ROH TRADITION CONTINUES

ROH TRADITION CONTINUES 10/16/03

AJ Styles vs. CM Punk
A really good match. The opening work on the mat is really tight, aggressive feeling & looking - really liked all of it. Eventually Punk sees a target in AJ's back, so he starts softening him up by going after it. Punk's work over the back is real good throughout, and there's some superb moments revolving around that, such as Punk catching AJ on his top rope attack & turning it into a crushing backbreaker. All of AJ's comebacks now that Punk is in firm control are great too with him bringing the big time energy & hard hits. That finish w/ him countering Punk's Shining Wizard attempt straight into the Styles Clash was very neat, too. ***1/2

Homicide vs. John Walters vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Xavier
An overly long, super generic spotfest of sorts. Even the bigger spots aren't any exciting in all honesty, save for maybe one or two by John Walters, so this really isn't a match worth watching at all. *

Jay Briscoe vs. Samoa Joe
This was a pretty basic, yet extremely solid underdog tale with the dominant champion taking on a young challenger. At first Joe isn't treating Jay as a real threat, instead he is just toying with him while beating him down, and it's good stuff. Jay's eventual big comeback run is also good stuff, with him being full of fire to start it off & I feel like it lasted just about the correct time w/ Joe then ending it in badass fashion with that big uranage on the corner. From then on Joe is more in control, but Jay still gets some pretty awesome comeback bits + big kickouts and nearfalls to his own name, too. It's not the best match they've had, but it was a good one & kind of set the wheels in motion for what was about to come between 'em very nicely. ***