I’m your new ROH reviewer/columnist/news poster, and I’m glad to be on board here on insidepulse.com as a member of Team ROH. My name is Thomas Kilduff, and I live in the UK. This is my first show review of any kind, and I have only ever reviewed one match before, so if this blows, I’ll (hopefully) improve in the future. I will be happy to receive any feedback on this review, good or bad, cause IT THE ONLY WAY I’LL LEARN! So please feel free to leave any remarks, and correct me where I have gone wrong. I am a huge ROH mark, and have been interested in the company since the very first show.
If you want to find out more about me (and why wouldn’t you?), visit my LiveJournal here
This is the start of my run of 2004 shows, to get everyone up to speed with ROH into 2005.
Show Background:
This is the first ROH show in 2004, and follows the brilliant ‘Final Battle 2003’ show, which saw ROH take on AJPW in a supercard. Basically, the Second City Saints (CM Punk, Colt Cabana & Ace Steel) were on a revenge path to the Prophecy (Christopher Daniels, Dan Maff, BJ Whitmer & Allison Danger), after Whitmer joined the Prophecy at ‘Final Battle’, when it was revealed that he took out former SCS member Lucy at ‘Wrath of the Racket’. Dan Maff had sworn on his fathers grave to CM Punk that the Prophecy had nothing to do with the attack, and was annoyed that he had been kept in the dark about the whole Lucy attack.
Samoa Joe was feuding with the Briscoe brothers, and faced Jay at ‘Tradition Continues’ (in a ****+ affair, which drew huge comparisons to Sting v Vader), and Mark at ‘Final Battle’ for the ROH title. Joe was now after the Briscoe’s tag titles, and enlisted ‘American Dragon’ Bryan Danielson as his partner. ROH were also setting up for the Pure Title inaugural tournament which would take place at the 2nd anniversary show in February.
From Wilmington, OH.
– Prophecy promo, Daniels says that they will finish the Second City Saints, TONIGHT!
– Samoa Joe’s Ring; today, abdominal stretch. American Dragon interrupts, and they trade techniques, and argue between them. Joe is all about the tag titles tonight; Danielson wants Joe’s ROH title.
Opening Match: Matt Stryker v Alex Shelly (3 Rope Break Rule)
I like Shelly, not so keen on Stryker though. Stryker had just won the Field of Honor tourney at Final Battle 2003 in a so so match with BJ Whitmer. 2004 would be a break out year for Shelly; he turned out consistently solid efforts. This is a 3 rope break rule match, in which you are only allowed three rope breaks, once they are used, the ropes are in play, and submissions and pins cannot be broken by grabbing the ropes. This really gives a lot of room to move in the finish to the matches, which is a good thing. The match is effectively a test for the forthcoming pure division, which would have similar rules.
Shelly grabs the arm to start with, and they trade arm-locks, ending with Stryker missing an elbow drop. More arm-locks, Shelly does some nice gymnastics to relieve the pressure, and traps Stryker in a standing octopus stretch, and he grabs the ropes to lose a rope break (1-0).
They go back to a lock up, and speed up a little, as they hit the ropes and armdrags by Stryker, into an armbar, and Shelly goes to the ropes to force the break (1-1). Shelly snapmares and gets a nice double arm submission, reversed into a pin for 2. Notice how Stryker forced out of the submission rather than going to the ropes for a break, nice dynamic of this match type. Dropkick and hurricarana by Shelly, as they trade armbars again.
Pinfall exchange, won by Shelly. Stryker misses a blind charge, but powerslams Shelly coming off the top rope, and pin fall is broken up by the ropes for Shelly’s second break (2-1). Stryker almost rips Shelly’s knee out with a dragon screw off the top, as he goes to work on the leg. Shelly forces out of a toehold, and hits an enziguiri. La mahestrol gets two, and he hits Stryker with a neck drop to the injured knee, well that was silly of him. Alex spins him round, and bridges up, on the injured knee. He hangs him in the ropes, and chokes Stryker, which causes a rope break (2-2), that was an illegal move though.
