Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

[supersonic]

Absolutely, look at the lineup for the portion I covered, and the quality of those matches.

Ask yourself this: if you paid $15-20 for an In Your House or One Night Only PPV, and THAT is the quality you got out of the four matches, would that justify the purchase?

[AmericanDolphin_3]

Good point. I'll have to pick that up when I get around to ordering Mystery Vortex II.

[supersonic]

Vendetta - November 5, 2005



Full disclosure: This event has some sentimental value to me as it's the first ROH event, and second ever pro wrestling event, I attended. That sentimental value is being thrown out the fucking window though to give this an objective perspective.

Homicide & Julius Smokes say they plan to murder Colt Cabana tonight in his hometown.

Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels

Awesome match here. Joe worked on the neck of Daniels to set up for the musclebuster and Island Driver, but there will always be the underlying story of doing that because of the neck injury Daniels suffered in WCW. After several minutes of opening the match with back-and-forth momentum, Daniels got a shot on Joe's left knee, making it the target for the match.

Daniels did a great job of getting the job done on that left knee of Joe's, including both submissions and strikes to that joint, a great gameplan to take away Joe's base. But as the match came to its finishing stretch, which had the crowd completely hot, Daniels proved to not be heavy enough with his damage, as Joe was able to ignore the pain inflicted and finish him off with the musclebuster. Christopher Daniels did not phone it in for ROH on this night, giving his best performance for the company since returning earlier in 2005.

Rating: ****

Homicide and Colt Cabana have an extremely violent brawl, with numerous unprotected chairshots. They really tear into each other, but Homicide has the advantage with Smokes being present. The Devil's Son-in-Law even delivers a powerbomb on Cabana. They duct-tape Cabana to the ropes, scratch his forehead with a fork, and then attempt to cut his tongue out with a pair of scissors. Ace Steel comes out and throws Homicide away from his trainee and friend, having been fed up with this bullshit.

ROH Title Match
Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong

Danielson interrupts Bobby Cruise's introduction, getting him to announce the champ as "the best wrestler in the world." And after this match, Danielson certainly had a very, very solid case to make such a grand declaration.

They slowly shake hands beforehand to follow the Code of Honor, but Danielson slaps Strong immediately and gets a chop for his troubles, immediately taking a powder. To state the obvious, this was emotionally picking up right where they left off a week earlier. Danielson spent a lot of time just walking around and talking shit to the crowd early, with another powder minutes later after taking more chops from Strong, being an absolutely outstanding cocky heel in the process. What's amazing is that this stalling never once live or on broadcast had me assuming that this would be a 60 minute Broadway.

Danielson was the master in this one, using his irritation to get the advantage on Strong and make him more focused on his barbarianism and technical wrestling. To date, this is simply the greatest heel performance Danielson has had, being far more of a red-ass here than he was in the past against Paul London and AJ Styles, and more than he would be in the future against Sheamus, Nigel McGuinness, Samoa Joe, and Homicide, or even in Germany for WXW.

Body parts Danielson targeted on Strong during this timeless classic include: the knees, the left arm, and most arrogantly of all, the back. This was absolutely ingenious to take away Strong's ability to deliver chops, backbreakers, and gutbusters, while also softening up the challenger for a number of potential finishers, such as the Cattle Mutilation, Crossface Chickenwing, or millions of other submissions that Danielson could unleash at a moment's notice. Most of all, I love Danielson focusing on the back, which he also did the night before against Chris Sabin, because it says "Cool Roderick, I can add that gameplan to my loaded arsenal too."

Strong was absolutely brutal to Danielson on this night, even more than he was to the chickenshit CM Punk at Escape From New York. This not only got under the skin of Danielson, but left that same Pacific Northwest pasty white signature skin color of Danielson's bleeding on the chest in the early stages, some of that due to residual damage from the week before. That was an absolutely amazing visual to put over how devastating Strong's chops are and what Danielson was willing to go through to hold on to the top prize in the company. I also recall later in the match Danielson's forehead bleeding when he was thrown into a guardrail.

After the earlier two powders Danielson took, Strong got fed up and chased him to the outside, landing more vicious strikes, including his trademark chops. Danielson used the third powder he took to absorb those strikes and have Strong chase him around the ring, getting a cheapshot in when Strong followed him into the ring. In a later powder segment, the action got all the way to the steel entrance ramp, which Strong scoop-slammed Danielson on. That particular spot and two head-drops later on in the match (belly to back drop on Danielson, release Dragon Suplex on Strong) were the only moments in this epic that had me cringing out of concern for their well-beings. And that's not too bad considering what how many matches of this caliber have to stoop to in order to be memorable.

Over 30 minutes passed until Strong finally got a backbreaker on Danielson, and they had the crowd in the palms of their hands by that point. Strong had gotten some submissions on Danielson's back, but this was the first blow he got to deliver. This nearfall got an absolutely red-hot reaction, the crowd expecting a title change less than two months after Danielson had reached the pinnacle of his then-young career.

Here are a number of out-of-order impressive moments in this masterpiece before I get to the finish:

Danielson getting pissed that his chops weren't getting the same vocal support as Strong, telling the crowd to fuck off before delivering one on the challenger.

Strong chopping the hell out of Danielson in the corner, the champ spitting in his face, delivering another devastating chop, getting spat in the face again, and delivering yet another devastating chop. Danielson fell to that one and breathed heavily to absorb the pain, but used his arrogant pride and anger to force himself not to succumb to it. This is my pick for the greatest facial expression Danielson has ever done in a wrestling match.

Strong reversing a left arm twist into his own. Danielson attempts to show off his state-of-the-art wrestling to escape it, likely to deliver a dropkick to break the hold as he usually does. But Strong managed to turn that into a La Magistral Cradle nearfall. Just splendid wrestling.

Danielson also drilled his forearms into Strong when he had the challenger mounted, selling that psychotic irritation he had towards this particular opponent.

Now for the finishing stretch, more than 45 minutes have passed. Strong is almost running on empty, not accustomed to matches of this length unlike Danielson. Sure, he won Survival of the Fittest several weeks earlier, but that was a six-man elimination match that involved tags. Strong gave it a go, digging down deep in his third shot at the title (at least in an ROH ring). They had an absolutely breathtaking sequence that I won't spoil, other than to say that it led to Danielson topping the Omoplata shoulder lock he won with in their first classic, this time finishing Strong off with elbows to the head, putting the champion over as a truly dangerous motherfucker, worthy of being ROH Champion.

I remember on the original ROH message board, there was a vote by its members to determine the company's top ten matches after 100 shows, and then again after 200 shows. This match got on the list both times, and deservedly so. Nine years later, this is the best match I've seen in person, better than the KENTA vs. Davey Richards rematch, "End of an Era" Hell in a Cell match, John Cena and Umaga's Last Man Standing match, Danielson vs. Triple H, or either of the Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels WrestleMania classics.

