That Was Then 8.25.06: Ring Of Honor In 2005 - Part 1

Posted by Stuart Carapola on 08.25.2006

Take a ride back in time with myself and special guest star Ari Berenstein as we look at the first six months of ROH's huge year in 2005!

Ring Of Honor had come off a year of ups and downs in 2004, and even though 2004 saw some of the best matches and storylines in the history of the company, ROH was quite happy to move on. They had a lot to look forward to in 2005, as it would be the most eventful and successful year to date for the company. Along with Column Of Honor's Ari Berenstein, who was nice enough to help out with this big feature (and shame on you if you're an ROH fan and don't read his column), let's go back and look at the major happenings from the first six months of this huge year in Ring Of Honor.

Part I: Man Without A Country (Alex Shelley)

Alex Shelley had something to prove as 2005 began. He had gone from being the leader of Generation Next, a group whose entire purpose was to forcibly take over all the top spots in ROH, to being beaten down and booted out of the group by his own teammates at Final Battle 2004. At the beginning of the first show of the year, It All Begins, Shelley came out and issued a challenge to Austin Aries, who was now the leader of Generation Next and the new ROH World Champion, for a title shot. Predictably, Aries and his enforcer, Roderick Strong, beat down Shelley, only to be run off by Colt Cabana. Shelley thanked Cabana for his timely intervention, and offered his hand in friendship. Cabana, however, refused to shake Shelley's hand and insisted that he was only out there to attack Generation Next and not to help Shelley.

The lack of trust shown him by the ROH wrestlers became Shelley's biggest problem, after spending most of 2004 sneak attacking and cheating to beat so many of ROH's wrestlers, the ROH locker room wasn't about to accept Shelley into their fold with open arms. Nobody trusted him, and this left Shelley in a very vulnerable position when dealing with Generation Next. Shelley had some hope, because Jack Evans had not been heard from since before Shelley had been kicked out of Generation Next, and it was unclear where his allegiances lay. Shelley was convinced that Evans would side with him, but Evans finally returned to ROH after being missing for several shows and told Shelley face to face that he was going to be sticking with Aries and Strong.

Even though nobody was rushing to the side of Alex Shelley, he still continued trying to get himself into position to challenge Aries. The same night Evans returned, Shelley beat another former partner of his, Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs had never been able to get a win over Shelley, and this night was no different. However, one major difference was this time, instead of ridiculing or attacking Jacobs after beating him, Shelley offered him a handshake. Instead of shaking his hand, Jacobs suckerpunched Shelley and laid him out with the Contra Code. A week later at Night Two of the Third Anniversary Celebration, Shelley was faced with another man he had crossed as a member of Generation Next, CM Punk. Shelley was not able to beat Punk, but when the Embassy ran into the ring to attack Punk after the match, Shelley saw it as an opportunity to atone for his wrongdoings and helped Punk fight off his assailants. Again, Shelley attempted to make friends with the man he stood alone in the ring with, but Punk told him that after everything Shelley had done, Punk didn't trust him and wasn't going to watch his back either.

Shelley finally had a match against a member of Generation Next at Night Three of the Third Anniversary Celebration when he faced Jack Evans. Evans mocked his former teammate as they wrestled, but Shelley came up with the submission victory. Before he was able to celebrate too much, Aries and Strong rushed the ring and the three of them beat Shelley down, concentrating their attack on his arm and injuring it so badly that he missed the entire month of March. As luck would have it, Shelley returned in April at Stalemate and took part in a four way, two fall match where the winner of the second fall would get a shot at Austin Aries for the ROH Title. And as luck would have it, Shelley scored that second fall over Nigel McGuinness and was now the new number one contender to his former partner.

Now that he was in line for a shot at the ROH Title, it was time for Shelley to start getting in a few shots of his own. After the controversial draw later on Stalemate between Aries and James Gibson, Shelley ran into the ring and chased off Aries as the fans chanted for the match to continue for five more minutes. Aries and Strong tried to return the favor at the end of the night as Shelley was cutting a promo, but Shelley laid both of them out and ran off. When Shelley finally met Aries at Manhattan Mayhem, it seemed that Shelley had his former partner's number. The match was very close and Shelley came within an eyelash several times of winning the ROH Title, but in the end Aries scored the clean win to retain.

