Below are the 13 most recent journal entries recorded in michrome's LiveJournal:

Tuesday, February 15th, 2005
10:22 pm	Anniversary Week Seriously a shitload of good looking matches, but the interesting one is Aries/Joe. They aren't saying much to hype it which makes me think Joe is winning. Kayfabe-wise it would be silly for him to lose to Aries twice in a row after going 2 years without losing a singles match. He only lost to Aries because he took him lightly in the match, so if he comes prepared and wins it makes plenty of sense. Going into 12/26 everyone said Aries would lose, and then win it 6 months later when it's built up. This is an interesting way of doing the same thing...actually give him a win over Joe, and then build him up for a win through a feud with Shelley and the other Gen Next guys who are surely turning on him soon. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 10th, 2005
10:46 pm	ROH 1/15/05 This was one of the weakest shows from RoH in a long time. There were certainly parts I enjoyed, but a combination of bad luck and odd matchtimes hurt this. Alex Shelley vs. Spanky was very good. Shelley is a better face worker than I thought and they each got good offensive runs. Lots of kickouts but none of them seemed ridiculous or anything. Joe vs. Nigel was very good, but got hurt by Nigel injuring his leg partway through. If not for that impediment it would have been yet another great Joe match. I still enjoyed it, but it could have been better. Dragon vs. Cide: Here is where bad luck cost us a MoTYC. The early brawl stuff was *awesome*. The intensity was off the charts, but as we all know the building manager stopped them. They cut to a blank screen, and then edit to when they come in the ring. From here, the match is strong, but this totally threw them off and made the match feel like it was missing a portion. Instead of a really great 25 minute brawl/submission match, we got a ***+ match that feels underwhelming compared to what it couldd have been. Aries vs. Cabana sucked, even though they showed promise early. Aries bumped like a champ for Cabana, but Cabana was awful in the face in peril portion. Totally lethargic and he almost seemed bored. Not well layed out and there was a lot of sloppiness. I think they *could* have a decent cage match at 2/19, but it certainly will not be like a Joe/Jay performance. The Foley/Joe interaction was the best part of the show. Foley's promo was really good, and the brawl was believable. I like the direction of the angle. Right now, it looks like they are going to have Foley feeding ex-WWE guys to Joe, and as Joe destroys all of them, Foley will get more and more frustrated, maybe leading to a match if he's agreed to it. If that's what they're doing, it should rule. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 26th, 2005
10:39 pm	Final Battle Review (Sorta) This tape is a mixed bag, but given how good the final 2 matches are it's a thumbs up show worth getting. I don;t like harping on the negatives, so I'll get them out of the way: --Acid is sloppy as usual --The Carnage Crew vs. Shitty Miracle Violence Connection match sucked dick. --Rave vs. Walters was fucking awful. --Foley and Steamboat just wouldn't shut up. --Corino and Punk's entrance times combined for 4 hours and 24 minutes. Now, onto the good but not great: --The Special K mixed tag was fun. Probably not even good but all the double stomps were really cool and if double stomps are the shining wizard of 2005 I'll be a happy camper. Angeldust is just loaded with talent, the kid is going to be a star by the end of the year. Gabe keeps putting him with great guys in FIP and he's only going to improve. --Trent Acid quit. --Homicide vs. Josh Daniels was the gem of the undercard. I figured this was better than live reports said and it was. Josh was very good here barring an odd choice of a chinlock early where something else would have worked much better. Cide working the arm for his new submission was nice and the match played out really well. *** or so. --Lethal vs. Weapon of Mask Destruction was a good wrestling match but it would have been better with Generico wrestling as himself. As it was, the good work didn't get much heat because of the gimmick. Lethal's babyface routine is a little corny for my liking, but the match was fine. --The Punk/Corino tag was good. I didn't really think it was a burial, instead of an opening offensive run the faces goofed off instead. The Gen Next control segments were nice, but unfortunately Punk's whiffing wizard made its return. Punk won with the Anaconda Vice, which got no reaction since it's never won him a thing on the east coast. This happened to Joe too the first bunch of times he used the choke, but if they don't give up on it they can make this a good secondary finisher for Punk. **3/4-***...not great but fun. Now, the great: --American Dragon vs. Low Ki: Man...this is probably my favorite match they've had together and it doesn't even have a finish. They haven't wrestled for 2 years so they start out slow, and I really liked how they kept a similar flavor as prior matches but also made you feel like it was about to explode in hatred at any minute. Ki eventually goes to Dragon's bad arm, and finds every heelish way imaginable to work it. The crowd boos him during his control, but in duel chant portions it almost seems louder for him, because kids that boo heels love to be the loudest. Dragon responds to this armwork by stomping on Ki's heel, which was nasty, and then stretches him out. He gets a big superplex and goes for the airplane spin, but Ki counters into the Dragon clutch. Dragon spins anyway and they tumble to the floor. On the floor Dragon beats Ki into the crowd, and gives him an airplane spin in the crowd. That was neat. Then the rottweillers jump Danielson and we have a DQ a little over 20 minutes in. The rottweillers beat the shit out of Hansen and reinjure Dragon's arm. Cool heel segment. The 20 or so minutes this got were really awesome. Throw in a hate-filled final 5-10 minute final stretch they could have easily done and this becomes strong MoTYC. As it is it's just the opening and body of a classic without the final stretch. Far superior to their 3/30 match. ***1/2 --Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe: This was incredible, on rewatch it's my third favorite Joe defense, ahead of the Dragon one. The full circle storytelling is so great largely thanks to Joe, but Aries does contribute a lot. It starts off hot with Aries charging Joe, going head on, only to get stopped in his tracks in a hurry. That failed, so Aries tries the CM Punk headlock strategy but Joe has counters and this strategy fails too. Aries then tries the Danielson leg strategy but Joe stops this in a hurry as well. Joe just dicks around with Aries as if he's Izzy or something, smiling while he's kicking his ass. He just exudes arrogance and it's great. He hits 2 ole kicks on the floor, and he's having so much fun that he goes for a third, but this is a mistake and Aries stops him before hitting a dropkick version. Back in, Aries goes for his goofy corner elbow and Joe counters with the choke...another reason to love Joe: He always works cool counters in to lame spots. Aries escapes but still can't get anything until he gets a beautiful rana counter to a powerbomb for 2. Joe went over like he was a fucking luchadore. Aries hits about 5 brutal dropkicks to the face in the corner, but Joe counters finally, catching him with an Island Driver out of the corner for a good nearfall. That was really choice, and a nice play on how Joe usually gets that corner sidewalk slam. The first great nearfall of the match comes when Aries fights off the Musclebuster and hits the 450 for 2.5. Usually I hate finisher kickouts, but Joe was losing here anyway and Aries had pretty much no offense prior to this. The final run is fantastic and I don't want to spoil it, it works so well. They pay off teases of dives, endless teases of the brainbuster that never come close, and finally the story comes full circle when Aries wins. In the end, after abandoning his plan to just go straight at Joe early, he comes back to it and wins with it. In the end, after 20 months it didn't take rope a dope or limbwork or some contrived strategy to beat Samoa Joe...it just took Austin Aries. ****1/4 (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 20th, 2005
