ROH: Joe Vs. Punk II, October 16, 2004

ROH – Joe vs. Punk II … October 16, 2004 … Chicago, Illinois

Review by Brad Garoon and Jacob Ziegler

Intro

BG says: CM Punk kicks off the show by recapping his rivalry with Joe and telling us all about how tough he is. He tells a cool story about how he beat up a bunch of kids when they came to his home as a child, relating it to Joe not being able to beat him tonight in his hometown of Chicago.

Alex Shelley with Generation Next complains about Ricky Steamboat getting involved in their matches. He can’t understand why Jimmy Jacobs wants an I Quit match against him tonight when he beats him every time they meet. He says that even though they couldn’t beat the Second City Saints the night before in Dayton, Evans and Strong will beat the Rottweilers tonight in Chicago. Then Jack Evans dances and gives a nice little quote from Friday.

JZ says: Very good promo by Punk to set up the match, talking about how Chicago is his house, and relates the match tonight to his childhood. Few can sell a match as good as Punk can.

Alex Shelley cuts a promo on all of Gen Next’s opponents for the evening, as only Alex Shelley can do. See what a great heel he is?

MATCH #1: Davey Andrews vs. TJ Dalton

BG says: If ROH history has taught us anything, this match won’t really get underway. And of course the Carnage Crew hit the ring and beat up the ROH school graduate and HWA youngster. They’re all mad that Mick Foley, who is in attendance tonight, didn’t mention them when he talked about hardcore wrestling in ROH. They also threaten Maff and Whitmer.

JZ says: Davey Andrews is reportedly the top graduate from CM Punk’s Ring of Honor wrestling school. My new favorite tag team, The Carnage Crew comes out and beats up the hapless youngsters and cut a promo about being hardcore. Okay then.

MATCH #2: Delirious vs. Jay Lethal

BG says: They lock up and Lethal grabs a headlock. Delirious gets a hurricanrana and some jabs before getting a rollup for 2. He hits a pair of head butts. Lethal comes back with a back elbow for 2. He hits a backbreaker for 2. He hits a snap suplex for 2. Delirious hits a whiplash spinebuster and stretches Lethal, but he makes the ropes. Lethal comes back with a leg lariat for 2. He hits a back suplex for 2. He puts Delirious on the top but gets tossed off and hurricanrana’d. Delirious hits an enziguiri and they trade forearms and chops. Delirious bails and Lethal misses a baseball slide and gets tossed into the guardrail. Delirious goes to the top rope and catches Lethal with a rope assisted reverse hurricanrana and a 360 dive. Delirious misses Shadows Over Hell and eats a clothesline for 2. He comes back with a dropkick to the back and goes for Invitro Fertilization but Lethal reverses to a swinging neckbreaker. Delirious counters a diving headbutt with an Ace crusher and hits Shadows Over Hell for 2. He hits a running forearm for 2. He gears up for another but Lethal catches him with a dragon suplex for the win. This started kinda slow but turned into a solid opener.
Rating: **1/2

JZ says: I certainly like both of these guys, and I anticipated somewhat of a style clash between them. Thankfully that didn’t really happen, as this was a very solid opener and enjoyable match. They didn’t do anything spectacular, but it was just good, enjoyable wrestling. Delirious has one of my favorite gimmicks, and Jay Lethal is really getting good. Lethal went over with the Dragon Suplex at 8:19. I’d like to see them go again.
Rating: ***

The Champ Is Here

BG says: Samoa Joe tells Punk that he failed in June in Dayton and that he’s going to fail again tonight in Chicago. I love Joe just about as much as anyone, but I can never tell whether they want him to be a face or a heel.

JZ says: Samoa Joe also cuts excellent promos and sells matches well, but the face/heel confusion is a valid point by that Brad guy. I figure he’s going to be a heel in Chicago though, seeing as how it’s Punk’s hometown and all that. Either way Joe is the champ.

