Official "Raising The Bar Weekend" (MIL/CHI 3/7-3/8) Thread

[SteenMark23]

I really hope the 'Creating Excellence' clip replaces the actual intro, as the intro. It's everything you need in an intro. It's not long, at all, has recognizable faces that will attract a new fan watching for the first time, while also highlighting the current crop of guys. Big thumbs up to whoever made it.

[Mattxx87]

Watching Night 2 again...because yes please.

I'm about to take a quarter star off of the main event for the absolutely mind numbing commentary. I addressed it in my review, but second time around I'm noticing even more stupid shit during the main event.

"Adam Cole has experience in Ringmaster's Challenge matches, one of his first defenses of the ROH Title was against Roderick Strong in a Ringmaster's Challenge"

Only half of that sentence is true. Cole does have experience in them. But Road to Greatness: Night 2 was on 9/7/13. Cole didn't win the ROH Championship for another two weeks.

"Adam Cole spent the last minute of that match running away from Strong so he would retain the title."

KEVIN KELLY ADAM COLE WAS NOT THE ROH CHAMPION.

Don't they have notes? Like "this is when the last Ringmaster's challenge happened" "This is when Cole won the title"...so you dont make stupid fucking mistakes like that.

AND ITS A CRAVATE SUPLEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

::I'm kidding about taking points away from the guys who had a good match. But awful commentary. Terrible.

[ROHFan25]

Kevin Kelly is a pretty shitty commentator. Nigels pretty good, at least he gets you hyped during the matches and makes them more exciting. I just wish Pearce would have gotten his chance. He would have been great doing either color or PBP IMO.

[Robareid]

Yeah, he said that in night 1 as well.

[Mattxx87]

Yeah, he said that in night 2 as well.

Said what?

[Robareid]

About Cole defending his title against Roddy in Ringmaster's Challenge

[jordidebaas]

Yeah, he said that in night 2 as well.

He was talking about night 2, but he also said it on night 1

[Robareid]

Sorry, I meant 1. I haven't even seen two yet.

[Robareid]

Michael Elgin vs. Tyson Dux **1/2
Strange choice for an opener, but an okay match with a good last two minutes. Dux hasn't really impressed me enough to make me want him as a full time roster member, but I wouldn't be against him being used in this role again.

Adrenaline RUSH vs. The Decade **1/4
Expected a lot better from this. TD really had a bad day, and it hurt the match as a whole a lot. I really like the direction this weekend gave Adam Page though.

Jay Lethal vs. Michael Bennett **3/4
Solid match, without being anything special. It was good enough, and they didn't do anything wrong, but I don't really have too much to say about it.

The Briscoes vs. Outlaw Inc ***1/4
A good brawl, with the crowd hot for the beginning and end, but they died in the middle which hurt it. Had a couple of great spots in the finishing sequence. These are the sort of matches Outlaw Inc should be having.

Silas Young vs. Matt Taven ***
Another solid match, but I felt it went a bit short (about 7-8 minutes I think), and they could have put on a really great match given another five.

Cedric Alexander vs. Kevin Steen ***3/4
Great match, and Steen looked so good in this one. Really athletic, and a really fun match to watch.

reDRagon vs. Young Bucks ****
A brilliant match, but I don't know, maybe my expectations were too high, but I expected a little more. I actually preferred the Bucks' match the previous night by quite a way. The crowd were disappointing, they weren't dead or anything, but they should have been red hot for this one.

Adam Cole vs. Chris Hero ***3/4
A solid main event, that never really clicked into top gear. The last five or so minutes of the iron man match really had the crowd pretty dead, and I wasn't a fan of how a belt to the face knocks a main eventer out for two falls, and yet earlier we had people taking repeated chair shots to the face and kicking out fairly easier. Bit too strikey also.


Overall, this was a good show, but I really think you went way overboard hyping it up Mattxx. I actually preferred Night 1. If you go into it expecting balls to the wall amazing, show of the year, you'll be disappointed. Go into it with regular ROH show expectations, and it'll be good. I'd recommend it, but nowhere near as heavily as some have.

The commentary was fine, but I was pretty disappointed with the crowd. They were fairly quiet, especially for Chicago.

[Northwoods_Nightmare]

The commentary was fine, but I was pretty disappointed with the crowd. They were fairly quiet, especially for Chicago.

The one thing about this show that was a slight bummer for me. Especially after the amazing crowd on night one, who would pop for literally anything. And then watch night two when the crowd was pretty quiet, even after some pretty big spots.

If this show was given the same treatment as N1, I would have picked this one as the better of the two nights. As it is, I enjoyed them pretty evenly.

[AssShooter]

Same for me, i preferred night 1.
We should ban Matt for life and from all our future live sessions !

