Cook’s ROH TV Review 2.18.22

Hey kids! Today, ROH looks back at the career of Samoa Joe. Joe killed fools in the ring for a couple of decades, and Ring of Honor was where people first took notice. It’ll be tough not to have a good ROH Samoa Joe-based episode, so let’s hook it up!

Cook’s ROH TV Review 2.18.22

In 2002, a group of athletes started a movement to bring real pro wrestling back to real wrestling fans. One of the athletes was a Samoan Submission Machine. Samoa Joe debuted at Glory by Honor 1, facing Low Ki in a hard-hitting match that set the tone. In his 10th ROH match, Joe captured the ROH Championship from Xavier. Joe made it a World Championship when he defended against Zebra Kid in England. Joe successfully defended the title 31 times in 643 days against the likes of Bryan Danielson, Homicide, Jay Briscoe, AJ Styles & CM Punk. He went on to claim the Pure Championship from his protege, Jay Lethal. After a heart-felt goodbye, Joe moved on to Impact Wrestling, where he held numerous championships. In 2015, Joe returned to ROH and challenged Jay Briscoe for the World Championship before moving on to WWE. Along the way, Joe cemented himself as the most dominant World champion in ROH history.

ROH Night of Champions: ROH Championship Match: Xavier (c) vs. Samoa Joe: It’s March 22, 2003 at the Murphy Rec Center in Philadelphia. Chris Lovey & Ray Murrow are on the call. Xavier was not a popular choice as ROH Champion among the fanbase, as his matches didn’t get as many stars as many other folks on the roster. The point was to eventually make the person that would beat him, and this match certainly accomplished that.

Joe extends the hand, and Xavier wants nothing to do with that as a member of the Prophecy. Christopher Daniels & Allison Danger are at ringside with him, but that doesn’t last long. Michael Shane superkicks Daniels and CW Anderson punches Danger & carries her outta there. This leaves Xavier alone with Joe. Joe lands the first strikes to Xavier, chopping and kicking him down as the fans chant “Joe”. The announcers mention that Xavier had a concussion last week, which isn’t ideal when you’re heading into a match with Samoa Joe. Xavier lays in a couple chops, but Joe responds with a slap and then a chop of his own. Xavier attempts to skin the cat back into the ring, but Joe kicks him down to the floor. Joe places Xavier in a chair, then hits the Olay kick, sending Xavier into the ringside fencing. Big chops send Xavier into spasms. Boots to Xavier’s face, Xavier slips out of a slam attempt and hits a lungblower. We go to commercial.

Xavier works over Joe on the mat as we return. A seated dropkick just serves to piss Joe off. Joe & Xavier exchange stiff chops, Joe wins that exchange. They fight over a suplex attempt, Joe’s tweaked neck from a match earlier in the evening won’t allow that. More chops exchanged. Xavier tries to clothesline Joe down, but it’s Joe clotheslining Xavier to the mat. German suplex, Dragon suplex, then a straitjacket suplex gets two. Xavier rolls into a pin attempt of his own right after, as Joe took a lot out of himself there. Joe blocks a move,then Xavier hits Joe in the head with his knee on a suplex attempt for two. Xavier hits the X-breaker (neckbreaker variation), but doesn’t cover. He goes up top, goes for a 450 splash but it gets nothing but Joe’s knees. Enziguri by Joe, then some knees to the head of Xavier. He locks in the choke! Xavier is out and the referee stops it.

Winner: Samoa Joe (11:56 via submission)
Match Rating: **1/2

JD Dunn’s review from back in the day tells me that most of what we missed was Xavier offense. Since the show’s about Joe, that’s the right choice. The match wasn’t too complicated and didn’t need to be. Out with the old champ, in with the new.

ROH Manhattan Mayhem: ROH Pure Championship Match: Jay Lethal (c) vs. Samoa Joe: ROH’s first show in Manhattan took place at the New Yorker Hotel on May 7, 2005. That always looked like a fun venue to see some wrestling in. This show was considered one of the best top to bottom ROH shows at that point and included these two men teaming in the main event against Homicide & Low Ki. So no matter what happens here between student & teacher, obviously nobody took anything personally. Jimmy Bower (another Gabe Sapolsky pseudonym) & Dave Prazak were on the call.

Joe drives Lethal into the corner with some slaps and kicks. Lethal slaps back and lets Joe know that the real champ is here! Lethal with some forearms, then Joe takes him down going for a Boston Crab. Lethal grapples out and gets Joe in an armbar on the mat. Joe with a fireman’s carry into an armbar of his own. Lethal twists out into another armbar. Joe takes Lethal down into an armbar of the Fujiwara quality. Works his way into a arm & leg stretch. Lethal gets out, Joe backs him into the ropes and forearms him. Lethal kicks Joe down for a one count, hits a neckbreaker for one. Side Russian leg sweep, then Lethal gets Joe into an inverted surfboard. Joe goes to the ropes for his first rope break. Lethal with a couple of chops in the corner. Jay goes for a crossbody off the middle rope, but Joe walks out of the way. Joe punches Lethal in the face, which results in a warning from Todd Sinclair. Lethal grabs a neckbreaker during the announcement, then locks in a Cobra Stretch like he’s Delirious. Joe uses his second rope break, obviously he’s not accustomed to these Pure rules like Jay Lethal is. Lethal avoids Joe and backflips out of the corner, but then runs right into the STJoe. Joe with the slap & kick, then the running kneedrop for two as we go to commercial.