Anyway, Shelly falls off the top rope, hanging his knee on the top turnbuckle, so Stryker puts him in the Stryker lock (modified Indian death lock) for Shelly’s final rope break (3-2), and puts him in it again for the submission. ***1/4. Match was good, a few issues with the physiology, working on the arm early on, then moving to the knee. The rules also need to be clarified.
HWA Title Match: Nigel McGinness (C) v Cody Hawk
That is how Nigel’s name is spelt on the back of the DVD box anyway; email me if I am wrong. Hawk works on the arm, and kicks the ribs to start, until Nigel Arabian presses his way out of an arm lock. Nice reversal. They trade pinfall attempts, then forearms, until McGinness gets a Cactus clothesline to send them both to the floor. Fight on the outside sees McGinness pulled head first into the ring pole, which looked really nasty. There is a huge cut above Nigel’s eye, have to believe that is hardway. Anyway, Hawk gets a muscle buster for two, and then a face first electric chair. McGinness comes back with some really nice looking pinning combinations, but runs into a funny looking suplex for 2. However, showing you cannot keep a Brit down, flips Hawk over, and pins him **. Match was nothing special.
– It’s time for GOOD TIMES, GREAT MEMORIES, LIVE FROM CHICARGO, not Wilmington. Ace Steel is the special guest this week. Hilarity ensues as Ace explains that he got into the business because he and his mum won a bowling tournament, and Colt was the 1993 hopscotch champ, beating the greatest one legged midget in the final. CM Punk stops the fun, and tells the SCS to get serious for tonight.
Pure Title Tournament Qualifier: Jimmy Jacobs v Chris Sabin
Chain sequence to start, ends with Sabin hitting the AJ Styles dropkick sequence. Crowd get behind him with “Hail Sabin” chants. Jacobs gets fired up when Sabin attempts to throw his head into the turnbuckle, cause he is Bruiser Brody II. Comes back by biting the forehead of Sabin, and gets a furry yakuza kick for 2. HUSS camel clutch is escaped, and Sabin stops a headscissors, and the sequence ends up with a brutal dropkick to the back of the head for Jacobs. To the outside, and Jacobs gets flung into the rails.
Back in, Sabin puts him in a cross armed surfboard choke, well that’s something new to me. Jacobs flips out of a power-bomb attempt, and hits an STO into the corner for a double KO. Cool. Jacobs HUSSES up, and gets a kiss of death (reverse pedigree) for 2. A fantastic spot follows, as Sabin catches Jimmy coming off the top rope, and hits a brain buster, words cannot do it justice. Jimmy reverses a cradle shock into an inverted DDT. Back senton off the top gets knees.
Jacobs eventually hits his running furry yakuza boot on the top rope, but Sabin fights back into a cradle shock off the top (!) for the 3 count. *** Good match, but there was not much pure wrestling in the match, considering it was a pure qualifier. More of a strong style match.
Four Corner Survival: “The Original XTC” Jimmy Rave v Caprice “Ice” Coleman v “The Soul Assassin” Rainman v “Technician” Todd Sexton
What’s this, the battle of the crappy monikers? Rave and Sexton start, do nothing of note. Rainman and Coleman in, and jabs send Rainman to the outside, Rave follows him out with a springboard plancha. Sexton gets tagged by a reverse kick from Rainman, as they all trade shots, with nothing spectacular happening. Rainman gets a protobomb for 2. Sexton and Coleman come in, and this leads to the standard four way submission in these matches. Rave gets back-dropped to the floor, and Sexton almost KILLS himself with a suicide dive, probably so he did not have to watch any more of this match. Rainman hits a rolling senton onto the pile, and Coleman follows him out with a springboard plancha.
Coleman is then clearly too late to brake up a pin by Sexton on Rave, and gets a real ugly looking TKO for 2. Rainman goes all Kidman like with a spinebuster on Coleman, as everyone hits their signatures, and pinfalls get broken up at 2. Rave gets his running knee for the pin on Sexton. *3/4
– Backstage, AJ congratulates Rave on the win, and says he is ready for him.
