Hidden Gems of Honor: DEADLINE 10/28

[AnHonorableMention]

So we're doing a show on ROH's most underrated matches from over the years. Stuff like Collyer/Romero and Williams/Danielson, Albright/Pearce, etc. Hit me with a top 5 list, some honorable mentions, and we'd love to use your list and any other plugs you have on air.


Thanks!


jeff

[IanRiccaboni]

I'll start!

Jay White vs. Will Ospreay from War of the Worlds 2017 went wayyyy under the radar at the time. Watched again recently. Match is better than I remember. My commentary is not. That and Jay Lethal vs. Bobby Fish from 15th Anniversary are my picks from the recent era.

Roddy winning the TV title from Lethal in Kalamazoo was ridiculously good and no one mentions it.

From the early SBG era, Lethal v. Richards at GBH 2012.

[Montana]

One of my favorite matches all time, that i've witnessed live was Nigel McGuiness defending the belt against El Generico at Age of Insanity.

Kenny Omega and Davey Richards had two all time classics in ROH, and don't seem to get as much love as they should.

Kota Ibushi, and had a tour in the 2009-10 timeframe with matches against Richards/Aries/Generico/Briscoes that were all awesome.

I could have this wrong, but i'm pretty sure Briscoes faced Shane Taylor and Keith Lee is a awesome match, that left the crowd wanting a rematch/feud that never happened.

Forget the show, but there was a really good El Generico vs. Bryan Danielson match.

In recent memory, Adam Page and Jeff Cobb put on a fantastic match at Final Battle 2018. Then most of Jay White's ROH run in like 2017.

[maxx_powerz]

Not going to try and rank, but some personal favorites I think I like more than most people.

Homicide vs Doug Williams (Nowhere to Run)
AJ & Sydal vs Briscoes (100th Show)
Roddy vs Pac (FYF Liverpool)
Stevens vs Necro vs Roddy (6AS)
Nakajima vs Roddy (SCoH 4)
Daniels vs Omega (DBD 2010)
Briscoes vs Future Shock (Honor Takes Center Stage)

[Wilson]

Jeff, I'd love if you could wrangle some hidden gems from Shane on this one.

Some matches that I remember loving:

Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams (Night of Champions)
BJ Whitmer vs. Go Shiozaki (ROH Anarchy in the UK)
Every James Gibson match
Roderick Strong vs. Naomichi Marufuji (Northern Navigation)
Jerry Lynn vs. Chris Hero (Never Say Die)
Eddie Edwards vs. Christopher Daniels (Honor Takes Center Stage Night 1)
Northern Aggression's tag team elimination match
Jay White vs. Jay Lethal (Global Wars 2017 Buffalo)

[supersonic]

"Hidden Gems of Honor" would be a terrific name for a compilation.

I could make a huge list out of this but will make an honest effort to keep it concise. *reviews star ratings list*

To make this easier, I'll break them down by year. For various reasons I found all of these to be no less than absolutely excellent and have been surprised by how forgotten they've been,.

2002
Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson - Night of the Butcher

2003
Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams - Night of Champions
Paul London vs. Christopher Daniels - Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II
Xavier vs. Christopher Daniels - Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies

2004
Doug Williams vs. Alex Shelley - Reborn: Completion
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Alex Shelley - Joe vs. Punk II

2005
CM Punk vs. Alex Shelley - Third Anniversary Celebration Pt. 2
Doug Williams vs. Homicide - Nowhere to Run
Samoa Joe vs. James Gibson - New Frontiers
Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels - Vendetta

2006
The Embassy vs. Evans, Yang, & Sydal - Tag Wars 2006
Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels - Dragon Gate Challenge
Aries & Strong vs. Joe & Sydal - Weekend of Champions Night 1
Roderick Strong vs. Jimmy Jacobs - Chi-Town Struggle

[AnHonorableMention]

Jeff, I'd love if you could wrangle some hidden gems from Shane on this one.

