ROH: It All Begins: January 15, 2005: Cambridge, Massachusetts

ROH … It All Begins … January 15, 2005 … Cambridge, Massachusetts

Review by Brad Garoon and Jacob Ziegler

Top 5

JZ says: I really liked it when ROH did the top 5, so I think I’m going to start including a top 5 at the beginning of each review. This top 5 was voted on by those on the ROH message board, and they do a new top 5 after each show or double shot weekend. Here is tonight’s top 5 –

ROH World Champion: Austin Aries
ROH Pure Champion: John Walters
1) Samoa Joe
2) CM Punk
3) Bryan Danielson
4) Nigel McGuinness
5) Colt Cabana

Intro

BG says: ROH in 2005 starts out with a promo … an Austin Aries promo to be more specific. How un-ROH like. Aries is all semi-formal, because that’s how champions do in 2005. He’s going to make more title defenses and defend the belt in more countries than Samoa Joe did. He’s also confident about his first defense tonight against Colt Cabana. It’s going to end the same way as their match at Scramble Cage Melee, with Cabana being carried out. Alex Shelley shows up through the mist at ringside, and says he helped Aries pass over people the way most aren’t usually allowed to in ROH. He wants to be the next challenger for the title. Roderick Strong attacks him from behind and they put the boots to him until Cabana makes the save. Shelley thanks Cabana and apologizes for being a dick in the past, but Cabana’s not buying what he’s selling. Cabana’s wild thing haircut is pretty funny.

JZ says: Austin Aries was the last wrestler to leave an ROH ring in 2004 and the first to enter it in 2005. I think that’s neat. Even with the buttoning shirt and sunglasses I just don’t think Aries looks like a World Champion. He’s a very good wrestler and all, and I think the match against Joe was tremendous, but as far as over all image I’m just not buying it yet. But it’s early; don’t jump down my throat just yet. Aries says he’s going to defend the title more times and in more countries than Samoa Joe did. Well if it’s not against quality opponents who earned their title shots, it doesn’t mean anything. Aries and Alex Shelley talk about the new “title petitions,” which is replacing the Contender’s Ring. Just settle on something already. Colt Cabana (who I spent a great deal of time hanging out with on Memorial Day) nearly kills Aries with an awesome back body drop. Shelley offers his hand to Cabana, who refuses, and then Shelley decides he’s ready for his match with Spanky.

MATCH #1: Alex Shelley vs. Spanky

BG says: This is Spanky’s first match since Round Robin Challenge III back in May of 2004. That was his first match in ROH since Glory by Honor, back in October of 2002. Shelley shakes hands and acts all respectful. I don’t particularly like this instant face turn that we have because other heels beat him up. It hurts mostly because he was SUCH a great heel. They lock up to start. They work the mat until Spanky goes to the ropes to break a wristlock. They go back to the mat where Shelley pins the shoulders down for 2. Shelley puts on a stranglehold and holds on through many attempts by Spanky to reverse. He hits a shoulder block and blows some snot Spanky’s way. Spanky comes back with a hurricanrana but Shelley blocks a monkey flip. They get into a very fast sequence that’s stopped by Shelley with a headlock. Shelley forearms Spanky to the apron and goes out to meet him. He hits a big DDT on the apron, knocking Spanky to the floor. He climbs the ropes and dives onto Spanky. Back in the ring he hits a slingshot legdrop for 2. He jumps to the top but Spanky shoves him to the floor. Spanky slams Shelley’s knee into the guardrail and goes to work on it. Back in the ring Spanky goes after the knee with a leglock. He puts on a figure-four but Shelley makes the ropes. Shelley nails a big clothesline but can’t capitalize. Spanky comes back and tries Sliced Bread #2 but Shelley blocks and hits an enziguiri. He hits a bulldog and a dropkick to the face for 2. So much for the injured knee. Spanky rams Shelley’s face into the turnbuckle but Shelley hits another enziguiri and a backslide for 2. He hits the Angel’s Wings for 2. He misses a double knee in the corner but hits the 2K1 Bomb for 2. Spanky comes back with a jawbreaker and Sliced Bread #2 for 2. He hits a brainbuster and frog splash for 2. He puts Shelley on the top rope and hits a superplex. He goes to the top and hits a flying elbow for 2. He hits a phantom superkick but Shelley hits one full on followed by a German suplex. He hits the Shellshock for 2. Spanky reverses another 2K1 Bomb to Sliced Bread #2 off the middle of the ropes for the win. This made Shelley look pretty invincible right up to the end, and was a pretty fun opener despite the lack of selling in the second half.
Rating: ***