8:52 pm	Ultimate X I've been on a 24 kick lately, and saw all 3 seasons, so I haven't seen any indy stuff at all lately. However...I did see Ultimate X from Final Resolution, and TNA is a glorified indy anyway, so I'll talk about this match. Ultimate X: AJ Styles vs. Petey Williams vs. Chris Sabin: Matches like this have natural limitations, if there was ever any match concept that came off more like gymnastics than wrestling, this is it. However, they worked this match as well as I could ever hope for, and it made for really fun viewing. There weren't a lot of logic holes, the only dumb spot was the rana, it was way too contrived and there was no reason for Petey to be jumping off there. Maybe if Sabin had attacked him first it would have made more sense. Everything is crisp and everything hits perfectly, which is always a bonus, and the crowd is fucking nuked for all of it. The stuff with AJ's arm really was a nice touch, and it was a good thing they waited to do it. The injury looked painful enough for me to believe his arm was really hurt, and it definitely added to the drama. The only downer in this style the rest of the way is the really poorly done Styles Clash-->Juji counter from Sabin, but it still ended up working anyway. The finish was one of those things where it was really smart in concept, but it was also self-defeating because AJ used the arm for the springboard anyway. Going to the top would have been a better move, but it still worked. Opinions will vary bigtime on this match, as it's really hard to even call it wrestling most of the time, but these guys all worked really hard, hit everything perfectly, and built in some smart stuff. See it. ***1/2 (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 5th, 2005
8:34 pm	Shelley and Strong I rarely see any CZW, but I got a chance to pick up a match between Alex Shelley and Roderick Strong from November 2004 (NoI). Oddly enough it goes second on the card, but there was a hell of a lot of good in here. These guys aren't on the level of American Dragon and Samoa Joe, but watching them gives you a lot of confidence for the future of US indies once the current class moves on to better things. Shelley was fucking fabulous in the first portion of the match, all of the matwork worked in the context it was used, and they did alost everything right, barring Strong going down on a shoulder tackle, which kind of goes against the theme of technical vs. power they seemed to be going for. I didn't love Strong's control segment, even though I expected to. I don't know, when you wait nearly 10 minutes to start a heel control for a match, it really needs to be longer than what this was. It could be just structure bias on my part, but I would have loved a longer heel offense portion with Rod cutting off comebacks with teased backbreakers. The forearm exchange was awesome, and the end was solid if not spectacular. Given the opening portion and Shelley's offense, I think they were pacing themselves for 5 minutes longer than they went. Still, it was so ironic seeing these 2 young guys work a themed match similar to Nakamura vs. Tanahashi at the Dome, but doing it so much better. You have Shelley who is ten times the technical wizard Nakamura is. Then you have Strong who usually can work the back a hell of a lot better than Tanahashi did, but was only alright in this one. And then you have the finishing runs, and this was better in that department too in sticking to theme. If Nakamura and Tanahashi had worked this exact match, it would be getting MOTY talk from so many people. I look forward to these 2 working in RoH soon. ***1/4 (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 3rd, 2005
2:46 pm	Boston card thoughts The Boston show is quietly shaping up to be really awesome. Judging by who's listed along with some angles on FB I think the final card will be: Ultimate Endurance: Punk/Corino vs. Strong/Evans vs. Carnage Crew vs. Havana Pitbulls: This should be a ton of fun, probably more fun live than on tape. The Punk/Evans interaction on RoH Gold was super fun, and I imagine Corino and Evans will be neat too. It will come down to Pitbulls and the Gnext team, and I imagine they'll put together a really fun final stretch of nearfalls. Pitbulls retain probably in a fun main event. Austin Aries vs. Colt Cabana (RoH Title): The last match in Boston they had was bad, but I really think this'll be better. The structure was awful last time. These two seem destined for a cage rematch on the next show so a screwy finish seems likely. Ironically this could be one of the weakest matches on the show. Homicide vs. American Dragon (Tapout Match): This will be, in all likelihood, the match of the night and RoH's first super great match of 2005. They showed great capability for a brawl at 12/4 and I expect a mix between that and their 4/24 classic here. Probably the longest match of the night, I'd say 25-30 and I'd be letdown if it wasn't ****+ Samoa Joe vs. Nigel Mcguinniss: These 2 had a very good match in IWA, and I think they have a great match in them, but I don't know if we'll see it here. It all depends on whether or not they just have Joe squash Nigel to regain heat post-title loss. Joe has never had a problem giving a lot and retaining heat though, so I suspect Nigel will look good in this. Alex Shelley vs. Spanky: If there was any real disappointment in 2005, it was probably the stagnation of Shelley in RoH, and it's no fault of his own. The TNA bookings and contract pretty much killed his chances at a push, and he became a JTTS. However with TNA on the ropes and Shelley committed to all upcoming shows, I think 2005 will be a big year for him. This is the hardest match to predict, but I think Spanky wins and a Shelley losing streak is going to lead to a new faction. Of course, I'd personally rather have Shelley win. If Spanky brings his working boots, this could be the second best match of the night. That's a big if these days though. Special K Wolfpack/Ring Crew Express vs. Special K Hollywood: It's too early to make a call on this Special K explodes feud, so hopefully they put together something nice here. Josh Daniels/Jay Lethal vs. Outcast Killaz: I thought this would be Rave vs. Lethal, but then I realized Rave wasn't booked for the show. The White and Black Benoit clones unite for victory in what should be a decidedly mediocre match. Throw on the Foley/Joe stuff, and it would take a Tsunami for this show to go wrong. (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 2nd, 2005
4:37 pm	Just a note Some people asked me why the review of Joe/Punk has changed here a bit compared to what I posted elsewhere. The answer is that I've gained a thing or 2 more from it on the rewatch. (Comment on this)
Saturday, January 1st, 2005
