ROH The Rise Of Generation Next (FSM 88; Dec 12)

Information: - DVD Region: Region Free - Distributor: Ring Of Honor - Price: $19.99 - Other info: Two discs - Release: Out now - Weblink: www.ROHWrestling.com

Generation Next was a 2004 Ring Of Honor pay-per-view that gave birth to a quite superb stable. Alex Shelley, Roderick Strong, Jack Evans and Austin Aries were the original members, and for 18 wonderful months in the 2000s, this quartet helped make ROH the premier independent promotion in North America. This might not sound like that big a compliment, but if - like a certain CM Punk - you consider what is now Impact Wrestling to be an upscale indy, the remark assumes a different level of importance.

That all four original members of Generation Next wound up working for Jeff and Jerry Jarrett is but a further indication of how hot the foursome came to be. When founder Shelley was kicked out and replaced with the future Evan Bourne - then working as Matt Sydal - a halcyon era began that's wonderfully captured in this compilation.

The Rise Of Generation Next spans two discs and 17 bouts, and takes in both the group's early heel run, and their well-executed face turn. With in-ring contributions from Jimmys Jacobs and Rave, Mark and Jay Briscoe, Abyss, Jay Lethal (during his "Special K" sting), Matt Stryker (the good one), Ace Steel, and the aforementioned CM Punk, you won't be surprised to hear there's no end of great wrestling on show.

What's perhaps more compelling is the confident manner in which the ROH management team of Gabe Sapolsky, Rob Feinstein and the late Doug Gentry assembled the faction; although he was a consistent performer throughout his time with TNA, you rarely got the impression that the booking committee was behind Alex Shelley. But with only two years experience to his name, Sapolsky et al saw enough in him to throw him the ball. He certainly ran with it, too, taking on all-comers, leading a demolition of Ricky Steamboat that remains a fine example of how to use a wrestling legend to get young guys over, as the subsequent storyline helped to make Punk and Steel two of the biggest babyfaces in the company.

BREAKING UP FOR THE BETTER
The aplomb with which Shelley moved away from the quartet also impresses, what with it providing the impetus for another faction. Of course, The Embassy, led by Prince Nana and featuring Jimmy Rave and Abyss, was a lesser entity, but then, that was kind of the point - some bad guys are merely meant to be competitive rather than unbeatable. More pertinently, and as is clearly illustrated here, the Generation Next versus Embassy storyline was an effective way of bringing the other Gen-Nexters into the limelight, and of ushering the then 21-year-old Matt Sydal into the fold.

Speaking of Sydal, those familiar with him only from his WWE run will be left open-mouthed by his work here. Less muscular, more agile, and pitted against guys of a similar size, he supplies thrills on a par with a young Rey Mysterio. The other members of the stable are also rather different animals from the men we know today; okay, so the self-proclaimed "The Messiah Of The Backbreaker", Roderick Strong, hasn't shaken up his image too much, but Austin Aries is - slightly! - less arrogant than the guy who's been lighting up Impact Wrestling for the last couple of years. As for Jack Evans, it's amazing to report that there was a time when he was even more death-defying that he is today. If his heroics here don't leave you aching to pick up his AAA back catalogue, you really ought to check your pulse.

If there's a downside here - besides the expected low-rent visuals and audio, at least by the highest WWE standards - it's that, while Evans, Aries, Strong and Sydal have all since found a niche in the wrestling world, Alex Shelley - the man who got Generation Next off the starting grid - still appears somewhat adrift. One can only hope his current tag team title run in New Japan provides the answers he's been looking for, since anyone who watches The Rise Of Generation Next will be left in little doubt that this Motor City Machine Gun ought to be a real big shot in the business.