Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 8:05 pm
Better Than Our Best - April 1, 2006
Colt Cabana comes to ringside during the preshow, reiterating that he must end his feud with Homicide and get peace after the violence of the past several months.
Jack Evans vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Matt Sydal vs. Ace Steel vs. Jake Crist vs. Dave Crist
Just a spotfest, nothing truly special, but I expected that going in. This got the crowd's blood flowing and set a nice pace for the rest of the evening. Evans gets the victory before heading to Dragon Gate for three months.
ROH Commissioner Jim Cornette comes out to announce that Adam Pearce has been assigned as security to keep out Chris Hero & Necro Butcher. He's about to ask a young talent to come to the ring, but Colt Cabana interrupts. He begs for a hardcore match ("Chicago Street Fight" for the hometown pop) and Cornette grants that wish. Cornette then calls out Delirious.
Cornette puts over Delirious as a great, entertaining in-ring talent. But he says Delirious needs to win a match in order to maintain a spot on the ROH roster. He grants Delirious any opponent of his choosing, but only if Delirious agrees that this is do-or-die for him. The masked man cuts a gibberish promo that has the crowd in a frenzy, before he finally say something understandable. "Bllllllat!!!" Over and over again, followed by "Ricky Reyes! Ricky Reyes!" Cornette says it's on.
Before I get to the match: that segment included Delirious, Jim Cornette, Adam Pearce, and Colt Cabana. No politics, no bullshit, no rambling promos, no meaningless brawling. I miss the days before this company got overly petty.
The ROH Tenure of Delirious on the Line
Delirious vs. Ricky Reyes
A match that accomplished every single goal it had. Reyes dominated, while Delirious had some hope spots to show off his anger and desperation. Delirious got to be the one to break out of the Dragon Sleeper, which Austin Aries had been unable to do the week before, and finally clinched his first singles victory to maintain his spot, forcing the bully to submit to the Cobra Clutch after hitting him with the Shadows Over Hell. Poetry with a great reaction from the crowd. The first magical moment of the evening.
Dragon Gate Rules
Jimmy Rave, Alex Shelley, & Masato Yoshino vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, & Genki Horiguchi
Very good trios action but not the nonstop jaw-dropper of the trios matches earlier in the weekend. That's totally understandable since Rave & Shelley weren't trained for that style. I have to point out that while I enjoyed Brian Kendrick character-wise as a one night only member of the Embassy, Yoshino just completely smoked him in that regard and put forth a far superior in-ring performance to boot.
I really enjoyed Rave & Shelley at first being antsy when working with Do Fixer, taking powders and tagging in Yoshino, who was happy to be an asshole to his archrivals and get some vengeance after the Blood Generation loss the night before. He got to yet again show off his incredible chemistry with Dragon Kid, the two of them putting on some dazzling sprints.
Do Fixer was great in getting to show off their triple-team moves since only one of their opponents was familiar with them. But eventually Rave & Shelley did get comfortable and the last third of the match was tremendous action. The booking was perfect too for the Rave-hating Chicago crowd: the Crown Jewel finished off Horiguchi with the Pedigree! That meant the Embassy went 3-0 for this huge triple-shot, solidifying themselves as the #1 Contenders for the Tag Titles.
Rating: ***3/4
Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Yang vs. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels
Another match with impressive action, although not quite as much as would be expected, and was plagued by tags not being logically enforced in the third act. This wasn't a Dragon Gate or Generation Next trios match, so it should've been easy for the referee to keep track.
Daniels had no interest in being involved early, and it seemed that Styles was to be the target in this match, but Joe would play that role in the second act. Everything in this match was crisp, getting the crowd to pop and everyone worked hard. Although neither man was actually legal, Joe finished off Styles with a rear-naked choke.
Rating: ***1/2
Afterwards, Joe stays in the ring and announces that it's time for him to get an ROH Title shot, calling out Bryan Danielson. The champ comes to the ring and talks shit, with a nice "If I can be serious for a moment..." dig at Lance Storm. After some nice crowd-engaging mic work, Danielson says he'll be happy to grant it after he's done kicking Storm's ass.
