ROH The Last Stand
ROH The Last Stand (1/29/2004)- Glen Burnie, MD
HOMICIDE REFUSES TO GIVE AN INTERVIEW- Cide says he needs some time to himself and that he doesn’t want to talk right now. J-Train says he doesn’t know what is up with Homicide, so Gary Michael Capetta leaves new ROH interviewer â€"Sugar†Sean Price with Smokes to get the scoop in case anything happens.
SAMOA JOE’S RING- Joe cuts an eh promo on Cornette while dickishly stretching someone who wasn’t ready yet.
PROPHECY BACKSTAGE SEGMENT- Maff and Whitmer are arguing but Danger says that Daniels says that they need to make peace and work together to make sure that one of them wins the #1 Contender’s Trophy tonight. Gabe then asks them if they are ready to do their promo and Danger and Maff cut promos. I really liked the way that they did this segment. Danger’s promo (and a good chunk of Maff’s, too) would have sounded borderline corny in isolation, but with this segment it came across as the Prophecy saying semi-cliched things to put on an external façade of strength to hide the inner turmoil. After the promos end, Whitmer is a jerk to Maff and those two are about to fight when Danger realizes that Gabe is still in the room and has Whitmer chase him out.
THREE ROPE-BREAK RULE MATCH FOR A SPOT IN THE PURE TITLE TOURNAMENT: Chad Collyer vs. John Walters- 7/10
Great technical opener. Like the match at The Battle Lines Are Drawn, this â€"Three Rope Break match†did a great job of getting over the three rope break rule, and of how hard it would be for wrestlers to adjust to it. Early on, both men used a rope break to get out of a simple hold and mentally kicked themselves for it. The finish using the ropes was a great touch, too.
CHRISTOPHER DANIELS PROMO- good promo, bad lighting, although the bad lighting is kayfabe excusable because this was a tape Daniels sent in from home while recovering from the injury he suffered last show at the hands of the Second City Saints.
SIX MAN MAYHEM MATCH: Jack Evans vs. Carprice Coleman vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Chris Sabin vs. Slyk Wagner Brown (w/April Hunter) vs. Hydro (w/Becky)- 6/10
Spotty but fun. Everyone looked impressive.
LIVE GOOD TIMES GREAT MEMORIES WITH COLT CABANA- WOW! I have never seen Colt get booed so heavily anywhere. He brings out his first guests, Dunn and Marcos. Colt is kind of a jerk to them but Maff and Whitmer come out and attack Colt, then Dunn & Marcos.
THREE WAY NO DISQUALIFICATION TAG TEAM MATCH: The Carnage Crew (HC Loc & Justin Credible) vs. The Backseat Boyz vs. Special K-2/10
A lot of random punching. The babyfaces all force themselves on Special K’s valets… because that is a very babyface thing to do. The Spike That’s Incredible was cool, and I liked the Backseats screwing Loc and Justin out of the win, but otherwise, this was very dull.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH FOR THE #1 CONTENDER’S TROPHY: Matt Stryker vs. Xavier vs. Dan Maff (w/Allison Danger) vs. BJ Whitmer (also with Allison Danger)- 6.5/10
Good use of the double-pin finish
JIM CORNETTE PROMO- awesome… aside from the parts about Joe, which were kind of racist.
GMC & THE PROPHECY- they resolve the issues with the #1 Contender’s Trophy controversy and we hype up a big match for next show. I’m not sure why Danger isn’t happy with this solution, though.
JIMMY JACOBS vs. ALEX SHELLEY- 6.25/10
HOMICIDE (w/Julius Smokes) vs. CM PUNK (w/Colt Cabana & Traci Brooks)-7.5/10
GREAT match! I really can’t wait to get up to their match at Gold later this year.
Traci’s sexy schoolgirl outfit totally fails here. It just screams â€"LOOK AT ME! I’M WEARKNG SKANKY CLOTHES IN AN ATTEMPT TO BE SEXY!†rather than actually just looking sexy. After the match, the Prophecy attack Cabana and ram his shoulder in to the ringpost.
