The Independent Mid-Card 04.24.07: Punk vs. Raven (Part III)
Posted by Samuel Berman on 04.24.2007
I don't care what Raven's music says, in this one there's NO WAY to keep 'em separated.
Hello everyone and welcome back to a slightly delayed edition of The Independent Mid-Card. I apologize for those of you who have had to wait an extra week for the conclusion of the IMC Special Event, but I had to take an unexpected trip to Houston to deal with some personal business. But now I'm back and that means it's time for the third and final chapter in our look at the epic CM Punk vs. Raven feud. So far, we've looked at a pair of tag team matches, but it's all been leading to this match, the Dog Collar Match. If you've never seen this match before, you're in for something special as this match and the surrounding storylines are still considered amongst the finest in Ring of Honor history. Thanks for your patience and welcome back to another week in the IMC.
CM Punk vs. Raven
Dog Collar Match
Ring of Honor – Death Before Dishonor – Elizabeth, NJ – July 19, 2003
The Wrestlers:
By way of a review of the storyline, Raven, a respected ring veteran and a former ECW World Heavyweight Champion, came to Ring of Honor to face some of the best competition in the world. He was immediately challenged by a young, cocky upstart in CM Punk who was able to defeat the legend in their first contest. Since then, Punk has found ways to sneak out of nearly every match the two have been in, often using nefarious means to earn the victory. With the help of fellow Second City Saint
"Classic" Colt Cabana, Punk had beaten Raven's team at each of the last two events, which respectively saw Raven team with BJ Whitmer and Christopher Daniels. After defeating Raven & Daniels, Punk escalated the violence by attacking Raven with a steel chain, wrapping it around his throat and choking him out from the top rope. In response, Raven challenged Punk to a Dog Collar Match to end their feud at the next event, the inaugural Death Before Dishonor. Punk accepted, and in so doing cut one of the best promos of his career, explaining that his experiences with his own alcoholic father were the roots of both his straight edge lifestyle and his hatred for Raven, who had famously been an addict of all sorts throughout his career.
The Match:
We begin with highlights of Punk beating Raven in a Raven's Rules match at Expect the Unexpected, Raven's first night in Ring of Honor. Punk was able to emerge victorious by hitting a low blow and then following up with the Devil Lock. We then move to clips from the brawl between the Saints and Raven & Whitmer from Night of the Grudges that saw Punk bleed all over the place as all four men fought through the crowd. The finish to that match saw Cabana pin Whitmer with the Colt 45. Finally, we go on to look at the finish of the match from the last show, Wrestlerave ‘03 where Punk bludgeoned Raven with the steel chain before getting the pinfall. Punk's attack on Raven is shown in its entirety. Interestingly not included in the highlights is Cabana's turn on Raven at Night of the Champions that formed the Second City Saints stable.
Finally, we get Punk's promo from Wrestlerave in its entirety. As I said in the last column, this is a fantastic, career-defining promo from Punk. Easily the best of his early ROH run and certainly on the level of the promos during Punk's heel run during the Summer of 2005.
We hard cut to Punk's entrance, tonight to his own music, AFI's glorious Miseria Cantare: The Beginning. He walks by the crowd with a devilish smile before beginning to scowl again and slowly stalking around the ring. He has pushed a chair into the ring, as has become habit for him during this feud. He grabs the microphone and cuts a pre-match promo, another regularity during this feud. He's so glad to be in a building that doesn't serve alcohol, using that as further proof that he's better than everyone in the audience. The crowd simply want's him to "shut the fuck up!", but he no-sells it (Punk: "Trust me, you'll get tired waaaay before I do."). Punk, as always, isn't mad at the crowd, he just feels sorry for them. The promo then turns to Punk's drunk father and how Raven is just like him. The crowd tries to get under Punk's skin with an "Alcohol!" chant, and then Punk turns his attention to former ECW Tag Team Champion Danny Doring, who's sitting in General Admission drinking a beer. That's kind of weird considering that the venue supposedly doesn't sell alcohol, but it's all a part of the story, so it's forgivable. Doring tries to get to ringside, but gets stopped by security (Punk: "Doring, I'm warning you: you might need another six-pack of courage before you step in the ring with me."). Punk goes on to say that because beer has never and will never touch his lips that he's better than Doring. Doring finally sits back down and Punk turns his attention back to Raven. The crowd's now pretty restless, and the promo is similarly starting to break down. What is clear is that the crowd hates Punk.