As Danielson heads backstage, out come Hero & Necro to throw Joe out of the ring. Pearce immediately storms to the ring and brawls with them. Cornette comes out with Claudio Castagnoli. The Swiss native fails to inflict any damage on the CZW stars, missing a baseball bat swing and appearing to land awkwardly on his knee on the gym floor. Cornette is taken out and Pearce is left laying, allowing the CZW stars to have the last laugh on ROH's historic weekend. This drew incredible heat as expected.
Tag Titles Match
Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. CIMA & Naruki Doi
Not the classic match I remembered, but still very good stuff. There was no clear announcement that this would be under Dragon Gate Rules, and with it being a title match, I assume this was to be held under ROH rules. Therefore, there was no reason for the referee to forget who was legal, and like the trios match earlier in the evening, this didn't have the breathtaking pace of the trios matches earlier in the weekend. All the more reason that the referee should've remembered who was legal, as it would NOT have been ticky-tacky or ruined the pace.
Strong was great laying down some brutality less than 24 hours removed from a grueling ROH Title shot against Danielson. CIMA did a phenomenal job of selling a chop from Strong, just absolutely perfect for someone not accustomed to Strong's physical style and popping the crowd even more in the process. Blood Generation would eventually get the advantage on Aries though, who would end up getting busted open on the face.
Aries found his face getting targeted, further showcasing that no matter how awesome CIMA & Doi were, they were still pricks on par with Danielson. Strong was great when he got the hot tag and laying down the fire on Blood Generation. This was the third act and the ref unfortunately forgot who was legal. But this was still very, very good action and worth checking out. All four men certainly deserved the standing ovation they got from the 1600-1700 fans in attendance.
Rating: ***3/4
ROH Title Match
Bryan Danielson vs. Lance Storm
Similar to Matt Hardy, the bandwagon for Lance Storm is long-gone, and it's obvious he's not an all-time great grappler as ROH marketed him as being during this time. With that said, he brought his fucking working boots on this night and more than held up his end in making this a great match, a true technical classic that stands the test of time. He was treated like a star by the Chicago crowd and gave them their money's worth. This is a match that I wish I had experienced live.
Danielson of course carried the personality portion of the match, which was the right decision to make since by now we all know how charismatic he truly is. But he didn't carry Storm, as both men were equally impressive with their mat wrestling and storytelling. The first couple minutes saw them having a teeter-totter of a technical showcase, struggling to get an extended advantage and exchanging arm twists, arm drags, hammerlocks, and snap-mare takeovers. It was fucking beautiful mat-work and managed to be engaging.
Danielson would attempt to get in the veteran Storm's head with a slap, only for minutes later to get a receipt from the former WWE/WCW/ECW superstar, as this obviously wasn't his first rodeo with a cocky and disrespectful young pup. They had more great wrestling with Storm getting an advantage, causing Danielson to take an extended break outside the ring and cautiously getting back in. A particular spot that stood out was when Storm rolled a running Danielson into the half-crab, getting a tremendous reaction and showing just how seriously he was taking this opportunity to hold a title that had been treated with such high regard.
After more great wrestling, Danielson would lock in the Crossface Chickenwing, but Storm broke it by reaching the ropes, building up the drama and getting the crowd even more behind the challenger. Storm would pull out a trick from his peer Jerry Lynn's playbook, planting the champ with a cradle piledriver. When that doesn't put down the champ, he locks in the half-crab again, and this time the crowd is hoping/sensing that a title change is about to unfold in front of them, but the champ rolls him for a nearfall, the same position which had finished off Strong the night before.
The third act would continue to be great stuff, leading to a fantastic finishing sequence. Storm got out of the Cattle Mutilation and positioned Danielson into a rollup for a hot nearfall. Danielson managed to almost finish off Storm with a Tiger Suplex, then locked it in the Cattle Mutilation once again for the submission victory. After shaking hands, Danielson leaves Storm to get the spotlight he earned after an excellent effort.
I don't know if this is the best match of Storm's career, as the only work I've seen of his was some WCW and then his WWE career. This is definitely in the conversation though and holds up incredibly well. Excellent match.
