Ring of Honor Joe vs. Punk II
10.16.04
Frontier Fieldhouse
Chicago Ridge, Illinois
All matches and segments are rated on a 10-point scale.
CM Punk promo -
We find Punk sitting in the ring before the show, before the crowd started to file in, and he gives a GREAT promo regarding his hometown advantage over Samoa Joe that night. "I DARE you to try to beat me or submit me in my own hometown...it's not gonna happen, Joe."
Rating: 9/10
Generation Next promo -
Alex Shelley, Roderick Strong, and Jack Evans are somewhere in the arena (pre-show, a la` Punk) and Shelley begins by talking about Ricky Steamboat's involvement in their recent business and the absence that night of Austin Aries. Then, on to their business for the evening. Shelley discusses his match that night with Jimmy Jacobs, and the Strong/Evans vs. the Rottweilers match. Good stuff from Shelley, until Evans breaks away from the pack to do his RIDICULOUS breakdancing sh*t and his oh, so Caucasian (if he reads this, I'm sorry he had to find out this way, but he IS, indeed, a cracker) Chris Tucker/Smokey impression. Never seen the movie "Friday"? We can't be friends anymore.
Rating: 7/10
Davey Andrews vs. TJ Dalton -
This "match" takes place before the commentary team even sits at their posts for the event, and only lasts every bit of 15 seconds, before the Carnage Crew rush the ring and attack the two young kids, who we later find out are recent grads of the Ring of Honor wrestling school. After clearing the ring of the two young wrestlers, HC Loc and Tony DeVito cut a promo on Mick Foley for excluding them from the "Ring of Hardcore" and costing them a match the night before, threaten Dan Maff and BJ Whitmer, then take credit for the hardcore style ever having existed in ROH. Cool story, bros.
Match: No rating
Carnage Crew promo: 5/10
Jay Lethal vs. Delirious -
Finally some commentary from Jimmy Bower and Mark Nolte. A lot of good back-and-forth, here. Lethal really makes it clear that he's one of the best up-and-coming athletes in ROH, and Delirious is put over as a crazy lizard-man (including a spot where he flopped around on the mat like a fish, for some odd reason). Some good high-flying spots, if you're into that kinda stuff. A fun, short match to really get the show going. Lethal wins with a dragon suplex after about 8 minutes.
Rating: 6/10
Samoa Joe promo -
Joe is backstage, and responds to Punk's promo, downplaying Punk's professed hometown advantage and reiterating that Punk had already failed once to defeat him for the championship. Joe's words were short and sweet, somewhat run-of-the-mill and sort of expected, but his charisma made them VERY believable. Really sets the mood for the main event and the show's titular match.
Rating: 7.75/10
Tracy Brooks vs. Daizee Haze -
It is mentioned early in the match by Jimmy Bower that this is the first women's match in ROH in quite some time, since the departure of Alexis Laree from the promotion in 2003. Interesting match-up and, of course, it doesn't disappoint. There's some nice chain wrestling and a great spot with the girls reversing one another's pining predicaments into their own, back and forth. I happen to be a big fan of near-fall reversal spots like that, so I quite enjoy this match already. At a point a few minutes into the match, commentator Jimmy Bower exclaims "This is no Diva Search!", to which his partner Mark Nolte responds "Praise Jesus!" Yeah. I made lol's. Overall, not a bad match, considering it lasted less than 4 minutes. Could have and should have been at least a few minutes longer. Brooks wins with a lariat outta friggin' nowhere. Good sportswomanship with the post-match handshake.
Rating: 5.5/10
Four Corner Survival
Josh Daniels vs. Angel Dust vs. Trent Acid vs. Matt Sydal -
As the ref attempts to get all 4 men to shake hands, the commentary team pokes fun at Trent Acid's ring gear (a tattered tee shirt and cut-off denim shorts) and mention his loss to Matt Sydal the night before. This really gives a bit of an insight to the "Trent Acid is losing matches AND his mind" angle they were playing up. Angel Dust and Josh Daniels start the match. After Sydal tags himself into the match and Daniels out, a "WE WANT ACID!" chant can be heard. Ah, sweet antiheroes. Just mere minutes into the match, there are several outside dives from the top turnbuckle, and it gets easy to forget who the legal men are. Confusion doesn't make for an enjoyable match. Once the action spills back into the ring, the legal men are recognized as Daniels and Angel Dust. At a point, all 4 men are in the ring again (and WHY the referee allows that to happen is beyond me). Daniels hits Angel Dust with a German suplex/bridge for the pin as Acid hits Sydal with the Acid Drop and goes for a pin of his own. The referee counts the pin from the LEGAL PARTICIPANT (his first smart move since the beginning of the match) and awards the victory to Daniels. Acid is visibly upset at another loss, and thus advances with his storyline. The crowd chants "You screwed Trent!", even though Acid WAS NOT THE LEGAL MAN! So much for "smart" marks, right? The furthering of the Trent Acid angle and the commentary team's emphasis on how important a victory would be for each young wrestler save this match from being one big clusterhump.
