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The RoH Title Controversy

Captain TagonPosted on 06/19/05 at 16:54:53

And....



discuss.
Critic of the DawnPosted on 06/19/05 at 20:38:37

Cross-posted from my Livejournal:

Death Before Dishonor III
If you don't care for wrestling, skip this entry. It will consist solely of me raving about how good the show that I saw last night was.

First of all, I have to talk about Ring of Honor's new home in New Jersey, the Mennen Sports Arena. Basically the ring was set up in a converted roller rink, which is actually a very good setup in my opinion. With bleachers visible on one side (and most likely present on the other), the building could easily handle 4-5 times the crowd that Death Before Dishonor III drew (about 600-700) without going to standing room only. It also has plenty of parking, which is a major advantage. The biggest disadvantage of the arena is that it's not easily accessable from points south. The RexPlex, which was right off the Jersey Turnpike in Elizabeth, could count on drawing a hundred or so fans from Philly and the surrounding areas because the PA and NJ turnpikes made it a very easy trip. The Mennen Sports Arena requires a trip up 95, then a long stretch of what amounts to small town roads complete with scattered traffic lights before you can finally get onto 287, which is a 4 lane highway. Thus, even though the arena is not any further away than the RexPlex, it takes an extra 30-45 minutes to get there, bringing the total trip to somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 hours and 10 minutes. With that in mind, I have my doubts as to whether the Mennen Sports Arena will ever draw as well as the RexPlex did.

Now, onto the show itself.

The show started off with BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs putting their titles on the line against Jimmy Rave and Fast Eddie Vegas, who represented Prince Nana's Embassy. Once again I will reiterate my love for Nana's band of thugs, and their cheap-heat tactics. Nana and his Embassy are so animated that I ended up watching them more than the actual match, as they dragged their (very attractive) valet, Jade Chung, around by her hair, shouted at her, etc. At one point, Prince Nana even threatened to send her back to her 18 brothers and sisters in Vietnam if she didn't do what he told her. Brilliant! You can see why Nana (who claims to be the prince of Ghana, West Africa) makes such a good heel. He plays a wonderful misogynistic megalomaniac that the crowd loves to hate. YOU FOOLS! Rave was decent enough in this match, but continues to show me that without CM Punk holding his hand and guiding him to a good match, he's profoundly mediocre. Fast Eddie Vegas... wrestles well for a guy who's legally blind. Jimmy Jacobs is over with the crowd, and BJ Whitmer... isn't, really. Jacobs and Whitmer retain with the Doomsday Hurricanrana. **.

Next, Lacey (the woman who leads the faction known as Lacey's Angels - a bunch of sharp-dressing young men) faced Cindy Rogers. Let me take a moment to express my appreciation for Lacey here. I may think that Becky Bayless is more attractive, but Lacey looks damn good in red velvet wrestling trunks. This match started out with some comedy as Lacey repeatedly accused Cindy of pulling her tights for leverage (she didn't). As Cindy tried to claim that she didn't, Lacey ambushed her and they fought for a while until Lacey scored with the Impaler DDT. Short match, but very solid for women's wrestling, which usually isn't as exciting as men's. **.

What followed was a Street Fight between the Carnage Crew of H.C. Loc and Danny DeVito and the Ring Crew Express of Dunn and Marcos. Carnage Crew were out first, proudly sporting "Fat, Drunk, and Kicking Ass" T-Shirts and taking swigs from a bottle of Southern Comfort. And really, that sums up the crew pretty well. RCE are beloved by the fans for their cheesy '80s Hair Metal Fans gimmick, but since both of these guys weigh about 130 pounds or so, this ended up being pretty one sided. Dunn and Marcos get in a little offense, then the Crew basically killed them. Lots of blood, table spots, chairs, and the like. Hardcore matches aren't really to my taste, but this was pretty good for what it was. Carnage Crew get the win with a top rope Razor's Edge / Reverse Neckbreaker double team move through a table. Ouch! **3/4.