Shelley had lost, but had not been beaten. Shelley was no longer even allowed to change in the ROH locker room, but still held out hope that he would finally win them over in the end. His need was desperate, as he had signed for a tag match against Strong and Evans at Nowhere To Run and needed a partner. He was turned down by Samoa Joe at The Final Showdown. The next night at Nowhere To Run, he also asked, and was turned down by, both Bryan Danielson and James Gibson before finally he convinced the only man crazy enough to be his partner…Delirious. Predictably, Shelley and Delirious lost, but Shelley still wouldn't give up and laid out his antagonists with a chair.

Finally, at New Frontiers, Shelley again stepped in the ring with Roderick Strong, and this time Austin Aries offered to allow his ex-cohort to simply walk away and save himself the beating. Shelley obviously refused, he was confident because he had beaten Strong at Nowhere To Run, but this time Shelley was on the losing end. After the match, Generation Next seemed determined to do away with Alex Shelley once and for all. Aries hit Shelley with a pipe and then Generation Next beat Shelley down so badly he needed to be carried out on a stretcher. Aries wouldn't let him go, and they grabbed the stretcher and beat him down again. The medics continued attempting to get Shelley out of the arena, but Generation Next attacked him several more times before they were finally able to get Shelley out of the building.

Shelley was a man without a country. He had been left to twist in the wind by the group he created, and nobody in the ROH locker room trusted him either, leaving him on his own during the numerous attacks by Generation Next. Shelley had been put out with injury by Generation Next twice, and it remained to be seen if he would attempt revenge yet again when he finally returned.

Ari Berenstein: Even though Alex Shelley's run in the Embassy has been incredibly successful, I always believed there was more to be done with Shelley as a face. Note the very positive reactions Shelley received in his matches in May and June when paired against Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. Just when Shelley seemed to be on the cusp on acceptance by the fans as the guy on the path towards redemption, the storyline took a big swerve in another direction. A big problem was that Aries and Strong seemed to be just as liked and appreciated by the fans as Shelley, making them faces almost by default. The dynamic between Shelley and Generation Next being not what it should have been, Shelley instead bought in and threw his support behind the man with the money, Prince Nana and The Embassy.

Shelley was on a huge roll in the ring, with high quality matches against CM Punk, Jack Evans and Roderick Strong that had the fans talking about how Shelley was really taking his work to another level. Shelley also delivered one of the most inspired interviews of his ROH career on the Manhattan Mayhem video. Shelley's confessions about his past and his future in this interview were deep and haunting, reminiscent of the best of Raven's promos. He also delivered some of the most inspired comedy bits as he searched for a tag team partner to go up against Generation Next at Nowhere To Run. The image of he and Delirious in the bathroom will be one that lives on in ROH fame even now.

Part II: Common Man (CM Punk vs Jimmy Rave)

CM Punk seemed to lack direction as 2005 started, having failed in his best efforts to win the ROH Title the year before. He lost his first two matches in the new year, an Ultimate Endurance match at It All Begins and also a singles loss to Spanky at the first part of the Third Anniversary Celebration. But events took a strange and unexpected turn after the loss to Spanky, because right after the match the leader of the Embassy, Prince Nana, came into the ring and offered Spanky a spot in the Embassy, but Spanky respectfully turned him down and left. Nana was embarrassed that he was turned down, and he also wasn't pleased when he turned around and saw CM Punk laughing at him. Nana became irate and began insulting Punk, then made the mistake of slapping him, which resulted in Punk beating up both Nana and his servants the Outcast Killaz.

This further embarrassment angered Nana even more, and he resolved to destroy Punk for treating him in this way. The Embassy attacked Punk after his match at Night Two of the Third Anniversary Celebration, but CM Punk was able to run them off with the help of Alex Shelley. However, the real shock came the next night when Jimmy Rave beat Punk with a rollup after spraying him in the eyes with a can of aerosol. After the match, Rave and Nana attacked both Punk's girlfriend Tracy Brooks and Punk's top student, Davey Andrews. Now it was Punk's turn to be embarrassed, that this former World Title contender had lost to a guy who had been regarded as little more than a joke since he entered ROH and also had two people who were close to him attacked by the same man. Punk, along with Colt Cabana and Steve Corino, wound up facing the Embassy at the Trios Tournament, but Rave ran from the ring before Punk was able to get his hands on him. Punk got the win in the match, but wanted to get his hands on Rave, and came after Rave and the Embassy with a chair as they left the building later that night.

Things became even more personal at the Best Of The American Super Juniors Tournament, when after the Embassy team of Jimmy Rave & Fast Eddie, with the help of a steel pipe, defeated Punk and Colt Cabana, the Embassy held Punk down while Rave tried to scrape the "STRAIGHT EDGE" tattoo off of Punk's abdomen. Now the Embassy had hurt Punk's girlfriend, tried to take both his eyesight and his identity, and now all Punk wanted was to cripple Jimmy Rave.

