ROH – Testing The Limit, August 7, 2004, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

ROH – Testing the Limit, August 7, 2004, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Review by Brad Garoon and Jacob Ziegler

Good Times, Great Memories

BG says: Prince Nana is Colt Cabana’s special guest. Cabana teases Nana and the Outkast Killaz. Jimmy Rave is absent and Nana tells us that he has sent him to Ghana to be rubbed down in preparation for his run to the top in ROH. Nana renames the Styles Clash the Rave Slash, but something tells me they won’t be calling it that. They do some Nana/Killaz tension stuff, and the whole thing kind of winds down to an unfunny finish.

JZ says: Nana is great, and I like what he’s doing with Jimmy Rave. He invented the “Rave Slash,” which Cabana decides makes him a modern day Thomas Edison. I could live without the Outcast Killaz, but Nana abusing them is at least somewhat amusing, I guess. Very underwhelming for GT, GM.

MATCH #1: John Walters vs. Nigel McGuiness

BG says: Winner gets a Pure Title shot at the next show. Chain wrestling starts this match off. Walters does that leg catapult thing he does and both men exchange pin attempts. They trade strikes and Nigel does his headstand. Walters tries to pull him off but ends eating a DDT for 2. Glad they changed that spot up a bit. Nigel hits a hammerlock DDT and puts on his arm submission but Walters makes the ropes. He hits a lung blower to the chin, so I guess that would actually be a chin blower. A piggyback stunner and big clothesline get 2 for Walters. Nigel tries the Johnny Saint stuff but takes a lung blower for 2. Good! Nigel does the headstand again and this time gets a big Ace crusher off of it. He snap mares Walters into the ropes and works the leg. Walters nails McGuiness with a big headbutt and turns Nigel over for the win. That was a surprisingly solid opener considering neither man involved is particularly exciting, but it was really short and the ending fell flat.
Rating: ***

JZ says: I’m a fan of both of these guys, so I was excited for it. It’s a good little match while it lasts, that’s for sure. I read something somewhere about the lights going out at the beginning of this match, and plus the main event is 75 minutes, so this match was edited a bit. Both guys do their usual spots, but change them up a little bit. Then all of a sudden it’s just over at 5:41, with Walters getting the win and the Pure Title shot. The rating is more a reflection of the length, because these guys could have a better match.
Rating: **1/4

MATCH #2: Roderick Strong vs. Izzy

BG says: Izzy hits a hurricanrana right off. Strong tries a German suplex but Izzy reverses and hits the moonsault kick. He tries a hurricanrana on the floor but Strong holds on and whips Izzy all over the place. That was cool. Back in the ring it gets 2. A double underhook suplex gets 2 for Strong. He puts on a really cool inverted sharpshooter and slams Izzy to the mat for 2. Izzy tries to fight back but is met with a pumphandle backbreaker. Strong gets a camel clutch and stalling brainbuster for 2. Izzy tries another hurricanrana and turns it into a DDT for 2. Bauer now calls Becky super-cute rather than a slut, so I guess she’s a face now. Strong hits a powerbomb backbreaker for 2. Izzy hits a no post Contra Code for 2. Strong hits a cross-armed spinal shock for the win shortly after. This was a total quash, but they still put a nice little match together.
Rating: *1/2

JZ says: Nice to see Roderick get a singles match, even if it is against Izzy. This was another short match, but was effective in getting Roderick over as a hard hitter. When Bauer calls Becky super cute, Punk thinks he said “super huge” and they have a funny exchange about it. Anyway, Roderick kicks Izzy’s ass for a while and finishes him with a Spinal Shock at 6:30. Short and entertaining squash.
Rating: **

MATCH #3: Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer vs. Carnage Crew

BG says: Alison Danger gets on the mic in the ring and tells us that Maff and Whitmer suck, that she still owns their contracts, and that Mick Foley will destroy them at her request at Glory by Honor III. She introduces the Carnage Crew, who berate her and say that they hear enough bitching from women at home. Loc does the best thing in his career when he takes a picture of Danger’s butt with a fans camera.