JZ says: Seeing Alex Shelley as a babyface is so strange and so disappointing. He can be a good babyface because he is just a tremendous all-around worker, but he is a phenomenal heel and could be an asset to the company in that role. Plus the face turn was so hastily executed it just doesn’t feel right. They do some really cool mat wrestling, and somewhere in there Mark Nulty actually says “begin’d.” Maybe I shouldn’t give him such a hard time in my 2005 reviews. We’ll see. Bower talks about how the fans aren’t there to get themselves over but just to enjoy great wrestling. At all the live shows I’ve been to at least one fan, usually more, has tried to get themselves over. Shelley hits a sick German suplex and the Shell Shock – he should really do that German more often. Spanky hits the Sliced Bread #2 from the middle of the ropes to get the win at 14:45. This was a really fun match and a good opener, and I was really happy to see Spanky back. Shelley should really, really be a heel though.
Rating: ***1/4

Backstage

BG says: Steve Corino and his posse backstage are worried about CM Punk’s absence. Punk and Cabana show up and slap hands. They do the annoying countdown to the promo before claiming that the makeshift team of Punk and Corino will win the three team Ultimate Endurance match tonight and take the tag team titles. Punk shouts into Corino’s good ear in a funny moment. In fact, the whole friendly enemies deal these two have going on is damn entertaining.

Allison Danger is going to sign new members to the Prophecy in 2005. Straight and to the point, the way I like my Allison Danger promos.

JZ says: Punk and Corino really are entertaining together, and having Cabana into the mix, in fact any mix, is always a good addition. According to Cabana, they do high fives around there. I hope Corino is around in 2005.

Speaking of Allison Danger, I was also hanging out with her boyfriend Chris Hero the other day. And since there won’t be any other place to mention it, Claudio Castagnoli, Eddie Kingston, and Bryce the Referee were hanging out as well. They are all great guys, really hilarious. In fact, they introduced the most addicting game of all-time: combining diseases and wrestler’s names. For example – Stone Cold Steve Autism, La Parkinson’s Disease, OsteoPsicosis, Meningitis on a Mission, etc. And Claudio thinks I’m okay.

MATCH #2: Deranged vs. Azrieal

BG says: Azrieal is Angel Dust, going by his non-Special K name. He still comes out to silence because he hasn’t been able to win a match in almost a year. Deranged goes right to the eyes. Azrieal comes back with a back suplex attempt that Deranged reverses to a crossbody. Azrieal catches Deranged with some stiff kicks and a hard dropkick, sending him to the floor. Azrieal avoids a Deranged elbow drop and nails another dropkick for 2. Deranged comes back with a knee lift and a face buster for 2. He hits a springboard double stomp to the chest for 2. He puts Azrieal on the ropes and the rest of Special K choke him out with the ref distracted. He hits a hurricanrana sending Azrieal to the floor. The kids from the K hold Azrieal, but he moves and the lackeys get hit with a Deranged moonsault. Back in the ring Azrieal hits a double stomp to the back of the head. He hits the Demonic Driver but the Special K lackeys break up the pin drawing a DQ. Just like last month Dunn and Marcos run out for the save. Lacey tries to fight back and ends up getting spanked like a hurricane. I’m really enjoying the feud, even if the work resembles ROH in 2002 more than it does ROH in 2005.
Rating: **

JZ says: Azrieal is all by himself, and Deranged has Lacey and company along with him. It’s nice to see these guys get a shot in a singles match, because they’ve put a lot of time into this feud and it’s been very logically booked and entertaining. Bower notes that Becky Bayless may be gone for good due to a neck injury suffered due to the implant DDT she took from Lacey at the last show. It’s a DQ finish at 5:15, which is the right thing to do given the circumstances of the match and the place they are in the feud. Dunn & Marcos are rockin’ like dockin’ and they have somehow remained entertaining despite barely changing their shtick since they started in ROH.
Rating: **1/4

Backstage

BG says: Homicide and J-Train taunt Bryan Danielson backstage. He’s going to break his arm in their tap out match tonight. We learn that Homicide doesn’t know what the word custody means. Also, Allison Danger tries to recruit them into the Prophecy, making points that actually make sense. They take it into consideration.

