The Independent Mid-Card 04.10.07: Punk & Cabana vs. Raven & Daniels (Part II)
Posted by Samuel Berman on 04.10.2007
It's Week Two of a special IMC event, and now we're up to a show that no one's seen because it's really, really hard to find.
Welcome back, loyal readers, to WEEK TWO of a special Independent Mid-Card event. Last week, we began an in-depth look at the landmark CM Punk vs. Raven feud that remains one of the best and most talked about feuds in Ring of Honor history. We started by looking at a tag team brawl pitting Punk and his fellow Second City Saint Colt Cabana against Raven and his hand-selected partner, BJ Whitmer. This week, we go ahead two weeks to the very next ROH Event. We continue this week as Raven has selected a new partner to take on the Saints. It's good to have everyone back for another week of the IMC.
CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Raven & Christopher Daniels
Raven's Rules (Anything Goes)
Ring of Honor – Wrestlerave '03 – Philadelphia, PA – June 28, 2003
The Wrestlers:
In brief, after failing to defeat CM Punk two weeks earlier, Raven was given another shot at his rival in another match without rules or limitations. This time, he chose "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels, leader of the hated Prophecy as his partner. Though Daniels was one of the biggest heels in ROH at the time, he was willing to team with crowd favorite Raven to combat Punk & Cabana, whose Second City Saints faction posed a very real threat to the Prophecy's dominance in ROH. Would choosing a more seasoned partner help Raven finally defeat his nemesis in a Ring of Honor ring?
The Match:
CM Punk & Colt Cabana enter again to Copa Cabana but this time they're accompanied by Punk's girlfriend Lucy. We hard cut to Raven & his handpicked tag team partner "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels coming through the curtain to Come Out and Play. For the record, Daniels' valet Allison Danger accompanies them. The faces rush the ring against the Saints, sending Punk, Cabana and Lucy scurrying to the outside. Punk tries to get back up on the apron, but Raven slugs him back to ringside as the bell rings.
Raven and Daniels pose in the ring until Punk grabs the microphone and proceeds to cut a promo on Raven, calling him a wash-up and a has-been. Punk makes it clear that Raven's a poor sport for not letting "the superior athletes" in the ring, and notes that once Raven lets him in the ring, he'll show why the Straight Edge revolution is the greatest. Punk was just absolutely money on the mic at this point. Raven responds by lying down, inviting Punk to get in the ring with him. Punk tentatively gets back in the ring, until Raven pops up, sending Punk back to ringside. Cabana sneaks around the ring and tries a frog splash when Raven lays back down, but it misses and Raven & Daniels send the Saints back to ringside.
Daniels goes after Punk, sending him back first into the guardrail and then slugging away. Another whip to the guardrail follows before he rolls Punk in. Meanwhile, Raven has brought Cabana back in as well. The faces get stereo headlocks in the corner and run Punk and Cabana into a double headbutt. Daniels and Raven then whip Cabana into a double armdrag and then trip up Punk allowing them to get a double rowboat wishbone on the Saints. The crowd likes that spot, but it does look pretty contrived. Daniels and Raven then bulldog Cabana right into Punk's crotch in a painful, but effective spot.
Daniels hops out to ringside and retrieves a chair for Raven. Punk avoids the drop toehold onto it and picks up the chair, but when he turns to hit Raven with it, Daniels uses another chair to just paste Punk in the face. Nice spot. Daniels tosses his chair to Raven who throws it at Cabana at ringside. Raven goes after Cabana as Daniels taunts Punk in the ring. Punk ducks away from a blind charge and Daniels' shoulder hits the post. Punk quickly rolls out and gives Daniels a receipt for the chairshot, absolutely waffling him in the face with one of his own. Punk and Daniels are now both bleeding, with this supposedly being the first time Daniels has been busted open in Ring of Honor. Punk slugs away at Daniels and we get the first official tag of the match as Cabana comes in.
Punk suplexes Daniels and Cabana follows up with a running kneedrop. Cabana gets some mounting punches to increase the blood flow and then continues to slug away as Daniels tries to recover. Punk gets some shots in as Daniels uses the ropes to get to his feet. Cabana snapmares Daniels and gets a face twist to work the neck before tagging Punk back in. Punk gets a hammerlock DDT and then goes to the apron and comes in with a slingshot somersault senton to the arm. Punk's bleeding pretty excessively at this point. Raven tries to fire up Daniels, but Punk attacks and sends the former ECW Champion to the floor. Punk turns his attention back to Daniels, but The Fallen Angel elbows out of a headlock and whips Punk off the ropes. Daniels makes the mistake of ducking down and gets kicked in the face for his trouble, allowing Punk to cover for two. Punk pulls Daniels to the corner and tags back out to Cabana.
