KayFabe Commentaries' Guest Booker with Gabe Sapolsky

The Good

Gabe Sapolsky is not the most charismatic interview, but he gets his points across and when paired with Sean Oliver, it all clicks together pretty well.  Here, Gabe rebooks the early stages of the ECW rebirth under the WWE banner.  I have to say, while many Guest Bookers get pretty wild and crazy, Gabe's approach is very doable and convinced me that he could actually contribute significantly to the WWE product…if he was ever given the chance.  He is pragmatic about which talent he can use, what he can get away with, what he can do to make the brand stand out and seems to book a nice few months of TV and builds up a pay-per-view nicely.  Sure, it is not a dream card, but it is something notably better than the WWE's attempts at the time even with Paul Heyman at the helm…kind of.  Gabe explains his logic, explains his approaches and reveals his abilities as a booker.  The goal of the series is to do those things, so I would consider this a success.

The Bad

Gabe is certainly an acquired taste.  He has a good mind, but is so do Kevin Sullivan and Gary Hart and their shoots are decidedly more enjoyable.  Instead of getting caught up in anecdotes, even from his own ECW days, Gabe focuses on the task at hand.  I think that sort of detracts from this in a way.  While the goal is achieved, this is not particularly exciting and you don't have those moments where you feel like you getting a glimpse at a genius.  JJ Dillion is certainly not the most entertaining and I found his Guest Booker to be much more fascinating.  I guess the difference between Gabe and all those other aforementioned talents is that he has never been an on-air talent himself.  Perhaps if people like Dave Lagana, Court Bauer and other former WWF writers get their own Guest Booker shoots, we'll see if this is a trend or not.  


The Rating: ****

Straight Shootin with Jushin "Thunder" Liger

The Good
There have not been a large number of shoot interviews done with Japanese and Mexican stars because, by in large, their English is limited, they don't break kayfabe and it just would not work out logistically. Shocker (who is actually from the US), Keiji Muto and a couple others have done interviews for English-speaking media in some capacity, but the results have been mixed. Here, Gabe Sapolsky sits down with Jushin Liger and translator Simon Inoki to look at the career of one of New Japan's most recognizable stars, a junior heavyweight icon and simply one of the greatest workers ever. It is interesting to hear about his brief training in Mexico as well as his extensive training in the New Japan Dojo. He gets into a lot of interesting details about the numerous legends of New Japan and puroresu. Who knew El Samurai was a chain smoker? Or that Keiji Muto was as bizarre as his Great Muta character? Or that tough guy Yoshiaki Fujiwara was real laid-back when he was not beating the hell out of young boys? Jushin Liger gets into some neat details that you'd never hear otherwise, so this interview is worth checking out if you are a puroresu fan.

The Bad
Shoot interviews full of kayfabe can be intolerably bad and Liger gives many responses swimming in it. If this was not such a unique interview, I would certainly say that kills the quality of this. A major downside of this is the time spent translating back-and-fourth. I think, although it would have made this shorter (more like one hour as opposed to two), that dubbing this with subtitles would have been better all around. The documentary, Blood-Stained Memories, did this with Keiji Muto and it preserved a lot of the personality in his responses. It seems like not much ground was actually covered and the questions are pretty generic and dull.

The Rating: ***1/2

Ring of Honor - Top 25 in 2002 - Pt. 5 (of 5)

The TOP FIVE, in my humble opinion, ROH matches of their first year!

5. Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe (Ring of Honor - 8/24/02 "Honor Invades Boston")
Ah, the Briscoe brothers, they work sooo much better with each other than they do with anyone else, but I guess that isn't surprising. Mark, still 17 here, could never wrestle in Pennsylvania and Jay has been struggling in ROH since it's conception. They start with some nice even matwork and you know it's just beginning, but it's damn good off the bat. When did Mark become a great heel? His mannerisms are better than nearly everyone on the show and at his age that's pretty mind-boggling. Jay is bloodied and his little brother doesn't let up a bit, in fact he goes after it! These two knowing one another's movesets makes this thing great as all the greenness seems to disappear and everything is hit really well and they sell things as well as they are able. Jay returns fire, attacking the right hand, which is cool and then the knee, which Mark puts over very well. Then at the end they go to the big moves, which they go all out on. Jay looked really good here, but Mark looked even better. They stole the show at CZW's first Best of the Best show about a year before this and man this smokes that match. Amazing match considering many factors and one that will be tough to duplicate, but if they keep improving...who knows? These two seemed to be working beyond their abilities and it was quite a thing to watch, but if you haven't seen much or little of either you might not think as highly of this as I do.
Rating: ****1/4

4. Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles (Ring of Honor - 6/22/02 "Road to the Title")
Great beginning with an intense feeling-out where any bails look like counters, so it's all good. It flows right into the body of the match which is surprisingly mat-based. Their KOI `01 match (**3/4) was pretty spotty, so seeing something totally different is nice. The cameraman checking out Simply Luscious is kinda disturbing, but he does provide the better shots of the action after all. Styles looks really crafty here, but Daniels looks even better. Story was basically, Daniels grounds AJ very well, but he busts loose eventually and gets his highspot offense in and Daniels must weather that storm. He uses a few tricks to do that and a blooded AJ Styles is game, but not game enough. Great see-saw battle that makes you really wonder (especially after Dragon's elimination) because Daniels is the top heel, but AJ is seen as a major star. Daniels was great here and provided the best story of the night, hell, he even botched a spot and it worked (ala Liger-Sasuke). The ending and finish were tremendous and made this the MOTN.
Rating: ****1/4

3. American Dragon vs. Doug Williams (Ring of Honor - 11/16/02 "Scramble Madness")
These two had a really great Euro-style match in June and here's the rematch, a thirty-minute ironman match. I would have prefer a 2/3 Falls match, but you take what you can get. The early stuff is tons of fun as they work wrestling holds, not "real" holds. They keep off the striking pretty well, so when they finally get to it, it's real meaningful. They go between holds and strikes the first fifteen minutes and then go to the big power moves, which has to be a killer. A pair of Dragon Suplexes gets the first win for Dragon leaving Williams with a scant 12 minutes to even match him in falls. He quickly turns it around and goes on the offense and his is top notch, but it's taking everything out of him and he just can't put Dragon away. It goes down to the final five minutes with some hot nearfalls that sees Dragon kick out of everything. You really expect Williams to get the fall to even it up and it provides for great drama right up to the end. Doug gets a hot cradle nearfall and runs to the end with Dragon's injured neck in the clutches of a Crossface Hold, but he hangs on. Tremendous old style match with a lot of great matwork early on and suplexes later on. A real gem of a match that leaves a third match in the wings.
Rating: ****1/2

2. Low-Ki vs. American Dragon (Ring of Honor - 3/30/02 "Round Robin Challenge")
These two are so great against one another, but here they wrestle a totally different kind of match...matwork galore! Dragon's neck is hurting and his eye's bloodied and he suffered a loss, while Ki is pretty fresh and 1-0 for the night. Sort of a worked shoot (Ken Shamrock as the ref works really well too) where they toss in some Euro-type stuff to keep this a pro-wrestling match. They hold off the strikes for a bit, but when they open em up it's everything you expect. Ki goes right after the eye, Dragon takes offense to that and it's on. Dragon is really banged up and seems to be at a major disadvantage in the middle, but ends up turning it around and dominating the last 1/3. Big high-impact moves see the momentum swing back-and-fourth and heat the crowd up big time. Nice clean win for Dragon, who would kind of be put on the backburner in the following months, while Ki became the man in the company. The post-match really set a tone for how ROH should always be, but ya wonder if that style could last.
Rating: ****1/2