Punk and Rave were scheduled to finally get back in the ring for a one-on-one match at Stalemate, but Rave came to the ring claiming an injury suffered in a non-wrestling accident while vacationing in Ghana, so Punk instead faced Prince Nana's bodyguard, Mike Kruel. Kruel was no match for Punk, who pinned him within minutes. However, to Punk's surprise, Rave jumped into the ring and attacked Punk with a chain, revealing the injury to be a ruse. Punk and Rave were again scheduled to wrestle at Manhattan Mayhem in a Dog Collar match, and this time Rave claimed that he couldn't wrestle because he got sick from drinking the water in New York City, and again put Kruel forth as his substitute. However, as Punk was preparing to be chained to Kruel, Rave again sneak attacked Punk. This time the match was on, and it turned into an incredibly bloody affair, and thanks to massive amounts of interference on the part of the Embassy, as well as several hard chairshots from Rave, CM Punk was again defeated by his rival.

After months of dealing with an opponent who continually ran away when he could and got help from others when he couldn't, Punk decided that the only way he could make Rave face him one-on-one with no interference was in a cage match, and that happened at the aptly-titled Nowhere To Run. Although the Embassy had attacked Punk after his match the night before, Punk was in top shape when he climbed into the ring with Jimmy Rave, and despite copious amounts of cheating by Rave and interference from Prince Nana, Punk finally defeated Rave with a superplex off the top of the cage.

Punk was well rewarded for his victory, because ROH officials had declared that the winner of the match would receive an ROH Title shot, so now Punk was now once again in a position to challenge for the title that had eluded him the year before. Punk saw this as his chance to finally fulfill his destiny of becoming ROH World Champion.

Ari Berenstein: I loved the idea of CM Punk starting off at the happiest level of emotion he had ever felt at the beginning of the year. He took great pride in his accomplishments and great pride at ROH lasting as long as it had. Punk went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows (thanks to the feud with Jimmy Rave) and then back again within six months time. The Punk-Rave feud was the carbon copy of the Punk-Raven feud in 2003 as far as match results (although the motivations behind the attacks were different, the overall aim of eradicating the opponent and what he stood for was the same), except now Punk was in Raven's role. I still go back to the chain match at Manhattan Mayhem and the cage match at Nowhere To Run as the distinct highlights of the feud in the ring. The cage match itself is always a joy to watch but its emotional highs comes from the entrance where everyone just booed and cat-called Jimmy Rave for all he was worth and later hailed and cheered CM Punk as their hometown hero made good. The chant along with Punk doing his best Wolverine inspired pose atop of the cage still gives me chills even upon a current viewing.

Part III: Destiny (Austin Aries vs CM Punk)

Aside from the frequent beatings he and his partners had dished out to Alex Shelley, Austin Aries spent most of the first half of 2005 defending the ROH World Title. He had beaten Samoa Joe and ended Joe's 21-month title reign in the process at Final Battle 2004, and the biggest question coming into 2005 was whether or not Aries would be able to live up to the standard Joe had set in his nearly two years as champion.

For his part, Aries dedicated himself to being not just as good, but actually a better ROH Champion than Joe had been. And to his credit, he racked up a series of very impressive victories over all the top contenders. He opened the year with a pair of victories over Colt Cabana, the second of which was in a steel cage, and then followed that up with a victory in a rematch with Samoa Joe to close out the Third Anniversary Celebration. He rolled right through the spring with wins over Homicide, Alex Shelley, James Gibson, Spanky, and Bryan Danielson, who was so distraught at his failure to beat Aries that he actually quit ROH afterward.

Aries had beaten all the top contenders, except for one man, CM Punk. Punk had earned a shot at the ROH Title by virtue of winning the cage match against Jimmy Rave at Nowhere To Run, and was set to meet Aries at Death Before Dishonor III. There was more than just the prestige of a major title match surrounding this bout, however. In late spring, rumors began circulating that WWE had their eye on Punk and that negotiations were ongoing, and could possibly lead to Punk signing a contract and leaving ROH. Punk tried not to acknowledge the situation to ROH fans, but he could not ignore their chants of "please don't go". However, no matter his employment status, Punk was not going to miss Death Before Dishonor III and his last shot at the one thingleft that he wanted to accomplish on the indy scene: the ROH World Title.