Colt Cabana was out next for his shot at the Pure Title, held by Samoa Joe. Joe is, of course, over as hell with the crowd. Cabana is goofy, amusing, charismatic, and a pretty good wrestler to boot. Therefore, this was really a fun match. About 20 seconds in, Cabana shoved Joe into the ropes and quickly applied a hammerlock across the top rope, which used Joe's first rope break even though he didn't want to. This pissed Joe off, and he shoved the referee for making the call, which prompted the referee to take away Joe's warning for using closed fisted punches. Cabana then continued to goad a very angry Joe with a series of slow-motion slaps to the face, which resulted in a big straight punch right to the jaw by Joe. Since he had lost his warning, this counted as his second Rope Break. Shortly thereafter, Joe managed to get Cabana to use his first rope break legitimately with a nasty armbar, and proceeded to go to work on the arm. Lots of fun chain wrestling. Cabana hit a weak power bomb on Joe (not surprising since Joe outweighs Cabana by 50 odd pounds, then locked in an STF, forcing Joe to use his last rope break. Moments later, Joe hit the same series (Power Bomb to STF) on Cabana, forcing him to use his second rope break. Some more back and forth wrestling, then Joe takes control with a HUGE enzuigiri, knocks Cabana down, and locks in an armbar. Since Joe had been working the arm the entire match, Cabana tapped out almost immediately. ***1/2.

Prince Nana and friends come back out after the ring was cleaned up to introduce the oppoent for the returning AJ Styles. But before they could do so, "Disposable Teens" hit and Allison Danger came to the ring, proclaiming that Christopher Daniels would be returning earlier than expected at the 7/8 Long Island show. Good pop for that, along with lots of "That's great, but I won't be able to get there!" shouts from the crowd. Danger told Nana that she thought The Embassy was doing a great job, and that brought out AJ's opponent and apparently the newest member of The Embassy... Petey Williams! Interesting. The match itself was solid but surprisingly unspectacular. Both men seemed to be holding something back out there, which is a shame, because both can put together an amazing match when they want to. Or maybe the Heavyweight Division in TNA has slowed Styles down. Dunno. Regardless, this was pretty good but not great. Williams teased the Canadian Destroyer (a flipping Piledriver that has to be seen to be believed) several times, but the third time he went for it, Styles reversed into the Styles Clash for the win. ***. On AJ's way to the back, he was ambushed by Williams, who threw him back into the ring and hit the Canadian Destroyer. Jesus that move is brutal! Styles sold it as if he had been shot, and basically didn't move for 2-3 minutes as Williams celebrated.

INTERMISSION

After the intermission, ROH brought the fans back into the show with Izzy and Deranged of Lacey's Angels facing Jack Evans and Roderick Strong of Generation Next. Good work by all involved. Tons of fun high-flying action by everyone except Roderick, who's a power guy. The match actually made a lot of sense, though, as Lacey's Angels took advantage of their speed to keep Rod out of the ring as much as possible. Of course, Cloudy and Cheech interfering on the outside certainly didn't hurt things. These tactics proved effective for Lacey's Angels, who put Evans away with a Top-Rope T-Gimmick (Double Razor's Edge). ***1/4.

After that came a Four Corners Survival match featuring Azriael, Nigel McGuinness, Homicide and James Gibson (formerly Jamie Noble in WWE). Homicide was out with his manager Julius Smokes, but the rest of the Rottweilers weren't present. Smokes has enough personality for a whole stable of wrestlers, however. With his gold teeth, throwback jerseys, gang signs, and sailor-like-swearing added to the fact that he's basically a cartoon character of the worst negative stereotypes of African Americans... he's just a lot of fun. Good solid match, with the main story being that Homicide did not want to face Gibson. Any time they'd end up in the ring together, Homicide would tag out quickly, using mainly cheap shots and actually spending a lot of time on the receiving end of punishment from the others. The match ended with a lot of people going for finishers in quick succession. Homicide went for the Cop Killa (The Hurricane used to use this move as The Vertebreaker) on Gibson, but Azriael shoved him into the turnbuckle. This dropped Gibson on the top turnbuckle, and while Homicide and Azriael fought, Nigel quickly rolled in and hit the Guvnor's Crumpet (Diamond Cutter/RKO variant, with the victim on the top rope and the user standing in front of the turnbuckle) for the victory. ***1/2.

