Historically Speaking: ROH Greatest Rivalries

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“It should be known that history is a discipline that has a great number of approaches.” – Ibn Khalduin of Tunis

The Opening Chapter
Last time out I looked at Ring of Honor’s commercial release Stars of Honor, which highlighted matches from stars who had since gone on to find national or international recognition in TNA or WWE. This time out I’m looking at ROH Greatest Rivalries, which looks to be great fun just by looking at the match list. So let’s kick this door open and see what we find.

Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard are once again hosting and doing nice informational bits to introduce each match.

Dog Collar Match
CM Punk v. Raven
“Death Before Dishonor” – Elizabeth, NJ – 7/19/03

Punk tries to get out of the dog collar stipulation by offering up other type of matches, including a bunkhouse stampede among others. Punk is playing heel and is running from Raven at the outset, hence the dog collar stipulation. Raven is in control in the beginning, including whipping Punk with the chain. The announcers explain this feud, bringing up Punk’s straight edge lifestyle and Raven’s well-know drug and alcohol abuse problems. Raven reminds Punk of his abusive, alcoholic father and thus doesn’t even respect him as an athlete. They also make note that Punk thinks he’s better than everyone else because of his lifestyle. Hence we have a heated backdrop for this match to play out on. And correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t these two teaming in The Gathering in TNA at this same time? Who says kayfabe is dead.

Punk is busted open early as they brawl on the outside. The match started out all Raven as the announcers play up Raven’s hardcore background and his vast experience in anything-goes environments like this. Punk finally gets an advantage as he reverses Raven’s Irish whip and sends him through a table that Raven had previously set up in the corner. Punk then takes advantage and uses a knee drop with the chain wrapped around his knee. Wouldn’t that hurt Punk’s knee almost as much as it would hurt Raven? Raven is now cut open as well as the pair battle on the outside of the ring. Punk is already wearing the proverbial crimson mask and the Ric Flair blonde-gone-blood red hairstyle. They are now out brawling in the middle of crowd, ECW style, but with a much more respectful crowd. A fan holds up his chair so Raven can run Punk’s head into it. Nice. That’s some crowd participation you don’t get with WWE. Raven climbs up the bleachers and does his trademark pose, but Punk pulls him down in what looked like a painful, unprotected spot. They finally make it back into the ring as Punk taunts him on the microphone. Raven makes the babyface comeback as Punk tried to mock him more the microphone. Raven hit a series of clotheslines and Jake Roberts-like kneelifts before finally getting the first two-count of the match. Raven accidentally lies out the ref with a chair as Colt Cabana (CM Punk’s tag partner) runs interference and drops Raven with a DDT on a chair. Punk then crawls over and gets the three count.

I had heard a lot about this match in the past so I was looking forward to finally seeing it. It was a good blood-filled brawl and reminded a lot of an old ECW match, in a good way. It’s always fun for me as fairly new Punk fan to see his old work, and I think he does play a great heel, but cosmetically I’m glad he dropped the gym shorts look. It makes him look like a jobber.

ROH World Title Championship Match
Samoa Joe (champion) v. Homicide
“Death Before Dishnor II, Part 1” – Wauwatosa, WI – 7/23/04

This match gets super-special ring announcing for Julius Smokes, Homicide’s manager, and both combatants. Joe was deep into his company-defining title reign by this point and Homicide was just looking for his shot; not a lot of heated back story here. Crowd chants “Homo-cide.” Lighting is really bad for this match, as everyone looks really bright; like when I used to tape shows the wrong way on a VCR tape. The ref kicks Low Ki, Rocky Romero and Julius Smokes out of the ring side area before they cause too much damage.

Once the match begins proper Joe takes the early advantage. The talking heads discuss both men’s signature moves, including the psychology of whether Homicide could actually get the much bigger Joe up for the Cop Killer. The match has been back and forth as both men have tried to gain an advantage, as I have found myself quite uninterested in this showdown so far. That match continued to go back and forth for a few minutes, and it finally picks up when they go to the outside. Homicide sits Joe in a chair, ready to do a running kick but Joe intercepts him and catches him with a beautiful belly-to-belly. Joe then returns the favor and gives ‘cide the kick that he was about to be the recipient of just moments earlier. The match goes back to the ring as Joe has taken control again. They continue to go back and forth as neither man keeps advantage for very long. Homicide kicks out Joe’s Muscle Buster, which I, and a lot of the crowd, was sure was the finish. Joe then drops him in a sick-looking Island Driver that I again was sure was the end. Finally Joe traps him the Kokina Clutch for the victory. After the match The Rottweillers return and lay an overly-long beating on Joe, as the announcers go silent. Surprisinly no one comes to Joe’s aid.

