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Post by Agent Kev on Sept 9, 2004 16:35:23 GMT -5
Trent Acid vs. Ace Steel vs. Matt Sydal vs. Delirious
Really FUN opener. This is a 4-way survival match but in the spirit of a 6-man Mayhem match as the action is hot and heavy throughout and there is not much focus on who is the legal man or on tags. Delirious and Sydal looked great and Acid and Steel did their jobs for the most part. Ending came when Sydal did a over the top rope dive to the outside in which he grazed Steel and the ring barriers and looked to land flush on his back while in the ring Acid DESTROYED Delirous with an inverted HEADDROP brainbusta for the win.
Next Up: Doug Williams vs. Alex Shelley (ROH Pure Title Match)
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Post by Voltage XX on Sept 9, 2004 16:49:33 GMT -5
Well it's about time you got going on these.  This may be the first time I've finished a couple ROH shows before you. lol |
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Post by Agent Kev on Sept 9, 2004 17:03:52 GMT -5
Doug Williams vs. Alex Shelley (ROH Pure Title Match)
This was tremendous. If possible, this was better than their first match. If you enjoy hold/counter-hold wrestling then this is your match. By my count they only ran the ropes 1 time in the entire match (and that was after at least 10 minutes) and never lost my focus. There were a couple of sequences where I was just amazed at how well these 2 guys work with each other. Great stuff. They also played well off of the last match with this time Shelley getting the rope advantage and putting Williams at the disadvantage. I could talk about this match all day...but instead I'll just tell you that it's must see TV. Watch it.
Oh yeah...before I forget...Mark Nulty was fucking BOSS in this match. I think that calling technical wrestling is what he does best. I loved his work on Punk/Joe and I loved his work in this match. He made some nice calls here including giving his opinion that a hold that Shelley was using not a wise move since Shelley was using both his arms and legs to tie up Williams' arms and that Shelley was expending too much energy so the move wasn't worth doing. He also pointed out a couple of times when he thought it was not a wise idea to do submissions, such as when Shelley had Williams in a move but Shelley had no base for the move thus wasn't going to get a submission and also when Shelley had Williams in a submission and his own shoulders were down. It's nice to hear an announcer speak from a wrestler perspective in regards to submission moves. It added to the match IMO.
Next Up: Low Ki & Rocky Romero vs. Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer
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Post by Voltage XX on Sept 9, 2004 17:25:48 GMT -5
My opinion of Nulty has definitely changed somewhat as I do not mind him nearly as much anymore. However I do feel he points out why moves are bad a little bit TOO much. It's good sometimes like how you were pointing out, but he seems to do it numerous times in every match and to me it kind of starts taking away from things.
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Post by NewFnShow on Sept 9, 2004 18:27:43 GMT -5
Glad to see I'm not the only one who enjoys Nulty. I find him to be pretty good.
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Post by Agent Kev on Sept 9, 2004 19:21:47 GMT -5
My opinion of Nulty has definitely changed somewhat as I do not mind him nearly as much anymore. However I do feel he points out why moves are bad a little bit TOO much. It's good sometimes like how you were pointing out, but he seems to do it numerous times in every match and to me it kind of starts taking away from things. I agree that sometimes he points out things like that too much, but he also helps put over the psychology of the matches and why certain wrestlers do what they do and how it impacts the move/match. |
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Post by IWSfan4life on Sept 9, 2004 22:24:54 GMT -5
I wonder if I'll be able to stand Nutly in this one. I've hated him in the past but everyone's saying he's getting better, so we'll see.
"If possible, this was better than their first match."
JESUS, that's the greatest news i've ever heard considering I should have this by Monday. As you know I praised the hell out of the last match and called it the best Pure division match ever. If this tops it, It'll be wrestling heaven.
-jason Burke
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Post by Agent Kev on Sept 9, 2004 23:31:48 GMT -5
Low Ki & Rocky Romero vs. Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer
Decent match that was really not much more than a slugfest. Match really focused on chops, kicks and hard-hitting wrestling although the match just didn't feel all there to me. I just wasn't feeling Whitmer/Maff during this match. Spot of the match was where Ki reversed Whitmer's wrist-clutch Exploda into a Dragon Sleeper. Nice. Good to see that Romero was put over as he is the one that gains the submission in this match. The more and more I think about it (from watching him in NJPW-USA and NJPW) he would be an awesome fit for the pure wrestling division.
Next Up: Danny Daniels vs. Chad Collyer
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AndyKaid
NWA Champion
Member of Sweet & Sour International
Posts: 662
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Post by AndyKaid on Sept 10, 2004 1:29:26 GMT -5
Nulty is soooooooo much better than Ray Murrow. He can do what Voltage pointed out about pointing out wrestler's faults too much, but DAMN, he crushes Ray and his monotone voice that makes Chris Lovey's (or whatever he's calling himself now) monotone voice sound good.
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Post by Agent Kev on Sept 10, 2004 19:31:28 GMT -5
Danny Daniels vs. Chad Collyer
Decent match that had trouble holding my concentration. I think this was due to the lack of charisma in the ring and the fact that there were no clearly defined heel/face in the match. Overall the work was decent to good.
