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ROH kicked off 2005 with its first new World Champion in almost two years, Austin Aries. The new champion did his best to make the “World” in ROH World Championship mean something, defending it everywhere with startling regularity. In ROH he made defenses against Colt Cabana, Samoa Joe, Homicide, James Gibson, Alex Shelley, Bryan Danielson, and Spanky. He made defenses in other companies against Kevin Steen, Vordell Walker, Marc Roudin, Ares, Steve Douglas, Insane Dragon, Roderick Strong, Ricky Marvin, and Super Crazy.
When Aries lost the title, it was actually part of ROH’s biggest storyline of the year and still one of their biggest ever. CM Punk signed with WWE and was on his way out, but wanted to do the one thing he hadn’t done yet, win the ROH World Title. The match scheduled for June 18 in Morristown at “Death Before Dishonor III” was to be Punk’s last in the company win lose or draw. After an incredible match, Punk did the unthinkable and won the title. He then cut one of the greatest promos in ROH history, deriding the fans and admitting he had been using them to get what he wanted, the ROH Title. He declared that he was leaving ROH with the title belt, which would be devastating. Then from out of nowhere, Christopher Daniels made his return (in his wrestling gear for some hilarious reason) to stand up for the company he once tried to tear down. The crowd reactions were electric and set up “The Summer of Punk,” the most critically successful run of ROH shows.
At the very next show, Punk brought out his WWE contract and literally signed it on top of the ROH World Title belt, infuriating the fans. He went on to defend the gold against Jay Lethal, Roderick Strong, James Gibson, and Christopher Daniels, all leading up to a four-way elimination match in Dayton against Daniels, Gibson, and his old nemesis Samoa Joe. In a classic bout, Gibson outlasted all his opponents to become the fifth ROH World Champion. Punk then exited the company for real after dropping a two out of three falls match to his friend Colt Cabana the next night in their hometown of Chicago.
Gibson actually went on to be the shortest reigning ROH World Champion of all time, and made just four defenses of the title before dropping it to Bryan Danielson at “Glory By Honor IV.” Danielson immediately became a fighting champion, defending the belt against Austin Aries, Steve Corino, Roderick Strong, Chris Sabin, Christopher Daniels, Rocky Romero, and Naomichi Marufuji, and always in a good to great match. The rivalry with Strong, who won the second annual Survival of the Fittest, was particularly heated and generated fantastic bouts.
The ROH Pure Title changed hands several times, after starting the year in John Walters’s possession. Walters dropped the title to Jay Lethal in March, who then dropped it to his mentor Samoa Joe in May. Joe defended the title with pride, trying to put it on a level with the ROH World Title. He made successful defenses against perennial World Title contenders James Gibson, Nigel McGuinness, Colt Cabana, Austin Aries, Jimmy Rave, and Christopher Daniels before dropping the title to Nigel in August at “Dragon Gate Invasion.” Nigel had a great run with the title, kicking it off with title defenses against Roderick Strong, BJ Whitmer, Jay Lethal, Samoa Joe, and Claudio Castagnoli before year’s end.
Once again the Tag Team Titles struggled for credibility. Reyes and Romero quickly dropped the belts to Dan Maff and BJ Whitmer, who held them for about six weeks before a dispute with Homicide forced Maff out of the company. ROH gave the reason that Maff had to retire because of a car crash, which never actually happened. Whitmer chose Jimmy Jacobs as his new partner and they defeated Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal in April to win the titles. Despite being a promising team, and solid defenses against Roderick Strong & Jack Evans, CM Punk & Ace Steel, Dunn & Marcos, Jimmy Rave & Fast Eddie, Lacey’s Angels, a back-and-forth title switch with the Carnage Crew, and then two more defenses against James Gibson & Spanky and Chad Collyer & Nigel McGuinness, Jacobs and Whitmer were never really given a feud to sink their teeth into and never got off the ground before dropping the belts to the makeshift team of Tony Mamaluke & Sal Rinauro in October. The Mamaluke & Rinauro reign was a bit of a disaster, as Mamaluke got injured, but thankfully the titles were rescued when Austin Aries & Roderick Strong captured them in December at “Final Battle 2005.”
Guest appearances continued, with Ebessan, Dragon Soldier B, Black Tiger, Shane Douglas, Matt Striker, Matt Hardy, Curry Man, Shingo Takagi, CIMA, Nosawa, Milano Collection AT, Naomichi Marufuji, and KENTA all making their debuts. Low Ki returned to feud with Jay Lethal. Claudio Castagnoli debuted and made an impact, feuding with Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness. James Gibson and Spanky had extended guest runs in the company, and both had a string of good matches and helped bring prestige to the ROH name. Kevin Steen and El Generico debuted, but neither would become relevant until their return in 2007.
By far the biggest appearance of the year was by Japanese legend Kenta Kobashi in October. The three-time AJPW Triple Crown Champion and former GHC Heavyweight Champion first defeated Samoa Joe in an epic singles match in New York, and then followed it up by joining forces with Homicide to defeat Joe and Low Ki in a tag team match the next day in Philadelphia. Both matches were rightly met with rave reviews, and the “Joe vs. Kobashi” DVD was the company’s best-seller for a long time.
Other notable news included AJ Styles returning to ROH to battle his former student Jimmy Rave; Alex Shelley joining Jimmy Rave, Fast Eddie, Abyss, and Prince Nana in the Embassy; Homicide, Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero winning the Trios Tournament; Dragon Soldier B winning the Best of American Super Juniors Tournament; Bryan Danielson beating Homicide in a best of five series, culminating in a brutal Steel Cage match; and Generation Next adding Matt Sydal to help them battle the Embassy.
Match of the Year – Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong, “Vendetta”
Wrestler of the Year – CM Punk
Tag Team of the Year – BJ Whitmer & Jimmy Jacobs
Feud of the Year – CM Punk vs. ROH
Show of the Year – “Manhattan Mayhem”
Coming up – Dragon Gate comes over during WrestleMania weekend and steals the show…
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