I didn’t really get into this match very much and only really popped for a few big spots, like Joe’s belly-to-belly on the outside and the nearfalls at the end of the match. I think a big part of it was that I have become quite familiar with both men by this point. There was nothing wrong with this match at all, I just wasn’t a fan.

First to Hit Their Finisher
AJ Styles (with Mick Foley) v. Jimmy Rave (with Prince Nana)
“Glory By Honor IV” – Lake Grove, NY – 9/17/05

The story here is that Rave was once Styles’ protégé but he turned on him and joined Nana and The Embassy. Styles recruited Foley to act as his second to counteract Nana’s potential interference. This is Foley’s last appearance in Ring of Honor after appearing for them off/on over the past year. The other story is that Rave stole AJ’s finisher, the Styles Clash, and has been using it as The Rave Clash. This is the final match and the blowoff to their long-standing feud, and the only way to win is for either man to hit their version of the Clash. The loser can never use it again. Thus there are no pinfalls, submissions, knock-outs, count-outs, time limit or a referee.

The opening minutes of the match is Styles just completely destroying Rave both in and out of the ring. Both men are also dressed in red trunks with silver trim and black boots, so it looks as if Rave had been stealing AJ’s “style” (no pun intended) as well. Jimmy ends up taking control after one of Nana’s Weapons of Masked Destruction tries to interfere, as the crowd chants “Die Jimmy Die.” They end up brawling to the outside with Rave keeping control. Back in the ring Rave keeps control and slows the pace of the match. They jockey over a German suplex until Rave hits him with the Ghana-rhea. I always wondered what that move was. Apparently it was one of the thousand moves Nova invented as it looked a lot like his old Simonizer. The pair fight up on the top rope above the commentators’ table until finally the inevitable happens, and they both go crashing through the wood. The have spent a lot of time in the match fighting over suplexes and AJ finally pays it off by hitting Rave with a brainbuster onto a steel chair. All of a sudden a bunch of Embassy goons run into the ring and Foley takes them out quickly with a chair. Meanwhile another table had been set up along time back and sure enough it comes into play for the finish as AJ drops Rave with a Styles Clash from the top rope through the table. Foley then drops Nana with a double arm DDT onto a chair. AJ and Foley celebrate and it looks as if AJ has the TNA X-Division Championship with him. Foley then gets on the mic and does his good-bye speech to Ring of Honor as I guess he’s going back to WWE, as apparently he hadn’t been there in that past year. I could never keep track of all of Foley’s random WWE stops and returns anyways. This is getting ridiculous as Foley continues to ramble on, steal AJ’s spotlight and make Rave and Nana look bad by lying there during his speech.

This is another match I had heard a lot about previously and am glad I finally got to see. I have always viewed Jimmy Rave as a jobber and this was my first time viewing him as a serious threat to someone. It was a good match, but the Mick Foley love-fest at the end put a bad taste in my mouth.

ROH World Tag Championship Match
Austin Aries & Roderick Strong (champion) v. Jay & Mark Briscoe
Unified – Liverpool, UK – 8/12/06

The talking heads put over Ring of Honor’s tag team scene and their ability to make their tag belts not only World Titles, but also a main event caliber championship. The crowd starts with dueling “Austin Aries-Roderick Strong” chants. Apparently this is these two teams’ third and final match during the Strong-Aries reign and this is The Briscoes’ last chance against the champs. The commentators announce that no ROH Championships have changed hands yet in 2006 but apparently that night’s main event is the unification between Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness for both the World and Pure Championships.