Jimmy Bower?
John Walters, Matt Stryker, & Jimmy Jacobs w/ Ricky Steamboat vs. Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, & Jack Evans
This was a FUN match but not quite on the same level as the other GenNext tags IMO. Match picked up about half-way thru when Aries started the GenNext domination of Jimmy Jacobs. Matt Stryker looked like a fish out of water in this match. Everyone else looked solid and once again Austin Aries is THE new hotness.
Next Up: Samoa Joe vs. Homicide (ROH World Title Match)
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AndyKaid
NWA Champion
Member of Sweet & Sour International
Posts: 662
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Post by AndyKaid on Sept 10, 2004 23:16:02 GMT -5
Aries is so the breakout star of 2004.
Jimmy Bower... *shudders*
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Post by Agent Kev on Sept 11, 2004 16:24:14 GMT -5
Samoa Joe vs. Homicide (ROH World Title Match)
This was good but disappointing. I just wasn't feeling it at the same level as their other matches I have seen. Maybe they just over did the Joe/Cide series. My main issue with this match was the first half as it just didn't draw me in as a fan. This mostly contained interference (until the Rotweilers were banned from ringside), and brawling in and out of the ring. Towards the end of the match I was more in tune with it but it was just both guys throwing out big moves until Joe finally got Cide to tap with the choke after not being able to finish him off with 4 or 5 high impact moves. Decent match but not on the same level as their others IMO.
Next Up: SCS vs. Briscoes 2/3 Falls
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Post by IWSfan4life on Sept 11, 2004 17:35:25 GMT -5
Sounds a bit disappointing, but with the lineup I think I'll enjoy it alot. I love all the Gen Next tags so far, and anything Collyer does gets my attention. That said I hate Whitmer. Hope Cide/Joe lives up to the other 3 matches of theirs i've seen (Do or Die, Reborn stage 1, Generation Next).
-jason Burke
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Post by Agent Kev on Sept 12, 2004 11:35:43 GMT -5
ROH Tag-Team Titles: Second City Saints (Punk/Cabana) (c) vs. Briscoe Brothers- 2/3 Falls
REALLY FUN match here. No one in the world does tag-team wrestling as well as Ring of Honor (only debates to be had are from NOAH or New Japan junior fans) and this is no exception.
First fall was solid but unspectacular with the Briscoes taking the fall when Jay KILLED Punk with a Jay Driller to not only win the first fall but also to take Punk completely out of the second fall. This also took the pressure off the Briscoes as up until this point SCS had their number. I believe (as it was pointed out on commentary) that this was the first fall that The Briscoes had scored on SCS.
Second fall was Colt Cabana fighting for his life against both Briscoes. Again nothing spectacular but solid solid work. Cabana fighting to stay alive was about to be victim to a springboard double-team leg drop but pulled the Briscoe holding him into the move and the other Briscoe hit both he and Cabana with the move. This turned the tide as shortly thereafter Cabana went for a russian leg sweep , which was block, and then countered the block into a tight roll-up for the 1-2-3. Again proving that it only takes 3 seconds in ROH. This also put over Colt's increasing ability to get the flash pinfall going into his title match with Joe the next night (as he already held a flash fall over Joe in a multi-man match).
Third fall was definitely the most spectacular from a crowd-popping, hard-hitting, bone-crunching perspective. Lots of dives and killer moves in this one as Punk came back to life and was able to help the SCS regain their championship by ultimately putting down The Briscoes challenge with The Pepsi Plunge.
Really strong tag-match. It told a lot of stories during the course of the match and once again Mark Nulty did a tremendous job putting over those stories, the psychology of the match and also the gameplans of the two teams. I think Nulty plays a perfect compliment to Gabe's fanboy persona.
Overall thoughts: This was a solid but unspectacular show . I liken this show to "Beating the Odds", "Empire State Showdown", and "Revenge on the Prophecy" in that they will probably fall thru the cracks as hidden ROH gems. That being said there are really no must-see matches on this card, although if you are a fan of "wrestling" then Shelley/Williams is must-see. I just think that everything on the card was solid (except Collyer/Daniels). I was a little disapointed in Joe/Cide but I'm sure others will love it. My recommendation for this show is to get the other shows from 2004 first but be sure to pick this one up when ROHwrestling.com has one of their sales as it is definitely a show that you need in your collection.
Updated ROH 2004 Show Rankings:
1. ROH Reborn: The Completion (must-see)
2. 2nd Year Anniversary (must-see)
3. Generation Next (must-see)
4. ROH Reborn Stage Two (need-to-see)
5. Survival of the Fittest (need-to-see)
6. The Battle Lines are Drawn (need-to-see)
7. ROH Reborn Stage One (good to see)
8. World Title Classic (good to see)
9. Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 1 (good to see)
10. Round Robin Challenge III (good to see)
11. At Our Best (good to see)
12. The Last Stand (good to see)
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Post by Voltage XX on Sept 12, 2004 13:34:19 GMT -5
See, I thought Collyer/Daniels was actually REALLY good, possibly because I had very low expectations for it though.
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This may be the first time I've finished a couple ROH shows before you. lol
