20 YRS AGO – ROH Live Event Results (7/24/2004): “That was the sickest, most insane wrestling show I’ve ever seen in person” including Punk, Samoa Joe, Strong, Shelley

The following report originally published 20 years ago this week here at PWTorch.com…

Ring Of Honor live event report
Chicago Ridge, Ill.
July 24, 2004
Report by Jason Detrick, Torch VIP member

Wow. I just got back from Chicago Ridge, and that was the sickest, most insane wrestling show I’ve ever seen in person (maybe overall). The card was packed, so I had high expectations, but the workers shattered these expectations and set the bar even higher, and then they leapfrogged that bar! Let’s get right to it.

(1) Rocky Romero (w/ Julius Smokes, Homicide, Low-Ki) defeated Chad Collyer with a Cross Arm Breaker submission. This match started slow and never really picked up too much. All the Rottweilers minus Ricky Reyes were ringside for this one. All sorts of heel shenanigans and distracted referee spots. This match served it’s purpose of whetting the fans’ appetites for the rest of the night. No real storyline behind this one (therefore it was billed a “special attraction match”), but the action was solid. Some nice stiff kicks to the legs by Romero. The crowd was very in to it, and was all over Low-Ki at ringside. I got in Ki’s face (from the 2nd row, not the 1st. I’m not crazy) and yelled “why don’t you go hit another cameraman in the face?” Romero escaped the Cloverleaf twice, and Collyer escaped the Cross Arm Breaker twice before getting caught in it the 3rd time and being forced to tap.

After the match, Julius got on the mic and did his thing. Then Low-Ki got on there and talked about respect and how from now on, everyone in the back has to earn his and the Rottweilers’ respect. This was good, but then he went on FOREVER. The crowd was noticeably starting to groan at this point. The heels must’ve talked at least 8 minutes. Ugh.

(2) Alex Shelley (w/ Generation Next) defeated Jimmy Jacobs with the Crippler Crossface. This match stemmed from the break-up of the Shelley/Jacobs team at the last Chicago show (Reborn Stage 2). The fans were Hussing it up from the get-go. As soon as Shelley came through the curtain, the crowd was relentless with chants of “Baby Bear! Baby Bear!” (mocking his awful TNA nickname). Good action throughout. Jacobs hit an awesome senton off the top that I thought killed both of them. Shelley has a great blend of European and American wrestling. It’s a joy to watch. Shelley locked on the Crossface for the win.

Afterwards, Shelley got on the mic and gave props to Jacobs for giving him a great match. But then he said now he puts Jacobs out of his misery. Gen. Next attacked Jacobs until Ricky Steamboat ran in for the save. He cleared the ring, and then got on the mic and said that the only reason Gen. Next has been able to dominate is because he wasn’t there to put a stop to it. He said there are two guys in the back that are gonna help him. Like, right now and stuff. Out come Matt Stryker and John Walters for their match.

(3) Roderick Strong & Jack Evans (w/ Generation Next) defeated John Walters & Matt Stryker (w/ Ricky Steamboat) when Strong pinned Walters with a Widow’s Peak. This match was full of great spots. At one point, Matt Stryker put Strong up in the Electric Chair position, and then went backwards with it onto Walters’ knees. Looked sick, just like it did when Walters did it to both of them at the same time (one knee each). Stryker & Walters were very over. No flips or dives from Evans. It was surreal. It’s like watching a Benoit match without the Crippler Crossface or Diving Headbutt. Towards the end, Austin Aries came out and jumped Steamboat from behind while Alex Shelley helped. Matt Stryker ran out of the ring to help Steamboat, but that left Walters all alone for the double team. Eventually, Strong hit Victoria’s finisher for the win.

(4) Trent Acid defeated the Great Kazushi, Delerious, Matt Sydal (w/ Daizee Haze), Danny Daniels, and Shawn Daivari via pinfall to win a 6 Man Mayhem match. Trent came out to the old Midnight Express theme, which I LOVE but can’t find a download of. If anyone has it, hook me up. Great Kazushi had a Muta-esque outfit on. He spit red mist at the beginning of the match, and then hit Daniels with green mist later on. I still don’t know how they do that. Delerious (who has the face of a Lizard-man under his mask) was speaking in tounges and getting the crowd behind him as always. Not too many dives in this one, but some great near-falls and nice looking spots. Danny Daniels had some great comedy spots during the match.

