Homicide's first main independent exposure came in
2002 when he was recruited by the upstart
Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion. He and Boogalou wrestled on the first ever ROH show,
The Era of Honor Begins, on
February 23, and lost to the
Boogie Knights by disqualification after they used a
rubber chicken as a weapon. The Natural Born Sinners were a dominant tag team in ROH, beating
The Carnage Crew at the
July 27 Crowning a Champion event, and also won at the
August 24 Honor Invades Boston event, defeating
Tony Mamaluke and
James Maritato.
After Boogalou suffered an injury and then jumped ship to
Rob Black's Xtreme Pro Wrestling promotion (Homicide was also offered a contract by XPW but opted to remained with ROH), Homicide appeared alone at
Glory by Honor. Responding to challenge from
The Backseat Boyz, he invited anyone in the locker room to be his partner.
Steve Corino responded to his offer, and Corino and Homicide faced the Backseat Boys later that night. In the course of the match, Corino
turned on Homicide after Homicide accidentally hit him,
superkicking his partner and leaving the ring, enabling the Backseat Boyz to 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, 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
riot.
After regaining some momentum by defeating
Christopher Daniels on the
April 12 ROH event,
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 cleanly to Joe.
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.
On
December 27 at
Final Battle 2003 the ROH roster faced a number of
All Japan Pro Wrestling wrestlers in an inter-promotional contest. Homicide lost to
Satoshi Kojima a wrestler whose influence can be seen in Homicide wrestling style unfortunately in this match Homicide suffered a hard bump to the head, which resulted in a match that was below expected standards.
2003 is regarded as Homicide's best year in ROH in regards to the amount of quality matches he was a part of leading to him receiving the ROH MVP of that year.
Homicide faced
A.J. Styles at
The Battle Lines Are Drawn on
January 10, 2004. After Styles was thrown from the ring, Homicide dived 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 capitalized on Homicide's vulnerabilities, defeating him following a
Styles Clash. After defeating CM Punk at
The Last Stand, Homicide took a hiatus from Ring of Honor to "find himself", sending word through Julius Smokes that when he returned, he wanted a shot at Samoa Joe and the ROH Heavyweight Championship.
Homicide challenged Samoa Joe for the ROH World Championship once more at
Reborn: Stage 1 on
April 23. Homicide showed signs of anger and frustration throughout the match, and was eventually disqualified for throwing a
fireball at Joe. After the match, Homicide turned
heel by attacking several referees and trying to further injure the badly burned Joe. In subsequent weeks, Homicide defeated fan favorites
Bryan Danielson and
Spanky, cheating and threatening referees in both matches. Homicide faced Joe for the ROH Heavyweight Championship for a third time on
May 22 at
Generation Next, with Joe retaining in a match which saw him bleed for the first time in ROH. Homicide and Joe continued to feud throughout the summer of 2004, with Homicide recruiting a stable known as
The Rottweilers (originally Low Ki,
Ricky Reyes, Rocky Romero and Julius Smokes) to help him defeat Joe. Despite the best efforts of The Rottweilers, Joe defeated Homicide to retain his title in a fourth match on
July 23 at
Death Before Dishonor II: Night 1. The Rottweilers worked as a unit throughout the remainder of 2004, helping one another win matches.
In
January 2005 Homicide began a "best of five" series with American Dragon. Homicide was victorious in the first two matches, a
submission match and a
taped fist match, but lost the remaining three matches - a
falls count anywhere match, a
lumberjack match and a
steel cage match at
The Final Showdown on
May 132005.
Following his loss to American Dragon, Homicide and the Rottweilers began a feud with Jay Lethal. On
May 7 at
Manhattan Mayhem, Homicide and Low-Ki teamed together to face Lethal and Samoa Joe. The match ended when Homicide gave Lethal
Da Cop Killa while Low-Ki delivered a
top rope double foot stomp, driving Lethal's neck into the ground. Lethal was
stretchered from the arena wearing a
neck brace, apparently badly injured.
With Lethal injured, Homicide turned his attentions to
James Gibson, whom he defeated on
June 12 at
The Future Is Now. After the match, The Rottweilers continued to attack Gibson until Lethal made his return and saved Gibson. This led to a match between Lethal and Homicide on
July 9 at
Escape from New York, which Homicide won. On
July 23 at
The Homecoming, Homicide and two fellow Rottweilers (Low-Ki and
Ricky Reyes) defeated Samoa Joe,
James Gibson and Jay Lethal in a six man tag match. Low-Ki fought Lethal to a double count out on
August 12 at
Redemption, and Homicide came to ringside after the match to attack Lethal. His plan was foiled by
Matt Hardy, who intercepted Homicide then defeated him in a scheduled singles bout. On
August 13 at
Punk: The Final Chapter, Lethal and Samoa Joe defeated Homicide and Low-Ki by disqualification after Homicide
elbow-dropped the referee. From that point on, Lethal began feuding primarily with Low-Ki.
In
September 2005, Homicide began feuding with
Colt Cabana. At
Glory By Honor IV on
September 17, he lost to Cabana via disqualification.
At
Unforgettable on
October 2 in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Homicide teamed with
Japanese wrestler
Kenta Kobashi to face Samoa Joe and his stablemate Low-Ki. Homicide and Kobashi won the match after Homicide took out Joe on the outside of the ring with a tope con hilo while in the ring Kobashi hit Low-Ki with a
lariat for the pin.
Homicide teamed with Low-Ki on
October 14 at
Enter the Dragon in a match that saw him lose to Cabana and his old rival Steve Corino, newly returned to the promotion. He faced Cabana in a singles match at
Vendetta on
November 5 that ended in a no contest. On
November 19 at
A Night of Tribute, Homicide faced Cabana once again in a no disqualification rematch. Following interference from Julius Smokes and
Grim Reefer, Homicide forced Cabana to submit by
strangling him with a
coat hanger.
