WEEKEND OF THUNDER: NIGHT ONE

November 5, 2004

As frustrating as ROH can be at times, it’s got to be said that they know how to give the fans what they want. There was a lot of good stuff that ROH did in 2004, and what better way to cap it off than bringing in one of the greatest of all time.

Low Ki . . . fakes an injury for heel heat, as though a Boston crowd would ever cheer someone from NYC.

Jay Lethal . . . puts on one of the best performances of his short career.

Jyushin “Thunder” Lyger . . . graces ROH with his presence and really whips the crowd into a frenzy.

ACE STEELE vs. JIMMY RAVE

As far as storytelling within a match goes, this is fairly straightforward and to the point. Rave can’t seem to get anything going in his favor, and the little times that he does is thanks to some underhanded tactics. Rave gets a few token moves from little mistakes Ace makes, like hitting Gahna-reah when Ace drops his head too early, and the running knee when he rolled through the sunset flip. But by and large the match features Ace being firmly in control, and throwing in some cute little bits to insult Rave. The screwy finish with Nana getting on the microphone to distract Ace and allow Jimmy to hit the Rave Clash nicely plays off the story the match was telling. Clean finishes are obviously more preferable, but the match itself was more about getting over Rave’s heel character than it was about having a good match, and they succeeded in that regard.

FAST EDDIE vs. ANGEL DUST vs. HOMICIDE vs. DUNN

Had this been a regular match between Homicide and Angel Dust, it’d have probably been passable if nothing else. Eddie and Dunn don’t really add much to the grand scheme of things other than the ability to work in the contrived spot where everyone dives to the floor. Dunn also adds a nice diving elbow to break up Angel Dust’s juji-gatame on Homicide. The Homicide/Angel Dust segments are the best parts though, because Angel Dust takes his beating like a man, and Homicide does a nice job in getting over how Angel Dust keeps taking him by surprise with his various blocks and counters. The referee not counting several pin attempts due to the legal man not being involved was also a welcome part of the match. The only thing that the match could have used, would have been either a nice false finish where Angel Dust thinks he got the win, or a spot where Angel Dust finally hits his finisher, but not on the legal man. With Angel Dust doing everything he can to keep fighting, Homicide using the Cop Killa makes sense so that he can finally keep him down for the count.

BJ WHITMER/DAN MAFF vs. DEVITO/LOC (Boston Street Fight)

If nothing else, this does have some decent intensity to it at times. Of course when you’ve got two teams who don’t like each other in a street fight, it’s hard to *not* have any. The bulk of this is just mindless brawling though. They each get opened up a tiny bit, and it’s more a prerequisite juice job, than anything else. The real highlight comes when Alison Danger tries to toss the trash cans into the ring, and comes up short, twice. The problem with this feud is that all their matches are like this, and as a result, nothing they do really stands out. The finish alone shows this. Garbage cans becoming involved in the finish isn’t a new concept, but the “con-trash-can-co” that Loc and Devito do to Maff, is the least creative thing they’ve done yet with them. The Carnage Crew’s finisher (spike piledriver off the second rope) was right there, and if nothing else would have provided a memorable finish, and something that could have been played off in future matches, or with Maff wearing a neck brace to sell the damage. Instead it’s a boring uninspired finish, to a boring match.

LOW KI vs. CHAD COLLYER

Like the opener, this is a bit more about establishing the heel character instead of actual wrestling. This winds up being more disappointing than the opener though, because Ki and Collyer are better than both Steele and Rave, so they really shouldn’t need to dumb things down so much. The most memorable moment of the match is Ki’s ankle injury (complete with the camera cutting to a backstage promo) and when we get back to the ring everyone (including Collyer) is trying to help him up. Of course he’s faking it, and he cheap shots Collyer. It’s a fun moment, but it’s flawed. The obvious reason to do something like that is because Ki is having a tough time with Collyer, but he really wasn’t. Up until that point the match was mostly them trading strikes (which almost nobody, certainly not Collyer, will beat Ki in), and when they did go to the mat or work with holds, Ki was never in any real trouble, and even reversed a few holds on Chad. You could argue that Ki “hurt” the ankle with one of his kicks, but the strikes they were trading were mostly chops, and the few times that Ki did unleash a kick, it wasn’t with any great force. So in a nutshell Low Ki faking the ankle injury was just done to show he’s a heel. Good thing too, I’d almost forgotten with all the times he made the “stick it” gesture during his entrance.

