Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

[supersonic]

Weekend of Thunder Night 2 - November 6, 2004

Jay Lethal vs. Jimmy Rave

Prince Nana was THE SHIT back in the day. That needs to be acknowledged. EVERY SEGMENT OF HIS on this DVD was entertaining.

The pre-match Nana promo was golden, and set the stage quite nicely for the former party kid (and Elizabeth native) Lethal. The match was quick and fast-paced, a forgotten undercard gem. It established Lethal as being one step closer in his progress to being an accomplished singles competitor, and furthered Rave's snot-nose heel gimmick. I love this match, and the post-match, closing out with another phenomenal and passionate Ric Flair-eqsue promo from Nana after the main event, is one of the many things that made ROH so beloved during its golden age.

Rating: ***1/4

Samoa Joe & Jushin Liger vs. Low Ki & Bryan Danielson

After a main event the night before that I felt was retrospectively disappointing, this made up for it quite nicely. Not the greatest match in ROH history (not even close for 2004), but an excellent tag team main event that never once got boring or felt insultingly indyriffic. Every exchange was fun and meaningful, every encounter was interesting, it kept the Joe vs. Rottweilers feud steady, gave us a dream collision between Ki and Liger, and was booked perfectly in its ending to kickstart the Danielson vs. Rottweilers feud, a storyline that I adored back in the day and am very much looking forward to seeing if it holds up. Kudos for doing a different Liger finisher too as well.

Rating: ****

Up next - All Star Extravaganza II

Matches will include:

Good Times, Great Memories featuring Bobby Heenan

John Walters vs. Jimmy Rave

Low Ki vs. Austin Aries

The first ever verbal confrontation between Jim Cornette and Bobby Heenan

Roderick Strong & Jack Evans vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Colt Cabana

Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk

[supersonic]

All Star Extravaganza II - December 4, 2004

Good Times, Great Memories

Guest: Bobby Heenan

A great opening segment to bring Colt Cabana back into ROH, as he brings the comedy and reminds Generation Next of their issue. Heenan is also gold with his one-liners and chemistry with the Huss-centric Jimmy Jacobs.

Pure Title Match

John Walters vs. Jimmy Rave

This is a nice little contest that foreshadowed a future title reign for someone else. Walters through sheer anger and savviness was able to overcome the manipulative tactics of Rave (it helped that the Embassy was banned before the match began.) Walters post-match gets into it with some fans, and I wonder if that's another foreshadowing.

Rating: ***

ROH Title Shot Match

Low Ki vs. Austin Aries

A very, very good match that came close to excellent, and probably would have been had it not been hindered with a 20 minute time limit. Aries showed absolutely zero fear towards Ki (and with huge victories over CM Punk and Bryan Danielson, why would he?), and he was definitely the default babyface in this matchup. Aries once again showed sheer heart and determination during the match, fighting for everything he had and surprising the cocky Ki, despite all the damage being applied to the midsection by Ki. The finishing sequence as the time expired, and the post-match with Ki bailing out on continuing the match as well out of complete arrogance, was the best booking possible considering how Ki can put a booker into a corner.

Rating: ***3/4

The Verbal Confrontation

Jim Cornette vs. Bobby Heenan

This certainly lived up to the hype with Heenan playing the sympathetic recovering cancer patient and Cornette going totally nuts about being in Heenan's shadow throughout his entire career. That Cornette first showed Heenan respect only made Heenan come across as even bigger legend, and I love that the upcoming Strong/Evans vs. Jacobs/Cabana match was combined into this.

Team Cornette vs. Team Heenan

Roderick Strong & Jack Evans vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Colt Cabana

A great comedy match that made the most out of Cornette and Heenan. It was a nice surprise for Jacobs & Cabana to use comedy as part of their dirty tactics to get vengeance on GeNext for what had happened throughout 2004. This was just great entertainment.

Rating: ***

Before the main event, the DVD includes CM Punk looking back on his previous two title shots against Samoa Joe. EXCELLENT.

ROH Title Match

Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk

I really am just a sucker for matches that bring prestige to championships. This is another classic match that stands the test of time, and a fitting final chapter to such an epic trilogy. From the callbacks to the previous two matches these men had against one another, to the bloody cut on CM Punk's head (a nice way to bring back memories of his feuds with Raven and the Prophecy), to the acts of desparation on Joe's part, this match was just perfect. In addition, this had legitimate drama and plenty of believable false finishes, with the crowd just being APESHIT in the last 10 minutes.

In the end, all the punishment dished out to Punk was just too much for him, as he passed out to the choke like so many other great challengers Joe faced. But this got him only more over, and really made the crowd wonder who if anybody could dethrone Joe.

But one could argue that this was evidence that Joe's days as champion would be coming to an end in the near future. The Punk trilogy, the Rottweilers feud, and the classic defense against Bryan Danielson all in the past several prior months were taking such a toll on him that he was resorting to blatant cheating, breaking his code that he had established as champion.

Rating: *****

The DVD closes with Aries being informed that Ki forfeited the title shot, and Aries will be challenging Joe at Final Battle 2004. With more determination than Ki, and huge victories over Punk and Danielson, AND seeing what Joe had to do continue his reign, does Aries actually stand a chance?

Up next - Final Battle 2004

Matches will include:

The confrontations Mick Foley has with Samoa Joe and Ricky Steamboat

A major turning point for Generation Next

Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson

Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries

[supersonic]

Final Battle 2004 - December 26, 2004

Pure Title Match

John Walters vs. Jimmy Rave

Forgettable match that couldn't live up to the one they had at the prior show, but this is noteworthy because Prince Nana is able to convince Walters to join the Embassy, ensuring that the stable goes into 2005 including a champion.

Rating: less than ***

Ricky Steamboat's Final ROH Appearance

Mick Foley's confrontations with Steamboat and Samoa Joe

A decent segment (head and shoulders above anything else in the tedious Foley vs. Steamboat philosophy feud) that easily peaked once Joe showed up and punked out Foley. This would have been FAR more noteworthy if Foley had agreed to wrestle Ric Flair at WrestleMania 21 and done an actual match against Joe too.

CM Punk & Steve Corino vs. Alex Shelley & Roderick Strong

Another forgettable match with a far more important post-match. Austin Aries (scheduled to challenge Joe for the ROH Title in the main event) shows up and gives Shelley the ultimatum that Generation Next had given so much of the roster in 2004. Aries betrays Shelley very quickly, and Strong plays the Arn Anderson role perfectly, temporarily pretending to be mutual but also betraying Shelley, accepting Aries as the leader of GeNext. Aries proclaims himself to be the "Personal Jesus" and that nobody will stop him from defeating Joe tonight.

Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson

God this show fucking sucks so far. A good but nothing special match completely ruined because of Gabe Sapolsky's refusal to let his roster job to the stubborn Ki. Because I'm sure Danielson would never recover from doing that.

Rating: less than ***

ROH Title Match

Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries

By itself, this match is good/forced or awesome, depending on your tastes. But when one watches everything that led up to this classic like I did, you realize what a masterpiece of a story this truly is.

This match played off the majority of Joe's title reign, including the title defenses against Punk, Danielson, Homicide, AJ Styles, and Christopher Daniels. It also played off the classics Aries had against Danielson and his victory over Punk the month prior. Coming off of a grueling 21 month reign and two ***** defenses against Punk, Joe had been exposed as being vulnerable and even went so far on the prior show as to blatantly attempt to cheat in order to remain ROH Champion.

On the other hand, Aries had that victory over Punk and a HUGE one a few months earlier in the 2/3 falls match against Danielson, plus he showed absolutely no fear or inferiority on the prior show against Ki. Reflecting back, the seeds were planted all along for ROH's final moment of 2004.

Aries brought everything in this match towards Joe - explosive maneuvers, crisp and intelligent technical wrestling, incredible tenacity. But the champ would not go down without a fight, smacking around the smaller Aries and showing a vicious side that hadn't been seen since his feud against Homicide.

In the end though, all the elements that led to this historic match, as well as the gameplan that Aries brought to the table, finally brought the epic reign of Samoa Joe to an end. The atmosphere in the closing moments, and especially the finish, was just beyond electric.

This is truly an incredible match, one that paid off two storyline arcs that overlapped on a very special night, closed out the year with a bang, and truly saved a shitty in-ring ROH event.

Post-match, Aries follows the Code of Honor for the first time at Joe's request, and he has to hide back his emotions temporarily.

Rating: ****1/2

SUPER DUPER ROH 2004 AWARDS

Wrestler of the Year:

Samoa Joe

Runner-up - Bryan Danielson

Debut of the Year:

Austin Aries - Reborn Stage 2

(I don't include pre-show matches.)

Breakout Performance of the Year:

Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, & Jack Evans @ Generation Next and Austin Aries @ Survival of the Fittest 2004

Feud/Rivalry of the Year:

Samoa Joe vs. Homicide

Runner-up - CM Punk vs. Ricky Steamboat

Show of the Year:

Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 2

Runner-up - Generation Next and Reborn: Completion

Moment of the Year:

Austin Aries ending Samoa Joe's ROH Title reign @ Final Battle 2004

Runner-up - Jushin Liger's appearances @ Weekend of Thunder

Match of the Year:

Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk - Joe vs. Punk II *****

Runner-up - Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson - Midnight Express Reunion ***** and Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk - All Star Extravaganza II *****

ROH's Top 10 Matches of 2004 (in chronological order):

Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson - Reborn Stage 2 ****1/4

Briscoe Bros., Jimmy Rave, & John Walters vs. Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, & Jack Evans - Generation Next ****3/4

Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk - World Title Classic ****1/2

Samoa Joe vs. Colt Cabana vs. Homicide vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries - Survival of the Fittest 2004 ****3/4

Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson - Testing the Limit ****1/4

Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson - Midnight Express Reunion *****

Alex Shelley vs. Jimmy Jacobs - Joe vs. Punk II ****1/2

Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk - Joe vs. Punk II *****

Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk - All Star Extravaganza II *****

Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries - Final Battle 2004 ****1/2

Up next - It All Begins

Matches will include:

Brian Kendrick vs. Alex Shelley

Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinnness

Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson

Austin Aries vs. Colt Cabana

Samoa Joe and Mick Foley confrontation

[supersonic]

It All Begins - January 15, 2005

Alex Shelley vs. Brian Kendrick

Prior to the match, Austin Aries does his victory speech coming off his ROH Title win over Samoa Joe at Final Battle 2004. Shelley quickly interrupts and brawls with Aries & Roderick Strong, but Colt Cabana comes out to take out Generation Next. Shelley apologizes for his actions as the former GeNext leader, but Cabana tells him to fuck off.

As for the match, this was some quality professional wrestling and another candidate for best opener in ROH history. Shelley was very good with subtle efforts to stop playing dirty, but the world-traveled Kendrick was too much for him in this back-and-forth technical showdown. Very good match and excellent opener to get both men in the title hunt.

Rating: ***1/2

Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinnness

Another quality match that further moved along establishing McGuinness as a future singles star. But Joe, just coming off that emotional title loss, came in to this one with something to prove. He was too great to succumb to the tremendous technical and psychological efforts of McGuinness. The vicious striking and merciless style of submission were once again all the strategy Joe needed to secure the victory, but McGuinness went down fighting.

Rating: ***1/2

Tap Out Match - Match #1 in Best of 5 Series

Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson

Before the bell even rings, the two have a chaotic brawl and a pre-taped Jim Cornette promo is shown while the ringside area settles down.

Cornette cuts a fantastic promo, pissed off that he was outdone by Bobby Heenan at All Star Extravaganza II. Just excellent, passionate work that shows the good stuff that Cornette can bring to the table. Everyone in the industry should watch this promo. This defeat MATTERED to Cornette, and had me pumped for another collision between the two managerial legends. I know it's a crazy concept, making wins and losses matter, but it actually works.

Getting back to ringside, Homicide and Danielson had a tremendous match. The hate was there but not overwhelming, the submission work was excellent, and it made me wonder how well this feud holds up. The majority of the match was used on Homicide working on the left arm and shoulder of Danielson, and that's what led to the finish. Another crazy concept - the story of a match paying off in the finish.

Rating: ****

ROH Title Match

Austin Aries vs. Colt Cabana

This match had the pacing and crowd reaction of the typical PWG match of its time. This was not a bad match at all, but it never got out of third gear. The heat was lacking, but the story was more than solid. The two did a solid job getting over their issue, but it didn't do much to make one think "Man, this Aries reign is gonna be the shiiiiiit!" However, the closing moments (as much as they deflated the crowd with the exception of a teased upset cradle pin) led nicely to a rematch.

Rating: ***

Samoa Joe and Mick Foley confrontation

I'll never understand why TNA didn't pull the fucking trigger on doing this feud when Foley was with that federation. Foley was just an excellent prick here, pretending to be a messenger of Vince McMahon as an obvious excuse to take more shots at Joe and ROH. Foley, the HOF veteran that he was, outsmarted the hot Joe and they had a very short but sweet brawl. Someone handed Foley a chair from behind the entrance curtain, thickening the plot of this feud. I REALLY wish we had gotten an official match between these two. AWESOME segment.

The show closes with Cabana challenging Aries to a cage match on the next event. Quality booking here.

This show is interesting - it is never discussed, but had an excellent match and great showdown between two of the most vicious personalities the business has ever seen. The undercard also had two quality (but very different) professional wrestling matches.

The title of this show also has more than the obvious meaning. Very layered here actually:

This was the beginning of Austin Aries's ROH TItle Reign.

This was the beginning of Nigel McGuinness's serious push as a singles competitor.

This was the beginning of Roderick Strong's establishment as a singles competitor.

This was the beginning of the Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson best of 5 series.

And this was the beginning of Alex Shelley's genuine attempt to choose right over wrong.

I recommend this show. One of the most underrated ROH ever hosted.

Up next - Third Anniversary Celebration Pt. 1

Matches will include:

Steve Corino vs. Roderick Strong

Jay Lethal vs. Jimmy Rave, with the winner challenging John Walters for the Pure TItle

CM Punk vs. Brian Kendrick

Samoa Joe taking on Mick Foley's hand-picked mystery opponent

Austin Aries vs. Colt Cabana

[supersonic]

Third Anniversary Celebration Pt. 1 - February 19, 2005

Steve Corino vs. Roderick Strong

This started out as some heated, hard-hitting shit but calmed down into a solid opener within a few minutes. What was most notable was Corino's students interfering because of Strong's bullying of them the previous month; this planted the seed for the inevitable face turn of Generation Next.

Rating: ***

Pure Title Shot Match

Jay Lethal vs. Jimmy Rave

Prior to the match, John Walters is introduced and wearing an outfit that looks like it was bought at a garage sale, not appearing royal in the least.

A great undercard style match to go with the one these two had at Weekend of Thunder Night 2. Damn good storytelling of working on Lethal's neck, but the Elizabeth native was too pissed off and determined to get his title shot and wrap up this issue with the Embassy.

Rating: ***1/4

Post-match, Walters wants to defend the Pure Title RIGHT NOW.

Pure Title Match

John Walters vs. Jay Lethal

Great storytelling here, showing just how far Lethal had come under the tutelage of Samoa Joe. His in-ring intelligence kept him alive in this one, returning the favor of manipulating Walters into using up his rope breaks. The continued neck work carrying over from the prior match was quite beautiful, but the newly-turned Walters, someone who had solidified his position in the mid-card, was too much for Lethal to take down so quickly after the title shot match.

Rating: ***3/4

Skimming through this DVD, I find another great Jim Cornette promo, completely giving Bobby Heenan credit for one-upping him, but pissed off and coming back next week with a much improved plan and personnel. WINNER.

CM Punk vs. Brian Kendrick

An average match. Nothing great, nothing horrible. Just average.

What matters is the post-match, as Prince Nana shows up and dismisses "Common Man" Punk, instead offering Kendrick a spot in the Embassy. Kendrick respectfully declines (disrespectful in the eyes of Nana of course) and Punk laughs at the rejection. Nana gets in his face and slaps him, but Punk is able to take out the Outcast Killaz quite easily and uses their air freshener on Nana's face. Definitely interested to see how this one holds up.

