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LOOKING BACK AT THE FIRST THREE ROH GLORY BY HONOR EVENTS

Ring of Honor presented the third annual Glory by Honor event on Saturday 9/11 at the Rexplex in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The focus of the show going in was the debut of former WWF champion Mick Foley, who is going to be a regular for the next few events.

Before the show opened, the entire roster came to the ring and held a moment of silence for the victims of 9/11. Dan Maff took the mic and reminded everyone of what families had lost that night, that many of the wrestlers working the show were from the New York City area, and said that if the United States can make it through 9/11, it can make it through anything. It was a nice, classy moment, although a comment later in the night would blemish it.

*Jimmy Rave pinned Special K's Dixie with the Styles Clash in a decent opener. For some reason, putting on one of Prince Nana's robes has injected some charisma into Rave. After the match, Nana announced the newest member of the Embassy was Mick Foley, who didn't come out and two attempted at producing him. Nana said that he would go in the back and get Foley himself and bring him out and everyone left.

*Jay Lethal pinned Matt Stryker in a match where Lethal (who has been in a slump) would have lost his job if he lost. By losing the match, Stryker "lost his plane ticket" to the ROH East Coast shows, so he would have to drive if he worked them. The crowd was all over Stryker, who is a good technical wrestler but never escaped the Field of Honor debacle last December. Lethal looked great here, including a clubbing clothesline that would have made the Dynamite Kid wince. Stryker took the mic after the show and tried to blame all the Internet fans for writing about him like cowards, and said he was going back to the Midwest where fans appreciate real wrestlers. Stryker flubbed his line, so the crowd was all over him even worse.

*Trent Acid won a really fun Six Man Mayhem match which also included Angel Dust, Ace Steel, Kahagas, Fast Eddie and Izzy. Special K had dissension at ringside because Izzy had his new girlfriend Lacey with him. Fast Eddie hit some impressive moves here. This was a really fun and fast mix of insane spots, which the crowd ate up.

*Austin Aries came to the ring and demanded Mick Foley come out and face Generation Next. Foley didn't come out, so Aries challenged Punk to come out for their match. Punk did. CM Punk pinned Austin Aries in a disappointing match. Although the two have worked together a few times before and there was the Generation Next vs. Second City Saints storyline behind it, it never took off and at this point, brought the crowd down quite a bit. Punk's entrance is awesome. Late in the match, the referee was bumped. The crowd booed the hell out of that. Roderick Strong and Jack Evans hit the ring. Ace Steel made the save and everyone brawled to the back. Alex Shelley hit the ring and he and Aries worked over Punk. Steve Corino, in street clothes, and his young boys hit the ring as a surprise and Corino brawled with Shelley. The place popped huge for Corino's appearance. In all the madness, Punk rolled up Aries for the pin. CM Punk took the mic and told Generation Next that, "You just found out when you f*** with me, you f*** with my friends, too." Gary Michael Cappetta jumped in the ring and said that the last time anyone saw Corino in ROH, it was the barbed wire match against Homicide last November (which saw Corino win, then walk out of the company).

Before Corino could answer, Homicide's music hit and he and Julius Smokes came to the ring, setting the stage for the low point of the evening. Homicide got in the ring and said that he couldn't believe that Corino was back and said that Corino was right about a few things he said last year -- that the ROH promotion was crap, that everyone who worked for it was crap, and that the ROH fans are crap. He called the fans Internet marks and ripped apart well known fan Paul "Green Lantern Fan" Sosnowski by name. The crowd started chanting "Homocide" at him. The angle closed with Homicide wanting to shake Steve Corino's hand but Punk wouldn't allow it. Homicide warned him that he has his own problems with Generation Next, but would have to deal with the Rottweilers if he put his nose in Homicide's business. Corino and Punk walked out as Homicide demanded Corino get back in the ring. The angle was flat by that point. Corino is back here as a regular when his ZERO-ONE commitments allow.

*Danny Maff and BJ Whitmer defeated Flash Venom in a hot two minute match. The idea here was that Allison Danger brought in the IWA stars as bounty hunters to destroy her former team. The idea is that Danger refuses to realize that the Prophecy is dead and would rather destroy her former charges rather than see them succeed without her. Danger began ripping on everyone and demanded Mick Foley come out to take out Maff and Whitmer. Foley came out to a monster pop, with the idea that he was tired of everyone bringing his name up. Foley ripped apart Danger and told her to leave the ring.

