Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Survival of the Fittest 2004

Ring of Honor — Survival of the Fittest 2004
by J.D. Dunn

This is one of those situations where there was a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes between Cary Silkin, Doug Gentry and Rob Feinstein while Ring of Honor was still trying to escape the stigma of “The Feinstein Incident.” From then on, all Ring of Honor releases would be handled by Ring of Honor, not RF Video.

Thankfully, Gabe just kind of kept doing his thing, making new stars out of guys who had previously been nobodies and keeping the online wrestling world talking about the great matches they were putting on.

In storyline terms, Punk had solidified his standing as one of the top RoH talents, and he got his first title shot at World Title Classic. The match went to a sixty-minute time limit draw, which is the first time that’s happened in a major promotion in who knows how long. After the match, Homicide attacked both men to further his crazy feud with Joe.

The concept for this show is simple enough. Take twelve of the top guys in RoH, put them in elimination matches, and then have the winners of those matches meet in one big elimination match at the end of the evening. Also, the Top Five has been replaced by the “Contender’s Ring” where RoH officials vote for whoever impresses them, and the title shots are based on the voting. I liked the Top Five a lot better, but what do I know?

June 24, 2004

From Philadelphia, Penn.

Your hosts are Jimmy Bower (Gabe Sapolsky changing his name from “Chris Lovey) and Mark Nulty

HC Loc questions why Danny Daniels and Masada would disrespect the Carnage Crew like that.

Opening Match, Survival Qualifier: Mark Briscoe vs. Alex Shelley.
The crowd loves Shelley now that he’s a heel. He does a lot of flashy stuff, but Mark catches him with a cross-legged shinbreaker and goes to work on the leg. Shelley comes back with a thrust kick and guillotines Briscoe on the ropes. Mark goes after the leg again to take back control. He dragon screws the leg on the ropes and hits a springboard missile dropkick to the leg. Shelley counters with a Waterwheel Slam into the Border City Stretch, but Mark reverses to a Jackknife Rollup for the win at 10:13. **1/4

Survival Qualifier: Trent Acid vs. Colt Cabana.
This, of course, is a comedy match as they both do a lot of dancing and eyepoke spots. Cabana overpowers him through most of the match, but Trent avoids the Colt .45 and hits a springboard tornado DDT. Acid misses a Yakuza Kick, and Colt rolls him up with the Paretti Special for the win at 7:56. *1/2

Jay Briscoe says he’s not really concerned about facing off with Homicide because he’s been in the ring with Samoa Joe.

This was supposed to be Austin Aries vs. John Walters, but Generation Next comes out and attacks John Walters to ruin the qualifier and give Austin Aries a clear path to the final match. Gary Michael Capetta comes out and replaces Walters with standby Josh Daniels. GX tries to take Daniels out too, but Walters returns and makes the save, setting up…

Survival Qualifier Tag: Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Josh Daniels & John Walters.
The winner of the fall advances to the main event, which works well for Roderick Strong because he wasn’t even entered in the tournament. Walters and Daniels beat Strong from pillar to post early. The faces dominate until Strong distracts Walters long enough for Aries to snap his neck off the top rope. Walters challenges Strong to chop him hard, so Strong does and boots him in the face for good measure. Walters fires back and crawls toward the tag, but Strong distracts the ref. Daniels does get the tag a few moments later, and everyone starts laying in chops. Strong takes out Walters with a gutbuster and plants Daniels with a powerbomb. Aries finishes off the exposed Daniels with the 450-splash at 12:46. **1/2

Survival Qualifier: Homicide (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Jay Briscoe (w/Mark Briscoe).
Jay makes the mistake of coming in wanting a nice, normal match, but Homicide gets all crazy on him. Homicide gives him a Facewash and a piledriver for two. He works the neck with a Mr. Salty, then a DDT into a Butterfly Lock. Jay comes back with a Blue Thunder Driver and a missile dropkick. A German Suplex gets two, but Jay can’t hold the bridge because of his neck. They trade Yakuza Kicks and take out each other with a double kick. Jay recovers and goes for the Jaydriller, but Smokes grabs his ankle. Jay goes up, but Smokes grabs the leg again. Homicide hits the Ace Crusher and finishes with the lariat at 14:19. The ref calls for help because Jay indicates his neck is injured. Homicide tries to make him Jay shake his hand, so Mark gets involved, and they have a pull-apart brawl. **3/4