JZ says: They way that Ring of Honor does their promos by counting down and cutting from them is really annoying, and pretty much takes away from the realism of the moment. It’s hard to keep suspending disbelief when what Homicide is saying about Danielson has a starting time and an ending time.

MATCH #3: Roderick Strong Gauntlet Challenge

BG says: Roderick Strong comes out to the ring and the crowd gets on his case for tapping out to Kurt Angle on Smackdown shortly before this. He was supposed to team with Jack Evans in Ultimate Endurance, but Evans got injured while under the Blitzkrieg mask in a Pro Wrestling War match shortly before this and thus isn’t on the show. Strong didn’t want to win the tag titles without Evans, so he dropped out of the match. He’s going to show Steve Corino and CM Punk what he’s all about by challenging all of their students. First up are two of Punk’s students, then two of Corino’s.

Roderick Strong vs. Shane Hagadorn
Strong attacks him with chops and forearms and hits a rib breaker before launching him into the turnbuckle. He hits a uranage backbreaker for the win.
Rating: 1/4*

Roderick Strong vs. Evan Starsmore
Starsmore is the only ROH student I haven’t seen yet. It’s pretty much the same stuff as before, with Strong winning it with a full nelson backbreaker and a powerbomb.
Rating: DUD

Roderick Strong v. Alex Law
Law gets some offense in on Strong. He hits a high knee for a 1 count and nails an enziguiri. Strong blocks a hurricanrana into a powerbomb backbreaker but picks him up at 2. He hits another backbreaker variation for the win.
Rating: 3/4*

Roderick Strong v. Ricky Landell
Landell comes out and hits some babyface jabs. Strong comes back with a choke on the ropes. He hits a double underhook suplex for 2. Landell comes back with a neckbreaker and a back suplex. He hits a big clothesline for 2. He hits a forearm in the corner but Strong goes to the eyes. He hits a gutbuster and a nasty boot to the face for 2 when Landell gets his arm on the ropes. Strong hits a Canadian backbreaker and puts on a stranglehold for the win. This actually picked up as it went along, with Ricky Landell looking totally competent in there. Strong keeps beating on Landell until Corino makes the save.
Rating: *3/4

JZ says: I remember on the ROH website (conveniently located at rohwrestling.com) that they said Strong was going to get a partner for tonight’s match, and I wish that would have happened.

Roderick Strong vs. Shane Hagadorn
It’s over in 40 whole seconds.
Rating: DUD

Roderick Strong vs. Evan Starsmore
Strong beats another jobber at 1:34 (2:14 total match time).
Rating: 1/4*

Roderick Strong vs. Alex Law
Law comes in on fire, breaking up the monotony a little bit. But Strong kills him anyway at 1:10 (3:24 altogether).
Rating: 1/2*

Roderick Strong vs. Ricky Landell
Landell puts up the best fight out of any of the students, lasting a whole 2:55. Strong of course gets the win, giving him four victories in a span of 6:19. This last match wasn’t bad, but the whole thing seemed pretty pointless. Corino comes out to save Landell from further beating, and he has to remind the fans who the heel and babyface is in this situation.
Rating: *1/2

Backstage

BG says: Spin Doctor Bryan Danielson tells Homicide that he’s the one who’s going to tap out tonight. Danger shows up and tries to recruit Danielson. He shoots her a funny look and walks away.

Lacey shouts at her bitches backstage and commands that they kill Dunn and Marcos and the babyface Special K guys at Scramble Cage at the next show. The camera zooms in on her ass in a lame move.

Scramble Cage will return at night one of the Third Anniversary Celebration. Somehow I’m just not excited.