In the second-last match, Jay Lethal faced a thugged out Low Ki in a grudge match. Good stuff, with Low Ki beating the crap out of Lethal while avoiding his brutal crowd-popping kicks for the most part. The crowd was split 50/50 on this match, and though Lethal's offense is a bit basic in comparison to Ki's, he does it very very well and knows how to use it. I wouldn't be surprised to see Lethal in WWE's cruiserweight division in a couple years if he keeps developing the style he uses. Anyway. Low Ki came across as an arrogant prick who was continuously underestimating Lethal, and as a result, Lethal was able to score with his Dragon Suplex finisher! Lethal covered, but Julius Smokes (who also managed Low Ki) ran in and broke up the count and attacked Lethal. For whatever stupid reason, the referee ruled the match a No Contest rather than a DQ win for Lethal. Good match, albeit a hair less intense than their match in Philly last year. ***3/4.

Finally, in the main event CM Punk faced Austin Aries for the Ring of Honor World Title. The crowd was clapping and pounding the metal in time to Punk's music for about a minute or two before his music hit, and he got a standing ovation once he made his way out. Lots of "Thank you Punk!" "Please Don't Go!" and "We Will Miss You!" chants. Several people tried to start "You Sold Out!" chants, but these were countered by small localized "Shut the fuck up!" chants. CM Punk looked extremely emotional. The crowd was HOT for this. Usually the Northeastern fans in Ring of Honor have a tendency to sit and watch the matches intently, but from the start there were lots of Punk chants in this one. Then something almost magical happened - I don't really know how to explain it, but... The crowd was basically 100% behind Punk, cheering the hell out of everything he did. Not chanting clever chants, just... CHEERING. And booing the hell out of Austin Aries EVERY TIME HE GOT A MOVE IN. It was like we were all kids again watching Hulk Hogan face the evil Andre the Giant or something. The crowd just wanted Punk to win so much that they were wordlessly voicing their will in a manner seldom seen on the indies. Even the most jaded smart marks wanted to see Punk take the title on his last night in a kind of fairytale ending. It didn't hurt that it was a very good match, either. Punk started things off by working a simple headlock for about 5 minutes, basically wearing down the neck of Austin Aries, which has been built up as his weakness for the past few months. Throughout the match he would continually go back to the headlock, with Aries becoming more and more desperate to escape it as it took its toll. Aries got in offense of his own, of course. It almost looked like it was over when Aries hit a HUGE top-rope brainbuster. Aries also took control on the outside, trying to do whatever he could to wear down Punk, tossing him headfirst into the guardrails and using some brutal elbows to the skull in an attempt to weaken him for the brainbuster/450 Splash combo. Finally Aries had Punk right where he wanted him, and headed up top for the 450. The crowd was absolutely giving him hell, and it looked like he wasn't quite sure how to react other than staring angrily for a moment. This gave Punk a chance to recover and climb to the top rope, but Aries fought him off and hit the Pepsi Plunge (top-rope pedigree), which is Punk's finisher.

Aries covered, and Punk kicked out at 1. He essentially hulked up, and the crowd ate it up like sweet sweet candy. Just a minute or two later, they fought back to the top rope, and this time Punk was finally able to score with the Pepsi Plunge, which impacts the neck that Punk had been working the entire match. He covered.

One.

Two.

Three!