The Mick Foley Challenge Series

Samoa Joe vs. Vordell Walker

Foley cuts a tremendous promo prior to the match, stating that he had planned to face Joe himself as a surprise but he was too sore after the brawl they had the month before. So instead we got Walker in a quick extended squash.

Foley then told Joe he set up a backup plan...

Hardcore Match

Samoa Joe vs. Ebestus Jack

Pure comedy match that the crowd ate up in spades, and Foley found himself blatantly interfering despite what he stated earlier. Post-match, it's revealed that Austin Aries had helped Foley and would be given an opportunity to be in the WWE.

Cage Match

Austin Aries vs. Colt Cabana

Damn good cage match that would have been excellent with more emotion behind it. What we did get though is some great tenacity and solid storytelling. Aries once again proved that he would do whatever he needed to do to stay champion, pulling off an amazing tope con hilo through the ropes and cage door to the floor in order to ensure Cabana's feet did not touch first.

Rating: ***3/4

All of the post-show footage is some garbage VHS for some reason. That's a shame because Alex Shelley cuts a great promo about the position he's found himself in and how he's going to move forward with it.

There is also a Colt Cabana promo shot three days afterward, with a special appearance by Bobby Heenan. Stoked for Heenan vs. Cornette II.

Up next - Third Anniversary Celebration Pt. 2

Matches will include:

Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuinness

James Gibson vs. Brian Kendrick

CM Punk vs. Alex Shelley

Austin Aries & Jack Evans vs. Samoa Joe & Bryan Danielson

AJ Styles vs. Jimmy Rave

[supersonic]

Third Anniversary Celebration Pt. 2 - February 25, 2005

Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuinness

Tremendous undercard match. Lots of comedy spots, all based upon outstanding technical wrestling. This definitely looks like it holds up. Just a superbly entertaining match, and yet, as hard as it was to believe, it would be topped later on in the evening in that aspect.

Rating: ***1/2

James Gibson's ROH Debut

James Gibson vs. Brian Kendrick

Another great undercard match, and a hell of a debut for Gibson. This is very comparable to the awesome WCW undercard cruiserweight matches. Incredible focus, awesome psychology on the left arm/shoulder work done by Gibson on Kendrick, tremendous technical wrestling. Just give them probably a few more matches and it would have been truly great. Damn do I miss Gibson in the ring, and damn do I miss a motivated Kendrick.

Rating: ***3/4

CM Punk vs. Alex Shelley

My pick for match of the night, although you really can't go wrong with any of the five matches I'm reviewing for this show. This was a great matchup of bitter babyface going up against the newly-turned remorseful archnemesis, and here's a fun fact - the similar storytelling of Steve Corino vs. El Generico in 2011 also took place in Dayton.

What made this so great for me is that it wasn't just a competition between two great wrestlers like Cabana vs. McGuinness and Gibson vs. Kendrick (not that there's anything wrong with those type of worked matches of course.) But this had that extra little bit of storytelling and psychology, and the chemistry between the two men is what made it stand out above the rest of this excellent show for me. The technical wrestling was crisp, the storytelling between body parts was amazing, and I loved Shelley doing everything he could to win, but still struggling to do it with integrity.

Post-match, the Embassy attack Punk and Shelley makes the save. Pretty weird thinking that Shelley attacked the Embassy considering what would happen later on, but yes, he helped Punk get them to fuck off.

Rating: ****1/4

Austin Aries & Jack Evans vs. Samoa Joe & Bryan Danielson

Another fantastic match for the evening, that would have been a MOTYC if it had avoided the lack of enforcing who's legal by the referee. This is the one that surpassed Cabana vs. McGuinness in terms of pure entertainment. Evans just took an absolute ass-kicking in this match as Joe and Danielson had fun at his expense physically and mentally. Aries was also tremendous in being overly cautious to get in on the action because of the disrespect he showed on Joe the week before. This was just absolutely FUN.

Post-match, Homicide shows up and brawls with Danielson.

Rating: ****

One Night Only

AJ Styles vs. Jimmy Rave

This main event was not just great, but properly brought the in-ring to a close for the evening on what was just a fantastic night of professional wrestling. Styles was tremendous as always with his intensity, absolutely ready to go immediately and being aggressive to his former protege Rave. However, Rave did his job too going toe-to-toe with the established Styles, and this match was his singles breakout. He was given the opportunity, and he delivered. I loved the match, I loved the sports-entertainment bullshit finish, and I loved the post-match of Fast Eddie Vegas (who had joined the Embassy after the evening's opener and turned on fellow Air Devil Matt Sydal) showing up to gang up on Styles only for Punk to show up and take Rave out of the equation, I loved Styles closing out the in-ring show getting his heat back. This got over a new star and moved storylines forward without sabotaging anyone.

Rating: ****

Homicide and Danielson are shown still brawling outside, and if you didn't believe that Bryan Danielson is a crazy son of a bitch, he was pretending to fight outdoors on a cold February night in Dayton, Ohio wearing nothing but wrestling boots, shinpads, kneepads, spandex underwear, and maybe wrist-tape.

The DVD closes with Cabana in "Chicago" discussing his match with McGuinness. Entertaining wink-wink conversation that ends in the two agreeing to become friends and potential tag partners, as well as a willingess to lock horns again down the road.

This show was fucking FANTASTIC. Just like with my Generation Next review, what I loved is not only the quantity of splendid professional wrestling on this show, but the variety of it. There was comedy, sports-entertainment, beatdowns, technical wrestling, junior style wrestling, European style wrestling, psychological wrestling, interesting characters, interesting storylines moving forward, an awesome debut, an even better one night only return, a fun heel turn, and a star being made.

Also, the crowd on this show. HOLY SHIT THEY WERE JUST PERFECT. Why did ROH murder this market?

GET THIS. YESTERDAY. God DAMN 2005 ROH is going to be a killer rewatch if the more reputable shows later on in the year hold up and still surpass this too.

Up next - Third Anniversary Celebration Pt. 3

Matches will include:

Jack Evans vs. Alex Shelley

Round 2 of Jim Cornette vs. Bobby Heenan

Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer vs. Colt Cabana & Nigel McGuinness

Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Brian Kendrick

James Gibson vs. Puma (TJ Perkins)

CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave

Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe

[supersonic]

Third Anniversary Celebration Pt. 3 - February 26, 2005

Jack Evans vs. Alex Shelley

A good match that would have been much better as an extended squash to properly build up to the inevitable Shelley vs. Austin Aries match. This was too back-and-forth, with a few too many near falls when one considers that Shelley was established as a singles act while Evans hadn't been and there was no reason for him to be booked in such a way for this match. That said, this was still a fun match and the post-match confirmed that I will love watching this feud unfold again.

Rating: ***

Good Times, Great Memories

Guest: Bobby Heenan

This was just a feel-good (ie, NOTHING) segment until Jim Cornette came out with Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer. Cornette's promo here was a classic, completely rationalizing why Heenan was completely in his head before we got to our impromptu match...

Team Cornette vs. Team Heenan

Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer vs. Colt Cabana & Nigel McGuinness

Another Cornette vs. Heenan classic here, and I could've watched these two managerial minds collide a few more times to be quite honest. Just fun and entertaining here with both teams trying to one-up each other in the Eddie Guerrero department of lying, cheating, and stealing. A perfectly booked and executed sports-entertainment match with a finish that could lead to a future Tag Titles match for Cabana & McGuinness.

Rating: ***

Falls Count Anywhere Match - Match #3 in Best of 5 Series

Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson

I felt this was a very good match that showed the hatred in this feud. What these two did to each other was quite insane when the action spilled throughout the gymnasium floor. Wickedly fun and brutal match and I look forward to this feud continuing.

Rating: ***1/2

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Brian Kendrick

A good match but nothing special since no man really had much of an issue with one another and neither was a truly established force within the company. Sorry, but Kendrick being pissed because Jacobs is using "his" finisher isn't deep enough to be engaging, especially when it's Naomichi Marufuji that was using the Shiranui before either one of them. Solid and steady buildup for Kendrick to get a title shot though.

Rating: ***1/4

James Gibson vs. Puma (TJ Perkins)

Another good match based purely on technical wrestling. Nothing truly special, but this was definitely some good stuff with Gibson being the established name and struggling to overcome the work Puma did on his knee. Whereas Evans vs. Shelley wasn't completely convincing as a back-and-forth contest, this definitely was because Gibson and Puma also had time spent in the New Japan dojos, it wasn't obvious that Gibson would soon be getting high-profile matches, and Puma was able to exploit a weakness on Gibson, but not enough to put down the former WCW and WWE superstar.

Rating: ***1/2

CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave

Another great sports-entertainment style match, although it couldn't touch Rave vs. AJ Styles from the night before. While that had the intensity of Styles to make that match chippy, this one instead was more WWE-esque, and there was nothing wrong with it at all. Rave was once again great at being a cheater, while Punk was solid as always being a babyface in his hometown. Perfectly executed match for what everyone was aiming for, and a solid feud so far.

Rating: ***3/4

ROH Title Match

Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe

This could not come close to the classic they pulled off at Final Battle 2004, but this was still a great title match. With the events of the previous several weeks, Joe came in completely pissed off and dominated the majority of the match, but Aries of course would not go down. It became obvious with the finish that the actions of Aries coming into this match were all mind games to psych out Joe, as he was able to turn the choke into a successful pinfall. Aries escaped with the title yet again, the big rematch checked off with plenty of fresh challengers on the horizon.

Rating:: ****

The Embassy close out the DVD with a tremendous promo boasting about how badly they outsmarted Punk.

GET THIS DVD. Look at how solid it is up and down.

Up next - Trios Tournament

Matches will include:

James Gibson, Brian Kendrick, & Nigel McGuinness vs. Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, & Vordell Walker

Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, & Jack Evans vs. Homicide & Havana Pitbulls

[supersonic]

Trios Tournament - March 5, 2005

Trios Tournament Quarterfinal

Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, & Vordell Walker vs. James Gibson, Brian Kendrick, & Nigel McGuinness

This was some very, very good professional wrestling here. Easily the highlight of Vordell Walker's career, there was a hardly a dull moment in this match. Joe brought the heavy shit, Kendrick brought the scrappy seasoned vet shit, and Gibson/Danielson/McGuinness all brought the excellent technical wrestling into the mix as well. For historic purposes - this match marked the first time Danielson and McGuinness locked horns, and served as a nice preview for their rivalry to come. Just about everything was on point, and the match got hotter as it went on. Just really good stuff here.

Rating: ***3/4

Trios Tournament Final

Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, & Jack Evans vs. Homicide & Havana Pitbulls

This is where I could see why the Philly market was dying, and it would take something truly, truly special to get it back to enthusiastic levels. With the show not being that great, and both teams already wrestled two matches each, it took awhile for them to get past even first gear, with lots of annoying stalling in the beginning few minutes. But because these six men were on a roll at the time, each of them motivated as well to move up in the business, it still turned into a pretty good trios match. I must note that Evans and Homicide made one of many failed attempts to copy the backflip DDT spot from Halloween Havoc 1997, which would not be done until WrestleMania XXVI. With the match getting good in the closing several minutes, and no noticeable neglecting of enforcing tags (something the other match I reviewed on this show suffered from once or twice), and the right team winning, I still would say this is worth seeing.

Post-match, the Rottweilers cut a simple promo explaining why their victory was so important, earning them matches of their choice in the future. Money-in-the-Bank-esque a month before the first ever Money in the Bank match.

Rating: ***1/4

Up next, it will not be an ROH show. Instead, it will be the greatest shoot interview ever caught on camera...

STRAIGHT SHOOTIN' WITH SAMOA JOE & CM PUNK~!

[supersonic]

Straight Shootin' w/ Samoa Joe & CM Punk - March 10, 2005

Every wrestler should watch these two discuss the trilogy. Both men stress the importance of storytelling and psychology as to what made their matches so artistically successful - it wasn't just a bunch of moves and reversals for no reason. They also discuss how the matches came together, often at the last minute and on the fly, Perhaps most importantly, they make sure to discuss how incredibly the smartest of crowds were able to suspend their disbelief and just become fans while watching the trilogy.

Also discussed is the potential at that time of moving on to WWE, which leads to their assessment of the WWE's roster and hiring practices of 2005. Joe explained why he felt the roster wasn't up to par with those of the boom periods - little did we know how stacked that 2005 roster would be compared to what we would get several years later.

In addition, discussion of ROH's evolution from 2002 to 2005 is interesting. In discussing the overall product and their trilogy, it's very obvious both men were driven to move up and put together the best overall events possible for the fans. It was a very genuine moment hearing both men explain the importance of all the little things it takes to keep a wrestling event slick and professional, with everyone being a team working together. Very interesting compared to what both men's mentalities and priorities have become today.

The other primary portion takes up about an hour and a half, which is road stories for when someone's name is brought up. I won't go into full details, but will give a quick explanation of what to expect.

Jushin Liger - just a cool guy

Teddy Hart - they dance around this topic

Christopher Daniels - his fingerprints were all over the indy scene with multiple examples brought up

AJ Styles - a great guy and video game geek

Colt Cabana - a complete carny (but the more justifiable side of it). This also leads to a disgusting Adam Pearce story.

Steve Corino - a transvestite bar in Great Britain. That's all I will say.

Low Ki - struggles to balance between work and shoot, but still a decent guy

Homicide - an EPIC story involving Joe, Punk, Homicide, Rocky Romero, B-Boy, and Nosawa during PWG's Tango & Cash Invitational weekend.

Gabe Sapolsky - a ticking time bomb that is easily trolled

Entertaining stories of their "parallel lives" and an FIP match between Punk and Homicide make for nice dessert dishes on this as well.

All in all, this is the greatest shoot interview of all-time, and for the most part is very honest and genuine. Those who enjoy wrestling that emphasizes storytelling, psychology, and pacing, this is for you. Those who want some epic and hilarious road stories, this is for you. This is the standard for all shoot interviews to meet, and the equivalent to Mick Foley's Have a Nice Day.

Strongest recommendation possible, and get the Joe vs. Punk trilogy set RIGHT FUCKING NOW if you don't have this shoot interview yet.

Up next - Back to Basics

Matches will include:

Delirious vs. Colt Cabana

Homicide vs. Roderick Strong

James Gibson vs. Rocky Romero

Jay Lethal & Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk & Brian Kendrick

[supersonic]

Note: this project took an unplanned eight month break after the previous entry.

Back to Basics - March 12, 2005

Delirious vs. Colt Cabana

A harmless, cute little comedy opener, though not as entertaining as I remembered. Not worried or disappointed though, as I know there's a certain comedy match involving Delirious that may be the highlight of his career on the horizon.

Homicide vs. Roderick Strong

A good match that accomplished the goals for both participants. It kept Homicide warm for his upcoming ROH Title shot against Strong's Generation Next leader Austin Aries, showing his technical side that his gimmick could often overshadow. Meanwhile, Strong's momentum kept moving forward in his ascension to his singles breakout. That it took TWO lariats to put Strong down was great for both men in terms of what the goals were for both in the future.

Rating: ***1/4

James Gibson vs. Rocky Romero

Announced before the match that this is an ROH Title shot for Gibson if he wins, this was an unsurprisingly good match. That announcement though seemed to create more crowd heat. While I felt the Homicide vs. Strong match was technically superior and a bit better at accomplishing its goals, the heat in this one gives this one the overall nod in comparison. This was quite the back and forth match, and I wish these two had been around a decade earlier in WCW to feud for the Cruiserweight Title; that would have been a nice little feud.

Post-match, Kendrick asks for Gibson to give him first dibs on an ROH Title shot should he go on to win it.

Rating: ***1/2

Tag Titles Shot Match

Jay Lethal & Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk & Brian Kendrick

A very good tag main event that could have been great if not for the sports-entertainment finish. For a makeshift last-minute team, Punk & Kendrick had quite the chemistry and looked to make for a great tandem had they tagged more often. With a Tag Titles shot on the line, they even resorted to cheating at one point, pissing off Joe in the process in a great bit of irony considering the Joe vs. Punk III match.

Speaking of Joe vs. Punk, I should mention the obvious: coming off their acclaimed trilogy, the crowd went APESHIT when they tagged in to face each other for the first time in three months. But the story of the match came when Punk threw Lethal ribs-first on the top edge of a steel barricade, with the makeshift team working on those ribs. It was obvious the match was gonna be over as soon as Punk had Lethal set up for a Super Pepsi Plunge.

