ROH in Fairfield, CT and Framingham, MA
by Joe
Gagne
Yeah, this is late. Gimme a break, it’s a busy season. A detail or two may have slipped my mind, just so you know.
So Ring of Honor decides to run a double-shot weekend, running Fairfield, Connecticut the day after Thanksgiving and Framingham, Massachusetts the day after that. Since I had nothing better to do, I decide to hit both shows. Unfortunately, Fairfield is a two-hour drive away, which is a long way to go to see wrestling. I don’t know how people drive four or five hours to see a show. Guess I’m a sissy
Ring of Honor
11/28/2003
Pitt Center, Sacred Heart University
Fairfield, CT
Sacred Heart University has this really labyrinthine scheme, so it takes me a while to find the Pitt Center. I’d guess attendance of about 450. They had a four-match Showcase Card before the main show (too bad Showcase Showdown is taken).
Allison Danger vs. Sara Stock: I came in during this match. Stock must be from Canada, because he wrestling gear had a bunch of Maple Leafs on it. Danger won a pretty decent match with an STO.
Slugger & Bison defeated The Solution: Hey, the Solution, I’ve heard about them working in NY area indies. Slugger was accompanied by Grim Reefer and Benny. Bison was announced from, of course, Buffalo. He also has a Bison on his ass, which would be the greatest thing ever if Slyk Wagner Brown didn’t have "Appreciate" written on his ass in the next match. Anyway, this only went four minutes so it was like a Raw match. Solution look good beating on Bison until he tags in Slugger, who cleans house and gets the win with the Bodybag.
Slyk Wagner Brown vs. Jimmy Jact Cash: Why does Cash hump the turnbuckles during his entrance? It’s very disturbing. Shockingly good little match here that Slyk wins with an Iconoclasm-like move that probably has a dumb name.
Special K (Hydro & Angel Dust) vs. Dunn & Marcos: The do all sorts of wacky moves in this one, and what’s the finish? A low blow and a roll-up. God bless wrestling. Good showcase card all around.
ROH never has enough front row seats, so they took them from the back row and
added them. I notice by the time the show starts I’m now a one-man fourth row.
I did notice Gary Michael Capetta sitting in my row watching the showcase card.
Speaking of the devil, Gary opens the show with the Lottery From Hell (a
sinister name for picking an envelope) to determine what kind of match the
Raven/Punk main event would be. Most figured an I Quit or Texas Death Match, but
Gary draws…a cage match. I groaned when I heard that, since the last
Raven/Punk cage match (The Clockwork Orange House of Fun match from 9/6) stunk
up the joint. I can only assume (a) the drawing was legit, or (b) Raven and Punk
wanted to redeem themselves for the last cage match.
[Note: I just watched the aforementioned 9/6 match on tape, and they hacked it up, cutting it down from a half-hour to about twelve minutes. It still sucked, though.]
Speaking of Punk he comes out and gives a spiel about finding out who
attacked Lucy (the ex-Daffney, who was actually just cut from her developmental
deal on OVW this week) in Dayton, and promises to wreck the show if he doesn’t
get answers. He seems positive the Prophecy was behind it, but still felt
obligated to question everyone who worked the Dayton show.
The Backseat Boyz vs. Outkast Killaz: I guess this was a tornado tag
match, since all four guys were always in the ring. This was short and mostly
both teams hitting their double team moves, but it was a good choice to get the
crowd into things. Oman and Diablo must be watching tapes, because they stole
the Guerreros del Infiero’s double-hiptoss-into-a-faceplant move. Backseats
win with the T-Gimmick. C.M. Punk comes out and question both Backseats if they
attacked Lucy, and Trent Acid tells him to piss off (in so many words).
Homicide [w/Julius Smokes] vs. John Walters: Punk hung around and gave
Walters the old "who the hell are you" routine. This was the first of
three "Present vs. Future" matches. New Japan runs these matches all
the time and the old guys always seem to win. This actually turned out to be the
sleeper of the night—fine match that had the crowd (me included) believing
that Walters might pull the upset, but Homicide eventually got the tap with the
STF. Homicide got on the mic afterwards and threatened to kill Steve Corino in
Framingham. That’s not very honorable!
