Five dollars. It’s a value meal at most fast food joints, a single drink at your average bar, a pack of smokes, or a dessert in a restaurant, and you might be surprised to know what else $5 can get you. There’s a lot of debate among those wrestling fans who frequent sites like Pulse Wrestling regarding free wrestling on television versus paying to watch independent promotions. If you’re the sort of fan who truly believes the wrestling on TV is good enough for you (especially since it’s free) then stop reading here. But if you’ve ever wondered just what’s causing all the hype for those indy feds some writers can’t stop raving about and you don’t have tons of spare cash to toss around, look no further than the frequent sales offered at Ring of Honor’s online store.
TODAY’S ISSUE: Amazing bargains.
Since I was introduced to ROH a little over a year ago, I fell in love with the Internet’s indy darling, and soon discovered a sweet little secret about their vast DVD stockpile – one should never purchase anything from them at full price. Reason being, they literally have a new sale almost every week, with discounts of up to 35% when concurrent sales are combined, not to mention the whopping $5-per-DVD sale they just ran this month. If you make a list of shows you’re interested in and keep your eye open for sales, you’ll always be able to find what you want at less than standard rates (here’s the latest sale, valid for all orders placed on the website through Wednesday, October 1st at 10:00am EST).
And they sell much more than their own DVDs online; in addition to the full catalog of Ring of Honor merchandise, the store also offers DVDs from WWE, TNA, SHIMMER (a women’s promotion closely associated with ROH), Full Impact Pro (ROH’s Florida-based sister promotion), and other various wrestling companies to include the Japanese Pro Wrestling NOAH and Dragon Gate feds, the Straight Shootin’ interview series, and miscellaneous apparel and other goodies like autographed photos, books, and live event tickets.
Paying $20 per show can get a little pricey, so the discerning consumer is wise to stay alert for the frequent sales on the site, and plan accordingly. The last big sale I took advantage of was the $5 extravaganza, in which a vast number of DVDs were each reduced to one single fin. Allow me to introduce you to the most recent phenomenal bargains I purchased, and keep in mind that all the DVDs below were a mere $5 each, plus I used a 15% off code to reduce the shipping cost (all the way over here to South Korea) to almost nothing. Retail is for suckers!
Our Time Is Now: The Best of Generation Next. GenNext was a hot faction of young lions in ROH in 2004-2005, comprised of Alex Shelley with his “talent on loan from God”, the “wrestling machine” Austin Aries (who captured the ROH World Heavyweight Championship from Samoa Joe the night he usurped the leadership of GenNext from Shelley), the “messiah of the backbreaker” Roderick Strong, and “the man who defies gravity”, Jack Evans who was trained in the legendary Hart Family dungeon.
This incredible set chronicles the night GenNext was formed, having hijacked a show intended to allow up-and-comers to showcase their talents and compete for audience votes, but the new stable wasn’t content to wait for their time to shine; they were taking roster spots for themselves right then. After wreaking havoc with the entire card, they made their mark by winning three matches that night and placing the rest of the roster on notice. From that time on, they feuded with the Second City Saints and the Rottweilers, and harassed Ricky the Dragon Steamboat so much that they turned the villainous CM Punk face, and it’s all right here for just $5.
With buckets full of talent and charisma, GenNext’s opening chapters were high-impact, nWo-like chaos, but with better quality wrestling and seven consecutive months of the same lineup with no turns back and forth, solidifying the unit as a force to be reckoned with in ROH. I watched this entire collection in one sitting, but I’m a GenNext fan. Newcomers to the stable (or ROH in general) might need two visits with the brash upstarts to take it all in. Fortunately, the DVD has loads of replay potential and is was well worth the asking price.
The Phenomenon Continues: The Best of AJ Styles, Volume 2. AJ Styles is every bit as phenomenal as his nickname indicates. He can grapple, fly, and strike, and his ring generalship and ability to entertain surpass that of common pro wrestlers by an unlimited factor. If you’re tired of seeing him act like a goof on Thursday nights, his ROH tenure is the good stuff. This particular DVD includes Styles facing off against Samoa Joe, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Paul London, Kaz Hayashi, and Jimmy Rave in singles bouts, as well as teaming with Low Ki/Senshi against Christopher Daniels and Xavier, plus teaming with Homicide versus Daniels and Dan Maff. I’d pay $5 for any one of the singles matches between Styles and Dragon, London, or Punk alone, and I can’t wait to crack this one open and get to the phenomenal.
