[2004-07-23-ROH-Death Before Dishonor II] Samoa Joe vs Homicide

[supersonic]

 

Quote

ROH Title Match

Samoa Joe vs. Homicide

 

ROH continued its streak here of shows that feature great matches. While I personally preferred the work of brutality these two put together at Generation Next, this was just as outstanding. In this one, even though it was a clean win and not a draw, the signs were becoming more evident that Joe’s days as champion were numbered. Not only because at this point he had been champion for 16 months, but because of the caliber of opposition he defended against. So many opponents had been taking him to his limit from different directions, and it was starting to show.

 

With this being Homicide’s last shot at the title during Joe’s reign, I was happy to see he was willing to use technical wrestling as a way to throw Joe off and still show he had the wrestling side in his arsenal. Showing this not only displayed how seriously he was taking this match, but reminded everyone just how dangerous of a competitor he truly was. But his psychopathic emotions directly led to his failure yet again to reach the top of the mountain.

 

Mocking Joe, Homicide attempted an Ole Ole Kick, only to be countered with a throwover belly-to-belly suplex, landing spine-first on the floor. This cost him a few minutes later when he planted Joe face-first in an attempted piledriver – the suplex on the floor plus the exertion of attempting a piledriver on Joe was too much for Homicide to bear. He went down fighting though, kicking out of a musclebuster and an Island Driver, getting the crowd to go apeshit. But Joe finally finished him off with the rear-naked choke.

 

Post-match, the Rottweilers (who were kicked out at the beginning of this classic contest) returned and ambushed Joe. The commentary said the Briscoes were unaware of the situation because they were preparing for the main event and that the rest of the locker room had left for Chicago. I’d prefer to think that Joe's non-allies were happy to see him get beaten down, making a title change more likely in the near future. This beatdown ensured that even though Homicide was out of title shots for the rest of Joe’s reign, we’d still get to see the feud continue.

 

Watching these shows got me thinking of a match that could have been huge for the Jushin Liger debut show later that year in Boston – keep Liger vs. Bryan Danielson, and have the semi-main as Joe & CM Punk vs. Low Ki & Homicide. It’d have given ROH the Punk vs. Ki matchup, Joe and Ki mixing it up again, Joe and Homicide tearing each other apart, and then have Punk defeat Homicide to give him momentum for the inevitable rematch against Joe.

 

Rating: ****

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Sadly this didn't reach the greatness that was their meeting at Generation Next. I would put this on par with their Reborn match, meaning it's a good one. It didn't truly hook me in like that said match of theirs at Generation Next, but with this being Homicide vs. Samoa Joe & it having such a heated, hot angle behind it? Of course it was good shit. Lots of violence as they peppered into each other throughout with brutal strikes & bombs. A couple of real nice nearfalls towards the end as well. ***

[ohtani's jacket]

I liked the intent in this match with both guys hitting hard, and Joe cutting off Homicide with big moves. It was worked at the same level throughout, and they didn’t kick it into another gear for the finishing stretch, which was strange considering it was billed as Homicide’s last shot at the title, but I had no problem with the action itself.