Ring of Honor All Star Extravaganza II

[JoeDirt 0]

I love how people think Long = Good.

Well, I agree and I'm glad they didn't go for another very long match. I think the issue was more that the build made people think they'd go over 60, rather than people thinking the match was bad because it went less than the 60 though.

 

The build was that the issue hadn't be settled in 60 minutes, so they gave it no time limit...which you could be forgiven for thinking meant they were planning, say, a 90 minute plus match. It's not quite that people hoped it'd be long...more 'expected'. Or predicted.

It's like when Hero and Punk wrestled earlier this year...their last match had gone 93 minutes. This time they went "only" 56 and some fans were let down. Now that's just stupid.

 

From what I've heard, the match was great and had tons of cool little things in it that pay off the previous matches. I can't wait to see it.

[Guest OSIcon]

According to detailed reports of the match (mainly Mike Rome's), Punk began by using the headlock just like in the previous two matches. This showed that Punk wanted to use the "wear Joe down over the long haul" strategy again. Joe howver, was ready for it and countered the headlock in several different ways. Punk eventually locks it in after having to bail to the outside to think of another way to get it on. He then transition into neck base offense against Joe, hitting him with dropkicks to the neck. This is essentially Punk showing that he realized after their second match that he *could* hang with Joe. He's not going to wait around, he is going to go after him.

 

That doesn't work out too well for Punk as Joe ends up taking over and bloodying up Punk and bringing things on much more even terms. So the shorter match length is a direct result of Punk deciding to abandon is wear down strategy and just try to put Joe down by being agressive. It works in the short term, though does allow Joe to come back and brutalize Punk (which he hadn't been able to do in their previous matches since Punk was a lot more catious).

 

The match sounds REALLY good as there are apparently a ton of learned spots, a ton of strategy that plays off of their previous matches, and a ton of payoff spots from their previous matches. Of course, it *is* one of those matches that sounds like you need to see their previous two in order to fully appreciate it (which isn't surprising since 10/16 is also a lot better if you watch it after seeing 6/12).

[JoeDirt 0]

Hell, for me the price of the DVD is easily worth it for Joe vs. Punk and the Heenan/Cornette stuff alone. Anything else is icing on the cake.

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

I really hope Joe/Punk II on DVD comes out by my birthday (Jan. 12th) and at least the Tape of ASEII as well.

 

I don't even have a VCR but I'll dig one out of my attic if I must to watch Joe/Punk III.

[Michrome 0]

Here is a review I've posted. Thanks to a pretty good memory and paying close attention during the match, I remember a lot, but not many of the small details that made it so great. Fastest 31 minutes ever, it felt like 17.

 

 

Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk: This was the best ROH match yet. Just phenomenal. Match starts with Punk going for headlocks, but Joe has foolproof counters. This was Joe's strategy going in, as hyped ahead of time. No headlock period this time, and it's a main reason the match will be shorter. Punk considers what's going on, and comes back in. After some feel-out type stuff, he locks in a headlock, but it's different--he absolutely rips at the head, wrenching it tight as all hell. He follows this up with like 5-7 super stiff dropkicks to the back of the head, just sick. There's a part here where he charges, but Joe lifts him over the top. Punk lands on the apron, hits a shoulderblock, and comes back in with a springboard dropkick. He works over the neck area some more with some submission stuff and strikes, if I recall correctly. Joe comes back with a huge flurry, but Punk fires back with a slap of his own and wins the first strike exchange. Punk is then up for another, and gets fucking owned by Joe with a kick that sends him to the floor and cuts him open. Joe rests and tries to loosen up his neck while Punk is recovering. In the ring, Joe's control segment is nice and focused. Punk's bleeding changes a lot, as it puts him in more trouble than he usually would be. Joe rips at the cut a lot, and beats the crap out of Punk with crossfaces. Joe gets bootscrapes, which are always better when your opponent is bleeding. Punk counters a corner sidewalk slam and tries another charge, only to take the sidewalk slam right on his head. He hits some of his usual offense, and there are a couple plays in this segment off the prior match, as well as a play off the rope shoulderblock from earlier, as Punk tries it again only for Joe to move and kick the shit out of him, followed by a beautiful dive. He hits one Ole kick, and the crowd calls for another. He obliges, but it takes too long, and Punk blocks. He goes up to the apron in position to hit the rana he went for after hitting his own Ole kick on 10/16, but he hits a dropkick instead, seeing as his outside rana has resulted in getting his head smashed into the rail in both of the draws. Great transition spot.