MATCH #3: Tracy Brooks vs. Daizee Haze

BG says: They lock up and chain wrestle. They trade roll ups. Many of those pins featured non-pinned shoulders. Haze gets a monkey flip into a cross arm stretch and rolls Brooks up for 2. Brooks gets a knee to the gut and a gut wrench suplex for 2. Nulty talks about the women like they are little kids, which I suppose is still a step up from the stuff Lawler says on Raw. Still, if you want to get the women’s’ wrestling over don’t make it seem like it’s a miracle that they can do wrestling moves. Haze hits a pair of forearms and a running forearm for 2. A top rope dropkick gets 2 for Haze. She twice goes for a stunner and hits it on the third attempt but Brooks no-sells and hits a lariat for 3. This was pretty solid for what it was, but the no-sell at the end was pretty frustrating considering the fact that they built to the stunner at the end. If you want REALLY good women’s wrestling you’re going to have to check out IWA-MS.
Rating: *1/2

JZ says: Tracy Brooks hugged me once, I’m sure I’ve never mentioned that before. Daizee Haze is all about peace, love, and headlocks I’m told. I’ve seen Haze have some awesome matches with Lacey on IWA-MS shows, and Tracy is Tracy, so this should be a fine match. Bower and Nulty knock the Diva Search, which is fine by me really. Tracy no-selling that stunner at the end was a little annoying, but she got the pin at 3:43 with a lariat. Very serviceable for what it was. I’d like to see the women on some more shows (though not all of them) as it adds a little variety.
Rating: **

MATCH #4 – Four Corner Survival: Angel Dust vs. Trent Acid vs. Matt Sydal vs. Josh Daniels

BG says: I’m begging ROH right now, please stop doing these four ways. They just aren’t interesting at all and there hasn’t been a really good one since April. Do a battle royal if you want to feature as many guys as you can on a show. Dust and Daniels start, which brings me to another point. Including this match, Josh Daniels’ last three ROH appearances have been in four corner matches. Why book the guy just to stick him in these boring matches? It does nothing for him. They keep it on the mat and Dust complains of cheating at the hands of Daniels. Dust gets a rollup for 2 but gets rolled up for 2 himself. Daniels grabs a headlock and gets tagged out by Sydal who comes in and puts on a headlock. Dust gets a headlock of his own and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. He fights for and hits a Cobra clutch backbreaker but Acid tags him out. Sydal catches him with a hurricanrana but Acid tosses him out over the turnbuckle. Daniels comes in for Sydal and knocks Acid out of the ring. He goes after him allowing Sydal to hit a double stomp to Daniels and an axe handle to Acid simultaneously. Dust hits a moonsault onto everyone on the floor. Back in the ring Daniels chops everyone down. Acid comes back with a Blue Thunder driver on Daniels for 2. Dust tags Acid out and tries a dropkick on Daniels only to get caught and chopped. Dust hits a double stomp to the back of Daniels head but Acid comes in with a Yakuza kick on Dust. The finish sees Daniels hit a German suplex on Dust for the win the same time as Acid hits his inverted DDT on Sydal. Acid complains, but neither he nor Sydal were legal. Sydal remains up 1-0 on Acid. The match was alright, but a lot of it saw guys standing around waiting to hit their spots. And again, just what is the point?
Rating: **

JZ says: Remember when ROH Four Corner Survival matches included guys like Homicide, Samoa Joe, Colt Cabana, BJ Whitmer, Chris Sabin, Paul London, Mark Briscoe and other guys who were important in the company and really, really good? Well these four just aren’t terribly interesting, and their match had no flow and ultimately no point. Sure, Josh Daniels won the match (in 6:33, very short for a 4CS), but what did it do for him? He did have a really good sequence or two with Angel Dust, but that’s about it. Matt Sydal is really good too, and when he hit Daniels and Acid with a double stomp to the floor I popped. But then ugly Trent Acid in his ugly gear just had to be there waiting to suck, and messing up the timing of the finish. And the crowd actually chants for him. It was short and pretty non-offensive, it just never leads to anything.
Rating: **1/4