On
December 3 in New York City at
Steel Cage Warfare, Homicide lost to Corino in a rematch from their feud of 2003. During the match, Homicide
separated his shoulder, but opted not to have surgery. As a result of his injury, Homicide was unable to compete at the following show,
Final Battle 2005. However, he did show up, but with the intent on killing Steve Corino. Following Corino's match, Homicide ran down to the ring and attacked him. Colt Cabana ran down to the ring to save Corino, only to have Homicide pour
Drano down his throat.
On
January 14, Homicide lost the FIP Heavyweight Championship to Bryan Danielson. On
February 25 at the
Fourth Anniversary Show, Homicide defeated Cabana in a "
Ghetto Fight". Homicide went on to defeat Cabana once again on
March 31. On
April 1, in a violent
Chicago Street Fight, Cabana finally defeated Homicide. Following the match, Homicide and Cabana embraced, with Cabana having won Homicide's respect.
Throughout mid 2006, Homicide resisted
Combat Zone Wrestling's invasion of Ring of Honor until
May 132006, when he defeated Necro Butcher after a wild brawl in Edison, New Jersey, which involved over 600 chairs being thrown into the ring by the fans. He also challenged Bryan Danielson for the ROH World Championship on June 3, but lost due to referee stoppage, prompting Homicide to attack referee
Todd Sinclair. After defeating
Chris Hero, the leader of the CZW invasion, on June 17, Homicide said he would quit Ring of Honor if he did not win the ROH World Championship by the end of the year. His frustration with Ring of Honor grew when he was counted-out during a
ROH Pure Championship bout with
Nigel McGuiness on June 24.
On July 15, Homicide took part in a five-on-five Cage of Death match pitting members of the Ring of Honor roster against members of the CZW roster, winning the bout for his team by pinning
Nate Webb. Following the match, Homicide told Ring of Honor commissioner
Jim Cornette that he wished to be rewarded with a shot at the ROH World Championship, a match with Steve Corino and the re-instatement of Low Ki, who Cornette had suspended several months earlier. After Cornette granted the first two "wishes" but refused to bring back Low Ki, Homicide
spat in his face, prompting Cornette and his bodyguard,
Adam Pearce, to beat Homicide down. A match was scheduled for
August 5 between Homicide and Pearce, which eventually turned into a tag team match involving Homicide, BJ Whitmer, Steve Corino and Adam Pearce.
Homicide then began teaming with Samoa Joe against the Briscoes. His feud with Jim Cornette came to an abrupt end when Cornette was fired by Ring of Honor on
November 42006. On
November 25, Homicide and Samoa Joe beat the Briscoes in a Street Fight, thus ending their feud.
Homicide then focused on facing Bryan Danielson for the ROH World Championship at
Final Battle 2006. He stated that if he did not win the ROH World Title at Final Battle, he would leave ROH. On
December 23, Homicide defeated Bryan Danielson in 29:12 to win the ROH title.
Adam Pearce &
Shane Hagadorn attacked Homicide at one point and it was stopped, but the ref refused to end it on a DQ. At another point, Danielson wouldn't break on the ropes and again the ref refused to call a DQ. Danielson even managed to get his hand on the rope after a
Cop Killa. Homicide finally won with a
Lariat. There was a big post-match celebration of the title change.
Homicide defended successfully against Chris Hero and Samoa Joe on the 26th and 27th of January. Surprisingly during the Homicide/Joe match, the majority of the crowd was totally against Homicide and was disappointed when he retained. Homicide then successfully defended the championship against
Jimmy Rave on February 16 in the same building where he won the belt, the
Manhattan Center in
New York City.
However, on the next evening (February 17) in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania National Guard Armory, Homicide was defeated for the ROH World Championship by
Takeshi Morishima, a Japanese professional wrestler visiting the United States. The two would compete against each other again at
Fifth Year Festivle: Chicago, when Homicide teamed with Samoa Joe to face Morishima and Nigel McGuinness.
Homicide was then chosen to face Samoa Joe at the
Fifth Year Festivle: Finale, in what was Joe's final match as an ROH regular.
On
March 302007, Homicide won a match against Christopher Daniels At
All Star Extravaganza 3 In Detroit, Michigan. After the match, Jim Cornette returned alongside Adam Pearce and Shane Hagadorn and they delivered a beating to Homicide until Colt Cabana and Delirious made the save.
The next night, Homicide in a surprise match teamed with Colt Cabana for the first time to defeat Brent Albright and Adam Pearce at
Supercard Of Honor 2. The match was originally scheduled to be just Homicide one on one with Albright, However it broke down in a no contest when Pearce came out and attacked Homicide. Colt Cabana came out to take down Pearce...but oddly enough he also made the save for Homicide, one year to the day of their brutal Chicago Street Fight. Colt said that last year in Chicago, after their Street Fight, Homicide showed him respect. Now Colt wants to return that respect, and team with Homicide against Pearce & Albright.
On
May 22007, Ring of Honor announced on their website that they had signed a
Pay-per-view deal with G-Funk Sports & Entertainment. Following the announcemt,
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling pulled Homicide and
Austin Aries, both under contracts with TNA, from all Ring of Honor shows. Homicide's final match was at "Good Times, Great Memories" held on
April 28, where he competed in a
Four Corners Survival match against
Brent Albright, BJ Whitmer and
Jimmy Rave. At "
Respect is Earned" on
May 12, the night ROH taped their first pay-per-view, Homicide returned to deliver a farewell speech in front of his hometown crowd of New York City.