Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012.

Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II - April 26, 2003



ROH Title Shot Match
CM Punk vs. Homicide

A really, really fun match that felt like a rough draft due to some issues with selling and pacing (they kept going several more minutes after peaking the crowd with the Pepsi Plunge.) I'm looking forward to seeing what they could do in their later matches. Just an exciting match from start to finish that needed some polishing. This is the 2003 (and better) version of Low Ki vs. AJ Styles from A Night of Appreciation.

Rating: ***1/2

Round Robin Challenge Match #3
Paul London vs. Christopher Daniels

London's 2003 run just kept rolling along with this classic. A tremendous match that built off of Daniels vs. Doug Williams, Daniels vs. Homicide, Xavier vs. London, and London vs. Bryan Danielson. While it didn't have the pace of Daniels vs. Williams, it had the more engaging story - there was just simply nobody else in 2003 that sold and got sympathy heat like London. Not Chris Benoit. Not Rey Mysterio. Not Shawn Michaels.

Daniels also brought his A-game for this one, moving fluidly and with a vengeance. He had a weak spot on London, and he wasn't gonna succumb to London's tenacity like he did in his classic against Williams at Night of Champions. Daniels was just on point in this match. I can only imagine these two having an actual feud back in the day.

Rating: ****1/2

Up next - Do or Die
Segments will include:
Tom Carter vs. Matt Stryker
An epic Second City Saints promo
Samoa Joe vs. Homicide

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

I'm really enjoying these, just so you know. Thought you might be discouraged by the lack of written feedback. I don't have much to say yet, but really appreciate the work you're doing for this.

[SUPES]

I'm aware of what favorites they are, that's why I'm happy to share them.

Although like just about anyone else who embarks on something for the first time, I'm not too proud of most of these earlier reviews. Maybe a decade or so down the road I'll go back to give them more depth. Of the ones posted so far, the London vs. Danielson 2/3 falls review is what I'm most proud of, but that absolutely pales in comparison to my later reviews.

A great example of how I got way better over a two year time span is in the next review, as I only "reviewed" the main event originally until I found the full show and finally got around to reviewing the supposed show-stealer a few months ago.

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012. The first reviewed match not part of the original review.

Do or Die - May 31, 2003



Tom Carter vs. Matt Stryker

This one definitely hasn't aged that impressively, although I appreciated the effort in it. Full disclosure before I get to the critiquing: this and the match against Doug Williams two months later are the only matches of Carter's that I've seen; I've never watched any of his Reckless Youth material.

Both men did a solid job of incorporating technical wrestling, and had the benefit of a hot crowd when the match started. It's a shame that neither man had the charisma and selling ability/willingness to truly engage the crowd. Put Alex Shelley and Bryan Danielson in this exact spot, with the same amount of time, with the same storytelling goals in mind, and this would have been significantly better.

I appreciate that Stryker was able to overcome the leg work Carter had done on him by rolling him up during an attempted submission, since based on the commentary Stryker was more experienced with technical wrestling schemes. But this was honestly no better than a fun but ultimately forgettable 10 minute match on SmackDown! This certainly wasn't worth the $40 I shelled out on eBay just to see this match, but hey, I sold the master copy for $50. I'm not surprised that ROH hasn't prioritized including this match on Year Two or any other comps.

The post-match is hilarious yet tedious, with Carter whining about being a junior style pioneer on the indies and not getting respect for it, saying Stryker's pin was a fluke too. Again, this is the only promo I've ever watched Carter/Youth cut, but it was not impressive, and the phenomenal promo later on this show in the exact same ring wasn't doing Carter any favors.

I must note that Allison Danger came to the ring to discuss Carter having a spot in the Prophecy, and she had a one-piece spandax bellbottom outfit that had me laughing. Was fashion in the very early 21st Century really that horrendous, or was that just a wrestler lacking fashion awareness?

Rating: ***1/4

Second City Saints post-match promo

Epic. You get CM Punk's self-important preaching followed by Colt Cabana and Lucy just having a good time. This is CM Punk living up to his justified hype as a character.

ROH Title Match
Samoa Joe vs. Homicide

A damn good match for its time, but these two were capable of better. Very dangerous shit they pulled off here, but there were times when the crowd bought that Homicide was really gonna do it. Pretty impressive when it was 2003!

Rating: ***1/2

Up next - Night of the Grudges
Matches will include:
CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Raven & BJ Whitmer
AJ Styles vs. Paul London

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012.

Night of the Grudges - June 14, 2003



No DQ Match
CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Raven & BJ Whitmer

A really good brawl here that served its purpose - get some blood flowing for this feud, but not in a show-stealing manner (due to its position on the card and the feud had not yet reached that point.) Some pretty dangerous shit, and this is a longer, deeper version of the Natural Born Sinners vs. Carnage Crew from Crowning a Champion. Not only is this a precursor of what is to come in the Punk vs. Raven feud, but it's also a nice preview of what was to come down the years in the indies for other feuds as well.

