BRM Reviews ROH Stalemate

[Big Red Machine]

ROH Stalemate (4/16/2005)- Dorcester, MA

GOOD TIMES GREAT MEMORIES SEGMENT- Great. Set up Heenan managing Punk tonight.

HOMICIDE PROMO- Great

KEVIN STEEN vs. VORDELL WALKER- 5/10
Both guys looked impressive in the ring.

PRINCE NANA PROMO- okay

RODERICK STRONG vs. EL GENERICO- 7/10
Great match!

NIGEL MCGUINNESS PROMO- decent

DIXIE & AZRIEAL vs. DERANGED & CHEECH (w/Lacey & Cloudy)- 4.5/10

ROH PURE TITLE MATCH: Jay Lethal(c) vs. Spanky- 7/10

Nana says that Jimmy Rave can’t wrestle tonight because he injured his arm in an “elephant riding accident.” LOVE IT!
CM PUNK (w/Bobby “The Brain” Heenan) vs. KILLER KRUEL (w/The Embassy)- 2/10
Ridiculously short match that happened just to get Heenan a pop for stopping Nana’s interference.

CM PUNK & JIMMY RAVE BRAWL- well… apparently Nana was lying. Jimmy Rave came away from that elephant riding accident perfectly fine. Anyway, this was a decent segment that build to their Dog Collar match at the next show. Punk cut a great promo at the end.

AUSTIN ARIES PROMO- very good.

DOUBLE STAKES FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH TO DETERMINE THE #1 CONTENDER TO BOTH THE PURE AND WORLD TITLES: Samoa Joe vs. Alex Shelley vs. Nigel McGuinness vs. Colt Cabana-
I didn’t like the fact that the guys in the fall to decide who got the Pure Title shot left. I think a Wrestlemania 16 style thing with everyone competing in the second fall would have been better.

ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Austin Aries(c) vs. James Gibson-7.5/10
A great match, but I absolutely hated the finish. A Brainbuster is Aries’ finisher. Gibson sould nlt have the wherewithal to hook Aries’ legs after taking it.

NO DISQUALIFICATION LUMBERJACK MATCH: Bryan Danielson vs. Homicide-7.25/10
A Lumberjack Match with no disqualifications? That sounds like just asking for people to interfere in that match.

JAMES GIBON PROMO- AWESOME!

ALEX SHELLEY PROMO- good

Overall, an okay show from ROH. A few good to great matches, but nothing worth going out of your way to see. The highlight of this show, by far, was Gibson’s promo at the end. Definitely skippable.