Friday, April 20, 2007

ROH: Weekend of Thunder Night 2- Nov. 16, 2004

1 Chad Collyer v. Nigel McGuinness- 3

2 Carnage Crew v. Davey Andrews/ Anthony Franco- 1

3 Izzy v. Trent Acid v. Jack Evans v. Fast Eddie- 2

4 Jay Lethal v. Jimmy Rave- 3

5 Austin Aries/ Roderick Strong v. CM Punk/ Ace Steel (No DQ Match)- 3

6 Dixie/ Angel Dust v. Dunn & Marcos- 3

7 Homicide v. John Walters- 2

8 BJ Whitmer/ Dan Maff v. Rottweilers- 2

9 Low Ki/ Bryan Danielson v. Samoa Joe/ Jushin Liger- 6

Collyer and McGuiness; wow, what can I say that I haven't in the other six matches I've reviewed of theirs. They both have great scientific skills, yet this match falls as flat as a week old Diet Dr. Pepper. There was some really bad comedy spots in this match; something neither of them should ever do simply because.. They aren't funny. The tag match was a smash, not even worthy of comments. The four way featured more guys standing on the outside of the ring than that was in the match. About 5 minutes into this one, all four guys took turns doing more and more horribly contrived dives onto the massive crowd of jobber suck that clogged up the ringside area. The high flying was super athletic, but meant absolutely nothing to the match! They were flipping and diving for the sake of it, with not a thought put into why. Lethal vs. Rave is a match from my worst nightmares- and while trying to put together a decent encounter, I find myself staring at the white paint on the wall. Lethal exudes no emotion whatsoever in his matches; hopefully in another 10 years, if he's still around. The No DQ match was a mixed bag: Aries was absolutely sacrificing his body in hopes of a good review from Internet sites around the world and it was working. Strong also brought a little something extra and didn't leave it in his gym bag in the locker room, like Punk did with his amphetamines and Steel did with his nuts. A series of ridiculous botched table spots, one after the other nearly massacred this match. It was funnier than William Regal pissing on Big Show's sweatpants. Ace Steel showed no character or enthusiasm in this match at all, plus he blocked a few chair shots.

This tag match featured all lighter weight guys, that were trying to make something out of a throwaway match. Both teams had some innovative tandem offense, and were uber- athletic, but the match was short and devoid of any psych. Homicide put forth his worst effort ever seen by these wrestling watching eyes, as at one point he tried to climb the ropes and simply slipped and crashed to the floor. It was a nasty spill and Homicide was evidently hurt. But, instead of ending the match, he tried to do the "hardcore" thing and continue, except that he laid around the mat for nearly six minutes more and milked his pain. Finally, he got up and they pulled off the most exposing "187" from the top turnbuckle in ROH's short history. Both men should be ashamed of themselves and should have to take credit for Rob Feinstein's email account. Ouch! Whitmer and Maff in the past have looked sharp and brutal in tag matches, but they were taking a night off here, Maff especially. He was lazier than Al Bundy and his punches looked like Stan Hansen waking up from a drunken six night layover in Tulsa. The dream partner main event showed a little more punch than had been shown all night. Danielson was tripping over himself to pin Liger, and they did successfully work him over for the majority of the match. Joe and Liger made a big comeback and finished the men stiffly. It was the only passable match of the night.

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