BJ Whitmer & Jimmy Jacobs vs. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans ROH Manhattan Mayhem 5/7/05

Well that was pretty crazy.  Every move that was done in this match was used to cause paralysis to the opponent, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it.  The only complaint I have is that the double team finishers were not sold long enough, but this was awesome stuff.

James Gibson vs. Black Tiger ROH Manhattan Mayhem 5/7/05

Man is Gibson fucking great.  BT had some nice counters in it, but he would stand around and do nothing at points and hurt momentum.  Gibson’s selling of the after effects of the submissions was world class and totally elevated the match.  Another keeper.

Samoa Joe vs. Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuiness vs. Alex Shelley ROH Double Stakes Four-Corner Survival Match Stalemate 4/16/05

Rules: 2 pinfalls.  1^st pinfall gets a shot at the Pure championship while the fall guy is eliminated.  2^nd pinfall is for the ROH World Championship title shot. 

Probably the best match I’ve seen so far.  Had some really slick chain wrestling in it with Colt and Joe being awesome in it.  The submission breakups were actually good because they stopped to think about giving the pure title an aura of importance to it.  The Nigel/Shelly section didn’t really work for me because they eliminated the two best wrestlers before that and the match kind of lost its heat.  Still wasn’t long enough to ruin it.  The best so far.

Austin Aries vs. Homicide ROH Best of the American Super-Juniors Tournament 4/2/05

Probably the worst very good match I’ve seen so far and I’ve seen a lot of them.  The issues, Homicide jumping back on offense too quickly at points, Homicide’s crappy fighting spirit act, and the match not really having a story.  It did get intense near the end.  I’ll keep for now.

James Gibson vs Roderick Strong ROH Best of the American Super-Juniors Tournament 4/2/05

Nice carry job by Gibson.  Sold the back work like a champion and led Strong through some nice sequences.  Ending didn’t click with me, but its way better then Strong’s match against Homicide.  Worth a rewatch.

Bryan Danielson vs. Spanky ROH Best of the American Super-Juniors Tournament 4/2/05

Very good, but not in the realm of it being one of the top 50 ROH matches of all time from back in 06.  Spanky showed good ring awareness, but didn’t really do that well in selling the arm work.  Good for a rewatch, but I’m not even sure it’s better then some of the 3^rd Anniversary matches.

Roderick Strong vs Homicide ROH Back to Basics 3/12/05

This did not interest me one bit.  I guess they were trying to show that Roderick was in Homicide’s league, but this was just bland.  Homicide actually seemed to be selling, but he sold it when he was in control which was just confusing.  Skip it.

Homicide, Rocky Romero, Ricky Reyes vs Generation Next Trios Tournament Final ROH Trios Tournament 2005 3/5/05

I’m glad I watched this match, just so I could reassure myself that I’m not being too easy of a grader.  I thought this stunk.  Too many breaking up of the pins.  Nothing like the July 08 Battlarts 6-man where they found the cringe inducing ways to break up submissions.  I’m losing focus writing this because this match lost my focus and the audience’s focus.  Just a total black hole of a match.  PS, the Rottweilers suck.

Samoa Joe, Vordell Walker & Bryan Danielson VS James Gibson, Spanky & Nigel McGuinness ROH Trios Tournament 2005 3/5/05

Another solid effort, which seems to be becoming the norm in 05.  I don’t think it is the great match that some have suggested.  Why, I don’t know.  There just seemed to be something missing that I can’t finger on.  Maybe Vordell who did look a little lost at points, but wasn’t really terrible.  It didn’t connect with me, but that what the rewatches are there for. 

Jimmy Rave VS AJ Styles ROH 3rd Year Anniversary Part 2 2/25/05

Another fun match.  AJ was more aggressive in this and cleaned Jimmy’s clock on a couple moves, especially the apron brainbuster.  I do think Jimmy should have been more aggressive in the middle and should have picked up a little more during the match, but what was here was fine.  That makes four matches from 3^rd Year Anniversary Night 2 that I going to rewatch.  None I would say are blow away MOTYC, but they serve there purpose.

Samoa Joe and Bryan Danielson vs. Jack Evans and Austin Aries ROH Third Anniversary Celebration Part 2 2/25/05

This match was really fun half way through and then started to dip with Gen Next’s control section.  Too many “let’s take everything to the outside” spots.  There was also a really noticeable botch near the end.  Enough for a rewatch.

CM Punk vs. Alex Shelley ROH 3rd Anniversary Celebration Night 2 2/25/05

Another very good one.  Some really good selling from both.  Maybe some of the control sections were a little dry, but I feel there enough here to put on the rewatch pile. 

James Gibson vs. Spanky ROH 3rd Anniversary Celebration Night 2 2/25/05

This was super fun.  Gibson came off as one of the best workers in ROH in just his first match.  His arm work was efficient, the strikes he threw looked great, and his reversals were crisp.  The only thing I could complain about is Spanky’s selling, but other then that I really liked it. 

Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuiness ROH 3rd Anniversary Celebration Part 2 2/25/05

Easy match, but probably the best match I've seen so far.  Mostly comedy, until the final two minutes.  Wish it would have went a little longer, then it could have went in the rewatch pile.

Austin Aries VS Colt Cabana Cage Match ROH 3rd Year Anniversary Part 1 2/19/05

It was a good match, but it was hurt by the cage match stipulation.  I know it is said that there are two ways to win a cage match, but in reality there are three (pin/submission, escape over the cage, and escape through the door).  The problem is that they would do the worst possible option at every turn when they had there opponent down. This is why I feel that we should never have anyone escape through door in cage matches.  The big detractor of the match was the story.  I know Austin gave Cabana a brainbuster on the stage in there last title match, but other then that, meh.  It works as a good by-the-numbers cage match and that is that.

Homicide vs Bryan Danielson ROH Tap-Out Match It All Begins 1/15/05

Weird little match.  Starts off with these two brawling into the crowd until a camera gets knocked out, and now both are in the ring and then the bell rings.  So they do the exact opposite of a tap-out match before the actual match begins and now there really isn’t much heat in this match.  The match was fine, but it just seemed like it was missing something.  The selling was OK but I’ve seen better.  I’ll pass on this one.

Altar Boy Luke vs Outcast Killaz vs Fast Eddie vs Dunn & Marcos vs Carnage Crew vs Jack Evans vs Dan Maff/BJ Whitmer vs Trent Acid ROH Scramble Cage Melee Match Scramble Cage Melee 8/28/04

This was a hell of a lot better then I thought.  Definitely 100% insane but had better structure then I would have thought.  Plus, all the dives looked great (except for maybe the botched rana, which doesn’t really count as a dive).  The selling for them was hit or miss.  The big offenders were Maff/Whitmer and maybe the Carnage Crew (although I’m a little hazy on that one.)  Although to be fair they were feuding at that point.  Fuck it, I’ll update my last post and throw this up there.     

Best of ROH 2004

1. ROH Title Cage Match Samoa Joe vs. Jay Briscoe ROH At Our Best 3/13/04
2. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk ROH Joe vs. Punk II 10/16/04
3. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk ROH World Title Classic 6/12/04
4. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki vs. Dan Maff vs. BJ Whitmer ROH Second Anniversary Show 2/14/04
5. Tag Titles Match Briscoe Bros. vs. CM Punk & Colt Cabana ROH Reborn Stage 2 4/24/04
6. I Quit Match Alex Shelley vs. Jimmy Jacobs ROH Joe vs. Punk II 10/16/04
7. 2/3 Falls Match Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Testing the Limit 8/7/04
8. Pure Title Match Finals Alex Shelley vs Doug Williams ROH Reborn Completion 7/17/04
9. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk ROH All Star Extravaganza II 12/4/04
10. Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Reborn Stage 2 4/24/04
11. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries ROH Final Battle 2004 12/26/04
12. Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, & Roderick Strong vs. Jimmy Rave, John Walters, & Matt Stryker ROH World Title Classic 6/12/04
13. Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, & Jack Evans vs. Briscoe Bros., Jimmy Rave, & John Walters ROH Generation Next 5/22/04
14. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Midnight Express Reunion 10/2/04
15. Hardcore Match CM Punk & Ace Steel vs. Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer ROH Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 2 7/24/04
16. John Walters vs Nigel McGuiness ROH Pure Title Match Glory by Honor 3 9/11/04
17. Austin Aries vs Low Ki ROH All Star Extravaganza 12/4/04
18. Nigel McGuiness vs Jimmy Rave vs Rocky Romero vs Austin Aries ROH Reborn Stage 2 4/24/04

19. Altar Boy Luke vs Outcast Killaz vs Fast Eddie vs Dunn & Marcos vs Carnage Crew vs Jack Evans vs Dan Maff/BJ Whitmer vs Trent Acid ROH Scramble Cage Melee Match Scramble Cage Melee 8/28/04

Austin Aries vs Low Ki ROH All Star Extravaganza 12/4/04

I think it is good enough, but barely. First 5 or so minutes were boring and listless, but got better after the heat seeking missile. The rib work was fine; the selling was OK but could have been better. I didn’t like how obvious it was that it was going to a draw. But I liked it just enough.

I may have to rewatch some of the stuff from 2004 that didn’t make the bold list. I know there was some stuff I couldn’t find online for 03-04, so that I will look for on a later date. I’ll put up the ROH 04 list and go to ROH 05.

