ROH GENERATION NEXT

 

ROH GENERATION NEXT 05/22/04

Nigel McGuinness vs. Jimmy Jacobs
A nice little midcard exhibition showcase for both guys, especially Nigel. Nigel is charming as usual with his very good technical work over Jacobs, focusing on his arm in particular. Jacobs himself also rules, being the kind-of-an-underdog ball of high energy. ***1/4

BJ Whitmer & Dan Maff vs. CM Punk & Colt Cabana
Punk & Cabana are such a well-oiled machine together - watching them isolate Whitmer & do a real sweet tag team number on him ruled. As did Dan Maff's eventual hot tag; he is at his best when wrecking shop in short bursts, and that's pretty much what he got to do here. Both the hot tag & the build-up to it was some good stuff. They eventually brawl all over the crowd, with this being a no dq match & all, and during & after it there's this very nice chaotic feeling to the match, and I really liked that as well. The more "traditional" first half ruled, but so does the frantic second half. Banging match. ***1/2

Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Jack Evans & Roderick Strong vs. Jimmy Rave, John Walters, Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe
At over 41 minutes, this is a real long boy. It's an absolutely phenomenal one, though. They pace it perfectly from start to finish, with the action being good for each step of the way & never going down, as it instead gets hotter & better as the match progresses. It's a very good match all the way through with the peaks of it being superb. It naturally & gradually built into an amazing, show-stealing affair. Everyone involved delivered big time & looked great in the process. ****1/4

Homicide vs. Samoa Joe
  Intense build-up to this one, and they start the match accordingly by going at it right away, fighting in a sea of streamers. It's a great, chaotic scene. It doesn't take long for Joe to establish early dominance, and he dishes out punishment in such a lovely fashion & looks cool doing it w/ him sidestepping Homicide's dive attempts n' all. Badass shit. That big dive through the table? Sick. Homicide always puts everything he has into those dives & he did so here, but also went indeed through a table as a bonus. Him bringing out the FORK & going to town on Joe's forehead with it was nasty as hell, and I loved every second of it. Then he continues the violence by throwing a chair HARD right at Joe's face for good measure. The whole match has been superb brutality, and the All Japan-esq section leading to the finish fit right into it, imo -- they started dropping each other on their necks with so many absolutely VICIOUS looking kick-ass bombs, and in-between all that there's Joe slapping the taste out of 'cide's mouth with sweat flying everywhere + 'cide bringing back the fork to repeatedly stab that forehead some more -- it's all such glorious stuff. Definitely the best match they have had up to this point against one another. ****