Ring of Honor
"American Best of Super Juniors"
Asbury Park Convention Hall
Asbury Park, New Jersey
04/02/2005
by Joe Gagne


I know what you're thinking.  "Hey Joe, the 4/2 ROH show was in New Jersey, not Massachusetts—what gives?"  Well, I'm going to have to miss the 4/16 show in Dorchester, MA, and it came to my attention that someone was running a bus trip down to Jersey.  The show was stacked, I had some extra birthday cash, and so I said "Why not?"
Curiously, as I go to New Jersey to see ROH, Jersey All Pro Wrestling is coming to Massachusetts in May.  What a country!

So it was a five-hour ride it pouring rain and hurricane winds, but we make it to Asbury Park in one piece.  Asbury Park is a few steps below a shantytown, by the way.  It's good for everyone ROH isn't running there again.

The building was actually the same one ECW held Living Dangerously '99 (where Taz and Bam Bam Bigelow went through the ring), but they obviously cordoned off a lot of seats so it'd look more full.  The General Admission seats were rows of chairs set up theater-style, so we had a great view of the action all night.  The sign outside actually billed this event as "Ring of Combat" and listed it as an MMA event.

Show started a half-hour late, I guess because someone got lost.  They kept announcing that all the workers were "in the area."

The show was based around the Best of the American Super Juniors Tournament, where the winner of a one-night tournament would gain entry into New Japan's annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament in May. They kicked off the show with Tommy Martez of the Inoki L.A. Dojo (who co-sponsored the tourney with the N.W.A.) coming out and reading a proclamation, then introducing all eight competitors.

Spanky vs. "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson (ABOSJ Opening Round Match): I was actually supposed to see a two out of three falls match between these two at the first ROH show I ever attended (Honor Invades Boston from August 2002), but Spanky had to cancel due to a Japan commitment and then he soon signed with the WWE, so it never happened.  Started off real slow, lots of back and forth chain wrestling.  AD is just so crazy good at everything he does, especially his facial expressions, where he'd look surprised/pissed when Spanky would get the better of him.  Dragon actually ran up the ropes and did a backflip over Spanky at one point.  Last couple of minutes were off the charts.  Dragon got the Cattle Mutilation for a long time, but Spanky reached the ropes.  Spanky hit Sliced Bread #2, but Dragon kicked out.  Dragon connected with a top rope backdrop suplex, but when he tried it again Spanky went for a Super Sliced Bread #2 (which I thought would be the finish for a second), but Dragon avoided it and both guys managed to land on their feet.  Dragon then hit the Leglock Backdrop Suplex for the win after about 25 minutes.  Crowd was just breathless after this one.  I'll say right now, the best opener in ROH history and it joins my personal pantheon of greatest live matches (with Briscoe vs. Briscoe and London vs. Styles), and it's something you should go out of your way to see.

Matt Sydal vs. Dragon Soldier B (ABOSJ Opening Round Match): DSB turned out to be…Kendo Ka Shin, which wasn't a great shock, since Ka Shin worked for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla the night before.  If you're late to the party, Ka Shin rose to prominence in the New Japan Juniors division in the late 90's before jumping to All Japan with Mutoh and Kojima, but has recently fallen off the face of the earth.  He's not a bad worker, per se, but no one was really excited when they learned who he was.  He didn't even change his gimmick or anything—same outfit, same mask; he was just called Dragon Soldier B.  This match was OK, fairly short and nothing overly memorable.  Matt hit a nice Orihara moonsault and a Lionsault with a full twist.  DSB blocked a top rope ‘rana and locked on a Tarantula-esque move, before turning it into a Victory Roll for the pin.  Matt had his hand on the ropes, but the ref didn't see it.  Oh well.  I don't think Matt's old enough to leave the country by himself anyway.  I kid, of course.  Matt looked good and I hope he makes it to the Northeast soon.

Black Tiger IV vs. Alex Shelley (ABOSJ Opening Round Match):
  BT4 turned out to be Rocky Romero, as was also rumored.  He was dressed just like Tiger Mask IV, which meant he was rocking the TM disco pants.  He pulled out his usual spots (satellite headscissors, cross armbreaker), so he didn't change his style at all.  Not much heat for this one, since Romero is mainly a tag wrestler now working singles with a new gimmick (hell, some of the crowd may not have known who he was).  Shelley did yell out "Double knees for you, Silver King!" at one point (since Silver King was/is Black Tiger III).  Tiger picked up the win with a Tiger Suplex.  This'll probably be better on tape.  I'm sad to report Romero doesn't wear black lipstick like King does.

