Third Anniversary Celebration was the third Anniversary Show professional wrestling event produced by Ring of Honor (ROH). It was a three-day event which took place on February 19, 25 and 26, 2005 at different venues.
The February 19 show took place at Rex Plex in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The event was headlined by a Scramble match in which The Ring Crew Express (Dunn and Marcos) defeated Azrieal and Dixie, Generation Next (Jack Evans and Roderick Strong), Special K (Deranged and Izzy) and The Carnage Crew (DeVito and Loc). In other prominent matches on the card, Austin Aries defeated Colt Cabana in a steel cage match to retain the ROH World Championship, B. J. Whitmer and Dan Maff defeated The Havana Pitbulls (Ricky Reyes and Rocky Romero) to win the ROH Tag Team Championship, John Wwalters retained the ROH Pure Championship against Jay Lethal and Homicide defeated Bryan Danielson in a Taped Fist match, the second match of the Match 2 of the Best of Five Series between the two.
The February 25 show took place at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Dayton, Ohio. The event marked the return of A.J. Styles to ROH for the first time in over a year who last appeared for the promotion at At Our Best on March 13, 2004. He headlined the event against Jimmy Rave in a losing effort. In other prominent matches at the event, Bryan Danielson and Samoa Joe defeated Generation Next (Austin Aries and Jack Evans) in a tag team match and B. J. Whitmer and Dan Maff retained the ROH Tag Team Championship against Delirious and Jimmy Jacobs. The event also featured the ROH debut of James Gibson against Spanky.
The February 26 show emanated from the Frontier Fieldhouse in Chicago Ridge, Illinois. In the main event, Austin Aries retained the ROH World Championship against Samoa Joe. The undercard notably featured the third match in the Best of Five Series between Homicide and Bryan Danielson, a Falls Count Anywhere match which Danielson won. Also at the event, Jimmy Rave defeated CM Punk and the team of Colt Cabana and Nigel McGuinness defeated B. J. Whitmer and Dan Maff in a non-title tag team match.
Storylines
Main event matches
At the second night of Death Before Dishonor II on July 24, 2004, The Second City Saints (Ace Steel and CM Punk) defeated B. J. Whitmer and Dan Maff in an Unsanctioned Chicago Street Fight. After the match, Generation Next attacked the Saints. At Scramble Cage Melee, Steel defeated Generation Next member Roderick Strong but was attacked by Generation Next after the match which led to Second City Saints member Colt Cabana making the save and setting up an impromptu match against Generation Next's Austin Aries. Aries injured Cabana by brutalizing him and making him pass out by injuring his arm in a post-match assault. Cabana returned to ROH at All Star Extravaganza 2 where he teamed with Jimmy Jacobs to rescue Bobby Heenan from Generation Next. After Aries won the ROH World Championship at Final Battle, Cabana challenged him for the title at It All Begins which Aries retained. After the match, Cabana challenged Aries to a steel cage match for the title at Third Anniversary Celebration.
At Final Battle, it was announced that AJ Styles would make his return to ROH at the Third Anniversary Celebration after a nearly one-year hiatus having last appeared at At Our Best on March 13, 2004. His opponent was announced to be Jimmy Rave.
At Final Battle, Austin Aries defeated Samoa Joe to win the ROH World Championship. It was later announced that Joe would receive his rematch for the title against Aries at night three of Third Anniversary Celebration.
Undercard matches
The feud between Bryan Danielson and Homicide dated back to Reborn: Stage Two on April 24, 2004 where Homicide cheated to defeat Danielson. A rematch took place between the two at All Star Extravaganza 2 which Danielson won but Danielson was attacked by Homicide's group The Rottweilers who went too far by attempting to rip off Danielson's eye. At Final Battle, it was announced that a Match 2 of the Best of Five Series would take place between the two. Later that night, Homicide interfered in Danielson's match with Rottweilers stablemate Low Ki and attacked Danielson by injuring his arm with a chair shot. The first match of the series between the two was a submission match which took place at It All Begins on January 15, 2005, which Homicide won with assistance by Julius Smokes. After the match, Rottweilers attacked Danielson but he fended off their assault and it was announced that the second match of the series between the two would be a Taped Fist match which would take place at the Third Anniversary Celebration.