Then Steven Richards shows up, stopping Punk in his tracks, and he manages to land a superkick on Punk. Moments later, Lethal and Punk woke up, with Lethal successfully hitting a Dragon Suplex for the victory.

A couple things about this match: Steve Corino was originally announced as Punk's partner and wasn't on the show for reasons I'm not aware of. The commentary said he no-showed and was unprofessional, but that could be kayfabe. As for the Richards appearance, he apparently was/is a good friend of Punk and it was to be explained later that he was paid off by the Embassy to backstab his friend. I'm assuming WWE put the kibosh on any further Richards involvement in ROH.

Rating: ***3/4

Also of note is that this would be Dan Maff's last ROH appearance due to some personal beef with Homicide, with the kayfabe explanation that his career was over at the time due to an automobile accident. He would be stripped of the Tag Titles and Whitmer would go on to pick a different partner as mentioned below.

Up next - Best of American Super Juniors Tournament

Matches will include:

Brian Kendrick vs. Bryan Danielson

James Gibson vs. Roderick Strong

Black Tiger (Rocky Romero) facing the Kendrick vs. Danielson winner in a BOASJ semifinal

Jay Lethal & Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer

Austin Aries vs. Homicide

[supersonic]

Best of American Super Juniors Tournament - April 2, 2005

Best of American Super Juniors Tournament Quarterfinal

Brian Kendrick vs. Bryan Danielson

Hands down, the greatest opener in ROH history, and I don't ever see this losing that distinction. That's likely because this match wasn't executed like an opener, but as a PPV main event. In addition, this is the consensus pick for MOTN on this event, and I am happy to agree with that. This is also probably the best singles match of Kendrick's career, and I can only imagine (without watching them) the only better matches in his career were his tag matches in NOAH several weeks later involving KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji.

This match had pretty much everything going for it - pacing, storytelling, drama, determination from both men. After the feeling out process (necessary because they hadn't wrestled each other in a few years), the story of the match was of course brilliant as it came down to Kendrick's left shoulder vs. Danielson's neck. I won't go into details about Danielson's work, as at this point I'm reviewing my fourth Danielson match in a week and would feel like a broken record. It was great to see Kendrick both still motivated while also being elevated to an outstanding match by Danielson.

I didn't agree with the combo of a superkick, Shiranui, and frogsplash being used as a false finish, which is my only complaint of this match. However, even though it's my only complaint, that's still a REALLY huge combo to use in such fashion, and keeps this from being at the very tip-top matches of ROH to me. However, I did love the Regalplex being used to finish Kendrick based on the work Danielson did on Kendrick's left shoulder. The standing ovation this got wasn't an auto-pilot reaction from those in attendance; it was absolutely 100% earned.

Rating: ****1/4

Best of American Super Juniors Tournament Quarterfinal

James GIbson vs. Roderick Strong

A very good match to put over both men with what was to come later in the tournament. Strong just absolutely decimated Gibson's back in this one, practically immobilizing the former Cruiserweight Champion. But with Gibson trying to prove himself during his time away from WWE, he would refuse to go down, his hope spots being utterly brilliant. While this didn't have the pacing to be a MOTYC, I don't see that as being the goal of this match since there were glaring political reasons for how it was formatted. But this was great storytelling, and just like the match with Danielson the night before on the other side of the continent, I have no problem with Gibson rolling Strong up in a pin since he's the veteran with years of experience in the top leagues of the business.

Rating: ***1/2

Best of American Super Juniors Tournament Semifinal

Bryan Danielson vs. Black Tiger (Rocky Romero)

This match just makes me wish we had gotten to see Eddie Guerrero vs. Bryan Danielson. But Romero made for a fine addition to the BT persona, and anytime someone antagonizes Danielson is gonna make for at worst a fun match. Both men were quite vicious to each other, becoming quite testy and a great preview of things to come for Danielson as his peak in ROH was still on the horizon. However, with New Japan controlling the booking of this tournament, BT had to go ever, which was fine although Romero probably wasn't ready to be given such a position at this point; after all, this tournament included Danielson, Alex Shelley, Gibson, Strong, Matt Sydal, and a motivated Kendrick.

Rating: ***1/4

At this point since I"m done reviewing the tournament, I should notate that the booking of this was a failure through zero fault of Gabe Sapolsky. NJPW insisted on its two acts, Black Tiger and the incredibly mediocre Kendo Ka Shin to get to the finals with the latter going over after 3 straight lackluster performances from him. It's why Strong was booked so strongly against Gibson, to put HIM over and be the reason Gibson lost to Ka Shin. When the final was mercifully over, the fans chanted "Don't come back!" at the tournament winner and I don't blame them. Although I doubt many of the lowest common denominator faithful of the current ROH would have minded him that much.

Vacant Tag Titles Match

Jay Lethal & Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer

This had some great potential, and I loved that Joe had his team playing the default heels, which plays off what he did in his last title defense against CM Punk. The last half of the match simply had too many problems, including:

The referee forgetting who was legal.

A so-so heat segment on Jacobs.

Whitmer completely flaming out and being off-key for about 30 seconds when he got the hot tag.

Rating: less than ***

ROH Title Match

Austin Aries vs. Homicide

There's no doubt that this was destined to be a great match. Just two assholes trying to one-up each other for the top prize in the company. I loved that Aries tried to follow the Code of Honor in the beginning (a sign of things to come later in the year) but Homicide completely ignored it, setting the tone for Aries who had proven to be quite comfortable bending the rules and lacking sportsmanship.

The pacing of the match was up to standards for an ROH main event and Title match, which should be mentioned before I get to the negative that brought this down to being very good. This wasn't a technical wrestling match - it was a fight and mind game, which made for a unique experience for this viewer.

Now for the negative: I don't care what Dan Maff did that was so vile and scummy to piss off Homicide in real life, there was no reason to use a Burning Hammer not only to be a false finish, but as a means to psych Homicide up in the finishing minutes of the match. That move had been too entrenched by Kenta Kobashi as perhaps THE finisher of all finishers in the industry.

Looking past that bullshit, I enjoyed Julius Smokes attempting to interfere and giving Danielson a reason to show up to eliminate him from the equation. Homicide was also put over strongly in that it took multiple brainbusters and 450 splashes to put him down. This title reign wasn't getting any easier for Aries, not with Gibson as the next challenger just two weeks away.

Rating: ***3/4

Despite the lame New Japan booking and disappointing tag match, I would give this show a high recommendation. It features ROH's greatest opener, Strong's coming out singles match (not quite his breakout yet though), and two other quality matches.

Up next - Stalemate

Matches will include:

Jay Lethal vs. Brian Kendrick

Samoa Joe vs. Alex Shelley vs. Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuinness

Austin Aries vs. James Gibson

Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson

[supersonic]

Stalemate - April 16, 2005

Pure Title Match

Jay Lethal vs. Brian Kendrick

Surprisingly the MOTN when considering what else was on the card, but I'm not gonna complain. This was a VERY good mid-card match with great pacing and storytelling. Lethal was great working on the left arm of Kendrick, just working on it to force Kendrick into running out of rope breaks. But what I also loved is that Kendrick, having had a bit of a temper going back to 2002, and with a year or so of recent experience in the punch/kick style of WWE, kept using closed fists and was penalized a rope break. In a regular match, this would have been completely even; but these rules made this content a mismatch in the end. That the match ended with a modified Boston Crab using the ropes, despite Lethal doing little to no work on Kendrick's back throughout the body of match, was fine to me. I'm sure anybody else in that move, even the likes of the mighty John Cena, would tap out to that submission.

Rating: ***3/4

I caught CM Punk cutting a couple pretty damn good promos on the Embassy. REALLY looking forward to the final week of that feud.

Double Stakes Elimination Match

Samoa Joe vs. Alex Shelley vs. Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuinness

Two Fall Match

Winner of first fall gets a Pure Title shot (both wrestlers involved in the fall eliminated)

Remaining two wrestlers compete for an ROH Title shot

This had some great moments and wrestling, enough to make me consider this to be a good match. I love McGuinness pussy-footing around and playing mind games with a headstand in the corner, and Joe having the easy solution - Yakuza Kick the motherfucker! I felt the concept of the rules was interesting in establishing who really desired a shot at a specific championship. However, just having two simple but effective specific title shot matches would have made for better matches and a smoother show.

Yes, I know a Joe vs. Cabana match would be predictable, but they'd proven to have very good chemistry already the year before. And a Shelley vs. McGuinness singles match would have been predictable too, but that likely would have been outstanding and elevated both men as singles acts in ROH. I don't wanna be too harsh on this concept though, as I do think it was worth trying as an experiment and saying otherwise is Monday morning quarterback bullshit.

Rating: ***

ROH Title Match

Austin Aries vs. James Gibson

This one didn't quite stand the test of time for me, as I had this as a MOTYC back in the day. But this was still a good match. I don't have a problem with the double pin, as proven by my ***** rating towards the AJ Styles vs. Paul London contest that the same Boston crowd got to witness. Just thinking at the time, I'm not sure which of these two men was really "better" since both were just on a roll. I was impressed by how much work Aries did on Gibson's back, blatantly capitalizing on what fellow Generation Next member Roderick Strong did to Gibson two weeks earlier. As usual, Gibson would manage to get in some nice hope spots, including rollups out of nowhere, displaying his veteran experience from being in the big leagues.

However, when it was Gibson's turn to get the heat, I wasn't impressed with how much he put off selling the back work. Also, he seemed to have very minimal near-falls on Aries. And that leads me to my biggest problem with this match - it never hit the holy shit MOTYC gear. Maybe these two didn't have it in them to get that far, and I'll find out with the obvious rematch.

Almost immediately after the double pinfall, Shelley shows up to attack Aries. For someone who has apologized left and right, vowed to have become a man of integrity, I'm not so sure about ruining a peer's chance at getting the opportunity to restart his championship match just so he could have the glory of dethroning the man who booted him out of his stable.

Rating: ***1/2

Match #4 in Best of 5 Series - Lumberjack Match

Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson

A good lumberjack match, and since there aren't many of them this has to be one of the best ones ever. This did a nice job going from brawling to hatred spots to technical wrestling. I loved that both men told the lumberjacks to fuck off early in the match. Reinforcing that your main-eventers are bad-asses, what a crazy concept. My only real complaint of this match is that in the finishing stretches, I didn't buy that Homicide got THAT much of an adrenaline rush after a release Regalplex. I was glad the second Regalplex was the finish though.

Rating: ***1/2

Shelly cuts a promo after the show, smirking like a complete douche-bag. No wonder nobody in the locker room believes a word he says. It's an interesting dynamic though, douche-bag claiming to be changed feuding with the assholes that betrayed him.

Up next - Manhattan Mayhem

Matches will include:

Nigel McGuinness vs. Colt Cabana

James Gibson vs. Black Tiger (Rocky Romero)

Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer vs. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans

Jay Lethal vs. Samoa Joe

CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave

Austin Aries vs. Alex Shelley

[supersonic]

Manhattan Mayhem - May 7, 2005

Nigel McGuinness vs. Colt Cabana

Another very good undercard match between these two. This had the usual great mat wrestling and counters, but the story of the match incorporated the narrative between the two, which was Cabana's comedy vs. the all-business McGuinness. I really enjoyed that Cabana's comedy at one point became a disadvantage to him, being temporarily unable to wiggle McGuinness off of his back when crawling around. The finish was initially botched but the commentary did a great job covering for it, and it was redone with what appeared to be an accidental lowblow, leading to victory for McGuinness. That finish should only add some juice to what has felt like the calm before the storm. Outstanding job of accomplishing its goals.

Rating: ***1/2

Alex Shelley cuts an absolutely phenomenal promo that chronicles the rise of Generation Next, and how frustrating it's been to be ostracized by the rest of the roster since being booted by GeNext. That's what happens when you ruin a peer's moment to win the ROH Title just because you put your own personal agenda first and then smirk about it afterwards. That's the kind of thing that will usually erase any chance of forgiveness.

James Gibson vs. Black Tiger (Rocky Romero)

Surprise, surprise, another very good undercard match. That these two had faced each other two months before but without Romero's BT gimmick was a blessing to me, as I really didn't recall the match and having the gimmick this time means less expectation of following up on that prior match. There was a stretch in which BT kept trapping Gibson in a traditional ankle lock, and based on a Paul London & Brian Kendrick shoot that mentioned how much Gibson admired Chris Benoit, I have to wonder if it was done to pay homage to the finish of Benoit's classic against Kurt Angle from Royal Rumble 2003.

I really enjoyed that the guillotine choke out of nowhere led to an almost immediate submission victory for Gibson; while there wasn't a tremendous amount of work done on BT's neck or throat, it was necessary to establish it as instant death with another ROH Title shot just six days away for Gibson. These two would have been a fitting addition to TNA's X-Division at the time.

Rating: ***1/2

Tag Titles Match

Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer vs. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans

The very good matches just keep on coming, this time in the mid-card. At the time that this event was first released on DVD, I was OMG MOTYC like almost everyone else. When I last watched it a few years ago, I was underwhelmed and felt it was a cute but incredibly hollow spotfest. With all these years gone by, and a better understanding that matches aim to provide different flavors, my feelings about this match are much more positive, though not as positive as in 2005.

I'm not putting down this match at all. This was a very well done spotfest, one that had the crowd going absolutely apeshit. It was simply a preview of things to come for the tripleshot weekend that was to hit the Midwest the following spring. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. Sure, I would've liked to see these two teams in a traditionally structured tag like the prime years of the Rock 'N Roll Express, but I give credit where it's due. I thoroughly enjoyed what these four men put together, even with some flaws in the match and that it's not necessarily my favorite flavor of match anymore.

There were moments in which tags weren't enforced, somewhat souring the great moment when the ref actually DID enforce the legality. But this still just had so many fucking awesome moments. From the Whitmer and Strong chopfest, to Whitmer ducking an attempted Yakuza Kick from Strong and just nailing him with a nasty lariat, the combinations of spots (including the inevitable double-team moves), and Jacobs playing a terrific face-in-peril.

I really wish these two teams could've had a rematch during the red-hot summer that was on the horizon. I'm guessing Evans had commitments with Dragon Gate and that prevented it from happening. I wish that it had happened though not only because I'd like to have seen what these two teams could've done in the traditionally structured tag style match, but because these two teams on this night simply just put on a performance that was FUN AND ENJOYABLE. That's something that a smarky fan that analyzes everything like me can appreciate.

Rating: ***1/2

Pure Title Match

Jay Lethal vs. Samoa Joe

The very good matches come to a screeching halt here. Instead, we got our first great match for the evening.

I absolutely LOVED the story of this match. Earlier in the evening, Lethal met Joe in the ring and was praising his mentor. Joe insulted him for being sentimental and not understanding that this match and moment was about business and being the Pure Champion. This caused Lethal to throw the sportsmanship out the window and pieface Joe, telling the former ROH Champ not to be looking past him.

Lethal indeed brought his working boots to this match; this seriously might be the best match of his career. He took his beating from Joe, but showed how far he had come in the span of a year, surprising Joe with just how much expertise he had acquired. There was one submission that I have no fucking clue the name for, but it was just beautiful: Lethal was on his back with Joe on top of him, but he had his legs stretching out the shoulders of Joe. Really amazing submission move that also had to soften Joe for Lethal's Dragon Suplex finisher.

But despite the match against Low Ki several months before, Lethal had never faced an opponent that was as physical as Samoa Joe. With that said though, Joe's physical style, including his habits of throwing punches, did cost him a rope break. But with the match getting so physical, borderline chippy, Lethal found himself throwing receipt punches and got penalized a rope break too. Despite Joe not being completely familiar with the Pure Title rules, his experience at the top and his style were too much for Lethal, winning his second championship in the company. These two blew the roof off of the New Yorker Hotel with their tremendous wrestling and brutal physicality.

Post-match, the Rottweilers show up to raise hell in what is just an awesome moment that only intensified an already hot crowd. They beat the shit out of Joe & Lethal, with the returning Low Ki admitting that he was the one that mugged Lethal behind the scenes a couple months back at Trios Tournament in a moment I had forgotten to acknowledge. I really do miss narcissistic Low Ki.