This is not only a top ten match in ROH's history, but is also the best match of Roderick Strong's career. I could see the argument for this being the best match of Bryan Danielson's career as well. I won't say it's the best ROH match ever, as there was one tiny moment in which both men may not have been on the same page, but that could be covered up with a good kayfabed explanation. Dave Prazak & Lenny Leonard also did a phenomenal job calling this match, putting over Danielson's gimmick and getting the story across to the viewer.

This match does get a lot of love, but I'll be honest, it deserves more. I'm shocked Gabe Sapolsky didn't convince Dave Meltzer to review this along with This Means War. I'm sure with the proper coverage, this match and event would be remembered on par with Joe vs. Punk II and Joe vs. Kobashi. This was a mixture of numerous classic matchups such as Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat, Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit, and Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi.

If there is one last level of praise that gives this match the love it deserves, and convinces those on the fence to rewatch this, here you go: This match feels like 30 minutes instead of 47 minutes.

Rating: *****

And we still got one more for the evening, folks.

Winner Gets Steel Cage Warfare Advantage
Prince Nana, Abyss, Jimmy Rave, & Alex Shelley vs. AJ Styles, Austin Aries, Jack Evans, & Matt Sydal



An incredibly fun main event, one that got crazy at times as expected. The match started with the babyfaces cutting the ring in half and dominating Rave. The babyfaces then said Rave was welcome to tag in Nana, who took a powder of course. Styles was perfectly cast in this match, using his ferocity and firepower to offset the size and strength of Abyss at times, including giving the beast a release German Suplex through a table that had been brought in the ring!

When the heels got the advantage, they cut the ring in half on Evans. Shelley was the standout, stretching Evans in front of the Chicago crowd for a third time in 2005. After enough damage was done on Evans, Nana gleefully got tagged in, rubbing it in the fans and opposing team's faces, far more obnoxious than Danielson had been earlier in the night.

I noticed that something was edited out, and I don't recall from being there live what it was for. Evans was on the outside, with Rave struggling to get up in the ring, then a second later, Evans is in the ring being worked on by Shelley while Rave is on the apron with rest of the Embassy. Strange and really threw me off with me keeping tabs on who was legal.

Speaking of being legal, I don't hold it against referee Todd Sinclair when he forgot who was legal. The first time when it happened early in the match, the match got out of control, as it should have at this point in the feud. It happened to set up for the finishing stretch too when two on each team were tagged in, so if I'm Sinclair I'd have said "fuck it" too and just counted any nearfall that came up.

Nana got a fraction of comeuppance, the perfect amount, but when Aries & Sydal were about to take him out, Sydal's girlfriend Daizee Haze betrayed them, delivering low-blows and also taking out Jade Chung. Shelley delivered a finisher, while Rave simultaneously delivered his brand new, devastating, truly state-of-the-art finisher: THE PEDIGREE~!

Rating: ***3/4

Colt Cabana cuts a promo after the show, no longer in a comedic mood in the war against Homicide. Pretty compelling actually.

The show closes with the announcement that off-camera, the Embassy attacked Strong & Chung in the parking lot.

While I understand the mindset that the weekend had to close with the Embassy having the last laugh, I'd have booked the eight man tag for Detroit with the Haze turn. And here's my reason for it: Imagine how much more of a dickhead Danielson could've been to Strong, saying "you need to get over that shit Roderick, you're in the ring with me, nobody gives a fuck about your girlfriend you bitch." Danielson vs. Strong II should've closed out the weekend.

This is still the best wrestling event I've ever attended, and gets my highest recommendation due to each key match delivering or over-delivering. In terms of overall show value, I'd compare it to Joe vs. Punk II: three very good to incredible matches, all three of them a different flavor, one of them being a ***** masterpiece. There's even the pointless legends segment (Jim Cornette & Bill Watts compared to Mick Foley & Ricky Steamboat.)

Up next - A Night of Tribute
Matches will include:
AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal vs. Christopher Daniels
Bryan Danielson vs. Azrieal
Homicide vs. Colt Cabana
Jay Lethal & Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong
ROH Title Match

[supersonic]

A Night of Tribute - November 19, 2005



The DVD begins with ringside footage as the company pays tribute to Eddie Guerrero with a ten bell salute. More on the Hall of Famer later.

A Samoa Joe promo is thrown in from ROH"s website, going through all the major points of his career for several minutes, saying that his final goal is to win the Tag Titles and be the first ever Grand Slam Champion. What stands out is that he says he will "single-handedly" be the first Grand Slam Champ in ROH, and talks about Jay Lethal's part as if Joe is the driver and his protege is simply a passenger. Interesting.

Colt Cabana cuts a solid serious business promo on Homicide after what happened in Chicago, and I love the five o'clock shadow he's growing to sell the toll this feud is taking on him. But he ruins the segment with a line that nine years later I still haven't figured out, directed at Homicide: "I'm not fighting for my life, I'm fighting for yours."

ROH Title Shot Match
AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal vs. Christopher Daniels

Fun match, although I was surprised it was on par with the three way Sydal and Daniels had with Azrieal, since this match was featuring AJ STYLES. This was a good showcase for Sydal as he ascended in his career and particularly in ROH, being left in the ring post-match so the crowd could give him the pop, to which they obliged.

Rating: ***

Gary Michael Cappetta welcomes Bryan Danielson, who wants to have a match to bring his ROH Title defense against Daniels in the main event to a more even level, both of them having competed in the night.

Bryan Danielson vs. Azrieal

Video of the match (NO COMMENTARY) - http://www.veoh.com/watch/v454449SCje96QA

TREMENDOUS squash match, with Danielson making an almost complete mockery of Azrieal. WWE fans would LOVE this, as it's all a showcase of what a tremendously cocky asshole Danielson is.

Hardcore Match
Homicide vs. Colt Cabana

Really good hatred match, both guys just going after each other. In this one, Cabana revealed that he brought a ghetto fork, but Homicide never got his comeuppance, which was a no-brainer at this stage in the feud. The wrestling was also really good, nothing insulting at all, the occasional no-selling being brief and caused by the emotions both men had. I can undoubtedly say that I am VERY glad the finish, which was Homicide choking Cabana out with a coat-hanger, was done in late 2005 instead of late 2007.

Rating: ***1/2

Gabe Sapolsky reflects on what Eddie Guerrero meant to ROH, not just competing for the company during its genesis, but the impact his work had on the roster. My eyes began the watering process as this segment ended.

Tag Titles Shot Match
Jay Lethal & Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong

Pretty good tag match, with Generation Next cutting the ring in half early on Lethal, although not doing as much damage as they probably thought, since Lethal was able to still work in the ring throughout most of the match. Moments later, Aries would be the one to have the ring cut in half on him. Overall, this was all about Lethal, Aries, and Strong, with Joe being a supporting character, and for good reasons.