(5) Doug Williams defeated Austin Aries with a top rope Holy Octopus type submission to retain the Pure Wrestling Title. Big pop for Williams. When the ref with his back turned giving the belt to the ring attendant, Aries takes a cheap shot at Williams with a closed fist. The ref turns around and only sees Doug’s retaliation. He issues Doug a warning, saying if he catches him again, he’ll count a rope break against him. Sure enough, Doug gets caught again a few minutes later and is penalized a rope break. Williams had a simple hammerlock on Aries, and out of habit, Austin goes to the ropes to break it up. But in a Pure Wrestling match, that costs you a rope break. He was upset with himself and we were mocking him. Eventually, Aries had zero rope breaks while Williams still had one. The two were fighting up on the top turnbuckle, and Williams gets him in some sort of Holy Octopus type submission ON THE TOP ROPE! It looked really cool and Aries tapped out. Aries refused to shake hands

(6) Low-Ki (w/ Julius Smokes, Homicide, and Rocky Romero) defeated Marc Briscoe when Briscoe tapped out to the Dragon Clutch. This was everything you would expect from a Low-Ki match, except even better because Marc Briscoe was involved. Marc is among the best at selling his opponent’s offense, and Low-Ki is among the best at making his offense look legitimate and stiff. This was truly a match made in heaven. These two are tailor-made for each other. Low-Ki kept teasing the crowd by snap-maring Marc, but then going to a reverse chinlock rather than his patented stiff kicks to the back. Big heat for that. Low-Ki is supposed to be the heel, but the fans can’t help themselves. They have to cheer him. This match is very fast-paced and goes on for about 20 minutes. Marc had Low-Ki set for the Cutthroat Driver but Ki escaped and locked in the Dragon Clutch. Marc tried for the ropes valiantly, but tapped.

Jump back 30 years with the latest “PWTorch ’90s Pastcast,” part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up of free weekly podcasts. CLICK HERE to listen, stream on the player below, or search “pwtorch” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or whatever app you use on iOS or Android.

(7) Homicide (w/ Julius Smokes, Low-Ki, and Rocky Romero) beat Jay Briscoe with a Lariat. This match was hot & heavy from the beginning. Homicide & Jay jumped each other before the bell. This match was brutal. Even stiffer than the Low-Ki match. At one point, Jay and Homicide were trading Yakuza kicks in fast succession. Eventually, after about 5 of them, they both kind of collapsed. Great stuff. Homicide gives Jay a sick looking Lariat and Jay folds up like an accordion. Barely kicks out. Eventually, Homicide diverts the ref’s attention, hits a low blow, takes off his elbow pad, and hits another huge Lariat with Jay taking almost the exact same sick bump, only this time, he stays down for 3.

(8) Samoa Joe defeated “Classic” Colt Cobana with the Muscle Buster to retain the ROH World Championship. The crowd loved both of these men so much that they basically cheered for both of them. The first 5 minutes of the match were a total squash. Joe just slapped Colt silly and toyed with him. Colt fought back with trademark moves like the double knees in the corner and a frog splash. Joe stretched Cobana in a variety of very painful looking ways, leaning all of his weight into the hold. When Joe went running at Colt to do his “ole ole” kick, Cobana lifted a 2nd chair up and stopped Joe’s foot with it. He then slammed Joe into the wall and sat Joe down in the chair. Colt Cobana then proceeded to do the “ole ole” kick to Samoa Joe, much to the crowd’s delight! A great moment. Colt got caught in the choke, but somehow got to the ropes. Colt couldn’t get him up for the Colt 45, so he brought Joe over to the corner. That was an ill-advised move, as Joe caught him and hit a muscle buster for the three count.

