Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Note: "Takedown Masters" or whatever has nothing to do with this at all. It's just a release put out for the commercial audiences, so the name is irrelevant.


A lot of people have no idea what Ring of Honor is, so I'll do my best to explain it.

Ring of Honor is a wrestling company opened by Rob Feinstien in 2002. Rob Feinstien is well... look it up on the internet to find out. He's not exactly a... normal guy. But even the owner's own mental sickness is far from being anything close to what the company is. Ring of Honor started in 2002 at The Era of Honor Begins and has continued to run independent shows in the northeast and sometimes in the midwest. Bringing in stars from all over the indie scene, Japan, and Mexico, Ring of Honor seeks to quench the thirst of hungry wrestling fans who lost interest in the sport after WCW and ECW folded in 2001. Ring of Honor features a new crop of athletes and a new style, easily making it stand out.

Unlike most wrestling companies, Ring of Honor seeks to pay homage to tradition, thus inventing the Code of Honor. The Code of Honor is something that the wrestlers do in order to show respect to the business and to their fellow wrestlers. Yes, this code is commonly broken and usually used as a tool to separate the good guys from the bad guys. The good guys tend to follow the rules, while the bad guys break them, at least sometimes. The Code of Honor goes as follows:

- Competitors must shake hands before and after their match.

- No interfering in matches or having others interfere on your behalf. No Sneak Attacks.

- No harming a referee or causing others to harm an official.


Ring of Honor is definitely a different brand of sports entertainment, and certainly a viable alternate to WWE and TNA. Right now, Ring of Honor is growing, but I feel its appropriate to cover one of its earlier events to showcase the birth and rise of a company to which I wish the best of luck in the future. I bought this DVD at www.rohwrestling.com, and suggest you check that out for yourself.

Date: March 30, 2002
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Building: The Murphy Rec
Attendance: ????

The Round Robin Challenge is Ring of Honor's second major event. Their debut event The Era of Honor Begins found The Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels battling Low Ki and The American Dragon in a triple threat main event to kickstart the legacy that would become Ring of Honor. Low Ki emerged the victor after defeating American Dragon, but Daniels was never pinned. Because of this, Daniels didn't follow the Code of Honor and shake his opponents' hands. Daniels was quite angry, issuing a challenge, claiming that he could defeat both Low Ki and American Dragon in singles matches. The fact is, Daniels wasn't pinned. Ring of Honor listened to his please and scheduled a Round Robin Tournament for their second event. Here, the three competitors would face each other in three singles matches.

The DVD kicks off with some promos from various wrestlers as well as a reiteration of the Code of Honor. Some footage is shown from the first event, and strangely, from this event too (which I didn't like). The backstage opening promo with American Dragon and Divine Storm was great, and a real showcase of what WWE should be doing with their backstage promos. The DVD begins to drag a bit at the start, but the first match makes up for it.

Christopher Daniels steps into the ring to battle American Dragon in the first of three Round Robin matches at The Round Robin Challenge. Just to give a little history, American Dragon Brian Danielson is a graduate of the legendary Shawn Michaels Texas Wrestling Academy and is later voted (on this show) as it's best graduate. He's wrestled matches in all sorts of indie promotions and with this and other shows, became an ROH legend. Christopher Daniels is not only an ROH legend, but an incredibly popular independent wrestler who has wrestled in every indie promotion you can think of and is huge in Japan. He currently wrestles for NWATNA, and many ROH fans wish he'd return today. Those of you who have been exposed to only WWE television will be amazingly shocked at the kind of match these guys put together. This match is loaded with incredible moves and ring psychology. There's some back and forth action, but soon Daniels takes control and starts working on Brian Danielson's neck. One thing you notice immediately about Daniels is that he hits all of his moves textbook style, and rarely botches. After some more incredible action, Daniels locks Dragon in a crossface. Dragon's neck is already very weak, and immediately taps. Daniels gets the win. This was an incredible match, loaded with a mixture of high flying and technical wrestling. After the match, Daniels shook the hand of the Dragon, but then taunted him after.