MATCH #5: Chad Collyer & Nigel McGuiness with Ricky Steamboat vs. Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer with Mick Foley

BG says: This was set up by Foley and Steamboat the night before as a hardcore v. pure wrestling match. Steamboat grabs the mic and asks everyone but Foley to step out of the ring so that he can have a few words with him. Steamboat cites Foley’s allowing a garbage can to be used in the finish of a match that he refereed as proof that hardcore wrestling is garbage wrestling. He tells Foley to be a garbage man if the whole writing thing doesn’t work out. Foley grabs the mic and calls steamboat dull but says he may be the greatest pure wrestler of all time. However, he then compares that to being the greatest soft-core porno actor of all time because “it’s just not the real deal.” He makes fun of Flair and does the Flair flop. This was all fine when they were talking about hardcore and pure wrestling, but when Foley started complaining about Flair it made him look really childish. I also find it interesting that he knocks Flair for not retiring when it was his time, when at the same time his mentor Terry Funk (who he calls the greatest wrestler ever) has done the exact same thing, and Foley himself even came out of retirement for no other reason than money (at a HUSTLE show v. Toshiaki Kawada). Ranting aside, the match begins here:

Nigel and Whitmer start. Nigel hits a pair of armdrags. Whitmer grabs a wristlock but springboards to reverse. Collyer tags in and hits a shoulder block for 2. He gets a wristlock but Whitmer forearms out. Maff tags in and grabs a headlock. Collyer reverses to one of his own. He drop toeholds him to the mat and puts on a front facelock. Maff goes to the ropes to break. Collyer gets a monkey flip and a dropkick and tags in Nigel. Nigel grabs a wristlock. Maff bodyslams out but Nigel holds and as Collyer tags in with an elbow drop. Maff tries to bodyslam out of a Collyer wristlock but Nigel tags in and hits a crossbody onto Collyer, planting Maff. Nigel gets an armdrag but Maff comes back with a back elbow and tags Whitmer in. Whitmer dodges an armdrag but misses an elbow drop and falls victim to another. Collyer comes in and he and Nigel take Whitmer down. The Carnage Crew come out and tries to attack Foley with a chair but end up brawling with Whitmer and Maff. The ref calls for the bell and this thing is a no-contest. Steamboat is, well, steamed at the Carnage Crew and chews them out. He chops them down and chases them to the back with a chair. Foley suggests they restart the match as a hardcore match, and it was made so.

Nigel armdrags Whitmer and tags Collyer. Collyer comes off the top but hits Nigel with an elbow by mistake. Things break down and everyone brawls on the outside. Foley attacks Nigel with a microphone on the floor. Maff and Collyer fight into the crowd. Maff nails Collyer with a trash can. Back at ringside Foley hits Collyer with a chair. Maff hits Collyer with a cup of Pepsi. Could CM Punk be involved? Whitmer nails Nigel with a chair to the face. Maff throws Collyer into the guardrail and chokes him out on a table. Back in the ring Maff and Whitmer double team Nigel. Everyone brawls, boring the hell out of yours truly. Whitmer hits Collyer with an exploder on a chair. Steamboat comes back and gets on the mic, encouraging his guys to use pure wrestling to win. Nigel does the Artful Dodger and rolls Whitmer up for the win right after. That was just lousy, plain and simple. Not to mention how horrible that makes Maff and Whitmer look, as even with Foley’s physical interference they couldn’t beat a hastily thrown together tag team. Steamboat proclaims that pure wrestling is up on hardcore wrestling 1-0.
Rating: *1/4