Punk starts to insult a fan sitting ringside, but gets interrupted by The Offspring's Come Out and Play, signaling Raven's arrival. Raven comes down to the ring with the dog collar already tied around his neck. He poses on one of the turnbuckles and then climbs into the ring. More posing in the ring ensues as Punk bails to the outside. Punk now looks kind of rattled while standing at ringside. He grabs the microphone again and tries to wriggle his way out of the dog collar stipulation. Punk proposes a Street Fight or a Bunkhouse Match instead, but that's a no-go. Finally, Punk begrudgingly puts on the collar as the crowd chants "CM Pussy!" at him. With both men now attached at the neck, we're ready to go and the referee rings the bell. No Code of Honor in this one, for obvious reasons. For the record, the chain connecting the two men is long enough for them to stand almost all the way in opposing corners without the chain going taut.
The two men circle until Punk hops over the top rope and out to the floor. He tries to walk away, but Raven pulls the chain and yanks Punk back up to the apron and into the ring. Raven then levels Punk with a chain shot to the head and then gets a chain-assisted punch to the face. Punk gets whipped off the ropes and taken down with a chain-assisted clothesline. Raven whips Punk with the chain and then chokes him with it in a camel clutch. Raven takes things to the floor and sends Punk into the ring post. Raven poses for a bit and then crotches Punk with the chain. Raven hits a Russian legsweep into the guardrail and then just tosses Punk headfirst into the barricade. Punk's pretty well busted open now. Another Russian legsweep into the guardrail follows and then Raven grabs the ring bell. Punk takes a shot to the head with it and then Raven reorganizes the ringside area by moving tables and chairs around. Raven chokes Punk with the chain and then whips him into the guardrail. We get a now-famous shot of Punk laying against the guardrail bleeding, but it's a short-lived moment as Raven picks him up and sends him into the barricade again. Raven grabs a chair and absolutely pastes Punk in the head with it.
Raven rolls Punk back into the ring and gets some mounted position punching as Punk's blond hair is starting to turn red ala Ric Flair. Raven sets up a table in the corner, but that's allowing Punk some time to recover in the opposite corner. Raven turns his attention back to Punk, but gets met with a low blow, Punk's first real offense of the match. Raven comes back with a series of kicks and a chain-assisted kneelift, but is still staggered by the low blow. Raven goes to whip Punk into the table, but Punk reverses at the last second and sends the ring veteran crashing into the corner. Punk gets an over-the-knee neckbreaker and then follows up by wrapping the chain around his knee and hitting a kneedrop to Raven's face in a nice use of the stipulation.
Raven rolls to the apron, so Punk just kicks him to the floor and follows him out. Punk hits Raven in the face with the chain and then chokes him for a bit. Punk gets a series of elbows and punches to Raven's head, busting him open. Punk pushes Raven into the guardrail and then whips him into another part of the barricade. Punk dumps Raven into the crowd, but takes too much time catching his breath and gets pulled into the guardrail chest-first. Punk climbs out into the crowd with Raven and slugs away. Raven stumbles into the light standard, allowing Punk to hiptoss Raven on the hardwood floor. Punk chokes Raven with a chair, but Raven recovers and throws another chair into Punk's face. Raven uses the chain to pull Punk into a short-arm clothesline. Raven climbs back to ringside and then pulls Punk along with him, forcing Punk into a nasty bump over the guardrail. Raven gets another whip into the guardrail and then shoves Punk back into the crowd. Raven sets Punk up on a chair and then kicks away before clotheslining him. Raven has a fan hold a chair and then sends Punk face-first into it. Raven then walks Punk around to another part of the crowd and repeats the ‘fan holds a chair' spot to similar results. Raven slams Punk's face into the bleachers and then climbs to the top to pose, but that proves to be his undoing as Punk yanks on the chain and Raven takes an absolutely absurd bump from the top of the bleachers to the floor.
Punk stomps away and then continues by whipping Raven with the chain. Punk grabs a trashcan as they brawl through the crowd and slams it down on to Raven at ringside. Punk rolls Raven back into the ring and gets a back elbow off of an Irish whip. Punk gets a kneedrop and grabs the microphone again to talk some trash. More whipping with the chain follows and then Punk hits a vertical suplex. Raven climbs to his knees, but gets met with a step up enziguiri. Punk mocks Raven's pose and grabs the mic again. Punk sits up on the top rope and talks some more trash before smartly waiting for Raven to stand up and crotching him with the chain. That was a nice callback to earlier in the match. Punk perches himself on the top in preparation for a move, but Raven pulls the chain and sends Punk crashing to the mat. Punk recovers first as Raven is still hurting from the chain-assisted low blow and has somehow held onto the microphone. He continues to talk trash (Punk: "Is that all you got, Flamingo?") and just keeps yelling into the mic as Raven slugs away at him. Raven hits a discus clothesline to finally stop the chatter and then hits seven more clotheslines in succession with Punk popping right up each time. Raven whips Punk cross corner and then comes off the ropes with another clothesline and then gets a kneelift and covers for two. I believe that's the first pinfall attempt by either man.
