ROH: Survival of the Fittest...Thoughts~!

[Agent Kev]

Mark Briscoe vs. Alex Shelley

Real solid opener to start things off. Shelley looked really good as usual. He busted out a nice move that started out as his cross-legged brainbuster (It Came From Japan) but ended up as a stunner. Just another reason why I love watching Shelley work (he always shows us something new...unless the match is in Nashville or Orlando). These guys worked real well together (probably due to their recent work together in the 6-man and 8-man tags) and Briscoe focused on Shelley's knee which enabled him to get a quick pinfall because "it only takes three seconds". Mark advances.

Quick note about the location of this event (this was the show they moved from Maryland to I believe the Ramada in Philly). The venue looks real similar to the Maryland venue except for the chandeliers don't hang as low from the ceiling. However the ceiling is very low.

Trent Acid vs. Colt Cabana

The first 3-4 minutes of this match was comic brillance. Just a riot. Cabana is definitely the funnest wrestler to watch in the world. After that the match ended up being decent but I'm just not into Acid as a singles wrestler. Cabana wins with a roll-up because "it only takes 3 seconds". Cabana advances.

John Walters/Josh Daniels vs. Austin Aries/Roderick Strong

GenNext is not happy that Shelley has been eliminated so they bring all of their members to the ring for the scheduled John Walters vs. Austin Aries match. GenNext beats down Walters and he is taken to the back. Out comes Josh Daniels as his replacement and he is beaten until Walters makes the save. An improptu tag-match is made with the winner of the pinfall advancing to the Main Event.

What can I say? Another fantastic GenNext tag-team match. First they had an awesome 8-man at the "GenNext" show, then they had a great 6-man at the "World Title Classic" show and now they did it again with a really solid tag-match at this show. GenNext looked great in this one as did Daniels and Walters. Aries gets the pinfall when Roderick hits a powerbomb on Daniels (I think) and then Aries nails a sweet 450 for the pin.

John Walters: I've never really been a fan of his work. I've always thought he was decent but never really saw anything *special* in him. However, during his feud with GenNext he has really showed me something. Not only has ROH elevated GenNext up a notch but IMO they have also elevated Walters and Walters has elevated his work. He has looked REALLY good in his series with GenNext and I'm actually looking forward to seeing if he gets a shot at either Joe or Doug in August and how he performs under that situation.

Austin Aries: This kid is a stud. He is a racehorse in the ring. Period. He is a future Main Eventer for ROH. Plus, they even let him talk on this show (Shelley is usually the mouthpiece but Aries got to talk as well here) and I was impressed with his mic skills. He definitely seems to have ALL the skills to be a star.

More to come...

[IWSfan4life]

Sounds good so far. I'm interested in seeing the tag match, and Briscoe/Shelley looks good. I'm also pretty big on Trent Acid so i bet i'd like that as well.

-Jason Burke

[Agent Kev]

Stylesclash2004 said:

Sounds good so far. I'm interested in seeing the tag match, and Briscoe/Shelley looks good. I'm also pretty big on Trent Acid so i bet i'd like that as well.

The Acid/Cabana match wasn't bad by any means. I'm just not sure I want to see Acid as a singles wrestler in ROH.

[IWSfan4life]

Oh, ok. Well I do, so i'm thinking this is fun. I've been very impressed with Acid in CZW and JAPW by himself, and I think he's just got the ability to go with some Jericho like charisma that could make him a HUGE star in the future.

-Jason Burke

[Agent Kev]

Jay Briscoe vs. Homicide

Solid, hard-hitting match. It seems like Cide is on another string of good-to-great matches this year much like last year. Cide advances.