12:16 am	RoH 12/4 Review RoH 12/4 All Star Extravaganza II (I was at this live) Cabana does “Good Times, Great Memories” with Heenan, and while it’s not hilarious or anything, there are some good lines. Cabana couldn’t pay his prostitute bill because Generation Next took him out. RoH added really corny clapping to these segments. What a production upgrade! Special K vs. RoH Students: This was terrible live, and slightly better on tape. Don’t make any mistake though—it’s still pretty bad. I don’t hold it against the students or anything, they’re just starting, and the match got its purpose across. The loss to the freaking students finally triggers the turn we’ve been waiting for, and I’m thrilled they chose Angeldust for the more serious, babyface side. That kid has a huge upside. (4:54, DUD) Jay Lethal vs. Weapon of Mask Destruction: Lethal is way over, and the mask was reportedly Flash Flanagan. The work is pretty solid, Flanagan isn’t a bad worker, but the crowd was let down by the lack of surprise. Lethal oversells a ton on the comeback, which is probably the biggest problem he has right now. He was selling like we were 25 minutes in here. If this happened on Velocity or Heat it would be praised a lot. (6:39, *) Outcast Killaz vs. Ring Crew Express vs. Maff and Whitmer vs. Carnage Crew: I guess this is exactly what you’d expect from these four teams if everything went right. There are some clever spots, but it’s really just a ton of moves crammed into 10 minutes. The dive segment is okay, despite the goofy ass chop thing Whitmer and Maff do. Despite getting rub from Foley and being pushed like nuts, Maff and Whitmer are less over than the Ring Crew guys. It’s amazing how they do more ridiculous head drop stuff in these matches than the rest of the matches on the card combined. For some reason the ref decides you need a 4 count to win at some point during the match, and this leads to a brawl in the crowd between the 2 hardcore teams. Couldn’t see any of this live, and it looks like I didn’t miss anything. There was a REALLY cool double team done in the ring while everyone was distracted, if people had been paying attention it would have got a big pop. This was a very fun match, another I miscalled live. I really blame the crowd for my take on things. (9:21, **) Jimmy Rave vs. John Walters: The start here is good and bad—the even matwork is just out of place in a Rave match given his gimmick, but it becomes clear later that they want to establish Rave as more than just a comedy character. The heel stuff from Rave is actually very good, he’s fun as fuck as a smarmy heel and tricking the ref into thinking Walters used a punch was a neat bit, even if it was unoriginal. After a lot of meandering matwork, Rave starts working the neck, and the work isn’t bad or anything, but it’s almost as if Walters doesn’t know that’s what’s going on. Rave hits his reverse DDT, a saito suplex, some nice work on the floor, and more. His neck focus is good but Walters isn’t selling any of it. Walters gets a nice comeback in a sequence that looked better on tape than it did live, but then Rave gets a really nice run of moves on the neck including the tiltawhirl crossface, the shining wizard, and more. Walters gets submission comebacks, all focused on the back, leaving Rave with no more breaks. Rave gets the Ghanarea (seriously) for a long 2, but Walters comes back with a sharpshooter that was teased earlier. Rave rolls to the floor, but Walters holds the sharpshooter on the floor until the ref reaches 16 and rolls in for the countout win. It fell apart a little at the end, but this match was honestly a hundred times better than I thought live. I don’t know what it is about the Rexplex, but the crowd hates mat matches, and the hate for it seems infectious, since I *hated* this match live. I don’t know what to say—I apologize to both guys for the ripping, this was a solid pure title match. If Walters had actually sold all the neckwork, and had the opening not meandered so much, this could have been something even more. (16:51, **3/4) You also see Walters heeling a little bit with a fan, foreshadowing next month’s turn. Austin Aries vs. Low Ki: First-time match here, and both guys are heels going in. However it becomes clear in a hurry that this is the beginning of the face turn for Aries. The opening feel-out process is all about Ki treating Aries like he’s some young overhyped punk, while Aries shows that he’s not going to back down at all. Ki does some awesome stuff—like grab an arm wringer and then also slap Aries around just to be a dick. Aries gets the first real bit of offense, hitting his dropkick counter from the headscissor, and following out with his awesome tope between the first and second rope. Aries is really a great face worker, because he brings a ton of fun shit in short flurries that really gets the crowd into it. I loved the transition here, as an apron suplex struggle leads to Ki settling for hanging Aries on the ropes, and then dropkicking him in the ribs off the apron. From here, Ki just destroys Aries. He rips apart his chest with chops, kicks the living shit out of his back, and hits a sick fucking stomp out of the corner. He uses the bodyscissors really well, and the best sign that the heat segment worked is how much more they rally Aries in the second scissors. The false transition stomp was really something to behold. Ki misses the top rope double stomp, and we get our transition when Aries counters the springboard back kick with a lariat. Aries brings a really great comeback, again showing why he’s so awesome as a face, but Ki cuts it off, countering a quebrada with…his feet. He follows with a bridging german suplex for 2, which was pretty out of place. Ki goes for the Phoenix Splash, which is logical, but Aries stops him and gets another short burst…..but Ki blocks the 450 with knees. With a minute remaining on the time limit, Ki goes for the Ki Krusher, but Aries counters to the crucifix bomb (sorta—Ki didn’t know how to take it). Aries hits the 450, but time runs out as the ref counts the fall. We have a draw. This match was so much better than *any* of the AJ-Ki matches. All of the opening matwork served a purpose, Aries brought all the nice offense when he needed to, and Ki’s heat segment fucking ruled. There is only 1 thing I’d change about this match: For one, I think after Ki countered the querbrada with knees, had he gone to the double stomp for a nearfall instead of the German bridge, it would have been an awesome nearfall. Then from there, the Phoenix block would have worked really well. The counter to the Ki-Krusher was a great payoff of the theme in the match, and a nice cherry on top of Ki's best match of his career. Aries leaves to a well-deserved standing ovation (20:06, ****) Nigel Mcguinniss/Chad Collyer vs. Havana Pitbulls: This was another match that pretty much died live, and I didn’t think much of it at the time. I guess the crowd just influences me—if everyone around me is bored, it’s hard to focus. There’s a real nice early sequence with Romero and Collyer, and Punk calls Collyer the most underrated guy on the roster. He may be right on that. They do a cute bit where they rotate around Romero’s body doing various submissions, ending in the wishbone. The double team sequence on Reyes is ugly, mainly because he doesn’t know how to take either move done to him. The rope kick bit was neat, and they did a nice variation in this match. The main problem is probably the heat on Nigel, as the double teams don’t click all that well. They’re not bad or boring, and they do get across the theme of technical guys vs. bruisers, but for some reason it just wasn’t working live at all. Collyer’s face in peril segment was really good, and his blown dive was covered up pretty well on tape. They teased the cloverleaf here for later, and pay it off shortly later with a nice cloverleaf nearfall, ruined by a lame smokes interference bit. The Pitbulls win with the death sentence. This was, again, WAY better than I thought live. I pretty much hated this live and it ended up being really well structured and well thought out. I don’t know. I blame my negative section. Who knows, either way they did a good job establishing roles and doing a bunch of interesting stuff, even if the rube crowd (myself included) didn’t care. (16:25, ***) However, finishes like this are not helping the Pitbulls. For one, they need a new finish, one that’s more flashy than a midcard Briscoes move. I think a Doomsday Device version of the Basaiku kick from Romero would work. They really need to have that breakout match to get over, and I think a match with Strong and Evans in Elizabeth will do the trick. Cornette/Heenan Great debate: This was sooooo awesome. It starts out as a mutual lovefest, but then Cornette goes NUTS. He asks Heenan to have the decency to die so he can be the # 1 manager alive. His heel tirade was better than anything I’ve heard in a long long time. Just amazing. Cornette says he won’t hit Heenan with the racket, but he has 2 guys that will. Strong and Evans arrive, but Jacobs and Cabana run them off. Heenan proposes