John Walters vs Nigel McGuiness ROH Pure Title Match Glory by Honor 3 9/11/04

Probably, the best of the new matches in this go around.  Definitely dug the nifty mat work and the chess match atmosphere on whether to take a rope break or not.  I think the ending would have been a bit better, if Nigel didn’t dive on Walters a few seconds before that.  Not super high end, but I dug it enough.  

CM Punk vs Homicide vs Samoa Joe ROH Scramble Cage Melee 8/28/04

I thought I was watching a WWE match from 2000-03 with the stealing of the finishers.  The match had a lot standing around in the beginning and then it degenerated into no selling, screwed up spots, and I think there was some comedy in there.  Didn’t like it.   

Spanky vs Homicide ROH Round Robin Challenge 2 5/14/04

This kind of stunk.  A bit too much BAF, and the selling was kind of spotty at points.  Skip. 

Nigel McGuiness vs Jimmy Rave vs Rocky Romero vs Austin Aries ROH Reborn Stage 2 4/24/04

Another tricky one.  The mat wrestling for a chunk of the first half was fun, but then it led to some questionable arm selling by Rave.  It did lead to a fun stretch run to end it.  Would have been better if Rave sold better, but as it is, it barely goes above the cut line. 

CM Punk vs AJ Styles ROH Pure Wrestling Title Tournament Final Second Anniversary show 2/14/04

I’m kind of getting a déjà vu feeling from this match compared to there 10/03 match.  I feel the difference between this match and there 03 match was that Punk was smart enough to drop the back work when AJ was selling in 03.  Here AJ didn’t sell the leg and Punk still tried to go for submissions that AJ wasn’t going to sell.  I know AJ used his rope breaks, but there really isn’t any way to get a suspenseful near fall if you don’t sell like you are in danger.  Maybe I should rewatch there March match.

Briscoe Bros. vs Samoa Joe/Bryan Danielson ROH Tag Title Match The Battle Lines are Drawn 1/10/04

This one is tough.  I mean it was pretty fun for the first half, but then after the doomsday device, it kind of got worse.  The 03 match with Styles replacing Dragon was more trimmer and higher percentage of goodness.  This match, I just can’t add this to the other high end matches of 04.

AJ Styles vs Homicide ROH The Battle Lines are Drawn 1/10/04

Pretty forgettable except for Homicide’s tope.  Boring and the crowd was pretty lukewarm on top of that.  Skip.

Best of ROH 2003

1. Hardcore Match Homicide vs. Steve Corino ROH Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 8/16/03
2. ROH Title Shot Match AJ Styles vs. Paul London ROH Night of the Grudges 6/14/03
3. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Jay Briscoe ROH Tradition Continues 10/16/03
4. Semi-Hardcore Match ("No Holds Barred") Xavier & Christopher Daniels vs. Low Ki & AJ Styles ROH Revenge on the Prophecy 1/11/03
5. Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Revenge on the Prophecy 1/11/03
6. Christopher Daniels vs. Paul London ROH Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II 4/26/03
7. No Rope Barbed Wire Match Homicide vs. Steve Corino ROH War of the Wire 11/29/03
8. Christopher Daniels vs. John Walters ROH Empire State Showdown 10/25/03
9. ROH Title Shot Match Xavier vs. Christopher Daniels ROH Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 8/16/03
10. CM Punk vs. Steve Corino ROH Empire State Showdown 10/25/03
11. Scramble Cage Jack Evans & Teddy Hart vs. Backseat Boyz vs. Carnage Crew vs. The SAT vs. Hydro & Angeldust ROH Main Event Spectacles 11/1/03
12. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Homicide ROH Do or Die 5/31/03
13. Tag Titles Match Briscoe Bros. vs. Samoa Joe & AJ Styles ROH The Conclusion 11/28/03
14. Jody Fleisch vs Low Ki ROH Night of Champions 3/22/03
15. ROH Title Shot Match Homicide vs. Colt Cabana vs. Dan Maff vs. BJ Whitmer ROH Death Before Dishonor 7/19/03
16. Hardcore Match Xavier vs. John Walters ROH Final Battle 2003 12/27/03
17. Fighting Spirit Challenge Homicide vs. BJ Whitmer ROH Main Event Spectacles 11/1/03
18. ROH Title Shot - FWA Title Match Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams ROH Night of Champions 3/22/03
19. ROH Title Shot Match Low Ki vs. Paul London vs. AJ Styles ROH One Year Anniversary Show 2/8/03
20. CM Punk vs. AJ Styles ROH Tradition Continues 10/16/03

Xavier/Walters Hardcore Match rewatch

There were a lot of fun hellish spots, but way too back and forth.  Add the somewhat botched ending and it is bottom half.  I’ll try to put the 03 list out.

Corino/Homicide Barbed Wire Match rewatch

This dropped a couple spots for me.  There were sections in this match that were either unnecessary or were not sold to its full effect.  It was still violent spectacle. 

Briscoes vs Joe/Styles rewatch

This felt like the tag team version of the Homicide/Joe Do or Die match.  What was there was fun, but the basics came off as an afterthought.  By basics I mean no easy transitions, selling, no YTMT sections, etc.  It was very good.   

Scramble Cage rewatch

It’s still a fun spotfest.  A lot of the selling in the beginning felt a bit iffy in that they went back on offense too soon, but it got crazy in the second half and everybody in the audience lost there shit.  Definitely fun, but not elite level.

BJ/Homicide Fighting Spirit Match rewatch

A lot of stuff in the first half felt half-hearted.  It did get interesting with the head butt and the repeated punting and BJ having to man up.  Not back and forth, but the selling kind of left me feeling flat.

Punk/Corino rewatch

The match is clipped by just under 2 minutes.  The beginning and ending was fun stuff although the middle didn’t strike me as being that memorable, but had nothing really wrong with it otherwise.  Middling. 

Daniels/Walters rewatch

Man, this match is similar to the Daniels/Xavier match.  This match had one minor botch while Daniels/Xavier had one comeback that came a bit too easy.  Xavier and Walters selling were about the same in that it should have been better, so that’s a tie.  Daniels selling against Walters was probably a little better because he wasn’t being put in the position to sell the whole match.  Wherever this ends up, it will be next to Xavier/Daniels.

J. Briscoe/Joe rewatch

Even better the second time.  Joe as the overconfident bully to Jay’s underdog who won’t back down was awesome stuff.  Doesn’t fall into any of the traps that I have seen in other matches.  Top 10.

Punk/Styles rewatch

About the same as last time I saw it.  Back work which didn’t mean anything and a fun final 5 minutes.  Last.

Corino/Homicide Hardcore Match rewatch

Still the real deal.  Not really a flaw in it except maybe Corino’s first comeback, after taking the barbed wire to the arm, in that he came back a bit too fast.  Certainly a top 10 or 5 match for 2003. 

Xavier/Daniels rewatch

I was shocked by how much this held up.  Way less back and forth the I remember it, unless you want to count the 2.9 count section at the end which somewhat negated the story.  If I were to compare Williams selling against Daniels to Xavier’s selling against Daniels, Williams was a 1 out of 10 while Xavier was a 4 out of 10.  This match is underrated, and Daniels/Williams isn’t.  Top half.

Homicide/Cabana/Maff/Whitmer rewatch

If you don’t have a hint of smarkness in you, this is a lot of fun.  Too much YTMT stuff and lack of story prevents me from giving it more love.  Lower half.

Styles/London rewatch

Maybe apart from one sequence, this match holds up pretty well.  AJ’s selling actually didn’t piss me off, too much.  Early on, his leg was hurting, but could pull off the occasional move.  Then he took the SSP, and was screwed at that point which eventually led to the finish.  #1 right now. 

Joe/Homicide rewatch

Still just as stiff of a slugfest as last time.  There were still points with Joe and Homicide where they would go back on offense way to quickly with the table tope being the biggest offender.  You also had the injury at the end and the Ki/Smokes shenanigans which also hurt this.   Reminds me most to Fleisch/Ki.  This goes just above it.

Daniels/London rewatch

Not the #1 match of 03 that I remember. I do feel there were instances where London would try to make the comeback a bit too quickly, but his selling was great. I do feel that this worked better then Daniels/Williams because Daniels in this match was not put in a position to hurt the match bad selling. I think what is happening with a lot of these matches is that there are matches that are technically sound are not really a major deal, and there are matches that are a major deal are not technically sound. All the matches I’ve rewatched so far have not had both.


As an aside, I am going to take out the Daniels/Joe match from the rewatch pile. I just realized that this match was similar to the Punk/Homicide match with its lack of good transitions.

Fleisch/Ki rewatch

Held up pretty well.  Some of Jody’s kicks didn’t connect well and there were points where somebody would pop back on offense too fast.  So same old complaints I’m having with mostly all ROH matches.  The lack of a story puts it in the middle right now.

Daniels/Williams rewatch

This did not hold up well on second viewing.  Besides Williams questionable selling, you had instances where someone would get back on offense too quickly or no sell the other’s offense.  It’s one thing if you get a flash submission, it is another thing to take a top rope move and take control in no time.  So, how to rank this?  It’s not better then “The Revenge on the Prophecy” matches.  Daniels selling is evened out by Williams selling and the issues are similar with the 3-way, but the is a better story in this match.  It is third right now.

