Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Nigel McGuinness vs. Rocky Romero
This was a simply magnificent four corner survival. Everyone involved delivered a show-stealing effort - it truly felt like I was watching four hungry young guys go out there & make a little statement. Aries was the most over man at the start of the match & he looked really good with everything he did, I absolutely loved the pure intensity & aggression Rocky brought into the thing, and then there's Nigel McGuinness. Goddamn I love that man. Maybe my favorite moment of the entire match was when there's one very vocal fella in the crowd making noise that gets rest of the crowd to focus on him & get distracted from whats going on inside the ring, then Nigel busts out this amazing sequence w/ a bit of some WoS-like charm, and the crowd explodes into a standing ovation. He's probably my pick for the star of the match honors, even though everybody indeed looked great -- and that brings me to Jimmy Rave, who didn't get too much time to "shine", as in he didn't get as much time as the others to showcase his signature offense, but he still looked absolutely tremendous getting his lunch eaten & shit kicked out of him throughout. Played his role perfectly. Loooved Romero & Aries destroying his arm, his selling was on point, and Nigel coming in & smartly getting the victory by targeting that arm some more ruled. Such a great match! ****
Bryan Danielson vs. Homicide
Homicide had some lengthy matches against AJ Styles & CM Punk earlier on in 2003, and comparing this one - another lengthy match - to them, this is so much better it's not even funny. Goes on for about half an hour, and the wrestling is really good for the entire duration with both guys employing nice strategies; Homicide softens Bryan's neck throughout to prepare him for his finish, and Dragon answers to that by beautifully & viciously manipulating 'cide's hand after he banged it against the guardrail. It's a very good match, even with extremely long matches like this certainly NOT being Homicide's strongest suit, but he looked real good in there against an opponent who knows how to make each moment of a long match like this compelling. ***1/2
Matt Stryker vs. Samoa Joe
Joe has a big tape around his face, and it is quickly revealed that his cheek is all burned up due to the FIREBALL busted out by Homicide the night before. Gnarly. This was a good match, on par & maybe even slightly better than that said match against 'cide that Joe had. The early technical work is fun, and once Joe says screw that & starts just beating Stryker up it gets even more fun. Joe is a joy to watch do his thing, and Stryker takes the beating well, as well as gets some nice nearfalls & a nice little sequence of things happening leading up to his Strykerlock. ***
CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe
I thought that the first 2/3rds of this were some really great,
extremely fun-to-watch stuff. The Chicago crowd gave this an amazing
atmosphere w/ them obviously being fully behind The Saints, which gave
us a real nice traditional babyface team vs. heel team dynamic. Punk
& Cabana get a fantastic shine to start things off, and I loved it
all -- the nice lil' touches of comedy with them embarrassing Briscoes
were oh so good, and the fact that the crowd ate it all up made it even
more sweeter. It really felt like it was the perfect stuff to do on this
night. It just all came off as SO spirited because of the atmosphere.
Loved Punk's FIP segment as well w/ the Briscoes doing a very good,
compelling job of cutting the ring in half & isolating him + even
utilizing some old-school heel tactics while doing it. Cabana's eventual
hot tag rules, and after that they kick the thing into its 2nd,
finishing gear w/ them essentially saying fuck the tag rules, as most of
the action for the rest of the match is with all four men inside the
ring. Usually stuff like that doesn't really annoy or disturb me at all,
because I'm so used to it I guess, but this felt like such a
traditional tag bout before that section, so it did bother me a little
bit. It was still good action though, but I preferred the lead-up to it.
It's a great match overall with a fantastic start, great middle, and a
solid last third. Then you add in the absolutely terrific atmosphere and
you got yourself a real banging tag outing. ****
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