By Mike DeRosenroll, Torch specialist

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With Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat back in the public eye again after his WWE feud with Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 25, let's look at back at Steamboat's 2004 feud with C.M. Punk in ROH.

Punk vs. Steamboat was an unusual wrestling feud because there were no actual matches between them, just a series in-ring confrontations and promos. This may seem particularly odd for ROH, which is more known for its superior in-ring product than its characters, promos and storylines. In reality, former ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky, like his mentor Paul Heyman, would play to whatever the strengths of his talent were. Punk has excellent promo skills, and Sapolsky used that to play off the immense respect the ROH fans had for Steamboat to weave a great story.

Feud Overview

ROH's Second Anniversary Show featured a one-night tournament to crown the first ROH Pure Champion. The tournament final featured Punk and A.J. Styles. Pure Title matches were always wrestled under "pure wrestling rules." I won't get into all the rules here, but the relevant one was the three rope break rule. To encourage more reversals and chain wrestling, wrestlers would only get three chances to use the ropes to break up pins or submissions. After using their rope breaks, they could lose the match while in the ropes.

In the middle of the Punk-Styles tournament final, the referee incorrectly charged Punk with a rope break. This led to a controversial finish where Styles pinned Punk while Punk's foot was on the ropes, but the ref counted the pin because he thought Punk was out of rope breaks.

The error set up a Pure Title rematch between Punk and Styles a month later at At Our Best, the first ever ROH WrestleMania weekend supershow. To avoid more refereeing controversy, Ricky Steamboat was brought in as the special guest referee. Of course, there was more controversy. Punk believed Steamboat should have awarded him the match when he had Styles in a sleeper hold, but Steamboat did not call for the bell. This allowed Styles to escape and go on to win.

After the match, Punk cut an angry promo on Steamboat and tried to blindside him, but Steamboat reversed the attack and schooled Punk with some patented deep arm drags and chops.

Punk and Steamboat continued to feud through Reborn Stage One, ROH's debut in St. Paul, Minnesota, leading to a major escalation at Round Robin Challenge III in Boston. Punk and his tag team partner Colt Cabana double teamed Steamboat and laid him out on a table in the ring, allowing Punk to leg drop Steamboat from the top rope through the table.

All this set up a major confrontation between Punk and Steamboat at Generation Next in Philadelphia. The crowd heat for this segment was incredible. The fans desperately wanted to see Steamboat teach Punk a lesson. After some promos back-and-forth, Punk sucker punched Steamboat and the two fought in the ring for several minutes. Just as Steamboat gained the upper hand, Cabana hit the ring and turned the tide. Then, in perhaps the most memorable moment of the feud, Punk grabbed the ring bell and, shades of Steamboat's famous feud with Randy Savage, viciously came off the top rope to drive the bell into Steamboat's throat.

Steamboat spent the next two months out of ROH selling the throat injury. In the meantime, Punk started his famous feud with Samoa Joe and started teasing a babyface turn.

Steamboat returned to confront Punk one last time at Reborn Completion in New Jersey. The two battled until Steamboat got the upper hand on Punk and stood over him preparing to drive the ring bell down into Punk's throat as payback. But instead of taking revenge, he grabbed the mic and cut a great promo challenging Punk to become the man that Steamboat believed he could be.

Before Punk could answer, Generation Next (Austin Aries, Jack Evans, Alex Shelley, and Roderick Strong) hit the ring and beat down Steamboat while Punk recovered. Punk then gave Steamboat his answer, and completed his babyface turn, by coming to Steamboat's rescue. The two teamed up to clear Generation Next from the ring.

Punk's turn was a great emotional moment. Steamboat, not known as a great promo guy, really rose to the occasion and made it work. The two would now go forward as allies in a feud against Generation Next, a rising new heel faction.

Analysis

This feud accomplished its purpose by turning Punk babyface in a memorable and dramatic way. Punk's face turn was inevitable because he had been starting to draw cheers from the ROH fans despite being a leading heel. Pairing Punk with Steamboat kept Punk heel for a few extra months because the fans had so much admiration for Steamboat that Punk's actions against him drew huge heat. But that did not change the fans' underlying desire to cheer for Punk, so the babyface turn at the end gave the fans what they wanted in a satisfying way.

My one criticism of the feud was that Steamboat never got a resolution with Colt Cabana. Cabana was Punk's accomplice during three beat downs on Steamboat, including holding Steamboat down while Punk came off the top rope with the ring bell in Philadelphia. It felt like a loose end was never tied up because Steamboat never got a chance to settle things with Cabana. As Punk's tag team partner, Cabana just seemed to follow Punk into the face turn, but never got the character development that Punk got to explain it.

In a recent Figure Four Daily interview, Sapolsky said he had hoped Steamboat would agree to wrestle Punk in a match to conclude the feud. According to Sapolsky, Steamboat was ready to accept until Ric Flair got in his ear and convinced him to save coming out of retirement for a bigger occasion. Steamboat eventually did come out of retirement for his WrestleMania match with Jericho this year, and their subsequent feud.

It is too bad Steamboat did not agree to wrestle Punk, because I do not think Steamboat's run with Jericho this year would have been affected either way. The proportion of WWE fans who watch ROH is very low, and the fact that Steamboat had not wrestled a match since 1994 was not a major selling point of the Jericho feud anyway. But even without an official match, Punk and Steamboat delivered a very entertaining and satisfying story for the ROH fans.

Recommended Shows to See This Feud

-- Must See: At Our Best, Generation Next, Reborn Completion
-- Optional: Second Anniversary Show, Reborn Stage One, Round Robin Challenge III

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