AJ Styles v Homicide
This is built as a ‘Dream match’, and I agree. Homicide was the definite MVP for ROH in 2003, with show-stealing match after show-stealing match. They hit the mat early, neither man can get the advantage. Homicide jaws with the fans, as he starts his subtle heel turn, which would occur at ‘Reborn Stage One’. AJ eventually takes advantage with his dropkick sequence, and suplexes Homicide. Baseball slide is missed on the outside, and AJ is tossed into the rail. Styles does his usual on the outside, and gets a 2 count back in. Homicide fights back with a drop kick, and SOMEONE HAS A DIRTY FACE, it’s face wash time! Butterfly suplex off the top rope gets 2, another one is blocked for an AJ cross body. 2 counts all round.
Discus lariat is reversed into an Ace crusher by H, but AJ keeps control with a sloppy backbreaker. Suplex combo by Homicide, but AJ gets a hotshot, and a kick to put Homicide outside. AJ’s dive is blocked, and it’s tope con halo time, but he almost kills himself on it. What a bump that was! Homicide wants to keep going though, and AJ hits a catatonic variant. H reverses an electric chair for an attempted cop killa, fails, but a low blow gets a piledriver. Swandive headbutt missed, AJ kills Homicide with a lariat, and a Pele kick, but gets a yakuza kick in the mouth for his troubles. Forearm exchange, and AJ rolls through on a hurricarana into a Styles clash for the pin. ***1/2 Match was really smoking before the injury, but a solid effort from both.
– Intermission. Les Thatcher interviews the Carnage Crew, and Special K has a new member. Really thrilling…
Scramble Match: Special K (Slim J, Joey Matthews, Dixie & Hydro) v The Carnage Crew (Loc & DeVito) and The Ring Crew Express (Dunn & Marcos)
Oh goody, it’s Joey Matthews. Mellow is the new member of Special K at ringside. Scramble matches are lucha style tag matches, where no tags are needed; once someone exits the ring, another member can enter. As you can imagine, these matches quickly degenerate into spot fests, with no one selling anything. Some of these matches in the past have been good though; see Scramble Madness in 2002 for a fine example. The Carnage Crew and Special K were feuding here, which started at Wrath of the Racket in 2003, where Special K cheated to win a scramble match.
DeVito starts a ‘Joey sucks’ chant, I agree. This is ‘reduced rules’ apparently, since the match has very few rules to begin with, you can anticipate some screwy ending straight away. Marcos and Joey start with some standard stuff, nothing of note happens. Slim J and DeVito come in, and guess who wins that match-up. Slim J oversells everything, really badly. DeVito keeps beating on him, until Hydro comes in and takes a Carnage-Plex (similar to the Au Revoir that La Resistance use, the Carnage Crew were using it first btw). This leads into one of those silly multiple submissions on the heel team, where everyone gets put into a submission hold.
Everyone brawls on the outside, as Mellow hits the pile with a springboard rolling senton. RCE double team Joey, and hit a stage dive to the outside. Dixie is busted open, why and how I don’t know? See this match does not need blood, it is a spot fest, and I know that CC and Special K are feuding, but I think that cheapens the effect when someone blades in a match like this. Anyway, Slim J comes off the top with a sky twister press (why are they all still standing in the same place if people keep diving on them?).
Back in, Joey channels the sprit of Raven by drop-toe-holding DeVito into a chair, which busts him open too. Everyone then hits their signature moves, with nobody selling anything. Again there are too many brawls to call, and the match has completely fallen apart. CC hit a Carnage bomb (splashmountain neckbreaker combo) on Dixie, but there is no ref to count the pin. Abyss come in (making his ROH debut) and gets Loc with a torture rack drop (how fitting for this match, torture) to finish things. Thank god. *
Abyss destroys the face team after the match. The Special K/Abyss angle went nowhere, partly due to the TNA situation, and the fact he sucks.
ROH Tag Team Title Match: Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe v Samoa Joe & “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson
This is Joe’s second shot at the Briscoe’s tag titles; the first was with AJ at ‘The Conclusion’ in 2003. Dragon tries to twist Mark’s head off to start, Jay comes in and does not fair much better. Really slow start to the match. Joe quickly gets the advantage on Mark with vicious crossfaces. They trade hold on the mat, which Joe again gets the best of. The faces go to work on Mark’s arm. Dragon really looks like Luke Skywalker tonight. Nice dropkick gets two on Mark, and he goes back to the arm.