ROH TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Briscoe Brothers(c) (w/Jim Cornette) vs. Samoa Joe & Jerry Lynn- 6/10
I’m really not sure why Joe is getting yet another shot at the tag team titles (he just lost a title shot at the last show). Anyway, the match itself was very disappointing, and unacceptable for the main event of a company that prides itself on having the best wrestling around. The finish saw Jay hit Joe with Cornette’s tennis racket and pin him, with Joe getting his shoulder up just after the count of three. The problem here is really with Joe’s kick-out. If even while cheating Jay can barely put Joe down for a three-count, it really doesn’t make me think Jay will have much of a chance of beating him in the ROH World Title match that should result from this.
Then we go on to something I have an even bigger problem with: The Briscoes hightail it… so Joe turns his anger on the referee, assaulting him. I am fine with this, so long as there are major consequences for Joe breaking the Code of Honor. What I am not fine with is Jerry Lynn then attacking the referee, too. Not only did Jerry have no real reason to be angry (I’m not sure if he even saw Jay cheat) but Gabe just told us that Jerry was interested in getting involved in the soon-to-be-starting ROH Pure Wrestling Division… so why would Jerry ruin any chance he had of getting into the Pure Division by breaking the Code of Honor in such a despicable way? To make matters worse, neither one of these guys would suffer any consequences for this.
SAMOA JOE PROMO- out of nowhere, Joe seems to think there is a conspiracy against him. He then challenges Jay Briscoe in a cage match. Once again, having Joe kick out right after the three-count kills any build to this match. If Jay could barely keep Joe down after using a weapon, what chance does he have in a cage where he won’t be able to access weapons?
Joe then continues to cut his promo until he is jumped by the Prophecy, who beat him down, then start to argue about which one of them will be winning the ROH World Title at the next show.
SEAN PRICE INTERVIEWS HOMICIDE- Homicide keeps saying that ROH has been â€"my heart and my strength†but says that he is going away for a while and doesn’t know when he will be coming back. They had been building up that something was up with Homicide, but this still seemed very out of nowhere.
Overall, this show had a great undercard, with almost everything ranging from good to great, but the main event was extremely disappointing and Joe’s kickout killed all of the build to the match the finish was intended to set up. It would have been a lot better if they just hadn’t done it.
HOMICIDE REFUSES TO GIVE AN INTERVIEW- Cide says he needs some time to himself and that he doesn’t want to talk right now. J-Train says he doesn’t know what is up with Homicide, so Gary Michael Capetta leaves new ROH interviewer â€"Sugar†Sean Price with Smokes to get the scoop in case anything happens.
SAMOA JOE’S RING- Joe cuts an eh promo on Cornette while dickishly stretching someone who wasn’t ready yet.
PROPHECY BACKSTAGE SEGMENT- Maff and Whitmer are arguing but Danger says that Daniels says that they need to make peace and work together to make sure that one of them wins the #1 Contender’s Trophy tonight. Gabe then asks them if they are ready to do their promo and Danger and Maff cut promos. I really liked the way that they did this segment. Danger’s promo (and a good chunk of Maff’s, too) would have sounded borderline corny in isolation, but with this segment it came across as the Prophecy saying semi-cliched things to put on an external façade of strength to hide the inner turmoil. After the promos end, Whitmer is a jerk to Maff and those two are about to fight when Danger realizes that Gabe is still in the room and has Whitmer chase him out.
THREE ROPE-BREAK RULE MATCH FOR A SPOT IN THE PURE TITLE TOURNAMENT: Chad Collyer vs. John Walters- 7/10
Great technical opener. Like the match at The Battle Lines Are Drawn, this â€"Three Rope Break match†did a great job of getting over the three rope break rule, and of how hard it would be for wrestlers to adjust to it. Early on, both men used a rope break to get out of a simple hold and mentally kicked themselves for it. The finish using the ropes was a great touch, too.
CHRISTOPHER DANIELS PROMO- good promo, bad lighting, although the bad lighting is kayfabe excusable because this was a tape Daniels sent in from home while recovering from the injury he suffered last show at the hands of the Second City Saints.
SIX MAN MAYHEM MATCH: Jack Evans vs. Carprice Coleman vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Chris Sabin vs. Slyk Wagner Brown (w/April Hunter) vs. Hydro (w/Becky)- 6/10
Spotty but fun. Everyone looked impressive.