Rating: ***1/2

ROH Title Shot Match
AJ Styles vs. Paul London

"You guys are worth the price of admission alone!" - a fan as both men embraced after the match

This is yet another work of art for ROH. It's also another frustrating example of the fall of Paul London as an in-ring performer. In this one, he abandoned his sympathy babyface role in favor of playing a subtle, diabolical douche-bag. On the surface, this appears to be a match over a simple misunderstanding. But when one looks deeper and reflects on how the two got to this point, everything done in this match turns out to have even more meaning.

First, let's stay on London. His performance in this match for me goes back to his breakout feud with Michael Shane. That was his first time seeing the real cutthroat nature of the business as an on-screen character. Then he moved onto getting a title shot against Xavier at Final Battle 2002. Due to the champ's shenanigans, London failed to win the big one despite his remarkable efforts. Then he got another shot against Xavier at the One Year Anniversary Show - in order to get that one, he had to defeat Low Ki AND Styles... on the same night. While London dd earn the title shot, Styles had to take TWO finishers in order for London to get the victory in that title shot match. Then London failed again against Xavier, despite an even more gut-wrenching effort than in their previous encounter.

London then moved on to the 2/3 falls classic against Bryan Danielson at The Epic Encounter, in which he came very close to losing but was able to overcome with tenacity. He also learned how Danielson came so close to defeating him - ruthless aggression bordering on being a heel. Next up, London lost another big collision involving the Prophecy, this time against Christopher Daniels at Retribution: Robin Challenge II, who won not just by cheating, but with mind games and working an injury on London.

For Styles, the road to this match is a story as well. He had failed twice before in his previous two title matches against Low Ki at Honor Invades Boston and Xavier at Night of the Butcher for very different reasons; in the end though, the result was the same for him. He then was presented with another opportunity, but failed to capitalize on it in the threeway against Ki and London. Remember, even though Styles took the pinfall in that match, it took TWO finishers in order to do so. And again, who pinned him? London.

Then there's also the simple backstory of London feeling (wrongly) that Styles abandoned him as a tag partner in favor of Amazing Red. So these two, with all of these backstories in mind, finally got to collide - and it's for another opportunity at the ROH Title!

London proved immediately that he had learned from his encounters with the Prophecy, playing mind games with Styles via the ridiculous amount of handshake offers and also spending time outside the ring, just like Daniels had done to him. He also was extremely aggressive against Styles at times, which goes back to the 2/3 falls match he had with Danielson. This mind game he played with Styles ultimately paid off, when he handed Styles the opportunity to do one of his signature guardrail-area kicks (a nod to the amazing spot Styles had against Danielson at All Star Extravaganza), only to use the NWA Champion's trigger-happy aggression against him. This is where London's true plan came to fruition - focus on the left knee of Styles.

Styles was put in a position in this match to play the sympathetic babyface. And you know what? He did a f***ing fantastic job. He didn't play Ricky Morton or Shawn Michaels; this was a different flavor of sympathetic performance from him. His hope spots, relying on adrenaline and irritation/anger, were absolutely magical, and in the end gave him a chance against the cerebral London. As the commentators explained, it became a battle of London's calculating gameplan against the ferocious short comebacks of Styles, which gave him opportunities to get the heat on London and wear him down.

What also needs to be pointed out in this masterpiece is that EVERYTHING was smooth, crisp, and firing on all cylinders. This was Triple H vs. Chris Benoit, but done to perfection. Not a single move, spot, or submission was wasted. In the end, these two men were absolutely even, and that's why the draw finish was the correct conclusion based on how this match was laid out; this match's booking was Styles, London, and Gabe Sapolsky being backed into a corner (due to Styles winning the NWA Title that week in TNA) and responding by making a beautifully flawless work of art out of it.

How does this compare to the London vs. Danielson 2/3 falls ***** match? It's right below it. But this also leaves Daniels vs. Doug Williams in the dust. This was another engaging chef d'oeuvre. One can argue that this is Paul London's greatest match; it is likely the best of in the career of Styles as well - maybe even better than his jaw-dropping roller-coaster encounter against Samoa Joe at Turning Point 2005. I am certain this match was used to help base the performance of Styles in that one two and a half years later.

Rating: *****

Up next - Wrestlerave
Matches will include:
CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Raven & Christopher Daniels
Homicide vs. Trent Acid

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012.

Wrestlerave - June 28, 2003



No DQ Match
CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Raven & Christopher Daniels

This was another great chapter in the Punk vs. Raven feud, although slightly sacrificed to plant seeds for another feud that would come down the line. What matters most is the finish of the match, followed by one of what I consider to be Punk's three greatest promos in his career (the others would come in 2005 and 2011.) This match (and more importantly Punk's promo afterwards) did its job, which was to get me PUMPED for the dog-collar match on the next show.

