Framingham State College
Framingham, MA
November 29th, 2003
ROH World Champion: Samoa Joe (Since 3/22/2002 - 7 Defenses)
ROH Tag Team Champions: The Briscoes (Since 11/1/2003 - 1 Defenses)
ROH doesn’t really do/have a WrestleMania/Starrcade type show, at least not in this era, but this weekend of shows (and especially this show specifically) feels like one. Starts with two good showcase matches. You get Punk/BJ payoff in the gauntlet. Walters/Xavier, even though I hate them, has had a properly built feud. Daniels/Maff and the Briscoes has been built by Cornette association alone. Joe/AJ has been protected as a singles match and built to for a short amount of time but a decent enough build. And Corino/Cide is the first real blood feud ROH has had and the main story of it ends here (though there are a couple of epilogues, I am told.) So let’s see how it plays out.
To start the show, GMC gets a phone call that Steve Corino has arrived. GMC rushes outside with a camera, NO LIGHTING, to do an interview. Guys, you HAVE to be making better production decisions, come the fuck on. Corino puts over the dangerousness of the match tonight and keeps saying how it didn’t have to come to this. This all started because of an errant elbow after Homicide was too stupid to realize what needed to be done against the Backseat Boyz to send them packing back to CZW a year ago, but he couldn’t get the job done. He didn’t want this. He didn’t ask for this. He can’t hear out of one ear. He can barely see out of one of his eyes. And he’s not the one that started a riot in Queens. He’s not the one going around stabbing people in the eye! He’s done everything he’s done in that ring, good or bad. Homicide’s the one that let it get to this point. He says ROH doesn’t give a damn about Homicide, but they do give a damn about Steve Corino. Which is funny because he doesn’t give a damn about ROH. He promises that the so called legend of Homicide will be extinguished tonight and he will be forgotten. GMC says they’re going to have cameras following Corino and Homicide all night.
Elsewhere, Samoa Joe cuts a promo to hype up his title defense against AJ. He mentions comments from critics about him not being a worthy champion and not doing things right. But I gotta tell ya, I was chronically online in 2003 on many wrestling message boards, and I don’t think I ever saw anything like that. Everything I saw was telling me Joe was the second coming. And he was! So not sure what this promo is referring too. But he hypes up the match with AJ. I am so hyped for this. First singles bout in ROH/first time I’m seeing them in a non TNA/WWE setting where I feel like they’re gonna have more freedom.
In the parking lot, GMC finds Homicide, Smokes and the gang all arriving. Smokes yells that they’ve been hanging with Master P and UHHHHH, SOMEBODY GOTTA DIE TONIGHT. YEAH YEAH YEAH. BBBBBBBBBDAT. GMC asks for comments about the match and repeats what Corino says. Homicide says Corino acts like he's the President of Zero1, but screw him and screw them. He's gonna hurt him and hurt him bad tonight. GMC mentions the cameras following him tonight and Cide says he doesn't want to be bothered at all, for real. Homicide says they'll see his violent side. ROH is nothing to him right now. Steve Corino is the only thing, and Steve Corino is a dead man. SOMEBODY'S GONNA DIE TONIGHT. BBBBBBBBBDAT. YEAH YEAH YEAH.
PUNK’S ON COMMENTARY ALL NIGHT! YES!
Match #1: Backseat Boyz vs. Fast Eddie/Hotstuff Hernandez
The Backseats have started to suck so much lately that they actively thought down the otherwise usually fun Eddie/Hernandez team. Just nothing really clicked and it seemed to be a match mostly led by the Backseats. They dump Hernandez out and finish off Eddie with the T Gimmick and that’s just kinda it. Alright.
*1/4
In the back, the camera is in Corino's private locker room. He has LeGrande, his son Colby and some other dude with him. Guillotine says this is different than Funk and he has so many advantages having been in there before. Corino says he says he's nervous but not worried. He has to keep it short, and Guillotine says that Cide feeds off the crowd and he's unpredictable. Corino says Homicide has to be nervous too, and at least he's been here before. Corino asks Colby if he's ready, and he says he knows his dad will win and Homicide will be done.
