ROH · 2003–2005
The Second City Saints
Overview
Chicago's team, and the two years that made CM Punk a name worth signing.
The Second City Saints were a Ring of Honor stable made up of CM Punk, Colt Cabana and Ace Steel — Punk's and Cabana's trainer, and the third Chicagoan in the group, which is where the name comes from. They formed on March 22, 2003 at ROH's Night of Champions in Philadelphia and effectively ended in August 2005 when Punk left for WWE. Two valets worked with them: Lucy, and Traci Brooks, who joined on January 10, 2004.
The group existed to give Punk's straight edge character an opposite number and a home. ROH in 2003 was a small company selling itself on wrestling quality and long-form storytelling, and Punk's feud with Raven — the sober zealot against the addict, a rivalry Punk rooted publicly in his own alcoholic father — was one of the first things it told a story with. The Saints were formed out of that feud, in the most literal way: Cabana had been Raven's ally, and turned on him.
What it changed was the shape of Punk's career and, arguably, the shape of the American independent scene. The Saints gave him a tag run to learn in — two ROH Tag Team Championship reigns with Cabana across the summer of 2004, both won from the Briscoe Brothers — and then a platform for the angle that made him famous. In June 2005, having already signed with WWE, Punk beat Austin Aries for the ROH World Championship and spent the summer threatening to take the belt with him. ROH called it the Summer of Punk, and it is still the template every promotion reaches for when a champion is about to leave.
It ended in Chicago Ridge on August 13, 2005, the night after Punk dropped the title, with Cabana beating him two falls to one in a best-of-three at a show called Punk: The Final Chapter. The Saints were never formally broken up; the man they were built around simply left, and the other two went their own way.
29
months active
3
core members
3
title reigns
2
ROH tag reigns
55
days ROH World Champ
| Promotion | Ring of Honor |
|---|---|
| Formed | Mar 22, 2003 ROH Night of Champions, Philadelphia. Corroborated by the Ace Steel and Colt Cabana articles. |
| Members | 3 (plus 2 valets) |
| Named for | Chicago All three men were from Chicago, the Second City. |
| Tag reigns | 2 ROH Tag Team Championship, Apr 24 2004 and May 15 2004, both won from the Briscoes. |
| World title | 1 CM Punk, Jun 18 – Aug 12, 2005. The Summer of Punk. |
| Ended | Aug 13, 2005 Punk's final ROH match, a 2-out-of-3 falls loss to Colt Cabana in Chicago Ridge. |
| Biggest rival | Raven |
Members
5 membersThree wrestlers and two valets. Wikipedia's member list is the three; the valets are recorded in the article body and are included here for completeness.
Colt Cabana
Ace Steel
Lucy
Traci Brooks
Who they were
CM Punk
The straight edge half of the Raven feud and the reason the group existed. Two ROH Tag Team Championship reigns with Cabana, then the ROH World Championship from June 18 to August 12, 2005 — the Summer of Punk.
Colt Cabana
Started as Punk's rival and as Raven's ally, then turned on Raven on March 22, 2003 and joined them. Punk's tag partner for both ROH Tag Team Championship reigns, and his opponent in Punk's last ROH match.
Ace Steel
Trained both Punk and Cabana. He was the man Raven pinned in the tag match that created the group. Released from a WWE developmental contract on February 4, 2008, and later a coach in both WWE and AEW.
Lucy
Worked with the group as its valet. An angle in which she was assaulted set up the Saints' war with The Prophecy, which came to a head at Final Battle 2003.
Traci Brooks
Joined the Second City Saints as the group's newest valet at The Battle Lines Are Drawn on January 10, 2004.
Punk and Cabana were both trained by Ace Steel, which is why the stable reads like a gym rather than an alliance.
Timeline
14 beatsRing of Honor ran house shows, not weekly television, so the beats are events rather than episodes. Dates and match times below come from ROH results archives.
- Mar 15, 2003
Punk vs Raven begins
At Expect The Unexpected in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Punk beats the debuting Raven by submission with a hammerlock legsweep in a Raven's Rules match at 28:52. The feud is built on Punk's straight edge lifestyle against Raven's addiction.
- Mar 22, 2003
Formation · Night of Champions
In Philadelphia, Raven and Colt Cabana beat Punk and Ace Steel in a Raven's Rules match, Raven pinning Steel. After the bell Cabana turns on Raven and sides with Punk and Steel. Three men from Chicago: the Second City Saints.
- Jun 14, 2003
Night of the Grudges
Raven returns to ROH after a three-month absence and teams with B.J. Whitmer against Punk and Cabana in a no-disqualification match in Cambridge. Cabana pins Whitmer with the Colt .45 at 16:50.
- Jul 19, 2003
Death Before Dishonor · dog collar
At the Rex Plex in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Punk pins Raven in a dog collar match at 18:22 after Cabana interferes behind the downed referee. The most violent night of the feud.
- Nov 28, 2003
The Conclusion · steel cage
In Fairfield, Connecticut, Punk beats Raven in a steel cage match at 17:06 by escaping the cage, settling the rivalry.