Rating: ****

Dog-Collar Match

CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave

I gotta say - Prince Nana was looking awfully spiffy on this night, and of course he cut his usual grand promo. The Embassy were just splendid during this time. I loved that Rave pretended to be sick to get out of the match, but then immediately sprinted to the ring as soon as Punk was getting the collar chained to his neck and attacked him. This match was obviously all storytelling, and didn't quite hit the high gear to be an epic, but with an already announced cage match just seven days away in Punk's hometown of Chicago, it wasn't necessary for this to be a MOTYC. I'm sure Punk is feeling those unprotected chair shots to finish the match as the years go by, but with the great promo he cut afterwards backstage that revealed he had a broken skull before his ROH days, it certainly made sense for the story.

Rating: ***1/2

ROH Title Match

Austin Aries vs. Alex Shelley

The other great match for the evening, and this one certainly lived up to expectations. Despite what a personal match this really was, both men were intelligent enough to largely put that aside and focus on just out-wrestling each other. To me, that really puts over the ROH Title, that being the champion of the company was more important than settling scores. These two just went back-and-forth with tremendous pacing and showing off their submission work, working on the necessary body parts and trying to gain an advantage.

I really loved Aries desperately rolling to the ropes when Shelley hit a series of deadly moves on him, making Shelley have to use just a bit of additional energy before attempting a pinfall. Little things like that are what separates raw potential from true greatness. And while Shelley really did put Aries through hell, I've no problem with Aries finding enough of an adrenaline rush to finish off his former teammate with his trademark finishing sequence. Die-hard sports fans know that's often the case for so many teams and athletes squeezing out victories in the closing moments of games.

Rating: ****

Low Ki & Homicide come to the ring IMMEDIATELY after that match ends, and Aries makes the decision to leave the ring after that grueling contest he just had. Of course, Joe & Lethal come out to settle the score after what happened earlier in the evening, and we have a match that gives this show its name...

Impromptu Main Event

Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal vs. Low Ki & Homicide

This was a VERY fitting close to the show. A wild tag match, and quite honestly I wish it had never become a traditional tag match. With the history of these four men, they should've just been let loose and fucked each other up! But this match still did a fine job of reinforcing what BAD-ASSES Joe, Ki, and Homicide were at the time, and continued to elevate Lethal as someone that the company would hope to be a cornerstone in the future. This match was quick, to the point, and BRUTAL. The finish is one of the most iconic in company history, with Homicide putting Lethal in position for the Kudo Driver, but waiting for Ki to leap off of the top rope and double-stomp Lethal so that Homicide would then use that momentum to drop Lethal right on his neck.

Rating: ***3/4

Prince Nana cuts another excellent promo, all pissed off that his meal ticket Rave is having to pay the consequences for his actions by getting booked in gimmick matches with Punk. LOVE IT.

Gibson cuts a promo that serves its purpose of reminding us of his upcoming ROH Title shot, and he does a really good job of saying how much the opportunity means to him. Nothing spectacular, but effective.

The final promo is Cabana & McGuinness getting in each other's faces, the former bitching about the lowblow finish while the latter says it was an accident. Oh, this is about to get chippy.

If you look at just my star ratings, you won't see anything on here that will be anywhere near a MOTYC list. But that doesn't matter in this instance. This was an unbelievably well-paced event in front of a second-to-none NYC crowd. Much like Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 2 and Third Anniversary Celebration Pt. 2, this show not only was consistent with very good to great matches (although on this event they were absurdly one after another), but those matches featured a variety of styles and interesting characters.

You want technical wrestling that'll make you salivate? An unreal FOUR matches on this show can go into that category. You want a spofest? There are the two undercard tag matches. You want matches that elevate titles? Those are on here. You want physicality? There are the matches/segments involving the Embassy and Rottweilers.

This event got me to realize that although I always wish I had come home to Seattle during the early 21st Century when I had the chance (instead of finally getting off my ass and making it happen last year), a part of me wishes I had lived in Philly, Boston, or the Tri-State area during the Gabe Sapolsky era of ROH. Independent wrestling fans in the Northeast really did get spoiled with a magical time that's never going to come back. If you live within a reasonable driving distance of L.A., I absolutely urge you to go support PWG, as it's the closest thing to the golden age of ROH on today's independent scene, and all good things do eventually come to an end.

Up next - The Final Showdown

Matches will include:

Alex Shelley vs. Roderick Strong

Samoa Joe vs. Delirious vs. Jack Evans vs. Ebetaroh

Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer vs. CM Punk & Ace Steel

Jimmy Rave vs. Matt Sydal

Doug Williams & Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuinness & Chad Collyer

Austin Aries vs. James Gibson

Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson

[supersonic]

The Final Showdown - May 13, 2005

Alex Shelley vs. Roderick Strong

"You shut your mouth... that goes for you too, toots. If I want you to open your mouth, I'll drop my pants." - Austin Aries before the match

A very good opening match that served its purpose with re-establshing Shelley as a threat while also elevating Strong. I loved the chippiness these two showed towards each other, being a very personal match that isn't usual for an opener. The wrestling was very crisp as well, each man showing great pride in their technique and the damage they managed to inflict on one another. Every opener needs to be like this.

Rating: ***1/2

Prince Nana & Jimmy Rave arrive to Dayton via helicopter. This is BRILLIANT usage of the elements available. I recall someone saying that Dayton's locker rooms were so small that the wrestlers had to change in the locker room. Using the helicopter for this promo just gave that extra layer of arrogance and smugness for the Embassy. Awesome.

I catch Bryan Danielson stroking his beard and looking at a piece of Homicide merch. Terrible acting from him.

Lenny Leonard provides his voice for the first time, giving an update on Jay Lethal, who took that brutal Double Stomp/Kudo Driver combo from Low Ki & Homicide the week before.

Comedy Match of the Decade

Samoa Joe vs. Delirious vs. Jack Evans vs. Ebetaroh

I really loved everything about this segment, as I indicate above with my crowning of this match for its comedic success. From Joe disrespecting all three opponents before the match, to the calling-back between Joe and Evans (they faced each other in that **** tag match on the previous Dayton event), to the dance-offs, to Delirious and Ebetaroh intentionally being lazy and having the crowd going apeshit over it. This was the perfect crowd for this match, as they sarcastically chant "Match of the Year!" afterwards. Tremendous. MUST SEE.

Rating: ***1/2

Tag Titles Match

Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer vs. CM Punk & Ace Steel

This match really was nothing special. It wasn't bad, but I can't believe anyone would deem this to be a "good" match. Mediocre stuff, which is to be expected for a traditional tag involving Whitmer and Steel.

Rating: less than ***

Afterwards, a brawl breaks out when the Embassy come out to attack the Second City Saints, both hyping me up for the Punk vs. Rave match the next night and leading to our next impromptu match...

Jimmy Rave vs. Matt Sydal

This was another very good undercard match, the singles coming-out (but not quite breakout) of Sydal. Rave was a tremendous prick here, but Sydal did an amazing job using his aerial attacks to thwart Rave and pull off believable near-falls on the red-hot Rave, who of course was booked for the main event the following night. What these two did to remind the audience of what a threat Rave is, while also elevating Sydal's game, is a great testament, and I'm sure the audience helped quite a bit. I couldn't ask for anything more in this one.

Rating: ***1/2

Doug Williams & Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuinness & Chad Collyer

The very good undercard matches just keep on coming. For those looking for European style wrestling, along with subtle (rather than blatant as in the fourway) comedy, this is certainly for you. Williams was a great addition to the Cabana vs. McGuinness rivalry on this night, using his superior experience as a long-time pro to outsmart McGuinness & Collyer, while Cabana was great in complimenting the technique of Williams. Just great stuff and I couldn't ask for more out of this, as these four men knew what the fuck what they were doing.

Rating: ***1/2

ROH Title Match

Austin Aries vs. James Gibson

Our first and only truly great match for the evening, the match of the night, and a significant improvement over the midly disappointing but still very good contest between these two at Stalemate. While these two of course brought their working boots in terms of technical wrestling, it added what was so critical to their previous match not being a great match - DRAMA and PACING. Aries working on the left arm and shoulder of Gibson was great stuff, but Gibson continued his run on the indies and Japan showing the up-and-comers his veteran experience, much like Williams did in the match right before this. But all the work Aries put in, as well as his usual explosiveness, was too much for Gibson in the end. I wish these two could have had an actual feud or extended rivalry, as I'm sure they had some legit MOTYCs in them.

Rating: ****

I should note that Shelley approaches Joe to be his partner the next night, and Joe condemns Shelley for spearheading Generation Next in fucking with Joe in the past. IIRC, Shelley never fucked with Joe. Shelley & Aries merely got into his face at one point just to point out that they'd be challenging for the ROH Title at some point, and Aries then cleanly dethroned Joe. The decision by Aries to align with Foley in fucking with Joe had nothing to do with Shelley. Joe clearly reacted in an irrational manner. Now had he mentioned that Shelley's atonement seemed to be all-talk and insincere, using Shelley's actions after the Aries vs. Gibson match at Stalemate as evidence, then his reasoning for being a cunt to Shelley would actually make sense.

Match #5 in Best of 5 Series - ROH Title Shot - Cage Match

Defeated participant faces Doug Williams

Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson

The evening ends with yet another very good, bordering on great, feud-ending brawl between these two. While not the feud of the year candidate that Batista vs. Triple H, Kevin Steen vs. Super Dragon, and Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels were in 2005, this was still a very good, chippy feud. Both men were incredibly aggressive with one another, and it temporarily brought back memories of Homicide's bloodbaths against Steve Corino. However, it was obvious that Danielson's brawling was still a work in progress, and I have difficulty really having an opinion on the airplane spin finish. Was it ridiculous considering the brutality of this cage match, or was it the correct way to show that Danielson had enough adrenaline to show Homicide one last death blow he had up his sleeve?

Rating: ***3/4

This was another great show that lacked a MOTYC, but dripped with very good matches and was highlighted by one great match. A very different flavor of pacing and atmosphere from the week before, but damn this was one quality professional wrestling show.

Up next - Nowhere to Run

Matches will include:

BJ Whitmer vs. James Gibson

Doug Williams vs. Homicide

Delirious & Alex Shelley vs. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans

Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuinness

Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson

CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave

[supersonic]

Nowhere to Run - May 14, 2005

Alex Shelley proves how tone-deaf he is and also his total lack of awareness, which has to be due to his narcissism (am I describing the Shelley character or real-life Matt Hardy?), first asking Bryan Danielson to be his tag partner. This was IMMEDIATELY after Danielson said he only cares about the ROH Title, which Danielson earned a shot at the night before. Seriously, did Shelley pay attention to anything not involving himself or Generation Next? Then, he asks James Gibson the same thing, providing an insincere apology about what happened at Stalemate; this stuns Gibson in the most negative way possible.

BJ Whitmer vs. James Gibson

A hot opener in front of a great Chicago crowd... so what's the problem? That the early leg work Gibson put on Whitmer led to nothing, that's what. Still a fun match though that would have been a show-stealer if Whitmer had bothered to buy into the narrative Gibson brought to the table.

Rating: ***

Jimmy Rave & Prince Nana come out for a promo. Very good impromptu promo to fire up the crowd for the main event in light of what was going on. I believe the ring broke during a shitty fourway that is thankfully not included on the DVD release of this show, and it was being fixed during this in-ring promo. I really liked that Nana told Rave that it was time for him to prove that he really is the Crown Jewel of the Embassy, that he's worth everything that Nana has invested in him.

Shelley finally finds a tag partner when he stumbles upon Delirious in the Frontier Fieldhouse bathroom. Mildly amusing segment.

Doug Williams vs. Homicide

Now this was one bad-ass forgotten gem, and is undoubtedly one of the most underappreciated matches that ROH has ever hosted. Coming off his loss the night before to Danielson, Homicide was very much on edge and bitter. On the other hand, an experienced, muscular technician like Williams was more than able to manage that for the most part. Both men worked on each other's necks, perfect for their finishers.

Once Williams got a successful Chaos Theory on Homicide, his own neck was too damaged to bridge for a pinfall. When the finish came after several more grueling minutes, Homicide rolled him up, and once again the neck was too damaged to manage a kickout. Homicide's rollup pin was no fluke; it was earned through his strategy. HUGE THUMBS UP for making sure Homicide's stock didn't drop too much from his loss the night before, and for stealing the show in incredible fashion.

Rating: ****

Delirious & Alex Shelley vs. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans

Another show-stealer for an undercard match, with a much different flavor of course. This was chippy for obvious reasons, but good lord was it also action-packed. Delirious was a tremendous Ricky Morton, and Shelley was a house of fire once he got the hot tag. Evans was great with his trolling of the Chicago crowd. The submissions were jaw-dropping. Just about everything clicked on all cylinders. But the moment the ref forget who was technically legal, that dropped this from great to very good bordering on great. Still love the fuck out of this match though. The Shelley vs. GeNext feud just keeps heating up.

Rating: ***3/4

Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuinness

These two just can't seem to have a bad match. In this one, this got way chippier when Cabana outsmarted McGuinness, who used what was an accidental lowblow on Cabana's part as an excuse to become an asshole. Seriously, these guys got CHIPPY - it reminded me of AJ Styles flipping his shit on Low Ki at Honor Invades Boston. If you're an NFL fan, it was like watching the Seahawks and 49ers battle in the trenches. I loved McGuinness when he had the opportunity delivering what was this time a blatant lowblow to get the victory. Turning point from being a rivalry to now being a feud.

Rating: ***1/2

ROH Title Match

Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson

The usual fantastic match from these two of course. Just incredible pacing and storytelling, working on the arms and shoulders of each other. Perhaps my favorite moment was Aries attempting the Cattle Mutilation a few times, but Danielson being so familiar with his own finisher that he kept rolling out of it. These two brutalized each other though, and while the simple one-time sequence for Aries over Danielson may have seen a bit anticlimatic, it was necessary - sometimes the finishing sequence should actually be the finishing sequence.

The post-match is quite important. First, Danielson refuses to shake hands and walks away.

Then, Samoa Joe comes out to the ring with his Pure Title, punking out Aries. Aries sucker-attacks him, but ends up eating a vicious muscle-buster. I'm guessing this is Joe getting payback for what happened during the Mick Foley situation earlier in the year, although it was never said outwardly. It would explain why Joe attacked Aries after a grueling title match though.

Danielson is caught backstage as he's leaving the gymnasium (that's what the Frontier Fieldhouse actually is), and announces that he has quit ROH out of shame because for him it's ROH Champion or bust.

Rating: ****

Cage Match

CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave

This was simply everything that the end of last year's feud between Punk and Paul Heyman should've been. Punk got his vengeance on the Embassy, but that stable went down fighting, throwing every possible trick up their sleeve that they had at him. Smashing the cage door on Punk's face. Throwing powder in his eyes. Sneak attacks from both Nana and Jade Chung. But on this night, with this being the finale, in front of his hometown fans, there was no way that Punk would lose this match and this feud. This was a throwback to the territory/WCW early '90s days.

Afterwards, as the Second City Saints are leaving in celebration, Punk declares that he'll soon challenge Aries for the ROH Title.

Rating: ****1/4

What an absolutely phenomenal show, and my pick for the best of the incredible month of May 2005. Three great matches, another one bordering on great, and all of them exciting in their own way. Add the historical importance of this show for ROH and this might actually be the greatest ROH show up to this point. But if someone wants to argue that this wasn't even the best show ROH hosted in May 2005, I'm totally fine with that.

Up next - New Frontiers

Matches will include:

Alex Shelley vs. Roderick Strong

CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuinness & Chad Collyer

Samoa Joe vs. James Gibson

Austin Aries vs. Brian Kendrick

[supersonic]

New Frontiers - June 4, 2005

I enjoyed some of the promos at the beginning of the DVD. James Gibson and Brian Kendrick were great in motivating each other to both be champions at the end of the night, with Gibson pointing out that he was present at WrestleMania XX to witness the magical moment shared between Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero. And I don't mind that these two acknowledged they could now wrestle without limitations. That doesn't expose the business - it's saying that the environment in WWE was not conducive to maximizing their in-ring potential, as they had to follow some guidelines. That happens quite often in sports when athletes find themselves under coaches that aren't a good fit (ie, Dwight Howard during his time under Mike D'Antoni with the Lakers.)