Cheap shot and leg lariat gives the Briscoe’s the advantage, and they go all STRONG STYLE on Joe with some really hard strikes. Joe comes back with an enziguiri. Running forearm from Dragon, aeroplane spin into a Swandive headbutt gets 2. A sweet doomsday device stops Dragon’s offensive flurry however, and Briscoe’s control the match with some sold heel team work.
Danielson eventually hits a roaring forearm, and tags out. Joe is a HOUSE OF FIRE, catches Mark coming in with an STO. Powerbomb into an STF, but Mark escapes. Rolling cradle then a choke is broken up by Jay. Dragon comes in with cattle mutilation, which is also broken up. Springboard doomsday device is blocked, showing Dragon has learnt from earlier, and the match breaks down. OLE~! Kick on Mark, and Danielson kills Jay with a dragon suplex. That gets 2 showing that Jay can come back from the dead. ANOTHER OLE~! Kick. But Jay gets a J-Driller (Tiger Driver ’98, I’m told that this is different to the Tiger Driver ’91) to retain the titles. ***3/4. Really fun match, started slow, but really built into a fast pace.
Six Man Tag Team Match: The Prophecy (Christopher Daniels, Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer w/ Allison Danger) v The Second City Saints (CM Punk, “Classic” Colt Cabana & “Crazy” Ace Steel w/ Tracy Brookes)
Everyone is wearing red and black tonight, do you reckon they had a meeting to decide that. NO CLASHING OUTFITS IN THIS FEUD! Punk stalls, and dares Daniels to cross the line, but tags out to Ace, whose hair is in need of cutting. I comment on the outfits of the wrestlers, and give hair care advice to the wrestlers, what it this, a Triple H match recap? Pretty quick but standard stuff to start, Ace takes advantage with headlocks. Daniels gets a couple of armdrags, as the match breaks down. The Prophecy backdrop Daniels over the top rope on to the SCS, and we have a pier six brawl.
Back in, Maff has a DIRTY FACE, Punk thinks, so he gives him a face wash for free. How kind of him. Both teams trade the dominance, as the Prophecy go to work on Cabana’s arm. Maff gets clotheslined over the top, and is posted by Ace and Colt. He is the proverbial crimson mask. Mafia is the face in peril, as Ace hits his dropkick into the corner. Really boring heel heat segment follows. Maff hits the cannonball on Punk, but cannot make the tag. Nothing of note happens… again. SCS hit moves off the top, but that only fires Maff up, and a lariat on Punk allows him to make the HOT TAG. Daniels owns the SCS, blue thunder driver gets 2. Colt flies with an Asai moonsault, Maff follows out with a tope. The crowd is dead, as Ace also hits a tope, and Punk springboards out with a crossbody. Daniels outdoes them all with an Arabian press on the lot. HAVE THAT!
Into the ring, Colt blocks an attempted angels wings, and replies with a swinging DDT on Daniels. Everyone hits high impact moves; BJ with a saido suplex, Ace with a tigerbomb, Maff with a half-nelson suplex, Punk with a mule kick/enziguiri combo, then a London esc DDT. Pepsi twist is blocked by Daniels, and gets his double jump moonsault for 2. Both men wipe each other out with a crossbody.
The seconds then get into the ring, and have a cat fight. Punk chokes Danger, and BJ misses him with a chair, but gets the ref. Pier six again, and the ref declares the match a no contest. BULLSHIT. Fight continues however, even between the women. Tracey takes a man sized bump with a wrist clutch exploder, and almost falls out of her bra in the process. Lucy makes her comeback, and gives BJ a low blow. That will learn him.
The fight ends up with Daniels taking a face first Pepsi plunge (top rope pedigree) through a table. ** Daniels does a stretcher job, on the crappiest looking stretcher I’ve ever seen to sell the injury. Ending was a bit of a cop out, but they were planning for this feud to go all year, so I guess it makes sense. This is not the MOTY they keep on hyping on commentary on future shows, far from it in fact.
Thomas Kilduff