JZ says: Memo to Mick Foley – Get the fuck over it. Ric Flair doesn’t like you, so what? Far more people hate Flair than hate you, so just quit whining. You are in ROH, and Ric Flair is now nor likely ever will work a ROH show, so there is no reason to be talking about him. It makes you, my favorite wrestler of all-time, by the way, look like a childish prick. Mark Nulty gets a rip on Lex Luger in, talking about his “roided-up ass.” There are a lot of things to say about that, but I think I’ll just let that one alone. McGuiness and Collyer dominate with wrestling until the Carnage Crew come in to take out Maff & Whitmer, until Steamboat chases them to the back. Foley restarts the match as hardcore, and proceeds to interfere shamelessly. Is he supposed to be a face or something? And it sure makes Maff and Whitmer look WEAK. McGuiness & Collyer get the win at 11:39 total, which is fine, but after the Foleyference it’s real strange. I’m only rating the match once, and I give it points just for effort and trying something unique, but this was a very strange and not effective match.
Rating: **

INTERMISSION

BG says: Dave Prazak interviews Raven… er Trent Acid backstage. He asks Acid how he feels about his losing streak. Acid says thinks he’s going to snap if all this doesn’t stop.

JZ says: Seriously, where are they ever going to go with Trent Acid? I just wonder why he gets so much time on the shows.

MATCH #6: Carnage Crew vs. TJ Dalton & Davey Andrews

BG says: The jobbers attack right off the bat hitting stereo dropkicks. They nail a double backdrop on DeVito and a double flapjack on Loc. They pound the Crew in the corners but Loc escapes the wrath of Andrews and helps DeVito deliver the Doomsday Device to Dalton. DeVito nails a dropkick and bodyslam on Dalton before tagging to Loc. Loc comes in with an elbow drop and tags DeVito in. DeVito hits the crossface strikes and tags Loc. Loc hits Dalton and bounces around a bunch but Dalton fights back and tags in Andrews. Andrews cleans house but falls victim to the Carnage-plex. Dalton comes in and gets Carnage-dropped. Andrews gets Carnage-driven for the Carnage Crew win shortly after. Just a Carnage-squash. Davey Andrews reminds me of Crash Holly. Loc takes the mic and says that they are Ring of Hardcore. He adds Steamboat to the list of people they don’t like and says naughty things about him.
Rating: 3/4*

JZ says: Smart move here by putting a jobber match on right after intermission, since the crowd usually doesn’t care about the post-intermission match, so don’t try and force ‘em! The jobbers get in some token offense before the Crew take over and hit all their trademark moves, culminating in a Carnage-driver at 4:22 for the win. This was the right match to run at this time.
Rating: 1/4*