Alex Shelley cuts a promo that does a terrible job of making him sympathetic. Sounds like a desperate man going up against the monsters he helped create.

CM Punk & Colt Cabana have a great segment as well. Cabana demands Punk to make a complete mental contribution to their tag match against Nigel McGuinness & Chad Collyer that night, pointing out that he helped out his friend throughout the years when having issues with Raven, Terry Funk, the Prophecy, and Ricky Steamboat. Punk tries to downplay the issue, saying he was focused on his upcoming ROH Title shot, but Cabana was dead serious. This was a great way to enforce that Cabana vs. McGuinness was no longer a friendly, competitive rivalry, and had become a heated feud, regardless of its position on the card.

Alex Shelley vs. Roderick Strong

Before the match begins, Austin Aries comes out to talk shit to Shelley, which turns out to blow up in his face. Not only does Shelley dispose of Aries to make him a non-factor, but he mentions that the neck of Aries is still damaged. Recall that the champion took a vicious musclebuster from Samoa Joe just a few weeks before, just minutes after a grueling match against Bryan Danielson.

This was a really good match, and the work and hatred really should've made this better than the killer opening match these two had at The Final Showdown. These two beat the shit out of each other, brutalizing each other until Strong finally got his first huge singles victory, upsetting Shelley, who couldn't kick out after all the damage done on his back. So how come this match wasn't the singles breakout for Strong? Why wasn't this as a whole package better than their match the month before?

It's because the Buffalo crowd sucked a big one in this match. They responded to barely anything. There was no reaction other than polite applause when the match concluded. AND THIS WAS RODERICK STRONG'S FIRST MAJOR SINGLES VICTORY IN ROH. I don't know why the crowd was so shitty in this match, as the work was very, very good, bordering on excellent. As proven later in the night, the crowd would've made this an all-time classic for both men.

Post-match, and spread out into a few interrupted segments, Generation Next obliterate and mug Shelley. Considering Shelley's recent douchey decisions, and that he's on the brink of desperation, that may not be an ultimately wise decision for GeNext.

Rating: ***1/2

CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuinness & Chad Collyer

This match was ALL storyline, with no intentions of stealing the show. And I appreciated the narrative of this match. As a match, it wasn't anything special. But I know what this match was aiming to do, and with that in mind, this was actually enjoyable.

This was all about progressing the Cabana vs. McGuinness feud. Sure, it was nice to see Punk and McGuinness lock horns a few times , and that makes this match somewhat of a novelty (this is the only time they ever faced each other in ROH unfortunately). I really liked that Punk was no match for some of the habits of McGuinness, even with Cabana trying to advise him to avoid those habits.

Cabana and McGuinness were also great in showing off their now irrational hatred of each other, finding themselves brawling at times. But McGuinness also played the role of chickenshit heel tremendously, refusing at times to go man-to-man with Cabana and applying numerous dirty tactics. Collyer was great in his role too. Overall, this was once again, enjoyable.

Rating: ***

Pure Title Match

Samoa Joe vs. James Gibson

Up to this point, this was simply the greatest Pure Title match ever. That's not an opinion instilled in me by the commentary, that is reality based on everything that this match accomplished. The story told was amazing and the crowd woke up to provide a fantastic atmosphere that made up for their library-esque reactions to Shelley vs. Strong.

While both men looked like natural fits in the Pure Wrestling division, that isn't what impressed me the most. I loved that Gibson used the Trailer Hitch for the first time in ROH. It showed that with this being his third opportunity at a championship in ROH, he had to pull out another weapon from his experienced bag. It also showed how much respect he had for Joe to wait until this match to show that submission for the first time in front of an ROH audience. Not only that, but it was great storytelling to take away the base of Joe, and put him in position to use rope breaks, especially with Gibson having the guillotine choke as his established finisher.

Gibson used more than the Trailer Hitch to work on Joe's legs of course. But Joe was great as well; he had to dig down deep in his first Pure Title defense to prove his victory over Lethal was no fluke for this environment, while also overcoming a a very skilled, experienced, and successful challenger he had never faced before. But Gibson had never faced a challenger as physical as Joe. The champion brought the physicality and showed he too was just as great as Gibson in submission work.

I must mention the crowd again. While the deuling chants were a bit repetitive, it was a minor annoyance in what was a very engaged audience that added to the drama of this classic match. It had to fuel both men as they sold the brutal work they laid upon one another.

This match got a well-deserved standing ovation of course, but perhaps more important is that it elevated the Pure Title in a way that only those as skilled as Samoa Joe and James Gibson could.

Rating: ****1/4

ROH Title Match

Austin Aries vs. Brian Kendrick

This couldn't quite capture the magic of the Pure Title classic, but make no mistake: this was very, very good stuff bordering on excellence.

Kendrick predictably worked on the damaged neck of Aries, doing everything he could to add to its vulnerability for his Shiranui finisher. Perhaps Aries was a bit too cocky after beating down Shelley, as Kendrick was merciless and had the appropriate bulls-eye on the champion as any experienced veteran would do.

Aries was able to bring the match to an even level when he gave Kendrick a neckbreaker on the edge of a guardrail, followed by a piledriver on a wooden chair. He returned the favor, working on the neck of Kendrick, perfect to set up for his signature brainbuster. But Kendrick wouldn't go down easily; I can't mention enough how much Kendrick's experience had to have played a hand in making him know how badly he needed to win this.

But Aries, ever the champion, found a way to get the job done. Not even a split chin could keep him down this time, even though a year before it did against Bryan Danielson.

Rating: ***3/4

Gibson & Kendrick crack me up when they say they missed out on having a "WrestleMania moment." Who would seriously WANT to have their career-defining moment in Buffalo?

Up next - The Future is Now

Matches will include:

James Gibson vs. Homicide

CM Punk vs. Roderick Strong

Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness

Austin Aries vs. Low Ki

[supersonic]

The Future is Now - June 12, 2005

Jay Lethal cuts a brief promo that is so unintentionally hilarious that it must be seen to be believed.

James Gibson vs. Homicide

This was a good match, with sound psychology and storytelling, but there was something missing in this match. It lacked a pacing to really get the crowd going until the last minute or two. Perhaps it's because Gibson had just flown from the other side of the continent after having a very good match with AJ Styles the night before. I'm sure that took a toll on him.

I did enjoy Gibson being highly irritated with the cheating antics of Homicide and Julius Smokes, further intensified after his failure to capture a championship in ROH after three opportunities. But there was something missing here.

Rating: ***1/4

CM Punk vs. Roderick Strong

The hottest match of the night, and that makes it the best one too. It was leaked days prior to this event that Punk was about to sign with WWE, so this was assumed as the first of two farewell matches for him. That made this for not just a great wrestling match, but a sentimental one to boot.

Just six days away from saying goodbye to ROH and getting an ROH Title shot against Austin Aries, Punk was dialed-in like he hadn't shown before; I'm not sure he was even this dialed-in in the series against Samoa Joe. However, Roderick Strong was obviously the future of the company, coming off of his first major singles victory in a grueling match against Alex Shelley (but its audience sucked so it's not recognized as the big deal it really was for Strong), and was an established roadblock. Keep in mind that this was the third time a scheduled ROH Title challenger faced Strong on the event prior to the title shot, the others being Gibson and Homicide.

Punk was tremendous in his work on Strong's left arm and shoulder, setting him up for the Anaconda Vise. I absolutely loved how much he avoided Strong's vicious chops in the first third of the match too. Once Strong was able to land a chop, it meant something and gave Strong some much-needed confidence. It also led to the first of two wild chopping contests that had me wondering if I was watching a 1989 event, because the exchanges reminded me of Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat. But Punk was able to outsmart Strong, manipulating the less experienced powerhouse to attempt a chop, only for Punk to move out of the way and Strong's backhand to strike the ring post.

Strong was able to get the heat back in the match, relentlessly working on Punk's back as expected. Punk really did take a beating in this one, and the crowd was into every moment of this match. I also appreciated both men picking up on each other's habits as the match progressed. But with the work already done on Strong's left arm, he had no choice but to immediately tap out to Punk when he got the Anaconda Vise on again about 15-20 minutes into this match. Punk not only was dialed-in, but showed he had learned from his failure to capture the ROH Title from Samoa Joe.

Post-match, Punk gives a great speech explaining why he is destined to win the ROH Title, and mentions that it is so appropriate to have that match take place in New Jersey, the audience that hates him the most. But he also manages to put Strong over as the future of the company and give him the spotlight. This was a genuine moment, one that Punk really participated in, so it didn't come across as forced and tiresome as the millions of times that Davey Richards would go on to do it.

Rating: ****

Pure Title Match

Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness

This was another good match of course. It was VERY obvious that this style of match was a natural fit for McGuinness (his first Pure Title shot against John Walters is what earned him a full-time spot in ROH), as he knew how to manipulate the temperamental Joe into using rope breaks and throwing illegal punches.

Other standout moments included Joe throwing a Yakuza kick as a counter to McGuinness doing the turnbuckle handstand evasion, something that had happened when they squared off in a tag match on the Weekend of Thunder and in the Double Stakes fourway at Stalemate. However, when Joe attempted that again later in the match, McGuinness got away, showing that he was picking up on Joe's habits as the match progressed (which is what helped make Punk vs. Strong stand out as well). In the end though, Joe's physicality, submission work, and experience in championship matches were too much for McGuinness, who wasn't quite ready to get past the mid-card yet.

Rating: ***1/2

Austin Aries vs. Low Ki

The storyline for this match was horrendous - Ki interrupted a shitty ROH promotion segment the month before on the local WB affiliate morning news show that involved Aries, Azrieal, and Prince Nana. (Why couldn't that have been used to build an issue between the Embassy and Rottweilers to get the most out of that poorly acted segment?)

This had some good work from both men, but the crowd just never came unglued as I expect out of NYC. Perhaps that's because this was early in the day and most in attendance were more excited for One Night Stand 2005 that evening. Nonetheless, both men still worked extremely hard and told a solid story, just nothing truly memorable other than the finish.

That finish? Ki performing a Super Ki Crusher on Aries, who came in with a damaged neck after getting a vicious musclebuster from Joe AND having it worked on by Brian Kendrick in the prior FOUR weeks before this event. THAT got this crowd to go apeshit.

Rating: ***3/4

Gary Michael Capetta finds Aries to ask about the neck. It is so obvious looking at Aries that his neck has taken a toll, just his eyes say it. He is NOT looking forward to defending his ROH TItle against Punk.

Up next - Death Before Dishonor III

Matches will include:

Segments reflecting on important CM Punk chapters in ROH

Samoa Joe vs. Colt Cabana

AJ Styles vs. Petey Williams

Izzy & Deranged vs. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans

Low Ki vs. Jay Lethal

Austin Aries vs. CM Punk

[supersonic]

Death Before Dishonor III - June 18, 2005

Jay Lethal cuts another hilariously bad promo that should be seen.

Pure Title Match

Samoa Joe vs. Colt Cabana

This was another very good singles match between these two, and they managed to smoothly transition their chemistry within the Pure Title rules. Cabana once again showed that his comedy could disguise his intelligence, bringing Joe to the ropes during a submission and causing Joe to lose a rope break. This pissed off Joe and had him shoving the referee, which caused him to lose his warning for a closed fist. Tremendous mind games from Cabana in this one.

But despite all the European training Cabana had the year before, and the experience he was getting from feuding with Nigel McGuinness, he still couldn't overcome the much more physical Joe, who also had the experience of being at the top of ROH to his advantage. Joe learned to not allow himself to be susceptible to a sudden pinfall, and Cabana just didn't have what it took at the time to dethrone Joe.

Rating: ***1/2

AJ Styles vs. Petey Williams

Williams was the mystery opponent for Styles, who was returning full-time to ROH. Before Williams made his entrance, Allison Danger returned and interrupted the Embassy to announce that Christopher Daniels would be returning not on July 16, but on July 8.

The match was decent and nothing special. This was as substantial as a forgettable match on Impact. What really mattered was how badly Prince Nana was treating Jade Chung, and that Jimmy Rave attacked Styles from behind after the match.

Rating: less than ***

Izzy & Deranged vs. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans

I couldn't finish this. Very little fluidity in the spots, horrendous chemistry between Deranged and Evans (that may have been lifelong now that I think about it), and tag legalities being thrown out the window. My response is to throw any chance of me finishing this match out the window too.

Rating: less than ***

Low Ki vs. Jay Lethal

Another good match, although not a show-stealer (it seemed intentional that nothing was a show-stealer to make sure the crowd's energy was completely saved for the main event, similar to WrestleMania XXVI). Low Ki was awesome working on the prone neck of Lethal, who had not yet fully recovered from the month before. But Lethal was incredibly tenacious, showing great fire and not going down. He delivered a number of nice receipts to Ki.

While having the hometown advantage was a bonus for Lethal, being in Morristown just wasn't the same as being in Elizabeth. With that said though, I enjoyed that Lethal likely had Ki defeated with the Dragon Suplex (Lethal's established finisher and Ki had also gotten his neck worked on), only for Julius Smokes to interfere and ruin what would have been Lethal's greatest victory. Crowd reacted quite appropriately to that.

Rating: ***1/4

Throughout the home release, CM Punk looked back at many moments and matches of his in ROH, and that not only made this event more sentimental, but played as great reminders for the storytelling and callbacks in the main event of the evening.

ROH Title - CM Punk's Advertised ROH Farewell

Austin Aries vs. CM Punk

If one looks back at every ROH show I've reviewed so far for 2005, there are plenty of great matches listed, one after another that I gush over. But no match so far had been up to par with the majority of the top ten matches I had for 2004. With this match, that finally came to an end. The first half of 2005 for ROH concluded with its greatest match, and a moment that defines why I watch professional wrestling. This match is what makes all of the shitty wrestling, tedious storylines, disappointing payoffs, all of that bullshit worth suffering through.

From the very moment that the lights were dimmed out for Punk's entrance, that trademark opening sequence for AFI's "Miseria Cantare," it was obvious that this was to be a special moment, assuming one wasn't already convinced by Punk's match days earlier against Roderick Strong and all of the reflections Punk had about his ROH career. The New Jersey crowd, one that had been the most spiteful towards Punk since the first ROH event in that state two years earlier, was 100% on the side of Punk, slapping the barricades and their hands in unison to show appreciation for Punk, to root for him to achieve his final indy goal, in his farewell match.

The in-ring introductions were also epic. Punk got the farewell/one night only streamer treatment that Paul London and Jushin Liger had experienced, and had "GOODBYE" written on his wrist tape. Aries got booed out of the building, but it wasn't because the crowd hated him, it was because they wanted to witness Punk's special moment so badly. Aries was already showing potential to be a babyface against Low Ki days earlier anyway, with the NYC crowd getting behind him.

Aries came into this match with a well-known damaged neck, at the hands of Joe, Ki, and Brian Kendrick, and he even acknowledged it during a promo earlier in the day. For the first several minutes of this match, it was almost all Punk on offense, just working on that bad neck. Even with the occasional hope spot from Aries, it seemed like he couldn't get any advantage whatsoever, not on this night.

But once the opportunity came knocking, Aries executed a Death Valley Driver to Punk on the apron, bringing the match to a pretty much even level. Neck for a neck! But even with that nasty bump, Aries couldn't get a full advantage on Punk on the outside as they exchanged strikes and throwing each other into barricades. It wasn't until the action got back in the ring that Aries fully got the heat on Punk.

I must of course mention that around this point, the crowd treated this match like it was the Rock vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8. Every time Punk got an advantage - complete cheers. Every time Aries got an advantage - complete boos. Aries used the hostile crowd, even though deep down he knew it wasn't personal, to fuel him, as a means to step up his game, which he was gonna have to do in this match anyway. He became more focused, more vicious, more antagonistic of the crowd, even going so far as to spit towards a fan at ringside.

