ROH: Stars of Honor & Bloodstained Honor

Leading indie wrestling promotion Ring Of Honor recently inked a deal with KOCH Video to release a series of DVDs nationwide in stores across America - the first of which come in the form of Stars of Honor & Bloodstained Honor.

The two discs show the contrasting styles of the East-coast promotion, with wild brawls juxtaposed with crisp cutting edge wrestling. This has a definite echo of early ECW to it, and you can certainly draw comparisons with what's on show here to the hardcore styling of the likes of Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman which sat beside the mat classics offered up from Guerrero, Malenko and Benoit before they made the jump to the big two.

Indeed Stars of Honor focuses on the names who've passed through ROH on their way up (or on temporary hiatus from) the modern day big two of WWE and TNA, featuring matches from the likes of CM Punk, Matt Hardy and Samoa Joe in the 8 Match set. For those used to the WWE style it can take getting used the different approach in how matches are set out in ROH, as here the matches are generally given much more time and can take longer to get into their stride with a slower-paced, more technical style on show during the outset of many a match, but patience is rewarded as they build up the pace to thrilling climaxes and awesome displays of athleticism.

Highlights of this set for me are the opening match between CM Punk and Samoa Joe, which distils their rivalry into a more new fan-friendly 30 minute form and the low profile match between Bryan Danielson and Brian 'Spanky' Kendrick, which doesn't have the hype of word of mouth of many a ROH match, but for me is an excellent contest from bell to bell - showing stuff from Spanky that you don't really get to see in Umaga squash matches to be honest.

Bloodstained Honor however, takes a different tact in compiling the bloodiest brawls from ROH history and presenting them on one disc. Featuring many of the hottest rivalries in Ring of Honor history, fans of the hardcore style with lap up this side of the tag-team release. The two cages matches are my favourites from the set, partly as they feature the most actual wrestling in them - with Generation Next vs The Embassy stealing the show for me with 45 minutes of action that keeps up a fast pace throughout and somehow even manages to take it up a notch with the introduction of Jack Evans halfway.

If I'm being picky about the matches chosen I'd say Stars of Honor is a bit too heavy on Matt Hardy and Homicide matches, and I'd sacrifice their match together to showcase some of the current stars of the ROH roster in action. Whilst Bloodstained Honor for me contains too many of those brawls that can end up looking like those involved are just walking around the crowd holding hands and punching each other. Also commentary on a couple of matches is sorely missed, which would let new fans know a) What's going on and b) Who is doing it.

By no means perfect compilations, but maybe that is the point as these releases offer enough to draw new fans into the product and maybe explore the back catalogue of DVD releases that are the indie promotions lifeblood. These two DVDs offer an excellent introduction to Ring of Honor, and at a bargain price as well - I picked up the pair for £12 from Amazon.com including shipping, so for anyone curious to what Ring of Honor is about I'd recommend checking these out.