ROH: Future Of Honor 2 (2014)

User Lists:
I Was There!

54%
Overall Rating

Ranked #15,998
...out of 20,725 movies

Genres: Sports Wrestling

Connections: Wrestling: ROH

ROH Future Of Honor 2 was a professional wrestling event produced by Ring of Honor (ROH). It took place on July 27, 2014 at the Laurel Fire Department in Laurel, Delaware. --Wikipedia

Review by Chad
Added: February 4, 2015

Continuing my current streak of wrestling DVD reviews, we come to this one: an event that I actually attended. Yep, if you pick up a copy of this DVD, you can see me in the crowd numerous times throughout the running time, sporting my Return of the Living Dead t-shirt. Now, if that isn't a selling point, I don't know what is.

In all seriousness, Future of Honor 2 was an event held on July 27th, 2014 in Laurel, Delaware. The theme of the event was "the future of ROH", and by that, they mean that the card consists of people who could possibly become stars in the promotion some day. These wrestlers are mainly students and people who have recently graduated from the ROH training camps, with a handful of big names sprinkled in to liven up the card a bit. With that out of the way, we come to the card in question, which goes like this:

1. QT Marshall vs. Mikey Webb
This was a decent opening match, with Webb definitely coming across as the greener of the two. Marshall played the muscle-bound villain role as well as could be expected, with Webb being the fresh-faced hero, and the crowd reacted accordingly. Unfortunately, Webb's one big spot in the match was botched due to a problem that will rear its head shortly after this match ended, but the crowd didn't seem to mind. This wasn't ECW, after all. Average match.

2. Donovan Dijak vs. Stokely Hathaway
This was a quick squash match, taking place solely to set up the next match. Stokely is the manager of Moose, and after the two got into the ring, he decided to talk some trash and got himself into a match with Dijak, who dominated the match and pinned the much smaller man in quick fashion. It was alright as a comedic "match", but certainly nothing to talk about.

3. Donovan Dijak vs. Moose
Moose, having seen enough, jumps into the ring and kicks off the next match. This was a much more evenly-matched affair, with the two big guys going back and forth in a very physical match. It actually gets so physical that the ring ropes break, but the two finish the match regardless. I'm going to give this match a thumbs up, as even though it wasn't a five-star classic or a match-of-the-year candidate, it was definitely an entertaining slobberknocker and both men showed potential. Not included on the DVD is the unscheduled fifteen-minute intermission, where the ring crew had to come out and fix the ropes.

4. Cheeseburger & Brutal Bob Evans vs. Assad King & Hakim Zane
Next up, a comedic match featuring a cheeseburger-loving high-flyer and a mentally-challenged big man squaring off against two evil foreigners from Palestine. Again, I have to give this match some points not for the memorability of it, but simply because it was entertaining with some humorous spots. There was actually a good wrestling spot where Cheeseburger delivers a stunner to one of the opponents while piggybacking on Evans' back, which is something that you definitely don't see every day.

5. Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Diesel
The Briscoes are the hometown boys tonight, and Mark's introduction definitely showed that Laurel loves "dem boys." Mark comes out to a monster pop, Diesel can't catch a cheer no matter what he does, and the result is a match that the crowd is hugely invested in from start to finish. There is some quality wrestling on display here, with Briscoe carrying his opponent to a great match and delivering some excellent spots. There's the usual "redneck kung fu" antics, the high-flying moves, and yes, a little brawling out on the floor, and the crowd eats up every last bit of it. Big thumbs up.

6. Team Benchmark (Will Ferrara & Bill Daly) & Matt Sells vs. The Painkillers (Jacob & Donnie Hollows) & Johnny Knockout
Moving along, we have a six-man tag match featuring some great high-flying, high-impact action and five men who definitely have bright futures in the sport. I'd feel a little guilty singling out the one guy that I wasn't a fan of, but even though he brought the match down a bit, the other five showed a lot of potential. The Painkillers' in particular showed a lot of promise, and the team gelled together nicely. I have no idea how long they had been doing this as of the night that this match took place, but they had great chemistry together and worked like seasoned pros.

ROH Tryout Camp Gauntlet Challenge
7a. Bobby Fish vs. Drew Addler
7b. Bobby Fish vs. Fox Vinyer
7c. Bobby Fish vs. Dalton Castle
Time for an interview segment, and Bobby Fish - one half of the ROH tag team champions - comes out to explain that his scheduled opponent is not here tonight due to being convicted of three homicides. Ouch. However, he's still willing to compete, and he's putting himself in a gauntlet match against three tryout camp rookies in order to give them a little exposure. Each match is short and sweet, one right after the other, and while they do highlight each of the rookies while giving Fish a little time to shine, it's hard to really recommend this segment as a whole. It was entertaining, don't get me wrong, but not memorable. After the matches, Papa Briscoe comes out to have words with Fish, leading to another big pop for the hometown Briscoes (and foreshadowing events to take place later in the show).

8. Veda Scott & Jenny Rose vs. Hania The Huntress & Mandy Leon
Every card has to have a women's match, and this one was no exception. These four ladies actually put on a great match, with a nice combination of brawling, submission maneuvers, innovative moves, and high spots off the ropes. The crowd got into this one, and it wasn't just because of the skimpy outfits (although I'm sure that helped). Thumbs up, and on a personal note, Mandy Leon is just as gorgeous in street clothes with no makeup as she is when she's dolled up for the crowd.

9. Jay Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal
Once again, we have a match that runs for less than a minute. This is nothing more than a setup for the "real" main event, as a string of run-ins leads to a disqualification finish and an eight-man tag team match.

10. Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, Moose, & Papa Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal, Adam Cole, Jay Diesel, & Bobby Fish
Time for the main event, and we find the hometown Briscoes and the super-over Moose taking on the villains of the show. On paper, this is a fairly standard eight-man match: the bad guys control the match for a while, the crowd gets more and more heated, the good guys make the comeback, hit all of their high spots, the crowd comes alive, everyone goes home happy. However, due to the fast pace and the intensity of the match, I'm giving this one a big thumbs up. It definitely put a smile on my face, and I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't the match of the night. The crowd was insanely invested in the Briscoes, and thus, they were insanely invested in the match... and that adds a lot to any match.

It may go without saying, but I had a hell of a time attending this event, and I enjoyed it just as much while watching it again on DVD. Fans of WWE and / or TNA may not recognize most of the names on the card, but everyone gave it their all and there were a lot of potential superstars out there. 8/10, and I don't think that there was much of the "I was there" syndrome clouding my vision of the show: it really was that good. If you're a wrestling fan and get a chance to see ROH in person, don't pass on it.

Recommended Movies