Kevin Steen/El Generico vs American Wolves ROH End of an Age 6/27/09

Probably one of there least matches. Didn’t get interesting until the stretch run. No.

Tyler Black vs KENTA ROH End of an Age 6/27/09

This match was in total cruise control. No.

Jimmy Jacobs vs Tyler Black Steel Cage Match ROH Violent Tendencies 6/26/09

Wasn’t as good as it should have been. The crowd wasn’t as hot and the match took too long to get going. Disappointing. No.

American Wolves vs KENTA/Roderick Strong ROH Violent Tendencies 6/26/09

On first watch, this was very good. The Wolves do the smart thing and don’t do leg work and just elect have these four beat each other into a bloody pulp. You do have one pretty significant botch in this, but there is just too much good stuff in it to not give it another shot. Keep.

Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. House Of Truth ROH Violent Tendencies 6/26/09

Not that good for the most part, but actually was kind of fun in the end. The balding HOT member was decent, and the bald one sucked. Meaningful for being Truth’s Martini’s first appearance in these reviews. No.

Roderick Strong vs KENTA (ROH on HDNet 14) 6/20/09

Good 10 minute match, but you still felt like they held back. Not in the kick/chop exchanges, but that they just went to the next parts of the match like they were sleepwalking through a script. No.

American Wolves vs Kevin Steen/El Generico Submission Match ROH Manhattan Mayhem III 06/13/09

Good, but there have been too many better matches in this feud. Mostly, the crowd heat is not as explosive, the hate isn’t as palletible, and the selling isn’t on the god tier. The match is still always going to be good, but it does feel like it is peaking. No.

Roderick Strong vs. Sonjay Dutt ROH Manhattan Mayhem III 06/13/09

I liked it when Strong was killing Dutt. I like Dutt when he sticks to high flying, but anything else, he tends to be awful. No.

Tyler Black vs Jerry Lynn ROH Contention 6/12/09

The only things of note was the crowd loving the snapmare and Black’s murderous Bucklebomb/Superkick combo to put him out. Too bad it was non title. No.

Jay Briscoe vs. Davey Richards ROH Contention 6/12/09

This happened. It was ok, but I just didn’t give a single damn about this. No.

Young Bucks vs Kevin Steen/El Generico ROH Contention 6/12/09

Fine as a house show effort. Young Bucks are faces at this point and they aren’t quite at the point of being the best until they turn heel and finally figure it out in 2011. They can be carried at this point to good matches, but this match was a no doubter at this point and will be easily forgotten by me. No.

Jerry Lynn vs Austin Aries vs Tyler Black vs Bryan Danielson (ROH on HDNet 12) 6/6/09

Good match, although of the indyish variety. Not really a story there, but lots of spots that fit together in about as logical of a way as they could be. Some eye rolling spots, but it was closer to very good then I thought it would be. No.

Kevin Steen/El Generico vs American Wolves Tables Are Legal Match (ROH on HDNet 11) 5/30/09

Can’t find the Black/Danieson 5/9/09 match anywhere. Probably would have been the least of there matchups, but its on hold right now. I’m on the fence on this one. The beginning didn’t really seem to have the heat of the other matches, although it did stabilize. The match eventually became what you expect from these two, but with table spots. Steen’s leg selling wasn’t as great as his other matches against the Wolves, but still good. The issue I have is that they have had some awesome matches this year and I kind of have to put that in mind when it comes to keeping matches. I think this is just below that line and will have to give it slight no.

Jerry Lynn vs Jay Briscoe ROH Validation 5/9/09

Bored the piss out me because there wasn’t any doubt Jerry was losing. No.

American Wolves vs Bryan Danielson/Kevin Steen ROH Validation 5/9/09

Didn’t quite have the heat of the other matches in this feud, but I still enjoyed this. Here, the Wolves beat the shit out of Danielson for a change and dissect his leg. Bryan sells well for the most part and then you got the stuff involving Bryan/Edwards which the match was mostly about. I don’t know if the crowd heat will hurt it on rewatch, but I see no reason not to include it. Keep.

