wrestling / Video Reviews
Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Joe vs. Punk II
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| Ring of Honor — Joe vs. Punk II by J.D. Dunn Twitter.com/jddunn411 Brightkite.com/jddunn411 The Carnage Crew destroys both guys, so the match never happens. The CC complain about Mick Foley counting the fall on Loc when he was in a garbage can and throw out a few threats to Maff & Whitmer too. [N/R] Delirious was still fighting for a spot on the roster at this point, and he really hadn’t refined the gimmick yet. Lethal was on a losing streak but was rapidly climbing up the ladder in ROH. Lots of just trading moves early to show what they’re all about. That leads to a chopfest, and Delirious does a cool reverse rana to snap Lethal off the ropes. That sets up the cannonball. Shadows Over Hell misses, and Lethal goes up. Flying headbutt… right into the Ace Crusher. SHADOWS OVER HELL! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Lethal finishes with the Full Nelson Suplex at 8:19. Delirious looked good enough to secure a roster spot. **3/4 This is the first women’s match on the main show in nearly a year. Tracy… well, let’s just say she wears spandex well. This was about on par with a normal divas match. Lots of meaningless reversals early. Daizee keeps getting overpowered. At this point, she was transitioning from Matt Sydal’s manager to a regular wrestler (in ROH, at least). Tracy hits a stunner and finishes with a clothesline at 3:43. This would be at home on Raw. 1/2* Everyone is all over Trent for being an asshole. Angel Dust is no taking wrestling seriously, so he and Daniels do a quick segment of actual wrestling before everyone hits the high spots. Sydal does a cool double stomp into a double ax-handle to the floor. Back in, Sydal misses the Shooting Star Press but lands on his feet. Trent jumps Sydal, but Daniels catches Angel Dust with the Bridging German for the win at 6:33. This was all about Daniels and Sydal with Trent adding the douchebaggery. ** But first, we get Mick and Rick busting on each other for their divergent styles. Talk turns to Flair – Foley doesn’t like him, Steamboat does, of course. Foley says Flair kisses HHH’s ass and carries Batista’s bags. Interesting in retrospect, Mick Foley (current TNA Champ as I write this) says he’s not Ric Flair because he knew when to step aside. Suuuuure. So here’s the setup – Nigel was trained by Les Thatcher. Chad was trained by the Malenkos (Dean and Joe). BJ was trained by Harley Race. And then there’s Maff. The match is just a regular match until the Carnage Crew runs in and attacks Maff and Whitmer for the DQ at 4:45. Steamboat chases the CC away, so Foley restarts the match as a hardcore match. Nigel and Chad are content to brawl too, but Foley gets involved for Team Hardcore. Lots of brawling. Chad takes a Coke to the face. Finally, Steamboat returns to fight off Foley, and that allows Nigel to roll up Whitmer for the win at 11:39 of total time. Cool idea for a feud, disappointing match. If you’re going to do something like this, it has to be 2/3 falls or best-of-five, something other than “start the match, stop the match, restart the match as a different match.” ** So, after the Crew ruined their tryout match, we get this. Andrews is a CM Punk trainee. The jobbers jump the CC and actually put it on cruise control for a while, dominating the skuzzy, beer-drinking bastards. Loc yanks Dalton off the ropes, though, turning things toward the Crew. Many neckbreaking moves follow. The Carnage Driver finishes at 4:20. Looked interesting for a while and then turned into a squash. 3/4* Both teams are heels, which, in ROH, means they’re over. Jack backflip kicks Homicide and hits a tope con hilo. Future stablemates Romero and Strong do a nice segment before Homicide comes in and gets thuggy with it. Evans and Strong wow the crowd with the partner-assisted corkscrew splash on Homicide. Strong launches Evans at Homicide. Homicide gets sick of that and plants Evans on his head with a rope-assisted DDT… from the top rope. Camel Crab follows from the Rottweilers. Strong tags in, but Homicide goes low, and the Rottweilers hit the Doomsday Bulldog. Jack busts out the spin kicks but gets buzzsawed by Romero. Homicide turns Jack for a loop with the lariat, but Strong is the legal man. Strong hits Homicide with the press gutbuster and Romero with the Crucifix Ace Crusher. That sets up the 630-splash from Evans to pick up the upset win at 17:31. GenNext really looked good here, busting out a lot of creative doubleteams and moves people had seen before. Very impressive, and it’s no wonder Jack and Roderick became such a good team (and good opponents). ***1/2 This would be the other reason to buy this DVD, and it’s one that gets overshadowed by the main event. However, it showed that Shelley could be a damn fine storyteller. Jimmy and Shelley were tag partners in their hometown promotion before Shelley dumped Jimmy to shoot for stardom. Shelley claimed to be held back, of course, and acted like an ass about it. Jimmy has never beaten Shelley in ROH to this point, but he keeps trying – hence, “I Quit” rules. Jacobs headscissors Shelley into the railing early, but Shelley responds with Shellshock into it. Inside, Shelley takes over with the Skullf*ck on a chair. Jimmy won’t give up. Jimmy neckbreakers him on a chair and takes out a spike (see, he was doing it back then too). Shelley steals it from him, tough, and ties him up in the corner, exposing Jacobs’ back. KENDO STICK SHOT! AND ANOTHER! Jimmy low blows him and escapes. Jacobs misses the senton and winds up in the Border City Stretch. He escapes, though, and puts Shelley in the hold! Alex goes to the eyes to get out of it. Jimmy sets up a chair bridge, but Shelley WHACKS him with the Kendo Stick and drops him on the bridge with a Northern Lights