Some matches that I remember loving:

Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams (Night of Champions)
BJ Whitmer vs. Go Shiozaki (ROH Anarchy in the UK)
Every James Gibson match
Roderick Strong vs. Naomichi Marufuji (Northern Navigation)
Jerry Lynn vs. Chris Hero (Never Say Die)
Eddie Edwards vs. Christopher Daniels (Honor Takes Center Stage Night 1)
Northern Aggression's tag team elimination match
Jay White vs. Jay Lethal (Global Wars 2017 Buffalo)

We each are doing a top 5 on the show and at most 5 honorable mentions. Bunch of ROH talent past and present have sent in stuff too but we need to fill out a couple hours.

[AnHonorableMention]

"Hidden Gems of Honor" would be a terrific name for a compilation.

I could make a huge list out of this but will make an honest effort to keep it concise. *reviews star ratings list*

To make this easier, I'll break them down by year. For various reasons I found all of these to be no less than absolutely excellent and have been surprised by how forgotten they've been,.

2002
Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson - Night of the Butcher

2003
Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams - Night of Champions
Paul London vs. Christopher Daniels - Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II
Xavier vs. Christopher Daniels - Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies

2004
Doug Williams vs. Alex Shelley - Reborn: Completion
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Alex Shelley - Joe vs. Punk II

2005
CM Punk vs. Alex Shelley - Third Anniversary Celebration Pt. 2
Doug Williams vs. Homicide - Nowhere to Run
Samoa Joe vs. James Gibson - New Frontiers
Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels - Vendetta

2006
The Embassy vs. Evans, Yang, & Sydal - Tag Wars 2006
Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels - Dragon Gate Challenge
Aries & Strong vs. Joe & Sydal - Weekend of Champions Night 1
Roderick Strong vs. Jimmy Jacobs - Chi-Town Struggle

The more the merrier.

[supersonic]

If it must be narrowed down to 5, I'll go with these:

Daniels vs. Williams - Night of Champions
London vs. Daniels - Retribution
Jacobs vs. Shelley - Joe vs. Punk II
Punk vs. Shelley - Third Anniversary Pt. 2
Morishima vs. Abright - Death Before Dishonor 5 Night 2

Daniels vs. Williams is my personal pick for the most under-appreciated match in ROH's history, with the only arguable flaw in it being that Williams could've done a bit more to emotionally engage the audience as the match's babyface. The only other singles match Daniels has had that I find on par with this is the first 30 Minute Iron Man classic against AJ Styles at Against All Odds 2005.

[alexsmellzzz]

Marty Scurll vs Punishment Martinez from one of the Sam’s Town shows. That match was INSANE. A crazy fast sprint of a match that just felt perfect to me. I was sitting front row and loved every second of it. I need to watch it back one of these days.

[alexsmellzzz]

There’s also an Adam Cole/Jay Lethal match from one of the UK shows that was really great. Atleast I THINK it was those two. It might have been Jay Briscoe in there? Can’t remember right now but I’ll look it up when I get home.

[alexsmellzzz]

Oh yeah, and ACH/Lethal ROH tv time limit draw. That match really put ACH on the map. Then he missed his flight for the rematch or whatever :/

[BurningHammer]

There’s also an Adam Cole/Jay Lethal match from one of the UK shows that was really great. Atleast I THINK it was those two. It might have been Jay Briscoe in there? Can’t remember right now but I’ll look it up when I get home.

Was there live for this one, it was my number 2 match of the year behind their first match after Jay lost his hair, great match great crowd and probably my favourite year in sinclairs ROH era. There was also a fantastic Ospreay vs Marty for the TV title match, as well as a very good Young Buck vs Briscoes match which was close to their best of the series I felt.