Fall attempts were only counted on the legal men, and the finish came when Strong delivered a backbreaker to Lethal, with Aries pounding his chest and delivering a gorgeous frogsplash, paying tribute to Guerrero. Post-match, Joe looks at Lethal with frustration, although not super hostile to indicate that it would lead to anything.

As Aries & Strong head to the back, Prince Nana & Jimmy Rave ambush them with a chair, with Rave delivering a Pedigree to Strong on the wooden/steel entrance ramp. As GeNext walks through the curtain, they discover Sydal hanging from the rungs of a ladder. And that's the penultimate for these two factions before they finally settle it in two weeks.

Rating: ***1/4

ROH Title Match
Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels

Good main event, made into being very good since the crowd was so hot, assuming for reasons I cannot figure out that Daniels actually had any chance of winning this. This match showcased Danielson more than Daniels, which again was understandable with the champ being the face of the company. His technical wrestling was fabulous as always, the finishing stretch got a great reaction, and I loved that when Daniels bled and the crimson got on Danielson, the champ took pride in making his opponent bleed.

I wonder if it's a coincidence that Danielson and Homicide are being booked as the two most ruthless bad-asses in the company. Again, the crowd elevated this, but overall this isn't a standout in Danielson's title reign. I preferred the technically superior, less heated defense the month before against Aries.

Rating: ***3/4

Joe says that tonight was a temporary setback, and that he will achieve his dream of being Grand Slam Champion. Lethal seems annoyed and walks away. I don't blame him, for Joe made no mention of what it would mean for the two of them to reach the top together.

The DVD closes with a clip from A Night of Appreciation, as the crowd chants "We will miss you!" to Eddie Guerrero, who was in tears as he bid farewell to the independents. And I'm sure that any wrestling fan that grew up watching him sure does miss him still.

This was always meant to be a B-show, which is understandable since this was sandwiched between a spectacular event in Chicago and important Manhattan event that would be the end of a top feud in company history. But the obvious circumstances of what happened six days earlier makes this an important event in ROH's history, even though this event will never be discussed with ROH's most reputable events. Recommended for genuine sentimental reasons, and for those who want an Eddie Guerrero tribute show that doesn't include a murderer.

This show made me realize that although I have moved on, it really is a shame that Eddie Guerrero, regardless of what led to his demise, is no longer with us and was taken away so abruptly. Although Owen Hart's accident was a major deal, the death of Eddie Guerrero was the very first chipping away at the innocence of my wrestling fandom, and I'm sure I don't have to spell out what crushed that innocence for good. I hope that those who aren't familiar with Eddie's work will seek it out and educate themselves, find out why he is a true pioneer in the industry. It's not that hard to find his work thanks to the Internet and especially WWE Network. It'll be worth it, he was truly a one-of-a-kind entertainer and professional wrestler.

RIP Eddie Guerrero: 1967-2005

IWA Intercontinental Title Tournament Final
Eddie Guerrero vs. Super Crazy
The Era of Honor Begins - February 23, 2002



Up next - Steel Cage Warfare
Matches will include:
Tony Mamaluke & Sal Rinauro vs. Colt Cabana & Milano Collection AT
Bryan Danielson vs. Rocky Romero
Jay Lethal vs. Samoa Joe
Prince Nana, Abyss, Jimmy Rave, & Alex Shelley vs. Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, Jack Evans, & Matt Sydal

[supersonic]

Steel Cage Warfare - December 3, 2005



The DVD starts with a Jay Lethal promo pulled from the ROH web site, chronicling his career and saying he needs to be able to stand on his own, which is why he has challenged his mentor Samoa Joe. He promises that he will do something to stand out.

Jim Cornette in a taped promo says he's not impressed with the antics of Nigel McGuinness, and that he will be defending the Pure Title against Claudio Castagnoli again soon, this time with two referees present so that McGuinness doesn't make a joke out of the rules. He also bans Colt Cabana and the Rottweilers from the Homicide vs. Steve Corino match for this evening. Yeah, I'll just pretend Homicide and Corino finished their business in 2003, thank you.

Shown throughout the show are taped promos from the Embassy and Generation Next. Most of them are horrendous, with Alex Shelley being the lone standout, still bitter about Final Battle 2004 and deeming his opponents to be "Diet Generation Next," a watered-down version without him.

Tag Titles Match
Tony Mamaluke & Sal Rinauro vs. Colt Cabana & Milano Collection AT

Gabe Sapolsky says in commentary that MCAT will be a key performer for ROH in 2006. The champs put out an open contract, which Cabana accepted and chose MCAT as his partner. Good tag match, nothing special, much like I would describe Mamaluke's career as being. I appreciated Todd Sinclair refusing to count a pinfall due to tag legalities. The crowd doesn't seem to be receptive to the champs retaining, and I can certainly see why.

Rating: ***

ROH Title Match
Bryan Danielson vs. Rocky Romero

Romero is cashing in his match/title shot of his choice as part of winning the trios tournament. Apparently these two have history going back to the New Japan Dojo in Los Angeles, explaining in storyline why Romero waited nine months and numerous title reigns to pass before cashing in.

Remember when it was the "cool thing" to bash Romero? Watch this match to find out why. The wrestling looked good on the surface, but Romero didn't sell or follow up on anything that Danielson did to establish a story. I imagine the champ mentally said "fuck it" when he finished Romero off with a half crab on the right leg, when he had actually worked on Romero's left leg earlier in the match.

Post-match, Lance Storm comes out, and perhaps Gabe Sapolsky's crowning achievement was convincing the audience that this guy, a good but never spectacular worker, was a truly great, under-utilized performer, a pioneer for many in ROH like Brian Pillman and Dean Malenko were. Storm says he's willing to lace his boots up again to face Danielson. It's 2014, I'm sure the match is good or probably even great thanks to Danielson, but whatever.

Rating: less than ***

Jay Lethal vs. Samoa Joe

Match was solid and forgettable until Joe went for the boot scrapes about 12 minutes into this match. Lethal ducked out of the ring and threw Joe's left knee into the ring post, teased he would do it again, but then grabbed a steel chair and attacked the knee with it. I'm surprised he wasn't disqualified for that. This was great not only to show that he was tired of Joe's egotistical attitude, but to take away Joe's base and kicking offense.

For the remaining several minutes, Lethal did a masterful job as the crowd, who had not yet seen the footage from A Night of Tribute, vilified him for his actions. He continued working on the left knee, and Joe did an equally masterful job of selling it, falling off-balance at times and not being able to keep Lethal up for attempted musclebusters and Death Valley Drivers. What's key though is that Joe still got some trademark hope spots in, such as a powerslam.