Raven grabs a chair and poses for a moment before setting it up in the middle of the ring. He hits his patented drop toehold onto it and then covers for another close two count. Raven stands over Punk and just spits in his face before going to retrieve the chair again. Raven goes for a big running chairshot, but Punk ducks and the ref takes the blow instead. Punk sneaks up on Raven and goes for a bulldog, but Raven puts on the breaks and grabs the chain, sending Punk crashing into the mat. That's another simple but creative spot that uses the stipulation. Raven hits the Raven Effect DDT and goes for the cover, but the ref's out (the crowd helpfully counts all the way to eight to make the point). Colt Cabana then runs in with a chair and low blows Raven before hitting a DDT of his own onto the chair. Cabana poses for the crowd (to loud boos) but then Danny Doring runs in from the crowd to avenge his pre-match dressing down and slugs away at Cabana as the crowd starts a huge "E-C-Dub!" chant. He clotheslines Colt over the top and then talks some trash to Punk before hopping to the floor. Doring sends Cabana into the guardrail, but back in the ring Punk has crawled over onto Raven and the ref counts the pin at 19:39. Punk has again defeated Raven and AFI starts to blare over the sound system again.
But the proceedings don't end there. Punk rolls out and grabs something from under the ring after unhooking his end of the dog collar. It turns out to be a roll of tape and Punk rolls Raven to the floor before taping his arms to the bottom rope crucifixion style. Punk lays in the boots to Raven and then just slaps him across the face. Punk goes back under the ring and grabs a bag of something before picking up the microphone and cutting another promo, promising to send Raven back to where he belongs. Punk pulls a beer from the bag, saying that he's going to put Raven off the wagon and give him one last trip to rehab before he ends up in hell. Punk pulls back on Raven's head and pours the beer into his mouth.
Punk talks some more trash and readies another beer, but then TOMMY DREAMER, Raven's hated rival from his ECW heyday climbs over the guardrail and slides into the ring. Dreamer grabs a chair and waits for the clueless Punk to turn around before putting him out with a chairshot clean to the face. Another huge "E-C-Dub!" chant is followed by a "Dreamer!" one as Dreamer waits for Punk to recover and hits a DDT of his own before posing for the crowd. Dreamer then grabs the tape and tapes Punk to the top rope. Dreamer unties Raven, who collapses in a heap on the floor. Raven finally crawls back into the ring. He and Dreamer shake hands and embrace in the middle of the ring (to another "E-C-Dub!" chant that's followed by an "R-O-H!" one). Raven grabs the mic and cuts a promo about how he wasn't good at staying on the wagon anyway. He jams the microphone into Punk's head a couple of times and then pours a beer down Punk's throat, forcing the Straight Edger to taste alcohol for the first time. Dreamer then drinks a beer before smashing the can into his head a few times (a throwback to his ECW days).
Alice in Chains' (and how appropriate is that band name at this moment?) Man in the Box, which was Dreamer's old ECW music, begins to play as the two ECW icons celebrate in the ring. Raven kicks away at Punk and then pours another beer on him. Dreamer spits more beer in Punk's face before he and Raven climb out of the ring, leaving a helpless Punk still taped to the ropes. Punk struggles until the referees undo the tape. Punk then loses it, attacking the assembled referees and even the cameraman as he goes stumbling to the back.
The Analysis:
For my money, this is amongst the greatest brawls in ROH history. Even now, nearly four years later, this match holds up as a hellacious fight that proved to be the defining match of both the Punk-Raven feud and Punk's early Ring of Honor career overall. There was no quarter given between the two men in this one, as it was filled with stiff chair shots and ugly bumps on both sides.
The amazing thing is what separates this from your garden variety brawl. The simplicity. Did they use a table? Yes, but it wasn't used in a cliché ‘big table spot', simply to inflict more damage. Did they use chairs? Yes, but there weren't any elaborate setups, just stiff shots each of which happened in context. Was there interference? Yes, but all of it was set up reasonably: Cabana was Punk's stablemate and best friend, Doring got involved to payoff Punk's pre-match insults, and Dreamer's involvement was a callback to a long-running ECW storyline that most of the fans in attendance were well aware of.
