ROH REBORN: COMPLETION

ROH REBORN: COMPLETION 07/17/04

Doug Williams vs. Jay Lethal vs. John Walters vs. Nigel McGuinness
Not compelling all the way through, but the best parts of this were really nice. Namely everything involving Doug Williams & Nigel McGuinness going at it was awesome, especially in the early going when they were first teasing it for a bit, and then their first exchanges already lived up to the build. Fun match! ***

Alex Shelley vs. Doug Williams
The early technical wrasslin' between these two is so charming & compelling to watch. Doug especially busted out some truly neat stuff; one of my favorite moments of the bout was the sequence that lead to him tying Shelley up in that Paradise Lock. Extremely fun action! Shelley was of course coming into this with a bum arm, so that's obviously a big story here with Doug working it over throughout. Loved all of Doug's armwork & Shelley's selling was very good. Shelley on the defense was overall a role that he rocked well, and him finding success by doing a number of his own on Doug's neck was also awesome. All kinds of good focused work over that said bodypart. It's a banger of a match with a compelling in-ring story being told, and the absolutely fantastic finish puts it over the top as a truly great one. ****

Homicide, Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero vs. Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe & Samoa Joe
Billed as a Six Man WAR with all the issues between the teams, this one goes over 30 minutes, so it's a pretty long boy. It's full of some hard-hitting & VERY intense action though, so it kept me entertained for the entirety of it. The Briscoes & The Havana Pitbulls serve in their roles wonderfully, and I thought that especially the Pitbulls - in particular Rocky Romero - delivered some really compelling offense in the form of submissions & kicks. Homicide & Joe are definitely unsurprisingly the clear stars though, with the energy being off the charts whenever they come in & start smashing fools in their nasty, vicious ways. ***1/2

ROH SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

ROH SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 06/24/04

Bryan Danielson vs. Jack Evans
This looks like an absolutely LOVELY pairing on paper. And the match does rule; it's pretty much a 10-minute squash with Danielson showcasing his submissions, but man what a blast it is. Bryan twisting & stretching Evans is all some superbly vicious stuff, and much of it is thanks to Evans' willingness to bend & twist his own body in visually stunning ways to make each hold look all the more brutal. And then there's that amazing bump he does off of Bryan's uppercut. If I was a wrestler, I would sure love to face that man, because he truly can make people look like a million bucks in there. What a fun-ass match. Also a shout-out to Evans bringing up Danielson's backyard-gimmick, THE DAGGER. Very amusing. ***1/2

Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Colt Cabana vs. Homicide vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Samoa Joe
The final one-on-one showdown between Aries & Danielson covers over half of the match & it's some great stuff. Everything beforehand is rock-solid with stories progressing between participants, but Aries & Danielson take it to another level w/ their battle; I really liked Bryan's work over Aries' back, especially with his bodyslams becoming angrier & angrier as the bout progressed. The finish with the bear-hug sequence ruled too, that vicious finishing submission was a great pay-off to Danielson's focused attack. At 40+ minutes, it's a real lengthy match, but it's a very good one. The action is solid all the way through with the peaks (Danielson vs. Aries) being great. ***3/4

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

THE BOYS doing APRON BRAINBUSTERS

WWE SMACKDOWN 11/27/20

Daniel Bryan vs. Sami Zayn
This felt a bit rushed & had a storyline-finish, so obviously it isn't the best these two could do, but it was a helluva match regardless. The boys really went out there & did an apron brainbuster, huh? Godddddamn. Loved Bryan's early control with his technical prowres superiority being the main force behind it. Nice armwork throughout, with him going to it early on & then bringing it back in the closing stages when he countered Sami's (presumably) Blue-Thunder Bomb attempt into that very neat armbar takedown. ***1/4

RANDOM REWATCH: Edge, Foley, Lita, Dreamer, FUNK, Beulah

 

WWE ECW ONE NIGHT STAND 2006

Beulah, Terry Funk & Tommy Dreamer vs. Edge, Lita & Mick Foley
Foley's pre-match promo is pretty hilarious with his banter being lovely. LONG LIVE THE ALLIANCE. This match is just pure goddamn clunky chaos & it's so damn good! Funk & Foley going at it rules - Funk in general is such a madman here at 61 years of age with awesome punches, old-man hardcore insanity, huge bumps, awesome selling. What a GOAT. And I didn't even mention the "MY EYE" bit, which instantly reminded me of you know what. I love that man. All the barbed wire stuff, including the bats, the board, the FLAMING bat/wood/whatever it was that Funker brought -- it's all such gnarly, brutal, EXTREME stuff, if you will. Like I already mentioned, this thing is just pure uncoordinated-feeling having chaos & violence. It's one of the best matches each person involved here has ever been in. Long Live The Alliance, and long live this match. ****1/2

NXT w/ Kushida/Thatcher, Dunne/Kyle LADDER WAR

 

WWE NXT 11/25/20

Kushida vs. Timothy Thatcher
Loved this so much. An absolutely lovely grappling exhibition with everything looking slick & coming with such a nice sense of urgency. It never feels like they're sitting & waiting for the other one to do something either -- there's a good feel of lil' competition & having to earn what you're going for, whether it's a hold or another position. Some terrific selling in there as well, especially by Thatcher, which doesn't surprise me in the slightest. And of course when they throw in some strikes in there, all of those look great & fit the match well. It's a jolly good time. Really hoping that we get some more Thatcher vs. Kushida goodness eventually, because this truly rocked. ***3/4

Kyle O'Reilly vs. Pete Dunne
This was creative, this was brutal, this was dumb. That's a 3-piece recipe for ladder match success. There's some nice limb-targeting, quite a few very brutal n' dumb spots & some nice little touches that I totally loved. One of them was in the early going when Kyle went to climb the ladder for the first time, Dunne came in & just quickly and bluntly pushed the ladder down; usually they always milk them for at least some amount of time, so just pushing it as quick & bluntly as he could made it feel super neat. The ladder also hit Kyle when it went down, so that's some more brutality for ya. Sure there's some moments that felt pretty unnecessary & pretty silly in there, such as Kyle popping up like one second after being hit with Dunne's finish on the barricade, but even with those & the finish, this really was a big PPV-level effort from the two, and I would say it is one of the best ladder matches of recent years. ***3/4

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. ****