The Independent Mid-Card 12.13.06: Whitmer & Jacobs vs. Strong & Evans
Posted by Samuel Berman on 12.13.2006
A brand new column chock-full of not-available-on-basic-cable goodness. Oh, and if you're into missed cross body attempts, then have I got a match for you!
Welcome to the Indie Mid-Card everyone; I'm your freshly minted 411 columnist Samuel Berman. This weekly column will be dedicated to taking an in-depth look at (you guessed it) mid-card matches from different independent companies. Like George Washington or some other notably trustworthy person, I cannot tell a lie: most of my independent viewing is dedicated to Ring of Honor. However this column will not exclusively focus on ROH material. In time, we'll explore matches from other great feds that may be under some fans' radar: PWG, FIP, IWA-Mid South, and OVW amongst others.
Before we dive into our first match, let's briefly go over what you can expect to see each week in Welcome to the Indie Mid-Card. First, we'll look at the wrestlers that make our match happen. We'll examine who they are and how they've been brought together in the ring. Furthermore, we're going to spend some time discussing each man's potential to move up the card and into a new column (Welcome to the Indie Main Event, which someone else will have to write). Then, we'll go on to the match itself, looking at how the wrestlers involved craft their story. And lastly, we will look into the aftermath of the match, touching on where the match led each participant in the months (and sometimes years) that followed.
Got all that? Good, because it's time to look at our first match. Welcome to the Indie Mid-Card
The Wrestlers:
Roderick Strong A young, powerful athlete, Strong is known as "The Messiah of the Backbreaker" for (you guessed it) his true arsenal of maneuvers that target an opponent's back. He is the enforcer of the Generation Next stable, and is just starting to be respected as a singles wrestler, having recently defeated El Generico and lost close matches to veterans Homicide and James Gibson.
Jack Evans The cocky, break-dancing Eminem clone Evans is as good a high flyer as there is in professional wrestling. Having once been relegated to multi-man spotfests, teaming with Strong (and to a lesser extent fellow stablemate Austin Aries) has begun to earn Evans a measure of respect in the tag ranks as a true threat.
BJ Whitmer Having recently been stripped of the ROH Tag Team Titles when partner Dan Maff left the wrestling business, Whitmer was allowed to select a partner to team with him in a match against Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal for the vacant titles. Having now regained the titles he never lost, Whitmer is the only three-time ROH Tag Team Champion. The "Hillbilly Jesus" is now free to continue unloading bruising punishment on the Ring of Honor tag ranks.
Jimmy Jacobs The tough little HUSS (a tribute to the great Bruiser Brody) is one of those interesting Indie wrestlers who is the size of a cruiserweight, but wrestles more like a heavyweight. That's not to say that Jacobs can't fly, because he can when needed, but it was his toughness in a close loss to Whitmer & Maff (working alongside Delirious) that earned Jacobs his spot as Whitmer's partner.
The Match:
Generation Next's steady bass line hits as the fans patiently wait for Strong and Evans to make their appearance. The burst through the curtain and Strong is all business, but Evans is talking trash, as is the norm for him. We hard cut to the intro to Jacobs & Whitmer's music. The champs come through the entrance looking confident and collected, and methodically ascend the turnbuckles to show off their belts. After some dueling chants ("Jack" and "HUSS" are the most popular), the participants are checked by the ref, hands are shaken and we're off.
Jacobs and Strong start. Circle and a lockup. Roderick overpowers him at first, and they fight over a wristlock. Jacobs tenaciously holds a headlock as the announcers discuss his resilience and toughness. He tags out to Whitmer and Strong quickly begs off. Evans jumps in and does some dancing (to please his fans of course), and Whitmer is apparently "served" according to the New York crowd. He tries to snap to get a beat going, but chooses instead to slap Evans out of his boots (figuratively, of course). After getting into a chop fest, Strong bails to the outside. The challengers think they're taking a powder, but Whitmer launches Jacobs over the top rope, much to the delight of the fans.
Back in, Whitmer powerbombs Jacobs onto Jack with a senton, which is a great double-team that I'm surprised more people don't use (and works really well for Jacobs who uses a flying senton anyway). Whitmer overpowers Evans with normal power stuff including a wicked German suplex. Blind tag by Strong, but Whitmer is ready with an overhead throw. Jacobs is tagged in and the champs hit a series of strikes on Roderick. Strong comes back and Evans comes in for an assisted back flip double stomp to Jacobs while he's draped over the ropes in the corner. That really has to be seen to be believed. Evans hits a dropsault and a standing corkscrew press for 2. Strong is back in with a butterfly suplex and then suplexes Evans into a 450 splash on Jacobs. Jacobs reverses a Strong suplex attempt into an inside cradle for 2, but gets turned inside-out by a lariat. Evans hits a Michinoku Driver, but Whitmer breaks up the pinfall attempt. A spin kick from Evans leads to another near fall and Strong comes back in as Jacobs HUSSes up (imagine Hulk Hogan meets undersized Indie wrestler). Strong ends that, however, with a huge boot to the face. Generation Next sets Jacobs up for a Doomsday somethingoranother, but Evans whiffs on a cross body attempt and Strong takes a reverse rana (which is one of the crazier bumps in wrestling) for his trouble.