Rating: ****
Hardcore Match
Homicide vs. Colt Cabana
I might be in the minority, but I absolutely love the music used in their pre-match video. Struck me with a nostalgic WCW feeling before that federation went down the shitter.
Cabana starts with the early advantage, fueled by his anger, hometown crowd support, and knowing that this is the end of a violent chapter of his career. He fucking tossed Homicide around at ringside, getting his first taste of what he hoped would be the satisfying closure he had been wanting for five months. Smokes is able to distract the Chicago native to allow Homicide to regain the advantage.
Homicide was fucking brutal to Cabana as usual for their feud. In this match he brought in a ladder, then much later a barbed-wire board (last seen in ROH for the previous "Chicago Street Fight" inside the same building at Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 2), and then as the match was reaching its conclusion, asked the fans to throw chairs in the ring in another spot not seen since that same previous "Chicago Street Fight." I'm glad nobody got badly hurt there, although a chair did bounce off of Cabana.
Cabana was able to bust Homicide open, and drew the trademark fork out of the Notorious 187's boot, scraping at his forehead. But also introduced into the match, in true moments of poetry, was a coathanger and even a bottle of Drano. Cabana teased he would use the latter, but that thankfully never came to fruition. Homicide would then have his Bernie Williams jersey removed by Cabana. They had a great little tease of who would get the other onto the barbed-wire board, an obvious sign of things to come.
Instead, after having scraped the forehead of Homicide, Cabana poured a bunch of rubbing alcohol on the crimson mask. Homicide screamed in absolute agony, twitching outside the ring to sell the pain. Fantastic stuff. After being thrown in the ring, Homicide begged off, asking Cabana to end it, but of course that was bullshit and Cabana knew it. Cabana would be victim to a lowblow, and this would allow Homicide to toss in a chair, followed by the chair riot.
Having about a minute to recover from the lowblow, both men went at each other in the chair-canvas ring. Homicide would unfathomably kick out of a superplex that had both men landing on the steel. Cabana would clear the chairs out, as would Homicide, but not before Homicide utilized CM Punk's Pepsi Plunge for another great nearfall. This would get the fans to temporarily slap the barricades to the early part of "Miseria Cantare." Homicide asks Smokes to come after Homicide, but finds himself getting accidentally charged out of the ring.
Cabana takes advantage and ties Smokes to the ropes and take him out of the equation. With Homicide recovering on the outside, Cabana set up a table on top of the barbed-wire board in front of the corner. They have a back-and-forth to tease who would take the barbaric bump, with Cabana winning that battle, forcing Homicide to eat a super powerbomb on it. Homicide would kick out of that and a follow-up lariat, then had absolutely nothing left when that was followed up with a Colt .45, a move Cabana had not used for an extended period of time in ROH.
Cabana gets a great reaction from the hometown crowd, but is mugged by Smokes & Reyes, who threaten to hang him with a noose like it's Mississippi Burning. Homicide has regained consciousness and tells them to back off, that he will end this his way on his own. The Rottweilers have an extended argument, and they finally listen to their leader. Homicide says he is obligated to at least respect Cabana after everything they've been through and finally beating an ROH legend.
"You want your goddamn peace? I'll give you your fucking peace!"
Homicide apologizes for everything and offers his hand, falling to his knees. Cabana accepts and Homicide says it's over, that he respects him. After everything they had been through, an unnecessarily violent turn but with their issues settled, they shake hands and embrace, with Homicide reassuring that the feud is history. Confetti falls at ringside as the crowd chants "ROH!" Smokes half-heartedly shakes the hand of Cabana, not agreeing with his leader but respecting his wishes.
Cabana is left to a monster celebration in front of his hometown, the perfect ending to the best weekend ROH has ever hosted. And that's not hyperbole.
I'm sure both men, now in their mid-30s and not quite etching HOF careers on the big stages, reflect back and regret some of the violence in this feud and this particular closing match. It was fucking brutal. But if they can compartmentalize that like I am, they should still be able to appreciate and be proud of this hardcore masterpiece they put together. There was no better way to close out the show than to bring this underrated feud, a great feud in retrospect, to a conclusion in Cabana's hometown, with him finally slaying the demon.