But Aries made the mistake of using Punk's Pepsi Plunge finisher. Rather than wiping Punk out, it only managed to give him an adrenaline rush and wake up the part machine, part animal he said he was six days earlier. At this point, it was inevitable. Even with Aries using his own finishers too, it wasn't enough on this night. When Punk executed the Pepsi Plunge on Aries and captured the ROH Title, it was a fitting end to not just an excellent title reign, but to a memorable chapter for independent wrestling as well.

Or so we thought.

Post-match, Aries showed nothing but class as Joe had shown for him six months earlier, and was shown the proper appreciation from the crowd as he exited ringside. It was a nice, brief moment for Aries to be recognized for his excellent work as ROH Champion, which was often overshadowed by personal feuds and grudge matches. While none of his matches were on par with Joe vs. Punk and Joe vs. Bryan Danielson, they were still tremendous matches that maintained the prestige of the championship, and his schedule during the second half of his reign was truly something to behold.

What followed was one of the three greatest promos Punk has ever delivered during his Hall of Fame career.

With the audience begging for and expecting a farewell speech from the new ROH Champion, Punk reminded the crowd how much that championship had always meant to him, and meant even more now that he had finally won it. He went off into a story about an ill snake that betrayed an old man that saved him, and revealed that he used the emotions of the audience to toy with them. While he never mentioned it, I would assume he did it to give himself a "home-field" advantage in most of his matches as well.

The crowd's reaction was quite priceless - some celebrated because they knew they were in the presence of something more special than they could have pictured beforehand, while others went along with the storyline and gave Punk their two cents on his shitty attitude. I must note that there was no better place for this heel turn than New Jersey, which as I mentioned is the crowd that had hated Punk the most throughout most of his tenure in ROH. It was also where Punk had turned babyface 11 months earlier at Reborn: Completion, bringing his trolling of this location full circle.

Immediately after Punk said he was gonna take the belt with him to WWE, and that nobody would stop him, came the ROH return of Christopher Daniels after a 17 month absence from the company, challenging Punk for the title. But the champion would have none of it, taking a powder when Daniels got the upper hand during their brief physical altercation. Punk told Daniels to kiss his ass.

While the fans of course wanted Punk to defend the title after proving what an arrogant son of a bitch he was, and also because it would be "right for business" on his last advertised ROH appearance, I don't blame him for telling Daniels to fuck off. Punk is a vengeful character, and I'm sure that he remembered why he had issues with Daniels in the first place. No way would I have gifted Daniels with an immediate title shot after a grueling main event either, not with everything Daniels had done to Punk that led to the Fallen Angel getting eliminated from ROH.

Daniels, left in the ring by himself, explains why he was gone from ROH, but that despite everything he had ever done, he always loved pro wrestling, including ROH. He says he's excited to return to the company and take on so many of the new characters that had become established names and in-ring performers since his last ROH match at The Battle Lines Are Drawn. This was an excellent "put the company over" promo, as it felt genuine and was delivered at the most appropriate emotional time for the audience. I'm definitely interested to see if his in-ring work in ROH matches up to this promo though.

This isn't technically a perfect match. Many will argue that Punk's "Hulking Up" moments were too absurd for fighting spirit or adrenaline rush spots, degrading his own finisher in the process. I would disagree based on the atmosphere of this match, the history Punk had in getting title shots and that this was his last opportunity, and he admitted six days earlier how dialed-in he was, that a side was coming out of him which Aries wouldn't be able to overcome.

This match was an emotional roller-coaster. On Dwayne Johnson's biography, during the Rock vs. Hogan chapter, John Cena makes it very clear that pro wrestling is ultimately about delivering special, unforgettable moments. That is the #1 goal for every wrestler when performing in the squared circle. This match delivered that, and was also a much technically superior match to Rock vs. Hogan.

I won't say that this match is perfect. If others believe it is due to the emotions before, during, and afterwards, that's certainly not something I'd argue against. Those who felt taken out by Punk's no-selling, that's fine too. But I balance it out - Punk's no-selling was just a tad bit too much (I think a two-count when Aries hit the Pepsi Plunge would have gotten the same result), but not to the point of overshadowing everything that Aries, Punk, and Daniels got right during this special segment.

Rating: ****3/4

Several days later, Aries cut a promo saying that this wasn't the end, just the beginning, and Evans was leaving ROH to do some soul-searching and work on his game. Very cut and dry, but it served its purpose.

Up next - Sign of Dishonor

Matches will include:

Samoa Joe vs. James Gibson vs. Homicide vs. Austin Aries

The aftermath of Death Before Dishonor III

[supersonic]

Sign of Dishonor - July 8, 2005

New ROH Champion CM Punk comes out to the ring to Living Color's "Cult of Personality" as his new entrance theme. His hair is dyed black and purple, and he is complete with a full business suit like Triple H. The suit is tremendous in adding to the heat he gets, while also looking completely out-of-place on him.

He cuts a tremendous promo, albeit an arguably flawed one. He states that he his arrogance and self-entitlement comes from choosing ROH over TNA in the spring of 2004, whereas others chose TNA. That's fine, except for when he said he sat down with Christopher Daniels to discuss it. That blurs kayfabe and reality too much - no way that Punk and Daniels, after what happened at The Battle Lines Are Drawn, could logically be in a meeting together just 2 months afterwards for any reason.

The best part is when he signs his WWE contract while using the ROH Title as a writing platform. Fantastic heat from the audience (who were pissed they'd had to "suffer" through a long opening promo like this was an episode of Raw, which was the intention of this), fantastic interactions with Bobby Cruise, Todd Sinclair, and Shane Hagadorn, and he took a tremendous powder from Daniels and James Gibson. An overall winner of a segment here.

Samoa Joe vs. James Gibson vs. Homicide vs. Austin Aries

This was good stuff, but it seemed like these four men couldn't manage to find a way to tell a completely coherent story. Had they done so, this could have quite possibly been a MOTYC. What they managed to do was have a match that would have been perfect as the main event of Raw or SmackDown! All of the different combinations of matchups were entertaining. The most noticeable flaw in the match was the referee forgetting who was legal when the match got a little out of control, but that's somewhat understandable. With Aries getting a Pure Title shot against Joe the next night, it only made sense for him to get his third pinfall on Joe in seven months.

Rating: ***1/2

I kept Colt Cabana vs. Christopher Daniels on as background noise, since the storyline was important going into the main event, even though the match was nothing special. What mattered was Punk showing up to sabotage Daniels from beating Cabana, and it backfired on him when he hit his best friend and tag partner on accident with a chain.

Punk was a tremendous chickenshit heel, although I wish when he refused to give Daniels a shot, rather than just saying Daniels hadn't beaten anyone noteworthy yet (an insult to Cabana to show how narcissistic Punk had become now that he was on top of the world), he had told Daniels that he would consider giving him a shot at the ROH Title once he apologized for what happened to Lucy. After all, that is the seed of this entire feud between the two hated rivals.

Daniels eventually left at the demand of Punk (who threatened to not wrestle otherwise), and Punk was amazing in laying out challenges to Low Ki, Bryan Danielson, and the Briscoes, none of them obviously scheduled for ROH that weekend. This brought out Mick Foley, who had a very entertaining back-and-forth with Punk. I will not spoil the doozies they laid upon each other, but it did lead to Foley pointing out that Punk should defend the championship because it's best for the company that gave him a platform to shine. Punk then said he would defend it against Jay Lethal, and that it was because he wanted to avenge losing to Lethal in the main event tag match at Back to Basics. Was this character for Punk also inspired by the behind-the-scenes Hulk Hogan? If so, BRILLIANT.

ROH Title Match

CM Punk vs. Jay Lethal

This was a damn great match, especially when considering the work on the microphone that led up to it. Punk of course worked on the neck of Lethal, which was still recovering from Manhattan Mayhem. Lethal had also wrestled earlier in the evening, and while it was a curtain-jerking tag filler, it was still a match. I absolutely LOVED Lethal hitting a successful Dragon Suplex at the beginning on a cocky, unsuspecting Punk, showing Lethal's continuous improvement as a student of the game, AND playing off of the finish at Back to Basics.

With Punk being such a magnificent heel, and Lethal improving every night as a babyface, the crowd was eating this shit up in the closing minutes. Having Joe come down to root for Lethal only helped make sure this match had even more heat. In a nice parallel to Low Ki and Homicide at Do or Die, Joe even slapped a fatigued Lethal to fire him up. However, Punk went right after Lethal's damaged neck, negating that moment. The finish of the match was perfect too - right in front of Joe, Punk delivered a musclebuster to Lethal, and then got a choke tapout submission. Punk managed not only to do this while laughing at Joe, but also did even more devastating damage to Lethal's neck in the process to bring this to a conclusion.

Joe gets right in Punk's face afterward, and Foley comes out as well. Joe and Foley get face-to-face, going back to their feud earlier in the year, until Punk ambushes both of them. Gibson comes out as well, and stands united with Joe and Foley (their issue no longer alive due to Punk). Foley then says that Vince McMahon told him Punk must stay in ROH and keep defending the ROH Title until he loses it, otherwise he will find himself stuck in OVW and Sunday Night Heat hell. I could actually see Vince McMahon demanding that, so it works for me.

Rating: ****

Up next - Escape From New York

Matches will include:

Jimmy Rave vs. James Gibson vs. Alex Shelley vs. Azrieal

Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries

CM Punk vs. Roderick Strong

[supersonic]

Escape From New York - July 9, 2005

Throughout the evening, Colt Cabana keeps getting questioned about CM Punk's attitude. Wow this is a fucking title reign.

ROH Title Shot Match

James Gibson vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Roderick Strong vs. Azrieal

This match doesn't happen, as the lights go out and Punk cuts another fantastic heel promo. He challenges Strong to a non-title match, which brings out Foley from behind in the darkness. Foley threatens to throw the chickenshit Punk over the balcony unless he puts the ROH Title on the line, to which the champion agrees. Great promo work, tremendous crowd heat, making a title belt matter, this clicked on all cylinders.

Pure Title Shot Match

James Gibson vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Alex Shelley vs. Azrieal

Shelley abruptly came out at the start of the match to replace Strong, and Gibson wondered why. Gee, it's a fourway match for a shot at a championship, why wouldn't Shelley, ever the opportunist, step in and capitalize on the chance? He's certainly a suitable replacement. As for the match, it wasn't anything special, but had enough going for it to make it good. I believe this is the ONLY time that Gibson and Shelley ever faced off - that they never had a singles match is fucking criminal.

What really matters in this match is that Rave and Shelley worked together on Azrieal, like they were natural tag partners, and also did everything they could to keep Gibson out of the match. There were also some inconsistencies with enforcing who was and wasn't legal, which really didn't surprise me. I liked having a jabroni like Azrieal in the match for Rave to pin. The Crown Jewel in the Pure Wrestling environment again? I'm interested.

The post-match is also great, with Jade Chung (who had a hairstyle and outfit that complimented her extremely well) being forced to kiss the bare foot of Rave. She even hinted that she was fed up, but succumbed to the financial and green card benefits of being an object for the Embassy.

Rating: ***

Pure Title Match

Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries

Nana comes out during the rules breakdown and offers Aries a chance for Generation Next to unite with the Embassy. Now, I can see why this was both logical and illogical for Nana. Aries had three clean pinfalls on Joe going into this match, and so Nana showed great confidence that Aries would win the Pure Title, which would be a nice coup for the Embassy as before with John Walters. However, how would Rave, who had the next shot at the Pure Title, had reacted if Aries obliged to joining and was the new Pure Champion? This didn't seem like a very well thought out proposal for Nana.

That this offer was made right as Aries was about to face Joe made the timing even worse for Nana. Aries made it very clear that his focus was on Joe and the Pure Title. When Nana attempted a rebuttal, Aries straight-up told him to fuck off. Hmm.

As for the match, this just couldn't measure up to their ROH Title matches, but that's not really a knock on this. It just never got a story developing that was as engaging as what they had done in the past. This was still very good though, and I liked Aries teasing an Ole Ole kick (he did it to Joe in the historic Final Battle 2004 classic), only for it to be a tease and flip off the crowd. That was a small step backward for someone who seemed destined to turn face.

Joe finally got his victory over Aries, in convincing fashion. Joe was not caught by surprise this time, mentally prepared to survive the trademark finishing sequence of Aries.

Rating: ***1/2

In another brief segment that elevates the importance of the ROH Title, Aries finds Strong in what looks like a janitorial closet, telling him how special this opportunity is, being there for his friend. Quite the sight to see Aries reciprocate and be a great friend and stablemate to Strong after the year they'd been united, compared to the Second City Saints.

ROH Title Match

CM Punk vs. Roderick Strong

This match was simply amazing. Before the match even began, the mere visual of Punk looking up at Joe in the balcony, smirking and holding up the belt, just told the story. Punk of course continued to mock Joe, as well as Foley and Gibson, as they all watched from the balcony during the match. Having them up there just really elevated the importance of the ROH Title that I hadn't seen from the company before.

Punk was of course a tremendous chickenshit heel. As with their match the month before, Punk spent about the first 10 minutes evading every single chop attempt from Strong. Whereas the first singles match they had, it was a simple story of Punk just being smart enough to avoid such heavy, painful strikes, in this match, while it had that simple story too, this time Punk was the hated heel, and Strong was the white-hot future bad-ass. So when Strong finally did get that chop on Punk, the crowd erupted, getting to see the champion get his comeuppance and take his physical beating.

Strong was tremendous with his comebacks and hope spots as Punk was equally tremendous in toying with the audience. As much respect as Punk had for Strong as a competitor (hard to see that behind his smugness and arrogance, but that respect was there), he really seemed taken by surprise by the challenger. Strong truly elevated his game in this one, not going down and giving the best performance of his career at the time of this match.

Strong, with the crowd fully behind him, also laid just a vicious beating on Punk. The backbreakers he delivered were just devastating, as were his usual gutbusters. Add in the tremendous false finishes also, and this match had the crowd rocking from beginning to end. This is a truly underappreciated match.

It lived up to the hype that came with this storyline. It had the crowd in a frenzy. It erased any doubt one could have possibly had that Strong was a bandwagon flavor of the month in ROH. And most importantly, it elevated the ROH Title to an emotional level that was unmatched. This was an old-school style of personalities combined with the modern-day physicality. This match worked on just about every level.

Post-match, Joe, Foley, and Gibson corner Punk in the ring. Gibson delivers a Tiger Driver to the champion and demands a title shot on the next show, despite the number of times he failed to win the big one before. Just raw emotion that was the driving force for these main events, and it was pretty damn fresh for ROH.

Rating: ****1/2

Cabana, disappointed in losing a gimmick match to McGuinness on this show and tired of answering for Punk, announces that he is going to Europe to improve his game and recharge himself.

Up next - Fate of an Angel

Matches will include:

AJ Styles vs. Roderick Strong

Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Rave

Matt Hardy vs. Christopher Daniels

CM Punk vs. James Gibson

[supersonic]

Fate of an Angel - July 16, 2005

The DVD opens with a good promo from Samoa Joe that puts over the urgency of making sure CM Punk doesn't leave ROH still the ROH Champion. This is how every championship should be treated.

CM Punk comes out to the ring to point out that James Gibson has failed time and time again to win a championship in ROH, which is very true. Eventually Gibson gets sick of the trolling though and comes out for an altercation. He ends up getting ambushed by the champion and gets a gushing gash on his forehead for his trouble. Main event in jeopardy?

AJ Styles vs. Roderick Strong

A very good match as expected, although it seemed like these two weren't completely gelling with each other, and a series would have done well for them to pull out something truly magical. My favorite moment was Strong dropping Styles back-first via side slam on the apron, and then Yakuza kicking Styles from behind into a guard rail, leaving no time for Styles to recuperate. Styles did a decent job of selling in this one. I didn't mind his temporary moments of fighting spirit here and there. The closing moment, in which Styles just had a fire lit in him leading to him getting a Styles Clash, was quite appropriate.

I am annoyed with Gabe Sapolsky on commentary saying that Strong is looking for his first major singles victory. He already got it in Buffalo.

Rating: ***1/2

Pure Title Match

Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Rave

This one never got going enough to be a great match, but this wasn't bad at all. It was a very basic story of Joe being the bad-ass babyface going against a very hated chickenshit heel, with all kinds of cheating and manipulation of the Pure Title rules being used. Rave got quite a bit of heat and I believe this was his first time getting the toilet paper treatment as well.

