Queens, NY – 2.8.2003

Commentary is provided by Chris Lovey & Ray Murrow.

After a shot of a cake that reads “ROH 1st Anniversary” in blue icing, we cut to Low Ki outside. Ki says a lot has happened since ROH launched a year ago. A new year is upon us, and for everyone who stands before him, all they can do is be ready. Ki then walks up the stairs of the Elk’s Lodge, passing by fans waiting in line. A music video of highlights from the first year is then played.

We’ll be seeing some “first year flashbacks” throughout the night. The first is from “The Era of Honor Begins” main event between American Dragon, Christopher Daniels and Low Ki.

We then see Paul London outside the building. He says he let himself and the fans down at Final Battle when he didn’t walk away with the ROH Title, and tonight he is not going to let that happen again.

Chad Collyer vs. Colt Cabana vs. EZ Money vs. Michael Shane

This was originally set to be two singles matches, but because last month’s Four Corner Survival match was so well received, they combined these two matches into one. I respect that Money has the URL to his gear making business on his tights. Money and Collyer pair off, as do Cabana and Shane. Shane knees Money in the back from the apron and forms an alliance with Collyer. Money is beat down for a while, but he catches Shane with an enzuigiri out of the corner. Money’s back handspring elbow doesn’t go as smoothly as he wants, and the fans reign down the “you f’d up chants” instantly. He does not f up a super Gourd buster, and also is able to tag in Cabana. Cabana has Shane pinned with a butterfly driver but Money breaks it up. Collyer also dropkicks Cabana into Money In The Bank (kneeling belly-to-back piledriver) from Money for two. Collyer back elbows Cabana to the floor from the top turnbuckle and then suicide dives after him. Money follows with a dive, and then Shane does as well. Back in the ring, Cabana catches Shane coming in with an Ace Crusher. Money takes out Cabana and Collyer with a Money Clip, and Shane sneaks up behind with an O’Connor Roll for two. Shane misses a super elbow drop on Money. Collyer saves Shane from Cabana’s Colt 45. Shane superkicks Cabana just before Collyer locks Shane in a Texas Cloverleaf. Shane uses the ropes to escape. Money drops Collyer with Cha-Ching (a release suplex) for the pin at 15:18. They fell short of capturing the magic of last month’s Four Corner Survival, but it was still a really enjoyable match. In the grand scheme of ROH, Money is probably the guy I would have chosen last to win, but I imagine them being in a historic ECW venue played a big role in that choice. This was a fun, energetic opening match that probably could’ve shed a few minutes. **¾

Our next flashback is to “All Star Extravaganza”, where Tommy Dreamer made a surprise appearance after Paul London vs. Michael Shane. We then see AJ Styles climbing a set of stairs somewhere in the building. He says that his goal tonight is to get the ROH Title away from The Prophecy.

Texas Wrestling Academy (Don Juan, Fast Eddie & Hotstuff Hernandez) vs. The Carnage Crew (DeVito, Loc & Masada)

Rudy Boy Gonzalez is in the TWA team’s corner. This is Hernandez’s ROH debut. He shows off his power with a Razor’s Edge into a DDT on Masada. Loc Saito suplexes Juan to turn the match back in their corner. The Carnage Crew beat down Juan in their corner until DeVito misses a moonsault. Hernandez tags in and takes out the Carnage Crew. Eddie tries for an Asai moonsault, but Lox smashes him with a hubcap in mid-air. DeVito and Masada then smash Juan and Hernandez with them, resulting in a DQ win for the TWA at 5:42. They lay out Hernandez with another hub cab shot and a chair shot in the ring. DeVito and Loc give Eddie a spike piledriver. Rudy Boy jumps in and ends up taking a chair shot to the back of the head by Loc for his troubles. The TWA team looked very impressive. Masada makes Carnage Crew matches more palatable. **

The Christopher St. Connection’s music plays and they make a surprise entrance, including the return of Buff-E. Mace Bronco Buster’s Masada and DeVito while Buff-E kisses Loc. Loc is then taken out by the Gay Basher. The Carnage Crew retreats as the CSC celebrates. It’s crazy that the CSC got such a positive reaction given how they were introduced and portrayed by the company.