Aries, in the meantime, was beginning to show the wear and tear of being champion. In trying to surpass Joe, he may have started taking on too many challengers too fast, and it took a toll on his body. Above all else, his neck had become a serious weak spot for him. It first became injured when he got into a postmatch argument with Samoa Joe over whether the ROH Title or the Pure Title, which Joe now held, meant more, and that argument turned into a brawl that ended with Joe giving Aries a Muscle Buster. His neck was further damaged when he took a Sliced Bread #2 from Spanky and then actually suffered a non-title loss leading into Death Before Dishonor III when Low Ki gave him a Ki Crusher off the top rope for the win. Aries also realized that he had suffered several losses to Punk before, and with his neck in the condition it was in, he was going to be in serious trouble. He tried sending Roderick Strong to soften Punk up for him, but Punk went right through Strong and now all that remained was the match with Aries.

By the time Death Before Dishonor III came around, it was pretty well known that Punk was about to leave for WWE, but he said that regardless of who he was working for the morning after, he wanted to beat Aries and take the ROH Title. The crowd was manically behind Punk as he came to the ring, again loudly chanting "Please don't go!" at him, and Punk truly appeared moved by the reaction his entrance to his last ROH match was getting. Aries, on the other hand was booed mercilessly. In a spectacle very rarely seen except in the most emotionally charged matches, the crowd cheered everything Punk did and literally booed every move Aries made. Punk was at the top of his game and had an answer for everything Aries threw at him, even reversing the 450 splash to the Anaconda Vice. But as Aries went for another move off the top rope, Punk caught him and gave him the Pepsi Plunge to finally win the ROH Title in shocking fashion.

It was something the fans had never dared to expect, they truly never imagined Punk would win the ROH Title on his way out of the promotion, but he had done it. The crowd was so happy that they even began chanting "Thank you Aries" as the former champion made his way to the back despite their treatment of him during the match. Punk got the house mic and said that the ROH Title was now the most important title in the world because he held it, then went on to tell a story about a man who found an injured snake. He took the snake home and nursed it back to health and then, once the snake was healthy, it bit the old man. As the old man lay there dying he asked why the snake would do that after he had nursed it back to health. The snake responded to the stupid man that he was still a snake. The crowd's jubilation turned to shock as Punk declared that he was still the snake he had always been, and he had used the support of the fans to get what he wanted, the title that meant more to him than anything, and now that he had what he wanted, he didn't need the fans anymore.

The crowd was in total shock at this, and didn't know how to respond. Punk continued by telling the fans that he was taking the belt with him when he left and there wasn't anything anyone could do about it. He challenged anyone in the locker room to come out and try to take the title from him, mockingly dangling the belt over the top rope in the direction of the locker room. The fans chanted for various wrestlers, but nobody emerged from the locker room. If the crowd was shocked before, they were about to become completely stunned because somebody finally answered the challenge, but not from the locker room. Instead, who should emerge from the crowd but Christopher Daniels, who had not been seen in ROH since Punk had given him a Pepsi Plunge through a table almost a year and a half earlier. The two men brawled and Daniels got the better of him. Punk bailed out to the floor, but Daniels announced that he was finally back to avenge the attack from so many months ago, and challenged Punk to an impromptu title match. Punk asked the fans if they wanted to see Punk in two title matches in one night, and if they wanted to see him defend against Daniels. The fans were going nuts, but Punk told Daniels that he could kiss his ass and to wait another 16 months, then jumped the guardrail and ran out of the building with the belt.

Daniels gave him several minutes in case Punk decided to show some courage and come back and face him, but Punk never returned. Daniels then addressed the crowd, and said that he was gone from Ring Of Honor because he had to be, but now he was back because he wanted to be. He said that even though it appeared he wouldn't get his title shot that night, he was back in ROH and would fulfill his destiny of becoming ROH World Champion.

Ari Berenstein: While there were a few brilliantly inspired sould on the ROH message board cautioning every one that Punk's last match could be a swerve, a huge majority of fans really thought that this was it as far as the Punker was concerned in Ring of Honor. The events of Death Before Dishonor III was a shock of all shocks and it was delivered perfectly. The fans live were totally devoted to Punk, they wanted desperately for the title change. When they got what they wanted, they got more than they bargained for in the Punk heel turn. And sure at times I thought the Punk last match ever in ROH advert for each show was a little too much "boy who cried wolf", but it worked like a charm because every time out, the fans wanted desperately just as much for him to lose that belt.

I still think to this day that the way to play it was for Christopher Daniels to defeat Punk one on one at The Homecoming or barring that in the four way at Redemption. I understand the "no belts to TNA wrestlers" policy that Gabe had begun to implement even then, but how can you deny the symmetry in their conflict that was right there for the taking? Punk took Daniels out of ROH for over a year and a half and Daniels could have come right back and taken Punk out of ROH. As a storyteller, I love that sort of "what comes around, goes around" storytelling, especially one that was so long in the making.