JZ says:
One, two, princes kneel before you
(that’s what I said, now)
Princes, princes who adore you
(just go ahead, now)
One has diamonds in his pockets
(that sounds great, now)
This one, said he wants to buy you lockets
(ain’t in his head, now)

MATCH #4: Ultimate Endurance – Steve Corino & CM Punk vs. Carnage Crew vs. Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero

BG says: The entrances for this match take forever, which makes me really thankful that Corino ditched his shtick for the night. This is normally a match that has 3 different stipulations and 4 teams, but since Generation Next dropped out it only has two stipulations. Considering how short the scramble portions of these matches have been in the past they might as well have made it a straight up elimination tag match. DeVito and Punk start out the scramble match. Punk hits a shoulder block and trips DeVito up for 1. DeVito hits some jabs and a dropkick when Punk gets cocky. Loc comes in and Corino breaks up a Carnage-plex. Reyes comes in and kicks at Punk but Corino comes in and takes out the Pitbulls. The Carnage Crew dump Corino and hit the Carnage-plex on Punk. Corino comes back and gets double back suplexed by the Crew. The Pitbulls dropkick Loc and DeVito out of the ring. Romero dives onto everyone on the outside, because it wouldn’t be a scramble match without that kind of dive. Back in the ring Punk gets hit with the guillotine kneedrop but Corino saves. DeVito hits a uranage on Corino but Reyes saves like a dumb ass. Loc goes for a neckbreaker on Punk but he reverses to the Pepsi Twist for 2. He puts on the Anaconda Vice and Loc taps.

Now we get a normal match between the Pitbulls and Punk & Corino. DeVito brawls with Romero on his way out. The Pitbulls attack from behind to start off the second fall. They hit a double suplex on Punk. Reyes misses a dropkick and gets roll up for 2. Punk hits a seated dropkick and Corino tags in. They trade kicks to the thigh and Corino takes Reyes down. Bower annoyingly says that Joe versus Punk from Chicago was the first North American ***** match in seven years. It’s annoying because he doesn’t say that it’s Dave Meltzer not giving a match ***** in seven years that he’s referring to. I happen to think there have been a few ***** matches since 1997. Punk tags in and gets 2 off of a double back elbow. He hits a kneedrop for 2. Punk & Corino double-team Reyes in their corner, but Punk gets tired of it and tags in Corino. Corino hits a delayed vertical suplex for 2 when Romero saves. Corino goes low and tags in Punk who gets 2. Punk nails 15 punches in the corner but gets caught with a spinebuster. The Pitbulls double-team him with a springboard kneedrop. Romero comes in and stomps away. He misses a knee in the corner but puts on an Octopus stretch. The Pitbulls hit a double back elbow and Reyes makes the phantom tag and gets 2. He hits the chinlock and puts on an abdominal stretch. Romero comes in and kicks at the ribs. The Pitbulls double-team Punk in the corner. The crowd gets on Romero’s case for getting dropped by a J-Train high five. He redeems himself by hitting a back suplex in the ring for 2. He puts on a seated abdominal stretch, but Punk escapes with a hip toss. Punk reverses an abdominal stretch attempt to one of his own but Reyes breaks it up. Reyes comes in and hits a gut wrench suplex for 2. Punk botches a sunset flip and gets pinned for 2. Reyes hits a leg lariat and tags in Romero. Punk flips away from a Pitbull double-team and makes the hot tag to Corino. Corino cleans house and it’s enziguiris for everyone. Reyes hits him with a forearm for 2. He gets La Magistral for 2. Romero hits a springboard dropkick for 2. Corino hits a northern lights bomb and tags to Punk. Punk hits Welcome to Chicago for 2. He hits a fisherman’s suplex for 2. Corino gets dumped and the Pitbulls double-team Punk. They hit an elevated bulldog on Punk for 2. Corino comes in and dumps Romero. Punk hits the Shining Wizard on Reyes and puts on the Anaconda Vice as Roderick Strong comes out and attacks Corino with a chair. Romero breaks up the submission in the ring and the Pitbulls hit the guillotine kneedrop for the win. Not the bad match that I’d heard it was, but it definitely tried harder to further the Punk/Corino and Extreme Saints/Generation Next feuds than it did to put on a stellar performance.
Rating: **3/4