The rest of the match isn’t much different. Ki’s plan for most of his matches has usually been to throw out a bunch of stuff, so it can fill time before the finish, which is basically what he does here. He mostly sticks with the strikes and crowd taunting. Collyer finally gets a bit fired up and takes the fight back to Ki, with a nice Dragon screw and the Collyer Cloverleaf. First off nobody would believe that Collyer would have a prayer of beating Ki, and when he’s got his finishing submission locked in, after having done precious little of anything to wear down Ki, it’s not going to change that perception. It’s nice that Collyer holds it on for a decent length of time, and it makes the near fall from the Toilet Flush (Gedo clutch) look a bit more plausible, but now Collyer is fresh out of finishers. The interference from Reyes and Romero, leading to Ki hitting a wicked double stomp for the win, wouldn’t have seemed so out of place if Collyer had gotten a chance to an extended run of offense and been able to sufficiently wear down Ki, but as it is it just seems forced, and only done to ensure that Ki has heel heat, of which no assurance is really needed.

JOHN WALTERS/NIGEL McGUINNESS vs. SAMOA JOE/JAY LETHAL

How weird is it that a Champion vs. Champion Dream Partner Match, wound up with both champions (Joe and Walters) getting overshadowed by their partners? Joe is good here, but Walters is totally left in the dust. The only real highlights that contain Walters are his exchanges with Joe, and all but one of them ends with Joe getting the better of him. Nigel brings almost all of the good offense of the match, starting off with a chain-wrestling bit with Lethal that is actually pretty decent, and follows up by countering Joe’s trademarks sidewalk slam in the corner, as well as using his trademark moves like the (then unnamed) Tower of London, his sweeping DDT, and “That Arm Submission.” Nigel’s selling is just sort of ‘there.’ When Joe does that kick in the corner to counter Nigel’s headstand he KO sell job is perfect, but other than that nothing really stands out. It’s okay though, because while Lethal isn’t very spectacular with offense, he’s spectacular with his selling, and in general playing the spunky babyface. As far as consistent selling goes, Lethal is about as spot on as can be. Nothing is blown off, and with the possible exception of Walters’ lariat (which made for a great moment when Walters’ cheap shot at Joe bit him in the ass) nothing is overdone. Lethal’s facial as he’s trapped in That Arm Submission is great, and tells the exact story of the finish. Lethal is trapped and his arm is bent at a nasty angle, and with Joe being held back by Walters, he sees he’s got no hope of getting out and taps.

Walters is the real disappointing one here. Despite being the Pure Wrestling Champion, he shows precious little ‘Pure Wrestling,’ favoring more high-impact stuff like the Lung Blower, and the top rope stunner. Walters tying Lethal up in a couple of freaky submissions would have made for some fun moments, and if nothing else, been a way to send a message to Joe about what the Pure Champion is capable of doing. Or even tied up Joe is a submission on the ropes to show what could potentially happen in a Pure Title match. But things like that also require a bit of attitude or personality to be shown as well, and Walters was never really big on showing that off. Again, the only real highlights that feature Walters are his exchanges with Joe, which are mostly Walters getting shown up. There were times Joe seemed like he was going through the motions, which one could argue plays into the idea that Joe didn’t take Walters seriously, but Joe going through the motions can still make for some entertaining viewing. The really ironic thing is that the angle behind this is that Joe considered the Pure Title to be worthless, but all four of them would wind up holding the title, in sequence no less. ***

DAVEY ANDREWS/SHANE HAGADORN vs. OMAN TORTUGA/DIABLO SANTIAGO

Given that Andrews and Hagadorn are from the ROH school, and that this is only their fifth match or so, this goes how you’d expect it to. It’s pretty much a complete squash, with the Outcast Killaz getting the win with a double dropkick. I wonder if that was a tribute to Ricky Morton, since he was being friendly with the Embassy back at the Midnight Express Reunion show. There wasn’t any reason this could have been on the pre-show, or just scrapped from the DVD altogether. 3:30 of my life I’ll never have back.