Luckily for the more hardcore fans, Ring of Honor has a group of former ECW talents who didn't hit their stride until the later stages of the company. Christian York and Joey Matthews were scheduled to take on CW Anderson and a partner of his choosing. CW cuts a promo stating that he prefered to go in there alone, but ROH doesn't allow handicap matches. CW picks up a member of the ring crew named Elax to fight. The match is solid, nothing too special, and the finish comes when CW accidentally bumps Elax and gets rolled up. Post-Match, CW beats up Elax, claiming he's going on his own from then on.

Originally, Xavier was scheduled to take on Florida wrestling legend Scoot Andrews, but Andrews got injured. Instead, Xavier was put in there against James Maritato, a.k.a. Nunzio in the WWE and Little Guido in ECW. Maritato cuts a promo stating that he's from one of the roughest shoot groups in Japan, the UWFI, and it's true. Maritato is a tough man, but came up on the losing end. These guys had a fun little match with some fun spots, but nothing too extraordinary. This definitely kept me up. Maritato, as I said, would go on to the fabled "Kingdom of Velocity" in the WWE, and Xavier won the Ring of Honor World Title later in 2002, then dropped it to current champion Samoa Joe in March of 2003. Yes, Joe has had it that long. That goes to show Ring of Honor's prestige in their titles.

The Natural Born Sinners destroyed Boogie Nights. This match was just a one-sided demolition, which was kind of fun, but forgettable. The Natural Born Sinners are composed of Homicide and Boogalou. Boogalou, at this time, is no longer with ROH and Homicide is one of their top heels, with a rugged style combining hardcore and technical. Homicide is like a younger version of New Jack, and definitely just as hungry.

Low Ki was a man who would become an ROH legend, and he cut a promo on his forthcoming match with Christopher Daniels, saying after the match he will gain his respect. This was the second of two Round Robin Tournament matches. This match is just fun and cool to watch. Low Ki is one of the stiffest wrestlers ever, kicking VERY hard and making anything Tajiri has ever done look tame. There are several times in the match where Low Ki smashes Daniels directly in the face and mouth with kicks, as well as annihilating his back and chest. Low Ki's amazing agility and speed should be noted, as well as his ability to lock in creative submission holds. This match goes back and forth, with Low Ki gaining the advantage, playing off the fact that Daniels wrestled earlier in the night. Daniels hits his finisher, The Angel Wings (which is a sit-out Pedigree), but Ki kicks out. Ki nails Daniels with the Ki Krusher (imagine a fisherman's suplex into a Michinoku Driver), but Daniels kicks out. Daniels goes for the Last Rites, his submission finished, but it is reversed into the Ki's Dragon Clutch and Daniels taps out. It's OVER! What an awesome, awesome match. Daniels is now 1-1 in the night, Ki is 1-0, and Dragon is 0-1. After the match, a wornout Daniels makes more excuses. Daniels claims that Ki only beat him because it is his second match. Daniels says he refuses to wrestle him until the ROH title is on the line. ROH Title? In case you don't know, the ROH Title wasn't brought in until months after this.

Besides just Nunzio, a handful of other current WWE superstars pop up on this disc. Paul London is one of the most underrated and slept-on wrestlers ever, and he makes his ROH debut here against Chris Marvel. Both are graduates of Shawn Michaels' wrestling school, and talented guys. This match didn't last long. Marvel went to the outside and when Paul London hit an Asai Moonsault, Marvel's leg buckled, and broke. I'm not talking about broken like normal, I mean his leg LITERALLY snapped, I'm talkin Sid Vicious style. Marvel's right foot was going in the complete opposite direction; it was pointing down. OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! This is very gory and viewer discretion IS advised. No Contest, but quite a nasty sight. This proves that while wrestling is indeed choreographed, accidents CAN and DO happen.

Spanky, who had an average run with the WWE in 2003, wrestled and defeated Jay Briscoe. Spanky and Jay wrestled a hard fougth match with one truly memorable moment. Jay threw Spanky into the ring post and he was busted wide open hardaway. Hardaway, for non-smarks, means he was bleeding legitimately (real) and not via blade. The cut is very big and nasty, and once again; viewer discretion is advised. Jay and his brother Mark would go on to become multiple time ROH Tag Team Champions and wrestle some really memorable matches in the next couple years.

