[2003-11-29-ROH-War of the Wire] A.J. Styles vs Samoa Joe

[ShittyLittleBoots]

This is as hard hitting as one would expect and has some neat, interesting bits of storytelling with AJ having to counter Joe's big size advantage. Joe is on top for a lot of the match, and it's of course some pretty great stuff with his arsenal looking brutal as always & AJ bumping like AJ does for it. That's already a winning combination, but then you add in AJ's explosive, vicious n' excellent comebacks, and you got a real kick-ass bout. Going back to that interesting storytelling mention, I also really liked the whole little narrative they did with AJ busting out big power moves on Joe, which ultimately caused him to essentially gas himself out. ***3/4

[Superstar Sleeze]

ROH World Champion Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles - ROH 11/29/03

They did a really good job building AJ Styles up right before this match with big wins in marquee matches against CM Punk and Bryan Danielson. These two would go on to have  classics and some of the best matches of all time against each other. One of the coolest things, I can say I saw them wrestling live under a tent in Cape Cod. This is one of my favorite pairings. That being said this is not one of their best matches. Very good but for their level, this is disappointing. 

There is a lot of pressure in the 21st Century for big men to both be very giving and to prove they can "work". Even though using their size and protecting themselves is actually better work, we get Samoa Joe taking mid-match Powerbombs for no reason. Joe is not actually that big if you take into account WWE size wrestlers, but for ROH he was and he has a tendency not to wrestle like one see the aforementioned powerbomb and a really bad hurricanarana at the outset of the match. Vader was very giving and while did agree with all of Vader's choices, I think he picked his spots well and made up for with brutal offense. Joe was being picked up and thrown down repeatedly. It was ridiculous. I know Joe can work like a killer see his match against Sabin July 2005 in TNA, but he didnt here. The 2005 series with AJ is a lot better. 

With the negative out of the way, lets get to positive, some brutal, stiff fucking action. These two stiffed the hell out of each other. The less said about that rana shit at the beginning the better. Once they go to grappling, it was much better. Usual AJ start with the dropkick and knee. Punk in a veiled way brings up my point that AJ should not be able to pick up Joe so early in the match. AJ telegraphs a discus punch and Joe rocks his shit. Best bump of the match and probably spot of the match was when Joe kicked AJ through the ropes. I have seen AJ do this bump before and maybe some others, but it always gnarly. Wicked suicide dive by Joe wipes him out. AJ does his spot where he hops over the railing and sprinboards using the railing to wipe out Joe. Loved that transition. Here comes that powerbomb I hated. JOE FUCKING THROWS HIS ASS DOWN ON THE URNAGE! I have always loved that spot from Joe. Facewash. Powerbomb receipt as called by Punk. STF into crossface, but AJ makes the ropes. I loved the use of the Pele here by AJ to turn the tide. He needed a head rocking move. AJ loves that back flip into the Slop Drop. AJ Backbreaker, AJ sells the leg because Joe  is heavy but doesnt stop him from manhandling the Champion. Heavy sigh. There were some lulls down the stretch at a time when you really dont want lulls late. AJ gets Joe in the Styles Clash with ease. Honestly maybe Joe is not as heavy as we think and AJ is wicked strong. Joe kicking out of the Style Clash made a lot of sense. That was a great use of kicking out of a finisher because Joe was being put over as this killer champion. Island Driver by catching the second Quebrada to set up Muscle Buster and Koquina Clutch was an efficient finish. 

At like 16-17 minutes, I loved how breezy early ROH is. I think this did not have the plot progression, narrative building I prefer and also there was some disrespect to size difference. But they laid their shit in and there was a lot of great moments so still very good. ***1/2    

[ohtani's jacket]

This was a decent spot fest, but I was looking for something with a bit more meat, especially since ROH hasn't had anywhere near as good matches in 2003 as it did in 2002, and Joe's run as champ hasn't had a lot of blow away matches, either. Instead, it was more of the same. The work was good, but there was no real attempt at trying to make this a classic world title fight, which is strange because a classic world title fight would have really stood out in '03.