After my first look at Ring of Honor’s sister promotion Full Impact Pro on the Redefined show, I was so impressed that I decided to add more of their stuff to my library and what better opportunity than a $5-per-show sale? I dug through the dozens of discounted FIP shows and found these five beauties:
FIP New Year’s Classic – 7 Jan 05. Featuring Homicide vs. James “Jamie Noble” Gibson for the FIP title, Samoa Joe vs. Roderick Strong, and CM Punk vs. Antonio “MVP” Banks, this show is worth the five bucks regardless of the undercard (ROH and FIP matches routinely bottom out at “good” so it really doesn’t matter what the rest of the card includes). Gibson is far better outside of WWE than TV-only fans could possibly imagine, Joe and Strong will brutalize each other, and Punk can carry anyone to a good match. Plus, a show like this gives viewers an opportunity to get to know some lesser-known talents like Vordell Walker, Jerrelle Clark, and Seth Delay. Who knows? You might stumble upon a favorite to whom you’d never have been exposed otherwise. It’s worth a shot for $5, considering the upper card matches on a show like this will be more than worth the inexpensive price.
FIP With Malice – 25 Mar 05. The main event is CM Punk vs. James Gibson, and that alone was enough for me to quickly click the “add to cart” button as I shopped. But the card also includes Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong in what could only be a romping good time, a personal favorite of mine in Austin Aries defending the ROH World Title (the ROH and FIP championships are often defended on the other promotion’s shows), breakout star Erick Stevens in a tag match, Jimmy Rave, Jared Steel, and Masada, who are all capable hands.
FIP Bring the Pain – 26 Mar 05. CM Punk vs. Bryan Danielson in a 2 out of 3 falls match? Are you kidding me? I’d pay a lot more then $5 just to see this one alone! Another ROH title defense by Aries, another Roderick Strong match, and another Erick Stevens contest round out this card nicely, plus Dave Prazak heels it up in his managerial role as the chairman of DP Associates, a role he doesn’t play in ROH, and the different flavor makes his FIP gimmick fun. What wrestling fan could say no to Punk and Dragon in a multi-fall epic?
FIP Big Year One Bash (Night 1) – 2 Sep 05. The main reason I wanted this show was the ROH World Title bout between James Gibson and Roderick Strong. Having seen a very good match between these two from five months earlier on the Stars of Honor DVD that I reviewed, I was hungry for more. BYOB also includes an FIP title match between Homicide and current ROH kingpin Nigel McGuinness, The Brian Kendrick in his “Spanky” gimmick in two FIP tag title matches (one of which is against Jay Lethal and Jimmy Rave), another pre-MVP Antonio Banks match, and not one, but two Erick Stevens bouts, which means double the fun for this fan. The savings just keep adding up!
FIP Impact of Honor – 10 Jun 06. As the title obviously implies, this is an ROH heavy (or heavier) show, including ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson defending against Colt Cabana (wanna see what SmackDown’s Scotty Goldman can really do?), ROH Tag Team Champions Austin Aries and Roderick Strong putting their gold on the line against “Fast & Furious” Jerrelle Clark and Jay Fury, Davey Richards vs. Dragon Gate’s SHINGO, Erick Stevens, and the usual cast of FIP characters like the Heartbreak Express, the YRR, and Seth Delay. Aries and Dragon alone on a show practically make it worth the full price, much less $5.
The value for your wrestling dollar in the above list is staggering. I spent $35 total for these seven DVDs, less than one monthly WWE or TNA pay-per-view, and got about 21 hours of quality professional wrestling action compared to the 3 hours of run-ins, gimmick matches, backstage ga-ga, “divas”, mindless promos, would-be celebrities, immature comedy, and the occasional good match one might see if one were to chose a “mainstream” ppv over this hearty stack of indy goodness. So I say to you, the curious wrestling fan who, like Neo in The Matrix, knows there must be something more out there but hasn’t seen it yet, keep your eyes peeled for the next big sale at ROH’s online store. Take the red pill, and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality.
p.s. – “No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Elsewhere on Pulse Wrestling this week…
Speaking of bang for your buck, Il Professore, Big Andy Mac reviews Ring of Honor’s latest ppv release, New Horizons. $10-$15 for a 2-hour show of THAT quality? If you missed the premier weekend, do yourself a favor and catch the replay!
IWC icon Scott Keith takes a look back at WWF’s SummerSlam 1998.
