Ring of Honor: Supercard of Honor III

Introduction:
Following on from MyReviewer.com's initial look into the world of Ring of Honor wrestling, the general-release "Stars of Honor" DVD, the promotion is back here with a title which is available only via online order, "Supercard of Honor III".

The main event of the evening is the annual Dragon Gate six-man tag team match, with Dragon Kid, CIMA, and Ryo Saito facing Genki Horiguchi, Naruki Doi, and Masato Yoshino. Dragon Gate is a separate wrestling company from ROH, based in Japan, which often presents excellent high-flying wrestling, akin to Mexican Lucha Libre.

The ROH World Title is also on the line, as England's Nigel McGuinness wrestles Austin Aries. The two had a sensational match some months earlier at the "Rising Above" pay-per-view. During the match, McGuinness suffered a broken nose, a heavy gash over the eye, and a concussion after Aries knocked him into the ringside railings.

Supercard of Honor III was held on 29th March 2008, from the Downtown Recreation Complex in Orlando, Florida.

Video:
Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen NTSC (Region 0), is good for a DVD of this genre, and excellent considering the limited nature of ROH productions.

Despite this, it would be wise not to approach this DVD expecting WWE-level pyrotechnics or production values. Wrestling, of course, doesn't truly need those, and ROH proves that, with a basically-achieved but well-captured event.

The event appears to have been filmed with only one steady camera, and two handheld cameras. This DVD is better for that simplicity, however, as the camera tricks that are so obvious in WWE productions do not appear here. There is little or no attempt to hide what goes on inside the ring.

The transfer to DVD is quite good considering the aforementioned production limitations. There are some noticeable digital artefacts, but these are not distracting in the least.





Audio:
Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, and is more than acceptable for this title.

The audio recording of this event appears to have been done with a small number of microphones around the arena, and with seemingly no post-mixing, it can distort somewhat when there's a lot of crowd noise, or during a musical entrance.

From a technical standpoint, the audio is well below average for what is to be expected from DVD, but on the other side of the coin, the raucousness of the crowd - which is such an important element in ROH - comes across well here. It is certainly preferable to the over-processed sound to be found on many live event DVDs.

Commentary is provided by Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard, and has been mixed over the top of the original recording. The duo do a good job of calling the action inside the ring, and describing the events that led up to the various bouts.





Extras:
The "Video Wire" extra, which also appears online to promote the company's releases, is available here, and is certainly worth a look before watching the event itself.

Here, the angle with the Age of the Fall and Austin Aries is built up in particular, as is Nigel McGuinness' title bout against the latter, with a great interview with the champion.





Overall:
Crowd favourites Delirious and Go Shiozaki begin things at Supercard of Honor III, having what is an excellent bout considering its position on the card. With some comedy moments early on from Delirious, the superb Japanese protégé of legend Kenta Kobashi shows why he's so highly touted as a future star in the industry.

Next is a match featuring several members of the ROH wrestling academy, as Kenny King, Chasyn Rance, and Sal Rinauro face Alex Payne, Dingo, and Bushwhacker Luke (yes, the same Bushwhacker famous for the WWF tag team) in a fun match in which the latter's limitations aren't exposed.

From there, it's back to very serious business, as FIP (an ROH affiliate company) champion Roderick Strong faces Erick Stevens, in a bout which literally never got started. Both men did, however, engage in a remarkable, hard-hitting brawl, which sees Strong's chest sickeningly cut early by Stevens' knife-edge chops. Though this is technically not a match, it's one of the very best things on the entire show.

"Relaxed rules" was an understatement in the proceeding encounter, as Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black faced the Briscoe Brothers, Jay and Mark, in an insane arena-wide brawl. It could have done with a little more wrestling however, which is something that's also somewhat true, though in a different way, of another tag team match pitting BxB Hulk and Shingo vs Kevin Steen and El Generico. Rather than lacking wrestling due to occurring mostly outside the ring, the latter simply doesn't contain much chain wrestling, though it's a match that will appear sensational if you are into modern pro wrestling.

The ROH World Title match is then a big change of pace, as Nigel McGuinness and Austin Aries slow it down into a story-telling, big-build kind of match-up, that is more than welcome to this viewer. Though not quite as good as their tremendous bout at the Rising Above PPV, this was an excellent contest, befitting the legacy of ROH title matches, with many brutal moves on show, and enough drama to keep any wrestling fan glued to the television.

The main event Dragon Gate tag team match harks back to the BxB Hulk/Shingo match earlier in the card, though to an even greater level, with some tremendous, innovative high-flying manoeuvres on show, not to mention some great submission holds. This form of Jap-Lucha, as it was known in the 1990s, is unlike anything most fans will have seen, and is remarkably flawless in its execution, given the speed at which the action takes place. With an incredible finish to the bout, this has to go down as one of the very best matches of its type, ever to be captured in full on DVD.





Overall, Supercard of Honor III is a tremendous wrestling event from top to bottom. There's a good mix of different styles of wrestling, and unlike other organisations, there is zero here to insult your intelligence. The main event, the ROH Title match, and the Strong vs Stevens brawl in particular are must-see bouts for all wrestling fans.

Simply stated, as of this writing (July), this is the best professional wrestling event that I have reviewed in 2008.

Ring of Honor: Supercard of Honor III is available from www.rohwrestling.com