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ROH Lake Grove, Long Island NY - 7/8/05

CM Punk came out to start the show, wearing a suite and tie. Punk dyed his hair black with purple streaks in it, and he looked really good. Punk talked about how he was the man responsible for ROH being where it is today. He said that he had not signed his WWE contract, yet. He then pulled out the contract (well, it was WWE stationary) and said he was going to sign it on the ROH world title belt. James Gibson ran out and went after Punk. Christopher Daniels then also ran out and Punk ran out through the crowd.

1) Jay Lethal and Dixie defeated the Heartbreak Express.

2) Roderick Strong defeated Azrieal via submission. Good match. Afterwards, and unadvertised Alex Shelley ran out and attacked Strong, as Strong and Austin Aries had injured Shelley last month in Buffalo.

They announced Kenta Kobashi would be at the 10/1 show, to almost no pop.

Matt Striker came out and thanked the crowd for their support over his recent firing from his school teachers job. He then sat at ringside.

3) BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs defeated Cheech and Deranged (w/Lacey and Cloudy) to retain the ROH tag titles. Good match.

4) AJ Styles defeated Jimmy Rave (w/Prince Nana, Mike Kruel and Jade). Before the match, Matt Striker and Nana had words with each other over the mic, leading to Kruel laying out Striker. Then the Outcast Killers quit the Embassy, saying they hated how Nana treated them like crap all the time. Rave vs Styles was good. After the match, Rave put a plastic bag over Styles head and tried to suffocate him.

INTERMISSION

5) Nigel McGuiness defeated Vordel Walker in a decent match.

6) Austin Aries defeated Samoa Joe, James Gibson and Homicide in a four corner survival when Aries pinned Joe. This was the best match on the card. All four guys hit dives to the outside. Aries pinned Joe with the same moveset he used to beat Joe for the ROH title in December, a brainbuster followed by the 450. Afterwards, Alex Shelley ran out again and layed out Aries.

7) Christopher Daniels defeated Colt Cabana with the Best Moonsault EVER. CM Punk came out in the middle of the match, but Cabana, who is Punks tag partner, wouldn't let Punk boss him around, saying he was a good guy. The match was really good. Finish saw Punk go to hit Daniels with a chain but his Cabana instead, leading to the BME.

Daniels and Punk then went back and forth on the mic, with Punk saying he would not give Daniels a title shot, as he hasn't earned it. Daniels eventually left, and Punk named his challenger.... Low Ki. Ki's music played, but he didn't come out, as he was not there. Punk had a backup plan, and said his opponent would be Bryan Danielson. Same deal, the music played, but he wasn't there. Punk then said he would wrestle both Jay and Mark Briscoe. Again, music, but they were not there. Punk then said he challenged four people and no one took him up on his offer, so he was leaving.

Mick Foley then came out to a huge pop. Foley said that Punk had to defend the title and do what was right for business. Punk then deceided his opponent would be Jay Lethal.

8) CM Punk defeated Jay Lethal to retain the ROH World title. This was a good match, but there wasn't much heat until Samoa Joe came out about halfway through the match to cheer on Lethal. After the match, Joe and Gibson both got into it with Punk, who ran off through the crowd.

Foley came back out, and said he just got off the phone with Vince McMahon and Vince told him to tell Punk he had to defend the title tomorrow night in Manhattan. Now that was funny. Foley then proceeded to put over ROH, got some cheap pops in, and that was the end of the show.

NOTES: The show was below average I felt for an ROH card. Long Island is notorious for having terrible crowds, and this was no exception. The place was packed, probably about 600 people there, but they were quiet for much of the evening. The four corner match was excellent, and there wasn't anything really bad on the card, but the show didn't end until 12:30am (it started a little after 8) and it seemed to drag. Still a good show, but it seemed like they were saving the big stuff for the next night. They return to Long Island on 9/17....

ROH - 7/9/05
NY NY - New Yorker Hotel

1) Dunn, Marcos and Dixie defeated Deranged, Cheech and Vordel Walker (w/Lacey and Cloudy) in a great match. The reaction to this match was better than just about anything on the Long Island show. Great start to the show.

2) Matt Striker defeated Mike Kruel (w/Prince Nana). Striker was over huge here, as everyone knew he was fired from his teaching job. They had an excellent match. I've never been a Kruel fan but he was really on tonight, as was Striker. Striker got a huge "please come back" chant after the match.

3) The Carnage Crew (Loc and Devito) defeated Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer to win the ROH tag titles. Another good match. Crowd was kind of mad I thought that the Crew won. Jacobs and Whitmer got a standing ovation afterwards.