The SAT vs. Special K (Cloudy and Dixie) vs. The Carnage Crew vs. Fast Eddie
& Hotstuff Hernandez: Loc again makes, shall we say, less than
enlightened remarks towards Becky and the other Special K valet (who looked all
of twelve). The man needs help. Special K had Fred the Elephant Boy from the
Howard Stern show with them for some reason. He just stood at ringside and
looked dorky. Anyway, these matches are always hit or miss, but this one fell
into the "hit" category, as there were no blown spots and everyone was
on. Hotstuff, who’s a big dude, at least compared to the rest of the ROH
roster, was the star of this match. You know that move where a small guy tries
to sunset flip a big guy, and the big guy reaches down, grabs the small guy by
the throat, and drags him to his feet? Well, Hotstuff did that to Cloudy, but
instead of lifting him to his feet, he gave him an overhead belly-to-belly in
one motion. That wasn’t even the worst of it for Cloudy. Hotstuff then hit a
no-hands dive to the floor to a big pop. Cloudy tried a springboard onto both
SATs, but they caught him and gave him this funky move where they wrapped one of
his legs around their necks, swung him like a pendulum, and planted him face
first on the mat. Young Cloudy was knocked out legit, because they rushed his
ass to the back really fast (luckily, he’s ok). They called an audible
for the finish as Hydro got pinned after a Spanish Fly. I usually crap on
silliness like someone who’s not in a match getting pinned, but in this case I’d
say it’s understandable. Post-match Loc threw a box of Special K at the ravers,
but missed and beaned his partner in the back of the head. I hope that makes the
tape.
Christopher Daniels [w/Allison Danger] vs. Jimmy Rave: This was the
second "Present vs. Future" match. This was okay, nothing great.
People were not behind Rave at all, which is the opposite reaction that you want
in matches like this. Rave worked the arm for a while, but Daniels comes back
with the moonsault and Last Rites for the win. Punk comes out and questions
Daniels, who denies attacking Lucy and says Punk can’t handle the truth. Is
Ron Killings coming in?
Josh Daniels vs. Steve Corino [w/his crew]: The final "Present vs.
Future" match. Corino has this big elaborate entrance, where he’s flanked
by corner man Guillotine LaGrande and two dojo boys. He also has his own
personal announcer, Bobby Cruz, who does these elaborate (and long) ring
introductions, listing all the titles Corino has won, or every wrestler who ever
held the Southern title. This time, because Daniels is a short fellow, Cruz read
off a list of every midget that ever competed. So he goes on and on reading
names like Sky Low Low and Little Beaver, then he pauses and adds
"Tazz." Funny stuff. Match itself was okay. One fantastic spot as
Daniels tried a top rope body press, but Corino sidestepped him in the most
casual manner imaginable. Corino hits his Northern Lights Bomb, but Daniels
kicks out at one, because he has FIGHTING SPIRIT. LeGrande trips Daniels and
Corino hits a superkick, but the ref, who saw the interference, refuses to
count. While the ref yells at LeGrande, Homicide runs in and gives Corino a
Hamada-Chan Cutter, and Daniels follows with the diving headbutt for the upset
pin. Homicide breaks one of the Codes of Honor (no interfering), which means,
well, nothing really. Oh, besides being shunned in the locker room (oy). We
could hear an altercation backstage between ‘Cide and Corino, which I’m sure
will show up on the tape.
Intermission
Matt Stryker vs. Xavier (Field of Honor Block A Finals): Okay, both guys
amassed 2-0 records in their block, and this would be the decision match. The
other guys in the block, Chris Sabin and John Walters, are both listed as 0-2,
and I don’t know why they didn’t wrestle three matches. I guess because they
were both mathematically eliminated they figured why bother? I never figured why
they stuck Xavier in a supposed up-and-comer showcase when he was their
Heavyweight Champ for six months. Stryker’s grown a beard and let his hair
grow longer, and now bares a scary resemblance to Vince Russo. People are all
over Xavier with the "A.C. Slater" chants, which I think is more out
of habit, because Xavier doesn’t resemble the Saved By The Bell alum. Anyway,
these two fall into the middle of the pack of ROH workers, but this was actually
a surprisingly good match. Some good nearfalls and Stryker gets the win with a
DVD.
