Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Survival of the Fittest 2005

Ring of Honor — Survival of the Fittest 2005
by J.D. Dunn

You know the rules. Twelve guys compete to qualify for a big six-man elimination match at the end of the show. Winner gets to brag about it for a year.

September 24, 2005

From Dorchester, Mass.

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard.

Austin Aries reminisces about his breakout performance in the 2004 SotF. However, he came up short, and that’s something he wants to remedy tonight. His stablemate Roderick Strong wishes him luck but says tonight will be his night to shine. Hmm.

Opening Match, Survival of the Fittest Qualifier: Jay Lethal vs. Sal Rinauro.
Rinauro is making his big show debut after making his name as Spanky’s partner in FIP. He moves pretty well, hitting an armdrag reminiscent of Gerald Brisco in his prime. He keylock’s Lethal’s arm. Lethal powers up, but Sal slips off his shoulder. Lethal kills Sal dead with a spinebuster but gets cute with a back handspring and gets dropkicked. Lethal comes back with a reverse Mexican Surfboard. He gets a little dirty with a hairpull. TONIGHT…WE’RE PLAYING BY JAY LETHAL’S RULES! Sal goes up but gets crotched by a Lethal dropkick. Lethal goes for something on the top, but Sal reverses to a bulldog. Sally hits a nice springboard Tornado DDT for two. A German suplex gets two for Rinauro, but Lethal chops his way back and gets two off the diving headbutt. Rinauro avoids the Dragon Suplex and botches a Stunner. He gets desperate and goes for a springboard spinkick, but Lethal takes a cue from his mentor and just walks out of his way. The Dragon Suplex finishes Rinauro at 11:38. This was solid-but-unspectacular for the first 5-6 minutes, but it picked up nicely down the stretch. Based on this performance, you’d think Sal would be consigned to being a jobber, but you’d be wrong. **1/2

Lacey announces that she’s found new Angels to build around. So long, Cheech. We hardly knew you.

Survival of the Fittest Qualifier: Colt Cabana vs. Ricky Reyes.
Cabana has a feud with Reyes’ buddy Homicide, so there’s an issue by proxy here. Colt dominates early with the circa 1983 Mid-Atlantic babyface offense (armdrags and dropkicks). Yeah, I’m feeling referency tonight. Reyes comes back with stiff kicks and targets Colt’s back. Colt fires back, but Reyes reverses his suplex attempt to a wakigatame. Colt makes the ropes and hits a surprise quebrada for two. Cabana ducks a swing and hits the lariat for the win at 4:27. Well, that was quick. *3/4

Survival of the Fittest Qualifier: Roderick Strong vs. Jerrelle Clark.
Jerrelle is another FIP guy that had a cup of coffee in TNA. He has a reputation of being too spotty, and he doesn’t do much to dispel that here. Roderick, on the other hand, comes out like Son of Benoit. CHOP~! Lariat! Backbreaker. Arrogant cover. Triple Verticals. Jerrelle gets his wide variety of goofy, complicated moves such as a handspring into a corkscrew splash. Roderick eventually gets sick of him and Military Presses him into the buckle. Jerrelle counters a powerbomb to a rana for two. A springboard moonsault gets two, but he can’t get Strong up because of his bad back. Strong hits the Half-Nelson Backbreaker and finishes with the Stronghold (Liontamer) at 11:14. This was like the next generation of the Tiger Mask/Dynamite feud with Strong being the no-nonsense ass-kicker and Clark constantly going for homeruns. The fans chant for Jerrelle to come back. ***

Survival of the Fittest Qualifier: Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Rave (w/Prince Nana & Jade Chung).
The Embassy and GenNext are feuding, so Aries comes out with a purpose, knocking Rave to the floor and hitting a crazy suicida. Aries chops Rave all the way around the ring, but Nana grabs Aries’ leg long enough for Rave to knock him off the apron into the barricade. Rave starts working Aries over as the match takes a downturn. I think one of Rave’s big problems is that he doesn’t quite know how to make the gap between the “getting his ass kicked” and “cue the big spots” part of the match. It’s fine as long as Nana is there to entertain everyone. Aries fires back with a Roaring Elbow and a corner dropkick. The kneebreaker/backdrop combo nearly gets the win for Aries, and he calls for the Brainbuster. Rave counters to a nice atomic drop into a schoolboy. Aries hits the Inverted Finlay Roll, but Rave avoids the frogsplash and hits the running knee for two. Rave hits Ghanarrhea, but Aries flips out of a second one and punts Rave right in the face. Leonard even describes it in exactly that way after I type it. Jade hops up on the apron to distract the ref while Nana attacks with a chair. Aries sees him coming and kicks him in the gut, but Rave picks up the chair and whacks Aries in the back. Unfortunately for Rave, the ref sees him and disqualifies him at 12:56. Roderick Strong saves his buddy from a beatdown. This had it’s good parts (the part where Aries was on offense) and its bad parts (the part where Rave was on offense). On balance, though, it was pretty good and finished strong minus the DQ. ***