Foley said that everyone was wondering why he was here at Ring of Honor. The Embassy came out and they all hugged Foley. Prince Nana named him as the newest member of the Embassy. Foley said that wasn't the case and it ended with them attacking him. Generation Next hit the ring, looking to get a piece of Foley as well. Maff and Whitmer made the save. With the heels run off, Foley said that the reason he came to ROH was that he was invited a few weeks ago and asked to see the product. He said that he saw moves that made his say, "Holy sh**" so he rewound the tape and he said it again. He said that if he had any athletic ability left, he would be stealing those moves. Foley said he saw something more than just great wrestling when he watched the tapes, he saw the future of wrestling. He put over Jay Briscoe for fighting for the title as he nearly "bled to death" (Samoa Joe Steel Cage match, 3/13). He put over BJ Whitmer and Danny Maff as a great team who work hard and said that as far as he was concerned, ROH stood for "Ring of Hardcore." The fans popped and they went to the back.

*Bryan Danielson forced Alex Shelley to submit with Cattle Mutilation in a really good 20 minute bout with lots of submissions and hard hitting strikes. Danielson came out in a robe that wouldn't have looked out of place on a Jedi Master. This was probably the strongest match on the show so far. After the match, Danielson said that he was looking for ROH champion Samoa Joe so he could finally get his title match and that he wanted to challenge someone who was coming to ROH in November, Jushin Liger. The fans popped huge for the challenge.

*ROH Pure champion John Walters forced Nigel McGuinness to submit to retain the title in another decent match. Walters finished off McGuiness with his lungblower three times (pulls the competitor backward across his knees), then cinched in a submission hold while crossing McGuiness' arms around his collarbone. McGuiness finally tapped and raised Walters' hand afterwards.

*ROH champion Samoa Joe pinned Doug Williams. They did a lot of mat work early. Joe hit his Muscle Buster on Williams, who kicked out, which was surprising since that's put away a lot of names. Joe nailed a clothesline for the pin. Solid match.

*ROH Tag Team champions The Havana Pitbulls retained their titles in a Four Team Ultimate Endurance match where the stipulations changed with every elimination. The match also included BJ Whitmer & Danny Maff, The Carnage Crew, and Roderick Strong & Jack Evans. The first fall was a submission match. Maff and Whitmer brawled a lot with the Crew. HC Loc had a submission on Whitmer, but Maff "knocked him out" with a chair to the head. Maff and Whitmer nailed DeVito's knees with chairs as he was pulled to the ringpost. DeVito tapped out to a double crab. The match turned into a Scramble Match with some cool dives. Maff destroyed Evans with the Burning Hammer. By this point, the fans wanted to see Maff and Whitmer win the titles. The final segment was a title match. Reyes and Whitmer just peppered each other with strikes and kicks. Reyes scored the clean pin with a kick to the head. The crowd just deflated, hoping to see a title change. Still, an awesome last match.

Allison Danger came out and told the Pitbulls she'd do or pay anything if they took out Maff and Whitmer and made them bleed. They started working over Maff and Whitmer. Generation Next and the Embassy both hit the ring and laid out Maff and Whitmer as well. Mick Foley returned and sprayed the ring with a fire extinguisher. This allowed Maff and Whitmer a chance to clean house and they cleared the ring with Foley's help. The crowd chanted Foley's name. Foley said that he had an admission to make, and that was that he didn't do anything tonight. He asked the fans to give a big round of applause for everyone who worked the show and the fans chanted ROH. They played Foley's old theme music, "Born to Be Wild" to close the show. A fun ending.

Notes: The crowd looked to be in the 850-900 range, which was about what the promotion has been doing in the venue, so it doesn't appear Foley added more fans than usual to the house....The promotion broke its merchandise record on 9/11, which was helped greatly by the fact that the company is now accepting credit cards at the shows. The had two professional looking signs advertising that they were accepting credit card payments at the show....They ran an angle after the show where Dunn and Marcos were attacked by Special K....There were issues with some of the ringside seats being double sold last night. The promotion tried to make good by offering refunds and comps for bleachers seats, free DVDs, and also putting some fans upstairs in the balcony section where the hard camera is located. It was human error that caused the mistake and the company tried to make good to the best of their ability....The promotion had stronger than usual security to prevent those outside the inner circle from entering the locker room, partially because Mick Foley was debuting and partially to prevent word on Steve Corino's debut from leaking out....The promotion quickly sold out of their first and second row seats for the 11/6 return to the Rexplex and has very few third row seats left. For details, visit www.ROHWrestling.com.

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