wrestling / Video Reviews

Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Punk: The Final Chapter

March 19, 2007 | Posted by J.D. Dunn
7
The 411 Rating
Community Grade
12345678910
Your Grade
Loading...
Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Punk: The Final Chapter  

Ring of Honor — Punk: The Final Chapter
by J.D. Dunn

  • August 13, 2005
  • From Chicago, Ill.
  • Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard.

  • James Gibson opens the show. He reiterates that his title win was the pinnacle of his career. Spanky comes out to ask for a title shot again. Gibby agrees to a match sometime down the road and thanks the crowd for their support.
  • Opening Match, Four-Corner Survival: Alex Shelley (w/Prince Nana) vs. Nigel McGuinness vs. Delirious vs. Matt Sydal (w/Daizee Haze).
    Shelley and Sydal are feuding by proxy as Shelley is a new addition to the Embassy and Sydal just joined Generation Next. Delirious and Nigel are just there…well, I’m not really sure on that one. Shelley ties up Delirious into a ball and drapes the Ghana flag over him. Delirious freaks out. After that, there’s just a lot happening, but nothing going on, ya know? They all do a crazy sequence as Nigel counters Sydal’s legdrop to the Tower of London, but Delirious rams Nigel in mid-move and Sydal winds up with a sunset flip out of the whole thing. Has to be seen to be believed. Delirious starts hitting Panic Attacks (Cactus Knees). Sydal takes out Shelley and Nana with a moonsault. That leaves Nigel to finish off Delirious with the Tower of London (Rope-Assisted Stunner) at 10:56. Shelley and Sydal continue their brawl after the match. Decent opener with some neat sequences but nothing to write home about. **1/4

  • Ace Steel vs. Chad Collyer.
    Steel makes fun of Collyer’s Mohawk, and Collyer plays to the women in the crowd. Ladies love the ‘hawk. Collyer walks up the ropes, trying to break the Full Nelson. Collyer takes over with a headbutt to the gut and starts hitting Sullivan-esque double-stomps. He actually has the balls to bust out the Stomach Claw. Maybe after the show he’ll wind up his car and drive to a “talkie.” Steel comes back with a headscissor. Collyer knocks him to the floor, but Ace avoids a tope and dedicates a series of chops to the fans. Ace accidentally knocks out a security guard (actually an ROH trainee). Chad uses the opportunity to sneak up and hit Ace with a chair. Back in, Collyer spins over an unconscious Steel into the Texas Cloverleaf. The ref lifts up Steel’s head to check on him, and we see one of the sicker bladejobs in recent memory as Steel’s head has already squirted out a pool of blood. The ref calls for the bell at 10:29. Ewwww. The match was quite vanilla before that. **

  • Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Rave (w/Prince Nana).
    This is another extension of the GenNext versus The Embassy feud. If it’s possible, Aries is an even better face than a heel. Rave stalls a lot to begin the match. Nana interferes and takes a dropkick from Aries, but Rave blocks the quebrada with the knees. Rave works the ribs and jaws with the crowd. Rave matches are hard to recap. Kind of like a Val Venis match where you watch it and then find yourself wondering, “What’s been going?” about five minutes into the match. I think it’s partly because Nana steals the show every time out. Aries blocks Ghanarrhea and hits the powerdrive elbow. The corner dropkick gets two. Rave counters the Crucifix Bomb to a Samoan Drop and spears Aries for two. Aries hits a dropkick and the brainbuster for two. Rave gets the knees up on the 450-splash. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Aries drives him to the corner to counter the Rave Clash. Aries goes for the second-rope brainbuster, but Jimmy counters to a second-rope Rave Clash. Aries kicks his way out of that and drops down — Bulldog-style — on a sunset flip to pick up the win at 13:30. The fact that Aries couldn’t hit any of his big finishers and needed what was basically a fluke pin to get a win on Rave made Jimmy look like he was actually worth a shit in the ring (in a kayfabe sense). Good match that actually provided a clean finish while furthering the feud. Imagine that. Alex Shelley attacks after the bell, but Roderick Strong and Matt Sydal make the save. ***

  • Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal vs. Homicide & Low Ki (w/Julius Smokes).
    All you need to know is – they hate each other. Big brawl to start, of course. Joe hits a tope early, and Lethal clears the ring with a springboard dropkick. Joe gets caught in the wrong corner once the match settles down. Homicide hits a sloppy DDT, and Ki renews acquaintances with Joe. Lethal gets the hot tag and unleashes a flurry on Homicide. Ki kicks Lethal in the head, and the Rottweilers take over. Basically, it’s just a lot of testosterone-filled prick-waving from the Rotts as they tease Joe while working over Lethal. Lethal avoids the Ghetto Stomp and hits a flying kick. HOT TAG TO JOE! Joe cleans house on Homicide with the DVD and the powerbomb to the STF. Low Ki breaks it up with the double-stomp off the top. Homicide hits Lethal with the Ace Crusher, and Ki blocks a sunset flip with the double-stomp. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Homicide takes out Joe on the floor while Ki hits the double-stomp to Lethal who was in the ropes. Joe makes it back in, but Low Ki hits a gun packet dropkick to knock him back into the corner. Lethal hits Ki with a beautiful Dragon Suplex. ONE, TWO, THRE-Homicide elbows the ref to draw the disqualification rather than lose by pinfall. Boo! (17:45). Joe and Lethal aren’t satisfied, so they toss Homicide into the crowd and dish out more punishment. Ki fights his way up the bleachers and hits Lethal with a double-stomp, prompting a “you killed Lethal!” chant from the fans. Joe retruns and starts tossing chair after chair at the Rottweilers until Homicide and Ki jump the rail and run out through the other side. Ki sneaks back in and hits Joe from behind then gives Lethal the Ki Krusher. The first 10 minutes were your standard Raw main event, but it picked up nicely once they started hitting the finishers. Great brawl afterward. ***

  • Ace Steel joins us in a promo taped before his match. He talks about taking in Punk and Cabana working their way up. He says he feels like these two are his kids. He says one fall won’t make a difference, so it has to be 2/3 falls tonight.
  • ROH Tag Team Titles: BJ Whitmer & Jimmy Jacobs v. James Gibson & Spanky.
    The announcers assure us that Gibson will stay in ROH until he loses the title. This was signed before Gibson won the ROH Title, which is why he isn’t defending. Spanky and Gibson use their quickness to confound Whitmer early on. Jacobs tags in and gets more of the same. The challengers hit stereo topes. Jacobs is your HUSS-in-peril for a while. Whitmer tags in, though, and counters Sliced Bread #2 to a neckbreaker. Spanky appears to be hurt, so Gibson helps him in like a good teammate. Spanky gets caught in the wrong corner and just can’t seem to catch a break. Whitmer catches him on a dive and rams him back into the corner. Spanky ducks a swing, though, and pushes off Jacobs into a Tornado DDT. Jamie gets the hot tag and puts Whitmer in the Guillotine Choke. Jacobs breaks it up, and Whitmer is able to hit an exploder. The match breaks down as Whitmer catches Gibson in midair only to have Spanky dropkick them over. Jacobs makes the save. Spanky hits Whitmer with a reverse rana for two, but Jacobs saves again. Whitmer powerbombs Jacobs onto Spanky, and the set up for the Doomsday Rana. Spanky ducks and rolls up Whitmer, though. Gibson tags in and calls for the Tiger Driver, but Spanky superkicks him. HEEL TURN! Spanky hits Gibson with Sliced Bread #2 and allows Whitmer to get the pin at 17:31. This had to follow an intense brawl in a heated feud, so it’s probably not surprising that it seems tame by comparison. **1/2

    Spanky gets on the stick and says he’s tired of not getting title shots and assures Jamie that this was a business decision, not a personal one.