Survival of the Fittest Qualifier: Samoa Joe vs. Milano Collection AT.
“Milano Collection AT” just sounds like a tag team, doesn’t it? He’s another DG/Toryumon guy whose gimmick is that he’s an Italian model despite being Japanese and not that attractive. Personally, I prefer the thin mints. Joe steamrolls over him, so Milano tries another tack and works the arm in between high spots. He actually ties Joe up in the ropes using Joe’s own arms and legs. A dropkick sends Joe to the floor, and Milano pescados out on him. Back in, Joe tires of this nonsense and hits his STJoe. The usual Joe spots make their appearance. Joe nearly knocks Milano cold with a kick to the face, but Milano makes it to his feet at nine. Milano avoids a spinning backchop and goes back to the arm. He hits Joe with an enzuigiri and a senton for two. He Matrixes under a lariat and quebradas Joe for two, but Joe counters the AT Lock to the Death Valley Driver and puts him away with the Muscle Buster at 14:23. Pretty good, if one-sided. The fans were impressed by Milano. **3/4

Survival of the Fittest Qualifier: Christopher Daniels vs. James Gibson.
Daniels is upset with Gibson for losing the title last week because this was scheduled to be for the title. Now, Daniels has to settle for a spot in the SotF field. Daniels knocks Gibson to the floor but, Gibson avoids a dropkick. They brawl on the floor. Back in, Jamie goes to work on the arm with a hammerlock and a reverse armlock. Daniels comes back by working Gibson’s back with a surfboard stretch. Gibson counters a crossface to an anklelock but collapses on a bodyslam attempt. He stays on top, though, with a neckbreaker and pulls back Daniels’ neck in the tree-of-woe. Daniels fires back, but there isn’t much behind the blows. Gibson goes up top but gets hit with the Shoryuken and the Iconoclasm. Jamie takes over on the outside and gets a bit heelish, calling for the Best Moonsault Ever. It misses, of course, and Daniels hits an STO and a Blue Thunder Bomb. Daniels goes him one better, trying to turn him over into the Texas Cloverleaf. Gibson counters to the Guillotine Choke, but Daniels elbows his thigh to loosen the hold and escape. Nice. Daniels hits the Flatliner but runs right into a legline. They trade speedy counters back and forth until Daniels hits the Last Rites out of nowhere to get the pin at 26:04. Quality match with some great counter sequences, but it felt like they were holding back a bit. ***1/2

Jimmy Bower announces that Spanky will not be returning to ROH because he’s off to the WWE. Also, Bryan Danielson is fulfilling prior commitments, so he won’t be at the next few shows.

Prince Nana promises that Jade Chung will face consequences if she messes up again. He makes her crawl around like a dog for her insolence.

Pure Title: Nigel McGuinness vs. BJ Whitmer.
Funny moment as BJ gets referee Todd Sinclair to do the Kliq pose with him. McGuinness makes fun of the “Red Stockings” (which, I believe, was actually their name at one point…maybe it was the Chicago White Stockings). BJ might seem like an odd challenger for the Pure Title, but he did come in as more of a technical wrestler. Nigel puts Whitmer in a cravat and forces BJ into the ropes. Todd Sinclair rules that a ropebreak for Whitmer above BJ’s protests. Nigel forces him back to the ropes again, making BJ use another ropebreak. Whitmer gets pissed and unloads a series of forearms. Nigel pulls Todd Sinclair in between them to catch a breather and then jumps Whitmer when he lets his guard down. Whitmer comes back with a knee to the head for two and sets Nigel on top. SUPERPLEX! Nigel kicks out and wins a slugfest, but BJ comes back with a lariat. Nigel catches BJ going up and hits the Tower of London. ONE, TWO, THR-BJ gets his foot on the ropes to use the final ropebreak. Lacey returns to take notes. They fight on the top, and Whitmer gets a sloppy Super Wrist-Clutch Exploder! Oh, right on his melon! It only gets two. Whitmer covers again and makes Nigel use a ropebreak. But, as the ref is telling the ring announcer, Nigel goes low on Whitmer and finishes with a rollup in the ropes at 14:15. The effort was there, but they couldn’t overcome the clash in styles. I like that Nigel is totally confounding his challengers by using the rules to his advantage, though. **1/2