Punk whips Daniels cross corner and follows with a knee strike. Cabana comes running with a double knee strike of his own and then pushes Raven to the floor before covering for two. Raven comes in illegally, but Cabana dumps him to ringside allowing Punk to come in and work over Daniels. Punk really is just a bloody mess in there. Punk puts on a hammerlock and gets a series of knees to Daniels' arm. Punk does a nifty move where he backflips Daniels while holding a wristlock and then drops down into a crossface. Raven breaks it up with a boot to Punk's face. Cabana comes in without tagging and grabs a waistlock on Daniels, but The Fallen Angel starts to elbow out of it. Daniels tries a spinning clothesline to break, but Cabana ducks and gets a nice amateur-looking belly-to-belly suplex to take him down into a modified reverse crossface. The move actually looks a bit like the Anaconda Vice that Punk uses today. Cabana starts laying in punches from that position and then breaks to cover for two. The fans are really starting to get behind Daniels and Raven, and when Cabana comes running off the ropes, Daniels catches him with a Downward Spiral right into the Koji Clutch. Cabana looks to be in trouble, but Punk comes off the top with a legdrop to Daniels while he's still applying the hold. Both Daniels and Cabana are down as Punk crawls back to his corner while holding his leg. Cabana recovers first, pushing Daniels to the Saints' corner and just slugging away. Daniels makes the comeback, laying in stiff shots and elbows to both Punk and Cabana. Daniels goes running to his corner to tag Raven, but Cabana grabs him in midair and gets a sidewalk slam into a folding cradle for two. The fans have started a big "Let's go Daniels!" chant. Daniels reverses an Irish whip and sends Cabana into Punk. Punk goes crashing to the apron and Daniels follows up with a step-up enziguiri to Cabana. Daniels snapmares Cabana and gets an inverted DDT before collapsing to the mat in exhaustion. Daniels slowly crawls to his corner and tags in Raven.
Punk rushes in as well, but gets caught with a running clothesline from Raven. More clotheslines follow for both Saints and then Raven whips Punk cross corner into his inverted bulldog. Raven gets a kneelift to Cabana and then one to Punk. Raven's all fired up and Danger slips him a chair. It gets set up in the middle of the ring and then Punk and Cabana take turns going face-first into it by way of a Raven drop toehold. Raven whips Punk cross corner into a corner clothesline and then bulldogs Punk out of the corner, hitting Cabana with a clothesline on the way down. Raven covers Punk, but Cabana breaks it up at two.
Cabana pounds away on Raven, but accidentally takes the referee out on a springboard rebound cross body attempt. Raven gets the Raven Effect DDT on Cabana, but there's obviously no ref to count when he makes the cover. Raven then goes to hit the move on Punk, but Lucy sneaks in and grabs Raven's hair to prevent the move. Danger then comes in and spears her to break up the interference. While the ladies are mixing it up, Punk gets a low blow on Raven. Danger gets a DDT out of the corner on Lucy, but walks into a superkick from Punk. Punk is incredibly pleased with himself and poses for a bit, but turns around right into Daniels who takes him out with The Angel's Wings. Daniels then makes the same mistake and turns around only to be hit by a Colt 45 courtesy of Cabana. Cabana then poses and stupidly turns around into another Raven Effect DDT. You'd think one would have been enough for him. Raven covers Cabana, but there's still no ref and Punk comes over to break it up anyway. Punk has seemingly grabbed a chain and wraps it around Raven's neck, taking him down with a chain-assisted neckbreaker. Punk just goes to town whipping Raven with the chain and then covers so that the recovered referee can make the three count at 14:46. The Saints have beaten Raven yet again.
Copa Cabana starts to play again and Punk starts choking Raven out with the chain. Punk climbs to the top, almost hanging Raven with the chain while Cabana holds Daniels in a camel clutch to prevent any interference. Raven's body goes limp and Punk lets go of the chain, sending Raven's lifeless body crashing to the mat. Punk does his straight edge pose and then mocks Daniels by making his hand motions. Punk rolls out of the ring, but Cabana gets in his contractually mandated funny bit for the segment, shaking hands with Raven and Daniels' comatose bodies before leaving. Punk, still bleeding by the way, makes sure to cut another promo on his way out, claiming that nothing can stop him. Raven and Daniels slowly recover in the ring, but neither is all that quick to make it back to their feet. They finally roll to the outside and begin to make their way to the back, but then Raven changes his mind and goes back into the ring, grabbing the microphone on the way in. He demands retribution and says that they need to settle things once and for all. The challenge is then laid out for a Dog Collar Match at the next show.
