Low Ki v Red - ROH Road To The Title

 

I like the intent behind Red sneaking in a punch to Ki's face off of a handshake, but if you're going to do that, make sure you throw a good punch. That said, the opening sequence rocks. You know you're seeing something that looks pretty fucking unbelievable when you repeatedly check your DVD, because you think somehow you're watching in fast forward. The announcers say it looks like something out of the Matrix, and they're absolutely right. Low Ki is the only ROH guy so far that has a true aura -- he doesn't seem like a guy you'd know on the street, but rather like a star, which is a breath of fresh air in an indy. Sadly, the good stops there, as the rest of the match is too much back-and-forth action and obvious cooperation, with Ki actually pushing Red back on his shoulders at one point when Red starts to slip out of a victory roll. We see a whole lotta moves, but no match really takes place, because there's too little struggle and spirit. Worth seeing for whatever the Hell that was they did in the opening minute, though.

If this is the match I;m thinking of then I completely agree. There was absolutely no substance. It was you kick me, I sell it for too long and then kick you and you do the same.

It's the exact same match.

 

Also, I want to clarify somehing for you guys and for anyone who reads these. I didn't include them because I think they are great matches. I included them to give you an idea of the ROH style and to see matches that have been pimped by the ROH faithful.

I know. I asked for a representation of ROH and I think that's what you gave me.

 

Did you get the match list for the comps?

Absolutely, I am going to post them in the I Just Copped section shortly. Right now, I am actually working on an ROH Garbage Comp ... and there is lots of garbage.

Good. I would imagine that there is a lot of garbage. ROH seems to have die hards, much like ECW where fans would never admit that they did anything that sucked, which is good for ROH, but not for discussion.

As Loss and yourself get more and more entrenched in the ROH matches, you'll see a progression of sorts where the wrestling really starts to improve but sometimes they are undermined by the fans. Sometimes the fans can enhance the atmosphere... and sometimes they can be completely dead when a great match is unfolding. Yes, you have the ECW mutants and some uber-smarks but the crowd is really contingent on where the matches take place.

I'd take a crowd of fans who believe what they're watching is real over a crowd of uber-smarks any day. I can even accept the atmosphere as one where competition is more important than any face/heel alignments, but that said, I'd rather the audience cheer something they like than applaud it. As I said when talking about Guerrero/Malenko, matches aren't meant to get applause. Even with WWE crowds, if they're doing a quick early sequence to establish a pace, that does get scattered clapping, but it gets more of a cheering pop than anything. I have no problem believing ROH gets better from here.

It is funny you mention the ROH crowd but there is a reason crowds like this exist. IT is a direct reaction to the crap fed to fans from WWF. In fact, I think I'll start a thread on crowd reactions and the appropriate response.

Ah, Loss, hang in there. This stuff is tough to watch, VERY TOUGH at times. But you will get to 12/7/02 and see Danielson/London work a story match in ROH and throughout 2003 see little bits and pieces of good stuff. Then by April 2004 you will see more and more good stuff to the point by 2005, you have Jimmy Rave of all people working as a full on old school heel, very well too.

 

But early ROH is hard to stomach, both at the time and looking back.

 

Tim

This stuff is tough to watch, VERY TOUGH at times.

I think whole ROH shows are very tough to watch. When you have the ability to go from chapter to chapter it is much easier.

 

But you will get to 12/7/02 and see Danielson/London work a story match in ROH

I didn't include it

 

I was waiting until they remastered it.

 

 

Then by April 2004 you will see more and more good stuff to the point by 2005, you have Jimmy Rave of all people working as a full on old school heel, very well too.

Yeah, 2004 ROH is highly enjoyable stuff. As for the 2005 stuff, Loss doesn't have those yet.

I liked the match. It wasn't great or anything but the announcers killed it by trying to be clever several times. I think there was more substance to it than it's getting credit for here. I think it did a good job of building Low Ki as a monster and Red as the underdog that you have to essentially murder to beat.

 

I think Doug Williams/American Dragon and Christopher Daniels/AJ Styles were both better matches on that card.

The announcers did hurt the match. By constantly screaming that it was a MOTY candidate they were begging me to look even closer to see it's faults, which were many. It was a spotfest with a handful of botched spots.

Watch RoH shows as the announcers are always terrible. The worst part is the RoH mutants buy their brand of crap and think they're these elite wrestling fans and every RoH match is a classic.

The announcing is one of the biggest flaws of the ROH shows. It gets slightly better when CM Punk is doing commentary but Spolski is always annoying. Also, alot of the MOTY hype is due to message boards like DVDVR or the ROH board. Typically, after a show, people who went post their thoughts, call a match one of the greatest they ever saw and it gets picked up by the announcers who run with it again and again when they do the voiceover work.

Do the announcers eventually learn the names of moves? That would be helpful.

The commentators in Ring of Honor, from all that I've seen, seem to stay right on par with the commentating that took place in XPW.

 

So, no.

In the later shows, the moves are more commonly referred to by their names. Early on, many of them have probably never even seen them themselves. Midway through the first year, that particular part gets better.

They switch announcers shortly after where you're at. But the new guys wouldn't know emotion if it bit them in the ass. The elitism never gets better though. The length equals quality attitude starts up soon as well.

Well, even now, I have no problem accepting Bryan Danielson as the new wrestling Jesus, so I'm sure if he's around, things will always be at a point where I can like something. I haven't even really seen him near his best yet, and I still think he's a great worker.

Eventually, you'll get tired of hearing the commentators call every single match a match of the year candidate.

The announcers get to the point where it's basically them treating the fans like some jilted prom date that needs built up.

Oh, I already have. I love how they say that other promotions will tell you that every match on their show is a match of the year candidate, and they're exaggerating, but every match on the show in Ring Of Honor *is* a match of the year candidate.

 

The best are the sports entertainment rants and talking about how it's about real wrestling in RoH during one of their spotfest scramble matches.

 

BTW I hate RoH's scramble matches.

That said, I'm still looking forward to seeing Bryan Danielson grow as a worker, seeing the title reign of Samoa Joe, seeing guys like CM Punk challenge him, and seeing Danielson/Homicide go 75 minutes.