[2005-04-16-ROH-Stalemate] Bryan Danielson vs Homicide (Lumberjack)

[Edwin]

The fourth match in the best of 5 series and they put on another solid match together. Julius Smokes comes out hitting the ramp with a metal baseball bat which adds another layer of insanity to him. The lumberjacks are all Ring of Honor students for the most part. The lumberjack stipulation stops them being able to brawl in the crowd which has been a staple in this feud and what has been the highlight of the previous 3 matches, however the action in this is nice and tight in the ring. Despite the lack of crowd brawling, there's still a sense of chaos in this with Smokes on the outside with a bat and with the lumberjacks around the ring. There's a new layer to this feud with furniture being introduced and Danielson eating an exploder through a table. I'm not a big fan of the stand around and catch me dives, but that's what the lumberjacks are for and Danielson hits a superplex on Homicide to the outside and in this match it makes sense for the lumberjacks to be down there waiting to catch them. Deep in the match, there's a lumberjack who is revealed as a plant setup by the Rottweilers as he attacks Danielson, but he then gets wiped out by a brutal backdrop and STO combo from Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal. There's a brief confrontation between Joe and Homicide which adds to their feud. The finish is neat as they have the fans on the edge of their seats and it seems like the match is going to go either way.

[ohtani's jacket]

This has been such a disappointing series. One of the lowlights of the year for sure. Lumberjack matches tend to be pretty shitty by their nature, but this was worse than usual. Apparently, the lumberjacks were a bunch of wrestling school students. You probably could have gotten a better bunch of lumberjacks if you'd chosen a couple of dozen fans out of the crowd. It was amateur hour until Joe came to ringside. He ensured that the finishing stretch was the best part of the bout, but imagine how could it would have been if he'd been there from the beginning. Joe and Smokes as seconds would have trumped this amateur shit.