Rating: ***1/2

Hardcore Match
Trent Acid vs. Homicide

What made this match work was how exciting it was - it even holds up today. While there was a lack of deep storytelling, the match almost made up for it just by sheer willpower. These two men absolutely killed themselves to keep the crowd going, and I must admit there was never a dull moment in this match. If they had just bothered to tell a deep story and not have too many ridiculous near-falls, this would have been remembered as fondly as Paul London vs. Michael Shane. However, I would say this is a precursor to the company's ladder matches that would come years later.

Rating; ***1/2

Up next - Death Before Dishonor
Matches will include:
Entire Carnage Crew vs. Hotstuff Hernandez, Fast Eddie Vegas, Don Juan, & Rudy Boy Gonzalez
Doug Williams vs. Tom Carter
Homicide vs. Colt Cabana vs. Dan Maff vs. BJ Whitmer
CM Punk vs. Raven
AJ Styles & Amazing Red vs. Briscoe Bros.
Samoa Joe vs. Paul London

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012.

Death Before Dishonor - July 19, 2003



Hardcore Match
Entire Carnage Crew vs. Hotstuff Hernandez, Fast Eddie Vegas, Don Juan, & Rudy Boy Gonzalez

Just shit. Absolute utter f***ing shit. Nothing but a huge pile of idiotic, career-shortening moves. NEXT.

Rating: DUD

Doug Williams vs. Tom Carter

Technically proficient, but not all that engaging. Gabe Sapolsky taking a shot at WWE for calling this kind of action "boring" was almost a foreshadowing of this match. Williams vs. Christopher Daniels showed how to execute a classic without playing to the crowd. This one however did not.

Rating: ***

ROH Title Shot Match
Homicide vs. Dan Maff vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Colt Cabana

Yeah, you could feel that this match has Maff instead of Paul London like at Revenge on the Prophecy. Yet another match where the ref stopped giving a shit about legal tags (why not just even require them then?) but at least the moment that caused it was understandable (unlike a match later on this show.) Mega points for Cabana selling the top-rope exploder after the match like it f***ing ended his life.

Rating: ***1/2

Dog-Collar Match
CM Punk vs. Raven

This surprisingly fell short of my expectations after the wild Night of the Grudges and Wrestlerave matches. Perhaps it's my fault for expecting an insane MOTYC instead of just a good match. The storytelling was there and that was ultimately most important, but the pacing couldn't match it. However, this is where it became obvious that Punk really had potential for the major leagues, as his heat segments were FAR more interesting than Raven's. The post-match has lost its specialness also due to all the indy appearances that Tommy Dreamer has made since.

Rating: ***1/2

Tag Titles Match
AJ Styles & Amazing Red vs. Briscoe Bros.

Yeah I'm never watching this series again. The psychology effort was there for Red's knee, but this was perhaps the worst tag team officiating I've ever seen. The story should have been VERY easy also to make this a MOTYC - little Red keeps getting worked on with the knee, ultimately gets the hot tag, and the ferocious Styles runs a house of fire, Red finds everything within himself to help Styles finish the match with a jaw-dropping, logical finish and then kicks the other Briscoe out of the way to prevent the finishing pinfall from being interrupted.

Rating: Less than ***

ROH Title Match - Paul London's Farewell
Samoa Joe vs. Paul London

This was a good match, but for obvious reasons did not come close to reaching MOTYC status. There was a pretty damn big missed opportunity when Joe missed the boot scrapes and caught his knee in the ropes, and then they didn't follow up on it at all. What this was though was a sample of what these two could do in the right circumstances, and it's unfortunate that it appears that will never happen. There is nothing that stands out as being bad about this match at all - it just wasn't put in the position to meet its fullest potential.

Rating: ***1/4

Up next - Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies
Matches will include:
Xavier vs. Christopher Daniels
Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk
Steve Corino vs. Homicide

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012.

Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies - August 16, 2003



Raven cuts a solid promo to start the DVD, and reminds me of the most important part of Wrath of the Racket (which I skipped) - Lucy's mysterious attack.

ROH Title Shot Match
Xavier vs. Christopher Daniels

The pre-match promo did a perfect job in laying the psychological groundwork for what turned out to be a forgotten classic. To me, this holds up extremely well over the years and has gotten better; I consider it the second most under-appreciated match in ROH history. The match starts off as a feeling-out process, which for two stablemates you would think it was a waste of time, but you must recall this is Xavier's first major ROH match in five months. He needed to use the feel-out to not only get his feet wet again, but also show Daniels that he was his equal as an in-ring technician and could one-up the real Prophecy leader. Eventually though the real meat of the story came into play.