Jerry Lynn vs Chris Hero ROH Never Say Die 5/8/09

Good, but again directionless. I’ll say this much, Lynn does build his moves in a logical and treats his cradle piledriver as the match ender, but the matches tend to not have any substance to them except the spots. Hero didn’t do the match any favors and the million forearms that don’t get a pin just doesn’t work for me. He’ll get it, but not in this match. No.

Davey Richards vs Kevin Steen Anything Goes Match ROH Never Say Die 5/8/09

This feud continues to rule it. These two are dicks to each other and the matches continue to be fun. Could get cut by the rewatch phase, but since 09 is considered weak, I’m giving it a little more leniency. Keep.

Tyler Black vs Bryan Danielson (ROH on HDNet 6) 4/25/09

Good match as always with them. It works as the first part to their tv story, but there really isn’t anything to sink your teeth into otherwise. No.

Jerry Lynn vs. Colt Cabana ROH The Homecoming 2 4/25/09

Fine, but directionless main event. No.

American Wolves vs. Kevin Steen/Jay Briscoe 2/3 Falls ROH The Homecoming 2 4/25/09

Man these Wolves vs Steen/Anybody matches are the best. Steen is an asshole, the Wolves destroy his leg in retaliation, and Jay does his job well. Closer to the No DQ match in quality then I thought, and this feud isn’t even over yet. Stoked and rewatch.

Chris Hero vs. Tyler Black ROH The Homecoming 2 4/25/09

Directionless, but good. Hero abuses Black and the match is fun because of it, but it did feel like they had a better match in them. No.

Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Rave ROH The Homecoming 2 4/25/09

This is on the fringe, but I just don’t think I can put it over the top. Bryan abusing was lots of fun and they did do a story where Rave was avoiding the elbows with it being paid off nicely. The neck work and heel hook on Bryan was not sold at all and he even went back on offense immediately which put a big damper on the match. I liked it, but Danielson’s had better performances. Slight No.

Jerry Lynn vs Roderick Strong ROH A Cut Above 4/24/09

This was the semi famous match where Roderick misses an apron elbow and cuts his head on the guardrail and starts bleeding buckets around halfway into the match. The stuff after was dramatic, but the stuff before was worthless. It balances out into a good match. No.

Davey Richards vs Tyler Black ROH A Cut Above 4/24/09

Good match. Took a bit to get going, but the arm work was fine and was sold well throughout. No, otherwise.

American Wolves vs Bryan Danielson/Tyler Black ROH Tag Title Classic 4/18/09

I don’t think I would call this a classic, but I at least thought it was very good. They structured the match well enough that you necessarily see the draw coming. Some moves probably could looked better, but I think it is worthy of a rewatch.

Jay Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong ROH Tag Title Classic 4/18/09

It wasn’t bad, but it just felt so plain to me. No.

Jimmy Jacobs vs Delirious Street Fight ROH Tag Title Classic 4/18/09

I found it better then the Necro match, but it didn’t quite meet the threshold. Some good stuff with the chairs, but I was expecting it to be a bit more violent. The ending didn’t really come off as big as it could have, because of the camera not getting a good shot of it. No.

Davey Richards/Eddie Edwards/Sylvain Grenier vs Kevin Steen/El Generico/Bryan Danielson ROH The Hunt Begins 4/17/09

House show effort. Shitbag Sylvain didn’t expose himself until the end where he just looked untrained. No.

Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong vs. Jay Briscoe vs. Kenny Omega ROH The Hunt Begins 4/17/09

It was fun for what it was even with Omega hitting nothing on the moonsault on the outside. Fine in a guilty pleasure sort of thing, but no.

Jimmy Jacobs vs Tyler Black ROH The Hunt Begins 4/17/09

For a crowd that was as shitty as it was, it was good. The hate was there, but since this was normal, they played it straight. Otherwise, no.

Austin Aries vs Bryan Danielson ROH on HDNet 4/4/09

OK, but they’ve had way better. No.

Austin Aries/Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Tyler Black/KENTA ROH Take No Prisoners 2009 4/4/09

Austin Aries/Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Tyler Black/KENTA ROH Take No Prisoners 2009 4/4/09 Good, but peaked in the beginning with Aries antics and the selling wasn’t that great in the end. No.