BJ Whitmer vs. Dan Maff vs. Colt Cabana (Field of Honor Block B Decision
Match): OK, dig this. All of the three competitors went 2-1 (poor Jimmy Rave
went 0-3) and were tied, so this match is to decide the winner. The guy
responsible for playing entrances themes never cuts them off or fades them out,
but slows them down before stopping them. So Colt does this bit where he moves
in slow motion along with the music. This was a good match, but really short at
about eight or nine minutes. BJ gets the win with a wrist-clutch exploder on
Colt. Kinda surprising, since I figured BJ has the least upside out of the
three. Anyway, C.M. Punk returns and asks Maff if he was the one who attacked
Lucy, since he was the Prophecy’s Assassin and all that. Maff swears on his
father’s grave that it wasn’t him. BJ yells at Punk for ruining his big
moment. Oh, and we have Stryker/Whitmer in the finals for 12/27.
Jay & Mark Briscoe [c] vs. Samoa Joe & AJ Styles [ROH Tag Title
Match]: The Briscoes have dumped Nas’ "The Cross" in favor of
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s "Gimme Back My Bullets," which is quite the
stylistic switch. Anyway, since Joe and AJ had a title match the next day, the
outcome of this should have been pretty obvious. Plus the tag title had ping-ponged
so much you knew the Briscoes weren’t going to lose them. Regardless, this was
still the match of the night as everyone had their working boots on. Briscoes
get tossed around for a while (including both Joe and AJ doing the Ole kick)
until they cut off AJ and work him over for a while. Joe gets the hot tag, but
wouldn’t you know it, AJ accidentally flattens him with a discus clothesline,
allowing Mark to hit the champ with a shooting star press (I guess with Paul
London gone someone else can use the move) for the pin. AJ and Joe are, to say
the least, less than pleased with the other.
CM Punk vs. Raven [Cage Match]: This was escape or pinfall/submission. I
have no earthly idea why you’d book the finale to you most heated feud to what
amounts to a climbing contest. Anyway, this match was roughly a trillion times
better than their last cage match—the focus was more on wrestling than hitting
the other guy with weapons. Plus there was no comical ref bump. Both guys bled,
of course, and Punk really tapped a vein. The guy’s head is going to look like
a peach pit real soon. Punk’s crazy move was a legdrop off the top of the cage
that missed. Sucks to be him. Finish saw Punk climb up to the top, only to get
knocked off by Raven and crotch himself on the open cage door. But he recovers
and slams it in Raven’s face as he tries to leave, then falls to the floor to
win the match and the feud. He says he’s getting to the bottom of the whole
Lucy deal tomorrow. Remember that.
Good show. Nothing bad at all, although a two-hour drive is a bit much for me. So no more Fairfield shows for me. Unless, you know, they run another double shot again.
ROH
11/29/2003
Framingham State College
Framingham, MA
They ended up moving this show twice. First it was going to be in Wakefield, but
I guess another promoter said something to the school board and they kicked ROH
out. Then they were going to run a middle school in Woburn, but the school board
didn’t care much for a barbed wire match being held on the premises. Yeah, go
figure. So they settled on Framingham State College.
You know how Mapquest gives you directions like "Go .0000002 miles and
turn right?" I hate that. I get lost and miss the opening match of the
Backseat Boyz beating Fast Eddie and Hotstuff Hernandez with the T-Gimmick. The
story here is that the Backseats are on a roll but are being denied a title shot
by Jim Cornette (sometime manager of the Briscoes) because the Boyz use the old
Midnight Express theme as their entrance music. Really.
Special K [Dixie, Hydro, Angel Dust, Hijinx, & Lit] vs. Carnage Crew
& SAT & Slugger [Scramble Match]: I think a "less is more"
mentality works a lot better in these types of matches. Whereas having four tag
teams worked well the night before, a ten-man tag is a little unwieldy. The SAT
were back to their usual selves, and there was plenty of ugliness in this one.