1. Low-Ki vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Spanky vs. Doug Williams (Ring of Honor - 7/27/02 "Crowning a Champion")
An interesting collection of talent in a real interesting gimmick match. Ki-Daniels have the long-running storyline feud and Spanky has kind of been plugged in as being like Daniels (sorta ignores the Code of Honor), while Williams is just a damn good wrestler they want to establish further. Rules are 2 points for a win, -1 for a loss and this is an 1-hour ironman match. Williams works everyone and establishes the slow technical base very well. I like the others, but they aren't on his level in that aspect. That is what the first 15+ minutes are though, no big spots, just wearing down the body. The announcing is pretty excellent too as they get over each guy in their own way, while presenting a key weakness as well that will likely play out here. Ki has great strikes, but can't survive without them. Daniels is a psychologist, but is overconfident. Spanky has great heart, but is quick-tempered. Williams is the most powerful, but also carries the most weight. Ki-Daniels is held off until about 20 minutes in (Daniels would only tag in and beat on a downed Low-Ki), which is pivotal as Ki seems like he's behind with his bad knee and they also use this time as the accelaration point. The plot thickens as Ki is kept out, Daniels and Spanky create an alliance of sorts and Williams continus to look strong, but he still ain't winning. A great spot heats things up with just over 15 left and Daniels remains in control and in the lead. The story becomes great as Daniels is in control, Ki still hangs on, Spanky is hungry and Williams is fading fast. It picks up going into the homestretch with Daniels yet to lose a fall and growing desperate to score another to pull ahead. The nearfalls are hot and everyone is busting out good-looking stuff despite apparent exaustion, it goes to heated final few minutes with Ki and Daniels finishing it. Everyone but Daniels congradulates the champ and Ki breaks down in the back in a show of emotion that wrestling never has. While everyone impressed me and I'm not disappointed with the finish, I think Williams and Spanky really stepped it up here and were largely the backbone of this match, in the first and second halves respectively. Daniels was kept strong, as he should be and Ki was made the champion, which is as good as anyone. As good of a story as you'll ever se told in the ring and thankfully the announcers were there to explain it for anyone who might not know what was up. Yes, this had a few flaws...every match does, even the best, but this had a great story and something at "this level" being this good is truly a great thing. MOTYC for sure and perhaps the best indy match ever...it wouldn't be hard to make a sound case.
Rating: ****1/2

Ring of Honor - Top 25 in 2002 - Pt. 4 (of 5)

9. Low-Ki vs. Christopher Daniels vs. American Dragon (Ring of Honor - 2/23/02 "Era of Honor Begins")
Three guys with three styles and we know how three ways often are, don't expect the same here. Daniels establishes himself as a heel well with key mannerisms, moves and so on. While everyone gets a chance at controlling the other two, Daniels seems to get more in because he makes more of it. Dragon and Ki have more respect for one another and that shows to an extent, but they attack each other as hard as anyone. There is no shortage of unique 3-man spots, but they aren't overdone either. A great deal of this is big moves or strikes followed by sound selling, unfortunately the action seldom stops so quality selling does not mat much. The crowd remains strong throughout and are amongst the best at this first show and that makes this whole thing really exceptional. The finish really estabilshes the future angle with Ki and Daniels deciding the fall, while Dragon gets caught off guard and is kind of brushed to the side. Low-Ki is clearly going to be the company's golden boy, but the other two will be right there with him for sure. The match was more of a sprint and non-spot action as opposed to storytelling, which is fine since it was the company's first show. I think this was a great match to display who will be the top talent in ROH and why. Like the final part of a first episode of a new TV series, this has to set a high standard and stand up well regarding the future. It does.
Rating: ****

WON Rating: ****1/2

8. American Dragon vs. Doug Williams (Ring of Honor - 6/22/02 "Road to the Title") 

Both had what I would call unimpressive first round matches, but saved themselves for this it appears. They work a Euro/Puro match with fun, pro-wrestling grappling and things done a little stiffer than normal. Williams is strange, some really don't eat up his work, but I'd rate him amongst the best in the world, he's really slick and has those lil' tricks that I though died out in the mid-90s. Dragon might be the best Euro-style worker (Chris Hero's right up there) and he clicks well with Doug. Getting Williams over is the goal here, so he gets a lot of offense and it's sold very well. I think people believed Dragon was going to win because it just made sense, but "The Anarchist" got over as being too tricky for him. Williams escapes the Cattle Mutilation and sneaks in a pinfall for a big win that makes him in ROH and leaves a rematch in the wings. Williams gets the win back from KOI `01. This totally worked for me.
Rating: ****