Of the recent years a few have already been mentioned, like Jay White vs Ospreay and Punishment vs Marty, there was the Lethal vs Fish in Las Vegas I believe, I can't remember if that was the anniversary or DBD. Jay Lethal vs Kyle O'Reily for the TV title, Adam Cole vs Lio Rush I believe on the same night as Colt came back or certainly that weekend. Taven vs Haskins from this year too. Paul London vs Elgin from a few years ago, plus the Michael Elgin vs Davey Richards matches that I felt at the time were good. Adam Page vs Jeff Cobb at the end of last year.

I'm forgetting a ton I know but those matches are the ones that spring to mind.

[AlexROH]

Tons of hiddem gems in ROH, the first that comes to my mind is Daniels vs. Williams as the majority of the forum already said, incredible match.

There are some great matches that I wouldn't consider Hidden Gems but I'd say deserve way more recognition like Gibson vs. Strong from Unforgettable, ROH vs. CZW from the 100th Show, or some great Davey matches like Omega vs. Richards from The Epic Encounter or Richards vs. Daniels.

Some honorable mentions for me would be: Acid vs. Homicide (WrestleRave), the Champions vs. All Stars match from 2014, ACH vs. Matt Sydal from SOTF 2014 Night 1 and AJ Styles vs. Bobby Fish from Winter Warriors Tour Atlanta, great fucking show, also, Styles had some really great matches on VOD shows and TV such as vs. O'Reilly or Mark Briscoe.

My top 15 (I cannot chose only 5 haha) would be:

1. Williams vs. Daniels (Night of the Champions)
2. Nigel vs. Aries II (SCOH III)
3. Briscoes vs. Wolves (Bluegrass Brawl)
4. [Ringmaster's Challange] Edwards vs. Strong (DBD IX)
5. Jay Lethal vs. Adam Cole (Reach for the Sky)
6. Edwards vs. Daniels (Honor Takes Center Stage)
7. O'Reilly vs. Cole (SCOH X)
8. Strong vs. London (GBH XII)
9. Elgin vs. Sydal (Road to BITW 2015)
10. Strong vs. KUSHIDA (WOTW 2015)
11. Strong vs. El Patron (Winter Warriors)
12. Joe vs. ACH (Conquest Tour)
13. [Ringmaster's Challange] Cabana vs. Lethal (Reloaded Tour 2016)
14. Jay Briscoe vs. Joe (Tradition Continous)
15. Naito vs. ACH (WOTW 2016)

Regarding plugs, if you use my list, my Twitter is @AlexGimenezBCN and people can read me in Solowrestling.com and listen to me on my YouTube Channel "Spanish Uppercut".

[alexsmellzzz]

Another one I can think of was Cedric vs Kyle O’Reilly. This one actually happened twice. I think I liked the rematch better. The first one was on a bigger show (ippv maybe?) and the second was just one of the “HonorClub” type shows from back in the day. But man, they would have KILLER matches. I remember jumping out of my seat watching Cedric/O’Reilly matches.

[Montana]

Thought of another one.... This was one of my favorite tag matches in ROH.

Allied forces - Kings of Wrestling vs. Christopher Daniels and Davey Richards.

Such a good match. (Better than the Kings/Wolves matches they had that year)

[indyfan]

hmm heres some of mine

2003

Joe vs Danielson - 1st anny show
Carnage Crew vs TWA ( hardcore match)- DBD
Witmer vs Homicide - Main Event Spectacles
Kaz Hayashi vs AJ Styles - Final Battle 2003

2004
Punk vs Homicide -Last Stand
Witmer vs Maff vs Lowki vs Samoa Joe - 2nd anny show
Williams vs Shelley - DBD part 1
Shelley vs Danielson - GBH 3
Samoa Joe vs Rocky Romero - Gold
Shelley vs Jimmy Jacobs - punk vsJoe 2
Aries vs Punk - Weekend of Thunder night 1
Aries and Strong vs Ace Steel and Punk - Weekend of Thunder night 2
Lowki vs Aries - All Star Extravaganza