This was storytelling magnificence and a classic hardcore match. I'm not sure if wrestling will ever be able to deliver something like this again. A genuine MOTYC. Both men should be STRONGLY considered to get a shot at Danielson, and I hope those CZW stars who boast about using weaponry got a look at this, and should be VERY concerned that ROH has guys who went through this length and could feel this depth of hatred.
Rating: ****1/2
Is this the greatest show in ROH history as many claim it to be?
If you watch this with that expectation, you won't find it to be quite that head-and-shoulders epic. The mid-card matches that I had remembered as being excellent didn't quite hold up almost a decade later, although they were all VERY good stuff, with two of the matches bordering on greatness. That's nothing to be ashamed of and they did an incredible job of doing what they needed to do for their spots on the cards.
A key thing that makes this show stand out among the many great shows during the Gabe Sapolsky era was the pacing. Sapolsky managed to pace this event in a way that anyone in attendance seeing the federation for the first time would be able to digest it while also being blown away, AND also delivering the quality of matches that the frequent customers of ROH at this time had become accustomed to. Pacing was always an issue for him, but on this night, it truly clicked for him in that regard. Adam Pearce and Delirious have gone on to pace events that are digestible for newbies, but not quite delivering the frequent match quality that quite captures the detail-oriented, demanding eye of folks like me.
The two money matches to headline this event both delivered as expected, with them obviously being two completely different flavors. An established superstar in the big leagues came in and put forth a career-defining performance against one of the greatest in-ring technicians the business has ever seen, adding another layer of prestige for the ROH Title. A violent feud finally reached its appropriately timed, emotional conclusion, the hometown boy finally getting the last laugh after being driven away from his standard comedy routine. And afterwards, Homicide made his babyface turn after two years of absolute malice and bitterness controlling his actions.
But it's not just the mid-card and main events that make a show get held in such high regard. You gotta have that meaningful undercard. The opener was just a spotfest, but that's all it needed to be. In a sign of what was to come in the main event of the evening, Delirious, an established comedy style freak, slayed a member of the Rottweilers to save his career in ROH, a victory that meant more after Austin Aries had been unable to overcome the Dragon Sleeper of Ricky Reyes prior to this event.
But that's not all, folks. On this event, we got to see CZW leave with the final say on ROH, leaving them laying on such a historic weekend for the company before ROH would head back to the East Coast, where the fanbases may not be quite so slanted towards ROH. In the same segment, the iconic Joe would make it known that he was ready to challenge Danielson and regain the top prize in the company, finally teasing a match that many fans had been hoping to see since their ***** classic at Midnight Express Reunion.
Nowhere to Run had a slightly better match quality on paper, and had key storyline progression just like this one too, even the hometown guy getting the final say in a feud-ending gimmick match that followed a phenomenal technical match contested over the top prize in the company. I'm also sure that as I continue this project, I will have the pleasure of revisiting shows that are more stacked with truly high-caliber match quality. But this night was a truly magical night, with flawless pacing, storyline progression left and right, stars from other federations coming in and busting their asses, and getting capped off with two incredible matches. This also had the key ingredient that I love so much in wrestling: VARIETY, not just in matches, but in storylines as well.
Now imagine with all of that I mentioned, and taking into account both Dragon Gate Challenge and Supercard of Honor, if ROH had managed to book the Briscoes, Low Ki, and Nigel McGuinness for this magical weekend.
I want to take the time in case any wrestler involved in the matches I reviewed for WrestleMania 22 weekend ever reads this: Thank you for your hard work and determination. I know that having three nights like this back-to-back-to-back could not have been a breeze, and I appreciate everything you guys did to give the fans in attendance and those watching on DVD more than their money's worth. I'm sure the paydays were nowhere near what NJPW pays for the grueling G-1 Climax.
With a day to sleep on this and grasp everything that this card accomplished, I can clearly make the declaration.
Not only do I wish I had a time machine, but Better Than Our Best is the greatest event in ROH history.
Up next - The 100th Show
Matches will include:
Bryan Danielson vs. Delirious
Briscoe Bros. vs. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal
Team ROH of Samoa Joe, BJ Whitmer, & Adam Pearce vs. Team CZW of Chris Hero, Super Dragon, & Necro Butcher
Colt Cabana comes to ringside during the preshow, reiterating that he must end his feud with Homicide and get peace after the violence of the past several months.