that he manage the faces and Cornette manage the heels later, and Cornette agrees. Gabe later says that Cornette got Gen Next to attack Heenan because they always want to make their name at the expense of a legend. Specious logic, fun booking anyway. Trent Acid vs. Jerk Jackson: Whatever. Not going to review this, it was just a standard garbage post-intermission match. Only makes tape because it’s a double tape set. Match sucked, and the stalling after sucked too. (3:26, DUD) By the way, this is kind of worth watching to hear Punk ripping on Nulty as they announce this together. Some pretty funny shit. Cabana/Jacobs vs. Strong/Evans: Instead of doing an opening babyface run of offense, they do a long run of effective cheating and comedy for the Heenan side, which works perfectly in this case. The crowd ate this shit up, and there were tons of amusing bits. It culminates in Bobby laying down in the ring, and avoiding a Jim Cornette elbow drop after promising not to move. Cornette is the greatest stooge heel ever. The heels get a control segment on Jacobs, and it’s mostly good barring a total whiff senton by Evans. Finish was perfect as Cabana murders Evans with the Colt 45, and Heenan nails Cornette with the racket. It’s hard to rate a match like this. As far as comedy matches go, I don’t think it possibly could have been worked any better than it was. It worked beautifully, and was fun as fuck. (17:34, ***1/2) That rating is pretty much for the whole angle earlier and match together. May have even worked better if they did it all at once honestly. American Dragon vs. Homicide: The hype going into this match is that for the first time in his career, Dragon is going into a match for revenge. Dragon debuts a new look here with a scruffy beard, kneepads, and black tights. Anyone that says Danielson doesn’t know how to establish a story or theme with matwork really needs to see the opening 10 minutes of this match. The way he wrenches headlocks, the way he adds more to holds, the intense striking, all of it. One of Dragon’s right hands here was just awesome. Plenty of hate without sacrificing the good stuff. They do a couple teases early of Danielson wanting to jump off the top to the floor, but Cide is always moving too far away for Dragon to jump. This isn’t a traditional match though, they’re not going for an all-out classic since Joe-Punk is following. Instead, they do a worked shoot injury angle that legit fooled 90% of the building, including myself live. For some idiotic reason, Nulty continually contradicts himself about advantages for each guy throughout the match. Homicide sells a sprained ankle after a slam on the ramp, and even when he takes over on offense he sells it nonstop. Because of this “injury” he never really controls for too long, but eventually he gets Smokes to untie his boot, and then Cide nails Dragon with the boot for a nearfall. Homicide shakes the foot to show he was faking, but for some reason the announcers don’t pick up on it at all. Dragon pays off those top rope climbs by jumping onto Smokes at one point near the end. The finish plays off the 4/24 finish, Homicide hits the low blow but Dragon blocks the lariat, getting the CM Pin for the victory. After the match, the Rottweillers kick his ass and destroy his arm. This is a really good match, and just 100% different than their april match. Dragon showed incredible brawling potential here, and even though the worked/shoot injury deal took away from the middle portion of the match, not every match needs to be an attempt at a classic and they got across their story really well. Dragon was amazing at being pissed off, and Homicide deserves credit for fooling everyone, including the announcers. (25:29, ***1/2) At this point, there’s a real neat feature of Gabe and Punk looking back at the first 2 draws. Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk: Alright, here we go. We start off right away with Joe showing he brought counters to the headlock for this match. This marks the first time Joe ever comes in with anything special—usually he just brings his awesome self and makes his opponents find a strategy. Punk bails, and once he gets back in, he goads Joe into a missing a strike and goes for the first flash pin just a couple minutes in, and then finally gets the side headlock after working for it, wrenching it in hard. He screams “I’ve got you now motherfucker.” In their first match, Punk used the headlock for rope a dope. In the second, he used it for control and to frustrate Joe's offense. In this one, he uses it for the sake of neck work, quickly moving to a series of dropkicks to the back of the head which were much nastier live than on tape. Punk gets more neck offense, and this is done, of course, to set Joe up for the Pepsi Plunge later, a move he was unable to hit in their last match. It also sets up a counter base for Punk for the rest of the match. The story really starts to develop when Joe doesn’t give Punk a clean break in the corner. Instead he gives Punk a nasty flurry, but Punk responds in kind, nailing him with a series of strikes and a chop to the neck to take him down. Joe comes right back with another flurry in the corner, and this time follows up even further. He gives Punk a sick soccer kick right in the face, and Punk goes to the floor. Punk comes up bleeding from that, but Joe does not follow out. Instead, he sits in the corner and rolls out his neck, trying to alleviate the pain. This was much clearer live, and the camera barely picks up on it, but that’s what he was doing there. Punk bleeding is significant, as it just changes everything. Things he has thought of counters to in the first 2 matches hit the first time here, as you just can’t think the same way when you’re bleeding like crazy. It’s also a great way to show fans that this match isn’t going 60—Punk is bleeding 10 minutes in. Joe just rips at the cut, smashes at it, and nails Punk with crossfaces. Joe’s heat segment is really good, as he brings all sorts of appropriate stuff given the story. There’s no delayed vertical suplex or Boston crab here, he’s beating the shit out of CM Punk. This isn't the kind of offense Punk could watch tapes and learn reversals for, it's just brutality. Punk gets a quick irish whip reversal, but gets nailed with the sidewalk slam he reversed earlier. Punk is losing a lot of blood now, and Joe does the bootscrapes, which are always nicer when the other guy is bleeding. Punk starts fighting back by attacking the neck, but this gets cut off and Joe finally decides to follow Punk to the floor with the big tope. Joe hits one ole kick, and it makes sense for him to hit it the first time with Punk beaten and bloody the way he is. Joe goes for another, and the inconvenient placement of the timekeeper’s table actually helps the match, because it makes this take too much time. Punk counters, and goes up to the apron like he did in the first 2 matches, only to hit a dropkick this time. In the first 2 matches, he went for a rana off the apron, and got destroyed both times for it. This time he switches it up, and it’s a great transition into the final run. In the ring, Punk goads Joe into going for a big lariat out of pride, and Punk gets the tornado DDT for 2. Joe counters the shining wizard with the powerslam/Juji combo, but Punk counters that into a rollup for 2! Just a fantastic learned spot. Joe hits the powerbomb into the variation of the STF, but Punk is too bloody and slips out. Joe goes for the Dragon suplex a few times, but Punk blocks and hits the legsweep DDT into the anaconda vice. The vice makes sense here, but the hold is not over as a finish at all in Jersey and the crowd didn’t react to it at all. To tell you the truth, the people around me didn't even seem to know what it was. Punk hits the pepsi twist and a moonsault for a long 2, and then goes to the top again, presumably for his elbowdrop he hit in the first match. Joe stops him here, and this is one of my favorite parts of the match. In the last match, both battles at the top ended very badly for Punk, one ending in a superplex and another