ROH Empire State Showdown
ROH Empire State Showdown (10/25/2003)- Spencerport, NY
SAMOA JOE PROMO- great hype for both his big match with Homicide tonight and his feud with the Briscoes-
COLT CABANA TELLS HOMICIDE & HIS CREW THAT JOE WANTS TO MAKE TONIGHT’S MATCH A NO HOLDS BARRED MATCH- pointless. Just an excuse for Julius Smokes to ramble semi-coherently.
I’m normally not one to complain about production values (if I’m not looking at two monitors side by side, I usually can’t even tell if I am watching in HD or not), so you know that if I complain about something, it is pretty bad. Once we got the ring, pretty much the first thing we saw was a graphic displaying the Top Five Rankings... but between the way they chose to outline the text and the way it clashed with the colors in the background, it was barely readable.
FIELD OF HONOR MATCH: BJ Whitmer (1-1) vs. Dan Maff (1-0) (w/Allison Danger)- 4.5/10
Not too much going on in this match. Just some suplexes, and tossing people into the barricade.
During this match, Ray Murrow says that Allison Danger is being a cheerleader on the outside, which prompts Gabe to comment on how hot Danger is. Murrow yells at Gabe to control himself… and while I would normally side with Murrow in these cases, anyone who has seen either ROH The Bitter End or The Battle of St. Paul will tell you that the thought of Allison Danger in a cheerleader outfit is a perfectly legitimate reason to get distracted.
TRENT ACID PROMO- eh hype for next week’s show in NJ.
TAG TEAM SCRAMBLE MATCH: Dunn & Marcos vs. The Outcast Killaz vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Alex Shelley vs. Fast Eddie & Don Juan- 6.25/10
Very good match. It felt a bit too choreographed sometimes when they were doing some of the simultaneous stuff, but other than that this had great action, some great sequences, and a very fun bit between Jacobs and Shelley and the Outcast Killaz. The Killahs in particular really impressed me with their offense here. Being from the area, Dunn and Marcos go over, and they do so in style with an awesome-looking cut-throat Psycho Driver!
JOHN WALTERS vs. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS (w/Allison Danger)- 7.5/10
They really made you think that Walters was going to pick up that big win. After the match Daniels puts Walters over on the mic then offers him a place in the Prophecy. Xavier comes out and tells Daniels that Walters is a loser. Walters cuts a promo on Xavier and tries to talk away without actually giving Daniels an answer but Xavier jumps him from behind. After a few seconds Daniel stops the beatdown, which gives Walters enough time to strike back at Xavier. Daniels and Xavier then walk backstage, yelling at each other, and then we got a great backstage confrontation between Xavier and the Prophecy. I loved the fact that they kept the camera rolling here in one continuous shot and had this confrontation right behind the curtain.
STEVE CORINO PROMO- good promo on Daniels, Punk, and Homicide.
ROH TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Izzy & Dixie(c) (w/Special K) vs. The Carnage Crew- 5/10
COLT CABANA ASKS DAN MAFF WHY THE PROPHECY ATTACKED LUCY- Maff swears on his recently deceased father’s grave that the Prophecy had nothing to do with the attack on Lucy. Then they do a bit of hype for their match at next week’s show in NJ. Maff was great here. You really got the feeling that he is not someone to f*ck with.
FIELD OF HONOR MATCH: Xavier (1-0) vs. Chris Sabin (0-1)- 6/10
Xavier using a handshake in the beginning to lure Sabin in for the â€"Kiss Your X Goodbye†was an absolutely genius spot. It did an awesome job of playing off of the â€"is Xavier still in the Prophecy or not†angle.
CM PUNK vs. STEVE CORINO- 7.5/10
Corino’s long-list entrance schtik for this show is a list of famous wrestlers of have done drugs. Not to be outdone, Punk has brought a list of his own… a partial list of the drugs that he has not done and never will do (including Claritin, Ritalin, Propecia, and Viagra). It took them almost fifteen minutes to get to the opening bell… but the whole thing was just hilarious!
The match itself was great. It told a great story… but it’s kind of hard to explain it. It just has a feel about it which you have to see for yourselves (very unhelpful for a review, I know).
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH: Justin Credible vs. Colt Cabana vs. Jimmy Rave vs. John Walters- 6.25/10
Short but good. Walters making Justin tap felt like a big deal.
NO HOLDS BARRED MATCH: Samoa Joe vs. Homicide (w/Julius Smokes)- 8/10
An awesome match, although the finish (it involved a noose) was a bit over the top for a feud without any hate in it.
ROB FEINSTEIN AND SPECIAL K BACKSTAGE- Rob yells at Special K for partying backstage and tells them that they will have to defend the titles next week against the Briscoes.
JIM CORNETTE PROMO- awesome
A great show from ROH. The Punk vs. Corino match has a very unique feel to it, and the rest of the card ranges from, acceptable to awesome. The crowd could be obnoxiously smarky at times, especially when Daniels and Corino were involved, but on the whole were very into the show. I have no idea why ROH never went back.
