Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Stalemate

Ring of Honor — Stalemate
by J.D. Dunn

So James Gibson submitted his petition for a title match to the Ring of Honor championship committee. Since he’d kicked everyone’s ass so far, they accepted and gave him a title match against Austin Aries. However, at the Best of the American Super Juniors tournament, Gibson wound up in a match with Aries’ stablemate Roderick Strong. Strong utilized a series of backbreakers to injure Gibson’s back and, in effect, knock him out of the tournament. Now, Jamie gets his shot, but what condition will he be in?

April 16, 2005

From Dorchester, Mass.

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and CM Punk.

Good Times, Great Memories.
Your host Colt Cabana, of course. He cracks a few jokes about Nigel and brings out Bobby Heenan. Bobby and Colt make a few more jokes until CM Punk interrupts and asks Bobby to be in his corner tonight against the Embassy. Since Colt was nice enough to get rid of Cornette for Bobby, Bobby agrees. The funny thing is, Colt has been hyping CM Punk as a guest ever since he started GT,GM, but when Punk finally appears he complains that Colt never invites him to be on.

Elsewhere, Homicide and Julius Smokes plot strategy against Bryan Danielson. Ye-ye-yeah!

Opening Match: Kevin Steen vs. Vordell Walker.
Steen looks like a pudgier version of Colt Cabana. His nickname is “Mr. Wrestling,” which is a moniker I’ve yet to see him live up to. Vordell runs through his array of suplexes. He’s like a bland Perry Saturn. Steen catches him with a thrust kick and a suplex for two. Steen goes up, but Vordell knocks him down with a jumping kick. Steen shrugs it off and comes off with a crossbody for two. A Tornado DDT gets two for Steen. Steen tries to slip over Vordell’s shoulder but gets caught. Vordell finishes with the Tornado Uranage at 8:03. This was like a Raw dark match, which is usually better than the average Raw match. *1/2

The Embassy isn’t sweating Bobby Heenan.

Roderick Strong vs. El Generico.
Strong has played a bigger part of ROH over the past few shows, playing the “enforcer” role of Generation Next and wearing out Homicide and James Gibson before their title shots at Austin Aries. Generico surprises everyone, including Strong, by coming out of the gate hot with a series of chops and a tope con hilo. That ends when Generico tries to slingshot his way back in, but Roderick counters to (what else?) a backbreaker. Strong goes after the back, as usual. Generico tries a rollup, but Strong counters to a backbreaker. It’s fun just watching all the different ways he can hit you with a backbreaker. Generico comes back with an apron DDT and a high kick. He tries RVD’s split-legged moonsault but trips himself up. The Blue Thunder Bomb gets two, but Strong counters a big boot to…a backbreaker. Generico gets a few rollups, but Strong just drops him out of a suplex and finishes with the Liontamer at 11:38. Strong continues to look good, but I’m surprised he gave Generico so much offense. Entertaining squash. **1/4

Nigel McGuiness advises Colt Cabana to stop making fun of him and get serious about wrestling.

Lacey’s Angels (w/Lacey) vs. Azrieal & Dixie.
Remember when hardcore Brian Knobbs used to come out to “My Sharona”? They must have had some drugs left over from the Special K days, because Lacey decided to let Cheech wrestle instead of Izzy. Azrieal dominates early, but Deranged gives him a cheap lowblow behind the ref’s back. Deranged goes low again, this time with the ref watching and ignoring. The Angels double-slam Azrieal and stomp him in the nuts again. There’s a lot of testicle psychology going on here. They team up for a Springboard Ace Crusher. Nice. Azrieal comes back with a Reverse Blockbuster. HOT TAG TO DIXIE! Azrieal and Dixie team up for a legdrop/backdrop combo. Azrieal blocks a floatover, but Deranged counters to a headscissors piledriver out of nowhere for the win at 9:00. Don’t look know, but these guys are wrestling like actual wrestlers instead of the spotmonkeys they were in Special K. Color me impressed. **3/4

Pure Title: Jay Lethal vs. Spanky.
Spanky tries to start out fast, but they slow it down and take it to the mat. They exchange armbars, and Spanky gets frustrated and uses a closed fist to draw a warning. Lethal takes it to the floor and gains the advantage. Spanky is reeling here as Lethal slaps on a reverse Surfboard Stretch to make Spanky use a ropebreak. Spanky desperately fires off another punch and has another ropebreak taken away from him. Spanky comes back with a Tornado Armbar DDT into a wakigatame, forcing Lethal to use his first break. Spanky grabs the ropes to avoid a Dragon Suplex, but that’s not a ropebreak because it’s not a pinfall or submission. Spanky comes back with a superkick and a frogsplash for two. Lethal kicks out, but Spanky catches him in the jujigatame. Lethal uses another ropebreak. Lethal comes back and hits the Dragon Suplex despite his arm injury. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Spanky gets his foot on the ropes to use his final ropebreak. Spanky counters a second Dragon Suplex to a jawbreaker and goes for Sliced Bread #2, but Lethal shoves him into the buckle. Spanky tries it again on the apron, but Lethal reverses to a Boston Crab in the ropes for the submission at 16:53. I loved the psychology of Spanky being the superior athlete but not being able to adjust to the highly specialized rules of the Pure Title. Lethal also solidified himself with a good performance on the mat. ***1/4