Knowing that the same strategy worked on Paul London at Retribution: Robin Challenge II and almost on Doug Williams at Night of Champions, Daniels focused the majority of his work on Xavier's ribs, which cost the former ROH Champion many opportunities to finish the match (such as being in too much pain to pin Daniels after a successful 450 splash.) It was quite obvious to me that during his time away, Xavier studied those two classics Daniels had, in particular the loss against Williams. If you recall, Williams worked heavily on the neck of Daniels (a fairly well-known injury since WCW) in that one, which is what Xavier went for in this one.

Not only is the neck work brilliant because of the backstory to the Daniels vs. Williams match, but it plays into how Xavier had successfully defeated Paul London twice, as his finish is a modified (more dangerous) version of the neckbreaker. The selling of both men in this one was quite phenomenal, and makes you wonder what exactly caused Xavier to pretty much drift off into obscurity over the past several years. Based on the day, I may say this tops Xavier's emotional encounter against London at the One Year Anniversary Show.

What I really love about this one is that it legitimized Xavier and showed after all almost a full year of usually not living up to his position in the company, he deserved it and was finally ready. He not only went toe-to-toe technically with the established Daniels, he went toe-to-toe with him in terms of selling and playing the psychological games. In the end, Daniels proved he was superior when it came down to who knew how to play dirty and get away with it. A VERY pleasant surprise here, and I encourage Alan (of f4wonline.com) to go back and watch the work of Daniels in the early days of ROH. He was just tremendous.

Rating: ****1/4

Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk

Nothing more than a delicious appetizer for the full course meals these two would later deliver. I appreciated the simply storytelling of Joe's arm vs. Punk's leg, since they were both injured. This would be a great match to end an episode of SmackDown! with.

If you've already got the 2004 trilogy from the Allied Forces DVD, go ahead and get the improved 2-disc version. This match is a nice extra to the iconic shoot interview it comes with.

Rating: ***1/4

Relaxed Rules Match
Steve Corino vs. Homicide

This is one that stands the test of time.

Quite easily the best gimmick match up to that point, and for good reason. Not only does it have the epic brutality, but at all times it kept the crowd engaged. To have this style of match, which was based on simple hatred, and not focused on jaw-dropping spots, and have the crowd buying NEAR-FALLS at the end is something that should be seen to be truly believed.

What separates this also from the previous gimmick matches in ROH is that it wasn't a pile of career-ending moves. There wasn't a significant rest period. There wasn't a lack of storytelling. They didn't go out there and kill a bunch of finishers. Everything meant something in this match. If there was anything wrong with the match, it's that a got a bit TOO brutal and caused injuries (making rest time needed but not too significantly), which kept the match from reaching the level of Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker at Bad Blood 1997 or Triple H vs. Cactus Jack at Royal Rumble 2000. But you need not worry - this match still holds up today and is probably the greatest match of both men's careers, in front of a crowd of just 250 fans.

Rating: ****1/2

Punk closes out the show with yet another phenomenal self-important promo.

Up next - Beating the Odds
Matches will include:
Trent Acid vs. Homicide

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012.

Beating the Odds - September 6, 2003



Relaxed Rules Match
Trent Acid vs. Homicide

A good match, but doesn't match the unforgettable insanity of Wrestlerave. That also means this match was safer for both men. Since the rest of the show is pretty much mediocrity, this would be good to include on a new Homicide comp once that comes around.

Rating: ***1/2

Up next - Glory By Honor II
Matches will include:
Alexis Laree's ROH farewell
Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012.

Glory By Honor II - September 20, 2003



Alexis Laree's ROH Farewell

I'm not going to analyze this segment, as it was what it was. Instead, I'm going to use this to point out something that I should have pointed out when Mickie James made her debut at Crowning a Champion - she is hands down the cutest woman I've ever seen in wrestling.

Prior to his match against Terry Funk, CM Punk cuts another excellent heel promo on the legend; no, I'm not watching that match.

ROH Title Match
Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels

This felt like a feud-ending Randy Orton match on SmackDown! - very good but nowhere close to a MOTYC. That said, I can understand why fans claimed it was ****+ after the f***ing show they sat through. Daniels showed a different strategy in this match, one that I don't find personally as engaging as his work against Xavier, Paul London, and Doug Williams. Instead of working a body part, he tried relying on his quickness, concerned that Joe's mass and aggression would overcome the technique. In the end, Joe proved that Daniels brought a failed gameplan.

Rating: ***3/4

Up next - Tradition Continues
Matches will include:
CM Punk vs. AJ Styles
Xavier vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Homicide vs. John Walters
Samoa Joe vs. Jay Briscoe

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012.

Tradition Continues - October 16, 2003



CM Punk vs. AJ Styles

This was quite a bit better than I remembered. Not the most engaging since they must have known they'd have rematches in the near future, but a satisfying surprise since I last saw this. I enjoyed the focus on the back of Styles to try to disable his high-flying and leg-based offense. Punk also did a great job of continuing to just be an annoying shithead (in a way that engages the viewer and audience.)

