easily defeat Homicide. Homicide and Corino would begin a four-year rivalry, with Corino criticizing Homicide's lifestyle and somewhat checkered past. The feud culminated in a match at the One Year Anniversary Show on February 8, 2003, in Queens, New York. Homicide was the hometown favorite, but lost to Corino following interference from The Group, Corino's entourage. After the match, Corino applied a cobra sleeper to Homicide, instigating a worked riot. After regaining some momentum by defeating Christopher Daniels on the April 12 ROH event, The Epic Encounter, Homicide defeated CM Punk in a match for the number one contendership on April 26 at Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II. Homicide faced ROH World Champion Samoa Joe on May 31 at Do or Die, hoping not only to win the title, but to gain revenge on Joe for helping Corino defeat him in his hometown. Despite the support of his manager, Julius Smokes, and his close friend and former student, Low Ki, Homicide lost to Joe, after getting distracted by Smokes and Ki arguing outside the ring. Homicide was undefeated in ROH throughout June and July, and on August 16, 2003, at Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies he defeated Corino in a rematch of their February encounter. After twenty minutes of fighting which saw both men bleeding and carrying injuries, Homicide trapped Corino in a modified STF, prompting Corino's corner man, Guillotine LaGrande, to throw in the towel, awarding the match to Homicide. In the course of the match, Corino suffered a legitimate ruptured eardrum, and permanently lost most of the hearing in his left ear following a stiff slap to the side of the head from Homicide. Following high-profile victories over Samoa Joe and B. J. Whitmer, Homicide faced Corino for a third time on November 29, 2003, at War of the Wire in a barbed wire match. This time Julius Smokes threw in the towel for Homicide after Corino throttled him with a length of barbed wire. Corino offered Homicide a handshake after the match, indicating that he finally respected Homicide, but Homicide refused to shake his hand. The Rottweilers (2004) Homicide faced A.J. Styles at The Battle Lines Are Drawn on January 10, 2004. After Styles was thrown from the ring, Homicide dove over the top rope in pursuit and landed in the third row of the audience, briefly knocking himself unconscious and injuring his shoulder and ribs. Styles quickly