We return to Joe slapping & chopping Lethal in the corner. Running kneelift in the corner, then the ol’ facewash. Joe goes for the running boot, but Lethal cuts him off and sends him into the ropes. A dropkick sends Joe down to the mat. Fans alternate between Lethal & Joe chants. Lethal goes for a suplex, and amazingly hits one. Lethal goes up top but slips on the ropes. Eventually regains it and hits a diving headbutt for two. Joe backdrops Lethal onto the apron, then kicks him down to the floor for the tope suicida. Lethal hit a closed fist somewhere in there, resulting in a warning for him. They head back to the ring, exchanging some strikes along the way. Up on the apron, Lethal goes for a sleeper, Joe ends up breaking it by driving himself & Lethal through the time keeper’s table. Sinclair restarts the twenty count. Could have been the first countout in ROH history, but it was not. They exchange chops back in the ring. Joe hits the snap powerslam for two, then locks in a cross-armbreaker. Lethal uses his second rope break. Lethal slips out of a powerbomb, hits a neckbreaker then a DDT for two. Lethal with some forearms, Joe responds with a palm strike & a Northern Lariat. Lethal hits the dragon suplex, his finisher at this time, but it only gets two! (It’d be a few more years before he’d hit on the Lethal Injection.) Lethal goes for another dragon suplex, but Joe slips out. German suplex by Joe, then a dragon suplex, and the straitjacket suplex gets three! New champion!

Winner: Samoa Joe (16:35 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***3/4

The Garoon/Ziegler review tells me we missed Joe’s final rope break and a rope break from Lethal, explaining why the commentators were talking about the rules when we returned. Fun match here that managed to elevate Lethal further in defeat.

ROH Joe vs. Kobashi: Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi: It’s October 1, 2005 at the New Yorker Hotel. To say the hype for this match was off the charts would be a bit of an understatement. ROH fans have always loved their Japanese wrestling, and the idea of Joe facing one of the Four Pillars of 1990s All Japan was something people got very excited about. ROH was so excited about it the announcers took the match off and let the crowd noise speak for itself.

Code of Honor is adhered to and the bell rings. Joe lands an early kick, which Kobashi shrugs off. Another kick, same result. Joe powers Kobashi into the ropes and gives him a big slap. Kobashi powers Joe into the corner and gives him a loud chop. Joe’s pissed now. Test of strength, Joe hooks it into a suplex and gives Kobashi a chop outside. Sliding dropkick sends Kobashi into the barrier, then a tope suicida from Joe sends Kobashi down to the floor. Jay Lethal is seen at ringside as Joe rolls Kobashi into the ring for a two count.

Back from commercial, and Joe is still on the advantage as the fans chant for ROH. Joe hits the chop/kick/knee combo, sending Kobashi rolling to the outside. Joe places Kobashi in a chair and hits the Olay Kick! One more time in another corner of ringside? Nah, Kobashi breaks that up, smacks Joe into the chair and chops him over the barricade! DDT on the floor by Kobashi, and Joe is in some trouble here. Back in the ring, Kobashi places Joe up against the ropes and lands some chops. Joe slumps down to the mat, Kobashi with the Irish whip knees, then a chop down to the mat. Kobashi with some chops down to Joe, covers him for two. Kobashi with a front facelock, Joe reaches the ropes. Kobiashi goes for the vertical suplex, Joe blocks and hits one of his own. Kobashi with some chops. Joe with some kicks. We got a chop fest and the crowd loses its collective mind! Kobashi chops Joe down as we go to commercial.

We return to Kobashi repeatedly chopping Joe in the neck. Joe responds with an STO and a running senton. Kobashi seems pleased as Joe lands some punches & chops in the corner. Joe goes for a powerbomb, Kobashi blocks, so Joe kicks him a couple of times before powerbombing him into the corner. Time for some face washing, then the running boot from Joe! Joe hits the Musclebustaaaaa, but it only gets two! Joe doesn’t let up, knees Kobashi in the back and goes for the choke, Kobashi shrugs it off but Joe kicks him in the head. Powerbomb gets two, Joe transitions to the STF. The crowd requests that Kobashi not tap, but Joe’s getting this thing locked in. Kobashi nearly makes the ropes, but Joe switches to a Crossface. Now it’s a modified Rings of Saturn, but Kobashi makes the ropes. Joe now contemplates every choice he’s made in his life before running into a chop from Kobashi. Half nelson suplex from Kobashi and both men are down. They make it up before Todd Sinclair’s ten count. Kobashi with his trademark chops in the corner! I lost count somewhere around thirty, it goes on for quite awhile. I think Joe enjoyed at least part of that. His chest didn’t. Kobashi with some running double chops. Half & half suplex by Kobashi gets the two count. Joe fights back with some forearms, but Kobashi hits the sleeper. Sleeper suplex dumps Joe right on his damn head. Cover gets two because Joe is Samoan. Joe with some slaps! He goes for a clothesline, but Kobashi blocks it. Discus strikes by Kobashi, then the LARIATOOOOOOOOO gets three!

Winner: Kenta Kobashi (22:14 via pinfall)
Match Rating: *****

Dunn did a nice job of breaking down the opinions surrounding the match at the time. I tend to agree with him and have no qualms breaking out any and all snowflakes for it, even if we missed a couple of minutes. Top notch action, made even more so by an environment with fans that were more than ready to see it. A rare thing considering that Northeast wrestling fans had generally seen everything, but this was one of those nights where they hadn’t. Exactly the type of match you wanted to see from these two, with both men landing their heaviest shots and coming back for more. One of the true high points of Ring of Honor history.

We close with the end of Joe’s farewell speech thanking the fans & talking about why he’ll always love ROH.

Next Week: CM Punk!

9.5

The final score: review Amazing

The 411

It just doesn't get much better than Samoa Joe in Ring of Honor. One can't help but be a bit nostalgic seeing Joe in this environment in the days before things got...I don't know if "complicated" is the right word, but it comes to mind. It was a darn good time to be an ROH fan, and the memories keep flooding back. We'll see some more great memories next week, I'm sure.