7. Low-Ki vs. AJ Styles (Ring of Honor - 8/24/02 "Honor Invades Boston")
These guys had a really good match four months earlier and in Boston they have an even better one. The start out with exceptional matwork, which I'd expect out of Ki, but not Styles for some reason. It's damn good though and amongst the best I've seen in ROH. However they wanna go with stiffness instead and they really pound each other. Styles steps up on the striking and has amongst the stiffest match with Low-Ki that I've ever seen. He gets his nose is busted up from the Kawada-style face kicks and that's just part of it. This thing is saturated with counter-wrestling, which is done fluidly and provides for a lot of fun nearfalls. This had a great blend of that countering and stiff, intense striking that really livened this up. The finish was good, the heat was excellent and all and all I hafta say this is amongst ROH's better matches. Seems kind of straightforward to talk about much, so just go out and watch it instead.
Rating: ****1/4
WON Rating: ****1/2

6. Michael Shane vs. Paul London (Ring of Honor - 9/21/02 "Unscripted")
Two of ROH's best-introduced stars, these two TWA graduates were at each other's necks for the months leading up to this and things were to be settled in this "street fight." Shane was emerging as an excellent heel and London as a great babyface so these two just clicked. Great fast opening with London's athleticism getting the advantage and Shane sneaks in a few prick tactics. They get the crowd into quickly with a nice combination of big bumps and spots matching up with a sound story. Shane blades huge, which makes up for him not bumping as big. This is basically an unofficial TLC match and the gimmicks are used very well with innovative "holy shit" spots and the heat goes up accordingly. London is on with everything he does and pretty much does ridiculous bumping, but his stuff is near perfect. Hot nearfalls with Shane unable to put London, who is an absolutely awesome selling underdog here, away. London rebounds with a sick Shooting Star off a ladder and gets the win. A strong big bump-type match with a nice story and considering the experience level of these two it really showed a lot.
Rating: ****1/4

Ring of Honor - Top 25 in 2002 - Pt. 3 (of 5)

14. Christopher Daniels & Donovan Morgan vs. Dick Togo & Ikuto Hidaka (Ring of Honor - 9/21/02 "Unscripted")
The FEC come to America as part of a tour and they offered up some damn good matches. The fans always love the Japanese, so the Prophecy can be heels here and it really works. I really dig Daniels and Morgan pair, Morgan as the bully and Daniels as the prick. They make me think of Rip Hawk & Swede Hansen, though I imagine there's a better example. The last leg of this is great with hot nearfalls, see-saw offense and a nice heel win for The Prophecy, hopefully to set up a rematch. This would have been a better tag tournie finale, but that's only in hindsight. Everyone filled their roles excellently and the pacing and heat were right there. Best ROH tag team match I think.
Rating: ***3/4

13. Low-Ki vs. AJ Styles (Ring of Honor - 4/27/02 "Night of Appreciation")
The first high-caliber battle between these two exceptional indy stars, it's Styles' ROH debut and Ki's first match not against Daniels or Dragon, so you gotta be nervous. Styles is prone to being spotty and Ki can be dragged in as well, so it's a test to stay away from that. They warm things up with some matwork and Styles sorta surprisingly looks better and Ki makes him pay with vicious kicks. And that's how a lot of this goes - AJ starts to dominate and Low-Ki tries to kill him. Styles busts out some pretty intense offense. Donnie B makes this great analogy as Loki is the Angel of Death in Christian mythology and Styles is a born again Christian, so this is a battle of Biblical proportions...it sure is. Ki gives Styles most of the advantage and the kid is on tonight, so it's damn good stuff. They do really good back-and-fourth nearfalls towards the end with the Philly fans starting to realize Styles might just beat their boy, especially after this sick head-drop DDT. The finish was a flash pin, which was good and bad. This match definitely made Styles in Ring of Honor and these two did far from the really weak match they had a few months later in NWA-TNA. A strong effort, but only the tip of the iceberg.
Rating: ***3/4

