ROH WORLD TITLE CLASSIC

ROH WORLD TITLE CLASSIC 06/12/04


Alex Shelley, Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Jimmy Rave, John Walters & Matt Stryker
Really liked how the babyfaces established the first control period of the match - them isolating Roddy & executing a nice number on his knee ruled. Also really liked how Gen Next came back into things by utilizing their numbers, which is something that ended up being a pretty big story in the match overall, in my eyes. Rave works a big FIP segment, in which he sells his beating very well & Gen Next do a pretty compelling job working him over, utilizing great teamwork & their numbers every time they needed to. I keep mentioning the "numbers", and I wanna say that it was indeed a 3-on-3 bout, so they didn't have more members than the babyface team or anything like that, but they were certainly more willing to come in there & use 2 or 3 men at the same time if needed, and that narrative ended up delivering some pretty big moments in the thing. Very good FIP segment w/ Rave indeed, and I really loved his big flurry before he finally tagged in Matt Stryker for that hot tag. Stryker's hot tag is solid, and the rest of the match is them going at it on the "usual" 2nd gear that matches like this usually kick into in the last third of 'em. It's good stuff, but I did prefer the first 2/3rds w/ the babyfaces looking good doing their thing working over Roddy, and then that big Rave FIP seg. Really loved all of that + the finish is also absolutely great, so this quality trios match truly ended on a high note. ***1/2

CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe
Going through ROH chronologically, I never would've expected CM Punk & Samoa Joe to be a duo to deliver a 60-damn-minute draw with 99% of it being SUPER compelling & straight-up fantastic. They keep me hooked for the entire duration, with my favorite thing about it being watching CM Punk's strategy unfold; the way he controlled Joe w/ HIS pacing & those headlocks -- it's such fascinating pro-wrestling. Punk sells & tells the story perfectly with his work, including some brilliant moments of his body language & facial expressions. Joe is also absolutely superb with everything he does throughout -- I thought he especially sold brilliantly, as through that, it really feels like Punk's masterful gameplan might pay off. The overall pacing in this is also exceptional; in classic 60-minute-match fashion, the battle of course gets more dramatic as minutes pass, but they don't go overboard with it, as they instead have a few major dramatic moments - namely the Pepsi Plunge one & then the DDT in the closing moments - and both of those named moments are absolutely terrific. There's maybe a few stretches here n' there where I wasn't as interested as I was in the early going or in the closing stages, but it's still at least very good action for the entire 1-hour runtime, with the most compelling stretches (which goes for most of the match) being simply wonderful. There's just nothing phony or hollow about this one. It's the first match of THE trilogy in 00s indy pro-wrestling, and it's a stone cold classic. Can't wait to revisit the other two. ****1/2

Ace Steel & Colt Cabana vs. Austin Aries & Jack Evans vs. BJ Whitmer & Dan Maff vs. Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe
This is an Ultimate Endurance match, meaning it's an elimination match with three different gimmick matches inside. First one is a submission match, and I thought that was the best out of the three. It started off pretty cold, but once Jack Evans' back became the big story, I got into it. Evans makes every hold & every backbreaker look more vicious than they normally would look. It's real lovely. The focus on the back by the other participants pays off when they make him tap. It's good stuff! The 2nd fall, which is a Scramble match, is absolutely nothing. Completely hollow 5-minutes or something, I have nothing to say about it. The final fall is between The Prophecy & The Second City Saints; they have feuded for the entirety of 2004 up to this point, so on paper a no holds barred brawl between 'em was a fitting finale to this match. It's by far the longest segment in there, and it drags. There's some good brawling there, yes, and some neat singular moments, but ultimately it just isn't very interesting for the absolute majority of it. Overall this whole match isn't much. It's not completely boring thanks to Jack Evans from the Heavens, but that's where the match peaked. In the first fall of this 3-fall match. The first ~15 mins or so of this near 40 minute match. Having to follow the excellence that was the 1-hour draw between Punk & Joe didn't do the match any favors either, to say the least. **1/4