Rating: ***1/2

Xavier vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Homicide vs. John Walters

Just a pile of moves and not five minutes went before the ref stopped enforcing tags. I don't understand why these matches didn't just start as tornado rules. I turned this off halfway through, as I knew this match was just gonna be more moves and nothing else. All four guys are a lot better than this transparent attempt to just make the Baltimore crowd (this was the debut show for that martket) ejaculate and beg for an ROH return.

Rating: Less than ***

ROH Title Match
Samoa Joe vs. Jay Briscoe

Not as great as I remember, but still a damn fine main event to elevate Jay as a singles competitor. This match, following his matches at Beating the Odds and Glory By Honor II, showed that there was nothing whatsoever about Joe's personality that was worthy of being respected. In retrospect, for a several month period, it's quite apparent that the ONLY reason Joe got babyface reactions during this period was because of how bad-ass he was and he followed Xavier's unsatisfying reign.

Rating: ***1/2

Up next - Empire State Showdown
Matches will include:
John Walters vs. Christopher Daniels

[ronnie2hotty]

I am thoroughly enjoying these!!!!

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012.

Empire State Showdown - October 25, 2003



John Walters vs. Christopher Daniels

This was almost going to be quite the technical classic, but it was almost completely ruined by the spotfest it became at the end. I will tack on extra 1/2* since Daniels sold the legwork post-match, although he didn't sell it as much as he should have. Walters really went to work on the left leg of Daniels and it deserved to be sold for all the effort that was put into that segment of that match. Walters wasn't as guilty with selling his back, which was the target for Daniels, but he showed some no-sell issues in the end also. If the finishing sequence had been based off the first 90% of the match, this would have been a surefire classic and a breakout performance for Walters.

Xavier starts heading back toward my doghouse for his promo in the post-match.

Rating: ***1/2

Up next - Man Event Spectacles
Matches will include:
Homicide vs. BJ Whitmer
Scramble Cage Match
AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012.

Main Event Spectacles - November 1, 2003



"Fighting Spirit Challenge"
Homicide vs. BJ Whitmer

I'm not sure why Gabe Sapolsky thought having Whitmer kick out of the Kudo Driver, in an artificial attempt to get the uncharismatic insomnia cure over with the audience, and doing nothing to organically lead to such a major moment, was a better idea than just giving into Low Ki and jobbing Homicide in what would have been a surefire great match.

I had to take a break after this match due to the frustration of it. Homicide pre-TNA was a lot better than this. A LOT better - even the matches with Trent Acid had so much effort behind the spotfests that they were that someone as hard-to-please as me could respect and admire them. This was your typical non-gimmick Whitmer match, in which a list of moves is thrown onto a sheet of paper and they kick out of them. Time has not been kind to this one.

Rating: Less than ***

Scramble Cage Match
Backseat Boyz vs. Teddy Hart & Jack Evans vs. Carnage Crew vs. The SAT vs. Angeldust & Hydro (Jay Lethal)

Another mindless spotfest, but with a lot more charm and open honesty. I should note that two of my absolute favoritest grapplers of all-time locked up to start this one - Teddy Hart and Trent Acid. While the match was a complete mess, it is a carwreck that should be seen at least once in every wrestling fan's lifetime. It didn't go on for too long, and in fact ended at the perfect time now that I think about it. This kind of match though is HORRIBLE for pacing a show.

Rating: less than ***

ROH Title Shot Match
AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson

After sitting through what I consider to be a horrendous in-ring show that has not stood the test of time, this one saved it in spades. This should have easily been a five star match, but I blame the Scramble Cage for burning the crowd out, as well as the awful fourway in between. This match deserved a Philly, NYC, or Boston crowd.

Not only did these men build off of their All Star Extravaganza classic, but they obviously studied their five star classics against Paul London too. In this one, Danielson came one step closer to his heel turn that was lurking inside him, and instead of a sympathetic London, you had the ultra-aggressive Styles instead. A recipe for a MOTYC if you ask me.

The counters in this match, which were a mix of new stuff as well as moves from their previous major matches, were just beautiful and graceful. The psychology, going back-and-forth between the left arm of Styles and Danielson's left knee, was nothing short of breathtaking. The aggression, not just fueled by the competitive professional spirit of both men, was only intensified all-the-more as both men gave it their all for another shot at the company's premier championship.

If Sapolsky had just paced this event better, this contest could have been on the same level of matches that both men had with London earlier in 2003. This is where the pacing problems began to glare for Sapolsky before he cut a lot of Rob Feinstein's dead weight in 2004. The crowd heat suffered going into this one, and that is through absolutely no fault of AJ Styles or Bryan Danielson.

Not only is the 2/3 falls match against London on Danielson's new ROH comp, but this match is as well. As if you needed another reason to get that DVD now. If you haven't seen this match already, get that comp during the current ongoing sale ROH is having.