Ki/London/Styles rewatch

Very good 3-way.  Not as good as “The Revenge on the Prophecy” matches because there is some questionable selling in a three minute stretch near the end and there isn’t as much story as I would like.  The reason I feel that the Ki/Danielson/Daniels 3-way worked was that I thought it was the perfect storyless 3-way and every 02 ROH match below it was flawed in some way.  This is a better year and is last right now. 

Xavier/Daniels vs. Ki/Styles rewatch

Still just as sprinty as the first time I saw it.  There were instances where they didn’t execute some things well, a heatless stretch near the end, and Ki dropping the neck work a bit too soon, but this match still holds up well.  I do feel this was a bigger deal and will put it above Joe/Danielson.

Joe/Danielson rewatch

Man this was still sweet.  I kind of feel it is better Midnight Express Reunion match because I thought Joe’s selling was better in this match.  In fact, I don’t think I could pinpoint anything that was wrong with this match except that it kind of came off as being low scale.  I will be shocked if it doesn’t finish top half.

ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles ROH War of the Wire 11/29/03

Another one close to the line, but I don’t think it is good enough.  The first third had some execution problems, the second third struck me as heatless, and the last third was fun.  I kind of question AJ’s strategy of trying to use power moves on Joe (considering most of it didn’t look good) and wasting his time with back work so late in the match.  And with that, I am going to rewatch 21 matches.  

CM Punk vs. Steve Corino ROH Empire State Showdown 10/25/03

Very similar to how I viewed the Punk/Styles match when it came to my enjoyment of it.  This differences is that it was clipped by about under 2 minutes, the middle had no perfuntionary body part work, and that it was a draw.  Another one on the rewatch pile.

CM Punk vs. AJ Styles ROH Tradition Continues 10/16/03

Really good match if you could get past the inconsequential middle.  The middle had some token back work which wasn’t really sold and which was not brought up the rest of the match.  Get rid of that and probably would have been a really solid 13 minute match.  Still, I’m down for a rewatch.

ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels ROH Glory By Honor II 9/20/03

After several attempts at megavideo, I finally got it.  Man, this is a tough one.  The problem is that the match is entirely back and forth and I’ve seen better matches put together by Joe and Daniels.  Even though I probably shouldn’t, I will put this on the rewatch list, but is probably the lowest end of the low end matches.

ROH Title Shot Match Xavier vs. Christopher Daniels ROH Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 8/16/03

It isn’t perfect or any of that I liked it enough to put on rewatch for 2003.  Nice structured match, although I feel the selling could have been better.  I’ll try to go more in depth down the line.

ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Paul London ROH Death Before Dishonor 7/19/03

Well that was a whole lot of nothing.  Final choke out had no heat because it was done out of the blue and the crowd was exhausted by midnight.  Skip.

Tag Titles Match AJ Styles & Amazing Red vs. Briscoe Bros. ROH Death Before Dishonor 7/19/03

Another good, if not special, tag match.  I did like the middle where they work over Red’s leg, but I felt like it really didn’t add anything in to the match.  I just couldn’t get into this match or any of there matches in 2003.  There just seemed to be something missing in all of these matches.  It would be good to look at the entire series at some point in the future.

Hardcore Match Homicide vs. Trent Acid ROH Wrestlerave 6/28/03

Brainless spotfest and a really bad one at that.  Pretty much spot, no sell, and move to the next spot.  Add in a botched Oklahoma Roll finish, and I pretty much never want to see this match again.

Tag Titles Match AJ Styles & Amazing Red vs. Briscoe Bros. ROH The Epic Encounter 4/12/03

A pretty awesome final 2 minutes does not justify a forgettable first 8 minutes.  Not terrible, but it just didn’t do it for me.

Jody Fleisch vs Low Ki ROH Night of Champions 3/22/03

Much better then I thought it would be.  Still has some flaws in the selling, but it outlived my expectations.  I will probably try to go into more detail on my rewatch.

Raven’s Rules Raven vs. CM Punk ROH Expect the Unexpected 3/15/03

The selling in this match hurt this big time.  The stuff with Punk and Trinity was more puzzling.  Trinity gets thrown in the fence, no sells, and does a top rope moonsault on the outside.  Punk then no sells that, plops Trinity on a table without hitting her, goes up top, and leg drops her through the table.  Other cameos include Raven applying the worst Sharpshooter ever, and Punk’s Devil Lock that looked liked ass.  Just didn’t dig it.

ROH Title Match Xavier vs. Paul London ROH One Year Anniversary Show 2/8/03

This was good, but it isn’t “cream of the crop” material.  I can live with a match that has interference in it, but some of the interference spots in this match weren’t executed well(the spear on the outside and Allison Danger pulling Xavier out.)  Xavier was fine, but London seemed off yet again.  I will give London a mulligan on this one because he fought in a 3 way earlier in the night.  Add some questionable selling and a finish where the referee missed Xavier pulling the tights right in front of him and I can easily pass on this one.    

Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Revenge on the Prophecy 1/11/03

This was super fun stuff.  The match is simple in that Danielson attacks the leg and Joe comes back by destroying Dragon in very hurty ways.  Joe selling of the leg was pretty great throughout.  I’m surprised this doesn’t get more love.

Homicide vs. Paul London vs. Colt Cabana vs. BJ Whitmer ROH Revenge on the Prophecy 1/11/03

Except for maybe the final 5 minutes, I got nothing out of this.  I saw this as the obligatory “do nothing for the first 15 minutes” with a “do 5 minutes of cool shit” finish.  London was off, Homicide was spotty and would rush through stuff, Colt had a tendency to brush offense off, and BJ somehow became the best wrestler in the match.  Skip.

Best ROH match of 2002 part 2

1. Low Ki vs. AJ Styles ROH A Night of Appreciation 4/27/02
2. Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Round Robin Challenge 3/30/02
3. Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels The Era of Honor Begins 2/23/02
4. Low Ki vs. Amazing Red ROH Road to the Title 6/22/02
5. Paul London vs Bryan Danielson ROH Night of the Butcher 12/7/02
6. Fight Without Honor Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe ROH Glory By Honor 10/5/02
7. Low Ki vs. Spanky vs. Doug Williams vs. Christopher Daniels 60 Minute Iron Man Match ROH Crowning a Champion 7/27/02
8. Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe ROH Honor Invades Boston – 8/24/02
9. Hardcore Match Paul London vs. Michael Shane ROH Unscripted 9/21/02
10. 30 Minute Iron Man Match Bryan Danielson vs. Doug Williams ROH Scramble Madness 11/16/02
11. Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels ROH Round Robin Challenge 3/30/02
12. Tag Titles Match Christopher Daniels, Donovan Morgan, & Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki, Homicide, & Doug Williams ROH All Star Extravaganza 11/9/02
13. AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn ROH Road to the Title 6/22/02
14. Amazing Red vs. Ikuto Hidaka ROH Glory by Honor 10/5/02
15. ROH Title Shot Gauntlet Final AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson ROH All Star Extravaganza 11/9/02
16. ROH Title Match Low Ki vs. AJ Styles ROH Honor Invades Boston 8/24/02
17. Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles ROH Road to the Title 6/22/02
18. Bryan Danielson vs. Doug Williams ROH Road to the Title 6/22/02
19. ROH Title Shot Match Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe vs. Steve Corino vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Final Battle 2002 12/28/02

London/Danielson 02 rewatch

If you could get past some back and forth moments in the middle, this match is very good.  I dig Danielson having a mean streak and just beating London’s ass.  Redone ROH 02 results are coming.

Danielson/Williams rewatch

It was alright, but it was way to overkilly and Dragon’s selling kind of sucked.  Add a couple of back and forth moments and I can safely put this on the bottom.

Joe/Ki rewatch

Still stiff.  Don’t know why Ki was wasting his time trying to go for armwork when all we really needed was these two to beating the shit out of each other.  Ending still felt anti-climatic.   

Shane/London rewatch

Worst BAF tendencies, worst selling.  It was built well, but it should have been better then it was. 

Briscoe/Briscoe rewatch

Way more back and forth then I remember it.  The story was fine, Mark’s selling was pretty good, but Jay’s selling wasn’t.  Way more flawed then I remembered and will drop a couple spots.

Ki/Spanky/Williams/Daniels Rewatch

Better then I thought it would be on rewatch.  The body parts were a big focus throughout, but eventually everybody just dropped the selling.  Still, this went 60 minutes and still had all of the issues a 60 match usually has.  Oh, and I’m happy there hasn’t been another 4-way ironman since then.

Ki/Red Rewatch

Very good match.  Never delved into back and forth territory when it could have easily have happened.  There was some stuff that didn’t come off well like the botched reverse rana but it was perfectly fine.

Styles/Ki Night of Appreciation Rewatch

This ruled.  Your love of the match will be determined on two things.  One, do you by AJ as an equal to Ki, and two, how you liked the ending.  My answers are “not as equal as Dragon” and “made sense, and was used to protect AJ”.  The difference between this match and Danielson/Ki is that this match was in the midcard and the other was in the main event.  I feel this was better from beginning to end and is #1 right now.