Roderick Strong vs. James Gibson (ABOSJ Opening Round Match):
Gibson came out to Hank Williams Junior's "A Country Boy Can Survive," which is an odd, but appropriate and in the end, pretty cool entrance theme.  Usual Strong match here, as he goes backbreaker crazy and Gibson does a nifty job selling.  Gibson squeaks out a win, and I'm completely blanking on how he won (I think it was a rollup of some kind).  Gibson sold his back big time afterwards and he had to be helped to the back. Second best match of the tourney so far, and the four men who advanced all worked for New Japan at some point, so it wasn't exactly shock booking.

Gary Michael Capetta
came out and announced that AJ Styles is returning at the next Jersey show.

C.M. Punk & Colt Cabana (w/Davey Andrews) vs. Jimmy Rave & Fast Eddie (w/Prince Nana, Oman Tortuga, Jade, and Mike Kruel) [No DQ match]: I was unprepared for CM Punk in regular trunks.  Fast Eddie gets an "Akebono" chant from the crowd after his Smackdown loss, and Colt does a sumo pose before locking up with him.  Awesome.  Punk kept trying to get his mitts on Jimmy, only to have young Rave slip from his grasp.  This broke down quickly, as the Embassy members interfered liberally with Andrews trying to even the odds.  Everyone brawls to the outside with Punk and Rave fighting in the bleachers (not near us, unfortunately) and Eddie and Cabana brawling in the crowd.  It was very ECW-ish, which I mean as a compliment.  A fan even held up a chair so Cabana could ram Rave into it.  Punk and Rave fight on the stage next to the ring, and Rave takes a suplex on the stage—ouchie.  After more chaos Cabana, Andrews, Oman, and Kruel all fight to the back.  Punk has the Anaconda Vice locked onto Rave, but Jade (the new Embassy valet, and I'm assuming not the same Jade of Asian Invasion) breaks it up.  Punk goes to give her the old Tommy Dreamer piledriver, allowing Nana to hit him with a foreign object and Jimmy gets the pin.  Afterwards the Embassy does a promo and takes a cheese grater to Punk's stomach to remove the "Straight Edge" tattoo.

Now it gets fun.  Someone from the crowd yelled, "Is there any blood?" (in reference to Punk's stomach).  Someone replied "no," so the fan yelled out "Then who cares?"  This didn't sit too well with Punk, who goes all Artest and hops the rail and goes after the fan before security broke it up and tossed the fan (who got an "Asshole" chant in a comical moment).

If this was legit, then Punk is an idiot.  Yeah, I can understand and sympathize with wanting to punch some fans in the face, but you can't cross that line.  And why would the guy get tossed?  He was just being a pain in the ass.  If it's an angle (and I've heard the guy is a trained wrestler) and the "fan" joins the Embassy, then it's even dumber.  Have any of ROH's  "shoot" angles ever gone anywhere productive?  Ever?

Punk also trashed the entranceway in anger, and we head to an (unplanned?) intermission.

Dragon Soldier B vs. James Gibson (ABOSJ Semi Final Match): Martez came out and announces Gibson is unable to compete due to injuries, but Gibson appeared  (accompanied by Spanky) and said he'll wrestle.  Pretty simple match with DSB working over the back and Gibson making spirited comebacks.  DSB does his victory roll again, and Gibson grabs the ropes, but this time the ref sees it.  Dragon finally gets Gibson in a whacky submission (picture it like Ace Steele's Spinal Shock, but instead of dropping down you jump up and down) and Gibson won't quit.  Spanky finally throws in the towel and DSB advances to the finals.  Gibson was pissed afterwards at Spanky, but they made up and Spanky helped Gibson to the back.  Crowd wasn't pleased at DSB advancing, but hey, at least American Dragon will be in the finals, right?

American Dragon vs. Black Tiger IV (ABOSJ Semi Final Match):
  I was trying to figure out some transportation logistics, so I didn't pay a world of attention to the match, but it was good, much better than Tiger's first round match.  Then Tiger pinned Danielson with a Tiger Suplex.  Imagine the air being let out of 500 balloons simultaneously—that was our reaction to a Tiger/DSB final.