The Crew get tossed to start and all four men brawl on the floor. Maff hits a suicide dive on Loc. DeVito hits Whitmer in the gut with a chair and tosses him into the guardrail. He hits a dropkick on Whitmer and they brawl some more. Back inside, Maff goes for the Burning Hammer but Loc reverses to a side suplex for 2. DeVito goes for the moonsault but Maff moves out of the way. Maff hits a lariat for 2 and DeVito bails. Whitmer gets a backslide for 2 and hits an exploder for 2. DeVito northern light suplexes Whitmer to the corner but Maff hits him with a belly to belly suplex. Maff goes up but Danger crotches him. The Carnage Crew give Maff a good ol’ spike piledriver for the win. This was a crappy brawl with absolutely no flow and a real letdown after Maff and Whitmer’s great brawl at the last show.
Rating: 3/4*

JZ says: Allison Danger cuts the usual delusional promo about how the Carnage Crew as well as Mick Foley are going to destroy the former Prophecy members. Even I’ll give Loc credit for taking the picture of Danger’s ass, so there. The match is the usual lousy brawl that the Carnage Crew delivers, but at least it’s short. They do some fighting on the floor, yadda yadda yadda, Danger crotches Maff on the top rope and the Crew get a spike piledriver at 5:42 for the win. Whatever.
Rating: 1/2*

MATCH #4: Four Corner Survival – 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Alex Shelley vs. Ace Steel vs. Jay Lethal

BG says: Pre-match, Shelley says he’s already used Steel as a stepping stone and he’s going to do the same to Scorpio. He invites Lethal into Generation Next again, but once again he declines. Shelley attacks him to start the match. They beat on each other with INTENSITY until Lethal hits a back elbow and Shelley bails. Steel tags Lethal out and Shelley tags out to Scorpio. Steel and Scorpio do some chain wrestling. Both of these guys tour with NOAH in Japan, and show respect to each other. Scorpio hits a flying shoulderblock and takes Steel down with a headlock. He slaps Shelley, which is apparently a legal tag so Shelley comes in and knee drops Steel for 2. Lethal tags Shelley out and hits a backbreaker on Steel for 2. Steel hits a vertical suplex after tagging in Scorpio, who hits his somersault legdrop for 2. Shelley tags Scorpio out and hits a side Russian legsweep into a submission on Lethal but he makes the ropes. Scorpio tags Lethal out and gets eye poked. He comes back with a superkick. The thing that is killing me about Scorpio here is that he’s dancing between EVERY move, and it really slows down a match. There’s a difference between showboating and just being lazy. Guess which category this performance falls into. A vertical suplex gets 2 for Scorpio and he puts on a headlock. Shelley tags Lethal in. Scorpio tells Lethal to tag Shelley back in, so he does. Only thing here is that Shelley was still in the ring and Lethal was still on the apron. That’s just lazy. Scorpio hits some knee strikes and kicks and a slingshot splash for 2. Lethal tags in and gets a back elbow for 2. He hits a nice dropkick for 2 and puts on a chinlock. HOLY SHIT this match is boring! Scorpio escapes with a kick and hits a release German suplex for 2. He hits an ugly moonsault for 2. Steel comes in with a dropkick but gets decked. Scorpio and Lethal double-team Shelley until Scorpio tricks Lethal into hurting himself. He hits a big powerbomb on Lethal and a second rope Harlem hangover. Lethal hits a dragon suplex on Scorpio for 2. Shelley sneaks in with a Shellshock on Lethal for the win. Man, Scorpio just dogged it in this. That last segment there was particularly annoying, as it didn’t just look like Scorpio was outsmarting everyone, but rather just making them look like complete jobbers. So he took the leader of a big stable, a member of the dominant stable, and a strong up and comer and didn’t do anything to help them despite the fact that he’ll probably never work for the company again. Raven should come back and teach him how to put people over. This was one of the more frustrating matches I’ve watched in a while. Scorpio puts over ROH after the match and is showered with cheers, despite wrestling like a guy who wouldn’t be accepted by ROH fans if not for his legacy.
Rating: *3/4

JZ says: I pretty much didn’t mind this match the first time I watched it a few weeks ago, but in between then and now I saw the 2 Cold Scorpio Straight Shootin’ interview, and while it was interesting and entertaining, Scorpio comes off as a complete dick who has no concept of his place in the business. He goes off about how he and Shawn Michaels could have had better matches than Shawn and Bret Hart had, and says he’s not going to insult the dead, in this case Road Warrior Hawk, and then goes on to do so for five minutes or so. So I was much more annoyed with Scorpio’s general presence in this match, and he does nothing to make me not annoyed with him. He really thinks he’s a bigger star than he is, and maybe he thought making everyone else look like crap would be really cool. Even with his level of fame, it would have helped all three guys if he put them over at all. And at almost 15 minutes this match has way too much resting and boring stuff. The best part of the match is Alex Shelley’s pre-match promo, where he rips on “Flash Funk” and draws a face reaction, which he does throughout the match. Holy shit he is great on the mic, just thought I’d mention that. He cuts another great promo after the match, and his reaction to getting hit with Ace’s wrist tape is priceless. Could I mark out for Alex Shelley a little more? I’m sure I could actually. The best part during the actual match is when Bauer channels Gorilla Monsoon, noting that a win for Lethal would be a huge “feather in his cap.” RIP Gorilla. He also says that Lethal has pinned a lot of guys with the dragon suplex. Anyway, Shelley gets the win on Lethal at 14:58 with the Shell Shock, and Lethal challenges him to a match on the next show. Scorpio puts over ROH like he gives a shit and then dances. Don’t Come Back! Don’t Come Back! Don’t Come Back!
Rating: **