Our next flashback is the first Briscoe brother singles match back at “Honor Invades Boston”, in which Mark was victorious thanks to a Cut-Throat Driver. Tonight is the rematch. However, a few months ago, Mark Briscoe’s best friend Brock passed away in an automobile accident. This incident resulted in him having a change of perspective and deciding to leave the Prophecy. This match is in tribute to their fallen friend. They have also stated that this singles match is to settle their lingering differences before becoming a tag team. I have a hunch Mark leaving the Prophecy was always the plan and they pivoted to this being his out before the Prophecy and Group feud really got going.

Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe

Mark covers up to avoid blows to his face, so Jay delivers a running boot to the top of Mark’s head. The referee is convinced Mark is knocked out, but when Jay goes to check on him, Mark attacks Jay’s leg, having baited him into the position. Some back-and-forth wrestling on the mat leads to Jay taking out Mark with a dropkick. Mark goes for the Jay Driller after coming off of the rope. Jay reverses, only for Mark to counter into a huracanrana, and Jay to to then take Mark down with a uranage slam. Jay big boots Mark, but Mark comes back quickly with an overhead suplex for two. Mark goes back to Jay’s knee by placing him in a half crab. Jay gets the ropes, so Mark gutwrench suplexes him into a knee drop for two. Jay cuts off Mark with a back drop and then Cactus clotheslines him to the floor. They get into an intense slugfest ringside, ending with Mark throwing Jay face first into the ring post. Mark then follows up with a springboard somersault senton. Jay’s been busted open from the ring post, and Mark moonsaults onto Jay as Jay lay on the thin mats outside. Commentary references their Best of the Best match which goes to show how much buzz that match had around this time. In the ring, Mark goes for a springboard and is cut off mid-air with a superkick from Jay. Jay gives him a torture rack backbreaker and then a Death Valley Driver for two. Mark rolls out of the corner to avoid a corner attack and knee strikes Jay in the corner. Mark then brings Jay off of the middle rope with a springboard Ace Crusher for two. Mark waterwheel slams Jay to block a Jay Driller and places him on the top turnbuckle. When Mark tries a second springboard Ace Crusher, Jay instead counters into an Ace Crusher of his own. Jay ends a strike exchange with a big boot that turns Mark inside out. Mark kicks from a senton splash off of the top rope. He also escapes the Jay Driller and uses it on Jay, earning a very close two count. Mark misses a moonsault. Jay gives his brother three Jay Drillers before pinning him at 16:38. This was flashy and fun. I think the more defined character traits they showed in their “Honor Invades Boston” match makes that the superior bout, but that was still really good and the crowd was very into it. The brothers embrace as we get set to embark on their epic tag team journey. ***¼

A shot of the Empire State building pans to Da Hit Squad. They say it feels like it was just yesterday when they brought a bus load of New York fans to South Philadelphia. One year later, they are giving the fans the biggest scramble match in their hometown. If we thought year one was crazy, year two will be even better. The only thing they can say to the fans is thank you.

The next flashback is the incredible sequence between Low Ki and The Amazing Red from “Road To The Title.” We then see Homicide backstage, who says it’s an honor to bring ROH to his hometown. He guarantees that Corino is going to the hospital, and that he has his thugs in the crowd to counteract Corino’s group.

Homicide vs. Steve Corino

Corino is accompanied by Samoa Joe and Simply Luscious, the first two recruits of his “group.” Joe and Homicide go nose-to-nose. Corino antagonizes the New York fans before introducing Luscious and Joe to them. He then introduces the newest member of the Group – Michael Shane. Corino then turns his attention to Gabe Sapolsky and Rob Feinstein on the stage. They’re incensed to hear Corino introduce CW Anderson, who was fired from ROH, as the other new Group member. Corino then says he has his eye on Low Ki as his next recruit. Homicide grabs the microphone out of Corino’s hand. He says Low Ki is not down with Corino. He also says he isn’t scared of the Group because the people of NYC have his back. We see Homicides aforementioned “thugs” in the crowd who rally behind Homicide along with the fans. He says he’s done talking and punches him with the microphone.