Rating: ****1/2

Good Times, Great Memories
Guests: Carnage Crew

A fantastic edition of Colt Cabana's talk show, as he just had so much FUN chemistry with Loc & Devito.

Steve Corino closes out the show with a fantastic promo that has me pumped for his no rope barbed wire match against Homicide.

Up next - The Conclusion
Matches will include:
Homicide vs. John Walters
Briscoe Bros. vs. Samoa Joe & AJ Styles
CM Punk vs. Raven

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012.

The Conclusion - November 28, 2003



Homicide vs. John Walters

A nice undercard match to help elevate Walters and keep Homicide's momentum going for the feud with Steve Corino. I loved how testy these two got with one another and that Walters was coming so close to getting his first major victory in the company. Why this gets forgotten in favor of that shitty BJ Whitmer match from Main Event Spectacles is quite the appalling mystery.

Rating: ***1/2

Tag Titles Match
Briscoe Bros. vs. Samoa Joe & AJ Styles

A good but forgettable tag match. It had all the basics down on paper - manipulation by the Briscoes, aggression for Styles, furthering the Joe vs. Briscoes feud, Joe and Styles losing their chemistry at the end - it just didn't have the pace to make this anywhere near a classic. Still a million light years ahead of the series involving Amazing Red though.

Rating: ***

Loser Leaves Town - Cage Match
Raven vs. CM Punk

Now this is more like it. A nice way to finish this feud, as it didn't have the pedestrian crowd-brawling spilling over from the days of ECW and Vince Russo. This had hatred and a sense of urgency thanks to the stipulation, but at the end the issue between the two of them almost cost each other the match. Just a great cage match, and while this feud has been topped over and over again in the past decade, this is the one that made Punk a CHARACTER to build the federation around.

Rating: ****

Up next - War of the Wire
Matches will include:
Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles
Homicide vs. Steve Corino

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012.

War of the Wire - November 29, 2003



ROH Title Match
Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles

A pleasant surprise, as this was damn good and quite a bit better than I remembered. I loved the counters in this one, and Styles brought his ferocity as usual to combat Joe's size. My favorite spot had to be when Styles jumped over the guardrail and did a jumping lariat instead of attempting something leg-based - it showed that he respected Joe's studying and training habits too much to risk repeating spots done in the title shot matches against Paul London and Bryan Danielson. In the end though, Styles completely wore himself out (especially by POWERBOMBING Joe) and that cost him the match, as Joe still had enough stamina to finish him.

Rating: ****

No Rope Barbed Wire Match
Homicide vs. Steve Corino

Just a tad bit below their Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies epic for me personally, but this was still a classic nonetheless. Their initial fear of the barb wire, quickly being overcome by the pure hatred they had towards one another, was gorgeous to watch. This match, which on the surface just looks to be nothing more than an OMG gorefest, actually had a bigger purpose - how much pain would these men put their own selves through to inflict it on each other? This mentality they both displayed throughout the match, as well as how their previous match concluded, was nothing short of breathtaking as they reached the finish. These two awesome matches not only were masterful in terms of showing how much animosity there was, but also had both coming out as even more bad-ass than they were before.

Rating: ****1/4

Up next - Final Battle 2003
Matches will include:
Jay Briscoe vs. Bryan Danielson
Xavier vs. John Walters
Turmeric Storm vs. CM Punk & Colt Cabanaer

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012.

Final Battle 2003 - December 27, 2003



Jay Briscoe vs. Bryan Danielson

A damn fine opener that did its job - get the blood flowing for the crowd, but don't have a MOTYC, and keep the match logical. These two could have easily main evented a show and had a ****+ match. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to the Briscoes vs. Samoa Joe & Danielson match on the next show.

This also happens to be on Danielson's new ROH comp.

Rating: ***1/2

Hardcore Match
Xavier vs. John Walters

Very similar to the Homicide vs. Trent Acid match at Wrestlerave, but not quite the amazing spectacle. There's a lot of shit in this match that I'm sure both men regret, especially the finish. Another stupidly entertaining spot was the springboard 450 to the outside on Walters through a table. I'm sure that was worth it. Really fun match not only to end this mid-card feud, but conclude the journey of Walters to his first major singles victory.

Rating: ***1/4

Who Attacked Lucy?

After all these months of building this up, shows and matches being interrupted, planting the seeds for this mega-feud, this major push goes to...

BJ Whitmer. Yeah. He certainly earned it after that shitty Field of Honor final earlier in the night.

Turmeric Storm vs. CM Punk & Colt Cabana

I really enjoyed this TAG TEAM match quite a bit. There wasn't a single moment of failure to enforce tag rules, and pinfalls were only counted for the legal men. This is important because when rules are enforced, it makes the insanity mean more when it happens on rare occasion. Much like the opener, this wasn't meant to be a MOTYC - it did its job of just being a good match after intermission, and it's a shame the other AJPW matches that followed couldn't take a cue from this one.