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Necro Butcher Fight Without Honor ROH Take No Prisoners 2009 4/4/09

Good, but felt kind of incomplete. The first part crowd brawling didn’t do anything for me, but got good in the middle with the screwdriver. Then Necro took a superplex to the concrete and unsurprisingly his hip was in agony and affected him the rest of the match. I was also hoping for a more decisive finish then what I got. No.

Nigel McGuinness vs Jerry Lynn ROH Supercard of Honor IV 4/3/09

Way better then it had the right to be and a good end to Nigel’s reign. Same arm vs arm story as Nigel/KENTA. Nigel’s selling was about the same as the KENTA match. Lynn’s selling was actually really damn good and there was sort of an odd charm to him doing cross armbreakers and London Dungeon’s to try to destroy Nigel’s arm. In writing this, the times I have liked a Nigel title match is when his no selling tendencies are controlled, has someone who can sell his arm work, or when Nigel’s is limited to the point when he is not controlling the majority of the match. Reason 3 is why I have liked the last two Nigel matches and for as crazy as it may seem, I’m going to give this a rewatch.

Jimmy Jacobs/Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black/Necro Butcher ROH Supercard of Honor IV 4/3/09

Felt like filler after the KENTA/Richards match. Just…whatever. No.

KENTA vs Davey Richards ROH Supercard of Honor IV 4/3/09

Good, but hypocritical match. The big killer was the leg work because KENTA didn’t sell it and the match didn’t need it anyway if it was going to degenerate into a strike battle anyway. The edited ending didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. I probably prefer there 06 match and I didn’t even list that. No.

Roderick Strong vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima ROH Supercard of Honor IV 4/3/09

Damn good under ten minute match. They do a back work vs leg work story for the brief amount of time it got and Roderick chops a hole in Nakajima’s chest. Definitely fun, but totally wish we had five more minutes and maybe some Nakajima kicking. Slight no.

Nigel McGuinness vs KENTA ROH 7th Anniversary Show 3/21/09

This was way better then I thought it would be. Nigel pretty much has no arms at this point and doesn’t connect on a lariat the entire match and tries to use his arms as little as possible. It is ridiculous at times that he doesn’t try to sell the arm more, but I’ll give him slight pass since he was legit injured. KENTA did his best selling the arm even though it is still a Nigel armwork match. Don’t know if it will hold up, but it deserves another chance. Keep.

Kevin Steen/El Generico vs American Wolves No DQ ROH 7th Anniversary Show 3/21/09

Another sweet Steenerico/Wolves match. Steen has an injured leg and as usual sells like the fucking man. It pretty much Stneenerico control, a little Wolves leg destroying, Steenerico type moves run, and back to the leg all while Steen’s selling the whole match. The best match in this feud so far. Keep.

Bryan Danielson/Colt Cabana vs. Jimmy Rave/Bison Smith ROH 7th Anniversary Show 3/21/09

Could have been an underrated gem, but just wasn’t. The returns of Rave and Colt were huge, and Bison could have been a better Morishima if he had stuck around, because he was wrecking people in this. Still it was only 12 minutes and there just wasn’t enough there. No.

El Generico/KENTA vs Nigel McGuinness/Davey Richards ROH Steel City Clash 3/20/09

Good, but not what it could have been with the people involved. Didn’t seem to have the heat to bring it over the top. No.

Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong ROH Steel City Clash 3/20/09

Similar story to there 07 SOH2 match with Aries trying to avoid the chops and all of Strong’s trademarks. I think this match was better because Aries was a better heel, but it was a little messy at times and has a somewhat lame finish. No.

Jimmy Jacobs & Brodie Lee vs. Tyler Black & Necro Butcher Falls Count Anywhere ROH Steel City Clash 3/20/09

Good bloodless affair. Nothing incredible otherwise. No.

Mike Quackenbush vs Bryan Danielson ROH Steel City Clash 3/20/09

Absolutely brilliant and a MOTYC. Just two masters of there craft killing it on the mat with the arm work vs leg work story. Better then there 07 match because of Danielson’s selling, but Quack’s selling was great too. Has a real shot of being #1. Keep.