As far as Aries goes, even though the title reign only went six months, Aries was able to make quite the impression on the ROH fans. There always was at least a very loud minority of fans cheering for Aries when he was a heel and after the title change and as Aries became more involved with a feud with The Embassy, Aries became beloved. He gets so much of love and appreciation from the fans in attendance even today and I'd say much of that comes from a legitimate appreciation and respect for his title run in 2005.

Part IV: A Boatload Of Other Things

Although the events of early 2005 clearly centered around CM Punk and Austin Aries, leading up to their big match at Death Before Dishonor III, a lot of other things were going on during that period. Among them…

-Best Of Five

Bryan Danielson had been the target of a couple of beatings at the hands of the Rottweilers in late 2004, and to resolve the situation he wound up in a Best Of Five series against Homicide, with each match having a different stipulation. Homicide opened the series by going up 2-0, first beating Danielson at his own game in a Tapout Match and then, with the help of some brass knucks handed to him by Julius Smokes, picking up a second win in a Taped Fist Match. Danielson came back to beat Homicide in the third match, a Falls Count Anywhere Match, and again in a Lumberjack Match to even the series at 2-2. The fifth match, a cage match, took place at The Final Showdown, with the winner to get a shot at the ROH World Title. Danielson pinned Homicide to win the series after keeping him in an airplane spin for a minute and a half. After the match, Danielson and Homicide shook hands and hugged, but Homicide got the last laugh after he surprised Danielson with an Ace Crusher.

Ari Berenstein: I thought the best of five series to be fun although a bit underwhelming until the third match. What was great about this issue was that after some events Homicide and Danielson could be found brawling outside the arena or in the concessions stands, creating the semblance that this feud had such animosity that it had spilled into the "real world". The lumberjack match had the "superplex onto a dozen people" spot, which was wild and crazy for its time. The airplane spin in the fifth and deciding match of the series was the culmination of it appearing in Danielson's matches and every time out he'd up the number of spins (sort of like the length of the delayed vertical suplex in Claudio Castagnoli's matches). The amazing thing about this issue is that because the feud was left open and unresolved thanks to the post-series Ace Crusher there is now extra oomph to Homicide's quest to win the ROH World title coincidentally held at the moment by...Bryan Danielson.


-Samoa Joe

Early 2005 was not an easy time for Samoa Joe. Now that he was no longer the ROH World Champion, Joe seemed directionless for much of the time. He had a brief verbal and physical war with Mick Foley, but that never resulted in a match between the two and the feud quickly fell apart. Joe was mildly successful in tag team matches, but that never went anywhere, and he also lost a rematch with Austin Aries for the ROH World Title. He came back to win the Pure Title from his protégé Jay Lethal at Manhattan Mayhem, then embarked on a series of successful title defenses against James Gibson, Nigel McGuinness, and Colt Cabana.

Ari Berenstein: One of the greatest disappointments as an ROH fan was never seeing an official Joe-Foley match take place. Sure they gave us a taste of what such a match could look like if it were to take place during their physical encounters at the 3rd Year Anniversary Celebration, but without a pinfall or submission victory one way or another, things are unfinished and most likely will not be resolved. Unlike the unresolved issues between Homicide and Danielson, this particularly leaves me hollow, especially since Foley has wrestled in many matches upon his return to the WWE. Why Foley didn't just bite the bullet to wrestle Joe and put him over the top I'll never know, but its amazing to think in 2006 that now Scott Steiner has done more for Joe in the ring than Foley had done for him in 2004. Joe's PURE title victory over Jay Lethal was a bit of a surprise given that Lethal had just won the title two months previous, but the student-mentor storyline played well into the match and hearing "The Champ Is Here" and the roar of the crowd after the title win made the switch even more enjoyable.

Jay Lethal

Lethal won the Pure Title from John Walters at the Trios Tournament, but was sneak attacked by an unknown assailant the same evening. He also only had one successful title defense before losing the Pure Title, ironically to his mentor Samoa Joe. The same night he lost the title to Joe, Low Ki returned to ROH and admitted that he was the one who had attacked Lethal at the Trios Tournament. An impromptu tag team match broke out with Low Ki and Homicide against Joe and Lethal, but the Rottweilers won and injured Lethal with a combination Cop Killer/Ghetto Stomp. Lethal missed the shows in late May, but promised that he would return to exact revenge on the Rottweilers. He returned at The Future Is Now, attacking the Rottweilers from behind while they were beating down James Gibson and put Homicide through a table. He finally got Low Ki in the ring one-on-one at Death Before Dishonor III, but the match ended in a no contest. Their war would continue into the second half of 2005.