After the match, the Rottweilers hit the ring and jumped Joe. The Briscoes ran in and made the save, apparently setting up either a 6 man tag or separate feuds with the Briscoes and Joe. I’ll tell you one thing: there was too much Rottweilers on the show tonight. They were out there about 5 different times. Enough is enough.

(9) C.M. Punk & Ace Steel defeated B.J. Whittmer & Dan Maff in an unsanctioned street fight when Ace Steel tombstoned BJ off the top rope through a table for the pin. Sick, sick, sick, SICK match! I’m not the biggest fan of hardcore wrestling in the world (in fact I don’t like it), but wow, this match was incredible. I still can’t believe I was a part of it. They brawl on the floor for a while, with lots of guardrail smashing. The punches & kicks and slams into the guardrail on the outside were so vicious looking that it looked like a real fight. Punk held a chair in the face of Maff in the corner while Steel dropkicked it. Steel hit his Tiger Driver for a near fall. Then the weapons got involved. At one point, Maff was on the floor and Whittmer was trapped in the corner. Punk pushed a (standing) table up under Whittmer’s chin so he couldn’t move. Ace then took the ladder, put it on top of the table, and slid it directly into Whittmer’s face hard. Whittmer was immediately busted open after that. Brutal looking stuff. Maff brings the barbed wire 2×4 to the ring and hits Punk and Ace in the crotch with it. Punk hits Whittmer in the naked chest with it (ouch) and hits Maff in the back with it. Maff brings in the barbed wire board and slams Punk onto it. He stands the board up in the corner and does the Cannonball to Punk and breaks him through the board. All four men are bleeding badly, but it’s about to get much worse. All four men are down on the outside and they all come back into the ring with a chair. Ace & Punk dare Maff & Whittmer to hit them with the chairs as hard as they can. They nail the Saints with two brutal simultaneous chairshots to the head. When the chair hits Punk, a little piece of it breaks off and goes flying into the crowd. Punk’s cut suddenly got twice as deep. When they got back up, Punk & Steel hit the opponents with more stiff shots. Finally, Maff & Whittmer hit them with two more stiff shots, this time with a huge piece of the chair breaking off on Ace’s head.

The two teams start brawling on the outside again and here is where all hell breaks loose. Maff whispers to a fan in the front row in front of me to throw him a chair. Apparently, this fan thought he said throw a chair into the ring, because that’s what he did. Suddenly, everyone in the audience gets out of their chair and throws it in the ring. I went running for cover as literally 60+ chairs are flying through the air with most of them landing in the ring. Suddenly, everyone is standing (we have no choice now). I see Gabe walking by. I went over to him and yelled at him “Gabe, your show is breaking down!” He just looked at me, grinned, and nodded his head. At this point, you can no longer see the ring mat. The ring is covered with chairs on top of chairs on top of more chairs. Incredibly, the four men get back into the ring, walking on mountains of chairs mind you, and start suplexing each other around on them! Whittmer took a German suplex and was buried under the rubble. On the outside, Punk tells us to push the guardrails close together, and we do. He then puts the ladder on top of the guardrails so that it is resting on top of them. Punk then lays Maff down on the ladder, goes up to the top rope, and does a frogsplash to Maff onto the ladder. This looked SO sick I can’t even describe it. They both looked dead. Meanwhile, in the “ring”, Whittmer was fighting Steel on the top rope right by the stood up table. He went for a top rope Wrist-Clutch, but Steel blocked it and hit a top rope tombstone piledriver through the table onto the mountain of chairs for the win.

After the match, Generation Next hit the ring and jumped Steel & Punk. They beat them down real bad until Cobana came running down, but then they ganged up on him too. Finally, Ricky Steamboat came out, but the numbers game got to him too. They tied Steamboat up in the ropes and forced him to watch the massacre of the Saints. Generation Next declared that the Saints are the past and they are the present. This should be a great feud. Eventually, Gen. Next left and the Saints came too. As the fans were leaving, Punk made a heartfelt speech to Steamboat, praising him for still being a part of the business because he loves it and not because he has to. Big round of applause and ROH chants as I left.

This show was even better than the 4/24 Chicago Ridge show. A great show top to bottom tonight. If this trend continues, the 10/16 show should be incredible.