ROH Unscripted - Philly, PA 09/21/02

This was a tag team tournament show to provide Ring of Honor with Tag Team Champions. The show clocked in at just under 3 hours and was loaded with matches and a bunch of other bullshit I didn't want to see. Let's get into it:

1) SAT's v. Christopher Daniels/ Donovan Morgan- 4

I love tag team wrestling and when done right, there's nothing like it in the world. I was praying for some really good tag action but the whole show was filled with ROH singles matches thrown into tags. The SAT's were looking like they've had one too many churros lately and were off at points. We got to see Trinity make her debut and moonsault onto Daniels and his current roadhouse slut, whatever her name was. The SAT's had some good teamwork but they have the RVD problem of using every single tag move they have in one match and therefore burning themselves out.

2) Ikuto Hidaka/ Dick Togo v. FBI (Mamaluke/ Guido)- 4

I was liking different sections of this match because Mamaluke really wanted to work over the Japanese contingent's arms and was doing a commendable job. Unfortunately, they were doing a arguing partners angle with the FBI and it was going nowhere. Guido looked a step below what he's capable of, no doubt readying himself for his WWE run, which due to my dismay, still continues. I tried liking this and Togo's back senton is always a treat.

3) Tony Mamaluke v. Guido Maritato- 2

Right off the bat, Guido takes a brutal fall on the piece of fencing ROH was using as guard rails in a nasty spill. This lasted all of 50 seconds of two little guys doing a sloppy brawl. It meant nothing and was better left off the card.

4) Chris Divine/ Quiet Storm v. Bryan Danielson/ Michael Modest- 5

I loved Modest laying in forearms like he was in a Scorcese flick in the corner. He was brutally stiff here and continued the trend throughout the show. Danielson was still young and it's funny to see him in his rookie days. He was definitley loaded with potential and put a hurting on the jobbing tag team, who didn't look bad. Storm and Divine were good bump guys and even had some good tag stuff they used. I was pretty happy with this match overall.

5) Da Hit Squad v. Natural Born Sinners- 0

This never got started. I couldn't even tell who was in either team but I did see that meathead DeVito from ECW out there.

6) Christopher Daniels/ Donovan Morgan v. Ikuto Hidaka/ Dick Togo- 5

This had a great pace to it and everyone was working really hard, except Morgan who looked like someone just slipped him a Ruffie. He was pretty sluggish during the match, which I think Daniels picked up on because he worked most of it, including the guy getting beat down for long periods of time. There was some pretty good near falls and the Japanese guys seemed really comfortable with Daniels and Morgan.

7) Dunn v. Alex Arion- 1

A squash for a cronie of Nana. Nothing noteworthy to say here except Arion is probably making Frulatti's at a mall food court somewhere.

8) Low Ki v. Xavier- 4

What a disappointment. I'm convinced that Xavier is garbage. Everytime I see him I see bad work and I was wondering why he had such a bad rep as a shitty ROH champion but now I see why. Low Ki hooked his dragon sleeper from the top and seconds later, Xavier was standing up as if nothing had happened. What a fucking moron. These two had problems communicating the whole match, with several plain as day blown spots. Low Ki is rare to have such an off match, but Xavier was lost. And the Daniels interference with the block of cement was really Indiana farmhouse-indy level shit and it had no place on this show.

9) Takao Omori v. Sonny Siaki- 5

This was a pretty basic back and forth match with nothing really offensive at all. They seemed like they had just met behind the curtain, therefore neither really went out of their way to make this match stand out. Omori had some pink face paint under his eyes like a bad extra from Hook. He threw some pretty swank kicks to Siaki's face though.

10) Amazing Red v. Jay Briscoe- 5

I've never been of that mold that says "that wrestler is too small to be a star" but I found myself wondering how Red saw over the steering wheel to drive to the show. He looked like a little child with corn rows. They had a awesome sequence of reversals on the ground and the Code Red from the top rope was pretty cool. This match didn't have a lot of substance but it was a sight to watch and pretty entertaining. Red's strikes looked as competent as OJ's alibi.

11) Michael Shane v. Paul London (Street Fight)- 8

This was a crazy ass fight! I'm not really a Shane fan (except for the Bentley bounce, which I break out as often as I can) but I am a London supporter and he just went balls to the wall in this one. Both men did juicy blade jobs and took some crazy risks; Shane by flipping out onto London's head with a chair in the middle and London doing an absolutely skitso flip from the top rope halfway down the damn aisleway! DO THE DAMN THING, BOYYYY! I was pretty fired up for this match. Shane's supposed "picture perfect elbow" would look better as a child's Crayloa drawing. London winning with a shooting star from the ladder was about as cool as you could get for a finish. It wasn't all brawling, and some of the spots told a good story like both men doing their finishes normally and the other kicking out, so then they both did them from the ladder. See this match.

12) Christopher Daniels/ Donovan Morgan v. Bryan Danielson/ Michael Modest- 6

Before this match gets started, we see a CM Punk and Colt Cabana promo which I promptly fast forwarded through. They looked like two goofy high school kids talking shit to each other. Punk looked strung out. But, onto the main event: This was a good finals for the tag tourney. All 4 guys seemed really familiar with each other which really helps the dynamic of the match. Danielson was really great at selling his knee being hurt, even when he was getting in offense. They had a good tag dynamic going for a while and Modest continued his streak of dealing out punishing forearms while I sat and ate Oreo's and milk with glee. The dive section was pretty sorry and could have been left out. Modest and Morgan slinging each other into the guard rail half heartedly was piss poor and lazy, but Daniels and Dragon worked out the finish in ring nigh any major problems. I enjoyed this as a main event but ROH in it's early days had many, many problems that needed to be worked out.