Survival Qualifier: Bryan Danielson vs. Jack Evans (w/Alex Shelley).
Oh, this was a wonderful asskicking. The crowd chants for Danielson to try his hand at breakdancing, but Danielson admits he can’t outshine Evans. What he can do is righteously kick his ass. Danielson goes out and challenges a fan to get in the ring with him. Back in, Danielson tries a Gokuraku Stretch. Evans tries to wrestle, but that’s a mistake. Danielson goes back to the Gokuraku into a Tower of London. Sick. Evans finally makes the comeback with a series of kicks and the springboard corkscrew quebrada. Damn, that Green Lantern shirt has to be a little gamey by now. Back in, Danielson catches Evans and puts him in a sickening modified Litontamer for the win at 11:00. This was just a brutal stretching from bell to bell, and for those who hate Jack Evans’ attitude, this was fun to watch. Can’t go much higher than ** because it was so one sided.

Survival Qualifier: Samoa Joe vs. Matt Stryker.
Stryker failed to follow through with his strategy at “Reborn: Stage Two.” The Philly fans are far less kind to Stryker than the Chicago fans. Someone in the crowd cracks up Samoa Joe early with a comment about Stryker. Stryker avoids the Olay kick, drawing the ire of the crowd. Back in, he goes after Joe’s neck with a DDT and a flying neckbreaker. Joe hits an enzuigiri, but Stryker comes back with the DVD for two. They fight on top, and Stryker hits a superplex for two. Joe comes back with a legsweep into the Island Driver for the win at 9:36. **1/4

After the match, CM Punk intercepts Joe in the aisle and wants to know when he gets his rematch from “World Title Classic.” The lights go out, and Homicide appears on the scaffolding near the back. He challenges Joe to come get his belt. Joe and Homicide brawl all the way to the back.

Later, Gary Capetta finds Joe and asks him for comments. Joe says they’re at war now, and he’ll give Homicide until July.

Elsewhere, Danielson says Jack Evans got what he deserved. He also says he’s excited for the Survival of the Fittest Match because he can get revenge on Homcide and Joe.

Ring of Honor Tag Championship, Scramble Match: The Second City Saints vs. The Outkast Killaz (w/Prince Nana & Xavier) vs. The Ringcrew Express vs. Dixie & Hydro (w/Becky Bayless & Cloudy).
CM Punk decides that the other teams are such non-threats that he doesn’t even need Cabana. He gives him the match off to rest up for the main event. Of course, this makes Punk an immediate target. Hydro really steps it up here, talking trash to Punk and hitting a double Dragon Suplex on Dunn & Marcos. Punk runs in, tosses Hydro aside, and gets the pin on Marcos at 4:53. After the match, Punk runs down the crowd and Ricky Steamboat. He says he wants stiffer competition. Hydro takes the hint, gets in the ring and challenges Punk to a singles match. Punk says Hydro’s not on his level, so Hydro slaps him right in the face! *

CM Punk vs. Hydro.
Hydro opens with a series of bitchslaps and chases Punk out of the ring. Finally, Punk catches Hydro with a powerslam. Punk makes him pay for his insolence by tying up Hydro’s feet in his own shirt and kicking him in the chest. He spends then next five minutes methodically destroying Hydro, including a Welcome to Chicago (Butterfly Backbreaker). Every time Hydro mounts the least bit of offense, Punk cuts him off. Hydro fights out of the Pepsi Plunge and hits a superplex. Hydro tries a German Suplex, but Punk lands on his feet and hits a Shining Wizard. He pulls Hydro up at two. Hydro makes him pay with a backbreaker/gutbuster combo into a T-Bone suplex. Punk hits his legsweep DDT but pulls Hydro up again. They exchange rollups, and Hydro gets his Dragon Suplex. He can’t capitalize right away, though, and it only gets two. Punk comes back and catches him with an Oklahoma Roll into a bridge for the win at 16:47. They accomplished what they wanted to: displaying Hydro’s ability while still showing he was not yet ready for prime time. ***