Danielson/Ki Rewatch

OK, maybe I was wrong the first time with this match.  I feel I was way too hard on this match the first time for lacking story considering that the 3 way wasn’t really any different.  The rewatch showed me that wasn’t really that generic so I apologize for that and didn’t drag as much as I thought it did.  Maybe Ki should not have attempted the Phoenix Splash so quickly after the Ki Crusher and maybe they could have ended it a little faster on the final submission.  That equates to a minute of stuff I didn’t want in a match that went over 30 minutes.  #1 right now.

Danielson/Daniels Rewatch

Not as sweet as I remember it.  The focus and the selling were good, but had a case of the YTMT crap.  I wonder how Ki/Danielson will be?

Ki/Danielson/Daniels Rewatch

Still ruled, still not a deep match.  But, there is nothing wrong beyond that and which was why I had this as the top ROH match of 02.  The match doesn’t drag and it ends when it needs to with lots of fun spots and ass-kicking in between.  I am hoping to find a deep story in the other ten matches I’m seeing, but I am not holding my breath.

30 Minute Iron Man Match Bryan Danielson vs. Doug Williams ROH Scramble Madness 11/16/02

Very good match, barely.  It was fine for the first fall, but after that they just seemed to struggle through getting to 30.  It is worthy to look back at.

Amazing Red vs. Ikuto Hidaka ROH Glory by Honor 10/5/02

It was alright.  I would say more, but like the last two matches, nothing is really sticking out.  Just the 30 minute Ironman is left in 02.

Bryan Danielson vs. Doug Williams ROH Road to the Title 6/22/02

Disappointing.  It was OK in the early going and then it went the AJ/Lynn route along with a Chaos Theory kickout and a crappy ending.  Pass.

AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn ROH Road to the Title 6/22/02

Good match, but a bit too much of a “your turn, my turn” match.  Considering it was a block match, they should have just let it end on the spiral tap.  It did have one of the smoothest bridges into a backslide that I recall seeing. 

Best of ROH 04

1. ROH Title Cage Match Samoa Joe vs. Jay Briscoe ROH At Our Best 3/13/04
2. Tag Titles Match Briscoe Bros. vs. CM Punk and Colt Cabana ROH Reborn Stage 2 4/24/04
3. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk ROH Joe vs. Punk II 10/16/04
4. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk ROH World Title Classic 6/12/04
5. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki vs. Dan Maff vs. BJ Whitmer ROH Second Anniversary Show 2/14/04
6. I Quit Match Alex Shelley vs. Jimmy Jacobs ROH Joe vs. Punk II 10/16/047. 2/3 Falls Match Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Testing the Limit 8/7/048. Pure Title Match Finals Alex Shelley vs Doug Williams ROH Reborn Completion 7/17/049. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk ROH All Star Extravaganza II 12/4/0410. Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Reborn Stage 2 4/24/0411. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries ROH Final Battle 2004 12/26/04
12. Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, and Roderick Strong vs. Jimmy Rave, John Walters, and Matt Stryker ROH World Title Classic 6/12/04
13. Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, and Jack Evans vs. Briscoe Bros., Jimmy Rave, and John Walters ROH Generation Next 5/22/04
14. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Midnight Express Reunion 10/2/04
15. Hardcore Match CM Punk and Ace Steel vs. Dan Maff and BJ Whitmer ROH Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 2 7/24/04
16. Tag Titles Match Briscoe Bros. vs. CM Punk and Colt Cabana ROH Round Robin Challenge III 5/15/04
17. Tag Titles Hardcore Match CM Punk and Colt Cabana vs. Dan Maff and BJ Whitmer ROH Generation Next 5/22/04
18. Alex Shelley vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Glory By Honor III 9/11/04
19. CM Punk vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Reborn Stage 1 4/23/04
20. Pure Title Match AJ Styles vs. CM Punk ROH At Our Best 3/13/04
21. Low Ki vs. Jay Lethal ROH Midnight Express Reunion 10/2/04
22. Samoa Joe and Jushin Liger vs. Low Ki and Bryan Danielson ROH Weekend of Thunder Night 2 11/6/04
23. Jushin Liger vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Weekend of Thunder Night 1 11/5/04
24. CM Punk, Ace Steel, and Jimmy Jacobs vs. Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, and Jack Evans ROH Gold 10/15/04
25. Pure Title Match Doug Williams vs. Alex Shelley ROH Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 1 7/23/04
26. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Homicide ROH Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 1 7/23/04
27. The 2004 Survival of the Fittest Elimination Match Final Elimination Match: Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Colt Cabana vs. Homicide (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Bryan Danielson
28. Tag Titles - 2/3 Falls Match CM Punk and Colt Cabana vs. Briscoe Bros. ROH Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 1 7/23/04
29. Samoa Joe and Briscoe Bros. vs. Homicide, Ricky Reyes, and Rocky Romero ROH Reborn Completion 7/17/04
30. The Prophecy vs. The Second City Saints ROH Battle Lines Are Drawn 1/10/04
31. Rocky Romero and Homicide vs. Roderick Strong and Jack Evans ROH Joe vs. Punk II 10/16/04
32. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Homicide ROH Generation Next 5/22/04

The ones in bold are the matches that I feel could be in the discussion as MOTYC, and the others, for one reason or another, aren't.  As of right now, I am probably going to look at some new matches that were recommended for ROH 02-04 and take another look at the high end matches of 02-03 ROH.

Joe/Aries rewatch

Joe’s selling, yet again, is non-existent.  Granted, selling a body part (this case a leg) is much harder then selling exhaustion and doesn’t necessarily need to be sold if it is for a little bit of the match.  The problem is that the leg was a focus for the entire match and was the opening which led to Aries finally hitting the brainbuster.  The match struck me as being similar to Joe/Punk III except without the exceptional structure.   The final sequence still rules, but I don’t feel the match is as great as people think.

Joe/Punk III rewatch

I feel this match could have been greater if it had better neck selling from Joe which has been a theme throughout my re-watching.  I did really like the match structure although there were some hiccups here and there.  Hard to say where I’m going to put this at this point. 

Joe/Punk II rewatch

On rewatch, the body part work wasn’t really didn’t take up as much time to really make the effort to sell through the whole match.  There were moments when it came to certain moves that being sold to there full effect, but I do feel now that is just enough good to put it higher then the World Title Classic match. 

Shelly/Jacobs I Quit rewatch

Again, I am having fonder appreciation for these shorter matches.  This wasn’t one of those superwars where everything is brought to the table, but a 15-20 minute spat which doesn’t bs you.  Probably would have not wanted the spike shots to occur that early and I wish that Jacobs didn’t make it so easy for Shelly to tie his hands.   I really liked this.

Danielson/Joe rewatch

Alright, everything was going well for the first third when it came to feeling out, but then the middle happened.  The problem was that they continued to feel out instead of getting into the story of the match, which I assumed was going to be Joe’s leg.  First time I saw it, I thought I was just getting tired.  Second time, it hit me that the middle really wasn’t advancing anything.  It also looked like at points that the match seemed to be stalling.  Joe’s selling was OK, Dragon, again, was not consistent with the rib selling.  Match would have been better with some time cut off.  Four matches to go.

Danielson/Aries 2/3 rewatch

Not an easy match to rate, but I’ll try.  Aries sold everything from below the neck, while Dragon sold the neck and head.  The selling early on from Aries wasn’t great, but it did get progressively better as time went on.  Dragon’s selling was somewhat spotty at points.  I will at least say that match was at least always going forward and did have logical endings to the first two falls.  I do stand by the statement that it was a bit to overkilly at the end.  Somewhere in the middle 15 right now.    

SCS/Prophecy Hardcore match rewatch

I don’t know, it just felt like there was too much plunder.  Especially since some of the sequences with the plunder could have been taken out.    The barbed wire bat sequence and the plastic chair fighting spirit sequence comes to mind.  On top of that some of these hardcore spots were not sold to its full effect.  It felt like they wrote down a list of sequences and went down the list (except for the chair riot).  It’s still very good, but I have seen people do more with less.

Shelly/Williams Reborn rewatch

Not as awesome as I remember it.  Shelly sold his arm well but Doug didn’t really bother with the selling of the neck.  On top of that, there were points where they transitioned to quickly when the other wrestler should have been in control.  The ending was very nifty.

Punk/Joe I rewatch

With the exception of a couple easy transitions in the middle and the last 2-3 minutes at the end, this match holds up really well.  It does help that they didn’t put themselves in a “got-to-sell” type of situation except for Punk selling his knee on the Pepsi Plunge.  It’s going to be interesting how the second match will be.

Shelly/Aries/Strong vs Rave/Walters/Stryker rewatch

Man, this was even better then I thought.  Now, I am 100% convinced now that this was better then the last 8 man.  Had none of the small and medium issues that I had with the 8 man.  Also had half the time to fill, and was much more hate-filled and urgent.  Rave’s selling of the back kind of stunk (Strong’s leg selling to a degree, but I can live with that in tag match).  Especially, since it factored into the finish. 

Shelly/Aries/Strong/Evans vs Briscoes/Rave/Walters rewatch

I did like a huge chunk of the match, but there are issues I have of different sizes.  Small issues include the kick-out of the Doomsday Device and Walters almost killing Aries with his finisher from the top rope (which should not have been from the top rope to begin with).  Medium issues include some “your turn, my turn” sections and a fighting spirit section which I could have done without.  The big issue was Walters selling of the neck.  He sold it somewhat at the end, but not much during his control section.  This drops a couple spots for me.  