in a super musclebuster. Joe appears to be going for the superplex, so Punk thinks better of the situation. He uses a new weapon up top (his teeth), and then opts to go for a powerbomb instead, and Joe comes through with an amazing rana and a killer lariat for one of the best nearfalls in RoH history. I’m a huge fans of learned spots that actually fail—all we heard going into this match was that Punk was watching hours and hours of tape—maybe he watched it just a bit too much, and almost lost for it. That was also a nice play off Punk giving Joe a rana in Chicago to counter a powerbomb. Joe puts Punk up in the fireman's carry, but Punk knees Joe in the neck to get out, and hits the mule kick into the shining wizard for a long 2, blocking Joe from the ropes he used last time. Punk goes for the twist again, but Joe ducks and grabs the choke! Punk goes down in it, and the arm falls 3 times. The ref goes to ring the bell, but Steamboat, who’s sitting at the timekeeper’s table, sees Punk moving his fingers, and refuses to let the timekeeper ring the bell. This is a really rich spot, because back on March 13th, roles were reversed, and Steamboat did the same thing for AJ Styles, which allowed AJ to recover and cost Punk the match. That bit actually started the whole Punk/Steamboat feud. This was a great full-circle booking spot, and a fitting way to finish off the Punk/Steamboat stuff for good. Punk rallies bigtime with jawbreakers, but Joe REFUSES to let go. Punk tries to roll through, but Joe will not let go. Punk finally goes to the Bret-Piper counter for 2.9999. I can tell you live that the crowd had a near heart attack on this nearfall. Punk goes for a series of flash pins for 2, but Joe is able to counter the last one, which is really a great bit. Joe’s losses in RoH have almost all been to flash pins. Homicide, Danny Maff, American Dragon, and Colt Cabana (Punk’s partner) all hold flash pin victories over Joe. Punk is the color commentator, he’s seen this, and he brings a series of them here, but Joe is just that much more ready, and counters La Magistral for a very good nearfall, ending Punk's run. Joe goes for the backdrop driver he hit at the end of the last match, but Punk counters into a bodypress for 2. They trade blows, and Punk rallies, so Joe takes him down and puts his feet on the ropes for a pin in one of the best desperation spots I’ve seen in a long time, and the crowd fucking loses it, chanting “fuck you Joe.” It may seem basic to someone that doesn’t watch much RoH, but given Joe’s reign, that was a big deal. Punk puts Joe up top for the reverse Pepsi Plunge, the payoff of his decision not to go for the Plunge earlier. The plan here is to bring it from a different angle, but it still doesn't work. Joe blocks, and this is honestly the only small problem with the match. Live it was clear he was going for the plunge, but they just don’t struggle enough for it. I think Punk should have got up again and gone for it again, only to get knocked down again. It works fine as it is, but given all the work on the neck, you’d hope for more of a struggle for the move. Having knocked Punk off, Joe goes for a splash, but overshoots. Joe never had his balance there, and the end of his legs hit Punk. It’s a bit sloppy, but it still works considering the overshoot deal they were going for after Joe undershot Punk in Chicago. You can partially blame Punk for not moving, but Joe never even tried to get his balance on top and I doubt Punk was ready for it. Of course, it’s also possible it was supposed to be a pure overshoot without Punk moving. Punk goes for a waistlock rollup off the ropes, but as he bridges back Joe gets the choke again! Punk rallies, but Joe murders him with 2/3 of the Chimera combo, something he hadn’t used in over a year, and chokes Punk out to win. This match is the pinnacle of RoH’s 2004, and the best match in company history. It really brings everything together into a fabulous 31 minute story about the importance of the title. Punk clearly wants the title more than anything in the world, but Joe just wants it that much more. Joe brings counters to the headlock, marking a clear change in roles. Where it was once Punk bringing strategies to unseat Joe, it’s now Joe bringing strategy to hold onto his title. He doesn’t give clean breaks, he doesn’t follow the better brawler to the floor, he bloodies Punk, he counters a rollup to cut off Punk's series of flash pins, he relentlessly holds onto the choke (which works much better ideally with a bloody opponent), he puts his feet on the ropes for a pin, and he even busts out a sequence he hasn’t used in over a year to finally put Punk away. In a match with so many teases, learned spots, and so much depth, the overriding story is about the importance of the title. Punk wants to win it more than anything in the world, he's so desperate that Joe will have to damn near kill him to keep the belt. And that's what Joe does. (31:33, *****) Overall: The best RoH show ever, and it didn't feel like it live at all. Ki-Aries is tremendous, and Joe-Punk is out of this world. Most of the midcard matches are at least good, the Cornette/Heenan stuff is as fun as wrestling gets, and Dragon/Cide was a solid foundation for what I think could be the feud of the year in 2005, even if the announcers totally botched it. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 28th, 2004
12:57 am	Random match viewings Caught up on some random indy stuff lately.. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels (3PW 5/15, 7/17): Haven't been able to see as much of these guys this year since TNA pulled them from ROH and neither guy is in IWA all *that* often. Daniels outworked AJ in both of these matches and really tried to reign him in, Daniels is probably the most underrated guy on the scene today. The opening portion of the first match was just alright, lots of "feel out" stuff for their first match, but the portion with Daniels working over the ribs was really fucking good. I think he controlled for upwards of 9-10 minutes and kept it really good. Of course Aj blew most of that work off for the final run and they worked the last 2 minutes in a way that made it incredibly obvious that they were doing a draw, but I still enjoyed it. Second match had a much better start with AJ sticking on Daniels' injured arm from Japan like a hawk with tons of nifty stuff. Daniels eventually dumps AJ to the floor and AJ hurts his back so Daniels attacks there. Daniels is king of the ribs/back control and he brought some really nice stuff here again. I was kinda souring on it partway through cause I couldn't think of what all this work was building to but the finish paid it off bigtime with AJ collapsing when he tried the clash. Lots of kickouts and such in the second match but I think it's slightly better overall. I'd probably go ***1/4 for 5/15 and ***1/2 for 7/17. CM Punk vs. AJ Styles (10/23/04): This smoked any of their prior matches out of the water. AJ comes out of the first 2 matwork sequences on top with something flippy so Punk decides to keep AJ grounded with headlock and then armwork. Punk controls AJ with this stuff for a good period too, and they establish the theme of Punk as the smart guy who wants to keep things slow while AJ wants to bust out and really get things going. Punk gets lured into trying a dive and he misses, hurting his neck on the fall. That's probably the biggest problem in the match, they don't really make it obvious why Punk's neck is so bad now, but it's reasonable to believe that he injured his neck from that fall, especially since he grabs the neck right away. They do a really neat bit leading to a neck submission for AJ, I've never seen AJ do that before but it rocked. They do a great job teasing stuff for later like the backflip DDT and the dropkick sequence without sacraficing control. There are one or 2 questionable selling points from AJ, but I don't think it hurts at all since Punk's work wasn't really that devastating. AJ does the greatest sell ever for the pepsi twist for the beginning of the transition, and a nice tease