The finishing sequence came when Lethal was dropped on his head with a release German suplex, but Joe couldn't follow up when lifting him for the musclebuster due to the knee damage. Lethal managed to get in position to finish off his former friend, partner, and mentor with a very painful looking release Dragon suplex. Afterwards, Lethal rubs a bit more salt in the wound, kicking at Joe's left knee. I don't blame Lethal at all.

Rating: ***1/2

Steel Cage Warfare
Prince Nana, Abyss, Jimmy Rave, & Alex Shelley vs. Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, Jack Evans, & Matt Sydal

This was a great blowoff to the feud, complete with hitting every appropriate spot and tying up everything that had been building for a year. Nana did a great job when he was the last member of the Embassy to come in, celebrating as his crew worked on GeNext. Abyss did a great job of showing off his power and taste for hardcore. I loved every elimination in this match also. Abyss, Sydal, and Evans were taken out by multiple finishers, super variations of finishers, and/or multiple members of the opposite faction.

Other little things (before I get to the things I really wanna focus on) that stood out are Strong coming in to be a great house of fire, and finally getting a gutbuster on Abyss after being unable to do so for four months, and Jade Chung returning and baiting the Embassy out of the ring so that Evans could sneak in and climb up the cage to do a ridiculous million degree senton on them. Unfortunately, Evans landed on his head and it's amazing that he was able to manage getting the rest of his portion of the match over with. I don't know how he didn't die.

The most important individual in this entire match was Alex Shelley, because this is how it all started. He had many chances to get eliminations on his former stablemates, but his bitterness and ego, the desire to prolong and milk the vengeance, cost him and his faction ultimately in the end. He did an absolutely fantastic job of being a completely psychopathic, vindictive douche-bag, showing that despite how cold it was what happened to him a year earlier and in the first half of 2005, his former faction had actually found some decency since then, whereas he stooped to even lower levels. His skull-fuck spot to Aries on a steel chair, busting open the former ROH Champion, was absolutely perfect storytelling.

Also perfect was to have Aries & Strong take out Rave & Shelley simultaneously, Strong on Rave via numerous backbreakers, Aries on Shelley via a brainbuster on a chair. That left Aries & Strong, the #1 contenders to the Tag Titles, alone with Nana, who finished him off in quick but brutally satisfying fashion, bringing the feud of the year for ROH to its appropriate conclusion.

This was the culmination of so many different stories that ended up interlocking by August. Shelley being booted by GeNext. Sydal being betrayed by Fast Eddie in favor of joining the Embassy. Rave & Shelley showing natural chemistry as potential partners on the same night that Aries told Nana to fuck off when given a horrendously mistimed business proposal. Shelley then jumping on the opportunity to finally have a unit to be by his side and showing what a son of a bitch he was. Sydal being the parallel of replacing him in GeNext so he could get help against the Embassy. Daizee Haze betraying GeNext to sell out to the Embassy. And then Chung getting the last laugh, united in celebration with GeNext and using Rave as a footstool.

Post-match, Aries says to the camera that with this chapter behind them, he and Strong are now focused on the Tag Titles. This post-match felt very similar to when CM Punk finished off Rave inside the cage at Nowhere to Run.

Perhaps most amazing is that as great as this match is, I suspect looking at the lineup of the next show that this won't crack my top ten for the year.

Rating: ****1/4

The DVD closes with Joe having a pity party about Lethal betraying him. Fuck off, Joe.

The next event features two key debuts, so I'll be taking another hiatus from this rewatch, as I will use this as an excuse to make myself familiar with the pre-ROH work of KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji. I also have high expectations for the next event to bring ROH's incredible 2005 to a close.

Up next - Final Battle 2005
Matches will include:
Jimmy Rave vs. Milano Collection AT
Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Jay Lethal vs. Samoa Joe vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Christopher Daniels
Tony Mamaluke & Sal Rinauro vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong
Bryan Danielson vs. Naomichi Marufuji
KENTA vs. Low Ki

[miloV6]

Wow, just wow. This an amazing compilation of reviews, especially for someone like myself who has long wanted to grow his DVD collection. I can confidently say that every purchase I have made in the last 6 months has been because of this.

Bravo!

[PoyzunTiiiger]

*THIS IS AWESOME* CLAP CLAP CLAP *THIS IS AWESOME* please continue this project your reviews are great.

[supersonic]

Final Battle 2005 - December 17, 2005



Jimmy Rave vs. Milano Collection AT

Good for an opening match but altogether nothing special. MCAT had his neck worked on which was fun, then he got the heat in the last couple of minutes, then Rave wins out of nowhere with the Pedigree. It's a shame that this would be MCAT's final match and whatever issues there were between him and ROH/DG couldn't be settled; dude barring an injury was bound to do something special in 2006.

Rating: less than ***

Pure Title Match - TWO REFEREES
Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli

Commissioner Jim Cornette has appointed two referees to make sure McGuinness stops channeling Eddie Guerrero and disgracing the Pure Title. Castagnoli definitely hadn't found his true groove yet in terms of carrying himself, but of course was still very good during his green days. He was awesome in toying with the cheater McGuinness, even cheating himself as a receipt. But McGuinness was able to position himself next to Paul Turner on the outside, convincing the challenger to take the bait and accidentally take out the ref with an attempted tope suicida. His facial expression was excellent with his mocked innocence.

They would go on to have some great European Uppercut exchanges, and Castagnoli also got a tremendous nearfall when he did the Tower of London. McGuinness would bring in his iron and throw it in Castagnoli's hands, plagiarizing the late Eddie, but Castagnoli didn't fall for it. However, Castagnoli gleefully rammed the champion's head into that iron to win the Pure Title, only for the now-conscious Turner to disqualify him for seeing that.

Rating: ***

I catch the end of Alex Shelley vs. Steve Corino for a major storyline. Homicide ambushes Corino within seconds of the match ending, drawing out Colt Cabana. In a moment that to me deserves consideration for the WrestleCrap Hall of Fame for simply going way too far to build heat, Homicide attempted to pour Drano down Cabana's throat. Textbook jumping the shark.

Jay Lethal vs. Samoa Joe vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Christopher Daniels



Before the match, Lethal explains that he betrayed Joe because the bigger star was making more money and so he's now open to signing with any managers in ROH. Makes sense, but why not make this angle layered as it already was in its roots since Joe was being so self-absorbed in the prior month?

The match is fun and does a good job of continuing Joe's feuds with Lethal and Daniels but ultimately has no substance when tags stop being enforced. I'd have had no problem with this just being a spotfest to get the crowd psyched up going into intermission, but why enforce tags in the first half of the match at all then?

Rating: less than ***

At intermission, the Embassy expresses interest in aiming for titles in ROH.