LIVE GOOD TIMES GREAT MEMORIES WITH COLT CABANA- WOW! I have never seen Colt get booed so heavily anywhere. He brings out his first guests, Dunn and Marcos. Colt is kind of a jerk to them but Maff and Whitmer come out and attack Colt, then Dunn & Marcos.
THREE WAY NO DISQUALIFICATION TAG TEAM MATCH: The Carnage Crew (HC Loc & Justin Credible) vs. The Backseat Boyz vs. Special K-2/10
A lot of random punching. The babyfaces all force themselves on Special K’s valets… because that is a very babyface thing to do. The Spike That’s Incredible was cool, and I liked the Backseats screwing Loc and Justin out of the win, but otherwise, this was very dull.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH FOR THE #1 CONTENDER’S TROPHY: Matt Stryker vs. Xavier vs. Dan Maff (w/Allison Danger) vs. BJ Whitmer (also with Allison Danger)- 6.5/10
Good use of the double-pin finish
JIM CORNETTE PROMO- awesome… aside from the parts about Joe, which were kind of racist.
GMC & THE PROPHECY- they resolve the issues with the #1 Contender’s Trophy controversy and we hype up a big match for next show. I’m not sure why Danger isn’t happy with this solution, though.
JIMMY JACOBS vs. ALEX SHELLEY- 6.25/10
HOMICIDE (w/Julius Smokes) vs. CM PUNK (w/Colt Cabana & Traci Brooks)-7.5/10
GREAT match! I really can’t wait to get up to their match at Gold later this year.
Traci’s sexy schoolgirl outfit totally fails here. It just screams â€"LOOK AT ME! I’M WEARKNG SKANKY CLOTHES IN AN ATTEMPT TO BE SEXY!†rather than actually just looking sexy. After the match, the Prophecy attack Cabana and ram his shoulder in to the ringpost.
ROH TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Briscoe Brothers(c) (w/Jim Cornette) vs. Samoa Joe & Jerry Lynn- 6/10
I’m really not sure why Joe is getting yet another shot at the tag team titles (he just lost a title shot at the last show). Anyway, the match itself was very disappointing, and unacceptable for the main event of a company that prides itself on having the best wrestling around. The finish saw Jay hit Joe with Cornette’s tennis racket and pin him, with Joe getting his shoulder up just after the count of three. The problem here is really with Joe’s kick-out. If even while cheating Jay can barely put Joe down for a three-count, it really doesn’t make me think Jay will have much of a chance of beating him in the ROH World Title match that should result from this.
Then we go on to something I have an even bigger problem with: The Briscoes hightail it… so Joe turns his anger on the referee, assaulting him. I am fine with this, so long as there are major consequences for Joe breaking the Code of Honor. What I am not fine with is Jerry Lynn then attacking the referee, too. Not only did Jerry have no real reason to be angry (I’m not sure if he even saw Jay cheat) but Gabe just told us that Jerry was interested in getting involved in the soon-to-be-starting ROH Pure Wrestling Division… so why would Jerry ruin any chance he had of getting into the Pure Division by breaking the Code of Honor in such a despicable way? To make matters worse, neither one of these guys would suffer any consequences for this.
SAMOA JOE PROMO- out of nowhere, Joe seems to think there is a conspiracy against him. He then challenges Jay Briscoe in a cage match. Once again, having Joe kick out right after the three-count kills any build to this match. If Jay could barely keep Joe down after using a weapon, what chance does he have in a cage where he won’t be able to access weapons?
Joe then continues to cut his promo until he is jumped by the Prophecy, who beat him down, then start to argue about which one of them will be winning the ROH World Title at the next show.
SEAN PRICE INTERVIEWS HOMICIDE- Homicide keeps saying that ROH has been â€"my heart and my strength†but says that he is going away for a while and doesn’t know when he will be coming back. They had been building up that something was up with Homicide, but this still seemed very out of nowhere.
Overall, this show had a great undercard, with almost everything ranging from good to great, but the main event was extremely disappointing and Joe’s kickout killed all of the build to the match the finish was intended to set up. It would have been a lot better if they just hadn’t done it.