Jose Maximo/Joel Maximo/Chris Devine v. Insane Dragon/Dixie/Brian XL ROH Honor Invades Boston 8/24/02

It was what it was, a spotfest. SAT sucked in this while everybody else was ok, I guess. This match didn’t really piss me off as much as it should because at least this was short. Still execution is all over the place and the set up for some of the moves were preposterous. Only notable for showing what the undercards looked like in ROH ten years ago. No.

Jody Fliesch v. Jonny Storm ROH Road to the Title 6/22/02

Right now I am going to watch a lot of matches that I missed from 02-05 without the benefit of megaupload. You never know, there could be an underrated match somewhere.

Better then I thought it would be. Except for the spots, not that good. It was nice they kept it to a 7 minute sprint, but nothing was built, there was no selling, and botchy at points. No connection from one spot to the other and very choreographed but that’s the early 2000’s for you. No.

The best ROH matches of 2006

1. BJ Whitmer, Ace Steel, Adam Pearce, Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson & Homicide VS Claudio Castagnoli, Chris Hero, Necro Butcher, Nate Webb & Eddie Kingston Cage of Death Death Before Dishonor IV 7/15/06
2. Bryan Danielson vs. Homicide. Final Battle 2006 12/23/06
3. Homicide vs. Colt Cabana Ghetto Street Fight Fourth Anniversary Show 2/25/06
4. BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs Dragon Gate Challenge 3/30/06
5. Samoa Joe, BJ Whitmer, & Adam Pearce vs. Chris Hero, Necro Butcher, & Super Dragon The 100th Show 4/22/06
6. Nigel McGuinness VS Bryan Danielson Weekend of Champions Night 2 4/29/06
7. Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness Generation Now 7/29/06
8. Jimmy Rave/Alex Shelley/Abyss vs Jimmy Yang/Jack Evans/Matt Sydal Tag Wars 1/27/06
9. BJ Whitmer/Jimmy Jacobs/Adam Pearce vs Jimmy Yang/Jack Evans/Matt Sydal Tag Wars 1/27/06
10. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. CIMA & Naruki Doi Better Than Our Best 4/1/06
11. AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal Hell Freezes Over 1/14/06
12. Austin Aries, Roderick Strong & Delirious vs. CIMA, Shingo & Matt Sydal. Final Battle 2006 12/23/06
13. Jay & Mark Briscoe VS Austin Aries & Roderick Strong Unified 8/12/06
14. Jay & Mark Briscoe VS Matt Sydal & Davey Richards Anarchy in the UK 8/13/06
15. Jay Briscoe vs Austin Aries How We Roll 5/12/06
16. Jimmy Jacobs VS BJ Whitmer In You Face 6/17/06
17. Bryan Danielson vs KENTA Glory by Honor 5 Night 2 9/16/06
18. Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Hero Hell Freezes Over 1/14/06
19. Jimmy Rave vs Davey Richards vs Delirious vs Samoa Joe Throwdown 6/23/06
20. Bryan Danielson vs. Homicide Destiny 6/03/06
21. Blood Generation vs. Generation Next Dragon Gate Challenge 3/30/06
22. Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Rave 4th Anniversary Show 2/25/06
23. Bryan Danielson vs Colt Cabana Chi Town Struggle 6/24/06
24. Kings of Wrestling vs Briscoes Final Battle 2006 12/23/06
25. Austin Aries and Roderick Strong vs Jimmy Rave and Alex Shelley Weekend of Champions Night 2 4/29/06
26. Claudio Castagnoli, Super Dragon, Necro Butcher, & Nate Webb vs. Adam Pearce, Ace Steel, Colt Cabana, & BJ Whitmer CZW vs. ROH 8 Man, Anything Goes Weekend of Champions Night 1 4/28/06
27. Homicide VS Necro Butcher Ring of Homicide 5/13/06
28. KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Bryan Danielson & Samoa Joe Best in the World 3/25/06
29. Jimmy Rave vs Davey Richards Destiny 6/03/06
30. Blood Generation vs. Do Fixer Supercard of Honor 3/31/06
31. KENTA VS Samoa Joe VS Bryan Danielson In Your Face 6/17/06

Danielson/Homicide Final Battle rewatch

Yeah, this ruled. What makes this better then there match at Destiny is that they didn’t have that back and forth finishing stretch that I loathe so much. The story was great because they actually did a great job of selling the arm work and showing that it was hindering them. Add the booking in there and it is a MOTYC. If the crowd was just a little hotter, this would be #1. Easily #2. So onto the list and maybe some thoughts on the year.

Aries/Strong/Delirious vs. CIMA/Shingo/Sydal rewatch

This held up real well. Doesn’t have the selling issues that the March Dragongate 6-mans had. They could have cut a little time from BG control section and Shingo could have been better at points, but this had minimal restholds and I loved the pace of it. Not top 10, but pretty close. List.

Kings of Wrestling/Briscoes rewatch

Very fun although not perfect. There were points where it got a little back and forth, but both were smart not to use restholds and to tag out often. Not an all time best spotfest like the Tag Wars 6-mans, but the most worthwhile match in ROH 06 for quite a long time. List.

Delirious/Cabana/McGuinness/Whitmer vs Danielson/Rave/Shingo/Jacobs Elimination Match rewatch

Did not hold up. Everything was good at points, but I kept expecting better throughout. The booking was fine, but the crowd was lukewarm throughout. Also, Delirious ate way too much offense and I just couldn’t buy him surviving. No.