Elsewhere, Homicide is in the dressing room with the rest of the roster, off in the corner, and he pulls out the old orange prison jumpsuit gear. HELL YEAH.
Match #2: Carnage Crew (DeVito/Loc/The SAT/Slugga vs. Special K (Dixie, Hydro, Angel Dust, Lit & Hijinx) [Ten Man Scramble Match]
Not sure why Slugga’s bookings have become so sparse. This was sloppy and kind of a smelly piece of shit. I’m fine with Special K being this seemingly never ending group but when it comes time for in ring stuff it probably should be kept to like 4-5 dudes. They should also bring Slim J back. Oh, Slugga is bad. That answers my initial question in this match review. He teases a big man plancha but stops short so he can climb up top instead. And rather than dive, he sort of just falls on everyone and it looks like everyone was hurt. Some neat spots. At one point both the Crew and SATs each have two Special K members in these crazy bullshit tandem submissions while Slugga sort of holds Lit up and plays him like an accordion. DeVito also does the Spanish Fly with one of the Maximo’s. The melee continues and I think Angel Dust ends up getting a cheap quick roll up on DeVito to win.
*1/2
Before the Gauntlet Match starts, Punk grabs the mic. He says last night, he vanquished his greatest foe and both of his drug free feet hit first, and he won the feud. He won because he is vigilant and abstains from the poison that controls their lies. He won the feud because he is drug free, which means he’s better than you. However, he still doesn’t know who took out Lucy. He turned the locker room inside out last night and still has come to no single conclusion. After he pins Jimmy Rave, BJ Whitmer, Colt Cabana, and Matt Stryker to win this gauntlet tonight, he'll get his shot at the ROH title, and before the night is over, he will know who took out Lucy.
Match #3: CM Punk vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Colt Cabana vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Matt Stryker [#1 Contender’s Gauntlet Match]
Punk starts this out with Rave and it rules. They get over ten minutes to work. Rave does some awesome work on Punk’s knee, and Punk sells it incredibly well. Rave again struggles with having any big moves to throw at Punk to keep the attack going and thus has trouble transitioning out of limb work, so Punk takes over all while selling the knee so well. The whole layout of this is reminiscent to Punk’s work in the 2004 TPI, knee work and all. Jimmy finally ticks the aggressiveness up a bit and is able to counter some late stage Punk stuff and go back to work at the knee, but again falters when it comes time to try and put him away. Rave sets Punk on the top rope to try something, and Punk sensing danger just resorts to the last possible option. He stops Rave short and hits him with the Pepsi Plunge and it saves him as Punk gets the win. Wondering if this whole bit with Rave just blatantly inspired his TPI 2004 run because even the finish is identical.
Punk’s now hurt the knee even worse by doing the Pepsi Plunge, so when Matt Stryker is out next, that’s his immediate target. It’s boring work but it’s sensible. Punk is working on one leg, legit, and it feels so authentic. He can’t even run the ropes. LOVE THAT. Stryker is able to rather easily get him in the Strykerlock to make him tap.
Cabana is out next and he stops to talk with Punk in the entryway. Punk tells Colt to target Strykers neck. Cabana goes in and gets all his quirky shit out of the way, including leaving the ring and re-entering through the curtain to his music I guess to “restart”. Lame. Cabana does some big moves that seem to have Stryker on the ropes but of course, this is one of the “Pure Wrestlers” that Gabe slaps the ham to, so Stryker wins almost out of nowhere with a DVD. ZERO reaction for Stryker in any of this by the way.
Whitmer is out last and we’re “treated” to a preview of the FoH finals for Final Battle next month. They exchange movez~ n holdz~ for a bit without really building to anything. First and only fun moment is the end, where Stryker is heading up top for a high risk move and Whitmer shoves him off. Stryker takes a NASTY bump to the floor and sells it like he broke his neck, complete with refs and agents checking on him. Whitmer feigns concern before pushing everyone out of the way, grabbing and sending Stryker back inside and hitting him with a GROSS looking Wrist Clutch Exploder to get the win.
Fun booking throughout but Matt Stryker sucks and BJ is very mid so it’s brought down tremendously by that. Otherwise I might’ve gotten crazy with this rating.
