ROH Back To Basics
ROH Back To Basics (3/12/2005)- Woodbridge, CT
GOOD TIMES GREAT MEMORIES- Colt’s guests are the Ring Crew Express and they don’t get very far before Nigel shows up and yells at Cabana to get serious because they have a tag team title match tonight.
LACEY YELLS AT HER FACTION OF SPECIAL K- Lacey gets over her businesswoman gimmick and hypes up both her match with Daizee Haze and tonight’s big Special K match.
COLT CABANA vs. DELIRIOUS- 4.5/10
Some comedy in the beginning followed by a bit of action.
THE RING CREW EXPRESS vs. ALEX LAW & RICKY LANDELL- 4.75/10
SPANKY vs. JACK EVANS- 6.5/10
Jack came up with a bunch of cool flippy counters to Spanky’s moves.
After the match GMC comes out and tells Spanky that he is in the top tier of contenders in ROH, and that who will get the ROH World Title shot on the 4/16 show in Boston will be determined later tonight. If Spanky’s good friend James Gibson wins his match, he will get the title ahot, but if Gibson loses, Spanky will get the title shot. Spanky starts to say something but is interrupted by Roderick Strong who says that the only way to an ROH World Title shot is through Generation Next. Spanky gets annoyed at Roddy but ids jumped from behind by Jack Evans, and Roddy and Jack take Spanky out.
WINNER GETS THE RIGHTS TO THE SPECIAL K NAME: Azrieal & Dixie vs. Izzy & Deranged (w/Lacey, Cheech, & Cloudy)- 6.5/10
Spotty but good.
HOMICIDE vs. RODERICK STRONG- 7/10
Wow... I really wasn’t expecting a clean finish here. When each man sent their second to the back after Roddy’s pre-match promo, I was certain that Gen Next was going to screw Homicide.
DIXIE & AZRIEAL PROMO- good.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH: Allison Danger vs. Cindy Rogers vs. Daizee Haze vs. Lacey- 5.75/10
A good showing by everyone, but Rogers looked particularly impressive. It’s a shame she never caught on.
ROH TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer(c) vs. Colt Cabana & Nigel McGuinness- 5.75/10
Disappointing. I was expecting a lot more from this match. They really didn’t do much of anything here. Just your basic tag match with nothing remarkable about it.
JAMES GIBSON vs. ROCKY ROMERO (w/Julius Smokes)- 7.5/10
Great technical contest. Just his nine month run in ROH in 2005 is enough to make him one of my all-time favorites. After the match Gibson cuts a nice babyface promo but is jumped by Roderick Strong and Jack Evans. Spanky then comes out and makes the save. Spanky grabs a mic and wishes Gibson good luck in his ROH World Title shot next month and asks to be the first person in line for a title shot if Gibson wins.
LACEY RENAMES HER PART OF SPECIAL K- the Lacey’s Angels name is born.
PRE-MATCH SEGMENT- a short segment establishing that Corino has no-showed and that Punk needs another partner, which he gets in the form of Spanky.
WINNER BECOMES #1 CONTENDER TO THE ROH TAG TEAM TITLES: Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal vs. CM Punk & Spanky- 7.75/10
This was well on its way to being an awesome match with Lethal playing a brilliant babyface in peril… until it got derailed by a finish which involved Stevie Richards giving Punk a Stevie Kick. At this point you are probably thinking to yourself â€"Stevie Richards? That seems really random.†If you are, you deserve a cookie because it was really random. Stevie has never had any interaction with any of these four men before, but he just decides to come out and kick Punk in the head. To make matters worse, this would never be followed up on in any way at all. The whole thing just seems very un-ROH.
After watching RF's Shoot Interview with Stevie Richards (Highly recommended), Stevie says that there was a plan for him and Punk to work a set of three matches that never materialized. This doesn't help with how random everything seems.
GOOD TIMES GREAT MEMORIES WITH DUNN & MARCOS: PART 2- Nigel once again interrupts. He says that Colt isn’t taking things seriously and says that they obviously aren’t compatible tag team partners, so maybe they should go back to being opponents.
Overall, a pretty good show from ROH, but entirely unimportant in the grand scheme of things (unless you are a Special K fan). This show was pretty unremarkable. You won’t be too disappointed if you watch it, but I’d recommend it to completionists only.