2005

Danielson and Joe vs Aries and Jack Evans - 3rd anny celebration night 2
Shelley vs Jack Evans - 3rd anny celebration night 3
Azreal vs Shelley vs James Gibson vs Jimmy Rave - Escape from New York
Joe vs Aries -Escape from New York
Strong vs AJ Styles - Fate of an Angel
Matt Hardy vs Strong - Punk the Final Chapter
Strong vs Mcguiness - GBH

2006

Matt Sydal vs Aj Styles - Hell Freezes over
Matt Sydal vs Christopher Daniels - Dissension
Matt Sydal and AJ Styles vs Aries and Strong 4th anny show
Strong and Jack Evans vs Briscoes - BITW
Aries and Jack Evans vs Styles and Sydal - SOH
Jimmy Yang vs Samoa Joe vs Daniels vs Styles - Better Than Our Best
Aries and Strong vs Briscoes - Ring of Homicide
Aries and Strong vs Briscoes - Destiny
Strong vs Mcguiness - DBD 4
Generation Nxt vs Jerelle Clark, Davey Richards and Irisj Airborne - Generation now
Briscoes vs Davey and Kenta - Time to.Man up
Davey Richards vs Jimmy Rave - Unified
Briscoes vs Davey and Sydal - Anarchy in uk
Joe vs Strong - GBH night 1
Kenta and Richards vs Aries and Strong - Honor reclaims Boston

i ll add more later.

[AnHonorableMention]

Keep them coming we will be taping this show on Tuesday 10/22 & Wednesday 10/23

[Mike Adamle]

1. 8/10/07 ROH Death Before Dishonor V Night 1- Unsanctioned Tag Team Boston Street Fight- El Generico & Kevin Steen vs. The Briscoes

2. 7/16/07 ROH Live In Tokyo- Bryan Danielson vs. Go Shiozaki

3. 3/31/06 ROH Supercard Of Honor- ROH World Title Match- Bryan Danielson (C) vs. Roderick Strong

4. 7/24/04 ROH Death Before Dishonor II Part Two- Tag Team Chicago Street Fight- The Second City Saints (Ace Steel & CM Punk) vs. The Prophecy (BJ Whitmer & Dan Maff)

5. 5/12/07 ROH Respect Is Earned- Tag Team Match- Bryan Danielson & Takeshi Morishima vs. KENTA & Nigel McGuinness

[McXal]

I wish I had more time to sit down and think about this. There must be an absolute goldmine of stuff that could be considered 'hidden gems' from 2005-2007. That was literally why ROH was such a special promotion to watch during that time period. Every show was so loaded that it is inevitable that some great stuff got a little overlooked.

I wanted to contribute something though - so I thought about matches that impacted me, and that I don't always see get a whole lot of love from the 'early years' (2002-2004) period and came up with a few:

AJ Styles vs Bryan Danielson (#1 Contenders Trophy Match – All Star Extravaganza)

Given the names involved you probably wouldn’t call this a ‘hidden gem’, but I’d argue that this is massively under-rated. Their Main Event Spectacles match was beloved, and lots of people really enjoyed their World Title Match at Dissension, but I thought this one was every bit as good (and gets nowhere near as much love)

Xavier vs Paul London (ROH Title Match – 1st Anniversary Show)

When people talk about the 1YA show they talk about the riot. Maybe the awesome Ki/London/Styles triple threat…but mostly, the riot. This one is far from a typical ROH Title Match. It felt thoroughly ‘sports entertainment’ with cat fights, table pumps, blood, plenty of outside interference and a cheap finish. But the crowd were on fire and it was as dramatic as any ROH Title Match to this point. A super-entertaining piece of wrestling theatre.

Christopher Daniels vs Paul London (Round Robin Challenge Match – Round Robin Challenge 2)

The early years of ROH are littered with ‘hidden gem’ Christopher Daniels matches. He and London were phenomenal here.