Briscoes/SCS Reborn Stage 2 rewatch

I may be slightly overrating this, but this was even better the second time around.  Match had the right type of timing, big moves, and execution without overstaying its welcome.  May have dragged for about 30 seconds in the end, but Punk’s Tiger Driver 91 off the top rope was suitably awesome.  Probably ROH’s best tag match up to that point.

Danielson/Homicide rewatch

The more I look at this, the more convinced I am that some time could have been shaven from the beginning and end.  Danielson’s neck selling wasn’t really up to par, while Homicide’s hand selling was actually great.  Homicide still had those issues where he would get up a bit too quick from moves.  I feel this was a better Homicide match then Danielson match (even with the nasty finger bending).  Very good, but not top 10 worthy (unless something drastic happens).

Joe/Jay rewatch

Man, this may be my #1.  The story, the blood, the three death-defying top rope moves, Jay fighting like a man to survive, the escape attempts, the Jay Driller, and the finish all in just 14 minutes.  I can at least dismiss that little segment where Jay could have escaped as overconfidence in that he could knock the big guy out and realizing it was not the smartest strategy.  This match needs more love. 

Joe/Ki/Maff/BJ rewatch

Before: OK, watching 04 ROH has really been tough to order through. Right now, I am going to re-watch my top 15 (the ones that I consider elite level for year) and order through those. This will not get any easier in 05.

After: The asskickings that Joe and Ki delivered in this are as awesome as I remember. I do kind of wonder how much better it would have been without BJ. BJ seemed lost at points in the beginning. Thank god Ki just chopped the shit out of him to somewhat salvage that BJ control section. Once Joe busted out the tope and busted open his hand is when things started to get awesome. The Joe/Ki sections down the stretch were great (the bitch slap and the casual punt to the face come to mind). Some will say the ending was anticlimactic, but I don’t think it would have gotten any better after what they had already done to each other.

ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries ROH Final Battle 2004 12/26/04

Man, those final 5 or so minutes were fucking awesome.  Especially the last minute of offense from Aries which put Joe down.  Again, Joe doesn’t really sell the leg work, unless him kneeling down and breathing heavily constitutes as leg selling.  Either that or it was supposed to get over that Joe was vulnerable to the dropkick to the leg.  I do feel that this is top 10 worthy.  Now on to ordering my list.

ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk ROH All Star Extravaganza II 12/4/04

Very good, but I thought it was the weakest of there trilogy.  Same story as the first two matches with the awesome first half.  Joe didn’t really bother selling the neck that looked to be worked on all match and execution looked off at points.  Hard to say if this is a top 10 for ROH that year, but I only have one pimped match left and I need to look back at some stuff.

Samoa Joe & Jushin Liger vs. Low Ki & Bryan Danielson ROH Weekend of Thunder Night 2 11/6/04

Considering the four matchups in this, this came off just as disappointing as the last match.  The two main matchups were Liger/Danielson (been there, done that) and Liger/Ki (Ki held back way too much).  Joe did have a good flurry on Ki after the hot tag, but it wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be.

Jushin Liger vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Weekend of Thunder Night 1 11/5/04

Strange match.  It was good, but pretty ordinary.  I mean the crowd was popping when Liger came, but then they quieted down later in the match when they should have been loud.  Liger’s selling was pretty good but then he shrugged off the arm work at the end. I was expecting a little in this.  

ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk ROH Joe vs. Punk II 10/16/04

Excellent, although I don’t think I liked it as much as there first match.  This did have a hotter crowd throughout and a better stretch run.  I don’t think the selling was as good as the first and there were points where people popped back on offense a little too quickly.  This should be seen.    

I Quit Match Alex Shelley vs. Jimmy Jacobs ROH Joe vs. Punk II 10/16/04

Really good match.  It was short, concise, brutal, and to the point.  I would have preferred a much bigger ending then the Boarder City Stretch (maybe BCS with the spike in the head?)  Still I liked it. 

Rocky Romero & Homicide vs. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans ROH Joe vs. Punk II 10/16/04

It was good I guess, but the transitions at points blew and delved into “your turn, my turn” stuff.  Not really that memorable. 

CM Punk, Ace Steel, & Jimmy Jacobs vs. Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, & Jack Evans ROH Gold 10/15/04

I feel kind of sad because it looked like it was going to be something special around the end of Jacobs control section, but then the unnecessary Traci Brooks bump happened and it kind of felt like a waste after that.  I say that because nothing really changed after a little pull-apart brawl and control section didn’t come off as good as the one on Jacobs.  And again, another 30+ minute match which would have been better if it went shorter. 

ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Midnight Express Reunion 10/2/04

Very good, but not as great as people claim.  I got what they were going for in terms of story.  Beginning foreshadowed the eventual legwork which led Dragon cutting Joe down to lock in Cattle Mutilation which led to Joe getting desperate and getting in one last flurry until he won.  I think the long matches are burning me out.  It feels like at times that they could have accomplished the same thing with less time (draws are different).  I think this match lacked a standout moment to make you remember this.  Yep, going to have to re-watch this one as well. 

Low Ki vs. Jay Lethal ROH Midnight Express Reunion 10/2/04

This was really fun, albeit a bit slow for such a short match.  Ki taunting Lethal’s mother throughout the match was so awesome.  Ending didn’t come off as huge as it should have.  The curbstomp on the bottom rope was brutal, but didn’t come off as big of a deal as it should have with the crowd.  The Dragon Clutch afterwards kind of ended abruptly when looked like Ki was going to make the comeback. 

Tag Titles Hardcore Match CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer ROH Generation Next 5/22/04

Before: I found that this was recommended by someone and so I am going to check it out

After: Very solid match, although somewhat unremarkable. On top of that, I kind of feel like they didn’t use the hardcore stipulation to its full effect. May need a re-watch.

Alex Shelley vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Glory By Honor III 9/11/04

Very good.  Watching Dragon pick apart Shelly’s arms with Alex screaming in pain was a treat.  I wish Alex’s control sections and Dragon’s selling of the neck was better, but I enjoyed it.

2/3 Falls Match Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Testing the Limit 8/7/04

Before this, I had seen two other 2/3 falls matches from ROH and I hated both of them.  Both went around 42 minutes and both were pretty meandering.  This went 76 minutes and was better.  First fall had the feeling out process, which led to Aries’s gut getting worked over which then went into Dragon’s neck being worked over.  Second fall had Aries’s legs being worked over and then eventually the arm.  Between that, Dragon botched a tope and was out a couple of minutes which marred this fall somewhat.  Third fall was the callback spots to the Survival of the Fittest match and then they pretty much empty everything they have left.  First two falls ended logically, the third may have been a bit too many finishers from Aries.  Three brainbusters and a 450 was a bit too much after a regular brainbuster and a second rope brainbuster earlier.  Selling was actually pretty consistent throughout.  Maybe some time could have been taken off of the match, and maybe the crowd could have been hotter (yeah, that’s very nitpicky).  You could definitely make the argument that this is an excellent match, but I will give it some time.

Hardcore Match CM Punk & Ace Steel vs. Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer ROH Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 2 7/24/04

I liked this.  It had a good amount of hate, there were brutal spots, and built well.  I don’t think it was as great as I remember it, but it was still very good.  This may also need a re-watch.  

Tag Titles - 2/3 Falls Match CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Briscoe Bros. ROH Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 1 7/23/04

1^st fall was pretty good but kind of fell apart after that.  After Punk got taken out with the Jay Driller, the Briscoes had to control a large chunk of the match on Colt.  The Briscoes mostly contained punching and not much else at points.  Colt countering some of Briscoes double team moves was nifty.  Ending was very anti-climatic for a 40+ minute match.  May have to re-watch this.

ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Homicide ROH Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 1 7/23/04

Got interesting in the last third, but didn’t do anything for me.  I wanted more hate out of this and they meandered through most of the match.  At least it ended when it needed to.

Pure Title Match Doug Williams vs. Alex Shelley ROH Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 1 7/23/04

It was good, but it kind of felt like we have been there and done that.  They did kind of repeat sequences from there last match, but it had a little more comedy and little less “World of Sport” niftiness.  This was worked a little more evenly then the last match, but I thought the Reborn match was better. 

Samoa Joe & Briscoe Bros. vs. Homicide, Ricky Reyes, & Rocky Romero ROH Reborn Completion 7/17/04

The match was OK, but went way longer then it should have.  Had the same problem as the Prophecy/Saints match from earlier in the year.  Needed more intensity in half the time and seemed very pedestrian.  Plus, both are memorable for the post-match deals.  I would skip this. 

Pure Title Match Finals Alex Shelley vs Doug Williams ROH Reborn Completion 7/17/04

Pretty swanky match.  Kind of like watching a combination of shoot and World of Sport when it came to the matwork.  The selling was even good which made me care in the end.  Really underrated. 