-James Gibson & Spanky

After forgettable stints in WWE, Spanky and James Gibson came to ROH in early 2005. They were almost immediately put across the ring from one another, and although Gibson won, both men remained top contenders in ROH. They got their first title shots at Stalemate as Gibson faced ROH Champion Austin Aries and Spanky faced Pure Champion Jay Lethal, but both men walked out empty handed. After Gibson lost his rematch with Aries as well, they switched places, with Spanky challenging Aries and Gibson challenging new Pure Champion Samoa Joe at New Frontiers. Despite Spanky envisioning them walking out of the show, each carrying a title the way Chris Benoit and Eddy Guerrero had at Wrestlemania 20, both men lost again. They were disappointed, and Gibson was of the opinion that they had gotten soft and needed to redevelop the killer instinct that helped them make their names in the first place.

Ari Berenstein: Gibson quickly became the number two technical wrestler in ROH, right behind Bryan Danielson. He just as quickly became beloved by the ROH crowd and taken in as one of their own. Spanky meanwhile was back to his fun goofery, especially his entrance where he told everyone "Let's hear it for me!" in the most unobnoxiously obnoxious manner. Their match against each other was like catharsis for the crowd and for the two wrestlers. I loved watching every second of it.

-Colt Cabana vs Nigel McGuinness

Colt Cabana and Nigel McGuinness first crossed paths at the second part of the Third Anniversary Celebration, with Cabana taking the win in a friendly match. Following the match, Cabana proposed teaming up and making a run at the ROH Tag Team Title, and Nigel accepted. In their first match as a team, they beat the ROH Tag Team Champions Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer, but lost their next match against the champions, for the title, at Back To Basics. Nigel was upset at Cabana because Cabana had taken a singles match earlier in the evening, and Nigel thought it had distracted his partner from their goal of winning the title. They wrestled each other again at Manhattan Mayhem, but this time Nigel got the win, albeit with the help of a suspicious low blow that may or may not have been intentional. Nigel claimed it wasn't, but said the fact remained that he had beaten Cabana. Nigel found himself across the ring from Cabana again at The Final Showdown, but this time with new partners. Nigel had his old friend Chad Collyer on his side, but Cabana, teaming with Doug Williams in a one night return, got the win this time. Nigel got the win back the next night in another singles match, only this time he blatantly kicked Cabana low and rolled him up to get the pin. In another tag match at New Frontiers, Nigel and Collyer defeated Cabana and CM Punk when Nigel used the ropes to get the fall on Cabana. Nigel had pulled ahead of Cabana in terms of wins and losses, but had cheated to get every win. Who would come out on top when they wrestled again in the summer of 2005?

Ari Berenstein: Initially one of the more refreshing match ups ROH had to offer in early 2005, especially the matches Stu mentions in his recap here. The best part of these matches is that there were very few high impact bumps and that all the action was from chain wrestling and comedy. They weaved together reversals, dodges and flash pins so beautifully you'd think they were painting a Picasso. Some fans appreciate this style more than others and got sick of seeing the two paired together but I really think Cabana and McGuinness hit upon a nice Bugs Bunny-Daffy Duck style relationship, just with roll ups and low blows rather than "Duck Season, Rabbit Season."

-Special K…I Mean, Lacey's Angels

Having broken up late the year before, there were now two opposing factions using the Special K name, one comprised of Dixie & Azrieal, who had given up the partying ways of Special K, and the other comprised of Izzy, Deranged, Cheech, and Cloudy, led by Lacey. They met in a couple of skirmishes early in the year, but they both wanted the Special K name. Dixie & Azrieal beat Izzy & Deranged to win the rights to the Special K name, but instead of using the name, they decided to abandon it because it represented what they used to be, not what they had become. Lacey renamed her half of the group Lacey's Angels, and won the next two times the two teams met, at Stalemate and again at Manhattan Mayhem, the latter of which forced Dixie & Azrieal to split as a team due to a prematch stipulation.

Ari Berenstein: While Stu isn't up to it yet in his history, it shocks me to no end that no one in this group (aside from Lacey but she was a late add in) has survived to be booked into modern day ROH. Azriael and Dixie losing their match actually seemed to be the beginning of the end of the whole shebang and it's a shame, they made a good fit and Dixie hasn't been seen or heard of since he took Homicide's cop killer move back at Fate of an Angel. They were supposed to do something with him as a singles but nothing came of it. I miss Becky the most, but Cheech would be a close second. There was a time and a place for this group, but it did run its course.