Paul Marshall diagnoses the mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in the premier of his new W-Files column. A must read!
The Ace salutes former ROH wrestler and reigning NWA world heavyweight champion Adam Pearce with a look back at his finest ROH match (and the entirety of the Death Before Dishonor VI card) in this week’s Ring of Honor Weekly, then shifts gears with his all-WWE offering known as The Wrestling Analyst.
Do like your SmackDown! coverage sassy? There’s no better report of the Friday night fun than Norine Stice’s Real-Time Report.
Speaking of weekly reviews, BLATT vs. ECW is the highlight of Tuesday night.
Join a personal favorite of mine, John Wiswell, as he analyses Steenerico’s future as ROH tag team champions in Cult of ROH.
Finally this week, puro shining wizard David Ditch delivers part six of his eight-part look at Kenta Kobashi in Puroresu Pulse.
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That AJ Styles DVD is ridiculous and must buy. The Danielson and London matches are both nearly *****.
The early FIP stuff is very hit or miss. If you prefer a more old-school style, FIP is for you.
And in fairness the Wrestling Analyst has one section not about WWE!
A great column that got me all fired up about FIP! Thanks you Vinny for making my Christmas list a little longer ;)
Well-written as always, but I feel like you make a bit of a false distinction by the apparent claim that there are two types of fans, those who find whatever WWE and TNA put out to be “good enough” and those who are curious enough to seek out ROH and inevitably love it. (If I’m misinterpreting you, I apologize and retract the comment.) I highly doubt that I’m the only one out there highly dissatisfied with the free TV product available but also not at all enamored of ROH…I’d love to “take the red pill,” as you put it, but have yet to hear of an indy fed that bears any significant resemblance to what I want to see.
Vinny may (perhaps I should say WILL) correct me if I am wrong, but the difference between a Ring of Honor pay per view and a World Wrestling Entertainment or Total Nonstop Action pay per view is simple. Those who turn to ROH or FIP or any other Indy group out there prefer to see wrestling which includes talented wrestlers, quality matches and longer feuds. I do watch WWE and now and then TNA but I watch only for certain performers and do not care for either organization as a whole. I have the comedy channel if I need laughs and I have the soap opera channel if I ever wanted to watch soap operas. I watch wrestling for style, ability, agility, and quality and that’s what I get with ROH.
Since I was not raised on WWF/WWE (see the article on Harley Race), I applaud the others on Pulse who agree that the barrage of gimmicks and sideshows WWE and TNA throw at fans weekly certainly does not mean they are providing quality rasslin!
Norine, as I look back on my post and your response I can see that I completely failed to make the point I thought I was making, and I’m sorry for that. I’m well aware of the difference between the products and of the different preferences reflected by those who choose one or the other. All I was attempting to say was that I get a bit tired of the argument that anyone who does not find ROH to their liking must love WWE or TNA, which appeared to be underlying Vinny’s column (and again Vinny, if I misinterpreted you I apologize for that as well), since I for one have completely lost interest in WWE and TNA and am hungry for alternatives but have found ROH to be nowhere near what I’m hoping to find; I honestly don’t know if there is anyone else out there who shares this view and only assume that I can’t possibly be the only one. I had no intention of defending WWE or TNA or bashing ROH; my only intention was to question the “if you’re looking for an alternative, ROH is for you and if it’s not, you’re not looking for an alternative” argument that it appeared Vinny was making. Again, I apologize for miscommunicating.
Ryan,
You made two comments here, and both times you used phrases like, “what I am looking for”, but neither time did you say what that is, exactly.
FACT: WWE/TNA are highly “sportz entertainment” oriented with low emphasis on actual in-ring quality.
FACT: Many indies (including ROH/FIP) focus less on backstage ga-ga and more on great matches.
If neither of THOSE is what you’re hoping to find in your pro wrestling promotion, could you please tell me what it is you seek? Perhaps if you do, I or one of my excellent colleagues might suggest a fed that’s too your liking.