JZ says: It’s no secret that I don’t care for two of the three teams in this match (though I do like Rocky Romero as a singles wrestler), so let’s hope that three out of six can deliver a good match and carry the other three. I do think Roderick should have been in this or gotten a partner to compete with him. I don’t think Ultimate Endurance works as a concept with just three teams. Loc taps out to the Anaconda Vice at 4:37, pretty much rendering the Carnage Crew’s involvement in the match worthless. Now the tag team titles are on the line, according to Mark Nulty, “in a one on one match with CM Punk & Steve Corino.” Now that I’ve heard Prazak I don’t ever want to hear Nulty again. This match is so boring that I’m going to go get ice cream. Say what you will about McDonald’s, but the McFlurries are awesome. This one is helping me get through this match a little easier, but it’s still frightfully boring. The thing that goes on more than anything else in Pitbulls matches is meandering. The just kinda wander around and do moves, especially Reyes. Roderick Strong comes out near the end to attack Corino. Reyes & Romero finally get the win at 22:39, which felt much longer. Having very little heat really exposed the badness of this match.
Rating: *1/2

Intermission

BG says: It is announced that Low Ki has been suspended indefinitely from ROH because of his attack on the referee after his match at Final Battle 2004. It is also announced that James Gibson, formerly Jamie Noble, will make his ROH debut during the Third Anniversary Celebration.

JZ says: Low Ki is out, James Gibson is in. Sounds like a fair trade to me.

MATCH #5: Nigel McGuiness vs. Samoa Joe

BG says: How the mighty have fallen. This was originally scheduled to be the ROH title match for the show, but Aries ended Joe’s tremendous title reign at Final Battle and his match against Cabana became the title match. Joe comes out to LL Cool J because, sadly, the champ isn’t here anymore. Nigel grabs a cravat and holds on through a bodyslam. Joe breaks out and gets a double leg takedown. Nigel slips away from Joe’s strikes and puts the cravat back on. Joe slips out and nails two-thirds of the Big Joe Combo. Nigel kicks him in the back but that just fires Joe up. Joe tries to kick Nigel in the face off of his handstand taunt, but Nigel remembers back to their tag match at the Weekend of Thunder and begs off. Joe nails a big forearm and goes to the wristlock. Nigel springboards out and hits a back elbow. Hit gets a roll up for 2 but Joe fires back with a huge forearm. He hits the face wash and it’s nasty. He hits a vertical suplex for 2. He puts on a chinlock and catches Nigel with a legsweep when he escapes. Nigel bails but gets caught with a suicide dive. Joe hits the ole kick, and a slow motion replay shows that it did indeed connect. A second one takes Nigel out, and no slow motion is needed to prove the contact on that one. Back in the ring Nigel tries to get tough and actually manages to take it to Joe. Joe cuts him off with the STO for 2. Nigel catches Joe with the handstand kick and reverses the STO to a superkick for 2. He puts on TAS but Joe powers out. Nigel hits separation anxiety and puts TAS back on. Joe makes the ropes. Joe catches Nigel with a powerslam for 2. He can’t hit the powerbomb because his arm hurt but he dodges another separation anxiety attack. He hits a lariat with the good arm but Nigel gets his foot on the ropes at 2. Joe looks for a top rope muscle buster but Nigel hits the hanging neckbreaker for 2. Nigel gets greedy with another handstand and Joe kicks him in the face. He hits a really sick Death Valley Driver for 2. Now he’s fired up and he puts on the choke for the win. Good match, but things would get worse before they got better for Samoa Joe.
Rating: ***1/4

JZ says: I was really hoping this match would be for the title, but Austin Aries had to go and ruin Nigel McGuiness’s dream. At least, I assume it was his dream to wrestle for the ROH Championship. Nigel tries to get the crowd behind him, but they kinda like Joe. Bower and Nulty talk about Joe’s recently ended title reign and how amazing it is that Austin Aries wasn’t even on the roster a year ago. This leads them into a “there’s no politics in Ring of Honor, no writers with favorites,” etc. conversation. Since we skipped ahead to Manhattan Mayhem I’ve already heard Dave Prazak on commentary, and since I’ve heard that my patience for Mark Nulty is really wearing thin. Bower – “I know how to pick stars.” Tee he, I get it. Joe finally snaps on McGuiness and gets the win with the choke at 14:12. That was a fast-paced, hard-hitting match that made Nigel look good and kept Joe strong. That’s all I ask for.
Rating: ***1/2

MATCH #6: Best of Five Series Match 1 – Tap Out Match – Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson

BG says: They brawl out of the ring and into the crowd right away. Danielson suplexes Homicide onto a row of chairs. They brawl through the crowd, and most of the time it’s too dark to see what’s happening. A camera gets knocked out and they go to a test screen. When the feed comes back on, Bower calls for them to cut to a Jim Cornette promo until they can maintain order.