MATCH #5: Homicide & Low Ki vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe

BG says: This would end up being the last appearance of the Briscoes in ROH to date. Jay catches Homicide with an armdrag to start things off as Mark and Ki slap one another on the floor. Mark and Ki take their fight into the ring where Ki gets Manhattan dropped and eats a springboard kneedrop. Homicide hits a double team legdrop with Ki’s help. Jay hits a snap suplex on Ki for 2. Ki hits the koppo kick but Jay comes back with a leg lariat. Smokes pulls Jay out of the ring where the Rottweilers use numbers to take over. Back in Homicide and Ki hit a double shoulder tackle for 2. Ki tags in with a senton for 2 and his elbow drop for 2. The crowd gets behind Jay as Homicide tags in with a T-bone suplex for 2. Jay and Homicide trade chops until Homicide hits a bulldog and tags in Ki. Ki puts on the leg scissors and gets some 2 counts off of it as the crowd chants for him and Jay. Ki’s trying so hard to be a heel, so it doesn’t help anyone when the fans cheer him. Homicide comes in and puts on a figure four and Ki comes off the top with his dickhead double stomp. Homicide keeps the figure 4 on but Jay makes the ropes. Ki tags in and hits a bodyslam for 2. He puts on the Vulcan nerve hold but Jay gets out and hits a Yakuza kick and a superkick before tagging in Mark. Mark cleans house and gets 2 on Ki with a springboard clothesline. Jay tags in but the Doomsday device is blocked. Ki tries for the dragon clutch but Jay reverses to a Jay driller attempt. Ki blocks that and hits a big kick. Mark comes in and catches Ki with a nasty capture suplex. He goes to the top but gets pushed by Homicide into something that was hanging from the ceiling. That probably would have looked cool had the camera caught it. Homicide hits a big clothesline but he’s not legal. He calls for the Clothesline from Hell but Jay reverses to a Jay driller. Ki goes for the Ki Krusher but Jay reverses to a rollup for 3. That’d be the cleanest pin anyone has gotten over Low Ki in ROH, ever. This started kind of slow but picked up as the match went on and the finish was really fun.
Rating: ***1/4

Both teams brawl post-match and Joe attacks Low Ki. CM Punk gets to the ring with lightning speed from the commentary position with much of the locker room. Joe and Ki can’t be separated however. This goes on forever, and even spills outside. Everyone did a pretty good job in making it seem like a real, unscheduled fight. This would be used in later shows to explain the absence of certain wrestlers.

JZ says: I miss the Briscoes. Hey fans, Low Ki is a heel, in case you didn’t know. I’m usually pretty hard on Low Ki because he’s not one of my favorite wrestlers, but he is acting like a damn good heel and the people need to accept it. No one thinks you’re “cool” if you cheer Low Ki while he’s a heel. This match was pretty okay, but seemed to be lacking something. They do a cool spot with the low ceiling, so that earns points. It also earns points for Jay getting an unbelievably clean pin on Low Ki at 12:43. The match earned some intangible points for sure. Then comes the big brawl, which goes on for a long time for sure, but looked way more real than any of the brawls they did back in 2003. If I had never watched ROH I would be certain it was real. The entire locker room even empties, including CM Punk from the commentary position. Punk gets into a small altercation with Homicide, which would play into some later matches. Jay is just completely knocked out in the ring, and I was totally unsure if it was a shoot or a work. After a lot of brawling, DeVito gets a hold of Mark and tells him to go check on his brother. Really good, intense segment. And did I mention that I miss Mark & Jay?
Rating: **3/4

MATCH #6: ROH Tag Team Title Match – The Havana Pitbulls with Julius Smokes vs. ROH Tag Team Champions CM Punk & Colt Cabana