CM Punk (w/Bobby Heenan) vs. Killer Kruel (w/the Embassy)
Jade forgets her role again and has to be chastised and humiliated by Prince Nana. This was supposed to be Punk finally getting his hands on Jimmy Rave, but Jimmy has come down with a bad case of arm flu or something while riding an elephant, so Nana sends him to New York via personal limousine to have some champagne. Instead, Embassy bodyguard Killer Kruel is taking his place. Kruel wrestles exactly like you’d expect a WWE prospect to wrestle. He hits Punk with a few power moves before getting rolled up at 2:57. After the match, Rave returns through the crowd and jumps Punk from behind. Ha ha! What a pussy. You gotta love Jimmy Rave. They do an extended brawl into the crowd before the Embassy returns to ringside and destroys punk in a 4-on-1 beatdown. Rave wraps a chain around Punk’s neck, and they hang him before a handful of babyfaces makes the save. Not much of a match, but it was just an excuse to get Punk out there for another beatdown to set up the next show. Betcha can’t guess what kind of match they’re going to have. 1/4*

Austin Aries and Roderick Strong gloat about how Strong has softened up James Gibson. Or, I should say, half of Austin Aries’ face gloats while Strong wrings his hands. Note to cameraman: if you want a real two-shot, you have to back up or work on your panning.

Double Stakes Four-Corner Survival Match: Samoa Joe vs. Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuiness vs. Alex Shelley.
First Fall, Pure Title Qualifier: Okay, stay with me on this one. They wrestle until there’s a fall. The winner of that fall gets a Pure Title match and takes himself out of the match. The loser is eliminated. The final two wrestle for the right to face the World Champion. Nigel and Colt start since they have issues. They do a little European stuff with Nigel getting annoyed because Colt is so happy-go-lucky. Shelley, who is making his big return after a month of injury, tags in and trades reversals with Colt, including a Tequila Sunrise. Joe finally tags himself in despite some intrigue as to whether he really wants a Pure Title shot. Joe knocks Shelley around and then trades counters with Cabana. Nigel tags in and does the handstand. Great spot as Cabana is tentative about moving in on Nigel, so Samoa Joe gets impatient and DESTROYS Nigel with a running kick. The match finally settles into its base psychology with Nigel being the serious technician, Joe being the ass-kicker, Shelley trying to pick his spots, and Colt just wanting to have fun. Joe slaps Colt senseless and locks in the STF. Nigel eventually makes the save after thinking about it for a good, long while. Shelley takes Nigel to the floor and keeps him from interfering again as Joe finishes Colt with the Coquina Clutch at 17:51.

Second Fall, World Title Qualifier: Colt is upset that Nigel didn’t make the save, but all’s fair and besides, Shelley had Nigel’s foot. Shelley jumps Nigel from behind while Nigel’s arguing with Cabana. It’s times like this when you’re reminded that Shelley can actually wrestle instead of rely on personality and one-liners like he does in TNA. Nigel eventually wends his way back into the advantage by working the arm. He works in the handstand again, this time into the rope-assisted stunner. Shelley gets his foot on the ropes, though. Shelley blocks a charge. SHELLSHOCK! That’s enough to pull of something of an upset at 25:24. The first segment was filled with great personality clashes. I expected the second fall to drop off, but they acquitted themselves quite well. In retrospect, the writing was on the wall for this match as it set up Joe vs. Lethal in a mentor/student match, Shelley vs. Aries in a match of former stablemates, and a rematch of Colt vs. Nigel. See, just good solid booking from Gabe and the gang. ****