12. Amazing Red vs. Low-Ki (Ring of Honor - 6/22/02 "Road to the Title")
These two are familiar with each other, so I expect something strong. Ki KO'd Nana, so he's good to go and Red scored a win over Xavier in a "typical" match, so I want more outta these two. They start off great with the super-fun kung fu intro before Ki goes into "real" martial arts combat. They bounce between the two, which gets the crowd really into it. Sorta bad ass striker vs. great flyer, which is a really common theme in joshi. That comparision is flawed though because while this was more fun, Maekawa-Momoe this ain't do to experience, style and time constrants. This just has too much of a fun factor: goofy selling, very obvious spots and a the strikes were more "ouch!" than "ooow, son of bitch!" Red bumped big time though and the last leg of this really makes it more than a really fun match and one of the better matches.
Rating: ***3/4

11. Low-Ki vs. Samoa Joe ("Fight without Honor")(Ring of Honor - 10/5/02 "Honor by Glory")
These two had my favorite match at the KOI `01 tournie doing an MMA style that was really fun. They go right to the ground with aggressive action. Joe is a great bad ass monster here, giving Ki enough to stay competitive, but he's the man in charge here. So when Low-Ki goes on the offense he has to make it stiff and meaningful. Joe's offense is good, but I've seen it better, they most just pound the hell outta one another. Now that's psychology, actually it does make sense and it's an exciting contest. Joe's Otaniisms on top of his big man dominance get him more heat then the ROH smarts usually offer up. The tale end of this is excellent with some unique counter-wrestling shades of the UWFI. They add in some head-dropping as a little icing on top before sending it home with strikes. The finish lacked the "mmph" I wanted, but they really killed each other late and that's messed up. They shake hands and that's that.
Rating: ****

10. American Dragon vs. AJ Styles (Ring of Honor - 11/9/02 "All-Star Extravaganza")
Dragon's coming off a good match with Paul London by way of gauntlet series and Styles always is pushed pretty hard and treated like a star by the fans. They open up with some strong matwork, which the crowd respects as well as one can expect. Then spill out to the floor and things pick up for a bit physically and you know that's how this is goin'. Dragon hits the Malenko Bottlecap on the arm and goes to town on it. Styles busts open Dragon with something and we have a weird heel bleeding and face with bad arm story going now. Dragon looks dynamite here as a slightly-off Styles is kept right in there and he heels it up very well. The finish is excellent as Dragon fits for his life to avoid the Styles Clash, but he falls to it in the end. Dragon gives him the "#1 Contenders Trophy" and plays the babyface again, dammit man commit to being a heel. Dragon looked really strong here working a very basic match, letting AJ do his things and keeping them decent, but AJ was really a step off here.
Rating: ****

Ring of Honor - Top 25 in 2002 - Pt. 2 (of 5)

19. Christopher Daniels vs. American Dragon (Ring of Honor - 3/30/02 "Round Robin Challenge")
The opening match of the night starts quickly and fairly intensely. Dragon grounds Daniels with his plain matwork, but they don't stay there for too long. The pacing is great here as it's fast and slow with just the right amount of both, which keeps the crowd into it, but neither burns them out nor bores them. Daniels breaks down the neck and Dragon sells it very well and you can almost see it happening. The final few minutes are back-and-fourth, but Dragon's offense is hindered by his hurting neck. Strong clean win by Daniels and Dragon will only have a short while to prepare for Ki. The length here was fine, but trying to sell an injury in such a short match is kind of lame. I think stretching this and Daniels going after Dragon's neck.
Rating: ***1/2


