Really fun little match. This was a tournament semi-final (to crown the first Pure Wrestling Champion) and felt like it, but in the best way possible. They never tried to do a ton, kept things fairly simple as it was both guys' second match of the night, and crafted a fine wee narrative in a cool and interesting way. I'm not a HUGE CM Punk guy but he was a hoot in this. He's coming off a big angle at the start of the year where the Saints give Christopher Daniels a Pepsi Plunge through a table, putting Daniels on the shelf for a while and pretty much establishing Punk as the top heel in the company. So he acts like a shithead, stalls for time when Williams' trippy WoS stuff is too much to handle, gets into a shouting match with fans, generally dials the heelishness up past a mild 6 or 7. Williams has a sort of goofy Bob Backlund vibe, almost naïve in how he approaches things, as if he assumes that this being Ring of HONOUR means Punk won't stoop to dishonourable methods. Clearly he was a fool but his Euro-style matwork was pretty fun and Punk got to practically stooge around for it, then he'd try some of that Euro matwork of his own and he'd get taken to school. It was the richest poor man's Buddy Rose v Johnny Eagles you could want in 2004 ROH. The leg work in the back half was really good and I loved Punk doing the facewash bit in the corner, but doing it to the knee while Williams was tied up in a tree of woe. I don't think I've ever seen that before and it allowed Punk to shit-talk people in the crowd while he was at it. Finish was cool as well, with Williams hitting the Chaos Theory but the leg giving out on the bridge and it essentially forcing his own shoulders to the mat. Super enjoyable ten minutes.
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