leads to Punk hitting the hammerlock DDT for a 2 count. He moves right into the anaconda Vice, but AJ counters with knees to the neck to counter. Punk goes for a shining wizard, and AJ tries to counter that to the Styles Clash, but Punk counters that with a rana to the floor. AJ hits an *awesome* backflip DDT off the apron, and this almost gets a 20 count, but Punk gets back in at 19! IWA-NOAH! They tease pepsi plunge on top, and it leads to this great bit where AJ hits his discus lariat with the injured arm, it doesn't knock Punk down, and then AJ follows through with the right arm for a great nearfall. Punk avoids the springboard 450, and hits the shining wizard for 2. He goes to the anaconda vice again, but AJ counters the same way, so Punk turns it over into a modified version for the win. This was just really tremendous, a better match than anything on both nights of the TPI. I think this is probably AJ's best match this year, and I think it was mostly thanks to Punk. ***3/4 CM Punk vs. Brandom Thomaselli: This was a lot better than I expected going in. The story is pretty basic, Punk is working heel and Thomaselli is the new guy in the promotion trying to knock off Punk in Punk's first defense. Felt like a Flair-style match with a lot less stooging and more substance. Not perfect by any means, and I must have totally missed the transition spot, but a real enjoyable match that had the crowd popping for all of Thomaselli's nearfalls at the end. **3/4-*** (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 26th, 2004
8:19 pm	The King Is Dead. The next will be soon Joe's 21 month reign ended tonight in what was apparently a really good match with Austin Aries. Aries has certainly run through everyone in recent months--he beat Punk clean, beat Dragon clean, took Ki to a draw. It would have helped had he beat Ki leading in, but who knows what was behind that decision. I wish Joe luck in New Japan, he will surely still be around at ROH when he can but not on every show. New Japan would be well-advised to book him as the fantastic monster that he is, and not blow a chance at a monster gaijin. After their second draw in October, Punk pretty much promised he'd be challenging for the title again upon their return to Chicago. He'll make due on that promise and take the title from Aries then. From there, Aries has a ready-made feud with Shelley, and Punk has tons... vs. Homicide vs. Ki vs. Cabana vs. Shelley And then of course the main 2: vs. Joe: Punk will eventually have to face RoH's uncrowned champ that he could never beat to cement his status as champion. With the right build, this could be very special. vs. Daniels: The clock is ticking in Florida. The 1/15 card is pretty much up in the air, confirmed are: Homicide vs. American Dragon (Tapout Match) Austin Aries vs. Colt Cabana Samoa Joe vs. Nigel Mcguinniss On top of that we have: A Pitbulls defense, Punk, Corino, Shelley, Spanky, Strong, Evans, Special K hollywood, Special K wolfpack, Jay Lethal, Josh Daniels, Rave, Walters, and some usual suspects. As matchmaker I'd choose.... Punk vs. Shelley vs. Corino vs. Spanky (For a shot in chicago) Strong/Evans vs. Romero/Reyes (Tag title rematch from 11/5) Jimmy Rave vs. Jay Lethal Josh Daniels vs. Jimmy Jacobs Special K Hollywood vs. SPecial K Wolfpack 6 person intergender tag (guilty pleasure) That's 7 matches, I'm sure they can add some crap with the Carnage Crew and RCE to make 8, maybe a straight up tag. This card would be rockin' (Comment on this)
2:48 pm	Joe vs. Dragon The 2 best matches in the Meltz calendar year were the Joe-Punk match I reviewed below, and Samoa Joe vs. American Dragon on October 2nd. I tend to favor the Joe-Punk draw, but not by much. I rewatched this again recently, and I think I'm settling at ****1/2. Here's the review. ROH Title: "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe: People often ask what differentiates RoH's booking from other US promotions, and the answer stares them right in the face in this main event: patience. They're in no hurry to rush out big matches, they build them on their own schedule, and try to maximize anticipation. This is the first meeting between the 2 in Ring Of Honor in over a year and a half. In the first 2 matches, both of which were slugfests, Joe beats Danielson's ass both times, but Danielson scores a rollup victory in the second, making him the last man to beat Joe in a singles match. I'm a big fan of matches where one guy comes in with a strategy, and uses mini strategies as means to that end. That's what this match is all about, and it's evident from the beginning. Danielson knows he can't allow Joe to get on a roll, because that's how Joe always wins--a series of killer power moves in a row almost always ends Joe title matches, and Joe's momentum is hard to stop, given his size. Danielson's goal is clear: Don't let Joe get any real momentum, and the title is his. The opening matwork is really good, as per usual with Danielson matches. Danielson doesn't let Joe get anything, quickly countering a leglock with an enziguri. Joe grabs a cross armbreaker at one point, and Danielson immediately bails. That ends up being the only time all match that Joe really wins anything resembling a mat wrestling situation. Danielson has a counter to pretty much everything Joe busts out on the mat, and comes out of one hold with an interesting leg submission counter, which he uses as a base for his main strategy. Joe gets frustrated and rubs his arm in Danielson's face in the corner, but Danielson cuts him right off at the leg. The work is really realistic, which is something these 2 do very well. Everything is a struggle, and the atmosphere does feel like a title fight. Danielson makes the mistake of getting into a strikefest with Joe early, and gets fucking owned for it. Joe goes for his first big move about 10 minutes or so into the match, a German suplex, but Dragon blocks, so Joe dumps him to the floor. He goes for the ole kick, but Dragon counters it, and comes off onto Joe with a really nice springboard dive, followed by 2 dropkick versions of the Ole kick. Danielson's confidence builds. "This motherfucker is gonna pay."--Bryan Danielson Another thing they do is the story of strikes vs. submissions. Joe is the king striker in ROH, so early on when Danielson makes the mistake of going to strikes, Joe makes him pay. We see this early when Joe kills Danielson following a Danielson headbutt, and also murders him on a strike exchange. The tide changes after the dive and ole kicks though, as Joe comes roaring back with a series of strikes in the ring, but Danielson cuts it off at the pass with a simple eyepoke. Danielson starts winning strike wars at this point, and up through 15-20 minutes or so, his strategy is working perfectly, and he is in control. It's also worth noting his cocky smile and little dance after the eyepoke counter. Ironically enough, Joe's first real offense comes when he uses new move, a knee to the ribs. It's not part of his usual arsenal, but that usual arsenal isn't cutting it tonight. He follows up with a KENTAesque fireman's carry knee strike to the ribs that looks real painful (another new move). He follows up with 2 hard kicks to the ribs, and Danielson struggles to catch his breath. He locks in a seated full nelson, and collapses down, putting pressure on the ribs in a nice touch. Danielson counters though, cutting the offense of Joe short again. Danielson goes back to the strikes that were just working, and they continue working, but Joe gets a desperation slide tackle for 2. Joe goes for a submission, but Danielson counters AGAIN, and then floors Joe with a series of strikes, followed by a half hatch suplex and a flying headbutt for 2. Joe mounts a short comeback, Danielson blocks his lariat, but Joe hits a big enziguri, sending Danielson to the floor, followed by a nice tope. Joe is finally feeling it, and hits 2 of his ole kicks. I'm not really a fan of how long this took, but it made sense for Joe to go to his bread and butter for much needed offense. The next transition is great, as Danielson suckers