18. American Dragon vs. Paul London (Ring of Honor - 12/7/02 "Night of the Butcher")
The finals of a really poor #1 contenders tournament with these two knocking of new comers Chad Collyer and EZ Money respectively in the first round. London emerged as a major in a few months earlier in a "street fight" against Michael Shane. These two are the top workers (IMO) out of the two waves of Shawn Micheals' Wrestling Academy. This is a great match here with them working a nice combination of stiffer than average strikes, limited matwork and some campy face-heel stuff to make this different. Dragon, who was starting his "call me Bryan Danielson" phase, heels it up here beating on the young up-and-comer. The fans don't really get into that stuff like I'd prefer, but you can't depend on the smart marks for making good marks. I think he figures that out and decides to lay in the strikes rather than play a prick. It works really well because I think a lot of indy heels mail it in on the working side and just do the cheap heat. He studied under Regal though so he knows where it's at. London is a superb underdog type and hits plenty hard here, so we actually get one of the stiffer ROH matches. The finish is excellent with Dragon getting pounded down again and again, but refuses to die before London hits the Shooting Star and scores the upset win. Dragon could be a great touring junior working an Otani style where he punks out people and lets them win every once and a while. It's a role that everyone gets into, yet few do it. A nice step in the right direction for him and London looked as good as I've ever seen him look in his typical role.
Rating: ***1/2


17. Samoa Joe vs. Homicide (Ring of Honor -11/16/02 "Scramble Madness")
A logical battle after Joe choked out Homicide at the last show in a six-man tag. Homicide played a big part in the popularization of puro-influenced wrestling on the East Coast and Joe has been doing that style on the West Coast for a few years now, so it's a fun battle in that sense. Homicide's shoulder is taped up and you know he's gonna taken an ass-whoopin here. Joe interestingly works on his eye early on, making Homicide's offense seem more desperate because he's smaller and all hurting. Nice seesaw action with both guys hitting hard and doing some head-dropping too. The end is strong with Joe pounding the dog outta Homicide, but he manages to sneak in a flash pin. A nice simple story where it was all visuals with no real intricacies. One of the lesser talked about ROH matches worth checking out.
Rating: ***1/2


16. Low-Ki vs. Christopher Daniels (Ring of Honor - 3/30/02 "Round Robin Challenge")
The feud that would become the main program for ROH in their first year is the second in the Round Robin Challenge, where Daniels made Dragon tap. Daniels turns down the handshake early and Low-Ki explodes on him, controlling the opening segment of the match with all the stiff strikes you expect and a few submissions here and there, it all being well done and Daniels selling puts it over the top. Daniels turns it around with a slower, more methodical pace as is appropriate for heels. Ki gets strong hope spots in the last part before leading into a slick reversal into a clean submission victory that sets up the last match big. A great 12-minute match, but producing a classic in that span of time is nary impossible.
Rating: ***1/2


15. Christopher Daniels vs. Donovan Morgan (Ring of Honor - 4/27/02 "Night of Appreciation")
Morgan's ROH debut as both West Coast wrestlers meet on the East Coast...weird. Too bad Daniels never mentions how he beat Morgan in the first King of the Indies tournie, but I guess that'd mean Morgan would have to get one back here and you don't wanna spoil anything. They do straight wrestling with Morgan doing headlock work, which is fine. This is simple stuff with not many highspots, but the work is solid and it's busting with nice, lil' intricies. They limit the big bumps, so that when they actual deliver them the fans like it, which is how you work boys. This was very much a APW type match minus about 5-10 minutes of matwork because they just don't have the time. Morgan was made to look like a great counter wrestler and that's how he got it done. This made Morgan to a degree, but the chorus of boo's after doesn't tell if he's over or the fans just hate him. Too short to really make the impact that a 25-minute match with more meaningful matwork would have had, but they got the crowd going with their aborted NoCal style, which is cool. Nothing looked sloppy, but they were tired with the closing sprint, but they kept it together.
Rating: ***3/4

Ring of Honor - Top 25 in 2002 - Pt. 1 (of 5)

In the past couple years, Ring of Honor (ROH) has made strides to become a bigger and more significant pro-wrestling company. It's unique brand of pro-wrestling has made an internet darling for years, but the company has certainly had its growing pains since its inception in 2002. The product is undeniably excellent in terms of in-ring match quality, but in recent times it has tried to develop in the realm of storylines and angles.

