ROH Reborn: Stage One, St. Paul, MN
From the first night of the “Reborn” weekend, ROH’s first after the Feinstein scandal, getting their ducks back in a row, getting the company ready to move on, and becoming what it really was to me, because right about here is where I first got into it. The next night was their debut in Chicago (Ridge), and my first ROH live show.
Joe has already held the ROH title a while (I don’t feel like looking it up and don’t remember off hand) and become a true dominant champion, and Homicide had a shot at him and the belt back in May 2003 in Philadelphia, which Joe of course won. They also had a non-title, no holds barred match in October 2003, which Homicide won.
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Leading up to this match at a show in New Jersey, Julius Smokes told Joe that Homicide wanted a title rematch, so Joe attacked him, which caused Homicide to lose respect for Joe.
“The last time, Joe, I almost killed you. I let go because I want to prove I can beat you. Tonight, not only I will become heavyweight champion, but I will kill you, Joe. Look at these eyes, Joe. I hate you!”
In response, Joe chews gum right into the camera and says he will actually be the one to choke out Homicide. Then he has a little face off with Bryan Danielson. That has nothing to do with this match, though.
Homicide out first to the Beanie Sigel, Joe with the Faith No More & Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E., which was his best entrance music of all, I stand by that.
OK so I went back to make sure, it was March 2003 when Joe won the ROH belt from Xavier in Philly. We’re at the 13-month point and even as a dominant champ, this is right when you start to think he really might lose it at some point, giving his more serious challenges — like Homicide in this match — some actual weight. With this specific instance, no ROH champion had ever made defenses on back-to-back nights, which Joe was scheduled to do the next night, and everyone knew the Chicago Ridge opponent was Matt Stryker (Stryker not Striker; unibrow, not Vampiro), which could give you the notion that that was not going to be a world title match.
The streamers fly in for Joe, and Homicide loses his shit, but Joe just stands calm as Homicide is having a freakout. Homicide not playing terribly well to the Minnesota audience from the jump here. We in this general region don’t often respond great to extremely “New York” stuff, and Homicide is extremely “New York.” That’s not to say he has no fans, he does, because some of us envy the idea of “New York.”
Homicide can’t budge Joe on an early shoulderblock, and Joe reverses a hiptoss attempt, then hits a nice, snappy, deep armdrag. God, sometimes I forget how fucking fast Joe used to be. If he’d gotten a proper shot with WWE in his real physical prime … well, I think Vince would have grown to really love him but still not used him to his full ability.
Homicide goes for an STF, Joe slips out and gets his own, but Homicide grabs the bottom rope quickly. Homicide walks into a high boot and then a kick to the leg, then bails out of the ring. Homicide throws a chair into the ring, but the referee gets it out fast.
Homicide eating up time outside getting riled up at fans. You never know if someone deserved it or if it’s Homicide being Homicide. Because I’ve definitely been around a lot of fans who actually deserved to get smacked up with their taunting around this time, crossing lines and shit.
Back inside, Homicide goes for a single leg but Joe blocks, uses his weight, and gets control of the back, landing crossfaces, pulling Homicide by the ears and then tears at the eyes and jaw, but not fully cheating to do it. He keeps working Homicide over on the mat, basically doing as he pleases with him.
Joe picks Homicide up with that and just sort of throws him away, but Homicide doesn’t back down, coming back and Joe and again winding up belly-down on the mat, Joe with a side headlock. Homicide gets up and pushes Joe back to the ropes, then lands a chop, which Joe knew was going to happen on the break.
So he eats it and walks Homicide down. They trade shots, Homicide tries a headbutt, doesn’t work, Joe’s does.
CM Punk, who had a whole deal with referee Ricky Steamboat and a match with Bryan Danielson before this, joins the home video commentary at this point.
Joe controlling with a knuckle lock, so Homicide bites him on the ear to get free, because fuck it, not much else is working so far. He does another headbutt in the corner; it works better this time, but still hurts him. And again, same result. “Apparently, Homicide didn’t read the chapter in his pro wrestling handbook about headbutting Samoans,” Punk says.
Homicide grapevines his legs around Joe’s neck, has to let go when he just blatantly uses the rope for leverage, but he’s got an opening now, striking and scratching the eyes and whatever might work, getting a talking-to from the referee.
Joe whipped to the corner, Homicide follows in with a forearm and goes for an exploder, but Joe elbows the side of the neck. Joe reverses a whip to the other side and hits the running forearm. Homicide clubs him in the head with a right hand and comes off the second rope, but is caught mid-flight with the STJoe, and Joe topes out to the floor when Homicide rolls out!