Cornette is still mad that Bobby Heenan won’t get out of the way. He treated him like a has-been at All Star Extravaganza II, and that was a mistake. But when they meet next time at night three of the Third Anniversary Celebration he’s going to even the score.

Back to the ring as the match gets restarted. They lock up and work each other over in the corners. They both break out of knuckle locks with hard slaps. Danielson hits the chinlock but Homicide powers out. He puts on a hammerlock. Danielson hip tosses out. Homicide takes Danielson down with a shoulder block. Danielson comes back with a single leg takedown and he stomps the foot. Homicide takes him down with a sleeper but he powers out and hits a dropkick. Danielson screws the arm around and then goes to the leg. Hmmm. He puts on an Indian deathlock and then grabs the arm to put stress on both. Homicide turns it over and they strike it out. Homicide hits separation anxiety and works the arm over. Romero and Smokes take cheap shots on Danielson in the corner. Homicide puts a figure-four on Danielson’s arm but he makes the ropes. He puts on a hammerlock submission and knees him in the face. He smacks Danielson around but it only fires him up. He messes Homicide up with European uppercuts. He takes him down and puts on a Mexican surfboard stretch. He reapplies into a chinlock with the legs stretched. Homicide goes to the eyes to escape. He puts on the airplane spin and then misses a dropkick because of being dizzy. Homicide hits an Ace Crusher sending Danielson to the floor. Homicide is still dizzy and almost topes to the wrong side of the ring, but J-Train points him in the right direction and he hits it. Cute. Danielson catches Homicide with a capture suplex back in the ring. He puts on a half crab. Homicide makes the ropes. Danielson goes for the Cow Killer but Homicide comes back with a lariat. J-Train pulls the pad off of a turnbuckle as Homicide puts on an STF. He lets go to put Danielson into the exposed turnbuckle but ends up going into it himself. He does manage to send Danielson’s shoulder into the ring post and he puts on an armbar. Danielson reverses to a huge German suplex but Homicide catches the arm and puts the armbar back on. Danielson makes the ropes. Homicide goes to the top but Danielson cuts him off with a superplex. He puts on a figure 4 with a bridge (bridging with his head and not his arms because one of them is hurt) but lets go of the hold when he catches Smokes on the turnbuckle. He throws him off and out of the ring. Smokes’ selling there was hilarious. Homicide catches Danielson on the top rope and brings him down with his own version of TAS and Danielson taps. I actually liked this better than BOTH of their previous matches in ROH, with the better seller on defense and Homicide’s strengths being played to better. Homicide puts on a pair of brass knuckles and says he’s going to end Danielson’s career now. He ends up getting hit with the knuckles himself however. Danielson calls for match number two to be a taped fist match.
Rating: ***1/2

JZ says: I’ll go ahead and agree with Brad right away about this being my favorite amongst their three matches thus far (Reborn Stage Two and All Star Extravaganza II being the previous two). The initial brawl gets out of hand so we cut to a Cornette promo, which he says he will take Bobby Heenan out next time. Back to the match and order has been restored. They start slowly, with Smokes being obnoxious outside the ring. They battle back and forth for a while until Smokes interferes and gets body slammed to the delight of the fans. This all leads to Homicide getting the victory with his new arm submission at 16:30. This was shorter and much better paced than their other matches, but there’s something about this feud that I just don’t buy. We also learn that the next match is going to be a taped fist match. Oh, goody.
Rating: ***1/4