SAMOA JOE PROMO- great hype for both his big match with Homicide tonight and his feud with the Briscoes-
COLT CABANA TELLS HOMICIDE & HIS CREW THAT JOE WANTS TO MAKE TONIGHT’S MATCH A NO HOLDS BARRED MATCH- pointless. Just an excuse for Julius Smokes to ramble semi-coherently.
I’m normally not one to complain about production values (if I’m not looking at two monitors side by side, I usually can’t even tell if I am watching in HD or not), so you know that if I complain about something, it is pretty bad. Once we got the ring, pretty much the first thing we saw was a graphic displaying the Top Five Rankings... but between the way they chose to outline the text and the way it clashed with the colors in the background, it was barely readable.
FIELD OF HONOR MATCH: BJ Whitmer (1-1) vs. Dan Maff (1-0) (w/Allison Danger)- 4.5/10
Not too much going on in this match. Just some suplexes, and tossing people into the barricade.
During this match, Ray Murrow says that Allison Danger is being a cheerleader on the outside, which prompts Gabe to comment on how hot Danger is. Murrow yells at Gabe to control himself… and while I would normally side with Murrow in these cases, anyone who has seen either ROH The Bitter End or The Battle of St. Paul will tell you that the thought of Allison Danger in a cheerleader outfit is a perfectly legitimate reason to get distracted.
TRENT ACID PROMO- eh hype for next week’s show in NJ.
TAG TEAM SCRAMBLE MATCH: Dunn & Marcos vs. The Outcast Killaz vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Alex Shelley vs. Fast Eddie & Don Juan- 6.25/10
Very good match. It felt a bit too choreographed sometimes when they were doing some of the simultaneous stuff, but other than that this had great action, some great sequences, and a very fun bit between Jacobs and Shelley and the Outcast Killaz. The Killahs in particular really impressed me with their offense here. Being from the area, Dunn and Marcos go over, and they do so in style with an awesome-looking cut-throat Psycho Driver!
JOHN WALTERS vs. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS (w/Allison Danger)- 7.5/10
They really made you think that Walters was going to pick up that big win. After the match Daniels puts Walters over on the mic then offers him a place in the Prophecy. Xavier comes out and tells Daniels that Walters is a loser. Walters cuts a promo on Xavier and tries to talk away without actually giving Daniels an answer but Xavier jumps him from behind. After a few seconds Daniel stops the beatdown, which gives Walters enough time to strike back at Xavier. Daniels and Xavier then walk backstage, yelling at each other, and then we got a great backstage confrontation between Xavier and the Prophecy. I loved the fact that they kept the camera rolling here in one continuous shot and had this confrontation right behind the curtain.
STEVE CORINO PROMO- good promo on Daniels, Punk, and Homicide.
ROH TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Izzy & Dixie(c) (w/Special K) vs. The Carnage Crew- 5/10
COLT CABANA ASKS DAN MAFF WHY THE PROPHECY ATTACKED LUCY- Maff swears on his recently deceased father’s grave that the Prophecy had nothing to do with the attack on Lucy. Then they do a bit of hype for their match at next week’s show in NJ. Maff was great here. You really got the feeling that he is not someone to f*ck with.
FIELD OF HONOR MATCH: Xavier (1-0) vs. Chris Sabin (0-1)- 6/10
Xavier using a handshake in the beginning to lure Sabin in for the â€"Kiss Your X Goodbye†was an absolutely genius spot. It did an awesome job of playing off of the â€"is Xavier still in the Prophecy or not†angle.
CM PUNK vs. STEVE CORINO- 7.5/10
Corino’s long-list entrance schtik for this show is a list of famous wrestlers of have done drugs. Not to be outdone, Punk has brought a list of his own… a partial list of the drugs that he has not done and never will do (including Claritin, Ritalin, Propecia, and Viagra). It took them almost fifteen minutes to get to the opening bell… but the whole thing was just hilarious!
The match itself was great. It told a great story… but it’s kind of hard to explain it. It just has a feel about it which you have to see for yourselves (very unhelpful for a review, I know).
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH: Justin Credible vs. Colt Cabana vs. Jimmy Rave vs. John Walters- 6.25/10
Short but good. Walters making Justin tap felt like a big deal.
NO HOLDS BARRED MATCH: Samoa Joe vs. Homicide (w/Julius Smokes)- 8/10
An awesome match, although the finish (it involved a noose) was a bit over the top for a feud without any hate in it.
ROB FEINSTEIN AND SPECIAL K BACKSTAGE- Rob yells at Special K for partying backstage and tells them that they will have to defend the titles next week against the Briscoes.
JIM CORNETTE PROMO- awesome
A great show from ROH. The Punk vs. Corino match has a very unique feel to it, and the rest of the card ranges from, acceptable to awesome. The crowd could be obnoxiously smarky at times, especially when Daniels and Corino were involved, but on the whole were very into the show. I have no idea why ROH never went back.