[2005-04-16-ROH-Stalemate] Austin Aries vs. James Gibson

[Makai Club #1]

ROH World Title Match: Austin Aries (c) vs. James Gibson
Austin Aries is a gorgeous wrestler to watch. Aries is so slick - he embodies the word - with his offence. It’s like poetry in motion in the way he seemingly glides across the ring. And he does it in a way that helps his wrestling look more solid and grounded than a lot of people who are aesthetically pleasing but it's more of a dance and it perhaps works against them. A wonderful wrestler. I sometimes think that I’m way too high on him but then I’ll watch him in a match, like this one, and think “no, he’s just as incredible as I think”. Enough of the Austin Aries  gushing as the match was superb. Not flawless, but I can see what the attempt was. James Gibson, fresh off coming in from WWE, is a hot little indie act and he’s been on a hot streak in Ring Of Honor in particular. So he had a ton of momentum coming in against Aries as a challenger but unfortunately, he’s carrying an injury inflicted by Generation Next member, Roderick Strong at the previous show and Aries knows this.  So naturally, Aries zeros in on Gibson's back with a series of strikes and moves that target the area. Aries doesn’t even have to change his arsenal too much - hitting a wicked heat seeking missile bottom rope tope to Gison while he was turned towards the crowd. Gibson to his credit sells his back and makes Aries look great in the process, but he still is fighting, returning with some small work on the neck as well. This was looking to be a really excellent competitive match but, like I said, the match isn’t flawless.  I disliked how the rainusters were used towards the end. It’s a signature move for Aries and they trade back and forth - while still being locked in together, retaining some semblance of a struggle - eore ending the match with a double pin. It was a very peculiar way to end a match. Scott Sinclair was sneaking though. He raised Gibson's hand, saying he was the winner, first, which the fans went nuts for, and waited to raise Aries hand as well. So I wonder if this was Gabe trying to gauge how the fans would react for a Gibson title win. They like it, Gabe. ****
 

[ohtani's jacket]

This was okay, but I still think going with Aries as a champ was a strange move. I guess it's all sandwiching between the Joe reign and the Danielson reign, but it's not clear to me what they saw in Aries. Did they think his ceiling was higher? I wasn't always high on the matches Joe had during his championship run, but there's no denying that he carried the belt the way you'd expect a champion to. Aries has this heel act, but it's a midcard act. Gibson is a midcard challenger. I don't really buy either guy being a top 5 indie wrestler. I'm cherry picking this stuff two decades later so what do I know, but personally I feel that Punk ought to be ROH champ.