Joe into making a mistake. He lays on the floor a long time after the Ole kick, forcing Joe to roll him into the ring after a long time. As Joe gets in, Danielson pops up with a chopblock to the bad leg from earlier, again cutting off Joe's offense. His legwork in this section is nice too, he busts out an Indian deathlock and some other nice work. Danielson successfully nails his corner forearm, and goes for another. Usually you'd think this was stupidly asking for a Joe sidewalk slam, but Danielson has the counter, and in a really smooth sequence counters out of it and hits a beautiful second rope European uppercut to really move us into the final faze of the match. Dragon again gets a little too cocky after a successful counter, and gets planted with the sidewalk slam he just avoided seconds ago. Joe hits the Powerbomb/STF combo, but can't trap the leg because of his leg. He moves into a crossface, and Danielson is able to make the ropes. Everything is getting a nearfall now. Joe goes for a German again, but Danielson counters by kicking out the bad leg, he charges, Joe misses the lariat again, and Danielson comes off the ropes with a dropkick to the knee. He locks in his reverse Indian deathlock (?) that I love. Joe makes the ropes, and Danielson charges, only for Joe to catch him with the snap powerslam for 2. Joe moves into his cross armbreaker, but Danielson counters into the leglock suplex for 2.5! Danielson immediately moves into the Cattle Mutilation, and the crowd is buying it as a finish, but Joe is too thick, and his grip breaks, so he moves into a pinning combination for a GREAT nearfall. Danielson is really feeling it now, and puts Joe up for the super backdrop. Joe gets a pretty unique counter, and slips out from behind Dragon, and grabs him in a choke! He has to break because Dragon is in the ropes, but he takes Dragon off with the German that has been blocked twice, and immediately follows with the big lariat that has been blocked twice for another fantastic nearfall. Joe goes for the musclebuster, but Dragon slips out! He hits 2 hard elbows, and then a rolling elbow, but Joe still doesn't go down! Dragon comes off the ropes with a dropkick to the bad knee, followed by the Dragon suplex! Joe's shoulder comes off the mat at 1, and Dragon immediately moves into the cattle mutilation again. This gets a really believable near-submission, and the crowd is nuclear, but Joe gets the ropes. Danielson moves for the charge again, but Joe catches him with that same knee to the gut again. Joe starts going crazy with his big knees on the mat, but Danielson has a counter to this too, and moves out of the way. Danielson makes the same mistake he's made earlier though, and this time to fatal results: He gets too cocky, and goes into Joe's wheelhouse and tries to kill Joe with knees of his own. Nobody beats Joe at this kind of game, and Joe recovers with massive sick knees before locking in the choke, and moving into the choke clutch for the win. This match is really everything I love about wrestling. You have the long-awaited first title match of the promotion's uncrowned champion, and he comes in with a clear strategy, and the whole match is based around the strategy. All of the work is really realistic, they fuck each other up with strikes, the mat counters all look plausible, and there's never a point in the match where it doesn't seem legit. Some criticize ROH matches for being too bodypart-oriented, but it worked brilliantly in this match because the work was a means to an end, the end being cutting off Joe's offense. There are a couple things that keep it from being flawless--Joe's shoulders naturally coming up twice off the mat sort of ruined 2 near falls, but it didn't take away much from the match. Joe's long ole kick segment kind of felt out of place, but really, that's about it for flaws. The show is titled Midnight Express Reunion, but make no mistake, this match is the main attraction. This was the best match in company history when it happened, but went on to be topped 2 weeks later. ****1/2 (Comment on this)
Saturday, December 25th, 2004
6:07 pm	Joe vs. Punk II Here's a review of the match Dave gave ***** and many people will have as their MoTY when it's all said and done. It's my number 2 tentatively, since I saw their third live and felt like it was the better match. Of course, being there live can cause you to underrate or overrate things, so I'll have to wait until I see that on tape. Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk II (RoH 10/16/04) Short history lesson: --They met for the first time August 16th, 2003. Joe wins by countering the shining wizard and using an extended half crab. It was non-title, short, and both guys were banged up. It's not even good but you should see it before starting the series. --Punk and Joe go an hour in Dayton, Ohio. Punk works rope a dope, using tons of headlocks, chinlocks, and sleepers while covering up every time Joe tries strikes. He tries to wear Joe down to go for the kill, but the over riding story is that Joe can go the hour. It's also worth noting that Punk hit the Pepsi Plunge, but because of a hurt knee couldn't cover, so we still don't know if Joe can kick out of that move. This match was in the ***3/4-**** range for me. --This match wasn't even supposed to happen, it was supposed to be Joe-Corino but Corino pulled out. Not really relevent to the match but ironic considering what they put out. --This match is in Chicago, Punk's hometown, where he is a massive babyface. The story of the crowd becomes evident right away here, as they throw streamers for Punk instead of the champ. The opening 15 minutes are really strong, just as strong as 6/12 but in a different way. Here it's nimble and confident Punk frustrating the hell out of Joe with the headlocks, rather than trying to wear him down with some kind of rope a dope strategy. Nice bit early as Punk goes for a few rollups, Joe's key weakness. He has to use the headlocks for control of course, because early on there's no way he can really go head to head with Joe, as you see in the first strike sequence where Punk gets owned. The fact that Punk went into that head to head is the first telling change though. He's in his hometown and he's playing to win as opposed to playing not to lose. They play out a lot of power (Joe) vs. quickness/technical ability (Punk) stuff, which leads to the first transition in the knuckle lock, where Joe outpowers Punk and Punk comes out of it with that arm snap move thing. Don't know what to call it. One thing to see in this fall is that Joe is the subtle heel here whereas they worked Chicago face-face with Punk doing a little subtle heel stuff. In the opening portion Joe doesn't give clean breaks after getting frustrated, gives Punk some cocky pushes in the face, throws some cocky smiles to the crowd, and is just nasty in general. I loved Punk's reaction to hitting that move, as he jumps on Joe's arm right away, willing to take any advantage he can get. Again, playing to win as opposed to playing not to lose. Major event happens in the corner as they trade strikes and Punk scores a knockdown. This is a bigtime confidence booster, and he'll get one more soon. He sticks on the arm like a shark, bringing a lot of nice stuff but nothing really devastating. It's a combination of keeping control and also softening the arm for the Anaconda Vice. Joe gets a nice counter with a sweet forearm, just a perfect way for him to come out of it. It's a false transition as Punk counters right back into the headlock. They do a really nice bit here as Punk alternates between arm and headlock for control, so Joe runs to the floor to break. Punk holds on, so Joe suplexes him on the floor to break. The limbo section here is awesome, as you think Joe is about to get a firm control segment after a neat play on the chop/kick/knee segment from 6/12, but it doesn't work out that way. Punk comes back with a second major confidence booster, countering the bootscrapes and hitting his own, followed by a neat Muraco knee driver (yeah, I don't know what to call it). Punk