Nigel McGuinness/Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black/Jerry Lynn ROH Insanity Unleashed 3/14/09

Surprisingly good. Kept it to around 15 minutes and had a unique enough structure to make it stand out and a good finishing run to boot. I wish Nigel had more of these tag matches where he just does some of the work. Still not great enough to be rewatched. No.

Jimmy Jacobs vs Delirious No DQ ROH Insanity Unleashed 3/14/09

Good match. As a first step to an eventual rematch, it does its job. It’s just that there have been better garbage matches in ROH, but I don’t regret seeing it.

Kevin Steen/El Generico vs Kenny King/Rhett Titus ROH Insanity Unleashed 3/14/09

Barely a good carry job by Steenerico. ANX just seemed to be not polished at times and was reliant on Steenerico to right the ship. There will be better tags. No.

Jay Briscoe vs. Chris Hero ROH Insanity Unleashed 3/14/09

Perfectly fine, nothing incredible. No.

Kevin Steen/El Generico/Bobby Dempsey vs Davey Richards/Eddie Edwards/Chris Hero ROH Stylin’ and Profilin’ 03/13/09

Borderline match on my rewatch list. This was about Dempsey trying to man up against his former abuser and Steen’s leg being worked on to continue there issues with the Wolves. Dempsey/Hero was rewarding in the end, and Steen’s selling was mostly good minus the three corner moves where he didn’t sell. Efficient use of 15 minutes. Keep.

Roderick Strong vs. Jay Briscoe ROH Stylin' & Profilin' 03/13/09

Decent opening match. I don’t know if it deserved the amount of crowd heat it got, but hey at least the audience was happy. No.

Delirious vs Bryan Danielson ROH Eliminating the Competition 2/27/09

May as well not have wasted time on back work if it wasn’t going to be sold the entire match. No.

Nigel McGuinness vs. D’Lo Brown ROH Proving Ground 2009 Night 2 2/7/09

Surprisingly good. Nigel thankfully didn’t do arm work and this was only 14 minutes. D’Lo’s performance was better then I thought and did well in his selling and hitting some great forearms. Down with the Brown, even if it was only for this one match, but this isn’t a classic. No.

El Generico vs Bryan Danielson ROH Proving Ground 2009 Night 2 2/7/09

Most compelling match on paper, and it was only good. Mostly comedy and not much direction, but its these two so it was obviously going to be good. No.

Roderick Strong/Erick Stevens/Brent Albright vs. Francisco Ciatso/Dark City Fight Club ROH Proving Ground 2009 Night 2 2/7/09

Nice and physical match at times, but they didn’t seem to be on the same page. No.

Davey Richards vs Tyler Black ROH Proving Ground 2009 Night 1 2/6/09

I’d call it good although I wouldn’t call it a main event match. Tyler’s midsection selling was ok, but Davey’s performance did more for me then Tyler. I’ve just seen these matches done better. No.

Brent Albright vs Nigel McGuinness ROH Proving Ground 2009 Night 1 2/6/09

God damnit. I can’t even get that mad at Brent not selling the arm because Nigel’s been doing the same old shit throughout 09. Fuck no.

Jerry Lynn/Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Jacobs/Delirious ROH Proving Ground 2009 Night 1 2/6/09

Fine for what it was. Jacobs/Delirious didn’t have enough personality to make it work like Caludio/Nigel last year with Lynn/Danielson. No.

Brent Albright, Roderick Strong, Erick Stevens, Ace Steel, & Jay Briscoe vs. Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, Adam Pearce, Bobby Dempsey, & Tank Toland Steel Cage Warfare ROH Caged Collision 1/31/09

This was not very long for a wargames style match, but it accomplished everything it needed to as far as a feud ender went. I thought they set up the stuff with SnS Inc. getting destroyed well and Bobby having enough after the match. It was actually refreshing seeing a match that wasn’t pretending to be epic. This may actually do better then I thought. Keep.

Nigel McGuinness vs El Generico ROH Caged Collision 1/31/09

God make this fucking reign end. Generico’s arm selling wasn’t as good as usual, but it’s a Nigel match and a matchup that I don’t care about anymore. No.