Rating: 5/10
Pure Wrestling vs. Ring of Hardcore
Nigel McGuinness & Chad Collyer with Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat vs. Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer with Mick Foley -
After both teams, with their respective legendary managers, make their entrances, Steamboat grabs a microphone and asks all 4 wrestlers to give him some time alone in the ring with Mick Foley. Steamboat says that he feels that his style of wrestling is better than Foley's and that hardcore wrestling, to him, is "garbage wrestling". That statement provides a perfect segue to telling Mick Foley that the Chicago Sanitation Department had a job for him on the back of one of their trucks after his next novel bombed. Foley then compares traditional wrestling to softcore porn (Steamboat's facial reaction is priceless), calls Steamboat the greatest softcore wrestler of all time, and accuses him of "riding the coattails of a washed-up loser like Ric Flair". Good points from both guys. An AMAZING verbal exchange between those two.
On to the match...BJ Whitmer and Nigel McGuinness start us out with some good "pure" wrestling, under standard wrestling rules. After less than 5 minutes, the Carnage Crew interfere in the match and start brawling with Maff and Whitmer. Herein lies my problem with this match...4 guys are duking it out in the ring, Steamboat grabs a mic and says "Hey, hey, hey!"...and they actually stop?! Okay. I can buy that. Until Steamboat attacks both members of the Carnage Crew, beating them up pretty handily, and chases them backstage with a folding chair. As one of the commentators points out, if pure wrestling is so great, why did he use a weapon instead of arm-dragging them to the back? Foley then grabs the mic and orders the match be re-started under hardcore rules. I can dig that, but I have two questions... First, didn't referee Todd Sinclair call for the bell? This match is OVER! But I suppose a restart makes sense. However, who the hell gave Foley that kinda authority?
Oh, well. We're back to match now, under hardcore rules this time. After the bell rings again, McGuinness/Collyer try to stick to pure wrestling, staying with their cause of proving their superiority. For once in this match, an instance of good sense, kayfabe-wise. Before long, a fistfight breaks out between the two teams that quickly spills to the outside and into the crowd. Good hardcore stuff. Tasteful, nothing too spotty. However, I had a problem (which was also pointed out by Mark Nolte), with Mick Foley getting involved. Technically, it's within the the rules of a hardcore match, but if Foley is so confident in his style, why would the wrestlers HE hand-picked need his help? I also find it hilariously ironic that Dan Maff hits Nigel McGuinness with a trash can. "Garbage wrestling". Haha! Get it?! Alright, then. Eventually, the match gets back to the ring, and Steamboat returns to ringside, grabs a mic, and reminds McGuiness, who is in the ring with Whitmer, to forget the hardcore stuff and use his wrestling skills. Moments later, after some nice reversals and a near fall, McGuinness rolls Whitmer up for the win.
After the match, Steamboat declares that it's pure wrestling: 1, hardcore wrestling: 0.
Overall, I like the concept, but it could have been executed better. But Steamboat and Foley in ROH was monumental for the promotion at that point, and this match was the high point of that angle, I believe.
Steamboat/Foley pre-match segment rating: 9.5/10
Match rating: 8, if for nothing but the involvement of the two legends, and a decent concept.
Dave Prazak interviews Trent Acid -
Acid talks about feeling like an outsider in Ring of Honor and not knowing how much more he can take, after his losing streak increased by one earlier in the show. Good storytelling, but it feels out of place in the show. Maybe it's just me...
Rating: 6/10
Carnage Crew (HC Loc & Tony DeVito) vs. Davey Andrews & TJ Dalton -
Dalton and Andrews were the two kids set to have a match at the beginning of the show, but were interrupted by Loc and DeVito. Before the match even starts, the two already looked banged up. On paper, it looks like an average squash match, but Andrews and Dalton get in some offense in the early going. That is, of course, until Loc and DeVito beat the hell out of them. Not the worst way ever to kill 4 minutes of a show. Loc then gets a mic AGAIN and vows revenge against Steamboat, in addition to Foley, Maff, and Whitmer.
Rating: 4/10
Generation Next (Roderick Strong & Jack Evans) vs. The Rottweilers (Homicide & Rocky Romero) -
Fast-paced match. Tells a good heel team vs. heel team story. There's no real storyline to speak of, going into this one. This match could easily be called "filler". But it's SOLID filler. A 630 Splash from Evans to Romero ends it. After the match, Homicide takes the microphone and puts Generation Next over and offers a handshake, luring Evans in for the Cop Killah. Romero and The Notorious 187 then each take the microphone to get some more profanity-laced heel heat; Romero, giving Generation Next a future shot at himself and Ricky Reyes's ROH Tag Team Championships, and Homicide, telling Chicago how much he f*cking hates them, and to kiss his Puerto Rican a**. That's wholesome family entertainment.
