The fifth installment of ROH's annual Glory by Honor event (actually it was the first night of the 2-part Glory By Honor weekend) took place in a very unique environment. The ring was housed in a small outdoor circus tent which accommodated a small fraction of the regular audience ROH usually draws. The tent was so small, in fact, that a wrestler standing on the top rope could easily touch the sagging roof. The announcers immediately explained that the show almost didn't happen due to a permit problem.

The show kicked off with a quick tag team match between the returning Dunn and Marcos (no longer known as the Ring Crew Express) and a pair of ROH students named Rhett Titus and Pelle Primeau. Fortunately, Dunn and Marcos went over quickly ( 2.3 / 10 ).

After the match, the Kings of Wrestling jumped the rail wearing their Chikara tag team championship belts. Chris Hero was the heat-magnet as usual, and issued a challenge to Dunn and Marcos which was accepted with double drop-kicks off the top rope (watch your heads!). This was a much better tag match, and included a really interesting helicopter move by Claudio Castagnoli on both Dunn and Marcos. The King's reigned supreme and scored an impressive victory after delivering their big finisher ( 5 / 10 ). With this one victory, somehow the Kings of Wrestling were granted a shot at the ROH World Tag Team titles the following night in New York.

"The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels cut a promo about Nigel McGuinness transforming over the last few months from a coward who cuts corner, into a man who fights with honor. Daniels wondered which man he would face in the ring tonight. ----- Nigel McGuinness then cut a promo and said he has always done what it takes to win, and he will ride the wave of momentum into Manhattan (where he'll face Naomichi Marufuji for the GHC Championship).

The four-corner-survival match returned to Ring of Honor, with Jimmy Jacobs, Ricky Reyes, Jack Evans and Colt Cabana fighting for an important victory. Jack Evans quickly found out that leaping off the top rope might be a little more difficult with the tent acting as a minor obstacle. The gimmick they focused on was the relationship between Colt Cabana and Lacey, with Jimmy Jacobs nursing his broken heart on the sidelines. Lacey was in Jimmy's corner, because Colt has made it clear his relationship with Lacey was personal, as opposed to professional. Colt Cabana made jokes about making it to third base with Lacey in the bushes before the match, which sent Jimmy Jacobs into a downward spiral of depression. There was a little too much goofing around in this match for my liking - but I do like the storyline. Lacey kept encouraging Jimmy Jacobs and Colt Cabana to work together, perhaps in an attempt to lure Cabana into Lacey's Angels. Cabana purposely made Jacobs look foolish over and over, to the point of being an absolute jerk. I started feeling bad for Jimmy Jacobs. Although it made perfect sense, I was still kind of surprised when Jack Evans was victorious ( 6.5 / 10 ).

Last time Christopher Daniels locked it up with Nigel McGuinness, McGuinness used to under-handed tactics to cheat his way to victory. Even though McGuinness has changed his attitude over the last few months, the Fallen Angel didn't intend to play any games while trying to get his win back from McGuinness. Both men stayed honest from bell-to-bell, with Nigel McGuinness scoring the victory after a Tower of London ( 7 / 10 ). Nigel's parting words were "Marufuji, you're next pal!"

Samoa Joe cut backstage promo on Roderick Strong (his opponent tonight), but the interesting stuff happened after he finished. Joe was approached by the NOAH representative and introduced to a young Japanese wrestler named Takeshi Morishima - who, by the looks of it, is Japan's answer to Samoa Joe. Joe welcomed him to Ring of Honor and then brushed him off (could it be that Samoa Joe is afraid of Morishima??)

If someone ever wanted to give me a wrestling match for my birthday, the best match I could hope for would be Austin Aries vs. Davey Richards. Well it's not my birthday, but ROH gave me the match anyway -- and what a spectacular match it was! ( 8 / 10 ). It's one of those matches you just can't do it justice by typing words; you just have to see it to appreciate it.

During intermission, Gary Michael Cappetta interview Lacey, Jimmy Jacobs and Colt Cabana. Lacey bitched out Jimmy Jacobs for constantly losing, while Colt Cabana kept checking out Lacey's butt. When the interview was over, Lacey made plans with Cabana for the night, and you could almost hear Jimmy's heart breaking into a gazillion pieces.

Delirious, who has been begging Commissioner Jim Cornette for bigger matches, scored a victory over Top of Class Trophy winner Shane Hagadorn in a forgettable match. Delirious did his crazy lizard-man routine and made short work of Hagadorn ( 4 / 10 ).

In a battle for ROH pride, Samoa Joe took on Roderick Strong in a hard-hitting strong-style match. At this point I had pretty much gotten used to the small outdoor tent they were working in, but once in a while I would notice it and chuckle to myself. It's not a BAD thing it's just a very "unique" environment for an ROH event. It's like playing a baseball game on a football field - it's still the same game it just looks funny. As you can imagine there was some stiff action involved which caused me to cringe with pain. There was a few slow moments (methodical would be a better word) to this bout, which I've learned usually means the next match is going to blow the roof off. Samoa Joe proved his legendary status in ROH with a victory over Roderick Strong after a crowd-popping Death Valley Driver off the second ropes ( 8 / 10 ). That's going to hurt tomorrow!

The main event was an example of the kind of match I live for. It's always a special treat when ROH imports some Japanese talent for their events. Although the circus tent in East Windsor, Connecticut is a long way from the Tokyo Dome, the NOAH athletes still put on a spectacular performance for the ROH faithful. It was KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji taking on the Briscoe Brothers in an international tag team match. Marufuji shook hands with both Briscoes before the match, but KENTA refused, as he has done in the past, and gave them the finger instead! KENTA is the one who has the problem with the Briscoes, he just brought Marufuji to be his tag team partner. KENTA showed the Briscoes who was boss by destroying one of the brothers with his patented Go-To-Sleep -- in my opinion the greatest finisher in wrestling today ( 8.5 / 10 ). It was a really good and interesting match but fell below my admittedly high expectations. This should have been a 9.5 but there was something missing this time around.

DVD Extras: Due to some weather issues, and the problems caused by the circus tent they were performing in, the event portion of this DVD was cut to about 2:30 as opposed to the usual 3:00 -- but they do make up for it with a couple of "extras" such as; The Heartbreak Express vs Black Market in an Anything Goes match at an Full Impact Pro event, plus Sara Del Rey vs Rain from the SHIMMER Volume 4 DVD. Both matches are great and represent their brands extremely well.

Final Thoughts: If you're picky about what ROH DVD's you purchase you probably wouldn't like this one unless you're really salivating to see Joe vs. Strong. There were a lot of solid matches but the storyline progression was lacking. The next release, Glory by Honor V: Night 2 from New York City, is the DVD to get; it will feature KENTA vs. American Dragon and a rare appearance by the legendary Bruno Sammartino.

If you would like to purchase this or any other ROH DVD, please check out ROHwrestling.com ---- if you need some convincing, you can check out streaming video of various ROH matches for free at www.ROHVideos.com