TRIOS TOURNAMENT

March 5, 2005

CM Punk . . . looks for all the world like he wants to rip Jimmy Rave’s head off, consequences be damned.

Bryan Danielson . . . forgoes his usual goal of stealing the show in favor of getting his hands on Homicide.

Jay Lethal . . . wins the ROH Pure Title by remembering that the marquee says “Wrestling.”

AUSTIN ARIES/RODERICK STRONG/JACK EVANS vs. DAVEY ANDREWS/SHANE HAGADORN/ANTHONY FRANCO

This is just a quickie squash for the champion and his partners. It’s probably notable that Andrews was able to get a reversal and hit a German suplex on Strong, which put some distance between him and the other rookies. But, that’s the only thing to take away from the match.

CM PUNK/COLT CABANA/STEVE CORINO vs. JIMMY RAVE/OMAN TORTUGA/WEAPON OF MASK DESTRUCTION #3

Although this is also rather short, it does have a few things to make it worthwhile. Punk does a perfect job of keeping his feud with Rave front and center, everything he does is in order to get his hands on Rave, even blind tagging in when Cabana had things well at hand. The all too brief segment of Punk’s leg getting worked over by the Embassy is also fun to watch. Weapon #3 (who is obviously Steen, based on the physique and body language) even shows up, adding some personality and fun work to the mix. It would have been nice to see them get another six or seven minutes, to stretch out the heat segment on Punk, but, this is still fun.

HOMICIDE/ROCKY ROMERO/RICKY REYES vs. EL GENERICO/DUNN/MARCOS

Despite a mediocre finish, this is another perfectly watchable match, and it also has the bonus of getting time to develop. They stick with the formula, with good results. The babyface team uses their speed and typical underdog offense early on. The actual work doesn’t factor into the match, but, it’s useful in showing that they can control their opponents, with even Homicide being willing to join in and help them look good. Homicide turns the tables, and Marcos gets worked over by the heels. They don’t focus on a body part, as much as just bumping him around, and showing that they don’t take him seriously. Whether it was intentional or not, Marcos getting his mouth busted open only helps hammer home, just how hopeless it looks.

Generico makes a great hot tag, showing all the fire you’d expect, and briefly returning the favor to the heels and sending them all scurrying. This makes the finish all the more disappointing. The winners weren’t exactly in doubt anyway, and Homicide is the highest ranked person in the match. But, he gets the win on Generico just a little too easily. He shouldn’t need to bust out big moves like the Kudo driver, but, the standing lariat doesn’t seem like it should have been enough, especially with him being the fresh man.

SAMOA JOE/BRYAN DANIELSON/VORDELL WALKER vs. SPANKY/JAMES GIBSON/NIGEL McGUINNESS

While this is clearly the best match of the first round, its still not without issues. There’s plenty of good work to be seen, but, it seems like it’s being done in a vacuum, rather than anything having a clear purpose. Despite having more than twenty minutes to work with, there’s next to nothing as far as story goes. Vordell seems like the obvious weak link, with Spanky outsmarting him early, and then later on he drops his head too early and gets locked in a guillotine by Gibson. But, he winds up on his own against all three opponents, and holds his own until Joe and Danielson can recover. Vordell doesn’t win the match for his team, but, he does his part by helping Danielson prevent Nigel and Gibson from making the save, which causes Spanky to submit to Joe’s choke. Hell, Spanky even tries to take Vordell down with a wheelbarrow, but, Vordell blocks it and takes Spanky over in a suplex, so he clearly shows that he may be the least experienced, but he isn’t the weak link of his team. There’s a brief segment of Gibson and Nigel working over Vordell’s knee, and later on Nigel targets Danielson’s shoulder, but, neither of those segments has any long term effects on the match.

When it comes down to brass tacks, the match is essentially twenty-two minutes of filler until the finish. Again, the work itself is good. Danielson’s airplane spin makes for good comedy, and each team makes a big save that triggers a brawl between all six. There’s a great moment where Gibson seems to be running the ropes, only to dive onto Joe on the floor, followed by Nigel pulling the top rope down to cause Danielson to take a spill, and leaving Vordell alone. Joe countering Spanky’s attempt at the Sliced Bread into the choke is a fine finish, and Spanky only taps when he sees that his team can’t make the save. In a way, it’s reminiscent of the classic trios matches from All Japan, it’s just too bad that it wasn’t able to separate itself from the rest of the first round by a larger margin. ***

AUSTIN ARIES/RODERICK STRONG/JACK EVANS vs. CM PUNK/COLT CABANA/STEVE CORINO

Considering that they spent the majority of the match in a broken ring, it’s remarkable that they did so much, even if it seems rushed at times. Punk’s team has some fun working over Evans, including hanging him in the corner and taking turns baseball sliding into him. Then, Aries takes a shot at Punk’s knee, and hangs him up to return the favor with his corner dropkick. Corino also has some fun at Evans’ expense, with a series of powerbombs. The finish is a bit out of left field, but it makes sense with the need to get the ring patched up, and, after Evans spent most of the match being the whipping boy, it’s fitting to see him get the winning pin on Punk. Aries going after the knee again, to open the door for the finish is an added bonus.