MATCH #7: ROH World Title Match, Steel Cage Match – Colt Cabana vs. Austin Aries

BG says: Colt Cabana got beat up by Austin Aries at Scramble Cage Melee to earn this title shot. For a company that relies more on wrestling than storylines, that’s a very storyline-heavy way to get a title shot. Cabana tries to attack right away but Aries bails and demands a handshake. Cabana catches the cheap shot and takes him down with a back elbow. Aries bails again. He gets back on the microphone and says he doesn’t want to brawl but rather wrestle in an ROH title match. That’s actually pretty clever. Cabana is game. Aries tries to choke him out with his feet but Cabana slips out. Aries grabs a front facelock but Cabana flips out and grabs his own. Aries goes to the corner to break but Cabana catches him with a pair of hip tosses for 2. He hits a big clothesline but Aries goes to the eyes. Aries misses a springboard senton and Cabana hits a pair of bodyslams for 2. Aries hits a roaring forearm. He hits a knee in the corner but Cabana blocks explosive elbow #1. Aries hits a tornado separation anxiety into an armbar. That’s three matches in a row with that damn separation anxiety. Cabana makes the ropes. Aries hits a rib breaker into explosive elbow #2 for 2. He hits a mystery explosive elbow for 2. Cabana catches Aries with the foot choke but Aries drops him for 2. Cabana blocks the crucifix bomb and hits a modified Samoan drop for 2. Aries goes to the eyes. He stays on the arm and puts on the fishhook. The ref calls for the break so Aries hits a pair of dropkicks in the corner. He hits another for 2. I should mention that Aries clapped to get the crowd behind him between those dropkicks. Some heel. He puts Cabana on the top rope but it backfires when Cabana hits him with a missile dropkick. He hits a back bodydrop and a spinning Razor’s Edge for 2. He fights for Colt 45 but Aries reverses to a fireman’s carry slam. He climbs to the top but misses the 450 splash. Cabana rolls him up for 2 and kicks him out of the ring. He hits an Asai moonsault on him on the floor. Back in the ring Cabana rolls him up for 2. He goes for Colt 45 again but Aries reverses to a brainbuster attempt. Cabana reverses and hits Colt 45. He gets 2 when Aries gets his foot on the ropes. Aries bails but Cabana catches him at the ramp. Aries whips him into the guardrail and then busts his brain on the ramp. Aries gets back in the ring as people come to check on Cabana. After a long lull in the action Cabana crawls towards the ring. It didn’t work for Low Ki at Unscripted and it’s not working here. Back in the ring Aries goes for another brainbuster but Cabana rolls him up for 2. Aries kicks his neck then hits the brainbuster and 450 splash for the win. This was a step backwards for the ROH title, being more plodding and uneventful than any of Joe’s title matches in 2004. It doesn’t bode well for Aries’ title reign, but then Joe didn’t start his title reign on fire either so benefit of the doubt. Punk and others carry Cabana to the back after the match, but turn around for a photo op. Ugh.
Rating: **1/2

JZ says: The smoke from Aries’ entrance lingers over the arena. Aries and Cabana do some solid wrestling, but the crowd doesn’t seem to care. Aries, being the heel champion that he is, plays to the crowd before executing his big moves. Brad and I can’t be the only people who are annoyed by this. Cabana actually pulls out a missile dropkick and it looks good. I love Cabana but man this really feels like a midcard match. He’s doing his best though, nailing a pretty looking Asai moonsault on the floor. They brawl around for a bit longer until they fight towards the back and Aries gives Cabana a brainbuster on the entrance ramp. It looked pretty sick, but the crowd is barely responding at all. Cabana starts crawling back towards the ring and the crowd is finally responding to him. Aries actually picks Cabana up and looks to be going for another brainbuster which Cabana reverses to a small package and the crowd bought that as a good false. Aries hits the brainbuster and nails a 450 to get the win at 22:20. Well that was way too long and the finish was so anti-climactic. Most of the match was pretty solid though, albeit heatless. I’ll also give Aries some benefit of the doubt though, as Joe won the title in March and didn’t have a truly great defense (though he did have some very good ones) until September against Christopher Daniels.
Rating: **3/4