Survival of the Fittest Elimination Match: Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Colt Cabana vs. Homicide (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Bryan Danielson.
Just about everyone hates Homicide in this match, but Mark is the first one to jump him. Cabana blind tags himself in, ruining Mark’s shot at revenge. Danielson tags in and stretches Mark for a bit. Cabana tags in and demands to go with Samoa Joe, then he tags Homicide and runs away. Homicide tags Aries immediately so he doesn’t have to go against a healthy Joe. Aries hits Joe with a Crucifix Bomb but runs into a spinebuster. Mark tags back in but never really gets off the ground because he has issues with Joe, the SCS, GX and Homicide. Danielson doesn’t have anything personal against him, but he just wants to run his way through Joe and Homicide. Joe comes in and kills everybody until Danielson cuts him off. Joe backdrops Cabana to the apron, but Cabana sunset flips back in and ELIMINATES JOE at 15:24! Joe and the crowd are shocked.

Stoked from his big pin, Colt gives Homicide a rope-assisted Ace Crusher. Homicide hits the lariat on Colt, but Mark blind tags himself in and finishes Colt with the Shooting Star Press at 17:08.

Homicide gets a close two off a piledriver on Mark. They go into a series of waistlock reversals, and Mark gets a German Suplex. He can’t keep the wait on his leg and neck, though, and both men’s shoulders wind up on the mat for a double pin at 19:05.

That leaves Dragon versus Austin Aries. You probably could have guessed that by the relatively easy qualifiers they had. Aries is clearly outclassed from a technical standpoint, so he tries to use treachery, mindgames and explosiveness to take an advantage. It doesn’t work well early as Danielson turns him around and chops him in the back of the head. Aries tries a springboard, but Danielson dropkicks him in mid-air. Finally, Aries catches Danielson going up and springboards into an enzuigiri, wrenching Danielson’s knee as he falls into the ropes. Aries tries to pick him apart, but Danielson comes back with chops. Aries blocks a suplex and suplexes Danielson to the floor, reinjuring his knee. Danielson avoids the 450-splash and steamrolls over Aries with a shoulderblock. Aries catches him with an insane wakigatame into a Rings of Saturn. Danielson makes the ropes. Aries goes for the brainbuster twice, but Danielson keeps kneeing out of it. Aries finally gets the brainbuster, but it only gets two! The 450-splash finds Danielson’s knees. Danielson hits him with a rolling forearm. DOWN GOES ARIES! DOWN GOES ARIES! A super backdrop suplex only gets two, so Danielson lays in a series of slams and a bearhug. From there, he walks him over into that same modified Liontamer for the submission at 42:27. Austin Aries truly arrived with this match as he realistically went toe-to-toe with Dragon before succumbing. The Aries vs. Danielson section takes up the bulk of the match, and so the rating mostly reflects that, but there was also some historically significant moments that set up things down the road like Cabana pinning Joe and Mark and Homicide’s brawl. ****1/4

In the back, Prince Nana berates the Outcast Killaz and tells them to set up his bath water. He also tells Xavier he can’t worry about him because he’s injured.

Alex Shelley says it’s not all about wins and losses. Gen Next is still the dominant force in Ring of Honor.

The 411: As with most tournament shows, you get a lot of guys saving themselves for the later match, especially when the final goes 43:00! There aren't any really bad matches, and there are two good matches in the final and Punk vs. Hydro, so this gets a thumbs up. One wishes there was more substance in the undercard, though. Thumbs up.
Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]