One of the things about Ring of Honor that I loved is that, like ECW, they always bring you every type of wrestling. When watching an ROH show, you're pretty much guaranteed to see a good blend of hardcore, technical, and high flying. On this show, the hardcore is a bit toned down, but the lucha libre is in effect. ROH delivered a high-flying product with the three team elimination brawl between The S.A.T., Divine Storm, and the team of Amazing Red and Brian XL. The history here is that at Era of Honor Begins, these guys had a six-man melee match where it's one fall to a finish. Red was pinned by the S.A.T. while Brian XL was pinned by his teammate Quiet Storm. ECW legend Mikey Whipwreck, who was their trainer, set this match up. This match is lucha libre rules, meaning that if your partner exits the ring, you can enter without tagging. This match features a couple of blown spots, but overall is an incredible high flying match that shows the athleticism of these small, yet lightning fast cruisers. Divine Storm are eliminated first, and the finish comes when Jose Maximo pins Red after Brian XL and Red argue over who should make the pin, which sets up more storylines. Great match and can probably buy the DVD if you're a fan of high flying.

The Final Match of the evening is here. American Dragon (0-1) battles Low Ki (1-0) in the final Round Robin match. Before the match begins, "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock appears in a huge surprise and asks if he could referee. Ki and Dragon accept and the match is on. This is about as good as a wrestling match can possibly get, and only eludes the 5 stars because of a couple of slower moments that bogged it down. Low Ki and Dragon constantly blur the line between "real" and "fantasy", making the match LOOK a lot like a shoot, which is brilliant on their parts. No match in the WWE nowadays will ever be like this (although Benoit and Angle can do it). The match has not only cool spots, like Low Ki's Top-Rope Ki Krusher, but also ring psychology. Danielson spends time working on Ki's arms and Ki works on Danielson's injured neck. After some incredible action, Danielson locks in the Cattle Mutilation finishing submission. Ki is knocked out from the pressure, and Shamrock lets Ki's arm drop three times, giving Danielson the win. In the end of the Round Robin Challenge, each wrestler got one win, and one loss... awesome. After a short promo, Danielson and Ki shake hands to close the show out. I have rarely seen such a beautifully crisp wrestling match in America in years, and this ranks up there with ROH's best.

After a few more promos, some highlights are played to close out the DVD.

The Round Robin Challenge is a DVD that wrestling purists MUST HAVE. Do whatever you can to get your hands on a copy. From top to bottom the card was pretty solid and a good mixture of everything you should see at a wrestling show. The 3 matches of the Round Robin Tournament are unbelievable and a testament to the skills of Ki, Daniels, and Dragon. The lucha libre match is another good reason to pick this DVD up. Either way, Ring of Honor is a perfect solution for fans who are sick of "The Triple H Show" on Mondays and "nWo Impact" on Friday. Fans who are sick of the same nonsense week in and week out and strive for the days of Extreme Championship Wrestling will find a lot to love here. No, it's not the same as ECW, but it's pretty damn close when it comes to being good.

4.5 Stars... Rounded Up


Results and Ratings

- Christopher Daniels defeated The American Dragon Brian Danielson in a Round Robin Tournament Match via submission (****)
- Da Hit Squad defeated Prince Nana (w/ Simply Luscious) & Eric "Towelboy" Tuttle (**)
- Christian York and Joey Matthews defeated C.W. Anderson & Elax (**1/4)
- Xavier defeated James Maritato (***)
- The Natural Born Sinners (Homicide and Boogalou) defeated Boogie Nights (Mike Tobin and Danny Drake) (**)
- Low Ki defeated Christopher Daniels in a Round Robin Tournament Match via submission to the Dragon Clutch (****1/4)
- Paul London (w/ Rudy Boy Gonzalez) wrestled Chris Marvel (w/ Masada) to a no-contest (DUD)
- Spanky defeated Jay Briscoe (w/ Mark Briscoe) after hitting the Sliced Bread 2 (***)
- The SAT (Jose and Joel Maximo) defeated Divine Storm (Chris Devine and Quiet Storm) and The Amazing Red & Brian XL in a Tag Team Elimination Match (****)
- The American Dragon Brian Danielson defeated Low Ki in a Round Robin Tournament Match via submission after applying the Cattle Mutilation. (****1/2)



Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older