Jack Evans vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Matt Sydal vs. Ace Steel vs. Jake Crist vs. Dave Crist
Just a spotfest, nothing truly special, but I expected that going in. This got the crowd's blood flowing and set a nice pace for the rest of the evening. Evans gets the victory before heading to Dragon Gate for three months.
ROH Commissioner Jim Cornette comes out to announce that Adam Pearce has been assigned as security to keep out Chris Hero & Necro Butcher. He's about to ask a young talent to come to the ring, but Colt Cabana interrupts. He begs for a hardcore match ("Chicago Street Fight" for the hometown pop) and Cornette grants that wish. Cornette then calls out Delirious.
Cornette puts over Delirious as a great, entertaining in-ring talent. But he says Delirious needs to win a match in order to maintain a spot on the ROH roster. He grants Delirious any opponent of his choosing, but only if Delirious agrees that this is do-or-die for him. The masked man cuts a gibberish promo that has the crowd in a frenzy, before he finally say something understandable. "Bllllllat!!!" Over and over again, followed by "Ricky Reyes! Ricky Reyes!" Cornette says it's on.
Before I get to the match: that segment included Delirious, Jim Cornette, Adam Pearce, and Colt Cabana. No politics, no bullshit, no rambling promos, no meaningless brawling. I miss the days before this company got overly petty.
The ROH Tenure of Delirious on the Line
Delirious vs. Ricky Reyes
A match that accomplished every single goal it had. Reyes dominated, while Delirious had some hope spots to show off his anger and desperation. Delirious got to be the one to break out of the Dragon Sleeper, which Austin Aries had been unable to do the week before, and finally clinched his first singles victory to maintain his spot, forcing the bully to submit to the Cobra Clutch after hitting him with the Shadows Over Hell. Poetry with a great reaction from the crowd. The first magical moment of the evening.
Dragon Gate Rules
Jimmy Rave, Alex Shelley, & Masato Yoshino vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, & Genki Horiguchi
Very good trios action but not the nonstop jaw-dropper of the trios matches earlier in the weekend. That's totally understandable since Rave & Shelley weren't trained for that style. I have to point out that while I enjoyed Brian Kendrick character-wise as a one night only member of the Embassy, Yoshino just completely smoked him in that regard and put forth a far superior in-ring performance to boot.
I really enjoyed Rave & Shelley at first being antsy when working with Do Fixer, taking powders and tagging in Yoshino, who was happy to be an asshole to his archrivals and get some vengeance after the Blood Generation loss the night before. He got to yet again show off his incredible chemistry with Dragon Kid, the two of them putting on some dazzling sprints.
Do Fixer was great in getting to show off their triple-team moves since only one of their opponents was familiar with them. But eventually Rave & Shelley did get comfortable and the last third of the match was tremendous action. The booking was perfect too for the Rave-hating Chicago crowd: the Crown Jewel finished off Horiguchi with the Pedigree! That meant the Embassy went 3-0 for this huge triple-shot, solidifying themselves as the #1 Contenders for the Tag Titles.
Rating: ***3/4
Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Yang vs. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels
Another match with impressive action, although not quite as much as would be expected, and was plagued by tags not being logically enforced in the third act. This wasn't a Dragon Gate or Generation Next trios match, so it should've been easy for the referee to keep track.
Daniels had no interest in being involved early, and it seemed that Styles was to be the target in this match, but Joe would play that role in the second act. Everything in this match was crisp, getting the crowd to pop and everyone worked hard. Although neither man was actually legal, Joe finished off Styles with a rear-naked choke.
Rating: ***1/2
Afterwards, Joe stays in the ring and announces that it's time for him to get an ROH Title shot, calling out Bryan Danielson. The champ comes to the ring and talks shit, with a nice "If I can be serious for a moment..." dig at Lance Storm. After some nice crowd-engaging mic work, Danielson says he'll be happy to grant it after he's done kicking Storm's ass.