Christopher Daniels vs Xavier (#1 Contenders Trophy Match – Bitter Friend, Stiffer Enemies)

You’ve discussed the merits of this match as a hidden gem on your show. It’s so good. After coming back from his injuries, 2003 Xavier was under-rated. There are probably another 5-10 Daniels matches from this period you could include on this list

Briscoes vs CM Punk/Colt Cabana (ROH Tag Title Match – Round Robin Challenge 3)

The Saints winning the titles in Chicago is an iconic ROH moment. Ricky Steamboat called the 2/3 Falls Match between these teams at Death Before Dishonor 2 one of the best matches he’d seen live (or words to that effect). The lack of love that the middle match in their trilogy gets always blows my mind. This is my personal favourite of the three. It might still be my favourite Mark Briscoe performance ever.

(Early Year Honorable Mentions)
Homicide vs Trent Acid (Beating The Odds)
Jimmy Jacobs vs Alex Shelley vs Roderick Strong vs Josh Daniels (Glory By Honor 2 pre-show)
Christopher Daniels vs John Walters (Empire State Showdown)
AJ Styles vs Homicide (Battle Lines Are Drawn)
Alex Shelley vs Jimmy Jacobs (The Last Stand)

...................................................................................................................................


...And since yourself and Shane have categorised basically the entire HDNet run as 'hidden gems' because not enough people saw it, I figured I had time to look through my HDNet reviews and come up with some of my favourites!

Jerry Lynn vs Bryan Danielson vs Tyler Black vs Austin Aries (ROH World Title Match – Episode 12)

The best match from Jerry Lynn's title run, even above the bloodbath with Roddy in Dayton and the emotional match he and Nigel had with the belt changing hands in Houston. I (wrongly) thought this would be as significant to the HDNet series as the Era Of Honor Begins triple threat. Obviously not quite on that level, but it was relentlessly paced, incredibly athletic and so different from anything any of ROH’s rivals would’ve been putting on TV at this time.

Tyler Black vs Bryan Danielson (Episode 18)

The finale in their HDNet trilogy (which itself was a sequel to the awesome series of matches they’d had on the DVD shows in 2008). The quality between these two was always extremely high, but this one had the added punch of Tyler getting his big win over Bryan.

Eddie Edwards vs Davey Richards (ROH TV Title Tournament Final – Episode 55)

Putting the first ROH Davey/Eddie singles match onto the HDNet show felt like a big deal and they lived up to expectations. Personally I enjoyed their PPV main events after the Sinclair takeover (even Final Battle 2011) – but there is an argument to be made that this was their best match.

Kevin Steen/Steve Corino vs Colt Cabana/El Generico (Anything Goes Match – Episode 66)

The Steen/Generico feud through 2010 is essential viewing. There were two Steen/Corino vs Cabana/Generico tags (this, and the Cage Match on Episode 80) which don’t get anywhere near enough appreciation because they were on the HDNet series. This didn’t feature the bloodshed of Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 2 but was still completely brutal – a definite hidden gem.

Davey Richards vs Tyler Black (Episode 78)

One of my personal favourite matches from the entire HDNet run and one of two ‘hidden gem’ follow-ups to the Davey/Tyler MOTYC at Death Before Dishonor 8 (their non-title match at Tag Wars 2010 was great too). This is completely overlooked as it wasn’t for the belt and wasn’t broadcast until after Tyler had dropped it to Roddy and left the company.



(HDNet 'Hidden Gem' Honorable Mentions)
Kevin Steen/El Generico vs American Wolves (ROH Tag Title Tables Are Legal Match – Episode 11)
KENTA vs Chris Hero (Episode 29)
Roderick Strong vs Bryan Danielson (Episode 34 – the lost Final Countdown Tour match)
Austin Aries vs Roderick Strong vs Davey Richards vs Kenny Omega (ROH World Title Match – Episode 37)
Young Bucks vs American Wolves (Episode 46)
Eddie Edwards vs Christopher Daniels (ROH TV Title Match – Episode 93 – completely under-appreciated because it took place at the dead HDNet/Louisville tapings)
Roderick Strong/Kings Of Wrestling vs Davey Richards/Briscoes (Episode 100)