2003
vs. CM Punk- 4/26/03
vs. Samoa Joe- 5/31/03
vs. Trent Acid- 6/28/03
vs. Dan Maff vs. Colt Cabana vs. BJ Whitmer- 7/19/03
w/AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels/Dan Maff- 8/9/03
vs. Steve Corino- 8/16/03
vs. Trent Acid- 9/6/03

2004
vs. Samoa Joe- 4/23/04
vs. Bryan Danielson- 4/24/04
vs. Spanky- 5/15/04
vs. Samoa Joe- 5/22/04
vs. Jay Briscoe- 6/24/04

Bryan Danielson vs. Jack "Bryan Danielson's Whipping Boy" Evans

God this was fun watching Danielson systematically destroy Jack Evans. Danielson took Evans foot and put it behind his head on one submission and on the finisher he got Evans in a Bear Hug and then basically flipped it over into a Boston Crab while holding onto the bear hug and breaking Evans in half for the tap out victory.

Up Next: Joe vs. Stryker

[IWSfan4life]

Again...looks REALLY good thus far.

-Jason Burke

[Agent Kev]

Samoa Joe vs. Matt Stryker

Pretty decent but short match. Not much to say here. If you like Joe and/or Stryker you will probably like this.

After match CM Punk comes down and confronts Joe about their "draw" and asks when his rematch is. When will he get "5 more minutes"? The lights go out and....Homicide appears on a scaffold at the back of the arena holding Joe's belt. Joe goes after him and a short brawl insues.

Cut to the back and an intense Joe promo.

Cut to a good Bryan Danielson promo about tonight's main event and about Cide and Joe.

Tag Scramble: Hydro/Dixie vs. Outkast Killas vs. Ring Crew Xpress vs. Second City Saints

Before the match Punk tells Cabana to go to the back and rest up for the Main Event and he will defend the belts by himself. Quick, fun match in which Punk evades his foes for most of the match. Nice spot where Punk is down and all of the other wrestlers take turns trying to pin him as they each get a one count. Finish comes when Hydro nails Dunn & Marcos with a double dragon suplex and Punk rolls Hydro out of the ring and steals the pin.

Up next: Punk vs. Hydro...

[IWSfan4life]

This is looking better and better. I swear Cide reminds me of Taz in about everything he does. This is another Taz-like act here, and should come off great on tape.

-Jason Burke

[AndyKaid]

The difference between Taz and Homicide is that Homicide can work a match. ZING! ;D

[IWSfan4life]

Question...ARE YOU INSANE?

Look at the similarities...both have killer suplexes, both can majorly shootfight, both had stiffness tendancies. Only difference is, Taz was a bit bigger.

He can't work a match though? May I remind you of every match he's ever had, not to mention the Sabu and Douglas fued's?

-Jason Burke

[Agent Kev]

CM Punk vs. Hydro

This was ok but I didn't really get into it until the end. Pretty good match but it just didn't flow as well as it probably should.

Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Homicide vs. Colt Cabana. (Survival of the Fittest Elimination Match)

This was the sh*t. First of all going into the match you have a tremendous amount of history/heat from ROH between these performers:

Bryan Danielson- Heat/History with Joe and Danielson;
Austin Aries- Mark Briscoe.
Samoa Joe- Cide, Danielson, Mark Briscoe.
Mark Briscoe- Aries, Joe, Colt, Cide.
Homicide- Danielson, Joe, Briscoe.
Cabana- Briscoe.

I really enjoyed all of this match. Great feeling out process at the beginning up to Colt scoring the upset pinfall on Joe and then going on to almost score an upset pinfall on Cide within the next couple of minutes. The match really stepped it up a notch when there were only 2 men left. Bryan Danielson and Austin Aries. The veteran of ROH versus the newcomer. Aries showed what he can do here as he not only showcased his quickness and athletic ability but also his heart, stiffness and his overall wrestling ability as he stayed toe-to-toe with Dragon throughout this match. Awesome home stretch of this match as Dragon starts on a body part and just starts to take it apart (Aries' back). He turns the bodyslam into a lethal weapon as he puts so much effort, follow-thru and attention to detail to such a simple maneuver that it gets over with the fans (at the arena and on the couch) as a devastating move. Long live Dragon. Awesome match. Check it out.