Why are they letting Slugger wrestle? He ain’t good. Anyway, the Crew goes for
their Spike Piledriver on Cloudy, but Devito gets pulled to the outside. So a
Maximo (let’s say Joel) gets in the ring and "fills in" for Devito
on the move. Then the SAT’s try a Spanish Fly, and Jose gets yanked outside,
so Loc (and he’s a beefy guy) finishes the move with Joel. Then they argue
over who should get the pin, allowing Angel Dust to sneak in and roll up Loc for
the pin. Crew and SAT argue post match but nothing comes of it.
Gauntlet Series
(Okay, the premise here is that they take five wrestlers—in this case BJ Whitmer, CM Punk, Matt Stryker, Jimmy Rave, and Colt Cabana—and have them wrestler a gauntlet series. Basically, everyone draws lots, wrestlers 1 and 2 wrestle, when someone’s eliminated, wrestler 3 joins the match, etc. etc. until there’s one wrestler left. No real point, by which I mean the winner doesn’t get anything except the chance to vault into the vaunted ROH top 5. I was excited because I hoped I could see Punk/Cabana and Punk/Whitmer. Silly me.).
C.M. Punk vs. Jimmy Rave: Jimmy spent a lot of the match working the
leg, which was weird, because he usually works the arm to set up his Crossface
finisher. Punk did sell it well, and this was a good little match, but the crowd
shat all over it (maybe because Punk’s a heel and no one wants to root for
Rave). Some guy let out this enormous belch during the match (I heard it from
across the gym) and got a "holy shit" chant for it. Punk gets the win
with a desperation Pepsi Plunge (top rope Pedigree). This will probably be a lot
better on tape. Oh, wait, I forgot the tape has the ROH announcers. Never mind.
Matt Stryker vs. C.M. Punk: Stryker zeroed in on Punk’s injured leg.
Punk was able to fight him off for a while but got trapped in the Strykerlock
and tapped out. Short but not bad.
Colt Cabana vs. Matt Stryker: Punk gave his fellow Second City Saint
member a pep talk as he headed to the back. The soundman speeds Colt’s music
up instead of slowing it down, and Colt reacts accordingly. Plenty of comedy
spots here, including Colt trying to pluck Stryker’s unibrow while he had him
in a submission move. The fans called for a dance-off but Colt would have none
of it. I also notice Gary Michael Capetta standing next to me watching the
match. What’s going on here? Back-and-forth until Stryker eludes a corner
charge and hits his DVD for the pin.
BJ Whitmer vs. Matt Stryker: This was the last Gauntlet match and also a
preview of the finals of the Field of Honor, so you knew something was up. And
soon enough, both men are fighting on the top rope and Matt takes a bad spill to
the floor. The ref throws up the dreaded "X" sign to the back, which I
guess is universal ref code because the WWE uses the same thing when someone is
injured. Everyone checks on Stryker, until Whitmer flips out, grabs Stryker and
tosses him back in the ring, then kills him with a Wrist-Clutch Exploder for the
win. So I’m sure Stryker will get his revenge at the next show. Oh, and they
actually had the balls to ask if there were any doctors in attendance. Hello, we
know the injury was fake. Plus I’m sure a ton of doctors attend ROH shows.
Intermission
Outcast Killazs vs. Slyk Wagner Brown & April Hunter: This was supposed to be Oman Tortuga vs. Slyk, but Oman gets on the mic and remembers how April humiliated him the last time they were in Mass, so he challenges the pair to a tag match. The usual short post-intermission match, which was halfway decent given who was involved. The Killaz actually win with their finisher (side-Russian legsweep and spinkick combo) on April, which I think is their first win. Xavier comes out and trash talks Slyk and April, calling them losers just like everyone else from Boston.
