ROH - Greatest Show of all time?

[Montana]

I've watched Manhattan Mayhem 2005 again tonight, and talk about a stacked card/show top to bottom. I wasn't sure how will it stood the test of time; and watching it twice would impact my thoughts. It certainly holds the test of time.

The other show that really stood out to me was "better than our best" in 2006.


There are so many other great shows; but what do you consider to be ROH's greatest show/shows of all time??

[famicommander]

After shows are a few years old they tend to bleed together in my mind. I still remember the matches, but I'd be hard pressed to tell you which ones occurred when or where.

[cgstong]

Here are some of the top 100 best matches (Ending in 2006) I would love to do a list for this from 2006 to 2016

You Have Picked The Best Matches
Friday, November 10, 2006

April 22nd, 2006 saw a milestone as ROH presented its 100th ever show. ROH has been proud to present 100 quality shows filled with one great match of the year candidate after another. The debate has always raged as to which matches are the absolute best. A member of the ROHwrestling.com message board with the handle of Jmaj1986 took it upon himself to find out. This ROH fan conducted a poll on the message board to determine the top 100 matches during ROH's first 100 shows. It took five months to complete this in depth survey. How many of these matches have you seen? Let's check out the results:

1. Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi- Joe vs. Kobashi
2. Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk- Joe vs. Punk II
3. Blood Generation vs. Do Fixer- Supercard of Honor
4. Low-Ki vs. KENTA- Final Battle 2005
5. Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk- All-Star Extravaganza II
6. Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong- Vendetta
7. Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong- Supercard of Honor
8. Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson- Midnight Express Reunion
9. AJ Styles vs. Paul London- Night of the Grudges
10. Team ROH (Samoa Joe, BJ Whitmer, & Adam Pearce) vs. Team CZW (Chris Hero, Necro Butcher, & Super Dragon)- The 100th Show
11. Low-Ki vs. American Dragon vs. "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels- Era of Honor Begins
12. Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson- Epic Encounter
13. CM Punk vs. Austin Aries- Death Before Dishonor III
14. Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson- Testing The Limit
15. Bryan Danielson vs. James Gibson- Glory By Honor IV
16. American Dragon vs. Low-Ki- Round Robin Challenge
17. Generation Next vs. The Embassy- Steel Cage Warfare
18. Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe- Final Battle 2004
19. Homicide vs. Steve Corino- Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies
20. Samoa Joe vs. Jay Briscoes- At Our Best
21. Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk- World Title Classic
22. Paul London vs. Michael Shane- Unscripted
23. Generation Next vs. John Walters, Jimmy Rave, & The Briscoes- Generation Next
24. Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Homicide vs. Colt Cabana vs. Samoa Joe- Survival Of The Fittest 2004
25. CM Punk & Ace Steel vs. Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer- Death Before Dishonor II: Night 2
26. Low-Ki vs. Samoa Joe- Glory By Honor
27. Roderick Strong vs. James Gibson- Unforgettable
28. Blood Generation vs. Generation Next- Dragon Gate Challenge
29. CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave- Nowhere To Run
30. Low-Ki vs. "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams vs. Spanky- Crowning A Champion
31. Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong- This Means War
32. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe- Best In The World
33. Paul London vs. AJ Styles vs. Low-Ki- One-Year Anniversary Show
34. Austin Aries vs. Alex Shelley- Manhattan Mayhem
35. Steve Corino vs. Homicide- War Of The Wire
36. Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal vs. Low-Ki & Homicide- Punk: The Final Chapter
37. CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe- Death Before Dishonor II: Night 1
38. Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson- Reborn: Stage 2
39. Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Rave- 4th Anniversary Show
40. Bryan Danielson vs. Spanky- Best of the American Super-Juniours Tournament
41. Samoa Joe & Jushin "Thunder" Lyger vs. Bryan Danielson & Low-Ki- Weekend of Thunder: Night 2