BG says: Punk can’t find Cabana, but Steel comes out and introduces him in full Rick James mode in honor of the recently departed entertainer. J-train even dances along. Good for him. Jimmy Bauer talks about the heinous event during intermission and the fines and suspensions that will happen. Punk and Reyes start with a lockup. They chain wrestle for a while until Reyes hits a German suplex. I love those Burger King commercials that take place in an office. Punk hits the mule kick. Romero kicks Punk so he nails him with a slingshot plancha. Cabana and Punk work on Romero on the floor while Cabana is still wearing his shades. Reyes comes out to the floor and all four brawl there. Cabana goes for a chop but only hits post. The Pitbulls hit an awesome double team dropkick in the corner on Punk. Romero strikes Punk a bunch but gets a back breaker. Cabana comes in and hits a side slam on Romero. He hits the chinlock and nails a reverse suplex, all with his shades on. He puts on a seated abdominal stretch and tags in Punk. He hits a back suplex for 2. He hits two backbreakers as the fans make fun of J-trains hat. I happen to really like his hat. Punk botches a surfboard but gets one on for real and drops Romero down for 2. He puts on another stretch and Cabana gets a REAL surfboard on Reyes when he tries to save. Awesome. Romero hits a huge kick on Punk and tags Reyes in. He works the arm and Romero comes in with an axhandle to the arm. Punk tries to fight back but his arm hurts and he can’t get out. Reyes comes in and turtles it up with kicks to the back. Romero comes back in with a big kick to the gut and an armbar but Punk makes the ropes. Cabana distracts ref Sinclair while Punk’s in the ropes, which Bauer rightly points out is stupid. Romero takes Punk down with another armbar but Cabana saves. Romero catches Punk with another armbar but Punk gets out, British Bulldog style. Punk finally makes the hot tag after avoiding a Pitbull double-team attempt. Cabana hits the Pitbulls with right hands and elbows. He hits an Asai moonsault on both Pitbulls for 2. Punk comes in and both Saints get the pendulum submission on Reyes. Romero comes in and works on Punk’s arm some more. The Saints go for a Doomsday device but Reyes knocks Cabana off the ropes and Romero rolls Punk up into an armbar. Cabana frog splashes Romero to break it up, but he hits ref Sinclair as well. Reyes hits a backdrop suplex on Cabana, knocking off the shades. Punk knocks Reyes out of the ring but Romero comes in and rolls Cabana up for the 3 count and the titles. The ending tried to be clever but ended up looking pretty forced and silly. These guys definitely tried hard, but there really wasn’t any chemistry between the teams. This was a far cry from the Saints/Briscoes tag title matches.
Rating: **1/4

JZ says: Colt coming out as the Super Freak is awesome, and reinforces the fact that Colt is the funniest man in wrestling. What makes it even better are the looks of utter contempt and disgust on CM’s face. Many great comedians need a straight man, and CM makes a great one. Bauer does a good job putting over the brawl and how out of line it was, and how suspensions and fines are going to be handed out. Not like when the WWE has something serious going and they sound completely ridiculous talking about it. Punk actually hits a really nice plancha in this match. Now I love CM Punk and put him over all the time, but jeez if anyone hits more ridiculous dives I don’t know who it is. The surfboard spot they do is hilarious, and Colt, who’s always on, is totally ON tonight. The teams are having a fine match, while not a great match, but the end does look really weak. Had it happened the way they envisioned it, it would have been cool. Still a fine match though. And the Havana Pitbulls are the new ROH Tag Team Champions after 19:08. Four minutes shorter and this might have been real good. As it is it gets a respectable.
Rating: ***

Sugar Sean Price Interview Time!

BG says: Backstage, Maff and Whitmer warn Allison Danger to stay out of their business. Sugar Sean Price thinks she should listen up.

JZ says: Well, Maff just outed that Allison Danger’s real name is Kathy. Kayfabe what?

MATCH #7: ROH World Title Match – Trent Acid vs. Samoa Joe

BG says: We get highlights from the Samoa Joe vs. Trent Acid ROH World Title match. Acid screws up his ankle on a hurricanrana in the first clip, effectively choking in his biggest ROH match. I can’t say that I’m surprised. I’m not really upset that this match didn’t get shown in full, as all Acid did to earn the title shot was win a couple multi-person matches. That’s pretty much the weakest build to a title match that ROH has ever done. Even Bauer shits on the match during commentary. And surprise surprise, Joe wins.

