[2004-05-22-ROH-Generation Next] Mark & Jay Briscoe & John Walters & Jimmy Rave vs Alex Shelley & Austin Aries & Roderick Strong & Jack Evans

[supersonic]

 

Quote

Impromptu Match

Briscoe Bros., Jimmy Rave, & John Walters vs. Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, & Jack Evans

 

This match is set-up when GeNext come out to threaten the Briscoes after their match against the Outcast Killaz, only for Rave & Walters to show up to even the odds.

 

This MAY be a perfect match. This had psychology from both teams. This had a great feeling-out process in the first third of the match that made sense. These eight men didn't expect to be wrestling each other on this night. There were also many, many great moments of offense that just did nothing short of amaze. For over 40 minutes, these eight men just went out there and tore the fucking house down. With it being an eight-man tag, I'm also more than happy to empathize with the ref not being able to maintain order down the stretch - to try doing so would be an exercise in futility.

 

This match also had many great segments of cutting the ring in half from the babyface and heel side. Things sometimes got a little dirty too, as the makeshift babyface squad was fed up with the antics of GeNext. Ultimately though, the antics of GeNext earlier in the evening (Aries piledriving Walters) paid off in spades, as the finish came when Walters couldn't get out of Shelley's Border City Stretch, having no choice but to tap out.

 

This is nothing short of a classic, and I'd throw it in the mix with Gabe Sapolsky's greatest booked matches. THIS is how you make stars overnight. THIS is how you establish not only a dominant act, but get other wrestlers that are just treading water into something productive. And in the process, the fans got to see one of the damnedest matches they've ever seen. I can't quite put this on the same level as Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson, Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson, and AJ Styles vs. Paul London, but dammit it's close.

 

Rating: ****3/4

[Makai Club #1]

Loved the hesitant, slow start of the match. Since this was impromptu, it makes sense that everyone wants to start off slow. A few of these wrestlers wrestled earlier as well. So it’s natural to take your time and let the match progress. There is some really smart wrestling, short in and out tags. Also some small details that set apart the two teams with Generation Next being the more aggressive and heelish group early on. There is an awesome section of the match where the face team show great tag team chemistry when they trap Jack Evans into their corner, have short turns making Evans pay for GenNext’s crimes. Evans bumping was really good during this part, that flip bump for Mark Briscoe’s lariat especially. Roddy showed his big promise in the match. At one point, he spat at the face team while Mark Briscoe was crawling to the corner,to bait them into the ring and prevent the tag. The escalation of violent and action was superb. The pace of the match getting a bit more frantic, a bit more intense as the match progressed. A great mix of tag and singles wrestling. The whole pacing of the match was just excellent and helped the run time of 40 minutes wiz by. It’s hard to pick an MVP. Maybe Roddy gets my pick but everyone was superb and played their roles well regardless of how big or small it was. ****3/4

[Superstar Sleeze]

Wow thats a pair of monster ratings! I will add it to the list.

 

[ShittyLittleBoots]

At over 41 minutes, this is a real long boy. It's an absolutely phenomenal one, though. They pace it perfectly from start to finish, with the action being good for each step of the way & never going down, as it instead gets hotter & better as the match progresses. It's a very good match all the way through with the peaks of it being superb. It naturally & gradually built into an amazing, show-stealing affair. Everyone involved delivered big time & looked great in the process. ****1/4