Austin Aries vs Jimmy Jacobs vs Bryan Danielson vs Tyler Black ROH Caged Collision 1/31/09

Good match. There were stories there with Jacobs/Black and the weird relationship with Aries/Jacobs, but it never really amounted to anything and the double pin situations didn’t make sense since it wasn’t elimination. No.

Kevin Steen/El Generico vs American Wolves ROH Motor City Madness 2009 1/30/09

If 09 is as down of a year as I think it will be, then this wouldn’t be the worst match to be kept. Granted this is the first of many matches these teams will have, but this Steenerico match has enough personality to it to be considered. Probably won’t last by the end, but I need a marker anyway. Keep.

Jay Briscoe vs. Nigel McGuinness ROH Motor City Madness 2009 1/30/09

I should probably commend them for not going into overkill, but this was the same old Nigel bullshit.

Tyler Black vs Jerry Lynn ROH Motor City Madness 2009 1/30/09

Was awful for the majority of it until the stretch run which saved it somewhat. Didn’t like this one otherwise. No.

Tyler Black vs Samoa Joe ROH Rising Above 2008 11/22/08 (bonus match)

Good match as you would expect from Joe last official match. Joe is over and he promptly destroys Tyler. They did keep it smart with Tyler being aggressive in the early going and going to the eyes when he was at a disadvantage. It was mostly a formula Joe match, but its still better then the majority of 08. Still, no.

Necro Butcher vs Jay Briscoe Philadelphia Street Fight ROH Respect is Earned 2 (bonus) 6/7/08

Kind of in the low end of that Briscoes/AOTF feud. Having a single’s match means that the focus is all on them, so you can’t go to another matchup when the other matchup begins drag like this did at points. No.

Nigel McGuinness vs Tyler Black ROH Injustice 2 1/17/09

God this was the worst. Nigel controlled practically all of this and it was as awful as you would expect from a match that goes to a 47 minute draw which makes no sense (they say he bribed the timekeeper later on). They tried to throw some dog and pony shit in there which distracted from the awfulness temporarily. But this was the worse ROH title defense I can remember. Hell no.

Jerry Lynn vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Injustice 2 1/17/09

Better then I thought it would be to even being good. Same scientific style match, but executed better and less Lynn gassing. Still, it is nothing that has not been done better in the past. No.

Nigel McGuinness vs. Tyler Black ROH Full Circle 1/16/09

It wasn’t as useless as I thought it was going to be. Nigel was Nigel as usual although he did have some new stuff when it came to attacking the arm and Tyler sold well again. It also established a new combo as a finisher (yeah, it’s not technically new, but they at least made it known). Still, I want this Nigel reign to end. No.

Jimmy Jacobs vs Bryan Danielson ROH Full Circle 1/16/09

This was good, but it took too long to get going. Jacobs was getting owned by Bryan so he had to resort to his heelery to get his advantages. Whether it be because Jacobs stuff didn’t register with me or I wasn’t convinced that Bryan would fall for his stuff, the first part left me disconnected. Bryan (accidentally or purposely) messed his leg up doing a springboard maneuver and Jacobs went after it. It got better, but I still don’t think Jacobs was doing anything to bring this to the next level despite Bryan’s outstanding selling (or was in pain). I could give it another look, but this just wasn’t great enough. No.

Jerry Lynn vs. Austin Aries ROH Full Circle 1/16/09

Good match because of Aries new character. The face/heel dynamic benefitted Jerry because he actually had something to play off of instead of trying to come off as this legendary worker which he is not good at. Still, it’s not a match to get your hopes up about. No.

Xavier vs. Paul London Final Battle 2002 12/28/02

Actually got good in the end. The issue was that the commentators were saying Paul’s neck was being worked on, but wasn’t really sold that way. No. And no new matches on the 02 list.

Backseat Boyz vs. Da Hit Squad vs. Deranged & Angeldust Final Battle 2002 12/28/02

This was actually pretty good. Didn’t go too long (Thank god) and had enough fun shit in it. Again 02 is not giving me anything incredible. No.

Xavier vs. AJ Styles Night of the Butcher 12/7/02

This was ass. You want to point to matches that exposed Xavier, this is the one. Hell no.