The match starts hot with back-and-forth action. Aries looks much different here than he does present day. The Briscoes are playing clear heels here as that alone makes this match seem so long ago. In the opening minutes it was a lot of high-energy, high-impact stuff and a lot of chops from both sides. But I can see now why Strong is known for his chops. They are just ridiculous, in a good way. Finally the match slows down as Strong and Aries take over with quick tags and innovative moves, like Strong’s full nelson applied with his legs. The Briscoes take over soon after and use some of their crazy double-team spots they are known for. This match has been pretty much all non-stop action so far. Aries and Strong bust out a Strong chop into an Aries brain buster, which seems trite but works with their repertoires and characters. The Briscoes ended up taking over with a nice heat sequence on Aries for a good five minutes. Strong finally gets the tag and just destroys both brothers high-impact, vicious looking moves. They end up having all four men in the ring just busting out crazy moves on each other as the crowd is electric. The Briscoes hit the Spiked Jay-Driller on Aries, but Srong breaks it up with a vile kick to the face. Aries and Jay(?) brawl to the ramp and Aries is hit with a DDT. Jay then runs back to the ring and jumps up and hits the Springboard Doomsday (which was also crazy) on Strong, who kicks out at two. Aries is back in the ring and the Champs regain control. Strong drops one of the brothers with a powerbomb and Aries finishes him off with a beautiful 450 Splash.

This was just an absolutely balls out, wall-to-wall, high-energy, crazy tag team match. This is the type of match that I keep hearing about in Ring of Honor. I’m glad I finally got to see a match like that, and will definitely keep this one in my repertoire to show new fans who aren’t familiar with the Ring of Honor product.

Steel Cage Match
BJ Whitmer v. Jimmy Jacobs
Supercard of Honor II – Detroit, MI – 3/31/07

This is the cage match in the over yearlong blood feud between former Tag Championship partners Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer. The pair split up after losing the belts partly due to their manager Lacey, who Jimmy had a schoolboy crush. After the split, Lacey used her feminine wiles to send Jimmy on the path to destroy their former partner. I believe this is the final blowoff to the long-standing rivalry. Jimmy has Lacey in his corner and BJ has Daizee Haze, who is a long-time rival of Lacey’s. The rules of this cage match are pin or submission, and the cage door can be opened at any time so the wrestlers’ seconds can provide them with weapons.

This starts into an immediate hardcore brawl on the outside of the ring before they even enter the cage. I have a feeling I’m going to have a hard time recapping this one, and may just sit back and enjoy it, so don’t expect an uber-detailed recap. Whitmer absolutely dominated in the onset and calls for a chair to be brought into the ring. Jimmy finally gains control and calls for his patented railroad spike. BJ also pulls a spike out of his boot and they ram each other in the head in a sick spot. At this point already it looks as if Jimmy has lost a tooth and his bleeding from the mouth. They keep trading shots with the spikes as the crowd is whipped into a frenzied state. Both men are already bleeding like crazy. BJ takes Jimmy’s head off with a running boot, and then calls for a barbed wire baseball bat to be brought into the ring. Jimmy catches BJ with the bat, which looks much more gritty and real than WWE’s previous versions. He digs the bat into BJ’s arm as the crowd chants, “you sick fuck.” Jimmy then takes both spikes into BJ’s arm and forehead, and then hits a con-chairto onto BJ, only the barbed wire bat replaced the bottom chair. BJ finally regains control after a much-needed slow-down period for both men. BJ hits Jimmy with a sick, sick brain buster through a seated chair as I instinctively yell “oh my God” while watching it. After some actual wrestling moves they bust out the big spots again as BJ hits Jimmy with an alley-oop, snake eyes type move where Jimmy’s face bounces off the top turnbuckle. He then follows it up with a German suplex, Dragon suplex and a powerbomb for a two-count. A table gets brought in and soon Lacey comes in the ring. BJ drops her with a Tombstone in a very ECW-like moment and then does a frog splash from the top of the cage into an empty ring. Jimmy then gets two off of the Contra Code. Crowd busts out “this is awesome.” Lacey is still out in the ring as the table is brought inside the cage. Jimmy goes up to the top of the cage and mercifully ends it with a back-seated senton from the top onto BJ and through the table.

This was just ridiculous, plain and simple. I had heard many good things about this match after it happened, and all that earlier talk did not disappoint. This was just a pure hated-filled, crazy brawl that was a pure joy to watch, albeit with some cringe-worthy, OMG worthy moments.

