ROH CROWNING A CHAMPION

ROH CROWNING A CHAMPION 07/27/02

Boogalou & Homicide vs. DeVito & Loc

A WILD ASS FIGHT that takes good care of the stipulation they're given & the angle they had going into this. All 4 men rock in this, beating the crap out of one another, with multiple weapons included. Homicide rules so much. ***1/4

Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams vs. Low Ki vs. Spanky

It's a 60-minute Iron Man match, so it's a real long boy. It's compelling for the whole runtime though; some parts are interesting, and then some parts are VERY interesting. I thought that Doug Williams was the highlight of the first 20-something minutes w/ his great, submission-heavy work. He even started that attack on Low Ki's leg, which created for some nice little drama, and was indeed a joy to watch. That "Torture Device" submission looked superb. That legwork created for some other highlight moments for me as well, notably with Daniels stopping Ki's attempts at getting something going w/ those vicious looking chop blocks. If I had to name my favorite move of the match -- THE move of the match, I'd go for the 2nd one where Daniels counters Ki's Tidal Wave attempt w/ that said chop block. Shortly after that, the first fall is made, and it's been really good stuff so far. The next 15-17 minutes leading to the 2nd fall are some good stuff too, with the highlight moment of that portion being Ki breaking up Daniels' Koji Clutch on Williams w/ that diving foot stomp, and then immediately selling that worked over leg afterwards. After Ki gets his first fall, the urgency rises & the match kicks into more of a 2nd gear you could say, and that's where the story between Daniels & Ki gets to shine, but both Spanky & Williams also get plenty of time to look really good in there. When you, or at least every time when I look at this match on paper, I just think there is no way it will hold up. But it always does. The 4 men involved, Daniels, Williams, Ki & Spanky really went out there and had a fantastic 1-hour match. It's just terrific. Certainly more than worthy of being the first ever ROH Title match. ****