CM PUNK vs. AUSTIN ARIES

From the point where Punk hurt his knee and up until the finish (discounting the lights out portion), this was a really fun match. Before Punk hurt his knee, it’s not so much ‘bad’ as it is ‘dull’ in a way. The basic premise is them canceling each other out with what they do. For example, Punk attempts a Bionic elbow, but it gets blocked and Aries hits a reverse atomic drop. Aries then heads up to and attempts his own Bionic elbow, only to get it blocked by Punk with a reverse atomic drop. It’s fun at times, but tends to get predictable. There’s also a ton of forearm shots between the two of them. Punk missing the Shining Wizard could be seen coming a mile away, and after he hits the post, is when things finally pick up. Aries is great when he has something specific to target. He really lives up to his nickname ‘The Wrestling Machine’ in that regard, whether he’s wrenching it with submissions, or changing up his usual moves like the 450 and power drive elbow to target the knee, which plays off they way he put Colt Cabana on the shelf the previous August.

What goes wrong though is that the crowd doesn’t seem to really be into it. They give their usual “OH!” reaction when Aries does something like the knee buster on the table, but they don’t seem to be interested at all with what’s going on. Whether it’s due to them being mad that Punk is in so much trouble, or just lack of interest, it’s their loss really. Punk’s selling of the knee is good at times. He’s great at putting over how the submissions are hurting him, and he’ll do the occasional smart thing like the German suplex, but only bridge with his good leg. Things wind up going wrong though because Punk’s selling gets a bit lax once he gets to get some offense in. He never fully no-sells, but it’s quite a drop in quality. One of the best moments of the match was Punk hitting the Pepsi Plunge and being unable to cover, and when he finally does, Aries gets the ropes. But Punk going for it again immediately afterwards was just silly, as was attempting the Shining Wizard. Fortunately they were just that, attempts, and Aries uses a sweet counter to the Shining Wizard to a half crab, and Punk taps out. While it’s obvious this was being done to build up Aries for his title shot at Joe, the timing is odd because Punk is actually headed toward his third title shot at Joe. If anything, Punk should have won here, to give him a claim to a shot at Aries after he won the title.

Remember the days when Roderick Strong had long tights, and wasn’t the most over worker on every show? Like the Aries/Punk match, this is lots of fun at times. There are quite a few fun moments, mostly thanks to Evans. Evans aping Homicide’s trademark tope, and Homicide’s reaction, are both hilarious. And the bulk of the match is carried by Evans taking a beating from the Havana Pitbulls, and nobody can take a beating like Evans. Where this winds up going wrong though is that Evans and Strong don’t get much of an offensive run, and as a result, it’s hard to buy any of their nearfalls as being able to win the titles. Most of the Generation Next offense is in the form of flashy double teams, of which Evans and Strong can execute better than just about any other team, but they don’t do much as far as really wearing down Reyes and Romero. Strong does have a couple of nice backbreakers, but that just about covers it as far as offense from the challengers.

