the chair at Jacobs’ head. Jacobs jumps off the apron and spears Necro on the floor. They battle up top and Jacobs hits a superplex to the floor! In the ring, Necro shrugs off a chair shot and starts punching Jacobs. He hits a bulldog onto a chair. They battle on the apron and Necro hits a death valley driver, sending Jacobs through a table. Back in, Jacobs synchs in the End Time. Necro punches his way out of the Contra Code and hits a tiger driver for the victory at 14:52. The big spots captured the crowd’s attention, but the action consisted of quite a bit inconsequential brawling and segments of just trying to fill time. There was also some severe lack of selling down the stretch. That might be more tolerable in an epic blow-off, but this felt like another match in a feud that wouldn’t end. **½
Match #17: No Disqualification: Jerry Lynn vs. Kenny King (From the Ashes – 3/26/10)
They start brawling immediately and take turns throwing each other into the barricade. Lynn props up a chair in the corner. He lands a plancha to the floor and baseball slides a ladder into King. Lynn hits a guillotine leg drop and hip tosses King onto the ladder. He misses a leg drop from the middle rope and collides with the ladder. King kicks a chair into Lynn’s face and sends him into the propped up chair in the corner. King sets up a table in the corner as Lynn starts to bleed. Lynn hits a bulldog onto the ladder but gets overhead suplexed into it. King maintains control until Lynn hurricanranas him off the top rope and hits a TKO. King responds with a DDT onto a chair. He puts Lynn through a table in the corner with shotgun knees. Lynn tries to sunset bomb King through a different table, but it doesn’t break. Lynn follows with the Cradle Piledriver onto the table for the victory at 12:57. While this didn’t feel like an epic feud-ending brawl, it was still an energetic grudge match that used various weapons in creative ways. King displayed his athleticism brilliantly and pulled off a few visually impressive spots. Lynn worked well with him, although I think he could have afforded a loss here. The table not breaking towards the end of the match is always unfortunate. However, instead of the crowd chanting negatively, they were chanting “one more time”. As a whole, this was a well-executed brawl that didn’t necessarily feel like the end of a feud. ***
Match #18: Cage Match: Kevin Steen and Steve Corino vs. El Generico and Colt Cabana (ROH on HDNet Episode #80)
Steen slams the cage door into Cabana’s face. Generico sends Corino into the barricade and connects with a yakuza kick. They work their way into the cage. Generico lands a flying double crossbody and Cabana lays in a series of punches. Steen gets thrown into the cage twice. Corino misses a charge and collides with the cage as well. Steen powerbombs Generico into the cage wall repeatedly. Corino catches Cabana with a thumb in the bumb. Steen and Corino take control until Generico hits a tornado DDT on Corino. Cabana hits the flying asshole on Steen and Generico adds a michinoku driver for a nearfall. Corino is bleeding from the forehead. Generico sends Steen into the turnbuckles with an exploder but runs into a superkick. Cabana moonsaults onto Steen but eats a lariat from Corino. Generico hits a half nelson suplex on Corino and connects with a yakuza kick. He climbs to the top of the cage but Steen knocks him to the floor. Steen stabs Cabana in the forehead with a fork and applies a crossface for the win at 12:10. This was an abridged version of what this feud was all about and it made for a fine television main event. Yet I can’t help but think it ended before it had a chance to get off the ground. They could have done a lot with Cabana isolated inside of the cage with Generico on the floor, but the finish happened quickly afterwards. **¾
Match #19: Ladder War III: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Kenny King and Rhett Titus (Death Before Dishonor IX – 9/17/11)
The winners will receive a shot at the ROH World Tag Team Titles at Glory By Honor X. The Briscoes appropriately attack before the opening bell. Mark connects with a baseball slide on Titus. The Briscoes prop a ladder in the corner. The action goes to the floor where the All Night Express get sent into the barricade. Jay suplexes King onto the floor while Mark props a table against the barricade. King connects with shotgun knees on Jay but Mark back drops him through the table at ringside. Jay puts a ladder in between the apron and the barricade. He connects with a mafia kick on Titus in the ring and throws a chair at him. Jay hits a flatliner on Titus, sending him face-first into a chair. Titus is bleeding at this point. After battling over a suplex, Titus sends Mark through the ladder that was in between the apron and the barricade. Titus lands a dive to the floor onto Jay. The All Night Express dropkick a ladder into Jay’s groin. They follow with some double teaming. King lands a plancha onto Jay. Mark throws Titus into the barricade and launches a chair at King. Jay is now busted open as well. Everyone brawls around ringside. King uses the barricade to land a moonsault onto Mark. Jay just hurls a ladder at Titus and suplexes him onto the entrance ramp. Mark dives off the apron and takes out King. Jay positions Titus on a ladder and hits a senton. He blasts King with a chair shot and Mark adds an exploder. The Briscoes biel King into a propped ladder in the ring. The crowd chants “you killed Kenny.” Jay dropkicks a chair into King’s face. The Briscoes are in full control. Titus pushes Mark off the top rope and through a table at ringside. The All Night Express bring another table into the ring. They send Jay through the table with a blockbuster-powerbomb combination. Titus grabs a ladder and begins climbing. Mark stops him with a missile dropkick. The Briscoes bring out a taller ladder because they’re the Briscoes. They setup the taller ladder and a table at ringside. Jay puts Titus onto the table. Mark climbs the ladder and puts Titus through the table with a splash. In the ring, King hits a spinebuster on Jay. He follows with a beautiful shooting star press and sets up the tall ladder. King and Jay climb up opposite ends of the ladder. They exchange punches and Jay falls to the canvas. King grabs the contract to give the All Night Express the win at 27:54. While some may argue that the Ladder War stipulation wasn’t warranted here, these two teams made the most of it and I don’t think this match could have gone much better. It took twenty minutes for someone to even attempt to climb a ladder and grab the contract. More than anything, this match was about both teams’ hatred for each other and there are countless moments throughout the action that I could point to for evidence of that. Sure, this match won’t be for everyone. However, if you’ve taken even the slightest bit of interest in the Briscoes/ANX feud, I think you owe it to yourself to check out this war. ****¼
Overall: From the onset, I had decently high expectations for this compilation for the sole reason that ROH is pretty disciplined when it comes to using stipulation matches wisely. Thus, I figured most of the matches here would be blow-offs to feuds and the match quality would be high. For the most part, I was right. While there was some fluff (Carnage Crew I’m looking at you), the ladder wars, the Chicago street fights, the Philadelphia street fight, and Cage of Death all remain memorable matches worth checking out. As a result, Ring of Hardcore ranks as another compilation which is certainly recommendable if you’re missing some of the key inclusions in your collection.
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