What matters is the post-match, when Prince Nana blames Jade Chung for Rave's loss (the commentary bitches about domestic violence which I'm going to get to in a moment), and is about to slap the shit out of her, but the lights go out temporarily, leading to the next match...

Rating: less than ***

Matt Hardy vs. Christopher Daniels

Hardy appears in the ring and the Embassy bails from ringside. He admittedly cuts a tremendous promo putting over ROH and how great it was at the time. It is amazing how badly he pissed away such a fantastic opportunity. He had a very real opportunity to be as high on the pro wrestling food chain as Edge and Chris Jericho, but for a number of reasons I won't get into, it turned out to be a very brief but incredibly hot bandwagon.

I don't care for Hardy cutting down WWE to put over ROH, as WWE despite some so-so booking was still doing great business at the time and often put on great shows with a stacked roster when this event took place. It was great to see him say that he ultimately came to ROH to work, not to talk. I must mention just how electric the crowd was doing this promo.

As for the match, wow was it ever a disappointment. I'll start with the announcer and commentary. Did you guys actually do your research when bragging about this being a once-in-a-lifetime, first time ever dream match? But honestly, that's the least of this match's problems.

I don't know what the actual cause was for this not living up to the hype (Hardy had actually made a shocking appearance on Raw earlier in the week and mentioned ROH specifically). Maybe Hardy had severe ring rust. Maybe Hardy just wasn't suited quite yet for ROH and needed a few more matches to properly gel. Maybe it really was Daniels just phoning it in. Perhaps these two just didn't have any semblance of chemistry.

The match was 20-25 minutes of absolutely nothing special. The absolute best part was the fans having dueling chants, and that wasn't a reflection whatsoever of the work in the match. It was all based on hype. There was no semblance of story. There was no peak. There was no valley. It was just two guys who are capable of much better going through a bunch of moves and holds. This match had zero emotional enrichment to it.

I've certainly seen much worse than this. But I must echo everyone who has said just how tedious this match really was once you get past the Matt Hardy bandwagon that was going at the time.

What matters most is that Punk came in near the end and there was a sports-entertainment finish leading to Hardy's victory. Punk says that's it, that was the main event, but of course Gibson comes out with his head bandaged. Wow, I cannot seriously fathom how much this show would be hated in retrospect if Hardy vs. Daniels had actually been the main event.

Rating: less than ***

ROH Title Match

CM Punk vs. James Gibson

This was good stuff but as a whole was disappointing. The Connecticut crowd was quite heatless in this one, and perhaps the majority of them were only in attendance to see Matt Hardy. But the match itself may not have done much for the heat either. Unlike Punk's defenses the week before, this match may have also suffered from not having Mick Foley involved in the segment. Foley likely would have been critical in building emotion for this match with Matt Hardy already bringing in a WWE-based audience.

There were moments when Punk would antagonize the crowd and he got little to no reaction. But with that said, these two still managed to tell an engaging story. Punk was no match early for Gibson, having run shoulder-first into a ringpost. Gibson, the experienced veteran that he was in his career, of course went to work on that shoulder and respective arm.

The champion managed to use occasional cheating to get the upper hand at times, and held the trunks of Gibson to get the victory. He once again says this it is for him in ROH, only for Daniels to come out and leave with possession of the belt, demanding Punk come claim it from him.

Rating: ***1/2

The DVD closes with a promo from Daniels that is fascinating. He wonders why Punk had an issue with him. Gee, I wonder what Daniels could have possibly orchestrated to make Punk to be so bitter towards him. That leads me to this real quick - why does Sapolsky on commentary take issue with Punk throwing one knockout punch on Allison Danger, and the continuous abuse of the Embassy on Jade Chung, when in fact a couple years earlier he said that Punk needed to get over the attack on his friend Lucy? Gabe said it was ridiculous for Punk to be so pissed off "over a girl."

Daniels in this promo creates another laughable narrative, claiming that Punk is jealous and wants to be him, that's why Punk dressed as him and came out to "Disposable Teens" once. Wow Chris, whatever helps you sleep at night. I'm sure that's why Punk did that, it wasn't in any way a fuck you to the Prophecy and the fanbase that irrationally supported a group of woman-beaters.

Dare I say it - this promo got me pumped to see Punk vs. Daniels not just for the champion to regain possession of the title that he actually EARNED the month before, but to have a chance to competitively and/or emotionally troll and humiliate the very man that had caused so much emotional pain to him in the past. I don't give a fuck that Punk is insufferable and disrespectful to ROH - his hatred of Daniels is justified and he once again has far more integrity than the Fallen Angel in this instance.

Up next - The Homecoming

Matches will include:

Samoa Joe, Jay Lethal, & James Gibson vs. Low Ki, Homicide, & Ricky Reyes

Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Alex Shelley & ???

Jimmy Rave vs. AJ Styles

CM Punk vs. Christopher Daniels

[supersonic]

The Homecoming - July 23, 2005

Christopher Daniels opens the DVD with a promo that's a bit more reasonable than the previous week. He simply doesn't want CM Punk to shit on ROH. That's fair although ironic for Daniels.

There's also a promo from Alex Shelley, talking about who his mystery partner could be. He comes across as a douche-bag as usual.

There's a segment in which Gary Michael Cappeta delivers a message to Prince Nana. ROH will no longer allow Nana to lay a hand in abusive fashion on Jade Chung. Nana is great with his smugness, and responds with covering up Chung's body with a blanket and also strapping a dog-collar on her. That's quite the loophole ROH left for him. Prince Nana was just incredible back in the day, and this got phenomenal heat.

Samoa Joe, Jay Lethal, & James Gibson vs. Low Ki, Homicide, & Ricky Reyes

This is noteworthy for being the ONLY time Ki and Gibson ever collided. I wonder if Gabe Sapolsky had planned on eventually booking that dream match.

I hate to say this, but this trios match wasn't anything special. I'm not even worried about tags not being enforced - I can understand that in a trios match involving the Rottweilers. There just never seemed to be a cohesive narrative told through this. I reflect back to the eight man tag at Generation Next, which had great body work and segments of cutting the ring in half. This had none of that.

What makes this match worth watching is CM Punk on commentary. He was just absolutely fantastic, burying everyone in ROH, talking about how great he is, about all the favors he's done for ROH, all the money he drew for the company. Dave Prazak was great bouncing off of Punk's narcissism, even mocking Punk's trolling at some points. Unfortunately I'm sure Triple H would get mega-criticism if he ever provided commentary like Punk did during this match. They're so similar to each other.

Rating: less than ***

After intermission, Shelley comes out to reveal his mystery partner, but explains himself first. He is tired of getting no help. Wow, this guy robs a peer of a title match being restarted, and he wonders why he's all alone? He says that he's in the business to ultimately make money, and that he had not sold out, but bought in.

When the Embassy came out to welcome Shelley, it was a brilliant culmination of more than a year's worth of events. Jimmy Rave told Shelley he forgave him for his bullying the year before, and was even appreciative of learning how hard the business can be. This was so brilliant because Shelley had never fully gone babyface, the closest ironically being when he helped Punk fight off the Embassy as a now-transparent attempt to earn brownie points. (I must mention that if Shelley had REALLY wanted to try to earn back the locker room camaraderie, he should've challenged Punk for the ROH Title to protect the company. Also benefits his career too if that's all he really cared about.)

What also made this so great is that the cocky Generation Next (who are now without Jack Evans as he is on hiatus), faced the consequences for being so callous to their former leader in the previous seven months. Now, I'm not saying that I sympathize with either stable in this instance - both of them had plenty of dirt on them. GeNext had still shown zero remorse for the babyfaces they bullied the year before, and the Embassy were a group of prissy thugs funded and led by an uppity woman-beater.

This also was a great follow-up to the events two weeks before at Escape From New York. Rave & Shelley showed potential as tag partners when they worked together in a fourway match, with Shelley being a douche-bag in the match towards Gibson. Moments later, Prince Nana asked Austin Aries for the stables to join forces, only to be told to fuck off.

Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Alex Shelley & Fast Eddie Vegas

Star rating wise, this match was nothing remarkable, but that wasn't the point of this. It was a chapter in a phenomenal turning point for a storyline, and did its job exceptionally well. Shelley was tremendous at being a dickhead to GeNext, fitting right in with the Embassy. I loved the finish, which was Rave coming back out to attack Aries so Shelley could get a cheap pin. Shelley was welcomed into this stable with open arms, and the Embassy was united against Generation Next.

But of course this brought out Rave's opponent...

Hardcore Match

Jimmy Rave vs. AJ Styles

I would've liked to have seen a Styles/GeNext vs. Embassy trios match on this night, but with that type of tag match already booked on the card for the Rottweilers, I understand why it didn't happen.

This match was chaotic and brutal, and served as a nice appetizer for what was expected to come later in the feud. This wasn't meant to be a show-stealer, but it was still engaging. Styles as usual brought his pissed-off demeanor, likely not happy with the Embassy's actions that night, and this was his first chance at Rave since his former protege tried suffocating him with a plastic bag a couple weeks earlier. There was a LOT of stupid bumps and spots in this match, but I'd be lying if I said this wasn't entertaining. If you are a fan of the Kevin Steen vs. Super Dragon feud, go ahead and watch this match, you'll really appreciate it.

Of course, Shelley reciprocates for Rave after the previous match, taking Styles out with a Shellshock and the Crown Jewel following that up with a Styles Clash finish. (I know Rave called it the Rave Clash, but I'm not a fan of using multiple names for the same move, even for storyline purposes.) GeNext come out as expected to bail Styles out, and they shake hands. It's a real shame the scheduled Styles & Aries vs. Rave & Shelley match didn't happen.

Rating: ***1/4

ROH Title Match

CM Punk vs. Christopher Daniels

This match definitely had its issues. I of course would've preferred for it to start out as a heated brawl, although Sapolsky's explanation as to why this was a traditionally wrestled contest when the opening bell was rung made sense. Just would've been my preference based on the two-year history between both men. This also didn't really need to go 60 minutes. Daniels could've done the job; maybe I've lost my mind, but I don't believe Lethal, Strong, or Gibson had their stock drop from losing to Punk. EDIT: Oh, now I realize why Daniels didn't job. TNA being too fucking paranoid about one of its guys putting over someone contracted to WWE. Gotta love TNA's office.

Those are all the negatives I have about this match. I was surprised at how well this match did with its circumstances. Is this Joe vs. Punk? Of course not. But Joe vs. Punk I was a MOTYC with its sequel arguably a MOTDC. A Broadway can still be great without living up to the standard of ROH's previous Broadways. Punk was a great chickenshit in this one, constantly avoiding Daniels in the early stages. I know, it was ultimately to kill time, but logically it still worked with Punk's gimmick.

Daniels was great with his usual offense on the neck of Punk to set up his finishers. In the middle of the match, Daniels wound up getting some pain in his ribs (I can't remember what from at the moment), giving Punk something to work on. The two were great at exchanging body part work as the match progressed. What impressed me the most is that the crowd was incredibly hot in the last 10 minutes, praying that Daniels would end the reign of terror. And that ultimately is what makes this match great - it wasn't something that kept me glued start to finish, but in the portion that matters most to the audience, it delivered.

Post-match, Punk knocks out Allison Danger again. He may be getting a bit carried away with delivering karma to Daniels and Danger now, I will admit. Gibson also comes out but gets knocked out with the belt. Joe comes out barefoot and chases Punk to the back as the show fades to black.

Rating: ****

I strongly recommend this show not just for its main event (which can have polarizing opinions), but also the storyline progression in the semi-main events. Very important event during the golden age of ROH.

Up next - Redemption

Matches will include:

Abyss, Jimmy Rave, & Alex Shelley vs. Matt Sydal, Austin Aries, & Roderick Strong

Low Ki vs. Jay Lethal

Matt Hardy vs. Homicide

CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe vs. James Gibson vs. Christopher Daniels

[supersonic]

Redemption - August 12, 2005

Some promos as I skim through to the four matches that matter. James Gibson says the rumors aren't important (reported that week that WWE rehired him), that his focus was on taking advantage of the FOURTH opportunity he had been blessed with to win the ROH Title, and to especially make sure it stays within the company. Daniels says that Gibson and Samoa Joe are non-factors. Yeah, sure thing Chris, you've had such great luck against Joe. CM Punk comes out to antagonize Brian Kendrick (also reported that WWE had rehired him), bragging that he'd be a real star while Kendrick would be a jabroni. Lastly, Joe simply is happy to get his hands on Punk for shitting on the 21 months of his body, heart, and soul he put into that championship.

Abyss, Jimmy Rave, & Alex Shelley vs. Matt Sydal, Austin Aries, & Roderick Strong

Wow, this was some great fun. If you're a fan of the Shield and Wyatt Family, watch this. Never got to being a MOTYC, but that wasn't the point of this. There were great moments in just cutting the ring in half, and Abyss was featured perfectly with the cruiserweight GeNext bouncing for him like pinballs. Abyss gave back as well though as usual, but in this one it usually took multiple members of GeNext to get damage on him unless it was a straight forearm.

I must mention just how Shelley and Sydal fit their stables like custom-made gloves. FINALLY, Shelley got to unleash the psychopath that he had been hiding for months as he attempted to gain allies against his former stable. On the other hand, Sydal got his opportunity to be featured in an important storyline, which he had earned on the previous Dayton show. I should mention that this match also featured two singles matches from The Final Showdown - Shelley vs. Strong and Rave vs. Sydal. What also impressed me were segments in which the ring would be cut in half, with the mind games of the Embassy even backfiring on them when the ref wasn't available to count a pinfall, and not once, NOT ONCE, were falls counted on the wrong man.

With the victory of GeNext, Sydal earned himself a permanent spot in the group, replacing Shelley. Humiliated and psychopathic, the Embassy of course attack them after the match. Moments later, they interrupt a promo by some ROH school jabronis, with Nana cutting his usual fantastic promo during the ROH golden age. It ends with Shelley, with such glee in his eyes, bragging about finally having help in his crusade against the monster he created.

Rating: ***1/2

Low Ki vs. Jay Lethal

Another match that wasn't great, and that was the right decision for business as well as the storyline. These two men laid into each other and to me this elevated Lethal to another level in terms of star power hierarchy. I loved that Lethal, desperate while also fed up with Ki's bullshit, shoved the ref to take the inaugural ROH Champion off balance and crotch himself on the top rope. I also loved that they brawled in the crowd and told the ref to fuck off, with the contest being thrown out. The crowd was HOT at this, which means that this angle was clicking despite what some idiotic Lethal bashers claimed at the time. This is just as good as their pre-feud match at Midnight Express Reunion.

Rating: ***

With the fight still continuing, Homicide comes out to help out Ki, but Matt Hardy quickly comes out to even the odds. Ki and Lethal brawl to the back as we get our semi main event. Hardy cuts a very classy promo about ROH and Homicide, but much like Walter White, the Notorious 187 only uses the positive feedback to piss himself off.

Matt Hardy vs. Homicide

This match was again nothing all that special, but was far more entertaining and engaging than Hardy's previous ROH match. No real story ever developed, and I'm thinking that if they had wrestled a series, they actually could have put up something special. With the commentary mentioning Hardy's feud with Edge in WWE at the time, perhaps the booker should've made this a hardcore gimmick match. Homicide at the time was obviously game for that any time, and it would have played into Hardy not only testing himself against what he said was the biggest bad-ass in ROH, but also for his feud with the Rated R Superstar. Hardy of course wins with a rollup when Ki comes out to help Homicide, only for Lethal to return and brawl with Ki, causing Homicide to be distracted. Crowd was MOLTEN HOT at points during this match.

Rating: less than ***

ROH Title - Elimination Match

CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe vs. James Gibson vs. Christopher Daniels

The crowd, just like with the prior match, was just amazing when this match began, detesting Punk even with this being his final weekend (legit this time since it was the Midwest) because of his earlier promo. I loved that Punk spent so much time finding out ways not to tangle with Joe. Even though he had been Joe's greatest opponent, he had never beaten him, and they had never collided with Joe this pissed off at him before.