[Mattxx87]

Same for me, i preferred night 1.
We should ban Matt for life and from all our future live sessions !

For getting you excited for a show which was rated across the board pretty much the same as I did? (I hated Dux/Elgin, where I liked Briscoes/Outlaw more than anyone else.) If you flip their star ratings with everyone else, almost everyone had six ***+ stars. Some people even gave more ****+ than me. So to say people didn't enjoy it as much as me, is weird. I mean I did review it before anyone else, everyone saw what I rated the matches. I also liked the conversation I had where we pretty much came to a conclusion that it is *IS* a top 5 event since Final Battle 2010, and with respects to GBH XI and BITW'11, maybe top 3 since. I do not feel wrong for hyping this show.

[Robareid]

Six matches going above three stars isn't out of the ordinary for an ROH show. It's definitely a good thing, but it doesn't push it up there with all time great shows.

It wasn't even the strongest show of the weekend, so to say it is top three from the past few years is pretty insane in my eyes.

[Mattxx87]

Six matches going above three stars isn't out of the ordinary for an ROH show. It's definitely a good thing, but it doesn't push it up there with all time great shows.

It wasn't even the strongest show of the weekend, so to say it is top three from the past few years is pretty insane in my eyes.

I hadn't seen Night 1 so I had nothing to base "best of the weekend" on, and still haven't seen it. I don't see what else to buy it for except the six man, and that's awesome but not enough to trigger a sale. Night 2 had bigger matches. Some just didn't deliver, while others were pretty fun.

[jordidebaas]

Six matches going above three stars isn't out of the ordinary for an ROH show. It's definitely a good thing, but it doesn't push it up there with all time great shows.

It wasn't even the strongest show of the weekend, so to say it is top three from the past few years is pretty insane in my eyes.

I hadn't seen Night 1 so I had nothing to base "best of the weekend" on, and still haven't seen it. I don't see what else to buy it for except the six man, and that's awesome but not enough to trigger a sale. Night 2 had bigger matches. Some just didn't deliver, while others were pretty fun.

How can a ROH show be top 5 of the last few years if some of the top matches didn't deliver?

[Mattxx87]

Because the main attraction, announced months ago, reDRagon/Bucks, DID deliver. And Ced/Steen, announced the weekend before, was also incredibly fun. I had it as the best match of Ced's ROH career, up until this match with Elgin was apparently even better. I also enjoyed Briscoes/Outlaw a whole lot more than anyone else. Probably Outlaw Inc's best match since debuting as a team.

As for matches that didn't deliver. A lot of people were excited for Elgin/Dux, and it just fell flat to me. And the main event was less than spectacular, while other people really liked it. We have a whole lot of gray on this board, with different tastes and desires.

Really felt like Manhattan Mayhem to me, with a thick and entertaining mid-card, with an alright main event. And Manhattan Mayhem *IS* considered one of the best shows of all time. Our expectations are just so high, people get jaded when something isn't Final Battle 2010 or Best in the World 2011.

[AssShooter]

Same for me, i preferred night 1.
We should ban Matt for life and from all our future live sessions !

For getting you excited for a show which was rated across the board pretty much the same as I did? (I hated Dux/Elgin, where I liked Briscoes/Outlaw more than anyone else.) If you flip their star ratings with everyone else, almost everyone had six ***+ stars. Some people even gave more ****+ than me. So to say people didn't enjoy it as much as me, is weird. I mean I did review it before anyone else, everyone saw what I rated the matches. I also liked the conversation I had where we pretty much came to a conclusion that it is *IS* a top 5 event since Final Battle 2010, and with respects to GBH XI and BITW'11, maybe top 3 since. I do not feel wrong for hyping this show.

In case you didn't understand, i was kidding...

[Mattxx87]

I wasn't mad.

[Robareid]

What the show lacked was that one amazing match. Bucks vs. Dragon was great, but wasn't a true MotYC in my eyes. The great shows generally have consistency, with 6+ *** or better matches, around three fantastic ***3/4+ matches, and one MotYC around ****1/2+. That's what Glory By Honor XI had, that's what Final Battle 2010 had, that's what a couple of shows had over these last few years. For me, this one didn't. Night 1 was on the fringes, but this show was half a step behind.

[Mattxx87]

The great shows generally have consistency, with 6+ *** or better matches, around three fantastic ***3/4+ matches, and one MotYC around ****1/2+. That's what Glory By Honor XI had, that's what Final Battle 2010 had, that's what a couple of shows had over these last few years.

That's what I gave it, (Knocked Brisoces/Outlaw down to ***3/4 from **** my third viewing yesterday with you guys. Marked hard the first time I saw it.)