Rating: ***1/2

Good Times, Great Memories
Guests: Special K

Short and sweet. I'm starting to see why Carnage Crew are missed - I'd certainly take them over Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin.

SUPER DUPER ROH 2003 AWARDS

Wrestler of the Year:
Homicide and Christopher Daniels
Runner-up - Paul London

Debut of the Year:
BJ Whitmer - Revenge on the Prophecy

Breakout Performance of the Year:
CM Punk on the microphone @ Do or Die

Feud/Rivalry of the Year:
Raven vs. CM Punk
Runner-up - Homicide vs. Steve Corino and Samoa Joe vs. Briscoe Bros.

Show of the Year:
One Year Anniversary Show
Runner-up - Revenge on the Prophecy and Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies

Moment of the Year:
Paul London's farewell @ Death Before Dishonor
Runner-up - Samoa Joe's ROH title win @ Night of Champions and Great Muta's appearance @ Final Battle 2003

Match of the Year:
Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson - The Epic Encounter *****
Runner-up - AJ Styles vs. Paul London - Night of the Grudges *****

ROH's Top 10 Matches of 2003 (in chronological order):
Low Ki vs. Paul London vs. AJ Styles - One Year Anniversary Show ****1/4
Xavier vs. Paul London - One Year Anniversary Show ****
Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams - Night of Champions ****3/4
Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson - The Epic Encounter *****
Paul London vs. Christopher Daniels - Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II ****1/2
AJ Styles vs. Paul London - Night of the Grudges *****
Xavier vs. Christopher Daniels - Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies ****1/4
Steve Corino vs. Homicide - Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies ****1/2
AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson - Main Event Spectacles ****1/2
Homicide vs. Steve Corino - War of the Wire ****1/4

Up next - The Battle Lines Are Drawn
Matches will include:
Alex Shelley vs. Matt Stryker
Homicide vs. AJ Styles
Briscoe Bros. vs. Samoa Joe & Bryan Danielson
Second City Saints vs. Christopher Daniels, Dan Maff, & BJ Whitmer

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012.

The Battle Lines Are Drawn - January 10, 2004



Pure Wrestling Rules Match
Alex Shelley vs. Matt Stryker

A damn fine opener here, as Stryker's lack of charisma wasn't quite so obvious yet and he was working with the always tremendous Shelley. Great psychology, great selling, great storytelling. Get the crowd pumped for the rest of the night. Most importantly, get the new gimmick division over. A nice challenger to Bryan Danielson's matches against Jay Briscoe and Christopher Daniels for best ROH opener ever.

Rating: ***1/2

Good Times, Great Memories
Guest: Ace Steel

Yeah this RULED until CM Punk showed up and convinced Ace Steel to do his retarded "look at me, I'm a pissed off motherf***er" face that nobody ever bought.

Homicide vs. AJ Styles

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this one. For some reason, I was honestly expecting an empty spotfest. Instead, you got two men who respected one another but would absolutely push each other as competitors. This got vicious, this got heated, and had some decent storytelling too. I could see this getting better with more viewings.

Rating: ***1/2

Tag Titles Match
Briscoe Bros. vs. Samoa Joe & Bryan Danielson

Another damn good match - I shudder to think of this rematch in 2006-2008. It ultimately became a battle of which sum was greater - the Briscoes' chemistry under the new tutelage of Jim Cornette, or the aggression and determination of Joe & Danielson? Mix in some better selling with this match and you would have had a MOTYC right here.

Rating: ***3/4

The Second City Saints vs. Christopher Daniels, Dan Maff, & BJ Whitmer

I've never quite understood the psychology of why the Prophecy were treated as babyfaces by the commentary and crowd. I know that Punk was obnoxious and overbearing. He even attacked a woman before. But did his crimes fit the punishment of someone he viewed as a loved one being put into a hospital for months?

When Punk attacked Trinity at Expect the Unexpected, he didn't do it so severely as to scar her for life or say f*** you to Raven. He did it to make sure she was a non-factor in that hardcore match. That's it. He treated Raven like absolute shit, but you could tell he had some conviction into his reasoning for it. He honestly believed that Raven was a piece of trash.

Daniels & Whitmer had absolutely no justifiable reason for what they did to Lucy. OH NOEZ Whitmer, Punk was being mean to you about that shitty match you had with him. Yeah, that totally makes it okay to hospitalize a woman for an extended period of time just because she was significant to him.

For Daniels, he was obviously tired of getting his ass kicked by Low Ki, Styles, Joe, and Doug Williams, so he moved onto Punk just to f*** with him mentally. Maybe he felt that after the way he treated the company by shitting on the Code of Honor, going after Punk would win him the locker room and he could wiggle his way into getting the company to do favors for him. What he didn't realize is how narcissistic Punk could truly be, and karma came biting HARD.