goes for his mule kick, but Joe counters into an STF variation and totally bends Punk backwards. We're 30 minutes in and the crowd buys into a nearfall for the first time. This is enouigh to give Joe his first real control. Joe's control is perfect, as it's a ton of subtle heeling, strikes, etc. Great stuff to get the crowd behind Punk. Loved the cocky avoidance of the crossbody that got him in June. Brilliant part showing Punk's confidence too: Joe peppers him with Kawada kicks, and Punk responds in kind with a killer slap. They trade strikes, and Joe wins of course, but in June Punk wouldn't have fought it out like that. There was a fucking sweet legsweep sequence here too. After about 7 minutes of control, Punk gets a (sloppy) rana out of the corner to send Joe to the floor, and follows with a tope. This next part is really what kicks this match into high gear for the final 20. Punk goes for the ole kick that Joe avoided last time, and hits 2 of em. Confidence gets the best of him here, as he goes for the rana off the apron that got countered on 6/12, and it gets countered exactly the same way again. Only this time, the camera catches the brutality of the bump. Joe is PISSED now, and slams a chair into the corner for the ole kick. Punk blocks though, and they have an *awesome* strike war on the floor. Joe wins it of course, and hits his ole kick. No clapping from Joe, he's all business. From here, we move into the homestretch. Joe gets about 7 minutes straight of nearfalls and offense here, including a crazy sidewalk slam, a DDT on the apron, a beautiful dive, and a sick spear. Great false transition occurs when Joe goes for a powerbomb, but Punk counters to the mule kick Joe countered earlier. Instead of just doing one and the enziguri like usual though, he does like 6 or 7, only to be caught with the powerslam into the jujigatame for a great near submission. Announcers duck out here too, and the crowd gets noticably louder. Crowd is buying into all of these nearfalls bigtime, and whereas the crowd felt slightly split for Punk earlier, they now seem to be 80% pro-Punk. The crowd rallies Punk when he's down, banging the rails and clapping to the beat of his AFI theme, making for an incredible atmosphere. Punk counters the powerbomb for a second time with a rana, and follows with a big boot to change the tide. He gets a hangman's neckbreaker off the ropes, changing it up from 6/12, as well as a beautiful rope-assisted tornado DDT for a great nearfall. He moves right into the Anaconda Vice after the kickout for another nearfall. Punk goes for a suplex, Joe counters, Punk slips out, but runs right into the lariat for another nearfall. Of course, the lariat was teased earlier too. Joe then gets a brainbuster for another nearfall, after a sloppy gutbuster setup. Joe goes for another lariat, but Punk ducks and gets an awesome legsweep DDT for a long 2, as he starts to get desperate. Punk goes for Pepsi Twist, but Joe counters and hits the Powerbomb-->STF combo. Crowd goes batshit as they totally buy this as the finish, thanks to the powerbomb being teased earlier and the STF nearfall at the 30 minute mark. Punk making the ropes gets a HUGE pop. Punk goes for the wizard for the second time, and Joe tries to counter the same way he did in their first match (the legbreaker), but Punk rolls over though for a sunset flip nearfall, and then hits a shining wizard for an amazing nearfall. Punk is just desperate as all hell now, and hits his Pepsi Twist, followed by a motherfucking Muto-Style quick climb moonsault. Just a great way of showing how he'll pull out all the stops to win. The emotion here is just awersome. Crowd is 90% pro-Punk now. Punk ducks a lariat and gets the sleeper with the leg scissors, which was a hot nearfall in the first match. Crowd buys it here, but Joe recovers, hitting a backdrop suplex, but Punk rises right out of it into a double clothesline. There's your one no-sell spot of the match, and I really don't like it. It worked as far as making the crowd pop big and get even more into it, and brought us to an even spot pretty well, but considering what they do next Punk should have hit the lariat alone instead of doing a double lariat. I feel like they spent the whole match driving the crowd into a frenzy just by using basic psychology, and really didn't need that no-sell spot. It can be explained away as crowd atmosphere and desire moving Punk to a new high I guess. We move to the final part, an amazing battle on top as Punk fights for the Pepsi Plunge. Joe blocks it eventually though, and wins the battle with a superplex. Joe goes for the musclebuster, but Punk counters with a flurry, giving the crowd hope once more for the Plunge. However, time is running out, and because the announcer stupidly rushes them, they're forced to rush the finish, which is a musclebuster off the top as time expires. On October 16th, 2004, this was the best indy match ever and one of the best American matches ever, and a clear contender for the best. It's amazing what 2 guys can do to work a crowd into a frenzy just through teases, great role playing, and a basic heel-face structure. This story is as old as wrestling, spunky babyface trying to beat the monster champion in his hometown, and they did it to perfection. The subtle heeling by Joe mixed with Punk's brazenness really provides a great contrast for the crowd to latch onto. It's impossible to go over all the good they did....the progression of roles is obvious enough, the learned spots are there but don't take away the flow, and both men show more emotion than anyone I've ever seen in ROH. It would be unfair however, to ignore the few small flaws. Punk's rana transition was pretty messy, and Joe's gutbuster looked like Punk was expecting Joe to do it the way he did it to Dragon on 10/2. Finally, they really should have announced time for the last minute, to let the guys know how they needed to time the final portion on top, as that could have been another epic battle leading to the muscle buster. I'm confident the third match I saw live is better too, thanks to the way they really paid off 9 months of storylines in one match, but this thing is fucking tremendous and needs to be seen by everyone. There's something about these 2 that just works. American Dragon is far superior in the ring to CM Punk, but this match is on another level. Just seeing this again has made me decide to knock Dragon/Joe down a little bit in terms of rating. This is everything wrestling ought to be, and the emotion at the end should really show something to those that claim indies and ROH are just clapfest smark promotions. See this. ****3/4 (2 Comments |Comment on this)
5:30 pm	Why this is here! I'm going to make a blog of my reviews because the sites I post reviews on always disappear and then my brilliance is lost forever. I'll be keeping this mostly limited to indies since there are hundreds of places where you can get thoughts on puroresu, and hopefully this can be a place where you can get indy reviews you trust! Or not.... I've seen almost everything on the indies in 2004, but I haven't seen December and I refuse to base awards on Meltzer's stupid calendar. Once I see everything from this year I'll do top 10 lists and the like. As of now, Punk vs. Joe from the 12/4/04 ROH show is the best match I've seen all year in a longshot and it isn't even on tape yet. Go out of your way to see the Punk vs. Joe draw in Chicago (10/16/04) too. For those of you just looking to jump into the indies with the best shows, here are my recommendations. Weekend Of Thunder Night 1 (11/5/04 ROH) Joe vs. Punk II (10/16/04 ROH) Midnight Express Reunion (10/2/04 ROH) Testing The Limit (8/7/04 ROH) Death Before Dishonor II Night 2 (7/24/04 ROH) Survival Of The Fittest (6/24/04 ROH) World Title Classic (6/12/04 RoH) Reborn: Stage 2 (4/24/04 ROH) Ted Petty Invitational (9/17/04-9/18/04 IWA-Mid South) One More Time (6/11/04 IWA Mid-South) The Reason For The Season (7/10/04 PWG) The Musical (4/17/04 PWG) Taste The Radness (2/22/04 PWG) Current Mood: contemplative (1 Comment |Comment on this)