42. Kenta Kobashi & Homicide vs. Samoa Joe & Low-Ki- Unforgettable
43. Bryan Danielson vs. Alex Shelley- Arena Warfare
44. Colt Cabana vs. Homicide- Better Than Our Best
45. AJ Styles vs. American Dragon- All-Star Extravaganza
46. CM Punk vs. James Gibson vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels- Redemption
47. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal- 4th Anniversary Show
48. Jack Evans vs. Samoa Joe vs. Delirious vs. Ebetaroh- The Final Showdown
49. Low-Ki vs. The Amazing Red- Road To The Title
50. Austin Aries vs. James Gibson- The Final Showdown
51. BJ Whitmer vs. Homicide vs. Colt Cabana vs. Dan Maff- Death Before Dishonor
52. Scramble Cage I- Main Event Spectacles
53. Samoa Joe vs. Jay Lethal- Manhattan Mayhem
54. Bryan Danielson vs. Lance Storm- Better Than Our Best
55. AJ Stlyes vs. Matt Sydal- Hell Freezes Over
56. Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson- Night of the Butcher
57. KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Bryan Danielson & Samoa Joe- Best In The World
58. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal vs. Austin Aries & Jack Evans- Supercard of Honor
59. Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe- Honor Invades Boston
60. BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs- Dragon Gate Challenge
61. Samoa Joe vs. Homicide- Death Before Dishonor II: Night 1
62. Homicide vs. BJ Whitmer- Main Event Spectacles
63. CM Punk vs. Alex Shelley- 3rd Anniversary Celebration: Night 2
64. BJ Whitmer & Jimmy Jacobs vs. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans- Manhattan Mayhem
65. Jushin "Thunder" Lyger vs. Bryan Danielson- Weekend of Thunder: Night 1
66. Alex Shelley vs. Jimmy Jacobs- Joe vs. Punk II
67. Doug Williams vs. Christopher Daniels- Night of Champions
68. AJ Styles & The Amazing Red vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe- Night of Champions
69. CM Punk vs. James Gibson- Fate of An Angel
70. John Walter vs. Xavier- Final Battle 2003
71. Jimmy Rave vs. CM Punk- Manhattan Mayhem
72. AJ Styles vs. Roderick Strong- Fate of An Angel
73. Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal- The 100th Show
74. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. CIMA & Naruki Doi- Better Than Our Best
75. AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson- Main Event Spectacles
76. CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe- Reborn: Stage 2
77. CM Punk vs. Roderick Strong- Escape From New York
78. The Prophecy vs. The Second City Saints- Battle Lines Are Drawn
79. AJ Styles vs. Low-Ki- Night of Appreciation
80. AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson- Dissension
81. Nigel McGuinness vs. Austin Aries- Unscripted II
82. CM Punk vs. Raven- Death Before Dishonor
83. Samoa Joe vs. Homicide- Do or Die
84. CM Punk vs. Roderick Strong- The Future Is Now
85. Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Hero- Hell Freezes Over
86. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Bryan Danielson & Jay Lethal- Tag Wars 2006
87. Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries- Escape From New York
88. CM Punk vs. AJ Styles- At Our Best
89. Bryan Danielson vs. Naomichi Marufuji- Final Battle 2005
90. Jimmy Rave, Alex Shelley, & Masato Yoshino vs. Do Fixer- Better Than Our Best
91. Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson- Nowhere To Run
92. Alex Shelley vs. Claudio Castagnoli- This Means War
93. The Rottweilers vs. Samoa Joe & The Briscoes- Reborn: Completion
94. James Gibson vs. Spanky- 3rd Anniversary Celebration: Night 2
95. Low-Ki vs. Austin Aries- The Future Is Now
96. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels- Vendetta
97. CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe- Round Robin Challenge III
98. Samoa Joe vs. Low-Ki vs. Dan Maff vs. BJ Whitmer- 2nd Anniversary Show
99. Homicide vs. Doug Williams- Nowhere To Run
100. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans vs. Homicide & Rocky Romero- Joe vs. Punk II

[supersonic]

Nothing will ever dethrone Better Than Our Best.

viewtopic.php?p=89719#p89719

Is this the greatest show in ROH history as many claim it to be?

If you watch this with that expectation, you won't find it to be quite that head-and-shoulders epic. The mid-card matches that I had remembered as being excellent didn't quite hold up almost a decade later, although they were all VERY good stuff, with two of the matches bordering on greatness. That's nothing to be ashamed of and they did an incredible job of doing what they needed to do for their spots on the cards.