Homicide low blows Corino to block Corino’s Cobra Clutch and then yakuza kicks him for two. Homicide then gets two with an exploder suplex. Corino grabs the ropes to escape an STF and halts Homicide’s momentum with a belly-to-back suplex. Homicide gets his foot under the rope to escape Corino’s own STF. Anderson is antagonizing some of Homicide’s crew, including Julius Smokes, while Corino snap slams Homicide. Homicide drop toe holds Corino into a facewash kick. Corino holds onto the top rope to escape a super huracanrana and comes down with a flying bulldog for two. Homicide weaves Corino into a neckbreaker. Homicide takes note of Corino’s group getting into a verbal spat with his friends as he ascends to the top turnbuckle. Corino has joined Homicide, and Homicide brings him down with a Hamachan Cutter for two. Corino reverses an Irish whop and big boots Homicide. Homicide blocks a second boot and lariats Corino for two. Homicide also gets two with a kneeling Michinoku Driver, thanks to Corino getting his foot on the bottom rope. Homicide counters the Old School Expulsion into an inverted DDT. However, as Corino is falling, Corino mule kicks referee Paul Turner. Homicide gives Corino a Shining Wizard. It takes Turner a moment to count, and Corino is able to kick out. Homicide throws Corino to the floor. He pulls a chair out of the front row and throws it at Corino’s head. He seats Corino in a chair and goes for a tope con hilo. Corino moves, and Homicide crashes through the chair, much to Joe’s delight. Gabe and Rob are jawing with CW from the stage as referee Paul Turner checks on Homicide. Corino, Shane, and Anderson all get Homicide back in the ring as it appears Homicide is knocked out. When Homicide gets his shoulder up from Corino’s pin, the fans loudly chant his name. Corino drops Homicide with Old School Expulsion and only gets two again. Corino as frustrated as Homicide tries to fight from the mat. Corino pulls Homicide up into a Northern Lights Bomb and Homicide kicks out once again. Homicide initially grabs the ropes to escape a Cobra Clutch, but when Corino reapplies the hold and adds a bodyscissors, Homicide passes out at 12:11. Too much of the match was focused on people who aren’t Homicide or Corino for my liking. What we got from the wrestling was quite good, but the fans kind of didn’t care about Homicide kicking out Corino’s entire arsenal because they were too distracted. You wouldn’t gather just from this match that this rivalry was a big part of ROH’s early history. **½

After the match, Corino reapplies the Cobra Sleeper while his group laughs. Homicide’s crew bum rushes the guardrail and jumps into the ring to fight. A big brawl breaks out while staff and management tries to calm the situation down. The locker room also empties to try and break things up. That begets other fights. This brawl was pretty crazy and it went on for a while. They did as good of a job as they could to make this seem legitimate. However, commentary mentioned way too many times that there was “tension” in the room that you knew they were cuing up something. That took away the moment’s authenticity. I wonder if it felt more legitimate in the building itself. They also replayed the entire brawl twice from alternate camera angles. Between those and the flashback moments, it felt like they were really trying to justify charging the fans for a double VHS set.

The next flashback moment is Christopher Daniels and Donovan Morgan becoming the inaugural ROH Tag Team Champions at “Unscripted.” Christopher Daniels then says he finds it funny that when Corino challenged him, that it was “just business”, and yet, he used his personal relationships to turn Simply Luscious and Samoa Joe away from him. He doesn’t think Corino taking everything away from him is business. Daniels says he takes his ROH career very personally, and if Corino wants to find out for himself, he can take the first shot. The Prophecy will be ready.

Another flashback is shown, with Low Ki becoming the inaugural ROH Champion at “Crowning A Champion.”

