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.