-BJ Whitmer & Jimmy Jacobs

BJ Whitmer and Dan Maff had beaten the Havana Pitbulls to win the ROH Tag Team Title during the Third Anniversary Celebration, but soon had to give up the title when Maff left the sport due to a personal situation. Whitmer had to find a new partner, and picked the unproven Jimmy Jacobs. They defeated the formidable team of Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal to win the vacant title, and despite having little experience teaming together, they went on to defeat impressive teams like Roderick Strong & Jack Evans and CM Punk & Ace Steel. For a team that had been thrown together as hastily as they were, they developed an amazing array of double team moves that often involved Whitmer using Jacobs as a weapon he would hit their opponents with.

Ari Berenstein: At first glance, this team didn't seem like a good fit but by the end of their run they had proved to be an impressive big man-little man combination. They were the backbone of the tag title scene in 2005, which despite being weak in depth, still means a lot as far as booking and selling tickets go. This was a team people wanted to see succeed, and chant "HUSS" as loudly as possible.

-Best Of The American Super Juniors Tournament

In perhaps the lowlight of early 2005, ROH was host to New Japan's Best Of The American Super Juniors Tournament, which was supposed to feature all American wrestlers in a one night, eight man tournament with the winner entering the Best Of The Super Juniors Tournament in Japan. In the end, it was won by a Japanese wrestler, Dragon Soldier B, who went over Matt Sydal, James Gibson, and Black Tiger in three terrible matches to win the tournament to the dismay of the ROH crowd, who emphatically chanted "don't come back" at the tournament victor.

Ari Berenstein: A night that will live in infamy, inevitably to end up in my Ring of Shame. There is really no way to work around the horror of Dragon Soldier B and him going over three wrestlers despite being neither American nor super. I've never found anything worthwhile in any other matches featuring Kendo Kashin (DSB), he is a lazy hack in the ring. He doesn't even have any charisma or character to get away with being lazy. However, there were two very big positives on the same night as the BOASJT, the opening tournament match between Bryan Danielson and Spanky and the show closing ROH title match between Austin Aries and Homicide. So you see, Dragon Soldier B can't ruin everything.

-Carnage Crew vs Dunn & Marcos

The Carnage Crew had become stuck in a rut as 2005 started, with no clear direction. They lost the fall in Scramble Cage to Dunn & Marcos at First Anniversary Celebration Night One and as a result, Dunn & Marcos received ten times their normal pay for the evening while the Carnage Crew were out of ROH for 90 days. The Crew were hysterical after the loss, because they needed the money to feed their fat wives and nagging kids. They promised that when the 90 days were up, they were coming after Dunn & Marcos. They returned at Manhattan Mayhem, attacking Dunn & Marcos and beating them up so badly that they missed their match. The Carnage Crew and Dunn & Marcos battled at The Future Is Now, where the Crew absolutely destroyed Dunn & Marcos in a New York Streetfight. Dunn & Marcos challenged the Carnage Crew again a week later at Death Before Dishonor III, this time in an Anything Goes match, and the Carnage Crew beat young team up even worse than they had the week before and won again. Even though they had lost two brutal matches in a row to the Carnage Crew, Dunn & Marcos weren't about to give up, and the Carnage Crew would see them again down the line.

Ari Berenstein: Actually, The Carnage Crew came back about one week early from their 90 day suspension. Surely they seem to have been the forefathers of what will become known as the "Jeff Jarrett / Randy Orton Rule" of penalty: if a heel is suspended or punished for a certain amount of time, they will come back BEFORE that full time of penalty has been served. As far as Dunn and Marcos, it was this stretch of time that RCE reached their pinnacle in ROH. They were at their most over, at the peak of their showmanship and abilities and they also achieved some of their most memorable wins during this time period, including the Scramble Cage win. I wouldn't have been all that shocked at the time to see them ride that wave of momentum all the way to the ROH tag team championships.