An intermission was taken to cool down things after “the riot.” We come back from intermission with Dunn & Marcos and The Outcast Killaz set to wrestle. Gary Michael Cappetta then halts the action to say that someone from Corino’s group has requested microphone time. For some reason, GMC says whatever Corino’s group wants, they get. Why? The person is CW Anderson. Anderson tells the two teams to walk away so he can have a match tonight. They decline, so Anderson takes all four of them out. He puts Santiago in a fujiwara armbar that commentary says is a new submission called “The Anderson Tradition.” Once the four of them have left, Anderson makes an open challenge for someone in the back. CM Punk comes into the ring to accept. Punk says Anderson had the balls to show up “unlike somebody else.” Commentary explains that Punk was supposed to wrestle “Reckless Youth” Tom Carter who got in a car accident on the way to the building. Kind of a rude way for Punk to explain that. Maybe they didn’t know at the time why he missed the show?

CM Punk vs. CW Anderson

Punk goes after Anderson’s legs. Anderson looks to pull him down into the Anderson Tradition, but Punk rolls him forward into a drop toe hold. Anderson Rocker Drops Punk into a arm stretch, which Punk counters into a crucifix pin for two. Anderson reverses a whip and gives Punk a Death Valley Driver where Punk lands on his shoulder. Anderson halts Punk on the top turnbuckle and brings him down with a superplex for two. Punk comes back with a Blockbuster to create some distance. They chop one another while still laying on their backs, and continue as they get to their knees and up to their feet. Punk suplexes Anderson for two. Anderson ducks a clothesline and gives Punk an exploder suplex for two. Punk cuts off Anderson with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Punk grabs the ropes to evade Anderson’s O’Conner Roll and cracks him with a Shining Wizard for two. Anderson shuts down Punk’s charge with a superkick for two. When Anderson tries for his patented spinebuster, Punk counters it with a sunset flip for the pin at 9:42. It was really tough for the crowd to care about this technical match after the “riot” that transpired. To that end, it was good to place a match with no significance here to give fans time to get back into the show so that they would be into the meatier bouts. It was fine. **¼

The first year flashback features highlights from Paul London vs. Michael Shane at “Unscripted.”

Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe

This is a rematch from “Revenge On The Prophecy”, where Joe pinned Danielson with an Island Driver. Joe applies pressure to Danielson’s back and left knee in the early going, and quickly gets the ropes when Danielson is ready to reverse his hold. Danielson stretches out Joe’s knees, all while either grabbing at his face or putting him in a Muta Lock variant. Joe holds Danielson’s legs for a crab, delivering a hard kick to the spine before applying a deep Boston Crab. Joe gives Danielson a high vertical suplex for two, with Danielson jumping up and slapping Joe across the face as soon as he kicks out. Joe shuts him down quickly with an STJoe. Joe powerbombs him into an STF. Danielson is close to passing out when he reaches the bottom rope. Danielson staggers Joe with two enzuigiri’s upon escaping a waistlock. A running forearm smash in the corner and a suplex gets him two. Joe ducks a running forearm and German suplexes Danielson for two. Joe puts a smirk on his own face by delivering three facewash kicks. Danielson halts Joe on the top turnbuckle with a headbutt and brings him down with a superplex. Danielson also wins a strike exchange, knocking down Joe with a rolling forearm smash for two. When he attempts a second, Joe gives him a drop to hold and drives his knee repeatedly into the top of his head. Danielson fights through and looks for another rolling forearm. Instead, Joe knee strikes Danielson in the face. When Joe goes to pick him up for another, Danielson surprises Joe with a small package for the pin at 15:21. I thought this ruled! Danielson once again showcased his toughness against the bigger, more powerful Joe, and I loved Danielson’s quick adjustment winning him the match. He was hung up on his rolling forearm connecting and Joe caught on. What Joe couldn’t account for, though, was Danielson surprising him with a small package. Is this the origin of Mr. Small Package? I’d consider this a bit of an underrated gem. *** ¾

The next first year flashback is from “Unscripted” when The Prophecy aided in Xavier winning the ROH Title from Low Ki. Back in the building, Allison Danger introduces the still reigning ROH Champion Xavier to the crowd. The fans chant “AC Slater” at him, and Xavier says AC stands for all champion. Got ’em! He’s out here to scout the upcoming three way for the #1 Contender’s Trophy. He says he has already defeated all three men and defeat whoever wins the match again.