S.A.T. vs. Da Hit Squad vs. Amazing Red & Jay Briscoe vs. Joey Matthews & Deranged Night of the Butcher 12/7/02

Minus Joey and Maff, this was horrible. Hell no.

AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels Scramble Madness 11/16/02

Good match as always. No direction to it, but 02 Styles wasn’t the best seller at that point. It had some nice counters and AJ fucking shit up, but I don’t think it is top tier stuff. No.

Jay Briscoe & Amazing Red vs. Mark Briscoe & Christopher Daniels Scramble Madness 11/16/02

Good match although I don’t think it should have went 15. I thought they could have cut a little of the FIP off and Jay’s hot tag wasn’t that outstanding. No.

Xavier vs. Jay Briscoe All Star Extravaganza 11/9/02

Directionless again, but it was still decent. A bit samey, but with a blade job. No.

CM Punk vs. Michael Shane vs. Paul London vs. Amazing Red vs. Bryan Danielson Gauntlet All Star Extravaganza 11/9/02

Punk/Shane- Good with the Punk arm work and decent selling from Shane. Could have cut a couple minutes from it though. Shane/London- I wish London would have steamrolled Shane instead of getting a fluke DDT. London/Red- Too messy in the beginning although they recovered well. London/Danielson- So much fun watching Danielson take London to the cleaners. Good gauntlet, but not amazing. No.

Doug Williams vs. Christopher Daniels Glory by Honor 10/5/02

Good as you expect. The awesome mat work didn’t mean shit in the end, but as the first match in there feud, it did its job. No.

Spanky vs. Paul London vs. Michael Shane Elimination Glory by Honor 10/5/02

This went for freaking ever. This did not need 20 minutes. No.

Jay Briscoe vs. Xavier Glory by Honor 10/5/02

For a directionless match, I would call it good and dispels the rumors that Xavier was a bad worker. Should he have been champion, no, but I though he could get some good matches out of people as a midcarder. However, this is not essential. No.

Homicide vs. SAT vs. Chris Devine & Quiet Storm vs. Izzie & Dixie Glory by Honor 10/5/02

The file that had Ki/Guerrero isn’t working. No way that would have been good :(. I don’t think this was too bad for a spotfest, but it didn’t need 15 minutes. Probably would have helped if they weren’t spazzing out on high spots and head drops. No.

Eddie Guerrero & Amazing Red vs. S.A.T A Night of Appreciation 4/27/02

It was good. Took a bit to get going when they worked over Red and Eddie was the hot tag. Not outstanding, but I don’t regret seeing it. No.

Paul London vs. Michael Shane vs. Spanky vs. Bryan Danielson Gauntlet Match A Night of Appreciation 4/27/02

There was apparently another match between Paul London and John Hope that was cut from the gauntlet match. London vs Shane- OK 3 minute sprint. Shane vs Spanky- best of the bunch with some nice hate, but a pathetic blade job. Danielson vs Spanky- Spanky was gassed and botching and Danielson had to carry this by beating Spanky’s ass. Nothing good. No.

Spanky vs. Jay Briscoe Round Robin Challenge 3/30/02

Did nothing for me. Not even the blood could get me excited for this. No.

Christopher Daniels vs. Low Ki Round Robin Challenge 3/30/02

God I forgot how awesome Ki was in beating the shit out of people. Ki humbles Chris for not showing respect until Chris takes over with STOs. The middle is confusing in that the commentators are saying he’s working the neck when he really is working the back (or both). Neither was sold at the end. This show had two better round robin matches that I can discount this one. No.

Eddy Guerrero vs. Super Crazy Era of Honor Begins 2/23/02

This was whatever. Yes Eddy was on his game, but the match just sort of existed and was more “your turn, my turn” for my liking. No.

Spanky & Ikaika Oa vs. Michael Shane & Oz Era of Honor Begins 2/23/02

Back to the past…again. This was ok. The one who gets the pin gets a ROH contract, but they never really played that up. Oa apparently had four herniated discs so I will give him a pass on his performance, and Oz wasn’t in there enough, but seemed decent enough. For four wrestlers who were in the same wrestling academy, they didn’t really seem to gel. No.

