Ring of Honor live event report
Chicago Ridge Ill
October 16th, 2004
Report by Chris Vetter, Torch VIP Member

What you need to know: Samoa Joe and C.M. Punk go to another one-hour, time-limit draw! No title changes occurred. Crowd was 700 (up from July) and we started at 7:30 p.m.

(1) ROH students T.J. Dalton vs. Davey Andrews never got started, as the Carnage Crew jumped them 10 seconds after the bell rang. The Crew got on the mike, and made comments about getting even with Maff & Whitmer.

(2) Jay Lethal defeats Delirious at 8:19. Good match; crowd loved Delirious. Jay hits a backbreaker and a snap suplex. Delirious ties up Lethal's leg and pulls back on the head. Delirious hits a nice huracanrana from the corner. They trade some stiff clubbing forearms and chops, then brawl to the floor. Delirious hits a forward roll-sault from the top rope down to the floor. Back in the ring, Jay hits a clothesline for a nearfall. Delirious hits his Shadows Over Hell senton for a believable nearfall. Jay wins it with a Dragon Suplex. **1/2.

(3) Tracey Brooks defeats Daizee Haze at 3:42. Ok women's match. They start with some armbars, and a quick series of pin attempts. Tracey hits some hard chops to Daizee's chest. Daizee comes back with a nice missile dropkick and a stunner. Tracey wins after a hard clothesline. Too short. *.

(4) Matt Stryker defeats Dixie (w/Becky Bayless) at 3:10. Ridiculously short. Stryker gets a face pop, and Dixie shakes Stryker's hand. Dixie connects on a running knee into the corner, and a spinning kick. Stryker works over the left leg, really twisting it hard. Stryker hits a basement dropkick, then lifts Dixie, putting Dixie's leg behind Stryker's neck (I've seen Lesnar and Tony Mamaluke do this move.) Becky hops up on the ring apron to distract the ref, and Dixie gets a low blow. But Stryker quickly applies a Strykerlock, and Dixie taps. ?*.

(5) Josh Daniels wins the four-way survival over Trent Acid, Matt Sydal, and Angel Dust at 6:33. Another way-too-short match. Angel Dust comes out to no music, and he too shakes hands. Daniels & Angel Dust start with some good reversals and mat wrestling. Sydal checks in, and Angel Dust puts him in a chokehold, then drops him down on his knee; cool spot. Trent gets in. Sydal hits Daniels with a missile dropkick as Daniels head is sticking out through the ropes, toward the floor. Cool. Angel Dust hits a moonsault from the corner to the floor. Daniels re-enters the ring and chops everyone HARD. Acid connects on a sitdown piledriver on Daniels for a nearfall. Angel Dust hits stiff kicks to Daniels's back. Angel Dust jumps off the top rope onto Daniels head (a la Nick Mondo). Josh Daniels recovered and pinned Angel Dust with a German Suplex. At the same time, Trent Acid was attempting to pin Sydal, but Daniels's three-count clearly came first. *3/4.

(6) Nigel McGuinness & Chad Collyer (w/Ricky Steamboat) defeat Danny Maff & B.J. Whitmer (w/Mick Foley) in about 11:00. Before the match starts, Steamboat and Foley are alone in the ring, and are mocking each other's wrestling styles. Steamboat tells Foley that he's a garbage man, and a job may open up for him in the Chicago sanitation department. Foley tells Steamboat that the opposite of hardcore wrestling is "softcore." Pretty soon, the conversation has changed, and Foley is ripping on Ric Flair, making jokes that Flair has floppy tits, kisses Triple H's ass and carries Batista's bags. Crowd is loving the interaction between these two.

The match starts, and Nigel works over B.J.'s arm. Collyer & Maff tag in, and Collyer ties up Maff in plenty of reversals. Suddenly, at 4:30, the Carnage Crew come out and jump in the ring, and the ref rings for the bell at 4:45, to a chorus of boos. Steamboat enters the ring, yells at the Carnage Crew for ruining the match, and he begins to hit them! The Crew are chased to the back, and the match is restarted. (The bell rings again, and the second half of the match goes 5:28). Foley hits Collyer, and this has turned into an all-out brawl. Nigel and BJ jump the railing right next to me and brawl in the crowd, hitting each other with chairs. They eventually make it back into the ring, and Nigel pins Whitmer out of nowhere. Ok stuff, but could have been better. **1/2.

Intermission. I picked up the 7/24 and 9/11 tapes. To my disappointment, Foley did not sign autographs tonight. I tell a few people I know in the building that I'm predicting a one-hour time-limit draw in the main event, because of all the quick matches.

(7) The Carnage Crew defeat Andrews & Dalton at 4:22. Dalton has the better look, but Andrews is more talented at this point. Andrews & Dalton hit simultaneous dropkicks on the CC. DeVito gets the upper hand and stands behind Dalton, throwing forearm punches to the face. The Crew does a team spinning neckbreaker, and Devito hits a Razor's Edge. They give Andrews the team spike piledriver in the corner for the win. OK match, and the ROH students looked solid. A good start for them, but I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't make the final edit. *1/4.

