[2005-04-02-ROH-Best Of American Super Juniors Tournament] Austin Aries vs Homicide

[ohtani's jacket]

I liked this a lot as I tend to prefer work rate Homicide to any other version. Everything was humming along nicely. The commentators did a good job of spelling out how long Homicide had waited to have an ROH title shot. Of course, they oversold how good the matches had been since every match that takes place in ROH has to be an instant classic, but they gave you a peek into Homicide's mindset during the match. The match would have been perfect if Aries had won with his first 450 splash. The crowd was in synch and ready to explode... 1..2... Julius Smokes with the save. This led to Bryan Danielson attacking Smokes, a decent nearfall from a Homicide lariat and then Aries doing rolling brain busters before winning with a 450 splash. We could have done without all that shit and had Aries win with the first 450 splash. That would have been the natural thing to do. ROH likes to sound its own horn, but there's been a ton of bullshit creeping into their matches since the debut show. That said, I liked the bout. Apparently, Homicide kicked out of a burning hammer at one which angered a lot of people,, but I didn't notice or care. This was the first Aries as champ match that I enjoyed. 

[Clayton Jones]

Did they edit the burning hammer spot off the DVD? I wouldn't be shocked given the context. This match was very good live, although I could have done without that spot.