Samoa Joe “Total Domination”

From Back to Basics on March 12, 2005
Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal vs. CM Punk & Spanky
This was a good enough match. Spunky got his ass destroyed. Stevie Richards interfering at the end was very confusing.
Winners: Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal

From Manhattan Mayhem on May 7th, 2005
For the Ring of Honor Pure Championship
Samoa Joe vs. Jay Lethal (champion)
Right off the bat I loved the gaudy decor of wherever this show was being held. Great chandeliers! This wasn't as boring and snooty as I thought one of these "pure" matches would be. I was worried it'd just be rest holds. But it was just a few dumb rules that never really mattered. Good match.
Winner: Samoa Joe (new Ring of Honor Pure Champion)
Afterwards a bunch of gangsta guys attack Lethal and Joe. I know Low Ki, Homicide and Julius Smokes were among them. Low Ki cut a promo but the audio was so bad I could barely make out a word he said.

From Manhattan Mayhem on May 7th, 2005
Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal vs. Homicide & Low Ki w/Julius Smokes
This was an impromptu brawl after the main-event of the show following the previous match on the set. This was entertaining but rather short. Pretty vicious finishing move.
Winners: Homicide & Low Ki

For the Ring of Honor Pure Championship
From New Frontiers on June 4th, 2005
Samoa Joe (champion) vs. James Gibson
This match was really good. Parts of it were kind of a squash (Joe on Gibson, obviously) but when Gibson did manage some offence it was good. And the Pure rules actually did affect things, as Gibson ran out of rope breaks. Although my eyes saw Joe let go of his submission before Gibson grabbed the ropes the third time .
Winner: Samoa Joe

For the Ring of Honor Pure Championship
From Escape New York on July 9th, 2005
Samoa Joe (champion) vs. Austin Aries
This was a pretty good match too. Not quite as good as the previous one but I saw a little of what people see in Austin Aries.
Winner: Samoa Joe

From the Homecoming on July 23rd, 2005
Samoa Joe, Jay Lethal & James Gibson vs. the Rottweilers w/Julius Smokes
This match was okay. There was quite a long stretch where the Rottweilers were triple teaming Jay Lethal and I was like, "why aren't Joe and Gibson jumping in here?".
Winners: the Rottweilers

From Joe vs. Kobashi on October 1st, 2005
Samoa Joe w/Jay Lethal vs. Kenta Kobashi
This match was fucking legit! I think I may have gotten a concussion just watching it. There was nothing pretty here. Slaps, chops, punches and knees to the head. Just two dudes beating the high holy fuck out of one another. I loved every second of it. I've actually watched it twice. A few days after first watching it I sat my kids down and made them watch it.
Winner: Kenta Kobashi

From Vendetta on November 11th, 2005
Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels w/Sister Allison Danger
Disc one should have just ended after that last match. I need a cigarette. This match though was still very good.
Winner: Samoa Joe

Disc 2

Recap of the longest feud in Ring of Honor history: Samoa Joe verses Christopher Daniels, which started in 2002. It probably would have made more sense to end disc one with the Kenta Kobashi match then show this before the match against Daniels that closed disc one. But it was probably a hype video for something else. They did beat the piss out of one another over the course of their feud, as shown in this very long hype package (almost five minutes exactly).

From Dragon Gate Challenge on March 30, 2006
Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels w/Allison Danger
A lot of anger between the two at the start of this match, which was being called the final chapter in their feud. So that previous promos inclusion makes sense now. This was a pretty good match. The initial viciousness was dialled down a bit after the initial few minutes. And the ending was pretty good.
Winner: Christopher Daniels

From Time to Man Up on March 30th, 2006 (one of those dates has to be wrong, or Joe drove from Detroit to Long Island and Man'ed Up)
Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles
This was AJs last match in Ring of Honor before heading for the greener pastures and brighter future of...TNA full-time. Some nice carpet surrounding the ring. I liked this match better than the last one. AJ is an exciting guy to watch. I think he may have lost a tooth or broken his jaw towards the beginning of the match taking a fall on the apron and the first half of the match suffered because of it. It also wasn't very long at all. So while I liked it I expected a lot more.
Winner: Samoa Joe

From Glory by Honor V, Night 1 on September 15th, 2006
Samoa Joe vs. Roderick Strong
This was a really good match that actually made Roderick look better than Joe. Roderick took a pounding though and the final move was pretty brutal.
Winner: Samoa Joe

From Glory by Honor V, Night 2 on September 16th, 2006
Samoa Joe & Homicide w/Julius Smokes vs. the Briscoes
This was a very good, brutal match. The Briscoes got it worse (Jay took one Suplex towards the end that should have broken his neck) but they served up a good helping themselves.
Winners: Samoa Joe & Homicide

From Fifth Year Festival: NY on February 16th, 2007
Samoa Joe vs. Takeshi Morishima
When I was watching AJ Style final RoH match a few matches ago I was asking myself if Joe's RoH farewell wasn't to far behind it. This was the first match in his "RoH farewell tour" before heading for greener pastures and a better future in...TNA? I like Joe's matches (obviously, I'm watching this set) but I like his matches against these big Japanese guys the best. He and them really beat the shit out of one another. However this one wasn't nearly as good as the Kenta Kobashi match but it was still good and stiff. Morishima bled the hard way from the nose almost right from the beginning.
Winner: Samoa Joe

From Fifth Year Festival: Chicago on February 24th, 2007
Samoa Joe & Homicide vs. Takeshi Morishima & Nigel McGuinness
This match was good but I started disc two this sitting and I actually found myself dozing off by its midpoint and had to go do something else for a half hour.
Winners: Takeshi Morishima & Nigel McGuinness

From Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool on March 3rd, 2007
Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness
This was a good match too but I keep finding my interest waning. But the finishing Muscle Buster on the ring apron was exceptionally nasty. The match seems over after that but Joe asks Nigel to come shake his hand as he (Nigel) is being helped out of the ring. Nigel can barely stand on his own but Joe furiously calls him back. The match continues.
Winner: Samoa Joe

From Fifth Year Festival: Finale on March 4th, 2007
Samoa Joe vs. Homicide w/Julius Smokes
So this was Joe's last match in Ring of Honor before becoming exclusive to TNA. It was a good match and Joe was playing a bit different a character.
Winner: Samoa Joe
Afterwards Joe grabs a mic and thanks the Ring of Honor fans and wrestlers.

Retrospective vignette on his Ring of Honor career.
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I was a little disappointed in this video. I've seen better matches from Joe on other people's comps. One against Homicide on his “Notorious 187” comp comes to mind. And the steel cage match against Jay Briscoe on the first Briscoe comp too. I even saw glimpses of what I think were probably better matches during the last vignette on this video. It’s one of three compilations I know of that Ring of Honor has done for Joe so maybe it’s just three lesser of the three. Like, this had no matches from his almost two year World Heavyweight title reign. This was the cheapest one on their online site so maybe there’s a reason for that.

But still, the Kenta Kobashi match is worth buying this set for alone. And there are some other decent matches worth watching on here too. I just found myself getting rather bored from the beginning of the second disc onward. It got to the point where I was calling the Powerbomb into the STF into the Crossface. I was calling it every time by the end of the video.

Let’s face it; the Kenta Kobashi match is the selling point of this DVD and everything else is just garnish.

Recommended but only for those who want to see the “rest of Samoa Joe”.