HOMICIDE/ROCKY ROMERO/RICKY REYES vs. SAMOA JOE/BRYAN DANIELSON/VORDELL WALKER

The work itself is rather basic, but, everything takes a backseat to Homicide’s issues with both Joe and Danielson. The heat segment on Danielson is what you’d expect with a lot of triple teaming behind the ref’s back. Danielson adds to it during his exchange with Rocky, when he stuns Rocky with a European Uppercut, and takes the opening to go after Homicide on the apron, rather than pressing his advantage or tagging out. They work a smart finish to keep things moving, with Danielson and Homicide brawling on the floor and Smokes attacking Danielson, which causes Joe to dive to the floor to even the odds. This leaves Walker on his own against the former tag team champions, who easily dispatch him to send the Rottweilers to the finals. It’d be easy to label this as a disappointment, with so many good workers involved. But, while the work wasn’t anything special, it scores major points in furthering the Danielson/Homicide feud, and also keeping Joe’s history with Homicide in mind.

AZRIEAL vs. B-BOY vs. KEVIN STEEN vs. DIXIE vs. DERANGED vs. IZZY

There are a few nice moments here, like Dixie breaking up Azrieal’s pin after the Rubix Cube, and the Special K allies arguing over it. Azrieal countering B-Boy’s running DVD into a crucifix really should have been the finish instead of a near fall. But, for the most part, this is the usual go-go-go spotfest, with more emphasis on spots than telling any real story. It’s got all the prerequisite spots, right down to the dive sequence, and the pileup on the floor. Punk’s digs at Steen on commentary are the best thing here by a longshot.

JOHN WALTERS © vs. JAY LETHAL (ROH Pure Wrestling Title)

The layout of the match is proof positive that ROH, or at least Lethal and Walters individually, has a certain respect for the idea of the Pure Title. There’s no interference from the Embassy, and aside from a really brief segment, Walters leaves Lethal’s taped up eye alone. The Pure Title is supposed to be won by the best wrestler, and that’s what Lethal and Walters let the match come down to.

Like the Homicide/Danielson trios match, the work itself is fine, if a bit basic. But, that works in this case, with the idea of showing who the better wrestler is. There’s nothing overly flashy, but, Lethal and Walters’ methods of countering and escaping, puts their wrestling skill at the forefront of things. The only real weak moment is toward the end, when Walters sets up Lethal on the top rope for a Lung Blower, which, if successful, would have had Walters taking a back bump either to the floor or apron. To no surprise, Lethal is able to escape this predicament, and tosses Walters off the top into the ring. It’s also a bit disappointing to not see the rope break rule used as much as it typically is in these matches. Lethal purposely locking a hold on Walters close to the ropes, and Walters not cinching in a sharpshooter as tight he normally would, in order to cause their opponent to burn through a rope break. Walters using one to escape Lethal’s roll up, even if it was incidental, is another case where the rope breaks could have played a bigger role in the match.

The finish falls a little flat, but it works considering what they were shooting for. Lethal had previously lost to Walters after a series of three Lung Blowers, and Walters is able to escape Lethal’s camel clutch, without the ropes, and put himself into position for his finisher. But, this time Lethal kicks out, and it leads to Walters attempting a top rope variation. After one more counter and escape sequence of their finishers, Lethal stuns Walters with a lariat, and hits his Dragon suplex to get a clean pinfall and take the title. It’s lacking a bit as far as drama goes, it’d have been nice to see Lethal struggle to hit the move after taking the Lung Blowers. But, it puts over the suplex strong. Lethal certainly isn’t in a class with Bryan Danielson, let alone Yamazaki or Fujiwara when it comes to his wrestling, but, between the match layout and his performance, he certainly looks worthy of the title. ***1/4

AUSTIN ARIES/RODERICK STRONG/JACK EVANS vs. HOMICIDE/ROCKY ROMERO/RICKY REYES (Trios Tournament Finals)

Homicide getting the win over Aries is the obvious finish to lead into Homicide challenging for the title. But, overall, that’s the only big takeaway from this. It makes sense that it’s a bit on the short side, with both teams having already worked twice. But, one would think they’d use the short time to build up to something. They have good ideas, but nothing that really leads to anything substantive. Nobody takes a better beating than Evans, but, at no point during the Rottweilers’ control segment do they try to actually win the match. Homicide ripping off the turnbuckle pad doesn’t lead to anything either. Aries getting thrown into the exposed buckle would have been a great lead in to the finish, or even Evans or Strong taking a bump into it would have been a fine way to add some heat to them being in peril.

In the last few minutes, everyone manages to hit their finisher, and aside from Homicide eventually getting the winning pin, it accomplishes nothing. Aries kicking out of the running lariat is fine, since Homicide had already won with that move, and it shows that he’ll need to dig down deeper into his arsenal to beat the champion. But, there’s no reason for everyone else to start throwing out their big moves, especially when Aries and Homicide are legal. Both teams had matches on the undercard that were shorter, and also did a better job telling a story and building up to a decent finish. It’s just too bad that they couldn’t do it when it mattered the most.

Conclusion: It’s a fun show overall, with a good title change, and a bunch of fun in the tournament, even if the final match falls short.