Match was worth *****, I think.  I've seen more fastpaced matches.  I've seen more technical matches.  But I haven't seen many matches that told a story better than this one, and in terms of sheer emotion, the last time I saw something on the same level was Rock vs. Hogan at Wrestlemania X-8.

CM Punk won the Ring of Honor World Title on his last night in the company. The crowd was extremely emotional, chanting for him for about five minutes, and Punk looked like he was trying very hard not to cry. Finally, "Speech! Speech! Speech!" chants broke out. Punk took the microphone and held up his new title belt. The first thing he said was "Isn't this the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" In the course of a five minute promo, however, he proceeded to TURN HEEL ON THE CROWD THAT HAD BEEN MORE BEHIND HIM THAN POSSIBLY ANYONE ELSE IN ROH HISTORY. He compared himself to the devil, and told a story of an old man who found a snake freezing to death in the snow. The old man brought the snake into his house so he could be warm and slowly, over months, nursed it back into health. At which point the extremely poisonous serpent bit him. As the man lay dying, he asked "Why did you do this? I was good to you! I supported you when you needed it most! You are alive because of me!" The snake replied, "You stupid fool! I'm a snake! What did you expect me to do?" He then claimed that now the Ring of Honor belt was the most important belt in the world... and that he was TAKING IT WITH HIM, and there wasn't a soul that could stop him.

"Joe! Joe! Joe!" chants start from the crowd, which by this point has turned on Punk for being called puppets and ROHbots. And then.

And then.

Some guy in a hurry brushes past me and says "excuse me."

The voice is kind of familiar.

He's not wearing a shirt.

OH SHIT! THAT WAS "THE FALLEN ANGEL" CHRISTOPHER DANIELS!

Daniels, who isn't supposed to return to Ring of Honor until July, rushes the ring and begins brawling with Punk. Huge "Ring the Bell!" chant! Daniels jaws with Punk for a moment, then attacks. Punk is quickly overcome and planted on the mat with an STO. Daniels points to the turnbuckle and the ENTIRE ARNEA shouts "BEST. MOONSAULT. EVER!" Daniels goes for it, but Punk rolls away. But Daniels lands on his feet! And Punk rolls out of the ring. "You've been waiting 16 months to get your hands on this? Well you can wait 16 YEARS more for all I care!" Punk runs off through the crowd. HUGE "CM PUSSY!" chants. Daniels challenges Punk to return, but Punk has left the building with the ROH World Title on what is apparently his last night there.

Daniels is still in the ring, though, and gives a speech about how 16 months ago, Punk fired the first shot in a war by putting him through a table with the Pepsi Plunge. All Daniels could think of was returning fire and taking out Punk. Then someone in TNA came up to him after a show one night and told him he had to make a choice between two things that were very precious to him. He left Ring of Honor in early 2004 because he had to. But he was back now because he wanted to be.

Very very special. I haven't marked out that hard in years. God I love ROH. I highly reccomend it to anyone who's never been. Just... wonderful stuff. I have absolutely no idea where this storyline is going, and I am loving it.



I don't really see this as all THAT controversial, really.  It was extremely surprising, yes.  But it was a huge mark out moment for me, and probably a good number of other people there live.  And really, if you think about it, last night really brought Punk's ROH career full circle.  He made his name as a HUGE heel.  It somehow just wouldn't seem... RIGHT... for him to leave as a babyface.  I have the feeling that I will remember what happened there for the rest of my life.  That's pretty f'n special right there.

As for whether Gabe should have given the belt to Punk...  Punk and Joe together literally saved Ring of Honor from collapsing after the Feinstein situation and the removal of TNA's talent.  If it weren't for their feud, ROH could have died right there.  And all indications are that Punk will be huge within a few years in WWE.  He deserved a memorable moment on his way out, and he got one.  As for the ROH Title...  I don't know if Punk will return to defend it, or if he will be stripped of it and they'll have a tournament.  Either thing they do will draw huge crowds.  And if Punk IS stripped of the Title... so what?  The Ring of Honor World Title is defended internationally more than either of WWE's World titles or the NWA World Heavyweight Title.  Joe held the belt for almost 2 years.  Aries held it for 7 months.  Being vacated once is not going to kill its credibility.