Best ROH matches of 2008

1. Jimmy Jacobs vs Austin Aries I Quit ROH Rising Above 2008 11/22/08 2. Nigel McGuinness vs Chris Hero Steel Cage Match ROH Breakout 1/25/08 3. Bryan Danielson vs Claudio Castagnoli ROH Northern Navigation 7/25/08 4. Roderick Strong vs Necro Butcher vs Erick Stevens No DQ Match ROH 6th Anniversary Show 2/23/08 5. El Generico vs Claudio Castagnoli ROH Without Remorse 1/26/08 6. Claudio Castagnoli vs Bryan Danielson No DQ ROH Southern Hostility 12/6/08 7. Nigel McGuinness vs Bryan Danielson ROH Rising Above 2008 11/22/08 8. Nigel McGuinness vs El Generico ROH Age of Insanity 8/15/08 9. Jimmy Jacobs vs Austin Aries Dog Collar Match ROH Bound by Hate 11/8/08 10. Takeshi Morishima vs Bryan Danielson Fight Without Honor ROH Final Battle 2008 12/27/08 11. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black vs. Rocky Romero & Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries & Bryan Danielson vs. Brent Albright & BJ Whitmer Ultimate Endurance ROH Without Remorse 1/26/08 12. Davey Richards/Rocky Romero vs Kevin Steen/El Generico ROH A New Level 5/10/08 13. Roderick Strong vs Erick Stevens Fight Without Honor ROH Respect is Earned 2 6/7/08 14. Roderick Strong vs Erick Stevens ROH Supercard of Honor 3 3/29/08 15. Motor City Machine Guns vs Kevin Steen/El Generico ROH Death Before Dishonor 6 8/2/08 16. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Joey Matthews/Necro Butcher Philadelphia Street Fight ROH Take No Prisoners 3/16/08 17. Bryan Danielson vs Tyler Black ROH New Horizons 7/26/08 18. Tyler Black vs Bryan Danielson ROH Breakout 1/25/08 19. Nigel McGuinness vs Tyler Black ROH Take No Prisoners 3/16/08 20. Nigel McGuinness vs Bryan Danielson vs Tyler Black vs Claudio Castagnoli Elimination ROH Death Before Dishonor 6 8/2/08 21. Motor City Machine Guns vs Jimmy Jacobs/Tyler Black ROH Tag Wars 2008 4/18/08 22. Nigel McGuinness/Claudio Castagnoli vs Bryan Danielson/Jerry Lynn ROH Wrestling at the Gateway 12/5/08

Morishima vs Danielson Fight Without Honor Final Battle 2008 rewatch

Comparing it to the last match, I don’t think it was as great, but still very good. Morishima is still awkward at times and will get taken off his feet on stupid shit, but he was really vicious at points. Danielson did his usual awesome selling from underneath, bleeding, and showing fire on the comeback. The ranking is mostly based on Claudio>Morishima. #10. On to rankings.

Castagnoli vs Danielson No DQ Southern Hostility rewatch

Held up big time. The match wasn’t about plunder (although there were some), it was more about building up and paying off spots and moves from there previous matches in the context of a normal match. I’m probably would have still wanted Claudio to bleed because Danielson has beaten Claudio so the logical next step would be to beat him up badly. I guess making him pass out was the happy medium. I say another low end MOTYC in the sense it was a better Bryan performance then the Nigel/Danielson match. #6.

McGuinness/Castagnoli vs Danielson/Lynn rewatch

I don’t even care that this was a house show main event, this is something that deserves to be listed. I’m just pissed we don’t get more Nigel/Claudio tags because them with the amount of heat they got was a really entertaining team. It built up the eventual Claudio/Danielson and Nigel/Lynn matches, went the right amount of time, and convinced people that Lynn had a shot a t winning the title the next show. Again, didn’t like Nigel’s no selling, but this is the match that is the last one in. #20.

Black vs Aries ROH Wrestling at the Gateway rewatch

A perfectly good mechanical match without a moment that makes the match stand out. Good and that’s it. No.