The biggest spot in the match was probably Raven's fall from the bleachers, which was one of the spots that helped to legitimize the dog collar stipulation, along with Punk's chain-assisted kneedrop and Raven's reversal of Punk's bulldog attempt. The unfortunate truth about a lot of gimmick matches is that the stipulation ends up being a hindrance to the competitors rather than an enhancement; that is, they end up having to work their match around the stipulations rather than integrate the gimmick into their storytelling. Punk and Raven did an absolutely incredible job of both utilizing the chain as a weapon and showing the danger of not being able to get too far away from each other as conventions that enhanced their match, rather than limit it.
If there was a flaw to this match, it was the whimper with which Punk finally pinned Raven. In some ways, it would have been nice for him to get the pin with a move of his own, rather than off of Cabana's DDT. That being said, having Punk get a tainted victory just furthered the crowd's frustration with him not getting his comeuppance. With every ugly triumph, Punk legitimizes his reputation more and more as the kind of competitor who may get beaten within an inch of death, but somehow can still find a way to walk out the winner.
To wit, I recall a bit of commentary from the first match of the now-storied Samoa Joe-CM Punk trilogy which took place about a year after this match. During that contest, the announcers were discussing who between the two men had a better track record in ROH. Even though Joe was already over a year into his epic title reign, the announcers still thought in necessary to mention Punk (who had not held the World Title to that point) in the same vein as the champion. They pointed to how Punk always seemed to bring his best in the biggest matches, sometimes defying long odds and world-class performers to come out victorious. Most certainly, this match, this fight of his life against the more experienced Raven, was one of the marquee bouts that helped to define the kind of primetime player that CM Punk was going to become in Ring of Honor.
The Aftermath:
Though this match was originally slated to end the Punk vs. Raven feud, the post-match extracurriculars just served to stoke the fire. Punk's rage was unquenched and he and Raven would continue their war for months after this. Along the way, Punk was made to face off with another former ECW World Champion as he went one-on-one with the legendary Terry Funk at Glory By Honor 2.
Punk and Raven faced off in singles contests on two more occasions after this night. Raven, though successful in the first of those two contests, was again attacked after the final bell and tied to an X, a hearkening back to the Raven vs. Dreamer feud in ECW. In the final match between the two in Ring of Honor, CM Punk emerged as the victor, outlasting his hated enemy in a fantastic and bloody Steel Cage Match.
After the conclusion of the feud, Raven made a quiet exit from Ring of Honor, instead focusing on his work for NWA-TNA, where he would eventually become the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. CM Punk would go on to become one of the true icons of ROH, having a career highlighted by his series of matches with Samoa Joe, his fantastic feud with upstart Jimmy Rave, and his compelling heel run with the ROH World Title during the Summer of 2005. After signing a WWE developmental deal in mid-2005, he went on to hold the OVW Heavyweight, TV and Tag Team Titles and is now a key member of the ECW main roster. His recent turn, which has seen him join up with the New Breed, has longtime fans hoping that Punk will regain the heelish magic that he first showed during his wars against Raven.
The Final Word:
I've said a lot already, so I'll end my discussion of the Punk vs. Raven feud (and this match in particular) by saying simply that I think it's one of the best booked and most crisply executed feuds in wrestling history, bar none. I hope that those of you who haven't seen the matches but have been reading along will do what you can to get your hands on these shows, because the level of storytelling in these matches is on a different plateau from your run of the mill wrestling match.
To see this week's match, Death Before Dishonor is available at rohwrestling.com. The show also features AJ Styles & Amazing Red putting the Tag Team Titles on the line against the Briscoes as well as Samoa Joe defending his ROH World Title against Paul London in London's final match before leaving for WWE.
While you're here at 411, please take the time to check out some of my fellow writers. Ari has Column of Honor and Bayani's got Truth B Told, which are always must-reads. This week, Michael Bauer is covering Friendly Competition for Stu, so be sure to check that out as well. Additionally, be sure to check out Matt Adamson's Destiny column (my favorite column on 411 this week, by the way) and BG & JZ's review of Final Battle 2006, featuring one of the biggest main events in ROH history. Last, but not least, there's another edition of Buy or Sell this week, with a great look at PWG and SHIMMER.
Finally, please be sure to check out the ROH Roundtable, which should be up later this week in advance of this weekend's huge events in St. Paul and Chicago Ridge. I'll be ringside in Chicago keeping an eye on Cabana's last hurrah as well as the highly anticipated Briscoes vs. MCMG title match.
Thanks one last time for everyone's patience. It's good to be back. Swing by next week as I finally assuage Bayani's complaining and highlight some PWG. That's right kids, we're heading out West.