Vinny, that’s completely fair; I refrained from doing so at first because I felt like it would be a bit of a distraction and because I felt it would take far too much space to discuss. Since you asked, though, here we go:
It’ll probably make the most sense if I point out that I’m very much a theatre fan and have never really understood the appeal of sports. So, my tastes are very much on the “sportz entertainment” side of things…so I guess the shortest way to say what I’m looking for is “sports entertainment, but done much better.” I love the over-the-top theatricality of promos and some of the better sketches and feel that those convey a certain heightened, fantasy atmosphere that’s almost impossible to find outside of pro wrestling. I’m a fan of shorter matches because I watch wrestling shows like I would any other television show, movie or play; fight scenes to me are a wonderful and exciting way of bringing storylines to a climax, but a forty-minute fight scene with no dialogue strikes me as intensely dull. This might all make it sound like WWE/TNA would be my ideal. However, the characters and storylines presented by the mainstream for the past several years have nearly lost the “larger than life” (and I’m not talking about the musculature of the performers) feeling that once made them exciting to me. I’m also completely turned off by the infantile humor presented. More than anything, I can’t stand the incessant racism, sexism, homophobia and ultra-ultra-patriotism both WWE and TNA seem to love so much; when the only characters on screen who say anything with which I agree are invariably heels (yes, I’m very far to the left of the political spectrum), I start to resent the idea of giving any money or other support to organizations who obviously can’t stand people like me.
So again, short version: I’m a sports entertainment fan, but one who also agrees with you about the often-horrendous quality of the “backstage ga-ga” and is looking for a promotion that does a better job with the “backstage ga-ga.” I hope that makes some kind of sense and doesn’t offend anyone.
Chikara and Kaiju… try em out if you can sir.
Will do; thanks!
[...] already the best on the ‘net, really stepped its game up. Vinny Truncellito discussed ROH’s bargain priced DVDs, Andy Mac reviewed both Take No Prisoners and Dragon Gate Challenge 2. Andy also had a great New [...]
Ryan you may also enjoy Hustle from Japan, because if it is anything, it is over the top.
Okay. Now I’ve finally got to ask some questions about ROH. I’ve heard all the hype and seen all the former ROH alumni come through to the BIG 1.5 (TM) but my question would be.. what would be a good ROH dvd to check out as my first? I won’t really want to do a compilation because I’d rather just get a “little bit of everything” that ROH has to offer. Also, has anyone on the Pulse Wrestling staff done an “Intro to ROH” type column? Thanks
I could swear I’ve written one, but I may not have published it yet.
Beginning in ROH really depends on how much money you have and how far back you want to go. If you want to just into things in 2008, I recommend picking up the first 2008 show, Proving Ground. That will introduce you to most of the remaining ROH establishment (the Briscoes, Bryan Danielson, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong – only Nigel McGuinness is missing) as well as many of the next wave (Erick Stevens, the Age of the Fall, Kevin Steen, El Generico, Brent Albright, Claudio Castagnoli). Plus, Stevens Vs. Aries is a damn great match. Stevens and the Age of the Fall both make their first defenses of their newly won titles, you get a sense of the AOTF anti-ROH dynamic, and the feel of how ROH treats rising stars going against existing favorites. Then you can move on and watch whatever you want of 2008 from there.
If you’re looking longer term, it gets more complicated. An easy guideline if you want to go a couple of years back is to follow the PPV DVD’s (Respect is Earned, Driven, Man Up, Undeniable, Rising Above, Take No Prisoners, Respect is Earned 2, New Horizons, Driven 2008), which are designed to be a bit more accessible to new fans. You will spend a freaking fortune if you want to follow things from 2002-present or 2004-present, so starting a little more reasonably ahead and picking up earlier shows that highlight your favorites as you go along is wiser.
If you’re looking for a compilation DVD, then Best in the World or Greatest Rivalries. If you want something on the current product, then Northern Navigation and Death before Dishonor VI are absolutely amazing shows that will get you started.
Click on my name for my archives which have tons of introduction stuff them.
Cool. Thanks John and Aaron.
Also – Aaron.. I clicked on your name and got an error message. Just a heads up.
After I saw my first ROH ppv, I wanted to know more about Ring of
Honor so I bought:
The Era of Honor Begins, 2002
Road to the Title, 2002
One Year Anniversary 2003
Wrestlerave ‘03, 2003
and because I could…
Battle of the Icons, 2007
I wanted to know about how ROH got their start and Battle of the Icons 2007? ROH Title Match, Homicide vs. Samoa Joe — I couldn’t help myself ;)
This one also has a No DQ I Quit Match, Nigel McGuinness vs. Jimmy Rave. This Rave is definitely not what you see in TNA.
Then silly me got sidetracked went and got sidetracked and bought PWG Sells Out.
I am hooked on the Indys!
Damn. Well, if you click on Ring of Honor Weekly through the main page, you can access my archives through there.