Non Sanctioned Confrontation – Mick Foley vs. Samoa Joe

BG says: Mick Foley comes out to confront Samoa Joe, and it’s really a good thing too because judging from that title match ROH wasn’t ready for a main event without Samoa Joe yet. He’s got something that Samoa Joe deserves, and he wants to give it to him right here, in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. Joe comes out and gets right in Foley’s face again. Foley asks him to beg off and gives him what he deserves… a Cactus Jack shirt. He teases bringing back Cactus Jack to fight Joe, but then opts to give Joe an opportunity to get into the WWE Royal Rumble match instead. He starts to call Brian Gewirtz, and Joe can’t believe he’d call the writer to get him a job. Foley goes into the many changes that Joe would have to make if he went to the WWE, which sadly sound like they’d probably happen. It just pisses Joe off. Foley starts passively shitting on ROH, emphasizing that there’s nothing left for Joe to do in the company. Now this is the heel character he should have been playing the whole time. Joe does indeed want to take on a WWE superstar, but he wants it to be Foley and he wants it to be tonight. The idiot crowd starts cheering for Foley, the guy who just shit on the company they love. Anyway, Foley’s not wrestling Joe because he only wrestles for six figure paydays signed by Vince McMahon. He does clock Joe with the microphone anyway and beats him all over the ring. Joe turns things around and enziguiris Foley out of the ring. They brawl up the ramp where a mysterious figure behind the curtain hands Foley a chair with which he knocks out Joe. This was pretty cool, and would have been a million times cooler if the ROH crowd had been loyal to the ROH wrestler and not the WWE guy talking about how minor league their company is.

JZ says: Boy Foley’s time in ROH has been pretty non-descript so far. I really hope this Joe feud leads somewhere for both of them. Joe gets mad when Foley tries to call a writer to get Joe a spot in the company. I wonder why ROH pretends like writers are the bad guy, when they also have one. I don’t think I’m telling anyone anything they don’t already know with that. Foley putting over WWE in favor of ROH is a really great angle for him to take; I wish he would have taken it sooner. I really wish that ROH had two microphones for confrontations like this. I also wish they would pipe the microphones directly into the camera so that it would be easier to hear what the people are saying. Foley takes the advantage on Joe and the crowd chants his name. He just shit on every one of you! Why are you cheering for him? There ARE heels and babyfaces in Ring of Honor, I don’t know why the fans refuse to recognize this.

Aftermath

BG says: Colt Cabana is backstage with an ice pack on his neck. He’s been injured by Aries twice, both times on the outside of the ring. He wants it done in the ring, so at night one of the Third Anniversary Celebration he wants him in a steel cage match.

Mick Foley talks on the phone about how easy it was to beat up Joe. The guy on the phone is going to come to New Jersey for night one of the Third Anniversary Celebration to face Samoa Joe and show him what it’s like to go against a real WWE superstar. Keep that in mind, because it gets done in the most roundabout way possible.

JZ says: No comedy from Cabana this time, as he wants to fight Aries in a steel cage on February 19. He double-dog-dares Aries to accept his challenge.

Foley is on the phone making sure his boy will come in to “a little dive in Jersey” on the 19th.

MVP

BG says: I’m going to give it to two people here. First, to Mick Foley, for trying his hardest to get over as a heel and doing an excellent job, even if the fans were too stubborn to cooperate. But he’s not really an ROH star and he didn’t wrestle, so I give it to Bryan Danielson, for having the match of the night and making it three times a charm as far as his matches with Homicide go.

JZ says: I’m going to give it to Samoa Joe, even though I’ve done so many times before. He was in my favorite match of the night and had a good non-wrestling segment as well.
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E-mail Brad at [email protected]
E-mail Jacob at [email protected]

See you soon with our review of Third Anniversary Celebration Pt. 1!

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The 411: BG says: If I were to rate this as a normal Indy show it'd be something to see. But all I've reviewed here are ROH shows so I can only compare this to other ROH shows. In that respect it kind of fails, feeling very storyline heavy and not delivering the usual high quality matches that ROH delivers. Nothing on the show is bad, but there's nothing to go out of your way to see. Let's just all keep our fingers crossed that Austin Aries gets on the ball as champion. JZ says: This show is fine, but definitely not up to ROH standards. There’s some good wrestling here (Shelley-Spanky, Joe-McGuiness, Danielson-Homicide), but all of those guys have done better. This just felt like a placeholder show building up to the big third anniversary week. Oh, and what happened to Jay Lethal & Josh Daniels versus The Outcast Killaz?

Final Score:  5.5   [ Not So Good ]