***
Backstage, it’s intermission and GMC reminds us of the show last night where he saw AJ Styles flipping out at Jimmy Rave. He wants to see what happens tonight after another Rave loss. He goes in to AJ’s locker room and AJ is bent over in Rave’s face as he sits in the locker room, forehead to forehead, and AJ’s speaking through gritted teeth like Sid on a bender. Rave screams he’s had enough of this SHIT AJ! And shoves him against a locker before storming out! AJ immediately smiles and says “there’s that fire.”
CORINO CAM: He’s dressed in his gear and warming up. LeGrande gets a phone call, says it’s from Brandon (which is Low Ki’s real name). LeGrande tells Corino who it is and they ask BRANDON how he thinks Homicide is right now and if they should expect him to use the fork tonight. LeGrande signals to Corino that BRANDON said yes. Corino takes a deep breath. My guy. I know he used the fork to blind you but you’re about to be surrounded by like 200 feet of barbed wire or whatever and you’re sighing over the fork? Just bring a gun! Corino doesn’t feel bad about reaching out to BRANDON or about Homicide using the fork because all is fair and Corino says ear for an ear.
HOMICIDE CAM: Cide is warming up in his old ring gear and J-Train is singing YOU’REEE NOOOOBODY TIIIIL SOOOOMEBODY KILLS YOOOOU. Smokes says the anticipation of death is worse than death itself. Homicide says Steve is a dead man and Smokes says to dictate the pace tonight, baby. Homicide says he IS Mike Tyson. He's gonna eat his soul. He's gonna eat his children. ELEVATE YO HATE. YEAH YEAH YEAH.
Match #4: Outcast Killaz vs. Slyk Wagner Brown/April Hunter
This thankfully lasts all of a minute and the Killaz actually win after dumping Slyk out of the ring and hitting an Acid Drop on April.
1/4*
Xavier comes out laughing. He says Slyk just lost because he’s from Boston and Boston sucks. And John Walters is from Boston and he sucks too. Because he’s from New York and he’s a winner. What a GREAT promo you fucking dong bag.
Match #5: John Walters vs. Xavier
It’s probably not a good sign for a wrestler that everytime you run a show in their hometown, you have to do everything you can to try and get his hometown fans to cheer him, and they still don’t. You’d think Gabe would get the hint but lol. Just a bunch of nothing here. Do you care? Are you even reading this part of the review? Are you even reading this review? Have you read any of the reviews? How much filler text do you think I can put in this match review before someone calls me out? Does anyone give a shit about either of these two? I know it’s not nice to speak ill of the dead but apparently Xavier was kind of a shit head anyway so I mean…whatever. Walters wins this. Please be done.
*
Post match, an irate Xavier comes back in the ring and nails Walters with the chair. Walters does a really shitty blade job that results in only like a small, small amount of blood on his forehead and he clearly reaches up and smothers it over at one point. Bad job. ZERO reaction for Walters as he’s helped up to his feet by the way. I really fucking hate Gabe Sapolsky.
Match #6: The Briscoes (c) vs. The Prophecy (Daniels/Maff) [ROH Tag Team Championships]
The next logical step in the Briscoes growth here. Last night they faced two singles guys who had never teamed before and were able to show their growth in chemistry. Tonight, they’re facing a somewhat seasoned team (one of whom is a very experienced tag guy) and needing to show that that they can grow beyond just the need for big double team maneuvers. Do the disadvantage in seasoning, this is a largely Prophecy controlled match, and the Briscoes are working de facto babyface. They get their shots in and again can excel when they’re able to hit double team maneuvers. But Daniels is able to outsmart them at most any turn and gets a few near falls out of it. Prophecy eventually slow things down and keep Mark isolated, working over his head and neck region. Jay gets the hot tag and the match breaks down for a super fun finishing run. Jay is eventually able to get Daniels to himself for just enough time to hit the Jay Driller and get the 3 count to win.
