Honor Rises: A Look at Samoa Joe’s ROH World Title Reign
19. Samoa Joe vs. Homicide: Relaxed Rules, There Must be a Winner (May 22, 2004)
Joe and Homicide met again in a wild no rules brawl that saw the rivals turned hated enemies go to battle one more time. Joe and Homicide not only delivered a huge match for both men that firmly established Homicide as a main event heel, but was a significant main event for ROH to establish that they were not going anywhere.
When the future of ROH was in question, ROH wanted everyone to know that Joe was there to stay. The franchise of the company was sticking around, and not losing his title anytime soon, even with the troubles at the management level. However, there was still one more match that firmly established ROH as being a company that was here to stay, and it was called the World Title Classic.
20. Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk (June 12, 2004)
CM Punk was a rising star in ROH. He had feuds with Christopher Daniels, Raven, and Ricky Steamboat. Punk was legitimately becoming one of the hottest acts on the independent scene with his killer promos and air of legitimacy in that it was so easy to believe the stories he told. His matches often featured great psychology and storytelling, even though Punk was not the best athlete. When it came time for Punk to face Joe, people felt like change was in the air.
Punk, while still a heel, was starting to get cheered. Joe, being a babyface, was facing someone that the fans wanted to beat him, regardless of him being a heel.
Joe and Punk proceeded to wrestle in an absolute classic of a match. They exchanged holds, strikes, and threw everything at each other. As the match went on, Punk kept wearing Joe down, slowly but surely, trying to outlast the champ. It wasn’t long before the match hit the 30 minute mark, then the 40, then the 50. In the last minute of the match, Punk, exhausted, managed to hit the Pepsi Plunge, a pedigree off the top rope. Joe crumpled to a heap on the mat, and managed to slowly roll into the ropes. Punk was too exhausted to make the cover, and the time ran out.
Punk had Joe beat, but he couldn’t finish the job, and Joe retained his title.
Afterward, Punk cut a promo, shaking Joe’s hand and declaring the ROH World title to be the most important title in wrestling. Joe’s reign, and Punks statement had firmly established the title as a one that matters in wrestling, and made the statement that ROH was here to stay, and they weren’t going anywhere.
This match was the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s first North American 5 star match since Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker for the first ever Hell in a Cell, putting it at legendary status.
21. Samoa Joe vs. Togi Makabe (June 26, 2004)
Togi Makabe, before he was known as Togi Makabe, faced Samoa Joe at the NJPW Dojo show in California in 2004 as Shinya Makabe. The future IWGP Heavyweight Champion was not ready for Joe at this point though, as Joe was able to defeat him in 10 short minutes, a relief compared to the war he had just had with Punk.