Tag Titles Match
Tony Mamaluke & Sal Rinauro vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong

Prior to the match, Aries attacks Ricky Reyes and cuts a fantastic promo on him, saying he's nothing without Rocky Romero (who had gone on to stardom in puroresu) and was worthless unless he was plastered. Every word Aries said was true, and yet fit in perfectly with the gimmick Reyes had at the time of bullying the students.

This was really good stuff, only kept from being great due to the lack of charisma and presence from the champs. The challengers did a great job of cutting the ring in half early on Rinauro, but then the champs would return the favor by cutting the ring in half on Aries. Everything made sense, the psychology was good, pacing was good, and the crowd sensed a title change in the last 30 seconds. After just finishing up with the Embassy, it was fitting for GeNext to be granted the task of bringing the titles to relevance entering 2006. That Aries had won singles gold at the previous Final Battle was mentioned too of course.

Rating: ***1/2

ROH Title Match - Naomichi Marufuji's ROH Debut
Bryan Danielson vs. Naomichi Marufuji

Very good debut for Marufuji during his golden period as expected. He was very smooth in his transitions of heat with Danielson, showing aggressiveness too when necessary to mirror the champion. Just really good all-around wrestling from both men overall, and I don't mind that Marufuji jobbed by a rollup pin, as it established that part of Danielson's arsenal against a challenger of such high caliber. I also have no problem that Danielson didn't job to the Shiranui, as the way it was executed didn't bury the move at all.

Post-match, the Embassy are at the entrance ramp, mockingly congratulating the champ.

Rating: ***3/4

GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title Match - KENTA's ROH Debut
KENTA vs. Low Ki

Greatest debut in ROH history, surpassing Joe's impressive MOTYC debut that was also against Ki a few years earlier. I'm not counting one-off appearances as debuts, so that disqualifies Kenta Kobashi.

Speaking of Kobashi, of course this match is naturally going to be compared to his masterpiece against Joe. And while this didn't quite live up to that, this was still an incredible match that has stood the test of time. Both men were fantastic mirror images of each other, neither going down to one another's devastating punishment, working this like they were trying to steal the show at the Tokyo Dome.

Low Ki controlled a significant portion of the match surprisingly, and it was very engaging. Watching all of those NOAH classics made me appreciate KENTA selling and delivering hope spots, only to get cut off quickly by his toughest challenger to date, even more challenging and grueling than what he went through against that bastard SUWA. Ki specifically targeted KENTA's back later in the match, which was sold very, very well.

Of course, this match had more than its fair share of kicking and striking exchanges, completely amazing the crowd each time. And those exchanges deserved appreciation thanks to their wonderful execution. Both men also were fantastic in countering and evading each other's offense at times, showing just what an even matchup this was at the time and that they definitely studied each other's work.

As far as the counters, the highlight was KENTA attempting a Busaiku knee only for Ki to grab him mid-air and drop him with a modified Ki Crusher to thunderous applause. Another moment that had the crowd popping huge was KENTA digging down deep, springing up when Ki was going to unleash another top-rope move, and dropping the challenger with a Super Falcon Arrow. KENTA rolled over after the nearfall this got, selling the damage that had been inflicted upon him and showing the effort it took for him to get this spot in.

My only complaint isn't that this was in New Jersey instead of Manhattan, although that likely would've made this even better. Considering that KENTA was to be a semi-regular for ROH, I'd have put Ki away with one G2S, rather than adding in the Busaiku knee for good measure, to establish the G2S as fucking DEATH to the entire ROH locker room. Other than that, this was an absolutely outstanding, jaw-dropping classic.

Rating: ****3/4

The DVD closes with Daniels wishing to wrap up his feud with Joe that has even spilled over into TNA, but wanting to get it done in ROH soon.

As I'm about to spill below, this couldn't touch the very tippy-top best events ROH hosted in 2005, but this had storyline implications up and down the card (even with one moment epitomizing the term "jumping the shark"), the three main events all delivered, one of them being an important title change, two of them being important debuts, and the main event being what some might consider a genuine contender for greatest match in company history. Hell of a way to bring this awesome year for ROH to an end.

SUPER DUPER ROH 2005 AWARDS

Wrestler of the Year:
Austin Aries
Runner-up - Roderick Strong

Debut of the Year:
KENTA - Final Battle 2005

Breakout Performance of the Year:
Roderick Strong @ Escape From New York

Feud/Rivalry of the Year:
The Embassy vs. Generation Next (including everything that led to the two factions feuding)
Runner-up - CM Punk vs. the ROH locker room

Show of the Year:
Nowhere to Run
Runner-up - Manhattan Mayhem

Moment of the Year:
CM Punk dethroning Austin Aries for the ROH Title and then turning heel @ Death Before Dishonor III and Kenta Kobashi competing in an ROH match @ Joe vs. Kobashi

Match of the Year:
Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong - Vendetta *****
Runner-up - Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi - Joe vs. Kobashi *****

ROH's Top 10 Matches of 2005 (in chronological order):
Austin Aries vs. CM Punk - Death Before Dishonor III ****3/4
CM Punk vs. Roderick Strong - Escape From New York ****1/2
CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe vs. James Gibson vs. Christopher Daniels - Redemption ****1/2
James Gibson vs. Bryan Danielson - Glory By Honor IV ****1/2
Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi - Joe vs. Kobashi *****
James Gibson vs. Roderick Strong - Unforgettable ****1/2
Low Ki & Samoa Joe vs. Homicide & Kenta Kobashi - Unforgettable ****3/4
Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong - This Means War ****1/2
Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong - Vendetta *****
KENTA vs. Low Ki - Final Battle 2005 ****3/4

Up next - Hell Freezes Over
Matches will include:
Jay Lethal vs. Christopher Daniels
AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal
Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Hero

[Colt45]

2005 will probably go down as my favorite year. It started out strong with 3rd the anniversary series, complete shows with good matches down the card with Night 2 being of my underrated favorites. Later the three show stretch of Manhattan Mayhem - The Final Showdown - Nowhere to Run is legendary from a match and storyline perspective perfectly setting up for the time-bomb that was the Summer of Punk.

After another can't miss stretch of shows, ROH kinda cooled off before jumping back into the frying pan crowning Danielson Champion and match Joe and Ki with Japans hottest stars. Maybe the impact won't seem the same to newer fans, but it was surreal seeing Kobashi wrestle stateside. I'll never forget watching those two matches the first and later googling every wrestler in NOAH. I was hooked on Puro thenforth.

Lastly as supersonic pointed out, Danielson and Strong had two absolute scorchers. Those two matches were something special easily ****+ material.

[McXal]

2005 will probably go down as my favorite year. It started out strong with 3rd the anniversary series, complete shows with good matches down the card with Night 2 being of my underrated favorites. Later the three show stretch of Manhattan Mayhem - The Final Showdown - Nowhere to Run is legendary from a match and storyline perspective perfectly setting up for the time-bomb that was the Summer of Punk.

