Black vs Danielson Breakout rewatch

Very good, but not as great as it could have been. They based the whole match on Black disrespecting Danielson and was probably a better base then limb work. The finish did come off as cheap in the end however. I liked it enough, but there isn’t any reason this should be top 10 by the end of the year. #1 for now.

Black/Butcher vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe Street Fight rewatch

This match was good, but was more based around booking for the show. The first part with the Briscoes was ok and then the stuff with the Vulture got better and crazier but kind of lost it in the end with the crowd dying. I feel there have been better street fights done before and after this match. No.

Takeshi Morishima vs Bryan Danielson Fight Without Honor ROH Final Battle 2008 12/27/08

Second best match in there rivalry. Probably would have been even better if it happened in 07 with a hotter crowd. Still they brought the best out of each other with Bryan’s fire, and Takeshi’s methodical ass kicking. This worked better then the Bryan/Claudio blowoff because hasn’t beaten Takeshi unlike Claudio. I don’t think it is great, but it could get a decent ranking. Rewatch I have a 6GB torrent on Respect is Earned 2 which has JBriscoe/Necro and may have to get lucky in finding Joe/Black. So I will start rewatching.

Nigel McGuinness vs Naomichi Marufuji ROH Final Battle 2008 12/27/08

God was Nigel awful in this. I’m not high on Marufuji, but he at least tried to take the match in a direction with the neck work that wasn’t sold in the least. Add Nigel taking a sliced bread on the floor and apron and it was horrible overkill on top of that with Nigel taking the match way too easily. No.

Tyler Black vs Austin Aries ROH Final Battle 2008 12/27/08

Not as good as there last match. They were trying to accomplish a double turn in this match, but I didn’t feel like Tyler brought anything to the table because he’s not comfortable at being a face. Aries had to carry the duration of this and did good, but you need more then one good performance to stand out. No.

Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe ROH Final Battle 2008 12/27/08

Too much of a fighting spirit fest. I don’t really care for these matches unless they are really bringing the stiffness and it just didn’t show up. No.

American Wolves/Go Shiozaki vs Roderick Strong/Brent Albright/Erick Stevens Street Fight ROH Final Battle 2008 12/27/08

Good street fight, but in the context of that year, it just wasn’t crazy enough of a street fight and not as hard enough of a strong style grudge match. It did want me to really see the Wolves and Go team up in six mans because they were really awesome shitkickers here. So of course Go is back in Japan by 09 trying to pick up the pieces of NOAH when Misawa dies. The face team wasn’t much and was pretty invisible. Good for what it was, but nothing great. No.

Kevin Steen/El Generico vs Jimmy Jacobs/Delirious ROH Final Battle 2008 12/27/08

Good match, but could have been better with someone other then Delirious in it. You had the early midsection work which was fine, but didn’t go anywhere and then the eventual leg work which had the usual great selling from Steen. Delirious was involved with leg clip in front of the ref, the no selling of the sharpshooter, and the stuff involving Haze. Those took me out of it enough to say no.

Jerry Lynn vs Bryan Danielson ROH All Star Extravaganza 4 12/26/08

This happened. They worked it as they were both equals, but its hard to take it seriously when Jerry is gassed out. Can’t see any reason why people thought of this so highly. No.

Austin Aries vs Naomichi Marufuji ROH All Star Extravaganza 4 12/26/08

I thought this sucked. Everything you hate about Marufuji’s strikes is in this match. Hell No.

Nigel McGuinness vs Jerry Lynn ROH Southern Hostility 12/6/08

This was actually better then it should have been and may be even good. You get a little arm, but that ends up meaning nothing and should have never been there in the first place. The stuff with Nigel putting down Lynn and trying to win by countout was pretty damn good. You still have the usual Nigel no selling and Lynn not being the best bumper. Better then it should have been, but not listable. No.