Survival of the Fittest Elimination Match: Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Colt Cabana vs. Jay Lethal vs. Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong.
This combination of guys has some interesting dynamics with the teams of GenNext and Joe/Lethal. Joe and Danies are feuding because they cost each other the title at “Redemption.” Big schmozz to start, and Lethal and Joe clear the ring. They team up for stereo topes out onto the rest of them. Lethal and Joe isolate Colt once the smoke clears. Joe “accidentally” crotches Colt on the top rope and readies for a tope. Colt surprises him with a sunset flip for two, and nearly eliminates Joe in a replay of last year. Daniels tags in and fires away at Joe, but he runs right into the STO. Lethal comes in and hits Daniels with a spinebuster as they work his notoriously injured neck. GenNext uses a little trickery as Aries blind tags Joe only to have Strong sneak in and knocks Joe on his ass with a chop. See, Strong has the best chops in the business. Aries hops in and dropkicks Lethal off the apron. GenNext isolates Daniels for a bit before Joe tags in and chops it out with Roderick. Joe gets the Coquina Clutch, but his injured arm won’t let him choke Roderick out. Daniels sees his chance and hits the Best Moonsault Ever to Joe’s arm. Roderick jumps Daniels with the backbreaker and pins Joe at 13:59. See, even though Joe is portrayed as this big monster, he can still logically be beaten when everyone teams up against him.

The announcers speculate that GenNext might have the advantage because they’re the only alliance left, but it winds up being just the opposite as the other three men left in the match form an alliance, making it a three-on-one. They isolate Aries for a long bit before he gets the hot tag to Strong. Daniels unleashes a flurry of offense, but Aries blind tags himself in and sunset flips Daniels at 19:11.

Colt and Lethal team up to dropkick GenNext to the floor, and then Colt fakes Lethal out by calling for a tope and letting Lethal do it by himself. GenNext drags Colt to their corner and works in a series of spiffy doubleteam maneuvers, but they get confused as to who the legal man is. Colt hits Strong with a rana and is able to tag Lethal in. Lethal and Cabana team up for a chinlock/crab combo on Strong, but Aries makes the save. Lethal back handsprings, but Aries jumps him with a clothesline, allowing Strong to tag out. Aries puts Lethal in the Boston Crab and asks Roderick if he’s doing it right. Lethal fights out of trouble, but Aries knocks Cabana off the apron to cut off the tag. Strong hits the press gutbuster and gets the pin after more miscommunication as to who the legal man is. (31:24)

Colt wants GenNext to fight it out, so they tie-up and head to the corner where Strong chops him in the chest as a tag. Colt fights his way out of a doubleteam superplex and hits Aries with a missile dropkick. A headscissors sets up the buttbutt, but Aries hits a dropkick. Aries goes up for the 450-splash, but his back gives out (remember the Rave chairshot from earlier) and he falls to the canvas in pain. Strong comes in and finishes Cabana with a piledriver before he can start a comeback. (35:51)

That leaves Generation Next to battle it out. But first, Aries stops the match and gets on the mic. He congratulates Strong on a great year and says they’re going to get it on. They match calms down now that there are only two guys and becomes much more cerebral and calculated. Strong avoids the dropkick out of the headscissors, but Aries blocks the press gutbuster. They head to the floor where Strong whips Aries into the barricade. Back in, Aries uses the Kobashi Irish Whip knees and hits the Inverted Finlay Roll, but his back is too injured to complete the sequence, so he covers for two. He follows it up with a weak brainbuster and goes up. He’s so hobbled that Strong is able to catch up with him and hit a super gutbuster. They trade forearms, and Aries hits the Crucifix Bomb. Strong slips out of the brainbuster and hits a series of backbreakers. The Stronghold finishes at 50:30 to give Strong the win and the Survival of the Fittest title. Outside of Joe getting eliminated first, the booking here was spot on as they actually gave everyone an interesting final two without it feeling contrived. And it didn’t take a swerve to do it either. ***3/4

After the match, Strong says this proves he’s not a fluke and challenges Bryan Danielson to a title match when he returns.

Elsewhere, Kenta Kobashi hypes his match (one assumes).

The 411: This show, maybe more than any other, shows Gabe's acumen as a long-term booker. Once TNA and the WWE showed interest in the top guys like Punk and Joe, Gabe went to work trying to get Strong over as a guy to rely on in 2006, and it worked. Virtually every show since the Trios Tournament to this one was designed to elevate Strong from midcard enforcer to main-event level star. Most importantly, it was done in such a way that it didn't feel like Strong was shoved down people's throats. The wrestling was solid, and Strong's "coming out party" is somewhat historic, so this gets a thumbs up.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]