I also had complete empathy for Punk - if one of my loved ones was hospitalized or murdered, I'd be out for blood as well. Anybody who would sabotage me would face my consequences too. When this kind of line is crossed, it's pure emotion. But with his attitude during this match (I don't have a problem with what he did afterwards), the only parties that truly deserved empathy were Cabana and Maff (for being team players and true friends) and Lucy (for the obvious reason.)

This match for unknown reasons started as a regular tag, only to get out of control later on. With the heat this feud already had, there was no reason to make it anything but a gimmick match from the get-go. That said, Maff's performance as Ricky Morton in this contest was REALLY impressive considering he's Dan Maff.

I don't understand why Punk was playing a chickenshit in this - he was the one out for revenge, not Daniels or anyone else on the Prophecy. Just weird. I guess everyone just decided to play along with the crowd reaction to both factions.

The real story of this whole chapter was in the post-match. The message was sent loud and clear: You do NOT f*** with CM Punk. EVER. There are severe consequences for doing so. Just like what happened to Lucy, Daniels was put into hospitalization as well. Whitmer's lucky he was still left standing.

Afterwards, Punk cuts a tremendous promo explaining how karma came back to bite Daniels. Maff then followed up with a laughable attempt at an emotional promo, and completely overlooking that his friends put their hands in the cookie jar first.

This whole thing was for the most part entertaining, due to the sheer work of all men involved (yes, that includes Steel and Whitmer.) But with a more logical layout to the storyline and match, this could have maybe been THE Match of the Year. Instead, it's a fun spectacle that did the most it could with its logic shortcomings.

Rating: ***3/4

Up next - The Last Stand
Matches will include:
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Alex Shelley
CM Punk vs. Homicide
Briscoe Bros. vs. Samoa Joe & Jerry Lynn

[SUPES]

This review originally posted in 2012.

The Last Stand - January 29, 2004



The nostalgia returns immediately - this show marks the debut of THE S TO THE S TO THE P~!

Christopher Daniels cuts a promo via satellite - decent but again I'm not fully engaged into this heel vs. heel feud. Perhaps if the commentary called both groups out on their bullshit I'd be more into it. You didn't hear Jim Ross taking Edge or Randy Orton's side during their classic match in 2007; for whatever reason, Gabe Sapolsky seems to take the Prophecy's side at every standpoint, or completely gloss over that they stuck their hands in the cookie jar first.

Good Times, Great Memories
Guests: Dunn & Marcos

This sucked and just wasn't f***ing entertaining at all. Colt Cabana had no clue how to ad-lib for the unenthusiastic crowd.

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Alex Shelley

Good but nothing special, as neither guy had done anything of note yet in ROH, so the crowd heat wasn't there, plus it was white-meat Shelley. Nice submissions and counters though, and I enjoyed the post-match.

Rating: ***1/4

CM Punk vs. Homicide

This one put me to sleep. Not horrible, but not a good match in any way. Bad night for both men and they could do much better as their previous match at Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II showed.

Rating: Less than ***

Tag Titles Match
Briscoe Bros. vs. Samoa Joe & Jerry Lynn

Good tag, but nothing close to the one involving Bryan Danielson on the previous show. A shitty finish that looked intentionally botched too to give Lynn an excuse to do the cradle piledriver since he didn't do it at all in the match. The highlight was easily Cornette doing a fantastic job of retorting to Lynn's real-life, world-is-out-to-get-me bitter potshots at WWE and keeping it kayfabe.

Joe cuts a GREAT promo afterwards (and like Daniels, he completely neglects to mention that he started his entire feud with the Briscoes by treating them like shit.) He does his job of getting me pumped for the cage match, and even the Prophecy threeway scheduled. Then Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer cut a promo that almost put me back to sleep, even though it's less than a minute.

Rating: ***

I can easily see why this DVD took so long to go OOP and ROH never bothered restocking it. Perhaps I shouldn't be saying that as this will be one of many OOP masters I'll be unloading soon, but I'm not here to milk you the viewers out of your money; this thread is to give you honest recommendations. Find a cheap way to see Shelley vs. Jacobs and avoid everything else unless you MUST have the entire ROH DVD collection in your closet. This was easily one of the worst shows ROH ever hosted. Maybe it's because it's a Baltimore show, but it left an SBG-like bad taste in my mouth.

Up next - Second Anniversary Show
Matches will include:
The good shit from the Pure Title Tournament, including CM Punk vs. John Walters, Chris Sabin vs. Doug Williams, a semifinal, and the final
Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki vs. Dan Maff vs. BJ Whitmer

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

Punk/AJ for the Pure Title is such a pain, because it was one of those Pure Title matches that was super contrived to get all of the rules used. Joe/Lethal was a little worse for it (because, seriously, when has Samoa Joe EVER done a close-fisted punch outside of his chop and jab combo? Ever? So why should I buy that he does that by accident?), but that match had other things going for it.