Eric "Critic of the Dawn"
UnrightPosted on 06/20/05 at 04:30:21

Hey Eric,

What's the address of your LiveJournal? Do you have other recaps of ROH shows?
Critic of the DawnPosted on 06/20/05 at 06:40:42

My livejournal is at http://www.livejournal.com/users/ericthecavalier/

I do have reviews of a couple other shows (both WWE and ROH) if you look back far enough, but they aren't a regular occurance.  Generally it's more of a personal journal, but if I go to a show that impresses me a lot I write about it.  Other than that, don't be surprised to see me whining about stuff and the like.  The event was actually awesome enough to get me to break a 4-5 month freeze in new updates which I took for various personal reasons.

Eric "Critic of the Dawn"
americamamushiPosted on 06/20/05 at 09:11:01

don't be surprised to see me whining about stuff and the like.
With LiveJournals whining should be implied. ;)  If LJ didn't have us whiners they wouldn't even have 1/4 of the users they do :D
Snabbit888Posted on 06/21/05 at 01:31:21

*throws up the TNM User LiveJournal signal*
americamamushiPosted on 06/21/05 at 01:44:49

On 06/21/05 at 01:31:21, Snabbit888 wrote:*throws up the TNM User LiveJournal signal*
lmao!  We SO need to have one of those! :D
AllPowerfulGARTHPosted on 06/21/05 at 03:07:32

It can be just like Captain Planet!

I call shotgun on "Fire."
Critic of the DawnPosted on 06/21/05 at 05:28:39

I'll take ANYTHING other than "Heart!"

Eric "Critic of the Dawn"
americamamushiPosted on 06/21/05 at 07:54:29

the captain planet kids all had elements, right?

I call Cadmium!
91Posted on 06/21/05 at 13:01:12

They all had elements? In that case, I'd shotgun the fifth element.

By the way, Captain Planet sucked donkeys. I didn't want to see a patronising hippy show that caters to the wussy when I was little, I wanted to see Thundercats and Real Ghostbusters.
Critic of the DawnPosted on 06/21/05 at 16:19:35

On 06/21/05 at 13:01:12, 91 wrote:They all had elements? In that case, I'd shotgun the fifth element.
Hah! You got stuck with either Heart or Boron, depending on whether you're going by the show continuity or the periodic table! Which gives you either the lame power to talk to animals, or to have a power that sounds like the word Moron.

By the way, Captain Planet sucked donkeys. I didn't want to see a patronising hippy show that caters to the wussy when I was little, I wanted to see Thundercats and Real Ghostbusters.
Oh, of course. The Real Ghostbusters kicked all kinds of ass. It even had a Cthulhu episode!

Oh, and I'm STILL marking out from Death Before Dishonor III.  I wish Long Island weren't 200 odd miles away...

Eric "Critic of the Dawn"
Captain TagonPosted on 06/21/05 at 22:25:31

I'll be Heart. Which makes me the random Asian kid with the pet monkey thrown in for the second season. Alright.!
91Posted on 06/22/05 at 02:38:18

On 06/21/05 at 16:19:35, Critic of the Dawn wrote:
Hah! You got stuck with either Heart or Boron, depending on whether you're going by the show continuity or the periodic table! Which gives you either the lame power to talk to animals, or to have a power that sounds like the word Moron.
Forget that, I was talking about Milla Jovovich. She was hot in that film.
Critic of the DawnPosted on 06/22/05 at 06:14:10

On 06/22/05 at 02:38:18, 91 wrote:

Forget that, I was talking about Milla Jovovich. She was hot in that film.
Ahh.  So Boron, then.  Heart is taken now.

Eric "Critic of the Dawn"