MATCH #7: Homicide & Rocky Romero vs. Jack Evans & Roderick Strong

BG says: The Rottweilers attack before the bell. Romero and Strong brawl on the floor while Evans and Homicide fight inside. Evans knocks Homicide out of the ring and hits his own tope on him. Back in the ring Romero nails Strong with his swinging leg scissor maneuve … maneuver. He nails Strong with a kick and tags in Homicide. Homicide works Strong over in the corner and tags in Romero. They get stiffy kicky on Strong for 2. Romero gets a big knee in the corner and tags in Homicide. He comes in with a double stomp and a northern lights suplex for 2. Romero tags in with strikes and a bodyslam. He hits a kneedrop for 2. Homicide tags in and hits a nasty boot to the face in the corner for 2. Evans tags in with a snap suplex for 2. Strong comes back in and they do their usual awesome double team moves. Strong press slams Evans into Homicide in the corner and Evans hits a dropkick for 2 for Strong. Strong hits a double underhook suplex and a top rope elbow for 2. He puts on the Boston Crab and drags Homicide into his corner with it. Evans tags in and hits a crossbody for 2. Homicide hits a slingshot DDT and tags in Romero. Romero hits a back suplex and puts on a Steiner Recliner but Strong saves. He hits a back elbow and tags in Homicide. Homicide hits the knee in the corner and a T-bone suplex for 2. Romero tags in and pastes Evans with a kick to the chest. Romero puts on a Boston Crab and Homicide comes in and helps out with a camel clutch. Homicide nails a big Alabama Slam and Romero comes in with a guillotine kneedrop for 2. They toss Evans onto Strong on the outside. Back inside Evans gets body-slammed. Homicide goes for a diving headbutt but misses and Evans is able to tag out. Strong comes in and cleans house, hitting a backbreaker for 2. Strong slams Homicide and they hit the awesome double team move they do for 2 on the Rottweilers. That move desperately needs a name, so until further notice it will be called Shit Drizzle. Homicide goes low on Strong and rakes the back. A double team bulldog gets 2 for Romero. He gets a hammerlock body vice but Evans saves and tags in. He hits a springboard dropkick but Homicide catches him with a double underhook submission. Romero puts a cross arm breaker on Strong but he powers out and saves Evans. Homicide hits a piledriver on Strong but eats an Evans spin kick. Romero puts Evans on the top but gets knocked off. Homicide blocks the dive and hits a super double underhook suplex. He hits the tiger driver for 2 but Strong saves. Evans gets clotheslined out of his sneakers by Homicide but he’s not legal. Romero hits aback elbow on Strong and tags in Homicide who comes in with a big splash for 2. A double suplex by the Rottweilers gets 2 for Homicide. Strong comes back with a gutbuster on Homicide and a hurricane DDT on Romero. Homicide takes Strong out with the Clothesline from Hell but Evans sneaks in with the 630 senton on Romero for the win. That was one hell of a fun spot-fest. Homicide nails Evans with the Cop Killer after the match, and Romero grants Evans and Strong a tag title shot at the next show. At the very least this match proved one thing: Ricky Reyes needs to be fired. Just have him fight Homicide for that half of the tag titles and let Romero and Homicide do their thing because this was way more fun than any Havana Pitbulls match in ROH.
Rating: ***3/4

JZ says: Ricky Reyes should be let go, yes. Brad and I have been saying it for months, and Reyes proves it by doing absolutely nothing, which he is best at. This was a super cool tag team match, with all kinds of neat double-teaming and cool stuff going on. Evans & Strong played the babyfaces, and it makes me actually really want to see them turn face. The only problem is that ROH has so many faces now as it is, but what a perfect babyface team Evans & Strong make. Throughout the match Bower and Nulty comment on how the referee is paying more attention to who the legal man is, then Evans pins Rocky Romero, who was not the legal man, at 17:30 after a 630 senton. Homicide and Romero feign the handshake and kick ass instead, and then Romero gives Generation Next a title shot. It kind of fell apart a little at the end, but this was a super fun and hot match.
Rating: ***1/2