After another can't miss stretch of shows, ROH kinda cooled off before jumping back into the frying pan crowning Danielson Champion and match Joe and Ki with Japans hottest stars. Maybe the impact won't seem the same to newer fans, but it was surreal seeing Kobashi wrestle stateside. I'll never forget watching those two matches the first and later googling every wrestler in NOAH. I was hooked on Puro thenforth.

Lastly as supersonic pointed out, Danielson and Strong had two absolute scorchers. Those two matches were something special easily ****+ material.

Completely agree with the above summary. The fact that Colt45 pointed out exactly how great 2005 was, without even mentioning the epic Embassy/GeNext feud shows how much of a fantastic year it was

A lot of people seem to prefer 2006, I guess fuelled by the ROH/CZW feud, the Milestone Series, Danielson/KENTA and the Danielson/Nigel trilogy that year - but I always felt that assessment conveniently ignores how much of a bust the 'Road Of Homicide' storyline and everything after Glory By Honor 5 weekend was.

Aside from a couple of underwhelming shows, 2005 was HOT all year

[supersonic]

I think if you forget about sticking strictly to calendar years, you won't find a hotter 12 consecutive months in ROH history than Glory By Honor IV to Glory By Honor V Night 2. I'll find out if that statement is true as I go into 2006.

[supersonic]

Hell Freezes Over - January 14, 2006



Jay Lethal vs. Christopher Daniels

The wrestling was fine in this, nothing botched, but either Lethal didn't seem to know how to keep the match engaging while being in control, or Daniels was keeping the pace below fifth gear to make sure he was good to go for the big TNA match against Samoa Joe the next day. They'd go on to do better in TNA.

Rating: less than ***

Jimmy Jacobs Accouncement

Jacobs has sent a video to ROHvideos.com, proclaiming that he's in love with Lacey. Phenomenally creepy video that saved his future in the company.

AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal

This was fucking action-packed. While Styles of course had the advantage in terms of size, strength, and aggression, Sydal was pushed into showing that despite his small frame, he too could throw down and pull out some technical wrestling when necessary. This was a tremendously paced contest.

The three most memorable moments are Styles giving a brainbuster to Sydal on the apron, which Sydal sold throughout the rest of the match and it certainly appeared there was no way to avoid landing awkwardly on his neck for that spot, even with Styles protecting him; the company highlight of Styles trying to deliver a Styles Clash but Sydal not allowing it, getting himself on the shoulders of Styles and landing an explosive hurricanrana pin attempt straight out of the Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio playbook; and of course the finish, in which Sydal reversed an attempted Super Styles Clash with yet another hurricanrana, but this time Styles absorbed the bump and used the momentum to get the pinfall victory.

Post-match, Styles requests Sydal to be his partner in going after the tag straps, which Sydal accepts and his Generation Next buddies probably aren't too thrilled about.

Sydal got himself on the radar months earlier with his first good ROH singles match against Jimmy Rave; in this one he simply broke out and proved he was worthy of mixing it up with the top acts in the company. If you enjoyed Low Ki vs. Amazing Red, then by all means check this out, as you should love it even more than I did.

Rating: ***3/4

ROH Title Match - Chris Hero's ROH Debut
Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Hero

It is absolutely mind-boggling to realize that there was a time in which Gabe Sapolsky appeared to have zero interest in booking Hero. I guess I just couldn't see the can't-miss excellence of BJ Whitmer, Adam Pearce, Xavier, Slyk Wagner Brown, Carnage Crew, and Vordell Walker.

But there was no better way to correct that mistake than to book Hero in a market that BADLY needed something to move tickets again for the company (I'm going to assume the Philly market had burned out on ROH during the first few years), by creating an interesting dynamic of playing on the irrational emotions of the ROH and CZW fanbases at the time.

After getting owned by Danielson in the first 10 minutes or so of the match, which also included stalling by both men to draw heat, Hero is able to get control when he hits an attack on the champion's left arm. For the next 10-15 minutes, Hero was absolutely awesome working on that left arm, with Danielson of course working in his moments to keep the match interesting, including relying on his right arm for slaps.

As the match progressed to its finishing stretch, neither man would submit to the other. Hero reached the ropes during a Cattle Mutilation, likely showing his tenacity but also showing that Danielson wasn't at full strength in the left arm, and then later Danielson would reach the ropes during the Hangman's Clutch, once again showing his own tenacity. Once the champ locked on the Crossface Chickenwing, it was all over though.

This wasn't super blowaway, but very good in showcasing what a mistake it was for ROH to shun Hero for years, as he gave an impressive technical wrestling performance, while also being a far more an interesting character than the likes of Matt Stryker and John Walters that were in the company before him. Some have said they would've preferred a more heated match; that misses the point of establishing that Hero belonged in ROH. It wasn't the time for his CZW friends Adam Flash, Nate Webb, and Necro Butcher to chime in on his behalf when they accompanied him at ringside.

The post-match is a bit weird. Prince Nana comes out to offer Danielson a paycheck for the title but the champion of course rejects and that pisses Nana off. Out come Rave and Alex Shelley to take out the wounded champ, with Shelley thinking he had unlocked the Kryptonite by showing off the Shiranui. Sure, Danielson's roots were largely associated to former Embassy member Brian Kendrick, but that move had failed to put down the champ the month prior, a match in which the Embassy also came to ringside afterwards. I absolutely am looking forward to these matches though.

Rating: ***3/4

Up next - Tag Wars 2006
Matches will include:
Jack Evans, Jimmy Yang, & Matt Sydal vs. Jimmy Jacobs, BJ Whitmer, & Adam Pearce
Abyss, Jimmy Rave, & Alex Shelley vs. Jay Fury, Tony Mamaluke, & Sal Rinauro
Low Ki vs. Christopher Daniels
Trios Tournament Final
Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Bryan Danielson & Jay Lethal

[supersonic]

Tag Wars 2006 - January 27, 2006



The DVD starts off with some promos. Jay Lethal promises to be a tag champion unlike Samoa Joe, and then the Embassy show tension in discussing who will dethrone Bryan Danielson for the top prize in the company.

Trios Tournament Semifinal
Jack Evans, Jimmy Yang, & Matt Sydal vs. Jimmy Jacobs, Adam Pearce, & BJ Whitmer

I have absolutely zero complaints about this opener. This is one of the best opening matches in ROH history, and probably the best structured one to date. It accomplished everything it needed to. Legalities got enforced in the finishing stretch. It started as a hot spotfest, then broke down into Sydal playing the Ricky Morton. The match was a house of fire after the hot tag, and the crowd erupted when Evans pinned Jacobs (who had taken his eye off the ball throughout the match due to his creepy infatuation with Lacey) with the 720 senton splash. This NEEDS to be on the inevitable Sydal comp that I'm sure ROH has planned to release once he returns in a few months.