GOOD TIMES GREAT MEMORIES- Colt’s guests are the Ring Crew Express and they don’t get very far before Nigel shows up and yells at Cabana to get serious because they have a tag team title match tonight.
LACEY YELLS AT HER FACTION OF SPECIAL K- Lacey gets over her businesswoman gimmick and hypes up both her match with Daizee Haze and tonight’s big Special K match.
COLT CABANA vs. DELIRIOUS- 4.5/10
Some comedy in the beginning followed by a bit of action.
THE RING CREW EXPRESS vs. ALEX LAW & RICKY LANDELL- 4.75/10
SPANKY vs. JACK EVANS- 6.5/10
Jack came up with a bunch of cool flippy counters to Spanky’s moves.
After the match GMC comes out and tells Spanky that he is in the top tier of contenders in ROH, and that who will get the ROH World Title shot on the 4/16 show in Boston will be determined later tonight. If Spanky’s good friend James Gibson wins his match, he will get the title ahot, but if Gibson loses, Spanky will get the title shot. Spanky starts to say something but is interrupted by Roderick Strong who says that the only way to an ROH World Title shot is through Generation Next. Spanky gets annoyed at Roddy but ids jumped from behind by Jack Evans, and Roddy and Jack take Spanky out.
WINNER GETS THE RIGHTS TO THE SPECIAL K NAME: Azrieal & Dixie vs. Izzy & Deranged (w/Lacey, Cheech, & Cloudy)- 6.5/10
Spotty but good.
HOMICIDE vs. RODERICK STRONG- 7/10
Wow... I really wasn’t expecting a clean finish here. When each man sent their second to the back after Roddy’s pre-match promo, I was certain that Gen Next was going to screw Homicide.
DIXIE & AZRIEAL PROMO- good.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH: Allison Danger vs. Cindy Rogers vs. Daizee Haze vs. Lacey- 5.75/10
A good showing by everyone, but Rogers looked particularly impressive. It’s a shame she never caught on.
ROH TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer(c) vs. Colt Cabana & Nigel McGuinness- 5.75/10
Disappointing. I was expecting a lot more from this match. They really didn’t do much of anything here. Just your basic tag match with nothing remarkable about it.
JAMES GIBSON vs. ROCKY ROMERO (w/Julius Smokes)- 7.5/10
Great technical contest. Just his nine month run in ROH in 2005 is enough to make him one of my all-time favorites. After the match Gibson cuts a nice babyface promo but is jumped by Roderick Strong and Jack Evans. Spanky then comes out and makes the save. Spanky grabs a mic and wishes Gibson good luck in his ROH World Title shot next month and asks to be the first person in line for a title shot if Gibson wins.
LACEY RENAMES HER PART OF SPECIAL K- the Lacey’s Angels name is born.
PRE-MATCH SEGMENT- a short segment establishing that Corino has no-showed and that Punk needs another partner, which he gets in the form of Spanky.
WINNER BECOMES #1 CONTENDER TO THE ROH TAG TEAM TITLES: Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal vs. CM Punk & Spanky- 7.75/10
This was well on its way to being an awesome match with Lethal playing a brilliant babyface in peril… until it got derailed by a finish which involved Stevie Richards giving Punk a Stevie Kick. At this point you are probably thinking to yourself â€"Stevie Richards? That seems really random.†If you are, you deserve a cookie because it was really random. Stevie has never had any interaction with any of these four men before, but he just decides to come out and kick Punk in the head. To make matters worse, this would never be followed up on in any way at all. The whole thing just seems very un-ROH.
After watching RF's Shoot Interview with Stevie Richards (Highly recommended), Stevie says that there was a plan for him and Punk to work a set of three matches that never materialized. This doesn't help with how random everything seems.
GOOD TIMES GREAT MEMORIES WITH DUNN & MARCOS: PART 2- Nigel once again interrupts. He says that Colt isn’t taking things seriously and says that they obviously aren’t compatible tag team partners, so maybe they should go back to being opponents.
Overall, a pretty good show from ROH, but entirely unimportant in the grand scheme of things (unless you are a Special K fan). This show was pretty unremarkable. You won’t be too disappointed if you watch it, but I’d recommend it to completionists only.