JZ says: I’m actually a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see the match, as it would have been fun to see Trent try to no-sell all of Joe’s offense, like he does to everybody. See where that gets you Trent! You’re lucky that it was the floor that injured you! In all seriousness I’m glad that Acid wasn’t hurt too badly, because even while I don’t want to see him wrestle I don’t want to see anyone (well, except Sandman and New Jack) get badly injured. But it is really funny when Bauer says that to prevent injury you should be sure to tape up your ankle and “wear wrestling gear.” Amen Jimmy Bauer.

MATCH #8: 2 out of 3 Falls – Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson

BG says: This match came as a result of the Survival of the Fittest match from the show of the same name. Aries and Danielson were the last 2 men in the match and finished it up strong. Danielson came out on top, but ROH officials wanted to see who was better between the two without the involvement of four other men, so this match was signed. This match is VERY long, and I’m sure Arnold Furious will have an excellent play by play up of it soon enough. That being said I’m going to do a more analytical and less technical kind of play-by-play. Yeah, I’m kinda ripping off Justin Baisden here, what of it? Each fall in this match has a one hour time limit, so it would be possible for the match to go 3 hours. There is also a rest period between the falls.

The match starts slow, but not boringly, as all the work is really intense and holds interest. Punk comes back to commentary and doesn’t want to talk about losing the tag belts. Danielson spends much of the beginning of the match going for Cattle Mutilation, working on the arm and attempting the hold at various times. Aries also works the arm and the neck, obviously softening it up for the Rings of Saturn. For the first portion of the first fall, they are able to hold the crowds interest with the methodical chain wrestling. Danielson switches to working on the neck, and Punk suggests that Danielson is starting by working everything and seeing what gets the best reaction. That’s some damn fine commentating. Aries hits the first big move in the match with a supercanrana. The tempo of the match changes here, 15 minutes into the match, as Aries starts getting “explosive” with his usual dynamic strikes. He puts on the Fishhook, an illegal move, and the ref asks in Danielson wants to quit. That’s some lousy officiating. Danielson hits a super-Malenko gutbuster, giving him the momentum and starting him on stomach work. Danielson fights for an abdominal stretch, which the commentators have made a believable move by focusing on Punk’s submission loss to a variation of the maneuver at Reborn Stage 1. Danielson also uses the ropes for leverage, sinking into subtle heeldom. Aries escapes but falls to a big clothesline and double stomp. Danielson puts the seated abdominal stretch on Aries, the actual move that made Punk tap, but he knees out. At close to the 30 minute mark, Aries hits a big dive onto Danielson on the outside, and the crowd dies right after, which is not a good sign. Danielson misses a diving headbutt, perhaps distracted by the crowd chanting “watch your head”. After hitting a successful top rope maneuv, Aries goes for another but gets caught by a superplex and the diving headbutt for 2. Every pin attempt for the rest of the first fall is totally believable until finally Aries hits a crucifix bomb, the Rings of Saturn and Cattle Mutilation forcing Danielson to tap at round the 45 minute mark. Ref Sinclair comes in to substitute for ref Hanson at this point. I’d like to point out here that in the Hero/Punk 93 minute match there was only one ref for the entire match.

The second fall begins with Aries being dumped from the top rope to the floor. Danielson destroys the leg in awesome fashion on the outside. Back in he goes for the half crab, which the commentators helpfully remind us he used to win a fall against Paul London at Epic Encounter. Danielson’s work on Aries leg in this fall is just phenomenal. Danielson totally whiffs on a suicide dive attempt and gets knocked goofy. Aries performance and attack during this period is awesome, pulling the match from the doldrums. Danielson finally wakes back up close to the 60 minute mark and begins working the arm again. He gets Cattle Mutilation, revolves his body into a pinning situation and gets a 3 count to win the second fall at around 65 minutes. Aries starts off the third fall with a Malenko super DDT a la Dean Malenko and Scott Taylor. There’s a healthy amount of R4dical stuff in this match. Aries hits multiple bodyslams on Danielson, much the same as Danielson did to him at Survival of the Fittest. Danielson comes back with his own, but slower than the Fittest match because of the work they’ve done to one another. Danielson finally goes to pay off the rib work with a bear hug, but Aries reverses to his own. Danielson starts stretching Aries in unnatural ways, leading into the awesome final segment of the match. Aries takes the third fall after hitting a super brainbuster for 2, followed by 2 more really nasty brainbusters and a 450 splash. And now the crowd that could barely give half a shit during the match starts chanting “Match of the Year” “Thank You” and the other usual appreciative chants.