Homcide gets backdropped over the guardrail and into the crowd, then hiptossed HARD back over, just smacking on the floor. Back into the ring, Joe covers for two. Not a good cover, let’s be real. If this were the IWA Mid-South he’d have been told to “hook the leg, maaaan.”
Joe with a basic, effective backbreaker, then turns Homicide over into a Boston crab, before transitioning into the ol’ Samoa Joe Special. Homicide heel kicks Joe quickly to break free, but some damage done, and Joe stays in control.
Jabs in the corner, Homicide then worked down to the mat and Joe scrapes the face with the boot, then the facewash hits! A second one connects! Little right hand thrust to the jaw from Joe, then knuckles to the head on a closed fist.
Joe grabbing a dragon sleephold, not real tight but more just wearing Homicide down. Homicide fights out, Joe walks into a back elbow, and Homicide comes off the turnbuckles with knees to the back of the head. Reverse neckbreaker, cover barely gets two.
PILEDRIVER! Cover gets two and Joe has to get a leg over the bottom rope, shoulders may not have been coming up there. Now it’s Homicide using a dragon sleephold, his locked in a bit deeper, and Joe again has to get the ropes.
But Joe fires up back on his feet, shooting off the jab-chop combo. Island Driver escaped, enzuigiri knocks Joe to the floor and Homicide lands the tope con hilo through the ropes! Homicide sent into the guardrail and the metal ROH sign covering it, doesn’t bother to sit him in a chair and hits an Olé Kick without the usual fanfare, ol’ “Chris Lovey” speculating that may be Joe showing urgency.
It isn’t, really, as Joe sends Homicide into the guardrail again, and this time sits him down for a full fanfare Olé Kick. Back in the ring, Homicide gets feet up in the corner and lands a diving DDT for two.
Another swinging DDT attempt is blocked, and Joe FLINGS Homicide into the turnbuckle pad with a an overhead belly-to-belly! Power bomb gets two, STF is avoided, but Joe smacks him in the face, nasty dragon screw, and Joe has the STF! But he manages to slip his head out (being bald and sweaty helps) and reach the bottom rope with his his shoulder freed up.
Joe setting up for a lariat as Homicide struggles to his feet, but Homicide wisely does not turn around real fast, and counters the lariat with an Ace Crusher and a big lariat of his own for two! Joe barely gets the shoulder up there. Punk wonders if we might have a new champ if Homicide had hooked the leg.
Homicide gets his elbow sleeve off and goes for another lariat, but Joe kicks him in the arm, grabs a choke, then two big knees, Homicide catches the third for a roll-up, we get a VERY close two/three count, the bell dings once, but Paul Turner corrects himself immediately because Joe even more barely got a shoulder up.
A frustrated Homicide thinks he’s won, or that he should have, and he’s arguing with Turner instead of following up. And then he punches Turner in the face! Joe runs over and boots Homicide.
Joe signals for the choke, the lights go out, and they don’t come back on before a Homicide fireball lights Joe RIGHT up.
That’s no Hogan-Warrior disgrace. That’s a good’un.
The lights are back on and Joe is rolling around in pain, referees in with water as Homicide cackles. We’ve definitely got a DQ, of course. Homicide attacks two more referees! Locker room emptying with lower-card guys until finally HC Loc gets in with a tackle and a whole group get Homicide out of the ring. Punk leaves commentary because he sees the Briscoes, with whom he currently has beef.
Punk and Cabana jump the Briscoes in the chaos to set up the next night in Chicago Ridge. They double Jay, but Mark shooting stars off the top onto them! It’s just total madness to end ROH’s debut in Minnesota. Cabana with an Asai moonsault onto everyone! Ring Crew Express figure they might as well get into the mix with a double dive onto everybody. DeVito dives! Jack Evans super dives! The brawl rages on.
Punk and Cabana get into the ring, and HERE’S RICKY STEAMBOAT! Chop for Cabana! Four chops for Punk! More for Cabana! Deep armdrag on Cabana! One on Punk! Another on Punk! RICKY STEAMBOAT RULES THE RING!
It truly was a new ROH.
Good match! Not near the best of Joe vs Homicide, but they just had a special sort of chemistry in that Wahoo vs Valentine manner, you knew they were gonna get in there and fight and hate each others guts, and generally speaking, that’s plenty. Homicide gets to go in a new, even more dangerous and unpredictable character direction, and Joe does not stand tall at the end of the show with yet another successful title defense, though technically a successful title defense.
Tape Machines Are Rolling 
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