As Danielson heads backstage, out come Hero & Necro to throw Joe out of the ring. Pearce immediately storms to the ring and brawls with them. Cornette comes out with Claudio Castagnoli. The Swiss native fails to inflict any damage on the CZW stars, missing a baseball bat swing and appearing to land awkwardly on his knee on the gym floor. Cornette is taken out and Pearce is left laying, allowing the CZW stars to have the last laugh on ROH's historic weekend. This drew incredible heat as expected.
Tag Titles Match
Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. CIMA & Naruki Doi
Not the classic match I remembered, but still very good stuff. There was no clear announcement that this would be under Dragon Gate Rules, and with it being a title match, I assume this was to be held under ROH rules. Therefore, there was no reason for the referee to forget who was legal, and like the trios match earlier in the evening, this didn't have the breathtaking pace of the trios matches earlier in the weekend. All the more reason that the referee should've remembered who was legal, as it would NOT have been ticky-tacky or ruined the pace.
Strong was great laying down some brutality less than 24 hours removed from a grueling ROH Title shot against Danielson. CIMA did a phenomenal job of selling a chop from Strong, just absolutely perfect for someone not accustomed to Strong's physical style and popping the crowd even more in the process. Blood Generation would eventually get the advantage on Aries though, who would end up getting busted open on the face.
Aries found his face getting targeted, further showcasing that no matter how awesome CIMA & Doi were, they were still pricks on par with Danielson. Strong was great when he got the hot tag and laying down the fire on Blood Generation. This was the third act and the ref unfortunately forgot who was legal. But this was still very, very good action and worth checking out. All four men certainly deserved the standing ovation they got from the 1600-1700 fans in attendance.
Rating: ***3/4
ROH Title Match
Bryan Danielson vs. Lance Storm
Similar to Matt Hardy, the bandwagon for Lance Storm is long-gone, and it's obvious he's not an all-time great grappler as ROH marketed him as being during this time. With that said, he brought his fucking working boots on this night and more than held up his end in making this a great match, a true technical classic that stands the test of time. He was treated like a star by the Chicago crowd and gave them their money's worth. This is a match that I wish I had experienced live.
Danielson of course carried the personality portion of the match, which was the right decision to make since by now we all know how charismatic he truly is. But he didn't carry Storm, as both men were equally impressive with their mat wrestling and storytelling. The first couple minutes saw them having a teeter-totter of a technical showcase, struggling to get an extended advantage and exchanging arm twists, arm drags, hammerlocks, and snap-mare takeovers. It was fucking beautiful mat-work and managed to be engaging.
Danielson would attempt to get in the veteran Storm's head with a slap, only for minutes later to get a receipt from the former WWE/WCW/ECW superstar, as this obviously wasn't his first rodeo with a cocky and disrespectful young pup. They had more great wrestling with Storm getting an advantage, causing Danielson to take an extended break outside the ring and cautiously getting back in. A particular spot that stood out was when Storm rolled a running Danielson into the half-crab, getting a tremendous reaction and showing just how seriously he was taking this opportunity to hold a title that had been treated with such high regard.
After more great wrestling, Danielson would lock in the Crossface Chickenwing, but Storm broke it by reaching the ropes, building up the drama and getting the crowd even more behind the challenger. Storm would pull out a trick from his peer Jerry Lynn's playbook, planting the champ with a cradle piledriver. When that doesn't put down the champ, he locks in the half-crab again, and this time the crowd is hoping/sensing that a title change is about to unfold in front of them, but the champ rolls him for a nearfall, the same position which had finished off Strong the night before.
The third act would continue to be great stuff, leading to a fantastic finishing sequence. Storm got out of the Cattle Mutilation and positioned Danielson into a rollup for a hot nearfall. Danielson managed to almost finish off Storm with a Tiger Suplex, then locked it in the Cattle Mutilation once again for the submission victory. After shaking hands, Danielson leaves Storm to get the spotlight he earned after an excellent effort.
I don't know if this is the best match of Storm's career, as the only work I've seen of his was some WCW and then his WWE career. This is definitely in the conversation though and holds up incredibly well. Excellent match.
Rating: ****
Hardcore Match
Homicide vs. Colt Cabana
I might be in the minority, but I absolutely love the music used in their pre-match video. Struck me with a nostalgic WCW feeling before that federation went down the shitter.