- Dec 27, 2003
Final Battle 2003 · The Prophecy
With Raven gone, the Saints turn on The Prophecy, attacking them at Final Battle in Philadelphia while investigating an assault on the group's valet Lucy.
- Jan 10, 2004
Traci Brooks joins
At The Battle Lines Are Drawn, Traci Brooks joins the Second City Saints as the group's newest valet.
- Apr 24, 2004
First ROH Tag Team Championship
At Reborn: Stage Two, at the Frontier Fieldhouse in Chicago Ridge, Illinois, Punk and Cabana beat the Briscoe Brothers for the ROH Tag Team Championship, Punk pinning Mark Briscoe with the Pepsi Plunge at 19:47. Won at home.
- May 15, 2004
Three title changes in one night
At Round Robin Challenge III in Lexington, Massachusetts, Dan Maff and B.J. Whitmer take the belts from Punk and Cabana at 7:05, the Briscoes take them from Maff and Whitmer at 13:24, and Punk and Cabana take them back from the Briscoes at 19:14, Cabana pinning Mark with a frog splash.
- Aug 7, 2004
Testing the Limit · the reign ends
In Philadelphia, Ricky Reyes and Rocky Romero — the Havana Pitbulls — beat Punk and Cabana for the ROH Tag Team Championship, ending an 84-day second reign.
- 2004
Chicago's Elite
Ring of Honor releases Chicago's Elite: The Best of the Second City Saints, the compilation that fixed the group in the tape-trading memory of the era.
- Jun 18, 2005
Death Before Dishonor III · the Summer of Punk
In Morristown, New Jersey, having already signed with WWE, Punk pins ROH World Champion Austin Aries with a Pepsi Plunge off the top at 30:29 to win the title. He spends the summer promising to take the belt to WWE with him.
- Aug 12, 2005
Redemption · the title goes
In Dayton, Ohio, James Gibson beats Punk, Christopher Daniels and ROH Pure Champion Samoa Joe in an elimination match at 50:41 to take the ROH World Championship. Punk's reign ends at 55 days.
- Aug 13, 2005
Punk: The Final Chapter
Back at Chicago Ridge, Illinois, Colt Cabana beats CM Punk two falls to one in a best two-out-of-three falls match at 27:47. Punk's last ROH match before WWE, against the man he formed the Saints with.
Championships
3 reignsThree reigns across two championships. Every one of them was won and lost inside Ring of Honor.
♛ ROH Tag Team Championship — first reign21 daysCM Punk & Colt Cabana · won April 24, 2004 at Reborn: Stage Two, Frontier Fieldhouse, Chicago Ridge, Illinois, beating the Briscoe Brothers (Punk pinned Mark with the Pepsi Plunge at 19:47). Lost May 15, 2004 to Dan Maff and B.J. Whitmer.
♛ ROH Tag Team Championship — second reign84 daysCM Punk & Colt Cabana · regained the same night, May 15, 2004, beating the Briscoe Brothers again (Cabana pinned Mark with a frog splash at 19:14). Lost August 7, 2004 at Testing the Limit in Philadelphia to Ricky Reyes and Rocky Romero, the Havana Pitbulls.
★ ROH World Championship55 daysCM Punk · won June 18, 2005 at Death Before Dishonor III in Morristown, New Jersey, pinning Austin Aries at 30:29. Lost August 12, 2005 at Redemption in Dayton, Ohio to James Gibson in a four-way elimination match also involving Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels, at 50:41.
The ROH World Championship is listed among the group's accomplishments by the Second City Saints article, and the dates are not in dispute. Worth saying plainly, though: by mid-2005 the Saints were a name more than a working unit, and the Summer of Punk was a singles angle.
Signature Moments
5 momentsFive nights, all of them on a Ring of Honor house show in front of a few hundred people.
Punk beats the debuting Raven
March 15, 2003 · Cambridge, Massachusetts — 28 minutes and 52 seconds of a Raven's Rules match that opened the feud the Saints were born out of. Punk wins by submission with a hammerlock legsweep.
Cabana turns, the Saints form
March 22, 2003 · Philadelphia — Raven and Cabana beat Punk and Ace Steel, Raven pinning Steel. Then Cabana turns on Raven after the bell and walks out with the men he just beat. The founding moment.
The dog collar match
July 19, 2003 · Rex Plex, Elizabeth, New Jersey — Punk and Raven chained together for 18:22, decided when Cabana interferes with the referee down. The feud's most infamous night and one of ROH's early signature brawls.
Tag gold at the Frontier Fieldhouse
April 24, 2004 · Chicago Ridge, Illinois — Punk pins Mark Briscoe with the Pepsi Plunge at 19:47 to win the ROH Tag Team Championship with Cabana, in front of the home crowd the group is named after.
The Summer of Punk begins
June 18, 2005 · Morristown, New Jersey — Punk beats Austin Aries for the ROH World Championship at 30:29, having already signed a WWE contract, and starts the summer-long angle about walking out with the belt.
