Matches from The Era of Honor Begins
1.IWA Puerto Rico IC Title: Eddie Guerrero(c) vs Super Crazy ***1/4
2.Low Ki vs American Dragon vs Christopher Daniels ****1/4
Match from Honor Invades Boston
3.ROH Title:Low Ki(c) vs AJ Styles ***1/2
Match from Glory By Honor
4.Fight Without Honor: Samoa Joe vs Low Ki ****
Match from Final Battle
5.CM Punk vs Colt Cabana ***
Thoughts:
These are an assortment of matches I found on YouTube from 2002 that I thought I'd check out. My experiences with the company start closer to '05, so these were all new to me. That said, there was a clear tone already in place in their first year which, in many ways, symbolizes the indie style even today.
Match one and two are from their debut event, The Era of Honor Begins. The first pull saw Eddie Guerrero and Super Crazy work a fairly good title match. Eddie was his cocky self and ended up paying via flash pin. It's a nice novelty if nothing else. The other contest was the first main event in Ring of Honor history and a fucking fantastic view. Even then, CD was the elder which really speaks to how long the dude has been in the game and why he's lowkey one of the better dudes in the US game. Bryan and Low Ki both showed how great they were even then, too. Truly, this was just an awesome watch and something I strongly recommend to fans that have never seen it.
The next pull is from Honor Invades Boston, with Low Ki successfully defending the ROH Championship versus AJ Styles in a technical battle. The intensity level was what helped push this thanks largely to the strong strike game. Very good stuff.
Up next, Low Ki and Joe beat the shit out of each other in a stiff battle. This was Joe's debut for the company and he made one hell of a statement. Very violent style that I personally loved, especially the awesome finish. Go out of your way for that one.
Lastly, I found a Punk and Colt match from Final Battle. There were some nice touches mixed in here, but it wasn't much more than a throwaway mid-card battle. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but I doubt I'll remember it for long and there are far better things to spend time on.
I'll continue working through old catalogs to help pad things out here in the blog as my boycott of promotions running during this pandemic continues. Remember, billionaires shouldn't be a thing and far too often are more about their own ambitions than the lives of those that do the work that makes them their money.
0 Comments
COMMENT