I should mention that when Gibson and Daniels locked horns, Gabe Sapolsky said on commentary it was a first-time ever matchup. Are you sure about that? Not like the Internet was around at the time to put in the research. Anyways, as for the match itself, there really wasn't much told in terms of technical wrestling, although Punk and Daniels had a beautiful sequence earlier that had the crowd popping. This match was all about the story.

Around the 25-30 minute mark, Gibson had been thrown shoulder-first into the ringpost, and then moments later Punk smacked him in the head with a chair. Gibson bled profusely from the forehead, and was taken to the back, assumed to no longer be in the match due to a concussion. In all this chaos, I must mention that I was incredibly impressed that pinfalls were only counted on the legal men. That really is impressive.

Punk, the evil genius he was during this title reign, allowed Joe and Daniels to pummel each other while he rested, which honestly and obviously he did throughout much of the match. But when Joe had Daniels in a submission, Punk moved the foot of Daniels off the rope behind the ref's back, the Fallen Angel's hand falling for a third time. Once Daniels regained consciousness, he was livid and went to deal with Punk, but the champion ducked an enziguri and hit Joe instead, allowing Punk to finally pin the former ROH Champion!

Joe and Daniels began brawling, taking it to the back, leaving CM Punk alone in the ring, thrilled with what he had accomplished. But the crowd was BEGGING for Gibson to return to the match, and when "Country Boy Can Survive" came through those speakers, those in attendance fucking erupted. Punk was perfect in his facial expressions, seeing that he wasn't quite done yet, and perhaps he had run out of tricks.

With his forehead still bleeding, Gibson put forth a fantastic effort, determined to make sure Punk wouldn't leave and go to WWE with the championship. The turning point came when he dropkicked Punk's left knee. Moments later when they got outside, Gibson crotched the champion on the guardrail, and delivered a chairshot receipt to Punk's same left knee. Back in the ring, Gibson executed a gorgeous Tiger Driver on Punk, resulting in an amazing nearfall that had the crowd going apeshit. With almost nothing left, Gibson took Punk to the top rope, which was a huge risk, as the champion was set up for the former multi-time Cruiserweight Champion to be possibly reversed into a Pepsi Plunge.

But on this night, in front of the ROH crowd he had debuted in front of, the same audience in which he came so close to winning this title before, Gibson wasn't to be denied. He smacked and dazed Punk, double-hooked him, and dropped back for a modified (but oh so devastating) Super Tiger Driver. With the crowd knowing it was all said and done, they went ballistic when Gibson finally achieved his goal in ROH and won the company's top prize.

As I said, this match didn't have much in the way of technical wrestling. It was a storytelling narrative that was months, if not years, in the making. It was genuinely gripping from beginning to end. It elevated the ROH Title, and was arguably the top moment in Gibson's career as he stated in the post-match. While I wish folks would appreciate just good wrestling when they see it, watching THIS reminds me why so many today clamor for a truly special storyline. This was one hell of a spectacle and roller-coaster ride.

Post-match, the babyface locker room congratulates Gibson, who puts over just how much this moment means to him. The crowd chants "Please Don't Go!" to Punk and thanks him for his amazing tenure in ROH, but he says that this is Gibson's moment. I should note that Kendrick seems to have a self-serving agenda when he says he's looking forward to Gibson giving him a title shot. Punk and Gibson embrace in a magical moment for the company, the championship, and their careers.

Rating: ****1/2

Hey ROH, I'm gonna ask again: why did you fucking murder this red-hot Dayton market that appreciates great wrestling and buys into the storylines quite easily?

Up next - Punk: The Final Chapter

Matches will include:

Jimmy Rave vs. Austin Aries

Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal vs. Low Ki & Homicide

Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer vs. James Gibson & Brian Kendrick

Matt Hardy vs. Roderick Strong

CM Punk vs. Colt Cabana

[supersonic]

Punk: The Final Chapter - August 13, 2005

The show begins with new ROH Champion James Gibson coming down to the ring, putting over how important the title and the company is to him, and that he won't leave for WWE until someone beats him for the title. Brian Kendrick comes out which Gibson doesn't mind as they're friends and challenging for the Tag Titles that night, and they agree to a singles match for the ultimate prize in the future.

Jimmy Rave vs. Austin Aries

Good stuff here, and exactly what it needed to be at this point in the Embassy vs. Generation Next feud. The story of the match started when Rave managed to drag the left ribs of Aries to the ring post. The Crown Jewel went to work on the midsection of the former ROH Champion, and Aries sold it tremendously. Of course, Aries managed to get in his fair share of offense too. Standout moment of the match for me, speaking volumes on just how hot this feud already was, was when Prince Nana simply yelled "JIMMY RAVE~!" and the crowd reacted immediately.

Post-match, Alex Shelley shows up for the Embassy to get the last laugh in this segment.

Rating: ***1/4

Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal vs. Low Ki & Homicide

The match itself - very good tag wrestling. Cutting the ring in half, Lethal playing the face-in-peril, Joe being antagonized and getting fed up with the Rottweilers, pinfalls only counted on the legal men. I loved the finish too, another cheap DQ loss for the Rottweilers to keep Lethal from pinning Ki.

What really mattered is the post-match brawl between the teams. They fucking laid into each other HARD to sell how much they hated each other. When combining this brawl, I've no problem going with the general consensus and saying this was easily match of the night. This brawl was so insane, so brutal, so jaw-dropping, and ended so perfectly, Ki standing in the ring with blood dripping down his face, and the crowd chanting his name. Excellent shit here.

Rating: ****

A taped promo from earlier in the day airs, with Ace Steel talking about how special this night is, both of his Second City Saints teammates colliding for the final time, and dictates that it be 2/3 falls to determine who is truly the better man.

Tag Titles Match

Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer vs. James Gibson & Brian Kendrick

Another good match here. No pinfalls counted unless both men were legal yet again. Good, solid tag team wrestling from both teams, fun pacing. However, while the booking of Kendrick betraying Gibson and throwing the match away elevated the ROH Title, it did no favors for the Tag Titles. No wonder those belts meant nothing for months throughout 2005. I really like Kendrick's motivation for the turn - Punk and Gibson got title shots before leaving for WWE, he should be entitled to one too.

Rating: ***1/4

Matt Hardy vs. Roderick Strong

Red-hot crowd for this one as usual for Hardy's matches. Wow, the GN tights that Aries & Strong wore back in the day were incredibly lame. As for the match, there was an obvious clash of styles, perhaps still some ring rust for Hardy. He seemed far too entrenched in the WWE style of wrestling, which isn't a knock on him. Any time someone wonders why a wrestler can't hop from the indies to WWE or vice versa without practice and development, I will point to this match.

This was still EASILY the best of Hardy's special guest appearances, although a major missed opportunity. I couldn't believe that when Hardy ducked a chop and Strong's hand struck the ring post, Hardy didn't go to work on that hand. Obviously he's no CM Punk. His selling of the connected chops, especially the first one, was marvelous though. His facial expression on that one told the story, of how being in WWE he wasn't used to that punishment, even though being on that roster had given him the opportunities to work with Chris Benoit and Bob Holly.

Hardy did do a great job of working on the left knee of Strong when it became prone, and of course Strong was fantastic in his selling of that too. But Strong was so brutal, with a red-hot crowd supporting him, waiting for his "first" major singles victory (ROH once again no-selling the one he already had in Buffalo), that he had to win this one, and he got the rub by being the only one of Hardy's three opponents to defeat the WWE superstar.

Rating: ***1/4

2/3 Falls - CM Punk's Farewell

CM Punk vs. Colt Cabana

Punk gets TWO entrance themes here, and comes to the ring in tears. He doesn't even need to step in the ring and I've gotten my money's worth emotionally.

Punk steps into the ring, ropes stretched out by his true friend Colt Cabana, their issues during Punk's egotistical reign of terror behind them, and gets the farewell streamer treatment for the second time, this one even more special in his hometown.

As for the match itself, it was pretty damn good. Both men still wanted to win this battle of pride, and had differences in their personalities, which was a reflection of their careers both in and out of ROH. I enjoyed the lowblow first fall for Punk, showing that winning this meant something still, while showing that he wasn't in the mood for Cabana's comedy routine. On the other hand, Cabana was able to get the advantage not just with his comedic antics, but with his improved technical wrestling he picked up on while in Europe the month before. On the surface, this was the perfect match for Punk to go out on. But Cabana being put in this spotlight, showing off his European style and beating a true icon of ROH, was perfect in giving him legitimacy for his feud-ending match against Night McGuinness the next week.

Post-match, Punk gets a bigger sendoff ceremony than Paul London got at Death Before Dishonor, and that's saying something, because London's farewell was incredibly classy. This simply had everything going for it that made this more significant than London's goodbye. This was Punk's hometown, against Punk's best friend (a fellow Chicagoan), with Punk having twice the amount of time spent in ROH as London, and while London of course had some absolutely fucking masterpieces for matches, Punk had those, plus gripping storylines, reigns as the primary singles champion and tag champions, and the greatest farewell non-retirement tour in the history of the business.

As I post this in early 2014, it is uncertain what the future holds for CM Punk in pro wrestling. I hope that he and WWE can work things out. With all the tools WWE has compared to ROH, I want to see CM Punk get to say farewell in front of 20,000 of his hometown fans, and maybe, just maybe, it could be WWE"s biggest stage of the year in Chicago, in front of over 60,000 fans.

Rating: ***1/4

This show gets my easiest recommendation. Required for numerous obvious reasons that I don't need to spell out.

Up next - Night of the Grudges II

Matches will include:

Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuinness

James Gibson vs. Homicide vs. Brian Kendrick

Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Jimmy Rave & Puma (TJ Perkins)

Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels

[supersonic]

Night of the Grudges II - August 20, 2005

Nigel McGuinness cuts a VERY brief promo, saying that he's been up for 36 hours and sniffing glue to get ready to end the feud with Colt Cabana. "Unique" would probably be the best term for that promo.

Winner Gets a Title Shot of His Choice - Hardcore Match

Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuinness

Based off of McGuinness choosing a European Rules match at Escape From New York, Cabana got to choose the stipulation in this feud-ender. Cabana chooses a "Soccer Riot" match, in which he spends the first minute or so just making up rules on the fly, but it basically turned into a hardcore match. I have to note that McGuinness took some incredibly stupid chairshots to the head early in the match. Was he REALLY that desperate to get booked higher and/or get this mid-card feud over, a feud that had been based off of mat wrestling and textbook mid-level cheating? This wasn't exactly a feud as violent as Low Ki vs. Jay Lethal or the Prophecy vs. the Second City Saints.

The brawling they did do sure did tell the story of how personal this feud had gotten (even though it was a bit much), and I certainly found it enjoyable overall. From a soccer ball being used (including McGuinness accidentally kicking it into the crowd and it being thrown back into the ring by the fans), to both men revealing that they both brought heating irons, this was an entertaining little spectacle. I must mention that Cabana rivaled the questionable chairshots McGuinness took, when he took a flipover bump off the turnbuckle through a table onto the concrete floor. No wonder both went on to perceive the business as grinding them out. Cabana obviously had to win this one to build off the momentum of beating CM Punk the week before, closing this chapter for both men.

I wonder what's next for Cabana and McGuinness, if the booker had anything as a followup to at least show appreciation for killing themselves in such unnecessary fashion.

Rating: ***1/4

ROH Title - Elimination Match

James Gibson vs. Homicide vs. Brian Kendrick

This had a chance to be really good, on par with a typical X-Division three way match right in the middle of the card. I enjoyed the action (with the exception of a cringeworthy double superplex spot, I really hate that type of contrived shit), there was some solid storytelling (then again, this also had the exception of Kendrick breaking up elimination attempts. WHY?)

Kendrick's illogical decisions didn't ruin this match though. The booking of having the match thrown out when Homicide was DQ'ed for using a chain and then Homicide going crazy was truly horrendous. Consider that this was immediately after the red-hot Summer of Punk which had brought the ROH Title to unprecedented emotional levels. The Gibson and Homicide issue also never really got over in the summer of 2005, but perhaps there were long-term plans for those two that couldn't quite come to be with Gibson on his way back to WWE.

But there was a MAJOR silver lining to this: the crowd was APESHIT when Homicide almost eliminated Gibson before the referee caught him cheating. They were FURIOUS that the Tri-State native and ROH pioneer didn't eliminate the former/future WWE superstars, and they hijacked the Gibson vs. Kendrick singles match that happened later on this show. I wonder if the booker was listening to that hijacking. Doesn't sound similar at all to anything in WWE right now either btw.

Rating: less than ***

Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Jimmy Rave & Puma (TJ Perkins)

This was originally booked as Aries & AJ Styles vs. Rave & Alex Shelley, but their injuries likely at TNA's Sacrifice 2005 forced Styles to cancel while Shelley was just a ringside character for this one. I have to assume if that dream partner tag match had taken place, it'd have been in the main event slot for this show.

This match was good, and I didn't happen to notice any issues with tag legalities in this, although that may have been because I wasn't too emotionally stimulated by this match. I'll put the blame for that on TJ Perkins, who has a habit of lacking crowd engagement, thank you very much. I did appreciate that the match didn't go on for much longer when GeNext got the hot tag.

Post-match, Mick Foley comes out to try to convince Jade Chung to ditch the mistreatment she was receiving from the Embassy, but Rave & Shelley attacked him. GeNext came back out to save Foley, and with this being their first true moment of doing the right thing (trying to dethrone Punk was nice, but also a nice career booster had Strong been successful), especially after trying to make their names at the HOFer's expense the year before, I consider this the official babyface turn for them.

Rating: ***

Pure Titlte Match

Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels

The positives: I liked that Joe worked on the abs and back of Daniels, which would logically prevent Daniels from hitting an Angels Wings, while also causing damage to Daniels should he choose to use the Best Moonsault Ever later in the match. I liked that Daniels worked on similar areas of Joe too, setting Joe up for the Angels Wings if the Fallen Angel were to go on to pull it off.

Now we get to the negatives.

I HATE a rope break penalty when someone just uses the rope to get themselves out of position. That's not using the ropes to request a break. Fucking hated that in the first ever Pure Title match, still hate it here.

This match also had zero emotional enrichment to it. Maybe everyone was right about Daniels being a chore during his second tenure in ROH. I've certainly seen Daniels phone it in on occasion, so he's not above doing it here. The crowd was fucking dead throughout most of this match, which not only was due to lack of a dramatic pace, but admittedly because the crowd was still pissed off from the Homicide booking.

I give these men the benefit of the doubt though. As I stated in my PWG Smells Like Steen Spirit post, Joe just had a brutal schedule in August of 2005, and if he was holding back here, I don't blame him for it at all.

Rating: less than ***

Cabana puts over McGuinness, saying that he senses the bad blood between the two will heal, and that he is opting to challenge for the ROH Title.

Also of note: Carnage Crew and Dunn & Marcos shake hands after the show. This was the final ROH appearance of Carnage Crew.

Without a doubt, this has to easily be the worst ROH event of 2005. There are some positives of course. It's a historic event for Homicide, Cabana, and McGuinness, as will be indicated very soon as I continue this rewatch project. I must also mention that this was the first time Generation Next did something that was a purely babyface move. But all you need to see is Cabana vs. McGuinness, which is available on the Cabana compilation; no need to waste your hard-earned dollars on this awful show.

Nobody is really at fault for this show falling apart. Injuries played a huge part with Styles and Shelley being out, putting Joe (who I believe was very tired from his schedule) and Daniels (who can have a tendency to take it easy) in a slot for this show that they had no business being in. Add in the booking misfire of Homicide and the ROH Title, coming off the molten hot Summer of Punk run, and this was a massive disappointment.

I must also mention this: the previous month, ROH hosted four events in the same calendar month for the first time, and this show makes it glaring that perhaps that wasn't a good idea after all. I recall not enjoying Fate of an Angel that much, but that show was WrestleMania X-Seven compared to this. Maybe Joe's schedule was just a symbol of ROH feeling burned out as well, especially with no red-hot angle on this event and its real main event being thrown out the window.

Up next - Dragon Gate Invasion

Matches will include:

Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness

Jimmy Rave & Brian Kendrick vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong

CIMA vs. AJ Styles

James Gibson vs. Colt Cabana