In that first year, ROH took their approach, secured top independent talent, notable free agents and made an impressive go at it. While that product differs from the current product in many regards, it is still significant in looking at how far the company has come in the past near-decade.

I will be presenting a series of reviews I did from 2002-2004 featuring the top 25 matches from ROH in those formative years.  From the time of Ring of Honor being designed largely to fill the coffers of RF Video until the sexual solicitation scandal that led to Rob Feinstein selling his shares of the company and ROH taking a new turn under the ownership of Cory Silkin.

**Please excuse some of my ratings if they seem low, basically they are to be taken with a grain of salt.**


25. Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams (Ring of Honor - 10/5/02 "Honor by Glory")
These two competed in the big ironman match and are the first of any of the pair to wrestle each other since that match, as weird as that seems. The big Briton shows great agility and that Euro-goodness we all love. Daniels re-establishes that he's the heel here by "breaking the code of honor" in an effort to stay even early on. Williams' offense is so excellent and Daniels gives him a lot of room and sells like a champ. The finish is strong with Daniels escaping again and again, before using the ropes to get the pin. Decent, though it lacked something. Williams is yet to have a "off" match in the US from what I've seen.
Rating: ***1/4


24. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels (Ring of Honor -11/16/02 "Scramble Madness")
These guys had an tremendous match in June, so I'd expect something of that level at least. Styles is pretty on here, which means as long as Daniels can keep everything in order this'll be good. This is kind of more of the same, a lot of counter-wrestling, big moves and a fair amount of hard strikes. It was the indy-style countering though that was the best here as these guy's appeared to be in one another's mind. Not a slick and story-driven as the June match, which is amongst ROH's best matches for sure...it was the best match on their best show after all. I expect more out of high-caliber rematches and this didn't deliver on the level it should have I didn't think. I guess the heat between thew two was kind of lacking and they were more "having a good match" than telling a story. AJ gets his win back, which is fine, the post-match brawling with ROH guys and the Prophecy is fine as well. This just seemed to lack most of the qualities that made first so excellent.
Rating: ***1/2

23. American Dragon vs. Paul London (Ring of Honor - 11/9/02 "All-Star Extravaganza")
This is the final match in a gauntlet series that was very well booked in my humble opinion. We saw London defeat his rival Michael Shane (who had a previous match with CM Punk) that saw him take a pounding. Then after a strange Tommy Dreamer promo and a cheapshot by Shane, a fast-paced match with Red, he met American Dragon. The strategy is simple, break London down with submission holds and stiff strikes. London is banged up, but still has fight in him, but is it going to be enough. The finish makes sense, Dragon going over a weakened London and it strongly sets up a rematch, however the actual moves made it fall flat. London got a nearfall, but Dragon came back with a Dragon Suplex and Cattle Mutiliation for a quick tap. I prefer pinfalls in this situation and at least a fight until the very end. Contextual this is hit-and-miss, stand alone this is hit-and-miss. I would have preferred they worked more for the context, however Dragon still had a match with AJ Styles after this. The rematch is far more interesting methinks.
Rating: ***1/2