(8) Jack Evans & Roderick Strong defeat Homicide & Rocky Romero at 17:27. Very good match, and even though these are both heel teams, the crowd was into it. Evans hits a Pele kick on Homicide almost immediately, then gives Homicide a tope con hielo. Strong and Romero brawl in the ring. Homicide hits a doublestomp on Strong. Strong elevates Jack Evans, who does a full back flip in the arm, and lands on Homicide. Awesome. Strong puts Homicide in a Boston Crab. Homicide gets out of it, and hits Jack with a DDT. Romero puts a Camel Clutch on Evans.

Homicide got the crowd to start clapping, but then immediately flipped us off! Strong gets a hot tag, and hits Homicide with a cool backbreaker over his knee. Jack does the same move from last time in Chicago, where he does a flip off of one's guys stomach and down onto another Rottweiler. Cool. Homicide hits a top-rope suplex on Evans. Strong flips Homicide in the air and plants his knees into Homicide's gut. Jack Evans then wins it with a 630 Splash on Romero for the pin. After the match, Homicide said he upholds the code of honor, and shakes hands. But he attacks Evans and gives him the Copkillah. ***1/2.

(9) Alex Shelley defeats Jimmy Jacobs in an "I Quit" match at 16:47. Jacobs gets on offense first, with punches and a hurricanrana from the ring apron down onto the floor. They brawl on the floor directly in front of me. Back in the ring, Shelley places Jacobs's head between his knees and repeatedly drives the head into a chair on the mat. Jacobs pulls out a spike, but Shelley blocks it, grabs the spike, and uses it on Jacobs's head. Jacobs is bleeding. Shelley hits Jacobs with a piledriver on a chair that is upright in the ring (not folded up.) The chair shatters. Shelley goes under the ring, and pulls out a Singapore Cane! He uses duct tape and ties Jacob's hands in the corner of the ring, so his back exposed. Shelley begins whacking on Jacobs's back with the cane. Jacobs gets free and hits a senton on Shelley. Shelley starts applying some stretch holds, pulling back on Jacobs neck. Shelley suplexes Jacobs through a chair that had been set up between two upright chairs. Shelley again applies the stretch hold, and Jacobs gives up. Good action. ***1/2.

After the match, Strong comes out to help beat up Jacobs. Steamboat comes out to make the save. The Carnage Crew come out to attack Steamboat (for attacking them earlier). Foley comes out and saves Steamboat, and gives Loc a plant DDT. Steamboat and Foley shake hands. Crowd loved this.

(10) Samoa Joe vs. C.M. Punk go to a one hour draw. Both men get streamers hurled at them. Crowd is HOT for this one, and immediately start the "Let's Go Joe, Let's go Punk" chants. Punk gets a rollup for a nearfall at 1:30, and Punk mocks Joe, telling him how close he came to winning it. There are lots of armbars, headlocks and reversals in the first 15 minutes, and it's obvious this one is going to be long. At 10:00, Joe suddenly gets free from a headlock and lays in some hard chops that jolts the crowd. Punk immediately reapplies the headlock.

They do some shoulder tackles, but neither man budges. We have some quick pin attempts, and Joe bails to the floor. Joe and Punk trade some paintbrush slaps. At 20:00, they are trading chops, and Punk does an Undertaker Old School, and drops his leg over Joe's arm. He works over the arm for a while. At 25:00, Joe is hitting some back slaps, a front kick to the stomach and a knee drop. They both do boot scrapes on each other in the ring. Joe takes over on offense at 30:00, tying up Punk's legs and pulling back on his head. He gives Punk a backbreaker over his knee, a vertical suplex and a Boston Crab. Punk is selling the back.

Joe lands some Kawada kicks, and they trade some jabs. Joe connects on a running Face Wash at 35:00. Punk does a hurricanrana from the corner and dives through the ropes onto Joe on the floor. On the floor, Punk hits Joe with an Ole kick, and Joe then hits Punk with an Ole kick. At 41:00, Joe catches Punk with a uranage for a believable nearfall... the first pin attempt in quite awhile. Joe dives through the ropes onto Punk. Back in the ring, Punk goes for a Shining Wizard, but Joe catches him with a spear. Joe goes to the top rope, but misses with a headbutt. Punk hits several mule kicks and an enzuigiri.

The crowd is just crazy into this. Final 20 minutes are white-hot action. Joe applies an armscissorslock at 47:00, but Punk reaches the ropes. Punk hits a mafia kick for a nearfall, then a neckbreaker for a nearfall, and a spinning springboard DDT for a nearfall. The crowd is just reacting to every pin attempt, and Punk's got great facial expressions here of desperation, frustration, and just not knowing how to pin Joe. At 51:00, Joe hits a brainbuster for a nearfall. Punk connects on a plant DDT for a believable nearfall. At 52:00, Joe applies a choke, then turns it into a Crippler Crossface, but Punk reaches the ropes. Punk hits a Shining Wizard at 54:00 for a believable nearfall, then a moonsault for another nearfall. We have a double clothesline and both men are down. They brawl in the corner on the top rope, as Punk attempts to apply a Pepsi Plunge, but Joe blocks it and hits a superplex. We have a countdown for the final ten seconds, and the match ends in one hour even with no winner. ****1/4.

Punk gets on the mike and said he hopes that if he has to wait another four months for a rematch, that it take place at the next Chicago show in February. Crowd chants "Thank You" at Punk. Great way to end the show.

Final thoughts: Good action in final three matches made up for a mediocre first half of the card. Not as good as the 7/24 show here, but this was a fun show.

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