ROH The Era of Honor Begins, Philadelphia, PA
Collar-and-elbow start, Xavier to a wristlock. Andrews flips out, gets his own, into a full nelson, then a hammerlock. Hammerlock from Xavier, Scoot takes him over and down to the mat. Xavier with a fancy reversal into an armbar.
Forearm from Andrews, chop, off the ropes, and Xavier drops him with a shoulder. Off the ropes again, Andrews with a telegraphed bodyslam that works anyway. Slam back from Xavier, then we get to a stand-still because everyone around this time jacked off over RVD-Lynn matches.
Takedown from Andrews, and another. Xavier with some jabs and a right hand, then off the ropes looking for a tilt-a-whirl headscissors, Andrews drops him face first to the canvas. Allegedly, everyone in 2001 was talking about Scoot Andrews and Xavier. I had heard of Andrews before ROH; not so much Xavier.
Andrews sends Xavier to the ropes, Xavier ducks a lazy clothesline, more reversal crap and a leg lariat from Andrews. Chop from Scoot. To the corner, overhand chop. Elbow to the top of the head. Andrews with the cardinal mistake, but nothing really happens. Then Xavier drops Andrews on his the top of his head trying to pick him up.
Xavier with some right hands in the corner. To the corner, Xavier kicks up but Andrews catches him with a concrete crack. Chop trade after that. Xavier wins the chop trade over “The Black Nature Boy.” Xavier goes for a running bulldog, but Scoot counters it with a cool, very sudden, very hard lariat for two.
Scoot goes up top, flying ass smash or legdrop or whatever misses. Xavier up and firing right hands. Six right hands in total. Goofy elbowdrop from Xavier, then a big running forearm. Two count. Xavier with forearms in the corner. Jumping knee strikes from Xavier. Knee strikes have come a long way. Teardrop suplex from Xavier, two count again.
Andrews sent to the ropes, reversal, Xavier goes for a sunset flip, Scoot counters and drops him with a reverse DDT. Two count. Force of Nature from Andrews! Two count, but Xavier’s foot is under the bottom rope. Xavier rolls to the floor as Andrews argues with referee John Finnegan, formerly of ECW.
The frustrated Andrews goes out and throws Xavier back in, goes for a pin in the middle of the ring, and only gets two. More arguing with the referee. Xavier with a schoolboy for two. Now he’s fired up and throwing rights, but his neck still hurts. Andrews targets it with a strike, and looks again for the Force of Nature, Xavier slips out, hits his reverse neckbreaker, and gets the win.
Rating: 2/5. I found it really hard to care about watching Xavier in 2018, but more than that it’s just kind of an empty match for match’s sake, which has never been my favorite style of wrestling, but is what a lot of early ROH was built on. “We’ll find out who’s the best! There’s no hate or grudges!” How did that awful idea survive?
Tape Machines Are Rolling 
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