ROH Championship #1 Contender’s Trophy Match
AJ Styles vs. Low Ki vs. Paul London

The action is hot and heavy to start. Styles and Ki end up on the floor where Ki sends Styles into the guardrails, and London High Fly Flows out onto both of them. When London tries to skin the cat back into the ring with Ki, Styles holds onto London’s legs. Ki kicks London in the back, Styles lets go, and London crashes onto the floor. Styles dropkicks Ki before doing some damage to his back. London surprises him with a top rope dropkick to the back of the head. Styles snaps off a huracanrana from the mat. London ducks a rolling clothesline and Northern Lights suplexes him twice. Ki chops London to break his bridging fallaway slam on Styles. Ki gets two on London with a powerdrive elbow. Styles tries the Phenomenon on, but Ki does a fallaway knee strike to escape. After London breaks Ki’s pin, Ki counters London’s suplex attempt into a Dragon Clutch. Styles does moonsault DDT onto both of them to break it up. Styles’ gutbuster/backbreaker/t-bone suplex combo gets him two on London due to Ki breaking the pin. Ki gets Styles in a Dragon Clutch, and London applies a chinlock to Ki until Ki releases the Clutch. Ki cuts off Styles with the Tidal Wave and then the Krush Rush. When he tries the Krush Rush on London, London counters into a DDT. London and Styles trade heavy strikes as they fight for control on the top turnbuckle. London dazes himself with headbutts to Styles’ mid-section. Ki Mongolian Chops London in the lower back. London then lifts Ki up to Styles. Styles looks for a super Styles Clash. Ki counters into a super huracanrana, and as Styles is coming down, London catches him mid-air with a sit-out powerbomb. Ki dropkicks London to break that cover. Ki crushes London with a Koppu Kick. Ki counters Styles’ facebuster into the Dragon Clutch. London pulls Ki into a cravate facebuster for two. Styles back suplexes London and Ki breaks up that pin as well. London has Styles set up in the corner when Ki blasts London with a Tidal Crush. Ki then delivers Black Magic to Styles as London is recovering on the top turnbuckle for two. Ki attempts a super Ki Krusher on London. Styles joins Ki on the middle rope. All three of them strike one another, leading to Ki giving Styles a super Ki Krusher. Ki’s back is too hurt to capitalize, so London is able to hit the London Star Press on Styles for the pin at 18:48. Thus is a rare three me where everybody is present just about the entire time. You also felt like getting another ROH title shot was important to all three of them, and while the crowd was into everyone, you really felt the joy they had when London picked up the victory. 22 years later, it still feels fresh and creative. What a blast. ****

Xavier, who is still ringside, takes off his pants to reveal his tights underneath. London is left in the ring after shaking hands with Ki and Styles. Xavier says London isn’t getting his title shot unless he challenges for it right now. Allison Danger distracts London so that Xavier can sneak attack him, and the match is on.