***
Match #7: Samoa Joe (c) vs. AJ Styles [ROH World Championship]
This was fucking incredible. There’s a feeling out process to start, and both men are quite unsure on how to approach the other, which adds another layer here. Since both of these men have debuted in ROH, they’ve been built similarly but different. They’re both mostly dominated, but AJ’s done it through speed, agility and just an insane moveset, while Joe’s done it through power, striking and size. Neither has faced anyone yet like the other, nor should they since both are two of the most unique wrestlers maybe in history. And so in that initial feeling out process, what it adds is a real time visual of these two trying to game plan in the ring as opposed to backstage as most would do within kayfabe. The advantage AJ has is that he clearly is very good at planning out match strategies, and they laid this piece of the puzzle out for us for weeks with the Rave segments. Joe, as we know, doesn’t need to game plan too often because he can rely on brute force in most scenarios. This may not be one of those scenarios. Sorry to geek out, I just love small details like this. Both men rely on what’s brought them to the dance: power vs. speed. After the first few minutes, the niceties are out the door as Joe kicks AJ through the ropes and AJ takes a brilliant bump to the floor and sells it like he’s been run over by a van. AJ makes a crazy comeback pretty early with a few teases of the Styles Clash, and it becomes clear what his end game plan is here. If he can connect with the Clash, that should end it (which is again a beautiful relation to the Rave story, since he does not have that move that would save him in a situation like this, but he soon will). AJ, however, in the process of building up to the Styles Clash, finds himself putting a lot of miles in quick because Joe is much larger than the opponents he’s used to performing his offensive moves on, and it adds up after a while. You notice it because he starts to slow down and become very calculated with each step due to tiring out. This allows Joe to get some shots in and really use his power to the advantage. AJ is able to build up enough energy in reserves to be able to FINALLY hit Joe with the Styles Clash…AND JOE KICKS OUT. That was it. That was AJ’s killshot, and Joe fucking ate it. Joe makes his monster comeback and hits the Island Driver, but AJ survives that, and Joe has to resort elsewhere since that’s the 2nd or 3rd time recently someone’s survived the Island Driver. So for the first time in a while, Joe breaks out the Muscle Buster on AJ. BUT, for added insurance, Joe immediately applies THE CHOKE on AJ, and really wrenches himself in to the coquina clutch position you’d later see him do in TNA. AND SOMEHOW, AJ JS FIGHTING IT AND STARTING TO GET OUT OF THE CHOKE. HES CRAWLING TO THE ROPES, AND JOE FUCKING PULLS BACK ON AJ LIKE A FRESH STICKER AND AJ FINALLY PASSES OUT. JESUS.
There’s some sloppiness in the early parts where they’re selling how they’re trying to figure some stuff out, and I would’ve liked to have seen maybe 2-3 minutes tacked to the beginning of the middle right when things start to turn up in the power vs. speed battle, but other than that, this is near perfect. One of the better matches I’ve seen in this project. And I dunno if it goes anywhere, but I fucking love how much AJ and his game plan and his failing relates to Rave’s story. So good.
****1/2
Backstage, Corino stretches a bit more in full gear and puts his stupid little entrance mask on. LeGrande reminds him to be brutal.
In something kind of weird, Gabe does a voice over and they show still photos of something that happened while the ring was being set up for the main event. Punk threatened to hold the show up again and prevent the main event unless he got answers on Lucy and he was again blaming the Prophecy. Daniels came out to confront him, punched him and they brawled all around, and the brawl ended with Punk hitting Daniels with the Last Rites. This sounded and looked awesome but I am super confused why they didn’t just film this and air it since the “photos” they show are clearly just video stills?
So confession time: this feud and specifically this match are the only reason I ever even decided to do an ROH watch through finally. Not that there isn’t a ton of other great stuff I’d have liked to see, but more than likely, I would’ve taken some stuff in random doses like I’ve been doing with PWG and other companies. Reading more about this feud and this match, paired with these two guys already being well into my top 50 wrestlers ever because of their work elsewhere, it felt like a no brainer. So this match feels like the culmination of me doing this review. I am definitely and obviously going to continue it beyond this. But I’m just pumped for the match here. Bitch.
After the entrances, Bobby Cruise goes to do the typical introduction for Corino, but LeGrande stops him and the camera picks him up saying “let’s just do the regular introduction and get this over with”. Really adds to the atmosphere. LeGrande and Smokes are both there as corner men with the towels.
