Pro Wrestling Chronicle

10.15.04 Generation Next vs Second City Saints (ROH)

This feud is fueled by two things. Punk’s face turn and alliance with the legendary Ricky Steamboat, and their collective issue with the young upstart Generation Next faction. Secondary feud comes to us in the way of Jimmy Jacobs and Alex Shelly via IWA-MS. It continues here, as the worked together a lot in the early part of this decade. That’s why Jacobs is teaming with the Saints, composed of Punk and Ace Steel. Gen Next feature future leader Austin Aries, Jack Evans, and one day MCMG – Alex Shelly.

Match has Mark Nulty on commentary, who I actually enjoyed for the most part. It also features Gabe Sapolsky in one of his announcer persona’s. I’m not such a fan of that.

Jacobs and Shelly start out together. Great display of submissions from Shelly and counters from Jacobs. It’s more Shelly than the smaller Jacobs here. Jacobs eventually gets the advantage, and that’s the story for the next ten to twelve minutes. The faces outsmart the heels no matter what the combination is and what the players do. Sure, it’s from this decade, so the heels have their moments, but the faces always have a punch, reversal, move, or ring positioning in their favor. Decent stuff that you can have fun with as a viewer. Nothing is break out “ya missed it!” great though.

The reversal comes when Gen Next traps Jimmy Jacobs in their corner using the numbers game. The reversal itself was okay, but then we go into an uneven period. It goes like this: Alex Shelly in means very decent stuff. Austin Aries in means hot and miss, but he has that charisma and energy that would make him a star. He had better matches in singles that year, but he’s not bad here. Jack Evans in was not so good. At least, that and the transitions between each guy tagging in were sloppy.

Faces come back and the story goes off the rails a bit, as we end up with dives and an injured Tracy Brooks (face manager/Punk’s girlfriend). Totally unnecessary stuff. Whatever.

Back on track Punk sells for the heels in a second heat segment. Not the best Punk has looked either, which is funny since the next night was a match of a lifetime from him (Joe – Punk 2). Punk comes back after more uneven action and distractions like faces coming in and doing a bunch of moves. Hot tag became heatless and irrelevant then, but then the heat was dead when Shelly wasn’t in.

Finish is a Punk comeback and a Pepsi Plunge from the top rope. Big win, and the right man won for the next night, but even as a main event perhaps Jimmy Jacobs should have done the job. Jimmy had a singles match with Shelly the next night, Punk was in a main event, and who knows what Ace Steel was doing. Conversely, the Gen Next guys were the main event young heels here. Oh well, they were going through changes, I guess.

Ultimately, at over thirty minutes this is an avoidable match. If you dig the nostalgia of an ROH-Punk, Jacobs as the “huss” guy, or the original Generation Next run, it isn’t horrible. Still, the classic eight man from the night the young faction was formed is much better match for old glorified memories of Shelly, Aries, Strong, and Evans as a faction.