ROH Championship
Xavier vs. Paul London

Xavier has been champion since 9.21.2002 and this is his fourth defense. Despite being exhausted and the sneak attack, London is able to pull off some armdrags, a spinwheel kick and a dropkick. Danger grabs Xavier’s leg from the floor, and Xavier takes him down with a belly-to-belly suplex. Alexis Laree neutralizes Danger. She hangs around ringside even after Xavier breaks up the skirmish. London attacks Xavier’s left arm after Xavier kicks out of a schoolboy. Xavier German suplexes London to block a tornado divorce court DDT. London fights out of a Cobra Clutch suplex, using the ropes to get a pin a la Bret and Piper at Mania VIII for two. Another cravate neckbreaker gets him two. As London comes charging off of the ropes, Xavier pitches him over the top rope and crashing through the timekeeper’s table! London sends him into the guardrails and into the ring post, which busts open London’s head. Xavier wipes some of London’s blood onto his chest before he chokes London on the middle rope. Commentary is in disbelief when London kicks out of a Cobra Clutch suplex onto his head. When Xavier tries a belly-to-back superplex, London reverses momentum in mid-air and lands on Xavier for two. After two dropsaults and a flying forearm, he slams Xavier in the corner. London goes to the top rope for the London Star Press. Xavier rolls to the floor thinking he could avoid an attack, but London turns around and crossbody’s onto Xavier on the floor! Back in the ring, Xavier mule kicks London in the groin, unbeknownst to referee Paul Turner. London still manages to hook him for a backslide, but only for two. Danger accidentally trips Xavier when she meant to grab London. London dropkicks Xavier out to the floor. Xavier evades a pescado, and instead London lands on Danger! London also lands a moonsault off of the guardrails onto Xavier on the floor. London gets two with his leg hook DDT back in the ring. He has Xavier down and out with the London Star Press, but Danger pulls Xavier out of the ring before the pin is counted. Danger gets into the ring, so Laree tackles her and gets in a fight. Once Laree has taken out Danger, London brings Xavier back into the ring. Xavier ends a strike exchange with Kiss Your X Goodbye. He then lands a top rope 450 splash to London’s back, just like he did at Final Battle 2002. While that won Xavier the match in December, this time, London kicks out. Xavier loses his mind as the crowd chants for London. London blocks the X-Breaker with a small package for two. London ducks a clothesline and O’Connor Rolls him. Xavier reverses the O’Connor Roll and grabs the bottom rope to get the pin at 19:33. That went by pretty quickly. The fans’ love of London carried over from the previous match and elevated this bout. I think the unnecessary involvement of Laree and Danger and the cheap finish prevented this from being as good as it could have been, but it was also better than you’d expect. I think they could have pulled the trigger on a title change here. ***½

The next first year flashback is from “A Night Of Appreciation”, where Eddy Guerrero teamed with The Amazing Red against The SAT, and then pinned Brian XL with a frog splash in an impromptu singles match.

Da Hit Squad (Mafia & Monsta Mack), The SAT (Joel Maximo & Jose Maximo), Divine Storm (Chris Divine & Quiet Storm) & Mikey Whipwreck vs. Special K (Angel Dust, Brian XL, Deranged, Dixie, Izzy, Jody Fleisch & Slim J)

Special K members Hydro and Yeyo are in Special K’s corner, as is their bodyguard Slugger. Trinity is in Team Whipwreck’s corner. This is Mikey Whipwreck’s ROH debut. He is the trainer of The SAT, Red, and Divine Storm. Commentary directly says this is going to be nothing more than a display of spots, and to rewind the tape if you’re looking for something that resembles “an actual wrestling match with psychology.” I was tempted to do just that.

The only real story point in this match is that about half way through, for some reason, Whipwreck turned on his team and joined Special K. Slugger also took out Trinity. It didn’t really have much of an effect on the match, which as promised, was basically just spots. The big issue is that those spots weren’t interesting. They felt like reheated leftovers from previous shows. Even commentary didn’t seem all that interesting, as they spent most of the match talking about other things. They thank the wrestlers and companies they worked with over the last year, plugged the latest RF video releases, promoted upcoming ROH events, and reminisced about moments from the past year. Commentary even chuckles over how long it took for Whipwreck to turn on his teammates. They also point out how ridiculous it was that there was a lull in the action despite their being fourteen people in the bout. I kind of feel like they were anticipating a complaint from tape buyers and looked to beat them to the punch. The match finally ends with Mafia giving Deranged a super Burning Hammer for the pin at 33:37. It was a pretty awesome ending. I was recently a guest on Gavin Jasper’s “Zeroes of Wrestling” podcast, and during our discussion, The Young Bucks vs. 123 Kid & Marty Jannetty from CHIKARA’s “Under The Hood” iPPV was mentioned. Gavin retorted that the match wasn’t so great, but the quality of the match also wasn’t the point in hosting it. CHIKARA was hoping someone would hear about that match and buy the DVD or watch the stream out of curiosity. That’s exactly what this match was. They wanted to market “the largest scramble match ever” to hopefully sell some extra tapes. Maybe if you’re really into scrambles you’ll like this, but unlike the three way, it feels dated. It also made for a ho-hum main event. Nobody botched anything which is kind of amazing, and it wasn’t ever really boring, it was just there. *½

Our final year one flashback takes us to “Revenge on the Prophecy“, where Low Ki and AJ Styles defeated The Prophecy of Christopher Daniels and Xavier in the main event.