I first want to say that I’m VERY glad that they didn’t wrestle for close to three hours, as rumors have indicated that they planned to do. In the first fall, they lost the hold they had on the crowd at many points because of the strange up and down pace, which turned more down than up. This really showed through on the tape, but was one of the few faults in this match. On the other hand, there was a great story throughout the match in which Danielson used tactics that were successful for him in other matches to try to defeat Aries in this one. The commentators did a phenomenal job in explaining this to viewers, which actually could attract some to getting the older matches that they talked about. Much like the 2/3 falls tag team match Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 1, these men seemed somewhat unable to fill the entire time allotted to them, but managed to sprinkle some brilliance throughout it. The third fall was particularly match-making. For people who would respond to that that it’s simply the kind of match that requires resting for them to go the time, I recommend watching the Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk World Title matches for my rebuttal to that.
Rating: ****1/4

JZ says: Yeah, this match was slated to go almost the full three hours. I guess that’s what wrestlers do when they’re bored. This would be the first ROH match in which Danielson would wear the William Regal tights, to the best of my knowledge. In a nice booking decision, this match is taking place in the same building as Survival of the Fittest. Aries of course refuses to shake hands. Punk and Bauer are great on commentary here, and really help make the match. Had they done the “we want to watch this match as fans” gimmick, I don’t think it would have worked on tape. Maybe I’m wrong. Danielson is using some heel tactics here, and since Aries is a member of a prominent heel faction I’m not sure why. Aries gets the first fall win at 42:07 with the Cattle Mutilation, and a new ref comes in. Psh, I’ve reffed entire shows before. The second fall is Danielson spending a lot of time working on the knee, and it’s all good stuff. Punk and Bauer continue to be awesome in explaining the match. Danielson does a little goofy selling somewhere in here, but it’s not really that noticeable. He misses a dive and looks like he took a really nasty bump on his face. This pauses the match for a few minutes, and Aries fills the time very nicely. Danielson does get the pin to even things up at 63:15. During the break they get water, and Punk notes that he doesn’t get water breaks, but he wants to start getting them, along with a fruit plate. Best color man in the business right now folks. Both guys really turn it on in the third fall, and it ends with Aries getting the pin after 76:09 of action. Bauer really puts over this match as a sport, rather than sports entertainment. Well, that’s truer than of most matches, but the winner was predetermined. But that’s picking nits, as this was a really good match.
Rating: ****

Here’s why I’m only giving it ****. Just because you CAN go 76 minutes, doesn’t mean you SHOULD go 76 minutes. This match easily could have been 45-60 minutes and been just as good, if not better. Also, positioning Danielson as the heel and Aries as the face doesn’t make any sense to me, and the match might have been better had they gone with their current roles in ROH. The crowd is dead through most of it, which is a factor in how enjoyable a match is; see the Tag Team Title match at Reborn: Stage Two if you don’t believe me. Finally, the biggest determining factor for me was ultimately the meaninglessness of the match. No titles are on the line, no title shots, nothing like Aries has to shake hands after the match or anything like that. Not that every match needs to have a gimmick, but this was just two guys going out and wrestling, albeit awesomely, for 76 minutes. It didn’t matter who won or lost, I had no emotional investment in the match. Nothing happened as a result of this match; Danielson went on to his title shot with Samoa Joe, and Aries went on to have really boring matches with Colt Cabana and CM Punk. And I agree with Brad about the Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk matches, which are almost perfect examples of how to do long matches and keep the crowd into it the whole way. So yes, this is a really good match, but it’s far from perfect, and it’s really not for everybody. But for people who really love WRESTLING, it’s a great match.

MVP

BG says: Austin Aries for getting Match of the Night honors and some serious momentum on this show.

JZ says: I’ll agree with Brad on Austin Aries being the MVP, but disagree with the momentum statement, as I don’t think the match really did much to advance Aries that hadn’t been done with Survival of the Fittest.
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The 411: BG says: People are going to buy this show to see the main event. There is some other notable stuff here, including Trent Acid mucking up his ROH career and the tag title switch. The undercard was pretty solid aside from the Scorpio debacle, but again it's the main event that people want to see. This show is recommended on the strength of that match alone, which DEFINATELY isn't for most fans. JZ says: Absolutely a one-match show, but it takes up most of the tape and is a very good match. The riot was really cool, and the tag team title switch is notable, but the rest is pretty forgettable.

Final Score:  6.3   [ Average ]