ROH 2ND YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW

ROH 2ND YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW 02/14/04

CM Punk vs. John Walters
Punk mocking Daniels' entrance was very fun, and the match itself is rock solid. Some nice, "usual" bodypart-targeting by both men, and both of them also sell pretty good. ***

AJ Styles vs. Jimmy Rave
AJ Styles had taken Jimmy Rave under his wing & he had been trying to motivate him to find that killer instinct within him to succeed. Styles actually requested for Rave to be his opponent here. The match plays out excellently into that storyline between 'em, with it having a lovely little young boy dynamic; Styles is pretty dominant throughout with his viciously excellent looking offense, but Rave gets some very nice chains of offense in himself, and in the end he finds that killer instinct by going after the knee AJ seemingly hurt. I really, really enjoyed this one. Clocking in at under 8 minutes I thought they told their charming story very well bell-to-bell. ***1/2

CM Punk vs. Doug Williams
This is just really good wrestling throughout, with things kicking up a notch once Punk goes after Doug's knee. He's like a shark smelling blood attacking it, and that finish where it came to play was SO awesome. Seriously love, love, LOVE the crap out of that finish - everything leading up to it was already awesome, but that is the cherry on top of the cake. ***1/2

AJ Styles vs. Matt Stryker
Jimmy Rave assaulted AJ's knee at the closing minutes of their tournament match earlier on in the night, and it didn't take long for that same knee to become the main target of Matt Stryker's onslaught in this bout. I thought that Stryker did a really good job being the aggressor here; his work on that said knee was focused n' vicious, and when he wasn't attacking it, he was doing other awesome stuff like smashing AJ's head into the barricade on the outside. AJ sold really well throughout too, even if his match-finishing springboard maneuver was maybe a bit too clean given the amount of pain he was supposed to be in, but it still worked, as it felt like everything kinda just fell into the perfect place for him to hit that move. A really good match and real good performances by both as well, especially Stryker. ***1/2

BJ Whitmer vs. Dan Maff vs. Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe
Whitmer & Maff are of course stablemates in The Prophecy, so they really are teaming up throughout this 4-way dance, which causes Joe & Ki to form kind of an alliance to combat against that. It's good stuff; BJ's & Maff's heat seg on Joe towards the end was really good I thought, but the ultimate highlights of this one, unsurprisingly, are the exchanges between Joe & Ki -- the one true sequence they had very late in the match where they just slap, knee & kick the shit out of one another was pure joy. ***1/2

AJ Styles vs. CM Punk
This is a good match, but not as good as their match at The Tradition Continues, aaand they both also had better matches on this same night; Punk against Doug Williams + AJ against Rave & Stryker. It's still very good though - a nice tournament finals bout, which also sets up the rematch between them nicely with the controversy~! ***1/4