Match #8: Steve Corino vs. Homicide [No Ropes Barbed Wire]
Alright, where to begin, where to begin. This is incredible, this is a work of art, this is everything that pro wrestling can be when done right. They spend the first few moments of the match getting the stipulation over and they do a tremendous job of it. Corino slips out of the ring and is aghast and narrowly missing being cut and how he can’t out his weight on any part of the wire. Homicide has to baseball slide out to avoid it and grabs a fans piece of pizza and rubs it over the wire to show how easily it slices. They do all the typical “WHOA-OH ALMOST” spots where they ALMOST go into the wire. The match stip is its own character here. It’s what WWE did originally with Hell in a Cell before bastardizing. Homicides the first to go into the wire and it’s gnarly right from the start. He’s cut on the head and is gushing bad. He gets caught under the ropes and Corino sort of monkey flips him up into the wire. Corino then works the cut on Homicide’s head, putting his fingers into it, just like Cide did to him back in the summer. Homicides big comeback, of course, involves the fork and he gashes Corino with it quick and easy. AND THEN HE STARTS STABBING AWAY AT CORINO’S BAD EAR JESUS CHRIST. AND THEN HE DDT’S CORINO ONTO A BARBED WIRE BASEBALL BAT. FUCK. Corino ends up taking over and it’s kind of how it goes the rest of the match. Corino teases using the barbed wire table that was pre-set up in the ring but flips the fans off because they annoyingly spent the whole match chanting “we want tables” (fuck the WWE Dudleys forever, man). But they finally get their wish when Corino tries to lock on the Cobra Lock but has to revert to a sleeper as Homicide fights back. Corino ends up getting on his back, so Cide stands up AND THROWS THEM BOTH BACK FIRST INTO THE BARBED WIRE TABLE. Then there’s just this insane succession of spots, I may have already described some, but it’s honestly just better left to some gifs and pics, man:
This is where I come to a crossroads. I suffer from severe recency bias. I’ve gotten better with age. But when I see something I really and truly love, like this, I immediately want to give it five stars. So after reviewing, I put my review aside for a bit and just stewed.
Part of me still wants to give it five stars. I know that’s not necessarily a popular thing to do in the modern wrestling review community, I feel like, but I like what I like and I shy away from it. That being said, I immediately have to compare this to a match like Joe/Necro I. I initially rated that **** not because I didn’t think it was incredible, but because I overthought the rating. So I’ve retroactively changed that to ****1/2. I’ve also made sure to keep my Joe/AJ rating in this review at ****1/2, because it deserves it.
I can settle, after thinking about those two comparisons, at rating this at ****1/4. I cannot say this was better or on the same level as Joe/Necro. And while this is truly special, it’s not an actual wrestling match at the end of the day like Joe/AJ in this review was. Does this all sound weird and contrived? Yes. Absolutely. It’s all in my head.
So fuck it.
****1/4
Post match, Punk leaves commentary to “go down” and help Corino. Both men’s “teams” storm the ring to help them.
There’s a bit of a time jump and we cut to Homicide and Corino crawling towards each other and slowly getting up while staring at one another. Corino slowly reaches out his hand and offers a truce. Homicide sells the conflict within so well. He teases, he might do it, annnnnd…he just can’t. He cannot bring himself to do it. And he leaves.
The cameras then join Team Corino back in his locker room. Corino legitimately looks and sounds like he’s on deaths door. Colby is terrified but he’s taking it like a champ. LeGrande just keeps ranting about Homicide not being worth it and how Corino’s got nothing left to prove in ROH. Corino says some words in between long, pained gasps for air, but it doesn’t really amount to much outside of him declaring the war over, and saying Homicide should’ve just shook his hand but it doesn’t matter anymore. Wow.
There’s, for some reason, a Good Times Great Memories that closes this out where Colt is with the SAT. I dunno who’s bright fuckin idea that was but I skipped it. Reading about it, nothing important except “Red is on track to return by the summer” but lol.
NEXT MONTH: IT'S FINAL BATTLE 2003! Danielson/Jay! Joe/Mark! FoH Finals! ROH vs. AJPW!
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