Review of "Ring of Honor: Stars of Honor"

Introduction
The Ring of Honor wrestling group, which has been promoting shows since 2002, is very different from the vast majority of its contemporaries, for a number of different reasons.

For one, while the company does promote modern-style wrestling matches, its ethic harks back to the golden age of wrestling, with what is called the Code of Honor - a set of rules by which each contest has to take place.

The Code of Honor includes rules that state that wrestlers should shake hands before and after each match, and that there should be no outside interference.

These stipulations were set out partly to attract fans whom WWE had lost to their brand of "sports entertainment", where beating up referees was the norm, and where title matches rarely featured one-on-one conclusions.

Though ROH had a cult following prior to 2004, the group has gone from strength to strength since, promoting successful shows in England and Japan. Furthermore, the company have just stepped into the American PPV market, a move which should expand their fanbase beyond the loyal followers who purchase the regular in-house DVD releases.

"Stars of Honor", then, is ROH's first general release DVD, focusing in one some of the more famous names in the company's history. These include current WWE stars Matt Hardy, Brian "Spanky" Kendrick, and CM Punk, as well as ROH's own superb athletes in Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe, and Roderick Strong.

Video
Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen NTSC (Region 0), and is good considering ROH's obvious financial limitations.

In many ways, the simple, two-camera approach is easier to watch than WWE productions, where the camerawork is deliberately designed to hide certain elements of what goes on in the ring. Here, with only two camera views available to the director, there is nowhere to hide.

But it must be said that if you are used to WWE-style production, you need to be prepared for a big drop in razzamatazz here, with zero in the way of pyrotechnics or rock-concert lighting. The video is rather dull in comparison, but pyrotechnics isn't what ROH is all about.

In any case, the actual transfer to DVD is generally unproblematic, with only minor digital artefacts notable in some instances.





Audio
Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, and is quite good. New commentary has been recorded on the first four bouts available here, which is likely because the old commentary was difficult to hear past the vociferous ROH crowd. That's not the case with the remaining matches, which while they don't have the clean sound of WWE releases, really give you the feeling of raucousness that you would get from being in the arena.





Extras
There are several very entertaining extras available here, beginning with a recap of the Samoa Joe vs CM Punk trilogy of matches, that are considered to be classics among ROH fans. I wouldn't quite go that far, but we are awarded with a very interesting highlight compilation of the bouts here, with Punk on commentary.

We also get a chance to see in-ring interview footage with Mick Foley and Bruno Sammartino, from their guest appearances with the company. Both bring a little more star power to the show having had such remarkable WWE careers. Sammartino, who held the WW(W)F title for over 11 reigns across the 60s and 70s, is a strong critic of WWE, and considers ROH much closer to the wrestling that he loved.





Overall
With a DVD called "Stars of Honor", you'd expect this release to highlight the best-known performers in the history of the company, and that's exactly what you get here. CM Punk, Antonio Banks (MVP), Matt Hardy, Christian Cage, James Gibson (Jamie Noble), and Spanky (Brian Kendrick) are all well known from WWE, as are Samoa Joe, Homicide, Christopher Daniels, Jay Lethal, and Low-Ki from TNA.

Unquestionably, the two best matches on the DVD are the opening bout between Samoa Joe and CM Punk, and then the contest between "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson and Spanky. The former is heavily influenced by MMA and Japanese wrestling, and is a gruelling, dramatic bout, while Danielson vs Spanky is a tremendous mix of styles, with Danielson the technical wrestler, and Spanky the high-flyer. Incidentally, both were trained by WWE superstar Shawn Michaels.

But that's not the end of the great wrestling available here. Matt Hardy may be one of the better performers on Smackdown, but there he's rarely been able to reproduce the quality of his bout with Roderick Strong. Strong may be the MVP of this disc, as he wrestles twice, and makes an impression on both occasions. His bout with the James Gibson is also very good, and makes a mockery of WWE's use of Gibson in both his stints there.

Christian Cage's bout with Christopher Daniels would now be a TNA affair (as of this writing, Daniels' alter ego Curry Man is currently on TNA cards), but they produced a very good match here, free from all of the shenanigans that would no doubt spoil such a bout in that promotion.

The main event of the disc would almost be better served to be on the "Bloodstained Honor" compilation, as it features a very good match, which escalates into a wild, arena-wide brawl between all four participants. It's an interesting way to end the DVD - with a brawl rather than the technical wrestling that ROH is famed for - but it's equally excellent in its own way, and does leave the viewer interested in seeing more.





Overall, in watching this DVD, it is easy to see why fans have gravitated to smaller companies like Ring of Honor, to get their wrestling fix. When WWE was stagnant in the 1993-1996 period, the same types of fans somehow managed to seek out ECW, and made it a name that is remembered several years after its economic demise.

This DVD doesn't necessarily feature the company's greatest matches in the last couple of years (which would include bouts with the likes of Kenta Kobashi, AJ Styles, and Nigel McGuinness), but it does figure in the wrestlers who would be known to the average WWE fan. Here - as is most notably the case with James Gibson - you get to see them without being held back; in Ring of Honor, talented wrestlers get the opportunity to show off their skills.

If you class yourself as a wrestling fan, as opposed to that of sports entertainment, you owe it to yourself to check out this DVD. You'll open yourself up to a world of wrestling that you won't have to be embarrassed at.