I thought this was really good, but probably didn't need to be close to half an hour. Homicide turned heel the night before by flinging a fireball in Joe's face during their title match. It led to a big post-match brawl with the locker room clearing out and the ring being torn up and one of the funniest Gabe calls ever as he tries to sell the madness, shouting "OH MAN HOMICIDE'S COMING UP TO THIS AREA! I'M GETTING OUTTA HERE AAAAAAHHHHH!" Like he's being hunted down by a ravenous monster in a 70s horror. Still, Homicide is now on the wrong side of honour and he is a dangerous and unpredictable man. This is probably my favourite stretch of his career and he comes out pissed before the match even starts. The crowd start a HOMO-cide chant as that was a source of much amusement in 2004 so Homicide picks up the ring bell and fuckin throws it in the crowd! He was awesome in this and not just because of the fan interactions, though they was obviously great (tells another fan he punched their mother, spits on someone, throws chairs and flips the ringside table). The matwork early on is all solid stuff and they mostly nail the subtleties so it doesn't just look like time-killing. The STRUGGLE and all that. You expect that from Danielson anyway, but it's been a minute since I've watched Homicide work a slow-burner like this so I was digging it. Homicide works the neck for a brief spell, then on the floor he punches the guardrail and his selling is top drawer the rest of the way. Obviously Danielson goes after the hand and any match where someone's hand is worked over is immediately 12 stars and I don't make the rules on that, I'm afraid. He bends the fingers, stomps on them, incorporates finger-bending into already nasty holds like a seated abdominal stretch and an Indian deathlock. I also liked how they never completely dropped the neck stuff after Danielson took over. Homicide sensibly went back to it towards the end, and there was a nasty STF spot made doubly awesome when Homicide couldn't apply it properly because he couldn't lock his fingers. CONTINUITY! Danielson's neck also prevents him from bridging more than a few seconds on Cattle Mutilation, which I thought was super cool. Homicide mule kicking him in the balls to set up the finish was a nice bit of character-development as well. I can't wait to check those Rottweilers-Joe/Lethal tags again and this was a nice start to Homicide's run of terror.
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