Contender’s Ring

– Austin Aries
– CM Punk
– Low Ki
– Alex Shelley
– Rocky Romero

MATCH #8 – I Quit Match: Alex Shelley vs. Jimmy Jacobs

BG says: They trade slaps to start and Jacobs takes Shelley down with a spear. Shelley tosses Jacobs from the ring but he catches him on the outside and gets a nice hurricanrana from the apron to the floor. Jacobs rebounds from being thrown into the ropes with a hurricanrana into the guardrail. He tosses chairs into the ring, which could be dangerous when you take the venue into account. He chokes Shelley out with a chair but he won’t quit. He goes for the Contra Code off the guardrail but ends up getting Shell-shocked into it. Ah, the fickle guardrail, such a whore. Shelley hits a Russian legsweep into it. He hits a DDT on the apron and rams Jacobs’ head into the guardrail. He hits the double stomp to Jacobs’ head on the apron but he won’t quit. Back in the ring Shelley hits the Skull-fucker on a chair but Jacobs still won’t quit. Jacobs comes back with a neckbreaker onto the chair. He Pillmanizes the head and gets a half crab but Shelley won’t quit. Jacobs gets a spike from his boot but Shelley blocks with a superkick. Jacobs gets spiked and Shelley does one of the finest victory dances I’ve ever seen. Shelley gouges the spike into the forehead but Jacobs won’t quit. Jacobs comes back and tries to hit a Contra Code but Shelley reverses to a tombstone piledriver through a chair. Jacobs won’t quit so Shelley grabs a kendo stick from under the ring. Shalwin. Shelley puts Jacobs in the corner and duct tapes his hands to the post, and then gives him the Tommy Dreamer treatment. Jacobs grabs another spike from his boots and cuts himself free after a low blow. He gets in a few shots with the kendo stick and a camel clutch with the kendo stick. He misses the senton and Shelley gets the spike. He alternates wailing on Jacobs with the spike and the kendo stick. He puts on the Border City Stretch but Jacobs fights out. He hits the reverse pedigree and the senton. He puts the Border City Stretch on Shelley, but he fights out. Jacobs goes for the Contra Code through two chairs but Shelley reverses to It Came from Japan through them into the Border City Stretch and Jacobs quits. This was a little touch and go but there was some awesome innovation in there and both guys just beat the hell out of one another. I had the (mis)fortune of seeing Jimmy Jacobs back after the match and to say that the kendo stick destroyed him would be an understatement.
Rating: ***3/4

After the match Shelley and Strong put the boots to Jacobs until Steamboat makes the save. The Carnage Crew comes out to beat on Steamboat, but Foley, Maff and Whitmer make the save. Foley declares the score between he and Steamboat tied, which makes me wonder if he isn’t confused over what the contest is.

JZ says: Hey, I kinda like these two guys, how about that. This would be their third one-on-one match in Ring of Honor, for those keeping score at home. You know it’s funny – Jacobs was originally set to be in that ridiculously pointless Four Corner Survival, but when Corino cancelled and the card had to be rearranged, Jacobs got this match instead. That also meant that we got Joe vs. Punk II in place of Joe vs. Corino, so Corino leaving this show REALLY changed it for the better. Not that I don’t like Corino, but let’s just be honest here. Anyway, it’s really amazing that for how many times these guys have wrestled each other that they can still find new things to do to each other. I believe every wrestler has their perfect opponent, and these two are it for each other. Shelley of course acts like a total dickhead in this match. He really is one of the best heels in the business, straight up. Jacobs is also a great underdog babyface, and they establish the dynamic early on. Shelley kicks the crap out of Jacobs, and bloodies him. Jacobs looks like he is really trying to get the blood flowing, but for some unfortunate reason it doesn’t happen. I loved the parts with the kendo stick and the spike, really making the match feel brutal. Shelley ends up getting the win with the Border City Stretch at 16:46. I must be a bigger mark for these two than Brad, because I’m going to go all the way for this one. The post match antics are very strange, as the hardcore versus pure wrestling feud enters into the fray, and Jimmy Jacobs just rolls out of the ring and is seemingly forgotten. And Foley is just really obnoxious in this role.
Rating: ****1/4

MATCH #9 – ROH World Title Match: CM Punk vs. ROH World Champion Samoa Joe

BG says: Once again the ROH production team disappoints me by showing the black curtain during Punk’s entrance instead of the RABID Punk fans while his pre-entrance music plays. Joe gets some heel heat during his entrance, but I mean, who wouldn’t against Punk in Chicago. Now this match is very long and I know for a fact there are some great play by play reviews of this show out there, so I’m going to review this in the same way I reviewed the Bryan Danielson v. Austin Aries match from Testing the Limit.