Xavier vs. John Walters: This would be the epitome of a cheap heat
match, as it was billed as "New York vs. Boston." Xavier keeps ragging
the crowd on the mic (much to the delight of a few NY fans who made the trip),
and Walters comes out and actually derides him for using cheap heat. They have
an okay match, but the heat (while cheap) was great. Walters actually guaranteed
victory at the last Boston show, so the result wasn’t much in doubt. Walters
reverses the "Kiss Your X Goodbye" into a rollup for the win. Xavier
flips out afterwards and bloodies Walters with a chair shot. I guess THE FEUD
MUST CONTINUE (now without honor). This would have worked better had Xavier not
just jobbed the night before.
Jay & Mark Briscoe [c] vs. Chris Daniels & Dan Maff [w/Allison
Danger] [ROH Tag Title Match]: Hey, this just in, Christopher Daniels is a
pretty good wrestler. He certainly held this bad-boy together. Long match,
seemed to go about a half-hour. The Prophecy cut off Jay (I do believe) and beat
on him for a while, doing all the usual Southern tag tactics. Finally Marc got
the tag and ran wild. They did the usual deal where everyone hit their finishers
but someone made the save. There were a few too many nearfalls, but this was
still a fine tag match. Jay hit the Jay-Driller on Daniels for the win. I wasn’t
sure if the Prophecy would win, since they’re facing Mutoh and Arashi for the
All-Japan tag titles, and I didn’t know if ROH would have them job in two
straight title matches. Oh well.
Samoa Joe [c] vs. A.J. Styles [ROH Title Match]: Crowd wanted a title
change badly—but didn’t get one. I actually really thought this would be the
night Joe lost his title, and so did a lot of over people. When A.J. finally
hooked the Styles Clash on Joe for a near fall, the roof blew off the place.
Both guys hit their signature spots—the Ole Kick, the Styles hulk-up spot—and
ultimately Joe chokes out Styles. Kind of a bummer finisher, but a fantastic
match and the best one of the weekend. Joe put Styles over on the mic post
match. Odd note—I watched the match next to this big curtain that separated
the show from the backstage area, and I swear to God there were two guys
wrestling (amateur style) backstage. I’d kill to know who it was. And I
certainly hope they were amateur wrestling.
They set up the barbed wire, which took for-freaking-ever. To kill time, they
had C.M. Punk come out and antagonize the crowd. He calls out Christopher
Daniels and accuses him of attacking yadda yadda yadda. Daniels denies it again
but attacks Punk. They brawl in the ring (it was hysterical watching the ring
crew continue to work and not noticing the two guys brawling a foot away from
him). Punk hit the Last Rites on Daniels and stormed off. Crowd was DEAD SILENT
for all this. Not a good sign. Plus I’m pissed they baited and switched us
with Punk not finding anything out. And after all that, it was still another
half-hour before they were ready for final match.
Steve Corino [w/his crew] vs. Homicide [w/Julius Smokes] [No Ropes Barbed
Wire Match]: Show was running long, so no long intro for Corino. In addition
to the wire, there was a BW bat and a table wrapped in BW as well. Hey, guess
what, this was super nasty. Neither guy was afraid to take these hideous bumps
into the wire. You know that move where you slingshot the guy so he guillotines
himself on the bottom rope? Homicide took that into the barbed wire, and you
could see it slicing up his ring attire. Corino took a bad bump through the
table. Both guys bled, Corino from his forehead and his ear. Homicide had the
STD locked on, but Guillotine LaGrande runs in and throws something in ‘Cide’s
eyes. Corino locks on a barbed wire Cobra and Julius Smokes throws in the towel.
Nasty, brutal spectacle. Both guys stay down for a long time, but eventually get
up. Corino offers his hands, but Homicide refuses to shake it. I thought Corino
made a "one more" gesture, like he wanted one more match, but now the
ROH website announced that Corino quit the promotion (a likely angle, since
Corino has "quit" ROH a few times). So who knows?
Another good show. I think the CT show was better up-and-down, but the high points on the MA show, mainly the last three matches, were a lot higher. That make sense? Oh, and MA is getting the second anniversary show on 2/14 (insert joke about running on Valentine’s Day affects about .02% of the wrestling fan population).
Feliz Navidad, everyone.
Joe Gagne
joegagne@charter.net