Jimmy and Shelley had some moments as a team in ROH, but Jimmy’s been on the wrong end of some Generation Next beatings since then. Shelley has two singles wins over Jacobs going into this.
They come out swinging and Jacobs ends up getting dumped to the floor. He pulls Shelley off the apron and hits the hurricanrana to the floor. Jacobs gets popped up on the apron and comes back down into another one that sends Shelley into the guardrail. Jimmy takes advantage of this time to throw some chairs into the ring and to choke Shelley on the edge of one of them. Jimmy threatens a Contra Code on the floor but takes a Shellshock into the rail. Shelley follows this up with a legsweep into the rail and then ends Jimmy onto the ring apron.
Shelley hits a jumping DDT on the apron and then launches Jimmy back into the guardrail headfirst. Shelley drapes Jimmy on the apron and hits a double stomp to the back of the head. Shelley locks on the headscissors and bounces Jimmy’s head off a chair. Boot scrapes to the face. Jimmy finally gets some offense pulling Shelley down with a neckbreaker across the leg of a chair. Jimmy gets a chair shot before applying a single leg crab and standing on Shelley’s head.
Jimmy goes into his boot for a spike but Shelley fights it off and hits a superkick. Shelley uses the spike and then taunts. He gouges into the forehead but Jimmy refuses to quit. Jimmy tries for another Contra Code but Shelley counters and tombstones him through a chair. Shelley goes for a kendo stick and Jimmy Bauer lets us know this is the first time we’ve ever seen a kendo stick in ROH.
Shelley duct tapes Jimmy to the ropes and I wasn’t expecting to see this in a 2004 Jimmy Jacobs I quit back. I suppose this time he’s duct taped backwards which is more of a parallel to the ECW cane moments as Shelley just blasts away at his back with the cane. Shelley gets too close and Jimmy goes low. Jimmy gets his backup spike out his boot to cut himself free. He charges but the cane outranges the spike and Shelley connects first. Jimmy fires up, hits a running boot and then unloads with a couple stick shots.
Jimmy stomps Shelley in the corner and then hooks in a stick assisted camel clutch. He goes for a senton but misses. Shelley alternates between spike shots and kendo stick shots before hooking in the Border City Stretch. Jimmy nearly passes out but fights out of the stretch and hits some headbutts. Jacobs hits a cool, short Tomikaze to take Shelley down and manages to hit Shelley with the senton.
Jacobs delivers another cane shot before locking in his own Border City Stretch. Shelley knows the counter and goes to the eyes to get out. Jimmy builds a bridge out of chairs but Shelley counters out of his next Contra Code attempt. He hits a cane shot, a cross-legged brainbuster and hooks on another Border City Stretch to get the submission.
Shelley gets on the microphone and promises to finish Jacobs for good. He gets the cane and Roderick Strong comes out to assist. They attack until Ricky Steamboat comes out to chase them away. Steamboat gets attacked by the Carnage Crew who threaten the top rope piledriver until Dan Maff, BJ Whitmer and Mick Foley save.
Final Thoughts: This was a good but relatively one-sided I Quit Match. Jacobs had some good hope moments but for the most part he was dominated by Shelley like he had been for their whole rivalry in ROH. The big moments connected well and it really felt like the crowd finally bit on Jacobs having a chance with the last senton into the Border City Stretch, but for large parts this was just Shelley beating on an outmatched opponent which wasn’t that compelling. ***1/2- A good match but the one-sided nature made it hard to buy into Jimmy having a chance which hurt the drama of a lot of the “Do you quit” moments.
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