Legacy
What the Saints left in Chicago, in Ring of Honor, and in everyone who was in it.
The Second City Saints are the reason CM Punk arrived in WWE already formed. The character WWE eventually built the Straight Edge Society and The New Nexus around — the sanctimonious sober man who talks better than he is supposed to be allowed to — was written, tested and refined in Ring of Honor buildings holding a few hundred people, against Raven, between 2003 and 2005.
The Summer of Punk is the group's other bequest, and it outgrew wrestling's memory of the Saints entirely. A champion who has signed elsewhere, refusing to drop the belt, is now a stock storyline; in 2005 it was startling enough that Punk was still being asked about it a decade later. The pipe bomb promo of June 27, 2011 name-checks Ring of Honor directly — the WWE angle that made Punk a star was, in part, a callback to this one.
The three members ended up scattered across the modern industry: one of the biggest draws of the 2010s, one of independent wrestling's most durable self-made careers and one of the most-travelled coaches in the business. For a stable that existed for twenty-nine months in front of small crowds, that is a considerable amount of downstream weather.
Where they went
CM Punk
Left ROH for WWE in August 2005. Won the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank on July 17, 2011 and again at Survivor Series on November 20, 2011, holding it 434 days.
Colt Cabana
Signed with WWE on April 3, 2007, debuted on the main roster as Scotty Goldman on August 15, 2008 and was released on February 20, 2009. Signed with AEW in February 2020.
Ace Steel
Released from WWE developmental on February 4, 2008. Signed as a WWE Performance Center coach in November 2019, released January 5, 2022, then worked for AEW.
Raven
The rival the Saints were built out of. Punk beat him at Expect the Unexpected, in a dog collar match at Death Before Dishonor and in a steel cage at The Conclusion, all within 2003.
Frequently Asked
6 questionsWhen did the Second City Saints form?
March 22, 2003, at Ring of Honor's Night of Champions in Philadelphia. Raven and Colt Cabana beat CM Punk and Ace Steel in a Raven's Rules match; after the bell Cabana turned on Raven and left with Punk and Steel. Wikipedia's infobox, the Ace Steel article and the Colt Cabana article all point at that card. Note: Wrestle Lore's own CM Punk dossier currently dates the group “2002–05”, which the sources do not support.
Who was in the Second City Saints?
Three wrestlers: CM Punk, Colt Cabana and Ace Steel, all from Chicago, which is where the name comes from — and Steel had trained the other two. Two valets worked with the group: Lucy, and Traci Brooks, who joined at The Battle Lines Are Drawn on January 10, 2004.
How many championships did the Second City Saints win?
Three reigns. Punk and Cabana won the ROH Tag Team Championship twice, on April 24, 2004 at Reborn: Stage Two and again on May 15, 2004 at Round Robin Challenge III — both times beating the Briscoe Brothers, and both reigns ending in defeat (21 days, then 84). Punk then held the ROH World Championship for 55 days, from June 18 to August 12, 2005.
What was the Summer of Punk?
Ring of Honor's name for the 2005 storyline in which Punk, having already signed a WWE contract, won the ROH World Championship from Austin Aries on June 18, 2005 and spent the summer threatening to take the belt to WWE with him. It ended on August 12, 2005, when James Gibson beat him, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels in a four-way elimination match at Redemption.
Did CM Punk really beat Raven in a dog collar match?
Yes. July 19, 2003, at Death Before Dishonor at the Rex Plex in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Punk pinned Raven at 18:22 after Cabana interfered while the referee was down. It was the third act of a feud that had already run through a Raven's Rules match in March and a tag match in June, and it was settled for good in a steel cage at The Conclusion on November 28, 2003.
How did the Second City Saints end?
They were never formally broken up. Punk left ROH for WWE in August 2005, wrestling his last match on August 13, 2005 at Punk: The Final Chapter in Chicago Ridge — a best two-out-of-three falls match he lost 2-1 to Colt Cabana. With the man the stable was built around gone, it simply stopped.
Sources
8 sourcesEvery date and match time on this page traces to one of these.
WikipediaThe Second City Saints
WikipediaCM Punk
WikipediaAce Steel
WikipediaColt Cabana
The History of WWEROH World Tag Team Title history
The History of WWERing of Honor 2003 results
The History of WWERing of Honor 2005 results
Three genuine conflicts came up while building this page and none of them are settled quietly. One: Wikipedia's CM Punk article says Cabana's turn let Punk and Steel win the March 22, 2003 tag match; two independent results archives have Raven and Cabana winning, with Raven pinning Ace Steel and the turn coming after the bell — this page follows the archives. Two: thehistoryofwwe.com labels the May 15, 2004 Lexington card “Round Robin Challenge II”; Wikipedia, 411Mania and the event databases call it “Round Robin Challenge III”. Same card. Three: the Second City Saints article calls Money in the Bank 2011 an unofficial reunion; the Money in the Bank (2011) article puts Cabana and Steel with Punk in TMZ photographs on the streets of Chicago after the show, not at ringside.