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ROH Survival of the Fittest; Philadelphia, PA - 6/24/2004
Topic Started: Apr 11 2005, 08:08 PM (650 Views)
Stuttsy
TV title contender
[ *  * ]

1. Mark Briscoe vs. Alex Shelley - the concept here is six singles matches by which the winners advance to a six way elimination match in the main event, with the winner getting a title shot in the future. Samoa Joe, man among men, could not have that and insisted on entering himself in the tournament to further prove his dominance. So then it became a race for the contenders to either win the tournament and earn a title shot or to just pin Joe throughout the proceedings and earn a title shot. Good match to open with, Briscoe goes over with a neat jacknife pin variation. He hooks Shelley in a figure four and THEN flips over, leaving one leg pinned under the other as opposed to having both free.

2. Colt Cabana vs. Trent Acid - comedy match from Cabana. Acid is a very acquired taste, like beer, and I hate beer. Cabana hooks a funky roll-up to pin Acid after Acid slipped out of the Colt 45. This was okay.

3. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Josh Daniels & John Walters - intended to be Aries vs. Walters in a qualifying match, but Strong and Daniels were added to the show at the last minute, I mean Genearation Next attacked Walters before the match and Daniels made the save, setting up a tag match where whomever gets the pinfall will advance to the main event. Walters is very technically sound, but kind of a boring babyface at times. Daniels is super crisp and very Dynamite Kid-esque. More nifty teamwork from Generation Next here. Walters annihilates Strong with multiple double-knee backbreakers but Strong scores with a big power bomb before collapsing. With his partner down, Aries hits a gorgeous 450 splash to score the pin and advance. Walters and Strong have a ton of chemistry and Aries, like the rest of the GenNext guys, is the real deal. The company apparently has big plans for Josh Daniels in 2005 and I think he could be a real breakout star. Very good ***+ match.

4. Homicide vs. Jay Briscoe - hard hitting and competitive. Jay goes up top but Homicide's corner man Julius Smokes grabs Jay's leg, thus breaking the code of honor. Mark Briscoe is at ringside, but does NOT break the code of honor himself by attacking Smokes. I love the little nuances of this company's booking. Homicide takes advantage of the situation and hits a top rope Koji Cutter, follows it up with a HUGE head-dropping lariat for the three. Good match.

5. American Dragon Bryan Danielson vs. Jack Evans - very fun match as Evans is pretty much made of elastic so Danielson can stretch him all sorts of unique ways. Evans and JBL have been my guilty pleasures over the last year as Evans is spotty and silly and annoying as piss, but his matches are really fun and he's got a lot of obnoxious heel charisma. Danielson is his usual awesome self and finishes Evans off with a bearhug/Lion Tamer combo stretch which looks nuts and Evans immediately taps to.

6. Samoa Joe vs. Matt Stryker (Non Title) - Another solid but sorta unspectacular match. The Philly crowd is very apathetic towards Stryker. He gets more offense here than he did in his World Title shot, but Joe still dominates, putting Stryker down with an Island Driver.

7. CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Dunn & Marcos vs. Outkast Killers vs. Special K (Dixie & Hydro) (ROH Tag Team Title Match) - Punk humbly tells Cabana to take the match off since he won his qualifying match for the main event and he would successfully defend the titles by himslef since none of these teams pose a threat. Punk stands on the apron the whole time as the kids hit all their signature spots. Hydro attempts a dragon suplex on Dunn and Marcos runs in for the save, so he hooks him also and dragon suplexes BOTH of them, stacked on top of each other, at the same time. Punk then slides it, shitcans Hydro and steals the pin to retain the titles. Fun little five minute match. Post match, Punk calls out Rick Steamboat for Reborn: Completion until Hydro confronts him for stealing his pin and challenges him for a single match. Punk declines, inspiring Hydro to refer to him as female genitalia and leading to a "CM Pussy" chant. Punk gets back in the ring and again declines a match, so Hydro slaps him. Punk is pissed and Hydro sticks out his hand (adhering to the Code of Honor, which members of Special K don't do) and Punk shakes it, thus signifying the acceptance of the match by ROH standards.

8. CM Punk vs. Hydro - this is basically Hydro's first match as a babyface as on the next show, he re-debuts as Samoa Joe's protege Jay Lethal. Very interesting story telling here as Hydro is obviously out classed, but gets over on Punk very early and Punk is SO cocky that he keeps pulling him up when Hydro is obviously beat because he wants to make a point. This leads to about ten minutes worth of a glorified squash where Punk pounds on Hydro but won't pin him because he bruised Punk's ego earlier. THAT leads to a great finishing sequence where Hydro gets a second wind and subsequently a bunch of close roll up nearfalls before Punk puts him away with a half nelson and cradle. Hydro accepts a post-match handshake from Punk (again, members of Special K don't shake hands). Not a technically great match and it's not like the concept is exactly rocket science, but this still was a very intriging match establishing Lethal as a great 1994 Mikey Whipwreck-esque babyface.

9. Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Homicide vs. Colt Cabana. (Survival of the Fittest Elimination Match) - Briscoe goes after Homicide attempting to avenge his brother's injury but Homicide exits and Cabana tags in. Danielson tags in and pounds on Briscoe until he tags out to Aries. Aries squares off with Danielson and then immediately tags Briscoe back in. Joe smacks Aries around a little (their first contact in ROH) until Aries gets a flurry of strikes on the champ. Briscoe locks back up with Cabana (playing off the Saints/Briscoes mini-feud) for a while as everyone basically tags in and out putting heat on Briscoe for the first 10 or so minutes. Homicide drops Briscoe on his head with a big DDT. The commentators brilliantly put over that Briscoe is the quickest man in the match (thus explaining why everyone would want him worn down, so that he didn't surprise someone with a quick pinfall). Joe tags in and beats on everyone, leading to a series of dives leaving just Cabana and Joe, what follows is an absolutely brilliant piece of business. With Danielson, Aries and Briscoe on the floor, Cabana charges Joe, but Joe dumps him to the apron, obviously setting up Cabana hitting his Asai moonsault, which he calls to the crowd. Joe charges at Cabana but Colt leaps over him and PINS JOE with a sunset flip. The crowd EXPLODES in shock realizing the World Champion is the first man eliminated. Not only is the champ eliminated, but he was pinned by Punk's goofy flunky after Punk failed to score a pin on Joe in sixty minutes. Just awesome. Homicide mocks Joe and then squares off with Colt. Homicide nails the lariat on Cabana but Briscoe made a blind tag on Homicide when he hit the ropes. The ref makes Homicide leave the ring and Briscoe hits a shooting star press to eliminate Cabana after two established finishers. I now officially love this match. Homicide kills Briscoe's neck with everything including a piledriver to set up the lariat. Briscoe scores with a German suplex with a bridge, but his neck is too weak to hold the bridge, so he collapses causing his shoulders to be down too, so it's a double pin with both eliminated. Homicide attacks Mark and Jay Briscoe saves leading to a Briscoes/Rottweilers brawl and leaving us with Aries vs. Danielson, the new generation of ROH against one of the company's biggest established stars. This is just a brilliantly laid out match. Danielson takes him to the mat and immediately tries for Cattle Mutilation but Aries blocks so Danielson settles for an armbar clutch. Danielson establishes a decisive advantage early on. Danielson goes up top and Aries surprises him with a dropkick, leading to Danielson getting his knee caught in the rope and shifting the tide. The story here is Aries is trying to keep Danielson off the mat where Danielson clearly established dominance and force Danielson to out-strike him. Danielson gets suplexed to the floor and receives a Cactus elbow. Back in the ring, Danielson gets a flurry of roaring elbows and a dragon suplex with bridge, floating over to Cattle Mutilation. Aries BRIDGES UP to his neck to counter and rolls over to lock on the Rings of Saturn. Crowd is on fire. Danielson reaches the ropes. Aries goes for a brainbuster twice but both times Danielson knees him in the face to break in. On the third attempt he hits it but only gets 2. Both guys are busted open from potatoes. Aries drags Danielson to the corner and goes for the 450 but Danielson gets the knees up. They trade headbutts on all fours then trade forearm strikes. Danielson gets a roaring elbow and a series of slams, Aries goes for a suplex but Danielson TATERS him with a roaring elbow. But Aries lands close enough to the ropes to save the match. Whoop ass belly to back suplex off the top from Danielson gets ANOTHER two count. Danielson hits several more bodyslams but Aries counters out with an inside cradle for ANOTHER nearfall. Danielson is sticking to forearms and slams. This strategy makes perfect sense as Danielson locks on a bearhug, then drops Aries down into the bearhug/Lion Tamer combo, Aries almost gets to the ropes but Danielson drags him back to the center and Aries taps out in 42:35. Whew. ****1/2.

Aries looks practically dead in a Generation Next post match promo (and rightfully so) as Alex Shelley again captures my heart, referring to Josh Daniels as the neo Dynamite Kid and then pointing to Aries' wounds and saying that sacrifices must be made in their quest for the top spots, but they have only just begun.

Definite thumbs up show. Even though some of the undercard matches are pretty lackluster, they all served their purpose, which was to get us to that epic main event, which was a masterpiece of tightly woven spots and storylines.
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