 

Punk's offensive run was his best yet. He hits some of his trademark stuff--the swinging DDT from 10/16, as well as the Pepsi Twist and a Moonsault. He gets the DDT and the anaconda vice too. However, what was gold about this segment was the intricate sequence of rollups and counters to moves from the second draw. I can't remember them all, but they were stunning, and given the fact that Joe's main vulnerability is to pinning combinations, and Punk is the announcer, it works beautifully. One nice one was Punk countering the cross armbar into a rollup. Punk goes for the pepsi plunge, but Joe stops it like he did on the last show. He tries to bring him off with a superplex again, but Punk blocks that and tries to take Joe off the second rope with a powerbomb, only for Joe to counter with a rana just like Punk did to him in October. He follows through with a killer lariat for a fabulous nearfall. A lot of the details in the middle/stretch run are foggy, but the end is all about Joe's choke. Punk goes down in it, and gets his arm raised and dropped 3 times, but as the ref calls for the bell, Steamboat stops it because Punk's arm shoots up. He rallies to a massive pop, and at this point the crowd started feeling a Punk win was certain. Punk gets caught in the choke again soon after his comeback, which included a shining wizard for a great nearfall. He tries 2 jawbreakers, but that won't break Joe's choke, so he uses the Bret-Piper counter for a great nearfall. Soon after this, as Punk builds momentum, Joe does a pin using the ropes, showing his desperation to keep his title. Punk fans go nuts here, chanting "Fuck You JOE". Joe goes up to the top like he did in the last match, but Punk stops him to go for his reverse pepsi Plunge. Joe fights him off though, but after undershooting in the last match he overshoots here. Great overcompensation spot there. IN reality, Joe doesn't quite get enough air and the ends of his legs hit Punk. They both stagger up, and Punk does a wiastlock rollup off the ropes, but as he bridges back Joe catches him in the choke. Punk fights to his feet, only to get murdered by something Joe hasn't busted out in a while, the Chimera Suplex sequence. He doesn't use the last one, because it's a bridge and he's interested in the choke, so after dumping Punk on his head with the German and the Dragon, he locks on the choke for the win. It's also worth noting that the crowd was unbelievable for this, split 60/40 for Punk and at the throat of the guy they were against. The crowd was losing its shit over rollups, it was great.

 

Just a briliant match, each guy comes in with a strategy, and they make it work. Punk's counters to Joe's stuff the whole match came via attacking the neck too. While the feud is over for now, it's certainly not over for eternity, which is why it was smart not to blow the pepsi plunge kickout. This is the best of their 3 matches, and the best match in company history. See it, believe it.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

ROH returned to the Rex Plex in Elizabeth for the no time limit Samoa Joe vs. CM. Punk match stemming from their 60:00 draws in Dayton and Chicago. They drew 750 fans, with Joe retaining the title in 31:33 via submission with a choke. A lot of people were expecting both a title change and another 60-minute match, so they weren't ready for the finish, but it was another great match with great reactions. It also hurt that Joe and Punk didn't even get into the ring until 11:40 p.m. Punk was busted open early and bled heavily. The match had the same super heat as the prior match. After winning, Joe challenged Mick Foley (who was advertised as attending but didn't, and it was said he was making an appearance at a hockey game), to come to the next ROH show and come face-to-face with him. Ricky Steamboat ripped on Foley for not being there (he wasn't scheduled as he had an appearance scheduled at a minor league hockey game).

 

The Bobby Heenan-Jim Cornette debate saw Cornette at first put Heenan over, but then turned heel on him, saying he's sick and tired of being told for his entire life that he was the second best manager of all-time, but he wasn't as good as Heenan. Comette said ROH had felt like home to him, and Heenan coming in ruined it for him. He even said that even though the WWF. WCW and cancer couldn’t kill Heenan (that's actually a funny line), that he wished Heenan would drop dead. Jack Evans and Roderick Strong went after Heenan, but Colt Cabana and Jimmy Jacobs made the save. The segment was said to have been tremendous. Fans gave Cornette and Heenan standing ovations when they came out. The whole segment went 16:00. This led to a tag match where Heenan managed Cabana & Jacobs and Comette managed Evans & Strong. Cabana & Jacobs won, and at the end, Comette, who had hit Cabana with the tennis racquet, had the racquet taken away by Heenan, who used it on Comette. Cornette bumped like crazy for Heenan. The crowd loved seeing this, which was the first match ever where Heenan and Cornette were involved in the same match. Cornette's work at ringside was said to have been unbelievable by people who never saw him live in his heyday (and even by those who had).

 

The semifinal saw Bryan Danielson beat Homicide in 25:29 of a great match. The entire Rottweiler group (Homicide, Low Ki, and the Havana Pitbulls) all attacked and beat down Danielson. They did a unique finish in the Pure title match, as both champ John Walters and Jimmy Rave had run out of rope breaks (three allowed each). Walters got Rave in the sharpshooter. Rave made the ropes, but it meant nothing. Rave then pulled himself out of the ring, but Walters kept the hold on. The ref counted both men out, but Walters released the hold and jumped into the ring to beat the 20 count and retain the title. Low Ki and Austin Aries did a 20:00 draw. Gary Cappetta then announced, as the crowd chanted for five more minutes, that ROH management approved five more minutes. Low Ki then walked off. Crowd hated this, and some blamed it for killing the next match, where Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero kept the tag titles over Nigel McGuiness & Chad Collyer in a good match with no crowd reactions. Slash Venom from Puerto Rico, who is also known as Flash Flanagan, worked the second match under a mask using the name Weapons of Mass Destruction, managed by Prince Nana, putting over Jay Lethal. Crowd wasn’t into the first half of the show, but largely was into the latter half and super into Punk vs. Joe. Next show is 12/26 in Philadelphia with Steamboat and Foley continuing their angle, plus Joe vs. Aries for the title and Low Ki vs. Danielson. While not confirmed, they are trying to get Spanky to return for the 1/15 Boston date.

 

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