The 2004 Survival of the Fittest Elimination Match Final Elimination Match: Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Colt Cabana vs. Homicide (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Bryan Danielson

Good but overrated.  The highlights of the match was Colt pinning Joe, the Briscoes/Rottweilers feud exploding and the final 10 minutes of the match being hot.  First half was fine, but the work in the beginning didn’t mean anything in the long run which includes the work on Mark.  The second half with Aries/Dragon was kind of listless for half of that half until the hot finishing stretch came.  Not as good as I remember it.  

ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk ROH World Title Classic 6/12/04

Excellent match.  I love the story of Punk trying to wear down the big man and how it started to take its toll after a while.  But since this went to a broadway there were issues.  Punk did a crappy Flair corner bump but at least that ended in Joe knocking him off.  There was this part where Joe was firmly in control and decided to do a figure four neck lock instead of at least attempting to finish him off.  And near the end, they were kind of throwing moves out there and not really selling them which is an issue with all broadways.  If that’s all I have when it comes to problems, then yes, you should see this. 

Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, & Roderick Strong vs. Jimmy Rave, John Walters, & Matt Stryker ROH World Title Classic 6/12/04

Very good match.  I think I liked last month’s match just a little bit better.  This had the same issues as the last match when it came to the selling and not sure if I would have ended the match on Aries rings of Saturn considering they were working the back.  May need to re-watch it. 

ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Homicide ROH Generation Next 5/22/04

Blah. Didn’t dig this. Compared to the Do or Die match, it was a slightly better Homicide performance, but Joe didn’t lay the man sized beating to make this memorable. Especially with the history going into this. I also didn’t like the cheating considering it was so blatantly obvious. Stay away from this one.

Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, & Jack Evans vs. Briscoe Bros., Jimmy Rave, & John Walters ROH Generation Next 5/22/04

Stuff I could say about this match:


-The mat wrestling ruled. Just flowed greatly throughout.
-Very little drag throughout the 40 minutes
-Team ROH gave a really good ass kicking to Gen Next
-Gen Next’s working over of the body parts on Team ROH was nice
-Team ROH’s selling could have been a little better.

Verdict: Another excellent match.

Tag Titles Match Briscoe Bros. vs. CM Punk & Colt Cabana ROH Round Robin Challenge III 5/15/04

I would have liked this more if the first 8 or so minutes were so pointless. The meat of the match was Mark getting his ribs worked over from earlier on the card against the Prophecy. The work on them was fine, but when the beginning was as boring as it was, it took away from me caring as much about everything else after that.

Tag Titles Match Briscoe Bros. vs. CM Punk & Colt Cabana ROH Reborn Stage 2 4/24/04

Super fun match even excellent. Went about the right amount of time and everything was pretty fun. You probably could make an argument that the Briscoes were a little lost at points, but this was a lot better then I thought it would be.

Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Reborn Stage 2 4/24/04

Pretty swanky match. Psychotic Homicide is a definite improvement with getting pissed off with crowds dumb chanting and doing some fun begging off. He even sold the destroyed hand well. Danielson did some awesome stretching of Homicide’s hand but didn’t sell the neck work. Would have liked a couple more high spots considering this went close to 30.

CM Punk vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Reborn Stage 1 4/23/04

I will say this; the match and ending would have made sense if Punk and Dragon actually did some selling. Whole thing lacked focus and I just couldn’t care.

ROH Title Cage Match Samoa Joe vs. Jay Briscoe ROH At Our Best 3/13/04

That was crazy shit. Definitely holds up. Joe wants to make an example out of Jay, and Jay wants to escape the cage as fast as possible. It didn’t hurt that Jay did one of the most brutal blade jobs ever and fought like a man possessed and made all of his moves look like death. Great match.

Pure Title Match AJ Styles vs. CM Punk ROH At Our Best 3/13/04

Weird match. It is really good, but I kind of feel you could have had the same match without the Pure Title rules (No closed fist, 20 count on floor, 3 submission rope breaks). The selling wasn’t really there to make the rope breaks a bigger deal. The finish was that Punk had AJ in a sleeper, AJ recovers when the third arm drops barely and then hits three lariats and it’s over. Again, weird.

ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki vs. Dan Maff vs. BJ Whitmer ROH Second Anniversary Show 2/14/04

Before: Alright, let me lay the ground work for all of you…

1. ROH Title changes ONLY if Joe does the job
2. If the finish doesn't involve Joe, then the winner gets a title shot in the future via a singles match
3. If someone jobs to Joe, no future title shots for anyone

After: Really like this. This was pretty much Ki and Joe nuking the prophecy with some really stiff strikes. But man was Low Ki fucking up people in this match. That Zero-1 excursion really made him more pissed off and vile. Joe had to work most of the match with a busted hand, Maff was fun bumping and going after Joe’s hand, and BJ was kind of lost at points but got his ass kicked big time so I respect that. So yes, this owned.

The Prophecy vs. The Second City Saints ROH Battle Lines Are Drawn 1/10/04

This was a good match that got elevated to a very good match by the post-match deal. Match didn’t really have the rhythm, flash, or hate to be really high end. I wish the match would have doubled with intensity with half the time. Post-match with SCS destroying the Prophecy and Punk’s promo in the locker room was awesome.

Daniels/Walters revisted

On second watch, it was good, but not as high end as I remember it.  The selling in it was good, but it really didn't serve a point in the long run.  I will put it more toward the middle this time.

Christopher Daniels vs. John Walters ROH Empire State Showdown 10/25/03

Really good match. Not as tight some of the other Daniels matches, but was worked really well. Top 10 for ROH 03.

ROH Title Shot Match Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe vs. Steve Corino vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Final Battle 2002 12/28/02

God kill me. I feel these four had the last 5 minutes planned out and they decided to wing it on the first 40. I mean that’s the only logical reason why they decided to bore me to death. There is no excuse this shouldn’t have been good. Skip this.

Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels ROH Round Robin Challenge 3/30/02

Before: Okay, A. I having a little bit of trouble finding links to the 2004 ROH matches, so bare with me on that. B. I realized that I forgot to a review three matches from 02-03 which will start right now

Match: I really enjoyed this. Daniels worked on Dragon’s neck and Dragon sold it well. They did pop back on offense a little too quickly at points but this was a tight match. I kind of prefer this match over the epic Ki/Dragon because there was less bs in this, and much more coherent story.

Best ROH match of 2003

1. Christopher Daniels vs. Paul London ROH Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II 4/26/03
2. Hardcore Match Homicide vs. Steve Corino ROH Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 8/16/03
3. ROH Title Shot Match AJ Styles vs. Paul London ROH Night of the Grudges 6/14/03
4. Semi-Hardcore Match ("No Holds Barred") Xavier & Christopher Daniels vs. Low Ki & AJ Styles ROH Revenge on the Prophecy 1/11/03
5. No Rope Barbed Wire Match Homicide vs. Steve Corino ROH War of the Wire 11/29/03
6. ROH Title Shot - FWA Title Match Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams ROH Night of Champions 3/22/03
7. ROH Title Shot Match Homicide vs. Colt Cabana vs. Dan Maff vs. BJ Whitmer ROH Death Before Dishonor 7/19/03
8. Scramble Cage Jack Evans & Teddy Hart vs. Backseat Boyz vs. Carnage Crew vs. The SAT vs. Hydro & Angeldust ROH Main Event Spectacles 11/1/03
9. Hardcore Match Xavier vs. John Walters ROH Final Battle 2003 12/27/03
10. Tag Titles Match Briscoe Bros. vs. Samoa Joe & AJ Styles ROH The Conclusion 11/28/03
11. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Jay Briscoe ROH Tradition Continues 10/16/03
12. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Homicide ROH Do or Die 5/31/03
13. ROH Title Shot Match Low Ki vs. Paul London vs. AJ Styles ROH One Year Anniversary Show 2/8/03
14. Fighting Spirit Challenge Homicide vs. BJ Whitmer ROH Main Event Spectacles 11/1/03
15. Dog Collar Match CM Punk vs. Raven ROH Death Before Dishonor 7/19/03
16. Homicide vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Xavier vs. John Walters ROH Tradition Continues 10/16/03
17. Cage Match CM Punk vs. Raven ROH The Conclusion 11/28/03
18. Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe ROH One Year Anniversary Show 2/8/03
19. ROH Title Shot Match CM Punk vs. Homicide ROH Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II 4/26/03
20. Tag Titles Match AJ Styles & Amazing Red vs. Briscoe Bros. ROH Night of Champions 3/22/03
21. Homicide vs. Trent Acid ROH Beating the Odds 9/6/03
22. ROH Title Shot Match AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Main Event Spectacles 11/1/03
23. Tag Titles Match Xavier & Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles & Amazing Red ROH Expect the Unexpected 3/15/03
24. ROH Tag Team Titles AJ Styles & Homicide vs. Christopher Daniels & Dan Maff ROH Wrath of the Racket 8/9/03
25. 2/3 Falls Match Bryan Danielson vs. Paul London ROH The Epic Encounter 4/12/03

-1-8 are the high end best of 03 matches
-9-16 are the ones that are very good
-17-21 are the good ones
-22-25 are the ones I hated
-I won’t say that it is 100%, but I am pretty satisfied with most of it.

Hardcore Match Xavier vs. John Walters ROH Final Battle 2003 12/27/03

If you could get past the somewhat botched ending, this was definitely super fun stuff. And again, Xavier is awesome. The Arabian press through the ladder and the 450 to the outside was fucking choice. Give me some time to see the final list.