Rating: 7/10
"I Quit" Match
Alex Shelley vs. Jimmy Jacobs -
No handshake at the beginning. They just slap one another's faces before the brawl breaks out. Jimmy Jacobs, rockin' the Zack Ryder tights, 5 years before Zack Ryder, and the furry boots a few years before John Morrison. Right from the start, there's good storytelling, a really believable element to this feud. I can dig it. It's nice to see a Jimmy Jacobs match from that point of his career that wasn't pretty much more comedy than action. Leave that stuff to the "entertainment" company. This match, in my mind at least, MADE Jimmy Jacobs. The first time we actually saw him get in the ring and kick this much a**, even pulling a spike out of his furry boot. The cameraman got a damn good shot of Alex Shelley using that spike to gig Jacobs's forehead. Classic "I Quit" material. I also particularly enjoyed the spot where Shelly duct-taped Jacobs's hands to the ring post and caned his back with a kendo stick. [I'd like to give a shout-out to the fan who asked Shelley as he was taping Jacobs to the post, "Would TNA ever let you do something like this?!"] After Jacobs pulled another spike from his boot, Mark Nolte asks the age-old question, "How many spikes can you fit in a pair of furry boots?" I admittedly marked out for Jacobs applying a Camel Clutch while also choking Shelley with the kendo stick. Shelley showed some creativity by using rapid alternating shots with the spike and the kendo stick. The spot where Jimmy Jacobs begins to "pass out" while in the Border City Stretch could have been a little better done. But whatever. Jacobs used Shelley's own Border City Stretch against him, but eventually said "I Quit" while in said Border City Stretch. Basically what I'm getting at is that this match has some sick spots, everything you'd expect from an "I Quit" match. It's certainly even on par with Rock/Mankind, Funk/Flair, and Blanchard/T.A.
Rating: 9.25/10
Post-match happenings -
Shelley promises to make Jacobs wish he'd died in his sleep the night before, as Roderick Strong appears. Of course, they start beating up poor Jimmy. Until Old Man Steamboat comes to the rescue! Yay! And then the Carnage Crew come out to attack Steamboat. I'm starting to think this event should be called "The Loc and DeVito Show". But I soon become okay with more Carnage Crew involvement, as Maff, Whitmer, and Foley come to Steamboat's rescue, as Steamboat had done for Jacobs. I gotta admit, I have a problem with McGuinness and Collyer not coming to help Steamboat... Either way, Foley declares that the save makes the score even. Pure Wrestling: 1, Hardcore Wrestling: 1.
Segment rating: 7.75/10, just because I never fail to mark out for Foley
ROH World Title Match
Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk -
In my humble opinion, the greatest match of all time. CM Punk, in his hometown, tries to end Samoa Joe's near-19-month title reign. The crowd is split down the middle. The pre-match handshake still gives me chills, even after my dozenth time watching the match. Punk goes in and tries to wear Joe down with headlocks and submission wrestling. Trying to extend the greatest big man in wrestling history? Maybe not the best kayfabe idea, but it puts Punk over as a fearless bastard, so it works. The match eventually turns to brawling, and back to hold-for-hold, reversal-for-reversal wrestling. The similarities and contrasts in Punk and Joe's styles are represented very well within this match, and the last few minutes are some of the best. When the commentators are so into the match that they decide to go sit in the crowd and watch as fans, you know something electric is happening in the ring. At the point in a match where you would usually see the guys just lying down and sucking wind, we get rapid fire offense and defense form both guys, and it really puts across the urgency of the last few minutes of such a crucial championship match. Then...the bell rings. Time-limit draw. The crowd chants "5 MORE MINUTES!" and I have to agree...5 more minutes of that would be pretty sweet. Nonetheless, amazing match. My favorite match EVER. Punk shaking Joe's hand and handing him the belt at the end, then Joe leaving Punk to soak up the cheers from his hometown crowd was just a perfect punctuation.
Rating: 10/10
Punk post-match promo: Whoa! Look at the shiner on Punk! Big black eye, and clearly out of breath, Punk promises that there will be a rematch, and that whether it's a year down the road, in America, in any company other than ROH, there will be no time limit.
Rating: 9/10
Joe post-match promo: Joe states that Punk couldn't get the job done, and that there would be no rematch. In pure Joe fashion, his words are short and not-so-sweet, but his charisma makes you feel like he just cut a 20-minute promo.
Rating: 8/10
This show was pretty damn great, and I give it an overall rating of 7.25 (mathematical average of ratings given to the segments, divided by number of segments).