Claudio Castagnoli vs Bryan Danielson No DQ ROH Southern Hostility 12/6/08

I don’t know I would call this the underrated classic as its been touted as, but a case could be made that it is very good You had good aggression, a good blade job, good build and some smart spots. I think my issue is that Bryan didn’t get enough offense to make me feel satisfied even though Claudio got choked out with a belt. Maybe if Claudio bladed then it be different, but it felt a bit unsatisfying. I’ll still give it another shot, but something is missing in this.

Nigel McGuinness/Claudio Castagnoli vs Bryan Danielson/Jerry Lynn ROH Wrestling at the Gateway 12/5/08

This was pretty damn good. Really dug Nigel/Claudio as a team. Especially Claudio who was really entertaining. Nigel’s no selling tendencies caught up with match at the end, but this was still a damn entertaining house show tag. You know what, fuck it, Ill rewatch it.

Tyler Black vs Austin Aries ROH Wrestling at the Gateway 12/5/08

This looked very good on first watch. Each attacked the other’s neck for there head drop finisher and both seemed to sell reasonably well. Timed everything well enough and went the right amount of time. Nothing to complain about and is getting rewatched.

Nigel McGuinness vs Bryan Danielson ROH Rising Above 2008 11/22/08

Pretty much in the same category as all the other Danielson/McGuinness matches; awesome. Probably will be Nigel’s last great performance. He actually targeted the leg the entire match and came up with many different ways to attack it. Danielson’s selling was good, but not as out of this world as I remember. The blood loss selling was phenomenal however and this didn’t have any no selling back and forth in it like the Driven match. This may be there best match honestly. I would probably have to rearrange the other lists, but this felt like there peak. Rewatch. Black/Joe match is another PPV bonus match I need to find at a later time

Jimmy Jacobs vs Austin Aries I Quit ROH Rising Above 2008 11/22/08

Gotta be a top 10 match for 08 and maybe higher. Hotter crowd, better payoffs, and a better overall Jacobs performance overall. Everything also escalated just right. Defineatly in the running for #1. Rewatch.

Kevin Steen/El Generico vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe ROH Bound by Hate 11/8/08

I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of this before, but this kicked ass. It’s these two teams hating each other’s guts and it ruled just as much as it did in 07. The crowd could have been better, but it was also a smarter Briscoe matc that wasn’t reliant as much on moves. Rewatch.

Tyler Black vs Kenny Omega vs Bryan Danielson ROH Bound by Hate 11/8/08

Pretty damn fun 3 way. Maybe be slightly overrating it, but there were enough fun wrinkles to it to keep me invested in it without overstaying its welcome. Probably won’t stay by the end, but I dug this. Rewatch.

Jimmy Jacobs vs Austin Aries Dog Collar Match ROH Bound by Hate 11/8/08

Not the underated classic it could have been, but still very good. Jacobs makes every effort to not put the collar on and pretty much controls Aries for most it until Aries makes Jimmy bleed. A lot of cool spots with the dog collar even though some may not like the pace of the match, but that’s just how these matches work. Rewatch.

Nigel McGuinness vs El Generico vs Go Shiozaki vs Kevin Steen ROH The French Connection 11/7/08

I thought this was a legitamately crappy match. Go was pretty bad in this and it just had a house show feel to it. There was a story there of Nigel being a sneaky bastard but the execution was horrendous. Don’t know why this was recommended. No.

Jimmy Jacobs/Tyler Black vs Bryan Danielson/Austin Aries ROH The French Connection 11/7/08

This happened. This is a match that they have done in the past was sort of in house show mode here. Same story with the Aries/Jacobs issues but with a real lack of highlights until the end. No.

Roderick Strong vs Davey Richards ROH The French Connection 11/7/08

It was alright. Tried to go somewhere with rib selling, but didn’t end up mattering anyway. Whatever. No.

Chris Hero vs. Pelle Primeau Lights Out Match ROH Vendetta 2 6/28/08

Good big vs small sprint. Unique to other LMS standing type of matches where Hero destroys Pelle with strikes and Pelle has to use his lucha to get any offense. Close to rewatching it, but I wanted it to go a bit longer and ingterference at end just felt unnecessary. Slight No.