No Rope Barbed Wire Match Homicide vs. Steve Corino ROH War of the Wire 11/29/03

Yeah, that was disgustingly brutal, so it was awesome. Not as good as the hardcore match, because Homicide has the same issues at times when it comes to doing “your turn, my turn.” The big offender was the Northern Lights Bomb on the barb wire fence and then getting up and hitting his moves. Still loved it.

Cage Match CM Punk vs. Raven ROH The Conclusion 11/28/03

Damnit, I just don’t know. These Punk/Raven matches don’t really have anything to rag on, but I just could not get to into these. Some of the chair spots, and the final spot in this match were a tad bit contrived. With the chair, Raven would hold the chair in the opposite direction making it more obvious that the chair was going to get kicked in his face. I know I am going to find this other matches, but still I wish it wasn’t so obvious in all cases. But back on track, I thought the dog-collar match was better. Both need to be rewatched.

Tag Titles Match Briscoe Bros. vs. Samoa Joe & AJ Styles ROH The Conclusion 11/28/03

Very good despite the crowd being lukewarm. Just 15 minutes of smooth wrestling to calm the afternoon.

ROH Title Shot Match AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Main Event Spectacles 11/1/03

Man, did I not care for this. AJ sold the arm, Bryan sold the leg. AJ was awful, Bryan was competent at most. I mean look at it from my point of view when it comes to 11/1/03. Homicide/Whitmer had a sense of accomplishment, the scramble tag was 15 minutes of fun, and AJ/Danielson was 24 minutes of no one selling shit and not doing anything interesting. Skip.

Scramble Cage Jack Evans & Teddy Hart vs. Backseat Boyz vs. Carnage Crew vs. The SAT vs. Hydro & Angeldust ROH Main Event Spectacles 11/1/03

You know this was a really fun spotfest, and not as stupid as it could have been. Notes on it:

-Actually used the cage well, people were busted open and people dove off the top.
-Actually was built very well in the 15 minutes.
-Had some cooperation.
-Selling was middling, which was better then I thought it would be.
-May have been a story, but it’s hard to do one in a scramble match.

May need to rewatch this one.

Fighting Spirit Challenge Homicide vs. BJ Whitmer ROH Main Event Spectacles 11/1/03

Like Jay/Joe, this match was actually trying to accomplish something. This was to make BJ look just as tough as Homicide. This one had a nasty head butt and nasty punting in the face. It was fine.

ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Jay Briscoe ROH Tradition Continues 10/16/03

This is not one of those MOTY 5 star matches, but it accomplishes something. The goal was to show Jay could hang with Joe. It did that, and in the end it was very good. Would have liked Jay’s offense to have a little more fire.

Homicide vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Xavier vs. John Walters ROH Tradition Continues 10/16/03

Fine enough 4-way. I’ve seen better, but it was perfectly fine.

Homicide vs. Trent Acid ROH Beating the Odds 9/6/03

Too much “your turn, my turn” BS that I see from every Homicide match this year. This at least had the bonus of Acid’s eye and Homicide’s nose getting busted open. Nothing to see here.

Hardcore Match Homicide vs. Steve Corino ROH Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 8/16/03

Yep, just as violent as I remember it. And this had selling in between moves, plus an ending that tied everything together. Could have cut a sequence or two at the end but definitely upper echelon stuff.

ROH Tag Team Titles AJ Styles & Homicide vs. Christopher Daniels & Dan Maff ROH Wrath of the Racket 8/9/03

Blah. The only things I could take out of this were the double dives and Jim Cornette. The middle was OK but heatless, and the end run was marred by crappy execution. Homicide has got to stop doing stupid stuff in matches.

Dog Collar Match CM Punk vs. Raven ROH Death Before Dishonor 7/19/03

This match is alright, but is more memorable for the before and after match activity. The Dog Collar didn’t really get in the way, but something was lacking in this. Raven is an OK wrestler, but it felt like he treated this match like it was another ECW brawl. He didn’t really push the envelope and show the fire to make it a hate-filled match. In all, I find myself putting this in the middle.

ROH Title Shot Match Homicide vs. Colt Cabana vs. Dan Maff vs. BJ Whitmer ROH Death Before Dishonor 7/19/03

OK, I did not expect this to be as awesome as it was. First half is fine enough then Maff does a 300lb tope which clears the guardrail and then it becomes a head-dropping frenzy after that. And that’s OK, because it can be done in a 4-way.

ROH Title Shot Match AJ Styles vs. Paul London ROH Night of the Grudges 6/14/03

This match follows the same template as the London/Daniels match except this is considered more recognizable. Each try to play mind games with the other until it boils over and the story begins. This time AJ sells the leg and for once actually does a really good job in doing it. He would temporarily no sell damage to hit a big move, but he was pretty consistent throughout. Still, is this really better then London/Daniels? The FIP was better in London/Daniels and the control section was better in London/Daniels. Both matches had logical finishes but London/Daniels was a better match. This is still a top 5 match right now.

ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Homicide ROH Do or Die 5/31/03

This was pretty fucking brutal. Joe kicked Homicide’s ass good in this one. There was the STJoe, the belly to belly to the floor, the ole kick which bent the barricade, his three trademark suplexes, and eventually the super muscle buster from the second rope. These moves would matter if Homicide’s selling wasn’t so crappy at points. Like one second he is in the choke, and then he is in the STF without selling the effects of the choke. Then you had the Ki/Smokes drama which played into the finish and the table spot which wasn’t necessary. Oh, can’t forget the Homicide brainbuster which knocked Joe out and stopped the momentum. It was memorable, but it wasn’t great.

ROH Title Shot Match CM Punk vs. Homicide ROH Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II 4/26/03

This was pretty much a 15 minute game of “your move, my move.” It was good, but when finishers are being treated as afterthoughts, you just want it all to end. Very high energy, but very middling.

Christopher Daniels vs Paul London ROH Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II 4/26/03

Yes, this is what I am talking about. First couple minutes were Daniels trying to dick with London only for London to dick with right back. It eventually leads to leads to Daniels working the ribs with London selling like a champ. The shtick from Daniels from jawing at the crowd came off as entertaining without stalling the match. Everything was hit perfectly and led to the perfect conclusion. Best ROH match of 03 so far. You need all this.

2/3 Falls Match Bryan Danielson vs. Paul London ROH The Epic Encounter 4/12/03

First thoughts- man was this a god damn chore to go through.

1st fall- Good concept, but it bored me in parts and lacked the snap to make it stand out. First 5 minutes were feeling out with each acting dickish to the other on rope breaks. Everything advanced well until Dragon got in control which sucked. I will just say it felt IRS level which shouldn’t be the case considering the amount of good stuff he had in 02. Eventually, London reversed a super backdrop to get the fall.

2nd fall- Best fall in that we get into the real story of the match. London’s leg gets caught and he starts selling (or legit injured?) leg for the rest of the match.

3rd fall- This fall didn’t want to end. Dragon had no right to do the amount of stupid stuff he did to lose the match (always putting London on the top rope.) London’s selling was annoying in that the match screeched to a halt and was creating less suspense and more anxiety for the match to end. London does kind of a crappy second rope tornado DDT and a SSP which took an eternity to win.

The verdict- very overrated. Why?
-no intensity was shown throughout
-boring restholds
-went way too long with time needing to be cut from each of the falls (equals to about 15-20 minutes)

The lesson- just because a match goes long does not make it epic.

Tag Titles Match AJ Styles & Amazing Red vs. Briscoe Bros. ROH Night of Champions 3/22/03

Fun match with some dragging in between. In the end, it is still a spotfest and trying to give a detailed explanation about it will just melt my brain. Better then Xavier/Daniels but the Briscoes play more to Red/Styles strengths anyway.

ROH Title Shot - FWA Title Match Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams ROH Night of Champions 3/22/03

People have called this an underappreciated match. I can agree with that although I think it could have been little better. I liked that Williams was the crafty wrestler frustrating Daniels with all his tricked out carny bullshit. Daniels was great selling his neck for the entire match to set up the ending. Williams selling of the ribs was not as good. It made sense in trying go for the BME but Williams didn’t really put the effort in on selling like Daniels did. They could have let Daniels use shortcuts to take control instead of Williams ignoring the work. Still really liked it and my second best ROH match in 03 so far.

Tag Titles Match Xavier & Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles & Amazing Red ROH Expect the Unexpected 3/15/03

I liked parts of this, but I thought it was a Prophecy carry job. Xavier took an enzuigiri and sold being or actually was concussed for the rest of the match and held on well. Daniels was awesome, especially his section toward the end where he was fucking everybody left and right. For some reason they had AJ work FIP and had his neck worked over and didn’t sell any of it. Red could have just taken a big ass-whooping from the Prophecy and nothing would have changed except to not expose AJ’s crappy selling. The valets fighting were fine, the ending sucked. I’m expecting Red to do a top rope move after the Styles Clash and then AJ pins him, and everybody’s confused.

ROH Title Shot Match Low Ki vs. Paul London vs. AJ Styles ROH One Year Anniversary Show 2/8/03

Very good but very flawed. Ki was Ki, AJ was dishing out the deadly combos, and London eventually got stiff when the adrenaline was flowing. Still, moves were repeated, the selling was off, and some spots came off as convoluted. It felt like a match more suited for TNA. I still liked it, but felt it was going to be excellent in the beginning then petered out a bit in the middle until the finish.

Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe ROH One Year Anniversary Show 2/8/03

Good match but no where near as good as there 2002 encounter. Didn’t have the story or transitions from offense that the other match offered.

Semi-Hardcore Match ("No Holds Barred") Xavier & Christopher Daniels vs. Low Ki & AJ Styles ROH Revenge on the Prophecy 1/11/03

I can’t believe how much this kicked ass. The match was weird in that it worked like a regular tag match, except for no rope breaks until they use some plunder in the end. I guess all made oaths to beat the shit out of each other rather then take the easy way out. All kept a really nice pace throughout and even though it went close to 30, it never felt fillerish throughout. Some will complain about the selling, but you can get away with that more in a tag match. Watch it.

Best of ROH 2002

Here are my top matches for ROH 2002:

ROH 2002
1. Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels The Era of Honor Begins 2/23/02
2. Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe ROH Honor Invades Boston – 8/24/02
3. Low Ki vs. AJ Styles ROH A Night of Appreciation 4/27/02
4. Fight Without Honor Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe ROH Glory By Honor 10/5/02
5. Paul London vs Bryan Danielson ROH Night of the Butcher 12/7/02
6. Low Ki vs. Amazing Red ROH Road to the Title 6/22/02
7. Hardcore Match Paul London vs. Michael Shane ROH Unscripted 9/21/02
8. Low Ki vs. Spanky vs. Doug Williams vs. Christopher Daniels 60 Minute Iron Man Match ROH Crowning a Champion 7/27/02
9. Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Round Robin Challenge 3/30/02
10. Tag Titles Match Christopher Daniels, Donovan Morgan, and Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki, Homicide, and Doug Williams ROH All Star Extravaganza 11/9/02
11. ROH Title Shot Gauntlet Final AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson ROH All Star Extravaganza 11/9/02
12. ROH Title Match Low Ki vs. AJ Styles ROH Honor Invades Boston 8/24/02
13. Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles ROH Road to the Title 6/22/02

- 1 was the best by far.
- 2-10 were very good but were marred in one way or another
- 2-7 could be list worthy for all of 2002. All those matches had competent stories and didn’t really drag that badly
- 8-9 are the pimped matches that I don’t feel have aged that well because they dragged at points and lost my attention. Going long doesn’t make a match better.
-10 was unmemorable in hindsight.
-11-13 was AJ not really stepping up and not making me care.



Every other ROH year will probably be better.

Low Ki vs. Amazing Red ROH Road to the Title 6/22/02

This was a shit ton of fun. Like a really fun 10 minute Smackdown match. Did almost screw up some spots, but they recovered nicely on most of them except for the reverse rana which looked kind of crappy. Can’t put it over London/Dragon. That match was deeper. I’ll try to work on the best of ROH 02, later.

Paul London vs Bryan Danielson ROH Night of the Butcher 12/7/02

This was nice little match. This had a better story with Dragon getting frustrated by London and just getting pissed off and just destroying London with chops and uppercuts. London sold the ass beating well. Finishing sequence where Dragon throwing all of his energy into trying to get London off the top rope only for London to rain stiff shots on him so he could finally get him down for the SSP. Better then London/Shane in that London/Dragon had less dead time.




I had forgotten about a list done back in 2006 to show the 100 greatest ROH matches in ROH’s first 100 shows. To my surprise, only 10 matches were from 2002. So I guess I should not have been surprised as I was about 02 being disappointing. I did miss one match, Ki/Red, and I will review that in my next post.

ROH Title Shot Gauntlet Final AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson ROH All Star Extravaganza 11/9/02

With the exception of Danielson’s uppercuts and the last third of the match with Styles fighting for the second Styles Clash, it just seemed like a bunch of stuff. Thoughts on sequences of the match:

Mat wrestling- fine
Drop toe hold that sent AJ to the outside- weird
AJ jumping the railing and superkicking Dragon- cool
AJ doing a knucklelock sequence with Dragon after taking control with superkick- why?
Armwork from Dragon- sweet
AJ’s selling of armwork- shitty

Dragon did get his eye bloodied either a punch or an inverted ddt attempt. Nothing really came from that. And AJ is in my bottom 3 matches.

Tag Titles Match Christopher Daniels, Donovan Morgan, & Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki, Homicide, & Doug Williams ROH All Star Extravaganza 11/9/02

This was fairly solid for a match I never heard about. Still in order for a 6-man to be great, it needs a story/stories, timing, and execution. Did it have any of this? The answers are no, ok but could have been better, and ok but could have been better. Joe did come off as a star in this one. Just kicking ass, taking names, and selling well. Have 2 matches left for this year and as is, I’m kind of disappointed. I’ll get in to why when I finish this year.

Fight Without Honor Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe ROH Glory By Honor 10/5/02

Man did these two beat the shit out of each other. Very Manly. Needed a better finish. A KO finish is all right, but it needed to stand out more then a clubbing blow to the back of the head. Maybe a Fujiwara armbar considering that Ki worked Joe’s arm and was sold competently. It got me marking. This match, Ki/Styles 4/27, and Jay/Mark are in the 2-3-4 range right now.

Hardcore Match Paul London vs. Michael Shane ROH Unscripted 9/21/02

First things first, the commentary is awful in this match. I don’t know if I can think of a more unenthusiastic duo calling a hardcore match. As for the match, nice spots, but it took too long to set up at points. Build was good, selling could have been better (especially, after the first elbow). Less dragging puts this in the middle for ROH 02.

ROH Title Match Low Ki vs. AJ Styles ROH Honor Invades Boston 8/24/02

Man, this was wildly disappointing. Match struck me as very similar to there 4/27 match except without the high-end execution and having 5 more minutes. There was some alright countering and dodging of moves, but there didn’t seem to be any direction and it didn’t glue me to the match. I want to go into more detail but there is nothing noteworthy about this match that you didn’t see on 4/27.

Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe ROH Honor Invades Boston – 8/24/02

Of all the matches that I’ve watched, the match with the best story involved the Briscoes. The Briscoes who were 18 and 17 at this point have had the best story up to this point. The more you know! It’s just too bad that they didn’t relish there roles during the match. The way they transitioned throughout was nice with Mark cutting Jay and punching the cut, Jay working on Mark’s hand, Mark knee dropping the cut, and Jay taking out Mark’s leg. Both actually sold really well (again, 18 and 17). It would have been a great indy version of Bret/Owen WM X if they just brought out there personalities more during the match. I feel like I’m underrating this one, but the spots were not as “holy shit”-worthy as Ki/Styles. May rewatch.

Low Ki vs. Spanky vs. Doug Williams vs. Christopher Daniels 60 Minute Iron Man Match ROH Crowning a Champion 7/27/02

Damnit, I knew that Ironman stipulation would fuck everything up. However, it did exceed my expectations. Actually did have a story with Ki getting his legs worked on, Daniels arm getting worked, Spanky’s neck, and Williams being the wildcard in all of it. All of the work was sold well. If it was just a regular 4-way, with the match ending on the first fall, it would have been the best match so far. But they had to fill another 30 and it dragged at points and lost the crowd. Second fall made sense and was nice and the third fall Ki messed up the Phoenix by landing on his head. Better then Ki/Danielson because there was some direction to the match, worst then Ki/Styles because it dragged at points.

Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles ROH Road to the Title 6/22/02

Meh. Definitely the worst match so far. First 9 minutes were matwork that I have seen done better in the previous two matches. Then Styles gets busted open which leads to some good working of the cut by Daniels but Styles doesn’t really sell that he has gotten busted open and that story gets tossed aside. I did like the Styles Clash getting countered into an Ankle Lock but kicks his way out, no sells the damage, and goes for another Clash attempt. So yeah, Styles stunk in this one. Ending was nifty.

Low Ki vs. AJ Styles ROH A Night of Appreciation 4/27/02

I think I liked this better then the last match. The key difference being that this was about half the time of Dragon/Ki and was much better off for it. Maybe they could have cut a little time off and finish it at 15. Still am looking for a bit more substance in ROH 02. You can get away with it in a 3 way but not as much in a singles match. Could be listworthy. Still everything I have seen has at least been very good.

Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Round Robin Challenge 3/30/02

I liked this but I didn’t love it. The problems: story and length.  First half was mostly on the mat which I really liked because they were struggling for there counters and transitioned beautifully either by kneeing, kicking, or chopping out. Second half got into generic indy mode which was OK except for the fact that the match had overstayed its welcome at this point. Neither of these halves really advanced a story. Match would have been best served to have been cut by 8 minutes. Match was very good all things considering. May need a rewatch.

Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels ROH The Era of Honor Begins 2/23/02

Most people would say that this match was the first great 3 way dance during the time it came out, I’m here to tell you that this was definitely the best 3 way dance to happen at this point. I wouldn’t call it the best ever because the match does lack a story (it was the first ROH show), but everything was hit very crisply, there was a huge lack of stalling bullshit, and none of the spots came off as convoluted. Well maybe Bryan twisting his body into position for Ki when giving Daniels cattle mutilation, but that Phoenix had to have sucked big time for both. Definitely top 20 for 02.