22. Steve Corino & Low-Ki vs. Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka (Ring of Honor - 11/9/02 "All-Star Extravaganza")
A so-called "Zero-One Challenge match." Ki's place would be filled by CW Anderson the next night at Corino's PWF show, which was a fun *** match. What's funny is Anderson and Ki are juniors in Japan, even though they're top guys in PWF and ROH respectively. So basically this is the top tag team in Japan against two gaijins who aren't really on their level as far as status, but who cares? The fans love Otani and his tactics, so there are no real heels here, which makes it funny. Tanaka is the big worker here because that's just how is, while Ki hangs best he can and Otani & Corino just do their schticks. This is decidedly better than the PWF match as its a little more innovative and more fun in my opinion, however gauging Emblem's efforts in America is kind of ridiculous because it's a different world to them and they work differently.
Rating: ***1/2


21. American Dragon vs. Spanky (Ring of Honor - 4/27/02 "Night of Appreciation")
This was the final match in the Heartbreak Gauntlet Series that featured some pretty uneventful short matches, but it started the Shane-London feud I guess. London over Hope in a clipped match, Shane over London in like 4 minutes, before a nifty little Shane-Spanky match. After Shane played a bleeding babyface who takes Spanky the distance before going down. Big pop for Dragon and you knew you'd see these two in there somewhere, so why not make it the final match. Dragon busts out his garb from the TWA days for this match and I'm diggin' it. Dragon controls most of this as you'd expect and you just dunno which way this'll go. Spanky, after being the heel in the previous bout, is slowly getting over as the lovable goofball (how can't you love a guy with Hawaii print pants with a torn out crotch?) This picks up really well with Dragon killing the kid, who's getting over great because he can take a beating and is spunky and stuff. A fantastic final few minutes and finish that made this just awesome. These two needed a rematch, but we'd never get it. For something so short this was really all one can ask for. Despite some of the shortcomings due to Spanky working around 30 minutes at an elevated rate, but he sold really well and got over well with Dragon really carrying him when he needed to. Really enjoyable match.
Rating: ***1/2


20. Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Donovan Morgan vs. Low-Ki, Doug Williams, Homicide (Ring of Honor - 11/9/02 "All-Star Extravaganza")
The first tag title defense and it's a six-man. Fine by me as long as it has some order to it unlike the "scramble tags." Ki and Morgan open things up nicely with fast-paced counterwrestling. The big men check in (Williams and Joe) and pace things a bit. Then Daniels and Homicide (the respective capitains) do there thing. Ki-Daniels is given no fanfare as Daniels is merely playing the weak link of his team, which makes sense because he's the smallest, but he is the leader after all. Williams ends up playing his team's for much of the match, which again is fine, but he is the big man so it looks kind of funny. They did the dive-after-dive deal, the finisher teases and hits towards the end. The finish is kind of anticlimatic, but served its purpose. This has qualities of those great early 90s AJ tags, but it's obviously not on quite that level.
Rating: ***1/2

Gabe's Book of ROH Secrets

The Good
Gabe Sapolsky is a well-spoken, well-educated person who can be an excellent spokesperson for pro-wrestling.  Brought into the sport through ECW, Gabe learned booking from Eddie Gilbert and Paul Heyman and rose to prominence by booking Ring of Honor (ROH) from its first show in 2002 until October of 2008.  He innovated a different brand of pro-wrestling and developed different strategies and ultimately was the brains that turned ROH into a winner.  Here, he shares how he would have finished out 2008 and what directions he might have taken the company in the following year.  Gabe literally brings a book and goes through his tricks and methodology to booking.  This is a like a spin-off of the Guest Booker series as he is largely explaining what he was planning to do, rather than take an alternative scenario and figure things out.  Therefore, this is very thoughtful, very realistic and very detailed.  I stopped following ROH month-by-month in 2006, but I'm familiar enough with the talent and style that I could follow this and recognize its quality.  This is a great lesson in indy-level booking that this series has not approached.

The Bad
If you don't really know Gabe Sapolsky, if you've never seen Ring of Honor and if you don't know the talent, this would be confusing and probably boring.  Even if you were familiar with all those, you might find this boring.  Gabe comes across as a detail-oriented fast-talker who is not as charismatic or funny as other guest bookers.  I can't fault him for the potential ignorance of the audience, but I can fault him (at least at little) for being boring.

The Rating: ***3/4