Romero always has a ton of stuff he can do in his matches, in this case it’s several nice submission holds, but they aren’t built up to or followed up upon. The hanging keylock, and the transition to his Ankle Lock both look great. But there was no build to either of them, and nothing afterwards to suggest he was using them as a wear down technique. He more or less did them out to show he could do them. Reyes is Low Ki-like in the way he sticks to the stiff kicking for his offense, although he breaks out a nice powerbomb, neckbreaker, and the tombstone that he finished off Evans was with looked perfect. Like the previous match, the heat is lacking in places. Evans dives get a nice pop, and when he gets the hot tag to Strong it gets a decent little pop, but aside from the false finish (complete with the bell) the crowd is noticeably quiet. The clean finish here is nice, although cuts off the challengers at the knees in a way. Evans and Strong’s main offense here was their flashy double teams, and the catalyst for their loss was simply them botching their Ode to the Bulldogs, because Romero simply moved. There were several other ways they could have gotten to the same point, such as Roderick’s ankle bothering him, from his time in the Ankle lock, or Evans just being too beaten up to do it right. It really just makes the champions look lucky, which is fine because they’re heels, but with Evans and Strong not getting in a whole lot offense, they should have been able to rely on more than just luck to keep the gold.

BRYAN DANIELSON vs. JYUSHIN “THUNDER” LYGER

Oh, now I know where all the heat from the last two matches went, it was for Lyger’s entrance. When compared to the best performances of both Lyger and Danielson, this really isn’t anything special, of course when you’ve got a bonafide legend and one of the best workers going today, that’s an awfully high point to hit, and they still manage to churn out quite a match. As far as structure goes, it’s similar to a typical New Japan junior match, which isn’t surprising since Danielson worked there quite a bit in 2004. It’s got lots of fun submission and limb work going on, but nothing that really has a great impact on the finish or the match as a whole. What’s unique about this though is that way they change up the work that they do, based upon the crowd they’re working in front of. With Lyger being the overwhelming favorite among the crowd, he works in his trademark stuff very carefully and somewhat spread out, so as to really get the fans excited when he does something simple like the shotei or one of his trademark taunts. With Lyger being the big favorite, Danielson goes all out to heel things up in any way he can, nearly a full year before his match with Roderick Strong that turned him into a heel for real. Including reminding Todd Sinclair several times that he’s ‘got till five, referee!’

You’d think that Danielson heeling things up would actually take away from the match in a sense. There’s two of the best wrestlers today going at it, why don’t they simply work an awesome match? Collyer/Ki was an example of how a potentially good match can be rendered obsolete by worrying too much about face/heel roles. Fortunately Lyger and Danielson are both smarter than Ki was, it’s not just Danielson heeling things up that work the crowd up, but the ways that Lyger plays off what Danielson does. Early on for instance, Danielson attempts one of his favorite holds (and Lyger’s as well), the surfboard, Lyger obviously knows how to scout the move and Danielson winds up falling on his ass, more than a bit embarrassed. Lyger seizes the moment quickly applies the surfboard himself, to show how it’s supposed to be done, as well as show up Danielson. When Danielson is busting up Lyger’s various limbs, they get the perfect sell jobs, although nothing too extended, since Danielson doesn’t spend an inordinate amount of time targeting one specific area. Lyger’s reaction to Danielson doing the ultimate in heel tactics, going after Lyger’s mask, is equally awesome.

As the road to the finish approaches, the bigger moves start coming out, but thankfully unlike what you’d probably see from a big NOAH match, or a Minoru/Kanemoto match, they don’t go overboard with what they do. The moves are big moves compared to the relatively simple offense used in the early goings, but not really *big* moves in the vein of head dropping. There’s a couple of nice suplexes out of Danielson for good near falls, as well as both the Cattle Mutilation, and the Cattle Mutilation cradle for another good near fall. Lyger hits the standing shotei, and a nice tease of the Lygerbomb, which Danielson escapes, before being hit with a kopo kick, and the Lygerbomb for a near fall (which probably should have been the finish). And Lyger finishes off Danielson with one of his trademark finishers in the brainbuster off the top (which I feel should have been saved for the next night). Honestly the crowd would have probably been rabid no matter what, and they’d have definitely been behind Lyger no matter what. And it’s a tribute to both Lyger and Danielson that they were willing to work hard and make the crowd reactions actually relevant to the match going on, with the result being a smartly worked match, with nothing overly complicated. ***1/2

Conclusion: The novelty alone of Lyger in ROH makes the show worth checking out, but fortunately it’s also the usual fun at times ROH show, with several enjoyable matches. I’d recommend picking this one up.