  • Matt Hardy vs. Roderick Strong.
    The Embassy tries to attack before the bell, but Austin Aries and Matt Sydal come out and chase them to the back. By now the bloom is off the rose for Matt as there are large chants of “Fuck you, Hardy!”, “Die, Matt! Die!” and “Fuck ‘im up, Roderick!” Matt grabs the mic and says people say anything they want. Matt grabs the persistent headlock, but that’s countered to the persistent armbar by Roderick. The crowd starts a clever “Awkward silence!” chant. They take it to the floor where Roderick chops Matt’s nipple off before working in that spot where he chops the ringpost. Back in, Matt dropkicks Strong’s leg out from under him and applies the figure-four leglock. Roderick makes the ropes, so Matt hits Splash Mountain for two. Strong fires back with chocks and applies a Full Nelson with the legs. He follows that up with a delayed vertical suplex. Not a big fan of that since it doesn’t really play into the earlier psychology. Matt comes back with his usual WWE stuff, but Strong counters a sleeper to a backdrop suplex. They fight on top, and Matt shoves Roddy to the mat. The crowd boos because they know what’s coming. Matt signals for the legdrop, but Roderick cuts him off and sets up for the Super Press Gutbuster. Matt elbows out of that, though, and hits a Tornado DDT for two. Matt signals for the Twist of Fate, but Roderick counters to the Half-Nelson Backbreaker for two. Roderick charges into a sunset flip for two but comes out of it with a Boston Crab. Matt makes the ropes and locks in the Butterfly Clutch he’s been using. Roderick makes the ropes, though. Strong misses a crossbody and gets hit with the Side Effect. Matt goes for another one, but Strong is able to counter to a rollup for the win at 23:53. The fans’ hatred of Matt actually worked for the match because Strong was also a babyface and an underdog. ***
  • 2/3 Falls Match: CM Punk vs. Colt Cabana.
    Well, we’ve come full circle. Punk and Cabana rode in together, and now Punk is going out by wrestling Cabana one last time. Nothing on the line here. It’s just ROH’s way of saying, “Thank you” for all Punk has done. Punk is tearful as he comes out for the final time. Samoa Joe grabs a seat at ringside. Normally, that would be some kind of intrigue, but Joe’s just another fan.

    First Fall: Cabana confounds Punk with his usual comedy antics. He trips up Punk, sending him flat on his face. Punk counters a bodyscissors to a leg butterfly. They trade a lot of basic stuff until Punk gets upset with Colt’s goofy British routine. Colt tries to get Punk to look up, but Punk won’t fall for it, so Colt stomps on his foot. Punk scolds him for it before going low and finishing with Colt’s own Colt .45 at 12:41.

    Second Fall: Punk starts kicking Colt in the face to go back to full heel mode. He uses his Tarantula Koji Clutch and hits a missile dropkick for two. He gets cocky, though, and misses a swing. Colt comes off the other side, hitting a lariat for the pin at 16:06.

    Third Fall: The trade forearms and chops just to see who’s manlier. Punk goes for his Tarantula Koji Clutch again, but Colt just lets him spill over the top to the floor. Punk cuts off an Asai Moonsault and hits a rana on the floor. Back in, Colt reverses a tilt-o-whirl to a small package for two. Punk goes for Welcome to Chicago, but Colt counters to a butterfly slam for two. Punk works in the Flair Flip, but Colt knocks him to the floor with a springboard tackle and hits that Asai Moonsault he was looking for earlier. Back in, Colt rolls through a rana into the Boston Crab. Punk makes the ropes. Punk hits a sloppy reverse rana for two and the lightning knee for two more. Colt catches him on top and hits an Inverted DDT off the top. Ouch! Punk tosses him with a Judo throw and locks in the Anaconda Vice. Colt makes the ropes. Punk calls for the Pepsi Plunge, but Colt counters to a Super Samoan Drop. They slug it out with Punk knocking Cabana to his knees. SHINING WIZARD! Colt’s hand falls on the bottom rope to break up the pin. They start reversing and reversing reversals of rollups until Colt winds up on top for the win at 27:49. This one was a bit sloppy, which is understandable. Call it ***, but it’s not really about ratings.

    The locker room clears out, and everyone takes a knee while Punk thanks everyone. Even Joe is tearful. Punk toasts everyone with, what else, a Pepsi. He puts over ROH and Gabe for all that they’ve done.


  • The 411: I can't really recommend the show based on wrestling, but this night wasn't really about the wrestling. It was about saying goodbye to one of the cornerstones of the company, and this was certainly a great sendoff. I wish the WWE would do more shows like this rather than waiting until someone dies or turning it into an angle.

    Thumbs up.

     
    Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]  legend

    article topics

    J.D. Dunn

    Comments are closed.