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ROH SUMMER OF PUNK DVD REVIEW: CM PUNK SHOCKS THE WORLD BY BECOMING ROH WORLD CHAMPION, THEN HOLDS THE TITLE HOSTAGE IN ARGUABLY THE BEST STORYLINE IN ROH HISTORY

Coming off the wild ending of the Connecticut show, ROH followed up with the CM Punk-Christopher Daniels match that, by this point, was a full year and a half in the making. The fact that they saved this match for Philadelphia was significant because, although ROH had established themselves in other major metro areas like Boston, New York, and Chicago; Philly was still their home market and was where they held their first show, which happened to have been headlined by Christopher Daniels. Daniels was still in possession of the title belt after stealing it from Punk in Connecticut, and now all signs seemed to point to him beating Punk for the title. What ended up happening instead was that Punk, who had infamously gone to a pair of 60 minute draws with Samoa Joe the year before, again turned this into a marathon and tried to run down the clock. This made it tougher for Daniels since Punk didn't care about winning and was just trying not to lose. Daniels hit the Angel's Wings, but the bell rang before he got the three count and Punk, against all odds, had again found a way to save his title.

Now that he had firmly established himself as the Ric Flair of ROH by becoming their 60 Minute Man, he decided to make himself ROH's Jake Roberts as well by grabbing Allison Danger by the hair and punching her in the face after the match. Even though women had found themselves on the receiving end of far more punishment in recent years than when Jake hit Miss Elizabeth, the malicious way Punk hit Danger was terrific because it was so malicious and unnecessary, that it further painted Punk as this guy with absolutely no redeeming values whatsoever who, in addition to turning on the fans and chasing them out of buildings, also had no problem hitting women.

After attacking Danger, Punk again laid out Daniels when he tried to help, and also went after James Gibson when he ran in to try and make the save. The fans were loudly chanting for Samoa Joe, and he came out to the ring to go after Punk and chase him to the back. Now everybody thought that Punk's final showdown would be with Joe, which seemed appropriate given their history together.

As it turns out, we would never get another Punk vs Joe singles match. Instead, Punk was announced for two final title defenses in ROH and we were more or less assured that these would, in fact, be Punk's last matches in the company. The first was a four way elimination match between himself, Daniels, Gibson, and Samoa Joe, and if Punk survived that, he would go on the following evening to defend against his now-estranged best friend Colt Cabana in a two out of three falls match in their hometown of Chicago. After this, there would be literally nobody left that Punk hadn't beaten and he would have legitmized his claim to the ROH World Title, and would be able to leave for WWE having defended against every contender ROH could possibly throw at him.

Even though the odds were against him, Punk again came into the four way match at Redemption with a strategy designed to take out all his opponents and again retain the ROH World Title. Punk smashed James Gibson with a chair shot that hurt him so badly that he needed to be helped to the back with blood once more pouring down his face. With Gibson out of his way, Punk now had to simply get past Joe and Daniels, who weren't exactly best friends and wound up fighting each other. Joe caught Daniels in the rear naked choke and Daniels got his foot on the bottom rope, but Punk shoved it off from outside the ring before the referee saw, and Daniels passed out in the hold and was eliminated. An angry Daniels ran back in as Punk and Joe went at it and went for a leaping enziguiri in the champion, but Punk ducked and Daniels accidentally kicked Joe in the head. Punk hit Daniels with a low blow and then rolled a stunned Joe up and pinned him as well, and then Joe and Daniels brawled to the back as Punk stood triumphantly in the ring.

However, Gibson was never officially eliminated and, after the fans loudly chanted his name, his music hit and he came back out to finish matters with Punk. Punk, who by this point was as much trying to run down the clock as he was trying to win, threw everything he had at Gibson, including the Anaconda Vice, but Gibson stayed alive and hit the Gibson Driver. Punk kicked out of that and they went to the top rope where Punk went for the Pepsi Plunge, but Gibson blocked that and instead hit a top rope Gibson Driver, then covered Punk to win the ROH World Title and finally end Punk's reign of terror. A defeated Punk graciously showed Gibson respect as he celebrated his title win with several of his buddies from the locker room.

Now all that was left was for Punk to have his last match in ROH against his longtime friend and nemesis, Colt Cabana, in a two out of three falls bout in their hometown of Chicago. Their trainer Ace Steel was at ringside as an emotional Punk soaked in the love from his hometown fans, then faced Cabana for the final time. Most of the beginning of the match was a standard Colt Cabana comedy match as they mostly seemed to be simply trying to enjoy themselves, but Punk turned things serious by kicking Colt low and giving him his own Colt 45 finisher to win the first fall. Cabana came back with a lariat to win the second fall and tie the match up, and then they got down to business and worked their asses off to finish the third fall hot when Cabana pinned Punk with a rollup out of nowhere. A frustrated Punk nonetheless hugs Cabana and became the recipient of an impromptu going away party, complete with Punk's parents coming into the ring to join him and Cabana pouring Pepsi over his head. Punk puts over the company, Gabe Sapolsky, and his fellow wrestlers, and we close the DVD with Punk on the shoulders of his fellow Second City Saints.

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As I said at the top of this column, I consider this the best storyline in ROH history and that makes it a very easy recommendation to buy. The last ten to fifteen years of the wrestling business have seen countless attempts at "shoot" angles, but not many of them were as well done as the Summer of Punk, and I think it's a credit to how well it was done the first time that they adapted it to WWE to create what was widely hailed as last year's Storyline of the Year. Even beyond the storyline aspect, you had a TON of excellent wrestling in here, as Punk seemed determined to have the best matches he could manage, and also try to help elevate guys like Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong, who are two of the top stars in ROH today, on his way out. Mega, mega, super, ultra thumbs up for this one, and you can find information on ordering it at ROH's website here.

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