In the back, we catch up to the Second City Saints in a stairwell. Punk, still soaked in his own blood, continues to claim that nothing can stop him and then goes on to cut the now semi-famous promo about his father being an alcoholic. Punk talks about how he didn't know any better when he was a kid, but now he sees the truth. He rages about how fighting spirit is supposed to reign in Ring of Honor and how he would shake Raven's hand like a normal man, but the truth is that he doesn't respect him. He hates Raven for all that was handed to him that he just pissed away. He begs for an explanation, coining what should have become his next great catchphrase: "I am born of your poisoned society!" He finishes by accepting the challenge for the Dog Collar Match, saying that he's prepared to become a monster to fight the monsters of the world and promising to end Raven's time in Ring of Honor. That was probably one of the ten best promos that I've ever seen.
The Analysis:
Another show, another great brawl from the Saints. For guys who were already talented technical wrestlers, Punk and Cabana sure could bring the goods in an Anything Goes environment. Though the chairshots were fewer and farther between in this match in comparison to the match at Night of the Grudges, there was still no lack of violence in this week's match. Part of that may have had to do with another match on the card (an upcoming main event Fight Without Honor featuring Homicide taking on Trent Acid), for the record.
Daniels was as good in his role as Whitmer was two weeks before, but helped in a different way by bringing another established veteran presence to the match. The fact that this was the first time that Daniels had bled in ROH was significant, and was a partial catalyst for the eventual Second City Saints vs. Prophecy feud that would further cement Punk as a main event player in ROH.
As good as the match was, it was certainly less important overall than the angle it served to further. Punk's introduction of the chain (and thus the Dog Collar Match stipulation) proved to be a defining moment in the Punk vs. Raven feud, escalating things to yet another level of violence.
The real story, however, is Punk's post-match promo. I was not kidding when I wrote that it was one of the ten best promos I have ever seen. Punk's anger and hatred were so real that his words were almost palpable. The near shock on Cabana's face as he watched Punk rage on almost tells the story by itself. If you've never seen it, you really should seek it out.
NOTE: Punk's promo is available in its entirety on the Death Before Dishonor DVD, which will be featured in next week's column.
The Aftermath:
As a result of the post match promos by Raven and Punk, the two were scheduled for a Dog Collar Match at the next event, the first Death Before Dishonor show. The stipulations were to be simple: the two men would be connected at the neck by a ten foot steel chain and would do battle until one man was pinned or made to submit. No disqualifications, no count outs, no rules, no mercy. It was intended to end their burgeoning feud before things could get even more out of hand.
Colt Cabana would be competing in a different match those three weeks later. He would take part in a Four Corner Survival against familiar adversary BJ Whitmer, "The Notorious 187" Homicide and Daniels' stablemate, "The Prophecy's Assassin" Dan Maff. The winner would earn the #1 Contender's Trophy and a shot at ROH World Champion Samoa Joe. That match, I should note, was a total show-stealer, and should absolutely be checked out by everyone.
Daniels would not appear at Death Before Dishonor, but would return to Ring of Honor at the next show, there losing a bid to win the ROH Tag Team Titles for the second time. He would go on to win the #1 Contender's Trophy in August, but lost his shot at Samoa Joe at Glory By Honor 2 at the end of September.
The Final Word:
Next week, we're going to wrap up our three-week special event with a look at one of the most legendary matches in ROH history. Whether or not you've already seen Punk vs. Raven in the Dog Collar Match, you owe it to yourself to be here next week for an intimate look at the bout and all the goings-on surrounding it.
I'm sorry to say that for the first time, I cannot actually provide a link to see this week's match. Wrestlerave ‘03 is one of the famously out-of-print ROH shows, and so is unavailable at rohwrestling.com as of this writing. It is possible that the show will be remastered and re-released by Ring of Honor, and I encourage everyone to continue to check if it becomes available. I myself only have a VHS copy of the show. And for those curious, in addition to this match and the Fight Without Honor, there is also a hard-hitting Samoa Joe vs. Dan Maff title defense and AJ Styles putting the NWA World Heavyweight Title on the line against fellow NWA-TNA talent Chris Sabin. If you can find it, buy this show.
Elsewhere on 411 this week, be sure to check out some other great columns. Ari's Column of Honor is still under the control of Chris Hero, but is still worth your time (no matter how big a shmow Hero may be). Also, be sure to read Stu's Friendly Competition and Bayani's Truth B Told. Check out some of our newer writers' columns, too, specifically Rob Halden's You're A Genius And Here's Why and Mike Minotti's Can They Be Champ?.
We've also started a new feature here at 411. It's an offshoot of Fact or Fiction, but focuses on the Independent scene as well as Lucha and Puro. It's called Buy or Sell and should be right up your alley if you're a loyal IMC reader. Also, I'm in the debut edition, so check it out as a favor to me.
The new ROH Roundtable should be up later this week, so also be sure to keep your eyes open for that.
With all that off my chest, I'm going to go see the Indians vs. Angels game in Milwaukee. Got to love snow-outs in Cleveland.
