BRM Reviews ROH The Battle Lines Are Drawn

[Big Red Machine]

ROH The Battle Lines Are Drawn (1/10/2004)- Wilmington, OH

CHRISTOPHER DANIELS PROMO- Good, and Maff, Whitmer, and Danger sold their angle perfectly in the background.

SAMOA JOE’S RING SEGMENT- great stuff here from Joe and Dragon.

THREE ROPE-BREAK MATCH: Alex Shelley vs. Matt Stryker-6/10
This match did a great job of getting over both the Pure Rules and the differences in strategy between Pure Rules matches and regular matches. One thing I loved was that early on, each man went to the ropes to escape a decently easy hold, then got upset at themselves for forgetting that they needed to conserve their rope breaks. It really helped get over the fact that some wrestlers might have a hard time adjusting to the Pure Rules.

HWA TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinnes(c) vs. Cody Hawk- 5.25/10

GOOD TIMES GREAT MEMORIES WITH ACE STEEL- Good segment. Ace and Colt joke around, then Punk comes in and yells at them, telling them that he needs them to be serious tonight so that he can get his revenge on the Prophecy for attacking Lucy. The one misstep in this segment was the presence of Traci. She said and did nothing the entire segment, and was never even acknowledged once. Additionally, Punk is going after the Prophecy because they attacked his girlfriend. Should he really have another girl with him so soon?

ROH PURE TITLE TOURNAMENT QUALIFYING MATCH: Chris Sabin vs. Jimmy Jacobs- 5.75/10

FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH: Jimmy Rave vs. Rainman vs. Caprice Coleman vs. Todd Sexton- 6.25/10

HOMICIDE vs. AJ STYLES- 7.25/10
The announcers should have been more angry about Cide using a low blow.

CARNAGE CREW PROMO- great

TAG TEAM SCRAMBLE MATCH: The Carnage Crew & The Ring Crew Express vs. Special K (w/other Special K members)- 6/10
Good stuff. My biggest complaint here is that Special K seems to have bribed Abyss with hot chicks, which is just out of character for Abyss.

ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Briscoe Brothers(c) vs. Samoa Joe & Bryan Danielson- 7/10

NO DQ’S MATCH: The Second City Saints (CM Punk, Colt Cabana, & Ace Steel) (w/Tracy Brooks) vs. The Prophecy (Christopher Daniels, Dan Maff, & BJ Whitmer (w/Allison Danger)- 7.75/10
I would have given it an 8, but for the first chunk of the match, Punk was acting like a cowardly heel. The one to act like a cowardly heel in this feud should be Daniels. Punk is trying to avenge his girlfriend. He should be the fiery babyface. I popped for Lucy’s return. The stuff at the end did a good job of putting over that Daniels was hurt a lot more than just any old table bump.

ALEX SHELLEY PROMO- GREAT!

CM PUNK PROMO- AMAZING!

DAN MAFF PROMO- AWESOME!


Overall, a solid show from ROH with some awesome promos at the end.