ROH World Title: Austin Aries vs. James Gibson.
Right, friggin’ on! This is one I’ve been looking forward too for a while. Oh, and Gibson comes out as RoboJamie, not taking any of Aries’ crap and smacking him around. Gibson dominates on the mat early, but YOU CAN’T HEADSCISSOR AUSTIN ARIES! Aries tries to slip over Gibson, but Jamie catches him in a Schoolboy Slam for two. Aries goes to the floor, and Jamie follows him out with a springboard plancha. Aries takes over, though, slamming Gibson’s back into the crowd barrier. Aries goes to work on Gibson’s back to pay off the work Roderick Strong did on him at “Best of the American Super Juniors.” See, this is also how the Homicide match should have gone with Homicide normally being a psycho who would kill Aries but too injured to do anything about it. Gibson counters a charge and tries a Tornado DDT, but Aries counters to a backbreaker. NICE! Aries locks in an Argentine Backbreaker. Gibson goes to the eyes, but Aries drops down with him, racking Gibson’s back before he can get out of it. Aries locks in a side Cobra Clutch and counters to another backbreaker as Gibson tries to power out. Aries drops the powerdrive elbow between Gibson’s shoulderblades. Finally, Jamie is able to counter to a suplex. He drops a guillotine legdrop for two, but he can’t get Aries up for the Tiger Bomb because of the bad back. Instead, he goes for the Front Guillotine lock, but Aries counters to an Atomic Drop. AWESOME! Gibson squirts out of an armbar and finally does drop Aries with the Tiger Bomb. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Gibson chokes Aries out against the ropes but misses a moonsault. Aries gets a sloppy Crucifix Bomb and bites his way out of a superplex. The 450-splash misses, and they exchange Rolling Brainbusters. Well, that’s just goofy! Gibson goes for another Tiger Bomb, but Aries reverses to the brainbuster. Gibson hooks his legs, but both men’s shoulders are down for the double pin at 22:38. The ref raises Gibson’s hand first, and the crowd goes BALLISTIC! Of course, it’s a draw. The ref is ready to restart the match since both men consent to five more minutes, but Alex Shelley runs down and hits Aries with Shellshock to set up their match next month. Jamie wants to continue, but Referee Todd Sinclair sure as hell isn’t going to allow it now. Some people may complain about the number of high spots down the stretch that “should” have gotten the win, but then some people think the government was behind 9/11, so there’s no accounting for good sense. This was an excellent match filled with psychology, intensity, crowd heat and great wrestling, and it perfectly set up the next two shows. ****1/4

Best-of-Five Series Match #4, No DQ Lumberjack Match: Bryan Danielson vs. Homicide (w/Julius Smokes).
Homicide jumped out to a two-match lead in the series, but Danielson won a Falls Count Anywhere match to stay alive. The lumberjacks aren’t any of the major superstars but students, which means they can actually focus on being lumberjacks instead of being in character. Homicide tosses Danielson to the floor early, but the lumberjacks are too afraid to touch him. Funny, but that negates the stipulations, which I don’t like. Homicide actually tries to pick a fight with them because he’s Homicide. They finally start to wrestle with Danielson working over Homicide’s arm. Homicide tosses Danielson to the floor and hits a tope con hilo. Since both guys are out of it, the students are able to toss them back in. Danielson fires back with forearms but runs into a belly-to-belly suplex. Danielson goes back to the arm with a series of armbreakers and hits the swandive headbutt for two. Homicide incapacitates Danielson with a piledriver and calls for a table. Julius eventually gets it in there with help from a lumberjack, but Danielson has time to recover. They tease going into the table a few times before Homicide T-Bones Danielson through it. Unfortunately, the table doesn’t cooperate and break fully, making the spot fizzle. They take it up to the top where Danielson superplexes Homicide into the lumberjacks! Danielson brawls through the lumberjacks to get to Homicide and gives him an airplane spin, knocking down all the lumberjacks in the process. One of the lumberjacks tosses Danielson into the ring and hits him with a Cobra Clutch Slam. He rips off his shirt to reveal a Rottweilers shirt. The evil lumberjack and Smokes try to choke Danielson out with a bat, but Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal make the save and take out Smokes and the lumberjack to make it an even match once again. Joe and Lethal stick around as lumberjacks as Danielson and Homicide collide mid-ring for a double KO. Homicide recovers and hits a Super Ace Crusher. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Danielson counters the Cop Killa to the Regalplex, but Homicide no-sells and hits a lariat. Danielson counters another Cop Killa attempt to another Regalplex and from there into the Cattle Mutilation for the eventual tapout at 24:47. Well, they tried to do some creative booking with an old concept, and for the most part it worked out. The biggest problem with the match is the same problem that I have with the series, and that’s that these two are playing to the stipulations (which they should) and it’s taking away from what they could just do if they had a normal match. Minor gripe, though, because this was highly entertaining. Danielson forces a fifth match. ***1/2

In the back, James Gibson is upset because he thinks he was screwed tonight. Apparently, all those brainbusters gave him Tourette’s Syndrome. Wow, kiss you sister with that mouth, Jamie?

Elsewhere, Alex Shelley explains that he was backed into a corner by Generation Next. Austin Aries and Roderick Strong try to attack, but Shelley sees them coming and gets in a few shots of his own before running off.

The 411: After a few down shows, ROH rebounded in a big way here. Everyone who was supposed to deliver did, and the bad matches were used to set up angles down the road. Can't complain about much here. Thumbs way up.
Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]