Aries/Ki II rewatch

Yeah, not that good of match.  It kind of reminded me of the Joe/Nigel match, but without the good selling.  Ki was striking well, but didn’t really push the pace of the match forward.  Easy no.  

Joe/Nigel rewatch

Meh, it was alright I guess.  Joe’s arm selling was good, but this match didn’t strike me as being that compelling.  There were moments like Joe booting Nigel into the security guy, but it really didn’t serve a purpose in the grand scheme of things.  Nigel throwing away his finishing submission for a second rope break didn’t help matters.  Add the lack of energy to the crowd, and I can safely cut this. 

Punk/Rave rewatch

The big issue with the beginning is that I felt that Punk was a little too aware that he was alone with Rave.  He didn’t show the necessary aggression when it came to destroying Rave.  It was good, but it didn’t carry the heat that it had pre-match.  The middle was about same, but made sense with Rave getting his revenge spots for the ass kicking he took earlier along with the occasional escape opportunity.  The ending had Jade and Nana interfering which actually made the match better.  The top cage superplex was painful, but again, why do it in the corner where the cage door is?  Although I complained at points, there really isn’t anything wrong with this and I feel this is barely good enough to be on the list. 

Danielson/Aries 2 rewatch

Kind of felt like a throwaway title match.  The first half filler and then got interesting with the arm work, but Danielson really didn’t sell it and was dropped altogether.  Got fun in the end, but airplane spin into the crucifix bomb was crap.  Easy no.

Strong/Evans vs Delirious/Shelly rewatch

Man, this held up way better then I thought it would.  Honestly, this may be the best tag match I’ve seen in ROH 05 so far.  There were minor issues at points.  There are tiny weird ones like the Osaka Pro Wrestling ref not seeing a tag or a little bit of waiting/selling when it came to some of the moves.  The ones that are a little bigger are the section where Gen Next gets control and some moves that were not hit 100% cleanly.  Other then that, this had Evans pissing off the Chicago audience, Evans getting stretched, a sweet Gen Next control section, and a swanky finishing stretch that ended at the right time.  Better then Joe/Aries 2?  I may have been a little overdramatic on the ending although the low blow no sell still sucked.  In the end, this tag is #2 right now.   

Aries/Gibson II rewatch

OK, the best way I can describe this is that the first match was more exciting and had an energetic atmosphere, while this match was worked smarter but was quieter.  But I feel the big issue here is the crowd heat.  Sure, the crowd popped for certain moments, but a lot of the work didn’t come as big.  But yeah, the crowd is just throwing me off.  If this had the heat of the Stalemate match, it probably would have been a better match.  There is still some fighting stuff I didn’t like and some finishers wouldn’t put over as big of a deal as it should be, but as is, I can barely put it on the list.

Aries/Shelly rewatch

Wasn’t feeling it this time.  The first third wasn’t much, and the middle didn’t really mean anything at the end.  Good final third, mostly for the hot crowd.  But yeah, another top 40 match which doesn’t hold up.  Definitely no.

Joe/Lethal I rewatch

I’m not exactly enthused by this.  I had issues with both competitors in this.  Lethal seemed to be lost at points and didn’t really push the action when he needed to.  His chops were great, but his forearms sucked.  Joe, well, he didn’t really sell the neck work.  Possibly may flip flop on this, but I’m not feeling this.  No for now.

Whitmer/Jacobs vs Evans/Strong rewatch

This was a good spotfest but not as great on rewatch.  Some moves didn’t turn as well as I thought and the finisher overkill was more egregious this time.  Jeshuss’s control section wasn’t much to write home about considering it was Jack Evans, while Gen Next’s was better, but had a doomsday device that took forever to set up.  I thought this was good, but I have seen better tags.  Plus, I need to weed the list down.  Slight no. 

BT/Gibson rewatch

Better then I thought it would be.  I mean BT’s control section kind of sucked and didn’t really try to sell the early back work but Gibson carried the match.  Not super great, but I really liked it.  Keeper.

Aries/Gibson I rewatch

Not as back and forth as I remember, but it had some shady back selling from Gibson.  Sold when in control, but was kind of ignored afterwards.  The part with the brainbusters should have just ended when they each hit one.  The ending was weird in that Aries had Gibson dead to rights and then Gibson gets a small package for a double pin.  I think it would have worked better if the roles were reversed.   Otherwise, I really liked this and is #3 right now.

Joe/Nigel/Colt/Shelly rewatch

1st fall- The matwork was still fun. Each combination was fun and kept a good pace. Joe was kind of lax when it came to the hot tag, but it set up a fun finishing run.