Cabana starts with the early advantage, fueled by his anger, hometown crowd support, and knowing that this is the end of a violent chapter of his career. He fucking tossed Homicide around at ringside, getting his first taste of what he hoped would be the satisfying closure he had been wanting for five months. Smokes is able to distract the Chicago native to allow Homicide to regain the advantage.
Homicide was fucking brutal to Cabana as usual for their feud. In this match he brought in a ladder, then much later a barbed-wire board (last seen in ROH for the previous "Chicago Street Fight" inside the same building at Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 2), and then as the match was reaching its conclusion, asked the fans to throw chairs in the ring in another spot not seen since that same previous "Chicago Street Fight." I'm glad nobody got badly hurt there, although a chair did bounce off of Cabana.
Cabana was able to bust Homicide open, and drew the trademark fork out of the Notorious 187's boot, scraping at his forehead. But also introduced into the match, in true moments of poetry, was a coathanger and even a bottle of Drano. Cabana teased he would use the latter, but that thankfully never came to fruition. Homicide would then have his Bernie Williams jersey removed by Cabana. They had a great little tease of who would get the other onto the barbed-wire board, an obvious sign of things to come.
Instead, after having scraped the forehead of Homicide, Cabana poured a bunch of rubbing alcohol on the crimson mask. Homicide screamed in absolute agony, twitching outside the ring to sell the pain. Fantastic stuff. After being thrown in the ring, Homicide begged off, asking Cabana to end it, but of course that was bullshit and Cabana knew it. Cabana would be victim to a lowblow, and this would allow Homicide to toss in a chair, followed by the chair riot.
Having about a minute to recover from the lowblow, both men went at each other in the chair-canvas ring. Homicide would unfathomably kick out of a superplex that had both men landing on the steel. Cabana would clear the chairs out, as would Homicide, but not before Homicide utilized CM Punk's Pepsi Plunge for another great nearfall. This would get the fans to temporarily slap the barricades to the early part of "Miseria Cantare." Homicide asks Smokes to come after Homicide, but finds himself getting accidentally charged out of the ring.
Cabana takes advantage and ties Smokes to the ropes and take him out of the equation. With Homicide recovering on the outside, Cabana set up a table on top of the barbed-wire board in front of the corner. They have a back-and-forth to tease who would take the barbaric bump, with Cabana winning that battle, forcing Homicide to eat a super powerbomb on it. Homicide would kick out of that and a follow-up lariat, then had absolutely nothing left when that was followed up with a Colt .45, a move Cabana had not used for an extended period of time in ROH.
Cabana gets a great reaction from the hometown crowd, but is mugged by Smokes & Reyes, who threaten to hang him with a noose like it's Mississippi Burning. Homicide has regained consciousness and tells them to back off, that he will end this his way on his own. The Rottweilers have an extended argument, and they finally listen to their leader. Homicide says he is obligated to at least respect Cabana after everything they've been through and finally beating an ROH legend.
"You want your goddamn peace? I'll give you your fucking peace!"
Homicide apologizes for everything and offers his hand, falling to his knees. Cabana accepts and Homicide says it's over, that he respects him. After everything they had been through, an unnecessarily violent turn but with their issues settled, they shake hands and embrace, with Homicide reassuring that the feud is history. Confetti falls at ringside as the crowd chants "ROH!" Smokes half-heartedly shakes the hand of Cabana, not agreeing with his leader but respecting his wishes.
Cabana is left to a monster celebration in front of his hometown, the perfect ending to the best weekend ROH has ever hosted. And that's not hyperbole.
I'm sure both men, now in their mid-30s and not quite etching HOF careers on the big stages, reflect back and regret some of the violence in this feud and this particular closing match. It was fucking brutal. But if they can compartmentalize that like I am, they should still be able to appreciate and be proud of this hardcore masterpiece they put together. There was no better way to close out the show than to bring this underrated feud, a great feud in retrospect, to a conclusion in Cabana's hometown, with him finally slaying the demon.