Bomb! Sickening! The Border City Stretch gets the submission at 16:47. Loved the intensity and all-out violence from both guys. It’s not on the level of the old NWA “I Quit” matches, of course, but this is a case where I bought into the familiarity breeding contempt. Creativity in escaping holds and transitioning the match made it that much more enjoyable. **** You know the story. Punk earned a title shot early in the year, and no one thought much about it until Punk had the brilliant strategy of trying to wear the much larger Samoa Joe down and extend the match. Joe was game, though, and survived for a draw. Now, we get the rematch. In the meantime, Samoa Joe actually was pinned with a quick rollup by Colt Cabana, which gave Punk a blueprint for defeating Joe. Punk goes for a quick pin early before grounding Joe with the headlock to neutralize the power advantage. Joe finally gets pissed off enough to power out and lay in the chops. Punk doesn’t change his stick-move-and-ground strategy, though. Joe takes a breather and storms back in only to get ridden down. One guy yells, “Boring” and gets shouted down. Finally, Joe suckers him into an overhand knucklelock and headbutts him silly. Punk unleashes a flurry of strikes to defend himself, but he gets out of control and misses a wild backfist. Joe PLANTS him with a roundhouse kick. Punk takes a powder and shakes it off. Back in, Joe offers either a lock-up or a strike battle, so Punk wisely chooses a lock-up because there’s no way he’s winning a battle of hard strikes. Punk manages to avoid being overpowered and begins to target the arm. He does the Undertaker ropewalk and legdrops the arm to set up a hammerlock. Now, Joe is really pissed and tries to shoot Punk off the ropes, but Punk hangs onto his arm, twists, and goes back to the headlock. Again, and Punk does the same trick. Finally, Joe just bulls him through the ropes to the floor. Punk STILL hangs on to the headlock, so Joe picks him up and backdrop suplexes him on the floor. Back in, Joe unloads on him with strikes, but Punk jumps out of the way of the Facewash and hits his own. Punk busts out Cattle Branding for two, but Joe is too close to the ropes. Joe catches Punk’s legs and bends him in half with a variation on the STF. Punk escapes and goes for a crossbody, but Joe simply walks out of the way. Now Joe takes over midway through the match. Lots of stiff strikes and sick submission maneuvers. Punk is staggered and punchdrunk for a few minutes, but he comes back with a huracanrana that sends Joe to the floor. SUICIDA! Joe’s groggy, so Punk hits the Ole Kick. He tries another huracanrana, but this time Joe blocks and just SLINGS him into the crowd barricade. Joe hits his own Ole Kick at the 40-minute mark. Back in the ring, Punk charges right into the STJoe. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Joe tosses Punk and hits the ELBOW SUICIDA! Bower and Nulty sign off to let the action speak for itself. To the apron, Joe can’t hit an Exploder, so he just DDTs Punk on the apron and leaves him on the outside to die. Weird bit of clipping continuity as Joe tries to suplex Punk in and the crowd dies all at once as they switch angles. Just a coincidence, but it’s jarring. Punk slips over his shoulder and dropkicks Joe in the knee. That’s not enough to slow Joe down, though, and he tackles Punk with the SPEAR! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Slugfest from the knees, and Joe catches him with the snap powerslam. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Punk goes for the Pepsi Plunge, but Joe tosses him aside. Punk stays with it for the Tornado DDT! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! The fans thought that was it, but Punk immediately slaps on the Anaconda Vise. Joe survives and powers up. Punk catches him with a hammerlock DDT, though! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! The fans smell title change. Punk makes the mistake of calling the Pepsi Twist, though, so Joe ducks it and powerbombs him. That segues to the STF. Punk squirms out and dropkicks Joe’s leg. This time, when Joe catches him charging, Punk slips over him for the sunset flip! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! SHINING WIZARD! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! This time, the Pepsi Twist hits! MOONSAULT! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Punk tries to choke Joe out, but Joe powers up and backdrops him. Punk uses FIGHTING SPIRIT and pops up for a double clothesline. Punk recovers first and drags Joe up for the Pepsi Plunge. Joe fights out, though, and superplexes him. They both recover and set up in the corner again. Both guys trade blows, and Joe is able to hit the SUPER MUSCLE BUSTER… but time expires at 59:58 (ripoff!!!) The greatest match ROH had produced to that point. Fantastic strategies and storytelling from Punk. Building, not only on their previous match, but on matches Joe had with Bryan Danielson, Homicide, Colt Cabana and Steve Corino. Oh, and great execution and hard work too. The only tiny little flaws are some execution things where you could see them getting into position and the fact that the finish wasn’t as furiously compelling as it could have been with more nearfalls and less jockeying for position. Still, minor gripes for a tremendous match. ****3/4 |
The 411: The undercard is nothing special, but who cares. It's called Joe vs. Punk II for a reason. Feel justified in buying it for that match alone, but don't click the "skip" button so far that you miss out on the "I Quit" match or even the Rottweilers vs. Generation Next. Punk and Joe is a definite must if you're a wrestling fan, though, and, although it holds up on its own, you're better off seeing it as part of their 2004 trilogy. Thumbs way up. |
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| Final Score: 8.5 [ Very Good ] legend |
