ROH ALL STAR EXTRAVAGANZA

ROH ALL STAR EXTRAVAGANZA 11/09/02

Amazing Red vs. American Dragon vs. CM Punk vs. Michael Shane vs. Paul London

This is a GAUNTLET match. The first match of it is Michael Shane vs. the debuting CM Punk. It's good stuff! It actually surprisingly ends up being the longest match of the Gauntlet, but I ain't complaining about that, since it was indeed rock solid. Punk got to look very good in there, and Shane was his usual charming self. Really liked how Punk noticed Shane clutching the arm, which caused him to go work over it. PSYCHOLOGY~! and all that. Shane getting the win by grabbing Punk's shorts was nice too, a classic sleazebag move fitting for the man.

Then out comes Paul London, and I'm definitely here for him & Shane duking it out. It's an all-action scrap, with Shane ultimately viciously beating down London -- only for him to fall into London's trap of acting like he's more hurt than he actually is, resulting in him delivering a quick DDT for the pin. Great callback to their Boston match where Shane faked an injury to small package London for the win. They went under 5 minutes, but all of it ruled. After Shane refuses to shake London's hand, out comes Tommy Dreamer for a pretty lengthy mid-match segment. I enjoyed it to be honest.

Red vs. London is the weakest segment of the match, but it's still good. The best parts were London just roughing Red up, notably with that one pop-up forearm strike in the early going, and then swinging him into the barricade later on.

The final entrant in the Gauntlet is the American Dragon, and unsurprisingly, his & London's match is the best of the bunch. Dragon dominates most of it, and he is so compelling w/ his matwork & hellacious strikes. That finish with him dumping London with that Dragon Suplex & then locking in the Cattle Mutilation was badass.

Extremely fun match all around! Each segment was strong. Had a good time with the thing from start to finish. ***1/2

Christopher Daniels, Donovan Morgan & Samoa Joe vs. Doug Williams, Homicide & Low Ki

This is an absolute belter of a 6-man tag with everybody getting their shit in without going overboard with it. It gets hotter & hotter as it goes on; EVERYBODY gets plenty of time to shine & look great, but you can see that Joe is designed to be THE star of the thing, and he certainly comes off as exactly that with his killer work throughout. ***1/2

Jay Briscoe vs. Xavier

This is Xavier's first title defense, and it's a good one. It's him on top for the absolute majority of it, while the 18-year old Jay Briscoe has to fight from underneath -- it's a simple dynamic that works well with these two. Xavier's control work is solid, Jay's comebacks are solid & all of Xavier's overall DASTARDLY HEEL work w/ the help of Simply Luscious & the steel chair, is also solid stuff. Very much liked Jay getting busted open & Xavier immediately going to work the cut w/ them vicious stomps. Good match. ***

American Dragon vs. AJ Styles

Bryan vs. Styles is one my favorite wrestling pairings ever. This is their first ever singles match, and the first time they've been in a same match, period. Pretty notable in that regard, and it's also notable how in their first ever meeting, they already produced magic. It has that signature amazing, intense matwork you'd expect from them -- Dragon & Ki are the most hailed mat-wrestlers of this era, but AJ brought his own, fantastic flavor into that game as well, and it's in full showcase here w/ his brilliant aggression & intensity. They of course bust some great, brutal looking n' sounding strikes throughout as well, and it must be said that AJ's selling of Dragon's uppercuts was 5-outta-5. LOVED Bryan's attack on AJ's arm too -- he got the control back by kicking that arm, so he naturally saw a target in it afterwards, and his work over it was just tremendous. Nasty stomps, vicious holds, those headbutts. Hell yeah. Bryan eventually gets busted open NASTILY from his left eye -- it creates for some awesome visuals, and I loved how AJ's urgency rose after he sees the cut; it's in full showcase in that Muta Lock sequence (grrreat one btw) that followed. They start busting bigger & bigger bombs from then on -- the back bodydrop by Bryan definitely deserved that "holy shit!" chant it got, because AJ's bump off it was pretty crazy. I absolutely ADORE the finish w/ the Styles Clash struggle too; AJ REALLY had to work to get that move in. It's the perfect way to close this tremendous, classic match. Just behind Danielson vs. Ki for the ROH MOTY honors. ****1/2

Low Ki & Steve Corino vs. Masato Tanaka & Shinjiro Otani

Just an extremely fun main event. The Japanese stars always felt BIG in ROH, and such was the case here with Tanaka & Otani. They got to play their hits, but Ki & Corino gave them one helluva fight to say the least. ***1/2