This was storytelling magnificence and a classic hardcore match. I'm not sure if wrestling will ever be able to deliver something like this again. A genuine MOTYC. Both men should be STRONGLY considered to get a shot at Danielson, and I hope those CZW stars who boast about using weaponry got a look at this, and should be VERY concerned that ROH has guys who went through this length and could feel this depth of hatred.
Rating: ****1/2
Is this the greatest show in ROH history as many claim it to be?
If you watch this with that expectation, you won't find it to be quite that head-and-shoulders epic. The mid-card matches that I had remembered as being excellent didn't quite hold up almost a decade later, although they were all VERY good stuff, with two of the matches bordering on greatness. That's nothing to be ashamed of and they did an incredible job of doing what they needed to do for their spots on the cards.
A key thing that makes this show stand out among the many great shows during the Gabe Sapolsky era was the pacing. Sapolsky managed to pace this event in a way that anyone in attendance seeing the federation for the first time would be able to digest it while also being blown away, AND also delivering the quality of matches that the frequent customers of ROH at this time had become accustomed to. Pacing was always an issue for him, but on this night, it truly clicked for him in that regard. Adam Pearce and Delirious have gone on to pace events that are digestible for newbies, but not quite delivering the frequent match quality that quite captures the detail-oriented, demanding eye of folks like me.
The two money matches to headline this event both delivered as expected, with them obviously being two completely different flavors. An established superstar in the big leagues came in and put forth a career-defining performance against one of the greatest in-ring technicians the business has ever seen, adding another layer of prestige for the ROH Title. A violent feud finally reached its appropriately timed, emotional conclusion, the hometown boy finally getting the last laugh after being driven away from his standard comedy routine. And afterwards, Homicide made his babyface turn after two years of absolute malice and bitterness controlling his actions.
But it's not just the mid-card and main events that make a show get held in such high regard. You gotta have that meaningful undercard. The opener was just a spotfest, but that's all it needed to be. In a sign of what was to come in the main event of the evening, Delirious, an established comedy style freak, slayed a member of the Rottweilers to save his career in ROH, a victory that meant more after Austin Aries had been unable to overcome the Dragon Sleeper of Ricky Reyes prior to this event.
But that's not all, folks. On this event, we got to see CZW leave with the final say on ROH, leaving them laying on such a historic weekend for the company before ROH would head back to the East Coast, where the fanbases may not be quite so slanted towards ROH. In the same segment, the iconic Joe would make it known that he was ready to challenge Danielson and regain the top prize in the company, finally teasing a match that many fans had been hoping to see since their ***** classic at Midnight Express Reunion.
Nowhere to Run had a slightly better match quality on paper, and had key storyline progression just like this one too, even the hometown guy getting the final say in a feud-ending gimmick match that followed a phenomenal technical match contested over the top prize in the company. I'm also sure that as I continue this project, I will have the pleasure of revisiting shows that are more stacked with truly high-caliber match quality. But this night was a truly magical night, with flawless pacing, storyline progression left and right, stars from other federations coming in and busting their asses, and getting capped off with two incredible matches. This also had the key ingredient that I love so much in wrestling: VARIETY, not just in matches, but in storylines as well.
Now imagine with all of that I mentioned, and taking into account both Dragon Gate Challenge and Supercard of Honor, if ROH had managed to book the Briscoes, Low Ki, and Nigel McGuinness for this magical weekend.
I want to take the time in case any wrestler involved in the matches I reviewed for WrestleMania 22 weekend ever reads this: Thank you for your hard work and determination. I know that having three nights like this back-to-back-to-back could not have been a breeze, and I appreciate everything you guys did to give the fans in attendance and those watching on DVD more than their money's worth. I'm sure the paydays were nowhere near what NJPW pays for the grueling G-1 Climax.
With a day to sleep on this and grasp everything that this card accomplished, I can clearly make the declaration.
Not only do I wish I had a time machine, but Better Than Our Best is the greatest event in ROH history.
Up next - The 100th Show
Matches will include:
Bryan Danielson vs. Delirious
Briscoe Bros. vs. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal
Team ROH of Samoa Joe, BJ Whitmer, & Adam Pearce vs. Team CZW of Chris Hero, Super Dragon, & Necro Butcher