Overall thoughts: This was a really solid show from top to bottom with some need-to-see matches like the 6-man Main Event, The GenNext tag and Cide vs. Briscoe. Overall the stretch of ROH events from 4/23/04 thru 6/24/04 has been IMO the best stretch of overall wrestling that ROH has EVER put out. When you look back at their past shows there was always something missing from the shows (even though I still thought they were very good). I just think that ROH is putting forth the best wrestling that they EVER had and maybe that I have seen since the mid-80s. As a wrestling fan you owe it to yourself to give these shows a try and to witness ROH Reborn.

Updated ROH 2004 Show Rankings:
1. 2nd Year Anniversary (must-see)
2. Generation Next (must-see)
3. ROH Reborn Stage Two (need-to-see)
4. Survival of the Fittest (need-to-see)
5. The Battle Lines are Drawn (need-to-see)
6. ROH Reborn Stage One (good to see)
7. World Title Classic (good to see)
8. Round Robin Challenge III (good to see)
9. At Our Best (good to see)
10. The Last Stand (good to see)

[IWSfan4life]

Volt, the money is coming. I can't wait to see this show. I'm getting this and Genn Next very soon and can't wait. ROH in the last few months has been my favorite era since ECW by far. Simply unstoppable with that talent and drive. Talk about Heart!

-jason Burke

[AndyKaid]

ROH has been the subject of much love lately. There's really not much to complain about. It's been tremendous. I never in a million years thought I'd say this, but losing AJ and Daniels may have been the best thing that could have happened, for the sole purpose that it lit a fire under everyone's ass. Through all the political turmoil, ROH is coming out of a big pile of sh*t surrounding the RF thing smelling like roses... even though Gabe may have lied. ;D

He turns the bodyslam into a lethal weapon as he puts so much effort, follow-thru and attention to detail to such a simple maneuver that it gets over with the fans (at the arena and on the couch) as a devastating move. Long live Dragon.

Kev, you'll LOVE the Epic Encouter II match, as Danielson did FIVE bodyslams in succession. He's totally making that move cool again. Everyone had written it off as a set-up move for something else, but here Danielson adds it to his moveset and it's awesome all of the sudden. He can make the most basic thing so believable.

Question...ARE YOU INSANE?

Yes... yes I am. Certifiably. ;D

No, I just can't honestly say Taz is/was a good worker. You know you're not good when you injure SABU, of all people, who is notorious for working sloppy at times. To be fair, I've just seen their Barely Legal match. Their other match was supposed to have been better.

See, Taz' problem was that he was all suplexes and shoot submissions. He didn't really work a match so much as blow through a bunch of spots (in other words, RVD without the charisma). I can't really recall seeing him in any matches laced with psychology unlike Homicide, who, well... just look at the matches Kev listed (a match not listed that was pretty good was vs. AJ at the Battle Lines are Drawn). And Homicide's style is way more diverse. He can wrestle a fun spotfest with Trent Acid, an intense and bloody match with Steve Corino, a technical match with Brian Danielson, or a brutal, hard hitting match with Samoa Joe. Taz can, uh... suplex people pretty well, I guess.

In those two years, Homicide has had more matches that I've liked than Taz has had in his career (which is about two matches that I've dug). Homicide is the tough guy Brooklyn wrestler than Taz wishes he was.

[Voltage XX]

AndyKaid said:

You know you're not good when you injure SABU, of all people, who is notorious for working sloppy at times.

Unless I'm misunderstanding you, are you calling Chris Benoit not good?

(in other words, RVD without the charisma).

I'd have to disagree there....I feel Taz had TONS of charisma and could really get the crowd going, whether during a match or a promo.

[ohairefan4life]

yea Benoit is easily the worst wrestler ever... him braking sabus neck then getting singed by WCW the next night is suck a great reason why. Taz had some of the most over moments in ECW as i recall