Rating: ***1/2

Trios Tournament Semifinal
Abyss, Jimmy Rave, & Alex Shelley vs. Jay Fury, Tony Mamaluke, & Sal Rinauro

Not as hot as the opener, but I didn't expect this to be. This was simply a great showcase for Fury's spotty style in his debut for the company, Mamaluke's technical expertise, and the scumbag nature of the Embassy. Once again, no complaints here.

Rating: ***

I FF to the middle of Ace Steel vs. Sterling James Keenan, and the segment that abruptly ended the match certainly held up all these years later.

Utter Fucking Chaos

Chris Hero & Necro Butcher are in attendance which gets Steel's attention, daring them to come to ringside, which of course they do. This brings out a bunch of jabronis from backstage, and then some actual stars too who take the CZW representatives to the back in order to throw them out. However, at least two brawls break out, and ROH having poor lighting at this time actually worked to conceal what was going on, which would help in a couple months (I will explain once I get to that moment in the future).

A variety of ROH guys are united to throw out Hero & Necro, from Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness to Generation Next to the creepy Jacobs to even the narcissistic, cold-hearted Low Ki (who is armed with a chair). Jim Cornette is shown walking around with a busted mouth, and runs into booker Gabe Sapolsky, who swears he didn't book the CZW stars. Cornette is blowing a gasket, swearing that Sapolsky had played him for a fool. After Hero & Necro are shoved out the door, Cornette comes to ringside with Adam Pearce watching his back.

Cornette then cuts one of the best promos of his career, which I am going to proudly analyze from a number of different angles. This was a passionate, furious, eloquent promo that did a fantastic job of elevating this apparent inter-promotional invasion to the next level (and the different ROH characters banding together did that too of course.) Cornette was on point here, not once dragging while making all of his points (however irrational and borderline unhinged they were) crystal clear. To state the obvious, the color Cornette had gave this the exclamation mark.

He buried Hero, Necro, and other CZW stars for being nothing more than garbage wrestlers, going far beyond (and doing a much better job btw) what Ricky Steamboat had preached during his terrible philosophy feud with Mick Foley in late 2004. He said that they couldn't hack it in ROH, lacked any true talent, had to resort to over-the-top blood and gore to get over, and leeched off of ROH. I'm sorry Jim, perhaps I saw a different main event than you did at Hell Freezes Over.

My favorite moment in this promo was actually Cornette playing off of some hecklers in the crowd, something I don't want to spoil. It involves a fan using a staple gun on himself. GET THIS DVD JUST FOR THIS PROMO.

At intermission, Austin Aries & Roderick Strong make it clear they're not thrilled with Sydal coming for the tag straps, but Evans says to focus on the trios final later that night.

TOMORROW NIGHT, BRYAN DANIELSON DEFENDS THE ROH TITLE AGAINST AJ STYLES. OH FUCK YES~!

Low Ki vs. Christopher Daniels

Both men ignore the ref's request to shake hands. Superb technical wrestling match here. Ki spent a significant portion of the match working on the torso of Daniels to take away his stamina. A key moment in the match was Ki going for the Tree of Woe double stomp, but Daniels shoved him outside the ring from the top rope. When Ki successfully hit it later as the match was coming to an end, the crowd fucking erupted.

The finishing stretch was a sight to behold. Daniels went for the Last Rites but got kneed in the face, yet was still able to position Ki for an attempted Angel's Wings. Ki blocked it with his arms hooked, turning Daniels over for the three-count. A fantastic way to pay off the torso work done on Daniels earlier in the match.

Post-match, Daniels admits that he regrets his attitude during his Prophecy days, and offers a handshake. Ki brushes it off both out of revenge and because he had absolutely zero honor to show towards the ROH roster.

Rating: ***3/4

Trios Tournament Final
Jack Evans, Jimmy Yang, & Matt Sydal vs. Abyss, Jimmy Rave, & Alex Shelley

If the prior match was splendid, this was just outstanding. The match started off with Yang owning Rave in every way. Rave was VERY underrated in terms of showing ass to make babyfaces look good. The Embassy did a phenomenal job of cutting the ring in half on Sydal once he got tagged in, also holding Abyss back until after the hot tag. Sydal just got his ass kicked in this match; that means this should be on his inevitable compilation as well.

With his ex-girlfriend Daizee Haze in the Embassy's corner, Sydal was just toyed with by Shelley, who was very vicious with his strikes and working on the neck (a nice follow-up to Sydal suffering an obvious sore neck at Hell Freezes Over), the highlight being a skullfuck. Once Sydal got the hot tag, the match became an incredible spotfest, jut nonstop action all over the ring involving all six men. For this portion of the match, the highlight was Sydal going for a crossbody on Abyss and getting a spectacular spinning side slam for his troubles.

Once again, the ref enforced legalities in the closing moments, showing the type of professionalism that justified the hype ROH was getting at this time on all levels that this company was capable of. Shelley hit the Shiranui on Yang, but it appeared Rave got a hidden tag on Shelley, as he was able to get the pinfall after a follow-up Pedigree. With the lack of 16:9 footage in wrestling at the time, it appeared the commentators didn't catch the blind tag either as they made no mention of it. This match also showcased the simmering tension within the Embassy, even with a monumental victory that earned all three men future ROH matches of their choice.

Rating: ****

Tag Titles Match
Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Bryan Danielson & Jay Lethal

Tremendous main event here that would've been even better had Aries been involved more. But for completely understandable reasons, he was the least important character in this match, making me wonder why this match got included on on one of his compilations instead of for the other three.

Danielson trolled Strong to start and tagged in Lethal immediately. Strong hit a backbreaker on Lethal, but the ROH Champ refused to get tagged in. For about another 30 minutes, these guys just tore the house down while telling a great story.

Moments that stand out to me include: the crowd going crazy when Danielson finally got chopped by Strong about halfway into this classic; Danielson encouraging Lethal to mock Samoa Joe with the Ole Ole Kick on Aries; Lethal mocking Joe earlier by utilizing the boot-scrapes; and of course Danielson's trash talking.

Of course, this match came down to Danielson and Strong as it should have. After multiple backbreakers, Strong was able to slap the Liontamer on the ROH Champ and make him tap out, earning himself an inevitable title shot in the future. One could argue it was bad booking to have the champ tap out 24 hours before a defense against Styles, but this was the bulletproof Bryan Danielson, and it set up a money match in the future. Just a tremendous tag team match, and I can't help but wonder how much better Danielson & Lethal could've become had they tagged frequently throughout 2006.

Rating: ****1/4

Sydal says he needs another 24 hours to make his decision on going after the Tag Titles.

The DVD closes with Whitmer pointing out that Lacey had insulted him and Jacobs in a backstage promo at Buffalo Stampede. He ain't thrilled at all about Jacobs losing focus as well as Lacey's attitude as they are 24 hours away from a shot at the Tag Titles.