A key thing that makes this show stand out among the many great shows during the Gabe Sapolsky era was the pacing. Sapolsky managed to pace this event in a way that anyone in attendance seeing the federation for the first time would be able to digest it while also being blown away, AND also delivering the quality of matches that the frequent customers of ROH at this time had become accustomed to. Pacing was always an issue for him, but on this night, it truly clicked for him in that regard. Adam Pearce and Delirious have gone on to pace events that are digestible for newbies, but not quite delivering the frequent match quality that quite captures the detail-oriented, demanding eye of folks like me.

The two money matches to headline this event both delivered as expected, with them obviously being two completely different flavors. An established superstar in the big leagues came in and put forth a career-defining performance against one of the greatest in-ring technicians the business has ever seen, adding another layer of prestige for the ROH Title. A violent feud finally reached its appropriately timed, emotional conclusion, the hometown boy finally getting the last laugh after being driven away from his standard comedy routine. And afterwards, Homicide made his babyface turn after two years of absolute malice and bitterness controlling his actions.

But it's not just the mid-card and main events that make a show get held in such high regard. You gotta have that meaningful undercard. The opener was just a spotfest, but that's all it needed to be. In a sign of what was to come in the main event of the evening, Delirious, an established comedy style freak, slayed a member of the Rottweilers to save his career in ROH, a victory that meant more after Austin Aries had been unable to overcome the Dragon Sleeper of Ricky Reyes prior to this event.

But that's not all, folks. On this event, we got to see CZW leave with the final say on ROH, leaving them laying on such a historic weekend for the company before ROH would head back to the East Coast, where the fanbases may not be quite so slanted towards ROH. In the same segment, the iconic Joe would make it known that he was ready to challenge Danielson and regain the top prize in the company, finally teasing a match that many fans had been hoping to see since their ***** classic at Midnight Express Reunion.

Nowhere to Run had a slightly better match quality on paper, and had key storyline progression just like this one too, even the hometown guy getting the final say in a feud-ending gimmick match that followed a phenomenal technical match contested over the top prize in the company. I'm also sure that as I continue this project, I will have the pleasure of revisiting shows that are more stacked with truly high-caliber match quality. But this night was a truly magical night, with flawless pacing, storyline progression left and right, stars from other federations coming in and busting their asses, and getting capped off with two incredible matches. This also had the key ingredient that I love so much in wrestling: VARIETY, not just in matches, but in storylines as well.

Now imagine with all of that I mentioned, and taking into account both Dragon Gate Challenge and Supercard of Honor, if ROH had managed to book the Briscoes, Low Ki, and Nigel McGuinness for this magical weekend.

I want to take the time in case any wrestler involved in the matches I reviewed for WrestleMania 22 weekend ever reads this: Thank you for your hard work and determination. I know that having three nights like this back-to-back-to-back could not have been a breeze, and I appreciate everything you guys did to give the fans in attendance and those watching on DVD more than their money's worth. I'm sure the paydays were nowhere near what NJPW pays for the grueling G-1 Climax.

With a day to sleep on this and grasp everything that this card accomplished, I can clearly make the declaration.

Not only do I wish I had a time machine, but Better Than Our Best is the greatest event in ROH history.

#Lapsed #ItUsedToBeBetter

[indyfan]

My favourite shows that i would consider the best

1) Better than our Best 2006
2) Escape from New York 2005

[classic-cabana]

Supercard of Honor III from 2008. A near perfect show. 5 top notch matches*, even the opener Delirious v Go Shiozaki is fun.

*Stevens v Strong
AOTF v Briscoes
Steen/El Generico v BxB Hulk/Shingo
McGuinness v Aries
Muscle Outlawz v Typhoon

Need a full rewatch to throw others in there, but this along with others already mentioned spring instantly to mind. Always recommend a few of the 2 hour ppvs (07/08) as very good-excellent, easy to watch shows as well.

[Wavelet Transform]

Surprised that no one mentioned Man Up (2007). Some other greats:

Glory by Honor V: N2
Death Before Dishonor VIII
Final Battle 2004-2012

Though it's not everyone's cup of tea, I also really enjoyed Supercard XII.