The Finale of a Best of Three Match Series
Bryan Danielson v. Austin Aries
“Glory By Honor VI, Night One” – Philadelphia, PA – 11/2/07

With this DVD being all about Ring of Honor’s greatest rivalries, they chose a variety of matches and styles to highlight the variety of action a person sees in ROH. So far the DVD has shown a crazy, hate-filled rivalry, a couple of championship rivalries, a respect match, a can-you-top-this student-teacher feud, and now they get to the ego match. This is the match of who-is the-best-in-the-world and who is the “ace” of Ring of Honor. Aries and Danielson had battled back-and-forth for years, and this was their third and final match in a 2007 series to see who was ROH’s flagship player.

As expected they start slow, feeling each other out with mat work. Danielson takes primary control with a variety of submission holds. Aries finally takes control and wakes me up with a suicide dive through the ropes onto Danielson. He then tries a quebrada, but it is blocked, and Danielson locks into a triangle choke. They pair then go into some back-and-forth action as I start to think while watching this that Aries could walk out on a WWE program today and not look out of place, while I feel Danielson in this state would just look like an awkward pasty jobber. Not to say he isn’t the best in-ring wrestler in the world today, but it’s just some food for thought. They continue to bust out the high-impact moves while I ponder. Danielson catches Cattle Mutilation; Aries comes back with a series of back elbows. Danielson hits a Tiger suplex and then the MMA elbows. Aries reverses Mutilation into a two count as the crowd generously chants, “this is awesome.” Aries with a kick in the head and into a DDT. Aries locks in what I believe to be Horns of Aries/Last Chancery as the announcers play up that he won the first match with that. Danielson then catches a small package, which is how he won match two of the series. Aries then hits a brain buster and the 450 to pick up the victory.

They played up a nice Steamboat-Flair thing at the end with them countering and playing up moves from their previous bouts, but I just wasn’t feeling this match as much as I thought I would. When they went into high gear for those last few moves I figured they would go another few minutes, and found it a bit anti-climactic the way Aries picked up the victory. I’ll probably re-watch it later to see if I enjoy it more. Or I should probably track down the first to bouts in order to fully appreciate it as a trilogy.

Anything Goes Match
Team ROH (Adam Pearce, Ace Steel, Colt Cabana & BJ Whitmer) v. Team CZW (Claudio Castagnoli, Super Dragon, The Necro Butcher & Spyder Nate Webb)
“Weekend of Champions, Night One,” – Dayton, OH – 4/28/06

This was during the infamous, yet wildly popular Ring of Honor-Combat Zone Wrestling inter-promotional feud. This isn’t the blowoff, as that would come much later in the Cage of Death, but this is apparently a big chapter in the feud.

It starts with Joe calling out someone to get their ass kicked, only to be mauled by Butcher, Dragon and Webb. Steel and Cabana run out to Joe’s aid. Butcher and Joe brawl to the back as the other four brawl it out in the ring. Butcher and Castagnoli now hit he ring as they tied up Joe in the back. It’s 4-on-2 until Whitmer comes out brandishing a chair and a neck brace to even some odds. Then Pearce, who apparently has twenty staples in his head, now hits the ring to even up the sides. Webb is left in the ring with four ROH guys and they dump him on his three cohorts. It then becomes an eight man bawl on the outside that is pure chaos and virtually impossible to call. Castagnoli and BJ end up the ring, and I think BJ hits him with something like 25 rapid-fire chops to the chest. Then Butcher and Steel end up the ring for their showcase. Commentary now comes back on after about ten minutes of silence. Castagnoli and Cabana trade shots in the ring while everyone else is wandering around brawling. Whitmer and Dragon get their turn inside the ring, as I realize I haven’t seen Pearce or Webb for a long time. Dragon pulls out a back-seated senton, which just seems out-of-place in this match. Cabana then looked to put Dragon through a table with an Asai moonsault, but Castagnoli intercepts and sends Colt through the table with a European uppercut. Dragon then hit BJ with a ridiculous double stomp to BJ’s head while it was sandwiched in a chair as Castagnoli held his arms and legs in a reverse crab/surfboard position. The match was academic at that point but CC dropped BJ with a Muscle Buster to add insult to injury and get the academic pin.