Both men start the match using what worked for them in their previous encounter. Joe uses his power and Punk uses his speed and wit. Whenever Punk changes his strategy, hitting a power move, he quickly backs away. When Joe changes his strategy, putting Punk on the mat, he uses his strength to make sure that his risk pays off. As the opening moments of the match come to an end however, it is Punk once again going to the headlock to prolong the match and get the wind out of Joe. Joe does his best to try to get away from the headlock but Punk knows what works and does everything he can to keep it on. Punk lets go of the headlock and tries to outwit Joe with a series of shoulder blocks but ends up getting smacked around before getting a rollup for 2. Joe freaks and bails, possibly for the first time in his ROH career. This was a great example of how Punk was getting into the head of Joe, and Joe would go one step further in their third match in desperation. Punk then tries to match Joe at his own game and ends up getting knocked around to the floor. Joe takes the opportunity to out-power Punk in an extended knucklelock, but Punk managers to come back and use leverage to damage Joe’s arm and catch him off guard. He even manages to hit a pair of ole kicks on Joe, but gets cocky and tries a hurricanrana off the apron and gets caught and swung into the guardrail.

Things crank up about twelve notches here as the crowd goes insane and Punk and Joe just pound into each other with strikes on the floor. Everything begins to hit perfectly on point and HARD, including a suicide forearm by Joe through the ropes so beautiful that it causes the commentators to leave their positions and go down to the stands to watch as fans. And you know what; I’m going to watch the rest of this match as a fan too… And I’m back, because what kind of reviewer would I be if I didn’t at least report the finish? Joe and Punk fight on the turnbuckle for the Pepsi Plunge and Muscle Buster, respectively, but the time limit runs out just as Joe hits the muscle buster. This match is just phenomenal, and completely puts to shame every other match that ROH has ever produced (and that’s not a shot at ROH, but simply praise for this match). This match took all the great things about their first encounter and either expounded upon them or made them tighter. I also loved that it didn’t feel like the time limit robbed one man or the other (even though Joe had the advantage), but rather that the two men were still going hard as it ended. This was very similar to their match in Dayton, which saw Punk slightly in control with his spike DDT as the time limit expired.
Rating: *****

JZ says: I met Nigel McGuiness before this match, and he was working on his book. The conversation was funny, since I told him I was a Pure Wrestling fan, so he said “oh, so you were one of the ones cheering for me? Maybe you could get others to cheer for me as well?” Man is he ever British. Anyway, like Brad said, there are a lot of play-by-plays of this match around, and it has been discussed at great length on many internet sites. Simply put, this is the best match in the history of Ring of Honor. I loved the match in Dayton, but the sequel surpassed the original in every way. The original had a little sloppiness in spots that wasn’t seen here. It had some obvious spot calling that didn’t happen here. You know, I could really go on and on with how much I love this match (which ran something right around 60:00), but I’m going to review it as a fan.
Rating: *****

AFTERMATH

BG says: Punk cuts an amazing promo backstage about how he knows that the Pepsi Plunge can beat Joe because Homicide stole a pin on Joe with it at Scramble Madness, but he’s not sure that the Muscle Buster can beat him. He wants one more match, with no time limit.

Joe tells Punk that the job was to beat him, not survive him. He put in a good effort, but it was his last one. That’s another great promo to end the show.

JZ says: I like that the only two post-show promos are from Joe and Punk. Of course they are both awesome, and Punk makes the challenge for a third, no-time-limit match. Joe doesn’t want to give Punk another shot. This is such a great feud.

MVP

BG says: Samoa Joe, for having the best match in ROH history, and being my favorite to boot :).

JZ says: Since Brad gave it to Joe, I’ll have to give it to Punk, since they both deserve it for having the best match in ROH history.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

E-mail Brad at [email protected]
E-mail Jacob at [email protected]

See you soon with our review of “Weekend of Thunder Night 1 and 2!”

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The 411: BG says: Unlike many, I'm not a huge fan of the undercard on this show. Opener aside, none of the preliminary matches really did anything for me. The Team Foley v. Team Steamboat match(es) really bummed me out. However, from the heel v. heel tag team match on this show is gold, and also has the greatest ROH match of all time on it, so you really should pick this up. JZ says: The undercard is pretty underwhelming, though nothing outright bad except some of the Foley stuff. The last three matches are all ***1/2 or higher, and you can’t ask for much more than that.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]