We then get a promo from Christopher Daniels. He takes his Fallen Angel entrance garb attire off to convey his seriousness towards Steve Corino. Daniels says that he and Steve met in 1998 as part of the WWF Dojos, and at the time, they were both struggling to make their names in wrestling. While neither of them left with a job, he knew he left with a friend for life in Corino. When Corino made it to ECW, there was nobody happier than Daniels. When Corino parlayed his ECW fame into an NWA Championship reign, nobody was more thrilled than Daniels. When Corino lost that world title and became ZERO-1’s biggest gaijin star, nobody was more ecstatic than Daniels. It would have been easy for Daniels to be jealous of Corino, but he never was. Now that Daniels finally has something, Corino is now taking it all away. The lines have been drawn and the gauntlet has been thrown. The only thing that needs to be done is for Corino to fire the first shot, cast the first stone. If he tries to take everything the Prophecy has earned from him, Corino will be in the fight of his life. I still don’t get why Corino has to be the one to fire the first shot, but this was a terrific promo.

Gabe Sapolsky is about to interview Paul London when AJ Styles approaches him. Styles puts the idea in his head for them to go after the Prophecy as a tag team. London likes the idea and they shake hands.

CM Punk says he requested promo time for a specific reason – respect. He says he respects all of the ROH wrestlers who made ROH successful enough to make it to a one year anniversary show, he respects CW Anderson for giving it his all tonight, and he even has respect for Colt Cabana, despite how much he annoys him. Cabana then appears from off screen, interrupting Punk. Punk sends him away so he can have a second take. He repeats himself, and further says that he respects Cabana for pushing him to the limit at “Night of the Butcher”, and also respects his trainer Ace Steel. However, there is a guy coming to ROH that Punk does not respect. Punk says he is straight edge, meaning he is drug free and alcohol free. Raven is making his ROH debut on March 15th. Everything Punk stands for – integrity, honor, and pride – Raven is seemingly against. Raven is a weak individual who can’t control his own demons. He doesn’t belong in the same sentence as Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe, Low Ki, and doesn’t deserve to be in the same locker room as him. With that, Punk challenges Raven to a match on March 15th. He says Raven will find out why he doesn’t belong in an ROH locker room, and why straight edge means he is better than him. Punk then threatens Cabana to hurry up, or else Punk is going to make him sleep in his car.

We then get a promo sent in from Raven. The old timers thought Raven was a smart ass punk when he started out, and now, Raven finds himself thinking those same thoughts about Punk. However, Raven isn’t that old, and in many ways is in better shape than he has ever been. What this means for Punk is that he is going to have to knock out Raven, which Raven does not think is possible. He thinks Punk is a young guy with a ton of unrealized potential, and says that Punk will not realize his potential against him. He says maybe Punk is straight edge because he doesn’t have the balls to walk on the dark side. Sometimes in life we make our own choices, other times the choice is made for us, and other times, there is no choice at all. Raven concludes by welcoming Punk to his Clockwork Orange House of Fun and says quoth the Raven, nevermore. This started out well enough and then just got into the usual stuff Raven says that sounds kind of cool but when you think about it means nothing.

We end with the same cake we saw at the beginning being eaten by Low Ki, Paul London, Bryan Danielson, and Mafia. Rob Feinstein thanks them all for a great first year, and they smash the cake in his face.

This held up better than I expected. It’s a little bloated but paced well, and interesting to watch knowing what’s to come. In just a few shows, ROH will begin to look a lot different.