Roderick Strong, James Gibson, Azrieal and Jimmy Rave all came out for their four corner survival match, but just as the bell rang, the lights went out. A spotlight shined to the balcony where CM Punk was standing. He talked for a few minutes, and then said that he was pulling Roderick Strong from the match and Strong would be wrestling Punk later tonight....in a non title match. Mick Foley then came up from behind Punk and had him halfway over the balcony, threatening to thrown him over if he didn't put the title on the line. Punk agreed, and we had a main event set. The lights came back on, Strong went to the back, and Alex Shelley hit the ring as the new fourth man.

4) Jimmy Rave defeated Shelley, Azrieal and Gibson in the four way. Good match, but not as good as the previous nights four way. As per the stipulation in the match, Rave now gets a Pure title show next weekend in Woodbridge CT.

5) Samoa Joe defeated Austin Aries to retain the ROH Pure title after a muscle buster. Both men lost all three of their ropebreaks. Aries had hit the brainbuster and 450, but Joe got to the ropes for his third ropebreak. Joe then fired up and slapped the hell out of Aries and hit the musclebuster for the pin. This was excellent, Joe has really taken the Pure title and made it mean something, as the crowd was really hot for this.

6) Nigel McGuiness defeated Colt Cabana in a European rules match. Basically, they had eight three minute rounds, and you won the match by winning two falls. I didn't particularly care for this match, as the rules were kind of complicated, as you had no punching and if you did you got warned and you got three warnings. It would have been helpfull if ROH had let us know before the match on their website what the rules would be. This was not really over at all, and to be blunt, it was really boring and I didn't like it. It will probably come off good on DVD, but live this was kind of just there.

7) Homicide (w/Julius Smokes and a Thug) defeated Jay Lethal in a match where there were "relaxed rules", aka, this was a fight. Before the match, Brooklyn's Homicide went after a fan who was wearing a "Yankees Suck" shirt and ripped it off him. He also took someones Red Sox hat and threw it up into the balcony. Mick Foley somehow got a hold of the hat. This match was insane, the crowd was pretty much split 50/50 for both men and the heat was off the charts. Homicide stabbed Lethal with a fork several times, and Lethal juiced. Grim Reefer gave Cide a chain. Homicide won with a lariat. After the match, and this will get cut off the DVD I'm sure, Foley got Homicides attention and threw the Red Sox hat back into the ring. Homicide took it, and spit on it, and threw it back to the fan he took it from. OK, I'll admit, I am friends with the guy who's hat it was and I threw it in the ring earlier because I'm a Y! ankees fan. The crowd really ate this up.

8) CM Punk defeated Roderick Strong to retain the ROH World title. Another oustanding match with insane crowd heat. The match was better than the match the two had last month at the Supper Club in NYC. Punk was really over as a heel, booing everything he did. They played off the last match where they chopped the hell out of each other, as Punk did everything he could to avoid getting chopped. Strong eventually started chopping him to death to the point where Punk's chest was bleeding. Strong hit a bunch of backbreakers, but Punk rolled him and put his feet on the ropes to get the pin.

After the match, Punk got on the mic and told us all that he was leaving and we would never see him again. James Gibson ran out and attacked Punk, but Punk ran into the crowd. Samoa Joe met Punk in the crowd and Punk started running back to ringside. He made his way up the entrance ramp, but Foley came out and stopped him. They threw Punk in the ring, and Gibson layed him out with the Tigerbomb. Gibson then challenged Punk for the title next week in Woodbridge. Foley ok'ed the match, so apparently Punk is not done with ROH just yet. Punk eventually went to the back, leaving Joe, Gibson and Foley in the ring. Foley cut another pro-ROH promo, saying he couldn't do anything that any of the wrestlers did tonight, except he could do the fork spot that Homicide did. Foley got some cheap pops in and said goodbye to us, and handed the mic to Samoa Joe. Joe cut a really short promo, again thanking the crowd, and th! at was the end of the show.

NOTES: Crowd looked to be around 700 or so, which was maybe a little less then May 7 when they ran here last. The show was off the charts again. Match of the night is really a tie between Punk/Strong and Cide/Lethal. The crowd was rabid for almost everything. Comparing the NYC crowd to the Long Island crowd the previous night is like comparing filet mignon to lunch meat. I don't mean that as any disrespect to the Long Island fans, but the NYC crowd was just in a league of their own. They again announced Kobashi for the 10/1 return to the New Yorker, and his name got a huge pop.

quote BILFY

ROH is only getting better. I might go to this show...

http://www.rohwrestling.com/upcomingevents.asp?intCategoryID=2&intArticleID=118

I like going to the shows, but you cant bring in your digital camera which sucks.

quote Kyo Daikun

*bleep* ROH.

ROH is good wrestling, but with NO energy.

I hate ROH fans, they think they're all so "smart" they refuse to pop for anything. It's no fun.

Amen brother from another mother. I don't see whats so smart about trying to ruin wrestling for everyone.