2nd fall- Nigel/Shelly was better on rewatch. It felt like a shortened version of Shelly/Punk but with the counter-intuitive ending of Lethal/Spanky. This fall was shorter so Nigel not selling the neck wasn’t too bad. Shelly did sell his arm which makes me happy. Alex does, however, need to stop treating his Border City Stretch as a throwaway move as well as stop with the finishing submission trading. It wouldn’t bother me so much if there was more struggle to the finishing submission trading.

In all, not as great as I first thought, but it does deserve to be on the list.

Lethal/Spanky rewatch

Not really memorable.  Jay sold his arm well, Spanky sold the back a little and then said “Fuck it” to infuriate me.  Really counter-intuitive when the finish was a boston crab through the ropes.  Wasn’t really getting a wow factor when working over the body parts.  Easy no.

Gibson/Strong I rewatch

First 5 minutes were kind of there.  The back work was alright, but Gibson sold the work for all its worth.  I think they should have ended it on the guillotine choke instead of extending it to a stronghold into a roll up.  But, I wish for finishers to be treated as finishers.  The match lacked that spark and that moment to really make it memorable.  Danielson/Spanky is somewhat similar but they were working at a better pace and both of them held up there end.  I feel Roderick was green at points, and unless it is really outstanding, I tend to not give too much love to carry jobs.  No.

Danielson/Spanky rewatch

I still don’t know why people think this is a top 50 ROH match.  I feel like they could cut some time from this and would have gotten the same result.  Especially the arm work because A. Spanky was not going to sell it , B. it didn’t effect the finish, and C. it felt out of place.  On top of that, I’m getting more of a solid vibe as apposed to a great vibe from this match.  Nothing really wowed me.  It is better then Rave/Styles so for that, it is on the list.    

Punk/Spanky vs Joe/Lethal rewatch

Totally was expecting this to suck, and turned out to be really swank on rewatch.  This match felt like a match that deserved to go 26 minutes and was built accordingly.  However, Spanky’s selling was non-existent.  Lethal’s selling was okay and I am still trying to figure out why Stevie Richards is there.  Again, it wasn’t bad, but it was bizarre.  Total keeper. 

Joe/Walker/Danielson vs Gibson/Spanky/McGuinness rewatch

This came off about the same as last time I saw it, very good solid match.  The ending is the thing that is throwing me off.  Good ending, but just kind of happened.  Like I was expecting it to build better.  A lot of good stuff, but nothing was blowing me away.  Still, it is on the list.

Joe/Aries 2 rewatch

This came off a bit better on rewatch but still has issues.  Aries comeback came off a bit too easy, and the ending kind of sucked with Joe no selling a low blow and the final pin not really coming off as convincing.  Comparing this to Joe/Aries I, this had a better middle but a worse ending.  Definitely listable. 

Rave/Styles rewatch

This is a tough one.  I got to try to break this down.  The first minute or two is mat work and it feels out of place here, I would have preferred stooging.  Eventually, AJ calls out Rave and gets attacked from behind and gets interesting.  After some crowd brawling, AJ controls (which was fine) and then Rave controls (which was boring).  It eventually leads to a fun finishing stretch and a schmozz ending.  I say this is just good enough with AJ being good and Rave getting with the program down the stretch.  Just listable.

Gen Next/Joe and Danielson rewatch

Finally, something that held up.  The comedy and the ass kicking Evans received ruled the first half.  The Gen Next control section wasn’t as bad as I thought it was the first time, although I thought they threw Danielson to the outside one too many times.  The botch is still bad, and I thought Aries didn’t really put any effort in trying to save Evans in the end.  This was still fun and it’s on the list.

Punk/Shelly rewatch

I know I said that this came off as dry at points, but it came off as dryer this time.  It wasn’t that the body part work was bad, but the crowd’s disinterest carried over to me.  Shelly’s arm selling was great, Punk sold the mid section for a bit and then stopped doing it.  Would have helped if Shelly stopped attacking the mid section.  This felt like a lesser version of Shelly/Williams I from 04 and Doug is better mat wrester then Punk.  Has some cool moments in the end, but Punk shaking off two splashes and double stomp was just bit too much.  So no and I’m 0-3 on rewatches. 

Gibson/Spanky rewatch

On rewatch, Gibson was still awesome, but Spanky came off worse.  I look at the arm work as being nice, but not being sold to great effect nor really feeling like it belonged there to begin with.  It’s good, but I feel there are better Gibson matches.  Not listworthy.