This was another chaotic brawl, but it was really all over the place, and with eight men it was hard to follow who and what everyone were doing. Webb and Pearce disappeared about halfway through the match and weren’t seen again. Still the disorganization of the whole thing added to the aura of the feud, and gave a shoot-like quality to it. But after watching these past few matches I think that BJ Whitmer is a certifiable nutjob for the moves he takes.

FIP World Heavyweight Championship Match
Roderick Strong (champion) v. Erick Stevens
“Final Battle 2007” – New York, NY – 12/30/07

This final match was included to highlight a new and upcoming rivalry in Ring of Honor canon. The story goes that these two are both native sons of Florida and have been feuding since they started wrestling. The feud has grown out of Full Impact Pro and the state of Florida and has now come to the larger stage of Ring of Honor. Strong has apparently been FIP Champion for thirteen months at this point. As a side note this is my first time seeing Stevens in action.

The commentators explain the difference of rules for FIP Title matches as opposed to those for Ring of Honor matches. The commentators list the variety of opponents Strong has defeated and the countries he has visited in order to raise the prestige of this belt. These two have met many, many times so the opening minutes of the match is just back-and-forth feeling out. Apparently the FIP Champion can institute any rules he wants for his Title matches, which I think is a cool concept that could be adopted on a larger stage, as long as it doesn’t get out of hand. Stevens has a great look and easily sets himself apart from a majority of the Ring of Honor roster. He, like Aries, could walk out on ECW tomorrow and not look out of place. Strong picks up the pace with a tope over the top dive on Stevens who is on the floor. Strong then takes control in the ring. Stevens makes an explosive babyface comeback and takes over on offense. He hits a nice shoulderblock off the apron onto Strong to the outside. Back in the ring Stevens keeps in control as the talking heads explain that Stevens’ main offensive weapon is the Doctor Bomb. As the go into the finish Stevens just starts unloaded his high-powered signature moves and finished off his offensive flurry with a Doctor Bomb, and picked up the victory and the Championship clean as a whistle.

This felt like a match that wouldn’t feel too out of place in the mid-card of a WWE pay per view or as a feature match on SmackDown! The ending was really great with Stevens just busting out his big moves in a crescendo until he used his coup de grace to get a sentimental babyface victory at one of the company’s premiere events. It was logical decision for Stevens to pick up the belt here and end Strong’s marathon run as Champion. But at the end of what essentially became a four-hour marathon of watching this DVD, it didn’t quite bring the ending I was hoping for.

The Perspective
The DVD said it clocked in at 189 minutes but it felt much longer. It’s not a knock on the Ring of Honor product, but it just was a bit much to watch at one time and really pay attention to as I typed this up. The good thing that a lot of these matches told a simple, easy-to-follow story in the ring so it was easy to multi-task and not miss out on what was happening.

In two weeks I will be back with the conclusion of my three part series by reviewing “Bloodstained Honor.” Unfortunately as I look at this DVD I see that I am missing out on “Best in the World,” which has the overly-hyped Joe-Kobashi match so somewhere down the line this little series will have part four attached to it as well.

For this week the vault is closed…

Linked to the Pulse
Curran looks at the special disc of matches attached to TNA’s new video game. Apparently they are much more exciting than the game itself.

Glazer continues to the self-appointed Wrestling Analyst. Geez, who does this guy think he is?

Vinny T. gives his thoughts on No Mercy.

This Day in History
I figured if we are talking history around here we should pay homage to what has happened on this very day in the years gone by. It will either make you long for the old days or be happy for what we have now.

1997 – Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Shane Douglas for the ECW Heavyweight title
1999 – Lobo defeated Justice Pain for the Combat Zone World Ironman Title
2000 – William Regal defeated Al Snow for the WWF European Heavyweight title

1965 – Richard “The Renegade” was born
1966 – Sandor Szabo died of a heart attack at 60
1969 – Takao Omari was born
1973 – Justin Credible/Aldo Montoya/PJ Walker was born
1975 – Shawn Christopher was born
2003 – Stu Hart died of Pneumonia at the age of 88

Mark was a columnist for Pulse Wrestling for over four years, evolving from his original “Historically Speaking” commentary-style column into the Monday morning powerhouse known as “This Week in ‘E.” He also contributes to other ventures, outside of IP, most notably as the National Pro Wrestling Examiner for Examiner.com and a contributor for The Wrestling Press. Follow me on Twitter here.