This Saturday is my 23rd birthday, and I will spend it trying to find my way to the Elk's Lodge in Queens, NY for Ring Of Honor's first anniversary show. And because this page could use some content, I am going to preview the show for your amusement and mine. On paper it seems like perhaps the most stacked show in the short history of the company, despite the notable absence of top heel Christopher Daniels and the lack of any major additions to the ROH roster. To the card...

#1 Contender's Trophy Match - Winner Gets A Title Shot That Night: Low Ki vs. Paul London vs. AJ Styles

Low Ki was involved in probably the best three way match I have ever seen on ROH's debut show a year ago with Daniels and the American Dragon. I don't expect this to match up to the quality of that one, or be the best match on this card, but Ki's presence in the match leads me to expect a similar styled match to last year's match. So it should be action packed and without the long periods of one guy laying on the ground selling while the other two fight amongst themselves that often mar traditional three way matches. Styles and London are no Dragon and Daniels, but they're both very capable of fast paced high flying work, which I would expect a lot of in this sort of match. This will presumably be in the first half of the show and I expect a fun match that the crowd will be hot for.

ROH Title Match: Xavier (champion) vs. winner of #1 Contender's Trophy three-way

This match of course depends on who winds up winning the three way, so I guess I'll have to predict a winner in that. Low Ki is the obvious choice, having lost the belt via nefarious means to Xavier back in September. London is a potential dark horse, as he and Xavier had perhaps the best match of Xavier's title reign in December, the end of which left the fans chanting "rematch." Both are quite capable of having a good match with Xavier, despite the somewhat disappointing match between Ki and Xavier in which the title changed hands. I would personally prefer to see London in this match, simply because he is more of a classic babyface than Low Ki and that is the kind of wrestler that Xavier works best against. Either way, this should be a solid main event with a crowd hot for a title change. Ki is perhaps the more rightful champ, being the more established star and the former champ. I personally wouldn't mind seeing London pull the upset. Either way, I expect a good title match, with a probable title change.

Strong Style Rematch: American Dragon Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe

Yeeeeaaaahhhh. I've been waiting for this match ever since Joe showed up in ROH in October, having heard great things about their work together in California. First the match was booked for the early December show, but wound up being cancelled when Joe had to go to Japan. Then it was booked again in January, but that show was in Pittsburgh. I am quite stoked to finally be seeing it on this show. Dragon is the lord thy God of indy wrestling. And Joe is a large, angry man. They will pound the shit out of each other enough to amuse the crowd, and will likely also have the awesome deep storytelling going on to amuse me. This is the match I am most looking forward to on the night.

Civil War: Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe

The really weird thing about this match is that they've suddenly announced this as the last match between the two brothers in ROH. This is despite the fact that they're both only eighteen years old. The fact that they've only had one previous match in ROH, and that was only six months ago. The fact that their first major match against each other was less than two years ago in CZW. Having this be their last match would lead one to believe that they might "settle their differences" and decide to add some life to ROH's stagnant tag team division now that Mark is old enough to legally wrestle in the state of Pennsylvania. But Mark very recently joined Daniels' heel stable "The Prophecy", which has recently lost two members in Samoa Joe and Simply Luscious, so I don't see him turning face. And Jay turning heel and reuniting with his brother would just be odd.

Bizarre storylines aside, there's a wrestling match here. And probably a very good one. These two always look far better against each other than they do against anyone else. Their match in August was excellent and blew away their previously celebrated CZW match from 2001. With the whole "final conflict" angle, I would imagine they'll be pulling out all the proverbial stops here. That could mean putting a match even better than their August match. Or it could mean kicking out of a million headdrops to pop the crowd. Based on the relative restraint they showed in their last match, I'm going to guess the former and be quite pleased about it. The kickass card rolls on.

Grudge Match: Steve Corino vs. Homicide

I don't know quite what to expect from this other than excessive violence. Whether I'll mean that in a good way or a bad way remains to be seen. Homicide hasn't gotten the chance to show off what he can do in a singles match in ROH yet, so I don't know quite what to expect of him. And I don't know which Corino will show up. The really annoying one who spends more time jawing with the fans than wrestling? Or the tolerable one who worked a damn fine tag match with Low Ki against Masato Tanaka and Shinjiro Ohtani in November? All I really know to expect is lots of blood. This could be a mess, or it could be a pleasant surprise. Here's hoping both guys step it up for the big show.

The Mother Of All Scrambles: SAT, Hit Squad, Divine Storm & ??? vs. Jody Fleisch, Izzy, Dixie, Slim J, Deranged, Angel Dust & Hydro with Slugger and Yeyo

I don't know who the question marks will be. I don't know who half the guys on the second team are. I know this match will be spotty as all hell, but maybe fun in its way. It could be a giant clusterfuck, or it could be a smooth fun match full of high flying and no-selling. I predict lots of people will like this match more than I will.

Special Challenge: CM Punk vs. Reckless Youth (the debut of his new name and gimmick)

This could be really good, though I don't know quite what to expect from Youth's new gimmick. It is probably a smart idea to drop the "Youth" from his name, given how long he's been around the indies. These guys are both very good wrestlers, and had a good match together in the 2002 Jersey J Cup. I will be interested to see if they play off the fact that Punk cracked his skull diving to the floor in that match. It would be a decent narrative element that at least some of the crowd would probably pick up on. This should be a very solid match.

One-fall To A Finish Four-way: Colt Cabana vs. EZ Money vs. Michael Shane vs. Chad Collyer

Now there's an odd grouping. Chad Collyer seems particularly out of place. What's the mat-centric Malenko trainee to do in a match like this? This is going to be the opening match on the card, so I expect it to be spotty and fast paced to get the crowd going. Cabana's the best of this bunch, but they're all capable wrestlers in their own way. If it's not too much of a bizarre clash of styles it could be a fun, decent match.

Odds and ends: Loc & Devito are bringing their hubcaps, Alexis Laree, Simply Luscious, Allison Danger, Trinity, the return of Rudy Boy Gonzalez and his students and more!

Loc & Devito suck. I have nothing to say on the women, really. I can't comment on Gonzalez's students, not knowing which ones he's bringing. So this is basically nothing of value.

And finally, it seems like a distinct possibility that Raven might show up. I don't know what exactly he'd do, but it could be interesting. On a show with this much good wrestling, I can live with a talking segment or two.

Overall, looks like potentially ROH's best show yet, which is saying something given the quality of some of their shows last year. A fine way to spend a Saturday night indeed.  ¶ joe | 1:46 AM |