-The Return Of AJ Styles

After being forced to leave in 2004, AJ Styles finally made his return to ROH at the Third Anniversary Celebration Night Two, where he faced his former protégé Jimmy Rave, who had since joined Prince Nana's Embassy and began using the Styles Clash (which he rechristened the Rave Clash) in AJ's absence. Styles rode a huge wave of fan support into the match, but Rave snuck away with a shocking victory over Styles when he rolled him up after spraying aerosol in his face, then the Embassy beat Styles down after the match. AJ's next match in ROH was at Death Before Dishonor III where he was set to face the Embassy' mystery opponent, who turned out to be AJ's longtime TNA rival Petey Williams. Styles beat Williams, but Jade Chung hit Styles with a low blow after the match and left him easy prey for a Rave Clash from Jimmy Rave. Rave had gotten the upper hand again, but Styles would be back to try and teach his former student a lesson in the second half of 2005.

Ari Berenstein: For many, it was just great enough to get AJ Styles back for one match, knowing at the time that ROH and TNA were still worlds apart as far as sharing previously withheld talent. Some fans were shocked to see Jimmy Rave go over AJ Styles at the time, since Jimmy was just building up his heat as a heel character. It was this huge win against Styles and then another win against CM Punk right afterwards that legitimized Rave, hook or by crook. The word from the ROH newswire was that this was a one time only appearance for Styles, but there was always the hope that he would come back again, and not only did that happen, but a very familiar face to ROH would also return along the same time period. Not only would ROH fans get back AJ Styles, but the "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels was returning, and the buzz was apparent for many on the internet, including myself. We were all wondering, just how much would we get to see these guys and what kind of matches would they wrestle? The fans were imagining the possibilities.

Conclusion

Nobody in attendance could have predicted that Death Before Dishonor III would have ended the way it did. The fans expected to see Aries once again successfully defend his title, while Punk would do business on the way out of the promotion and to the bright lights of WWE. Instead, Punk fulfilled his destiny and became ROH World Champion, but he turned his back on the fans that supported him on his way to the top. Now the future of both CM Punk and the ROH Title was uncertain. Would Punk stick around and defend his new trophy, or would he take the belt and run, leaving the prestigious ROH World Title vacant and with a broken lineage?

If Punk did decide to stay and defend the title, he would have no shortage of challengers. Having violated the trust of the fans and wrestlers, and having spit on everything ROH stood for in the process, the locker room was lining up to be the first to get a chance to take the title and give Punk a beating he would never forget. Of course, the first challenger to come to mind was Christopher Daniels, but he wasn't the only guy lining up for a shot at Punk. Austin Aries had a short, but very successful run as ROH Champion and, except for Punk, had beaten everyone thrown in his path. After he had given his neck some time to heal, would he take another shot at the new champion? And what about the longtime former ROH Champion, Samoa Joe? He was the current Pure Wrestling Champion, but the ROH Title was also very dear to him, and he would love to take it back from the man he had those three classic matches with. The one thing that was certain is that the elite in ROH would not let Punk leave ROH with the title if there was anything they could do about it.

Meanwhile, Generation Next was in a shambles. Jack Evans had decided to take a sabbatical after he and Strong lost to Lacey's Angels at Death Before Dishonor III to let some injuries heal and to get his head back in the game. Would he reform his team with Strong on his return, or instead finally start building his name as a singles contender? Roderick Strong showed a lot of promise in several high-profile matches over the first six months of 2005, and had even earned the respect of CM Punk after he lost to him at The Future Is Now. Would Roderick be able to rise to the same level as the leader of Generation Next, Austin Aries? Speaking of Aries, what was next for the former champion if a rematch for the ROH Title was not in his immediate future?

What of former Generation Next leader Alex Shelley? He had spent all of the first half of 2005 trying to do two things: gain the respect of his fellow ROH wrestlers, and take down Generation Next. He did neither, and now was out with an injury for the second time that year after suffering a series of horrific beatings at the hands of his former teammates. Would he come back at all? If he did, would he continue his war with Generation Next, or would he go in a different direction? Another man conspicuous by his absence was Bryan Danielson, who had quit the promotion in frustration after failing to unseat Austin Aries for the ROH Title. ROH hoped that after taking some time to relax and work things out in his head, he would return. Would he? And if he did, what kind of impact would he make?

Who else would make an impact in the second half of 2005? Jay Lethal won the Pure Wrestling Title, although he quickly lost it. James Gibson and Spanky had both been in some excellent matches now that they no longer had their style restricted by WWE, but both had fallen short when given title shots. Nigel McGuinness had shown that he was one of the best technical wrestlers out there, but also had begun to show a mean streak where he would cheat his way to some victories. All four men had had some success in the first half of the year, but would they be able to bring it all together and win some championship gold in the second half?

It is plain to see that, if nothing else, the first six months of 2005 were the most eventful in the history of ROH. How would events play out in the second half of the year? Tune back in next week as Ari and I look back at ROH in the second half of 2005!