McGuinness vs Danielson Rising Above 2008 rewatch

Barely a MOTYC. Nigel actually kept focus throughout and restrained himself which made the moves more important in the long run. I’m still not crazy about Bryan’s leg selling, but I still loved his performance in the home stretch with the blood loss and trying to knock out Nigel. The only things that this convinced me was that Nigel/McGuinness never had that stone cold GOAT type match and that the Claudio/Generico match from January is a MOTYC. This falls below it. #6.

Jacobs vs Aries I Quit Rising Above 2008 rewatch

Outstanding match. It’s good in the beginning with the Jacobs control, but everything after the Lacey appearance really took it to another level with Aries fiery comeback. It’s pretty much what you want out of a blowoff. I’m going to chicken out and put this at #1 ahead of Hero/McGuinness.

Steen/Generico vs Briscoes rewatch

It’s good, but compared to a similar hate filled main event in MCMG vs AOTF, it doesn’t quite do it for me. It had its moments of hate, but it just didn’t have that crowd heat and brutality to really carry this with there other matches. Slight no.

Black vs Omega vs Danielson rewatch

Good for what it was. Really fun, but nothing deep. No.

Jacobs vs Aries Dog Collar Match Bound by Hate rewatch

Very good despite the crowd and gimmick. Dog collar matches tend to be slow and sloppy and stood out more in the territory days, but the structure of the match, Jacobs going full on chickenshit, and the creative chain spots made this match work. Wouldn’t be top 10 in other years, but this at least has a shot in 08. #7.

Danielson vs Nakajima rewatch

Good on its own merits, but it wasn’t really the best use of the arm vs leg storyline. Daneilson sold well at times, but then didn’t in other times. Nakajima’s performance, again minus his kicks, left a lot to be desired. No.

McGuinness vs Generico rewatch

If you have to watch a heel Nigel match, this is the one to watch and it’s all thanks to Generico. Considering the character Nigel plays is cocky ace, there was nothing he could do to fuck this up. He did well in being dismissive to Generico until the eventual arm attack. Generico sold of course like a champ and made sure Nigel didn’t do any of his no selling down the stretch. They were pretty much the perfect people at the moment. Has a shot at finishing in the top 10. #5.

McGuinness vs Danielson vs Black vs Castagnoli Elimination rewatch

Very good match where some of Nigel’s bad tendencies were held in check. The other three held it together with the all action 4 way, and the angle. Nigel/Black was a fine short match where they at least didn’t try to do a story that would have been forgotten about later. Still you had Nigel’s stupid no selling and embarrassing facial reactions which hurt the final few minutes of the match. I’ll list it, but I’ve seen better four ways. #14.

MCMG vs Steen/Generico rewatch

Okay, forget what I said about the crowd losing interest, this is certainly very good on rewatch. Maybe I thought that because there weren’t enough Steen/Shelley moments. It wasn’t the story of the match, but it was an element to this 20 minute spotfest with two teams who are great at that style. #9.

Danielson vs Black New Horizons rewatch

Very good, but frustrating in the sense that match had two outstanding bookends, but a good middle that didn’t really mean anything in the end. If Danielson sold the neck, it probably would have been #1, but since Danielson didn’t put the initiative to sell, I can’t even see this being a top 10 match at the end of the year. #9.

Danielson vs Castagnoli Northern Navigation rewatch

Now it feels like the MOTYC that I remembered. This was a slow moving technical that made every move applied mean something and the hot crowd really brought this up a couple notches. Still had the arm vs back story but Bryan’s selling looked better here in sold every move that involved him using the back in some way. There also some callbacks spots like the surfboardx and backslide which paid off later in the match. MOTY, I say no because that Hero/Nigel match was so much more fun and had everything. This is still top 10, maybe top 5 match and is #2.

Jacobs vs Aries Vendetta 2 rewatch

This had all the makings of a match that would be on the list, but for some reason I just can’t. The first part with the aggressive mat work that eventually leads to Aries snapping and brawling with Jacobs was good. The next part with Jacobs working on Aries lacerated back seemed like the point where it was getting really good. I think it was the end run that did it for me in that it was to “your turn, my turn” for my liking and that MsChif interference which should have logically ended the match wasn’t and Aries still won in the end. I’m not the biggest Jacobs fan, but that booking decision was terrible. No.