Hot tag to Whitmer, who rolls through another Evans cross body attempt (maybe he should try more double stomps and fewer cross body attempts) and turns it into an awkward but crazy brainbuster. Strong comes in and reverses an Irish whip into the first of his backbreaker variations, a capture powerbomb over the knee. A traditional backbreaker is held in place, and Evans comes off the top with a back flip stomp to the head of Whitmer (see what I meant about more double stomps and fewer cross body attempts?). It gets 2 when Jacobs breaks. Jacobs goes for the Contra Code (think sit-out Sliced Bread #2) on Strong, but instead bails to hit Evans with a hard spear. That gets 2 for Whitmer when Strong breaks it up. Strong gets tossed and the champs hit a Doomsday rana on Evans for a close 2 in a move that would have finished any other match. I mean seriously, Evans kicked out of that outright. At the very least, Roderick should have broken up the pin.
Strong comes in with a half-nelson backbreaker on Whitmer and Generation Next hits the Ode to the Bulldogs (Strong has Jacobs in an inverted torture rack and Evans jumps from the turnbuckle onto Jacobs and then hits a Phoenix Splash on Whitmer while Strong drops Jacobs with a spinal shock (yes, it's that complicated and deserves the explanation)) and that only gets two on Whitmer. Strong puts Whitmer up top and Evans follows, hitting a super top-rope Frankensteiner (with both guys standing on the top rope) that gets a close 2 on Whitmer. In all honesty, it was really cool to watch, but it's good that Evans didn't finish there, because it didn't look devastating enough to earn a pinfall over a tough guy like Whitmer. Roderick comes in and hits the fireman's carry gutbuster, but misses a boot and gets absolutely clobbered by a lariat. He rolls out which gives the champs enough time to hit a Doomsday Contra Code (landing Evans right on his neck in the process) and BJ Whitmer gets the pin on Jack Evans at 14:47 by my watch.
The Analysis:
This was an interesting study in tag team wrestling, because it was a rare occasion where the challengers had spent notably more time teaming together than the champions had. This was Whitmer & Jacobs' first defense of the ROH Tag Team Titles and just their second time tagging together, so it was unclear entering the match whether they could truly mesh as a team. It became clear quickly that the odd couple complimented each other well, and as flashy as Generation Next was, the champions had a lot of weapons that literally could not have been scouted ahead of time. It cannot be said enough, though, that Strong & Evans looked great here, and firmly established themselves as perennial challengers to the titles.
The Aftermath:
In the months that followed, Whitmer & Jacobs would briefly lose the titles to the Carnage Crew before regaining them and holding onto them into October. In the process, Whitmer became the only four-time champion in Ring of Honor history, a record that still holds up today. Strong and Evans went on to continue their feud with former Generation Next leader Alex Shelley, with Shelley's heel turn in July (when he joined the hated Embassy) turning Generation Next into de facto faces, which was frankly a position that better suited Evans and especially Strong. The two teams would never meet for a rematch.
What We Learned:
As a fan now, it's strange to look back and watch Roderick Strong matches from mid-2005, if only because of how much he's grown as a wrestler since then. Undoubtedly the one of these four earmarked for future success, Strong has started to move dramatically up the card over the last year.
Whitmer & Jacobs were both obviously talented, but didn't seem to be the kind of characters that moved up to the main event in Ring of Honor at the time. Whitmer ended up having some success in the ROH vs. CZW feud the following year (including a crazy no-rope barbed wire match against the Necro Butcher this past July), but has never truly reached the upper plateau of the main event. Ironically, each man has probably done the most to elevate the other through their feud over the past year, including the two men taking part in a three-way dance for the ROH World Title in June 2006, something that few people would have believed at the outset of their Tag Team Title reign.
And Evans? Charismatic and a daredevil at heart, Evans seemed destined for the plucky underdog role as long as he's been a wrestler. Though he'll probably never be a World Champion, Jack Evans excels in his roles as spot artist and rag doll for larger opponents.
The Final Word:
I was late to the party on Ring of Honor. I first started listening to the buzz after the mythical second match between Samoa Joe and CM.Punk that kept getting ***** from everyone that saw it. It wasn't until Manhattan Mayhem, however, that I actually got around to ordering an ROH DVD to see what all the fuss was about.
For me, Whitmer & Jacobs vs. Strong & Evans was the first ROH match that really blew me away and showed me what a great alternative Ring of Honor provides from mainstream WWE and TNA programming. To see it and judge for yourself, you can pick up Manhattan Mayhem at rohwrestling.com.
See you next week when we spend some more time watching potential future main eventers and I once again welcome you to the Indie Mid-Card.