Jack Evans & Roderick Strong vs. Dunn & Marcos vs. Izzy & Deranged vs. Dixie & Azreal [Scramble Match for a tag title shot]: Curiously, Evans was originally scheduled to go solo, but I guess Strong decided to double his pleasure.  Lacey's Angels all came out dressed in fancy duds, so I guess they're high class or what have you.  Real good scramble, everyone was really crisp outside of a few rough patches.  Crowd was super into Jack tonight, who's craziness included a flying space tiger drop to the floor and a shining wizard into a reverse ‘rana.  Lots of crazy moves until Strong and Evans just dismantled the other team.  They hit the assisted Phoenix splash on Dixie and Strong got the tap with a Liontamer for the win and the title shot.

BJ Whitmer & Jimmy Jacobs vs. Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal [Decision Match for the vacant tag titles]: They only had one tag belt for the match—maybe Maff kept the other as a souvenir?  Great sequence early as Jacobs demands Joe be tagged in.  He tries to ram Joe's head into the turnbuckle, but Joe ain't selling.  Joe rams Jimmy into the turnbuckle, same result.  So Joe tells Jacobs to ram his head into the rail connecting the turnbuckle to the pole.  Jacobs does and it has no effect.  Jacobs goes outside and stands on a table (which promptly broke, so Jimmy stood on a chair instead) and told Joe to ram him into the pole.  Joe does, and Jimmy no-sells—for about a second, before he collapses on the floor.  Beautiful.  Turned into a straight tag match at the end, with both teams playing face in peril.  Tons of nearfalls at the end before BJ pinned Lethal with a terrifying top rope wrist clutch Exploder.  Joe went to make the save but was cut off at the last instant by Jimmy.  Fantastic stuff.  For people unhappy with the new champs, let me tell you, Jacobs and Whitmer interest me a thousand times more than Maff and Whitmer ever did.

Black Tiger IV vs. Dragon Solder B (ABOSJ Finals): Boy, the crowd did not like this at all.  I was frustrated too—we all assumed we'd get Gibson or Dragon in the finals, hopefully against each other.  Not that this match was awful, but it was like a hamburger.  Hamburgers are great, but when you're expecting steak, you're going to be disappointed.  I'm sure NJPW wanted these two in the finals, so I don't blame ROH, but still.  DSB did a kiwi roll to Tiger, but made himself so dizzy he rolled up the referee for an attempted pin.  We even had a crappy ref bump, as Tiger hit the Tiger Suplex but there was no one to count.  DSB finally got his cross armbreaker off the top for the tap and the win.  He got a plaque, and also the dreaded "Don't come back" chant.  And yes, a Japanese guy won the American Best of the Super Juniors, thanks for asking.

James Gibson came out and said the result was bullshit, and that he and the boys in the back worked too hard for a result like this, and challenged NJPW guys like Liger, Kanemoto, Gedo, & Jedo.  He gave an Ian Rotten "we bust our ass and thank you for supporting us" speech and got the crowd to chant "ROH."  I've heard this was a "shoot," but really, who cares?

Austin Aries [c] vs. Homicide (w/Julius Smokes) [ROH World Title Match]:
This match started at midnight, and both guys busted their asses and got the crowd back into it.  Smokes was on fire the entire match, interacting with a few dozen fans and telling Green Lantern Fan to "suck his balls."  Homicide placed Aries on a table outside and did his tope, which didn't break.  Ouch.  Aries managed to hit his 450, but Smokes pulled him outside the ring to break the count.  American Dragon came out and brawled with Smokes to the back.  Homicide hit a huge lariat for a super close near fall.  Aries escaped the Cop Killa and hit three more brainbusters and another 450 for the pin.  Excellent match.  Aries offered to shake Homicide's hand, but got the finger instead.  It was good to see Aries booked so strong, after a few fluke defenses, as he had Homicide beat, overcame the interference and won clean.

Afterwards our bus gives American Dragon, Ka Shin, and Martez a lift to their hotel.  Ka Shin did not wear his mask in the bus, but did wear a towel over his head until we got inside.  It was weird sitting with the guy after we all badmouthed him at the show, but he didn't seem depressed or anything.  Dragon is just a way cool guy.  I sat in the back of the bus so I didn't get a chance to chat, but I heard him discussing why the Two Towers was the best LOTR movie and if he should sell fake beards at shows (I'd buy one).

A lot of people are bitching about how the tournament ended up, but really, this was a great show.  One superb opening match, two excellent title matches, a real good scramble and no-DQ brawl, and an overall solid tournament makes this an easy thumbs up.

Bus trip was fun, and I'm glad I went, but it's a long day and not something I could do with regularity.  Maybe next year.


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