Richards/Aries rewatch

The crowd killed this match. I mean they both had good countering to each other’s offense which eventually led to Aries getting his arm worked over. The match for some reason just didn’t have any energy to it and they kind of played the “no selling” card down the stretch to get the crowd into it. So yeah, no high end matches in October and November. No.

Daniels/Sydal vs Richards/Delirious rewatch

Perfectly fine, but too long for a spotfest and didn’t have the heat. Just lacked the highlights to be anything more then good. No.

KENTA/Sydal rewatch

Didn’t hold up as well as I thought it would, which surprised me. Sydal did great job in selling the asskicking but KENTA struck me as the problem with this. Yes, he threw his great kicks, but the match lacked a story and there were a lot of restholds for a match this short which doesn’t work for a single’s match unless a story is there. It was, strangly, a very by-the-numbers match. I mean they do mat work in the beginning, stalemate, then they trade shots without a reason. This just didn’t work for me. Sadly, no.

Aries/Strong vs KENTA/Richards rewatch

Not that compelling of a spotfest, too long, and not enough heat throughout. KENTA was probably the best in this, but even then he was a little too intent on throwing on a resthold. I’ve seen this match done better. No.

Danielson/Delirious HCB rewatch

It had potential early, but lack of story and Danielson being in “house show” mode killed this match. It was better then I thought, but this needed to be shorter and more a sprint to be great. No.

Danielson/KENTA rewatch

It is very good, but it is not a MOTYC. It has a great consistent story throughout with Danielson’s arm with KENTA doing awesome armwork. Dragon’s selling came off even better on rewatch although there were points where Dragon could have sold a little better. It still has the fat that I mentioned last time (leg work and the fighting spirit exchange). Get rid of that and you have a MOTYC. As of right now it would not be in the ROH top ten of this year. Still recommended and listed.

Joe/Strong rewatch

More restholdy and methodical then I thought. It was also more even then I would have liked. Why is this a problem, because I feel they should have built up Roderick lifting Joe up later in the match instead throwing it out in the beginning. But that is just me. Definitely stiff, but Roderick works the back and isn’t put over well. So yeah, I don’t dig Strong as the “Messiah of the Backbreaker”. Sure it makes sense to target a body part, but your opponent isn’t selling it and it makes the back work seem insignificant. With that, I have to say no.

Briscoes vs Sydal/Richards rewatch

Better then I thought it would be. It was like that United tag where they cut a great pace throughout, but at the same time has similar flaws. Although they tried to avoid it at points, there was some no selling in this. What this surprisingly doesn’t have is finisher overkill (if you don’t count some head drops as finishers). Not great or anything, but slightly better then the United tag. Keep.

Danielson/Nigel United rewatch

Tough match. Two things hurt this match. One was the story, and the second was Nigel’s selling of the story. The arm work was fine, but Nigel didn’t bother selling any of it. It is even more annoying when he doesn’t really sell Cattle Mutilation or the Crossface Chickenwing. It worked in Generation Now because no one ever really had control of the match so no one was trapped into selling. Plus, there are better matches with arm work selling in just Danielson’s title matches this year. Add the recurring theme in this feud with back and forth, and I feel just confident enough in leaving this off my list. Slight no.

Briscoes vs Aries/Strong United rewatch

The best of there three matches. It cuts a great pace and everything was executed properly. Still, it doesn’t have the selling to be a great match and again, Roderick eating two double team finishers was too much. It is spotfest, so it is on the list.

Richards/KENTA rewatch

Tricky match. I think it is good and all, but I’m not exactly sure why it was so restholdy in the beginning. I also feel it was a bit back and forth and no selly at points. Granted KENTA kicked hard and Richards was putting extra mustard on his kicks, but the lack of story makes me put this in the no column. Slight no.

Richards/KENTA vs Briscoes rewatch

Good, but not great. Had some no selling in it and the hot tag looked awful. They cut a good pace but they started to lose steam through the second half. Better then I thought it would be, but no.

Danielson/Nigel Generation Now rewatch

This was way better then I thought it would be. I was afraid that “going after a body part” strategy would sink the match. However, neither really had control during any part of that, so no one fell into any traps. Still had some sweet mat wrestling, but it still had some moments of back and forth. I liked the first match just a smidgen better because there was selling, but this is top 10 worthy. Keep.

CZW vs ROH Cage of Death rewatch

Yep, still a great match. Everything I said the first time bares repeating here. Maybe a tiny bit of no selling near the end with Webb, but he did get cut off at the end. I pretty sure this is No. 1.

Nigel/Strong rewatch

Tough one here. On one hand, they were really blasting each other and was awesome. Then, you have the story of Nigel getting his back worked over to a point where he doesn’t sell any of it, and Roderick who has his arm worked over sells alright but is forgotten at the end. Add in some back and forth and a fighting spirit spot, and just by a little bit, I have to regrettably say no.

Danielson/Colt Chi-town Struggle rewatch

I really like this, but suffers from the usual issues I find in Danielson matches. There were points in this match where he and Colt shrug offense off and go to the next move. It’s sad because this was really fun for a lot of this. Possible top 5 if they the issues I named were cleaned up, but it probably won’t be top 10 when all is said and done. Keep.

Rave/Richards/Delirious/Joe rewatch

Definitely the best ROH 4 way of 06. Joe brought the asskicking, Delirious brought the comedy, and Rave brought the stooging. Richards was ok and took a good asskicking but he doesn’t have the instinct to bring it consistently. I did love how the match was put together although the middle did meander at times. Again not a top 10 match for that year, but the match is listable.