5 ROH Callbacks You Missed On AEW Dynamite Last Night

1. "I'm A Snake"

CM Punk MJF AEW Dynamite ROH Death By Dishonor III I'm A Snake
AEW.com

Taken on its own and in a bubble, MJF's attack on CM Punk and subsequent verbal berating was a piece of pro wrestling gold. Making this all the more brilliant, though, is how it was a direct callback to the Second City Saint's post-match promo from 2005's ROH Death Before Dishonor III.

As Punk put it in '05 after dethroning Austin Aries to become the new ROH World Champion:

"You stupid old man. I'm a snake. The greatest thing the Devil ever did was make you people believe he didn't exist... and you're looking at him right now! I am the Devil himself and all of you stupid, mindless people fell for it."

The old man in question that time around was the legendary Ricky Steamboat, with the Dragon serving as an ROH authority figure who was butting heads with CM Punk.

In terms of MJF, after duping CM Punk and assaulting him, the Salt of the Earth emphatically, clinically stated:

"You stupid, stupid old man. I'm a snake. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist. And this Sunday, at Revolution, I'm going to show you and all these mindless sheep that I am the Devil himself."

Pretty similar, right? In terms of further callbacks with this segment, elements of that initial Punk promo were nods to a Jake Roberts promo from over a decade prior, whilst the line about the Devil originated from French theorist Charles Baudelaire and was further popularised after being utilised in 1995's The Usual Suspects.

Credit to the @EIiteAEW Twitter account for putting this clip together:

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