We have a VERY strong early contender for best ROH event of 2006. A fantastic tag team main event. A fantastic trios match. An outstanding opening match. A very intelligent technical wrestling match that I considered giving ****. Little tensions being laid out. And of course, that red-hot CZW segment. AMAZING show, easily the most under-appreciated in ROH History. Of course, having the enthusiastic Dayton crowd played a part too. This was the FOURTH straight Dayton event for ROH that delivered btw.

Up next - Dissension
Matches will include:
Abyss, Jimmy Rave, & Alex Shelley vs. Delirious, Tony Mamaluke, & Sal Rinauro
Low Ki vs. Jack Evans
Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer
Matt Sydal vs. Christopher Daniels
Bryan Danielson vs. AJ Styles

[supersonic]

Dissension - January 28, 2006



The Embassy cuts a promo in in the dungeon of Abyss, once again showing dissension. Jimmy Rave says he's cashing in his match for the ROH Title at the Fourth Anniversary Show on February 25. Alex Shelley then says he's cashing in and getting his shot on February 11. Holy shit that February 11 card was STACKED on top. More on that later.

I FF to Adam Pearce after his victory over Jay Fury saying he will stay at ringside while Jim Cornette vents about what happened the night before in Dayton some more.

More Fucking Chaos

Cornette, with a tooth visibly missing, cuts yet another excellent promo, snubbing his nose at the "hardcore wrestlers" and conveniently forgetting that he's the one to give New Jack his first break in the business. Necro Butcher shows up at ringside and threatens to come over the guardrail for another melee. Cornette throws some FANTASTIC zingers at him involving masturbation and urine tests.

After another minute or two of shit-talking, Cornette says he'll fight Necro himself because "I ain't a wrestler, but you ain't either." Pearce then steps in to take the fight on Cornette's behalf. He gets fed up with Necro standing at the guardrail and comes to get him some tremendous brawling action. Out come the jabronis and even the Tag Champs of Austin Aries & Roderick Strong to throw Necro out.

Cornette & Pearce come back to ringside, with the commish saying that he knows Pearce is a cut-throat politician, but he appreciates what the Scrap Daddy had just done for him. Excellent segment, and I sit here still wondering when the SBG era fans of ROH will get the compilation they NEED of this CZW feud. And I'm only one month into this angle, folks.

Abyss, Jimmy Rave, & Alex Shelley vs. Delirious, Tony Mamaluke, & Sal Rinauro

Good trios action here, not out to steal the show which was totally fine after the Embassy wrestling twice the night before. It simply got over the story of this faction having tension, with Shelley tagging himself in at the end to sabotage an Abyss high-spot. But before that this was good stuff all-around, and it was interesting to see the two masked but very different flavors of oddballs clashing in the ring. The babyfaces got the win, but most importantly, Delirious was not the one to win it for his team, still looking for his first victory as his two year anniversary in ROH inches closer.

Rating: ***

Low Ki's Last ROH Match
Low Ki vs. Jack Evans

More on Low Ki's legacy in ROH later. Not the classic for him to go out on, but a hell of a fun glorified squash, just beating the fucking shit out of Evans. Ki was just awesome in this one laying the beatdown and no-selling the less aggressive Evans. But Evans was great as usual with his selling, being the mid-card jobber that was getting a reality check. I did enjoy that deep in the match when Evans got a chance to stun Ki, he did get to knock down the former ROH Champion a couple times thanks to getting some firepower behind his high-spots. But it was all over once Ki hit the Tree of Woe double stomp.

At intermission, Matt Sydal is shown chatting with AJ Styles backstage, obviously about going after the tag straps.

Tag Titles Match
Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer

Above average match here, nothing horrible, and I believe that was the goal. It was only humane for the champs to be put in a position to be bodies, practically faceless plot devices for the Jacobs & Whitmer story, after that grueling classic the night before. And this was definitely all about Jacobs & Whitmer, making me wonder why the entire match wasn't included on their compilation since this was a key match for them.

Jacobs of course got distracted at times due to his creepy infatuation with Lacey, and it ultimately cost his team in the end when he went down to the 450 Splash. The ego-maniacal Lacey seems to have no problem with what Jacobs is doing, basically saying Whitmer needs to be a professional, wanting to use this tension as a means to have more rule over what they do (in other words, a mid-20s attractive female version of Jerry Jones.) Whitmer has enough and gives Jacobs the wrist clutch exploder.

Matt Sydal vs. Christopher Daniels

Outstanding performance from Daniels, as he had to suck it up early when he injured his right knee on a routine arm-drag bump. He made up for his sabotaged mobility by escalating his aggression on the smaller Sydal, tossing him around at times. But Sydal, coming off of a breakout match against Styles and involved in two firecracker trios matches the night before, was no longer a jobber that would go down easily. He pushed himself to step up his game against the more experienced, technically and psychologically superior Daniels.

However, Sydal had a sore neck throughout the match (from Hell Freezes Over) that Daniels went to work on. This paid off in the finish when Sydal passed out to the Koji Clutch, showing just what an all-around outstanding wrestler Daniels is in kayfabe and as an in-ring worker. Very good match, and I bet they can do even better without any freak injuries.

Rating: ***1/2

A pretty sweet highlight package airs, with the announcement that THE BRISCOES ARE RETURNING TO ROH. OH FUCK YES~!

ROH Title Match
Bryan Danielson vs. AJ Styles

Probably just a shade below their prior two ROH classics, but this is definitely one of the most under-appreciated matches in ROH history.

They have their tremendous aggressive mat wrestling to start off the match, with Danielson refusing to give clean breaks. Styles of course has none of that shit and unleashes a fury on the champ, staying true to his established in-ring character and likely wanting to put an end to any mind games like Danielson had played a few months earlier against Strong.

This was just storytelling greatness, back-and-forth heat segments aplenty. The big story was that the challenger would try to execute the Styles Clash, but the champion would find a way to evade it. In the third act, when Styles almost landed it, Danielson grabbed the left leg to take away the balance and force him to let go, then using that leverage to get a second Cattle Mutilation. Of course Styles had gotten to the ropes earlier in the match the first time Danielson got that locked in.

Another masterful piece of storytelling was early in the match, Styles almost got a picture perfect springboard moonsault reverse DDT. But the champ kneed him in the face for his troubles. Much later in the match, Styles didn't give Danielson the extra second, dropping him down right on the neck and shoulders within a fraction of a second.

There were a couple callback segments too. They traded leverage on a Muta Lock, but not getting into a stalemate as they did the first time they clashed at All Star Extravaganza. Later, Danielson found himself seated with Styles standing, using his feet to keep Styles at bay, just like the challenger went through in first title shot against Ki at Honor Invades Boston.

This was really a game of human chess just like Danielson's title win over James Gibson. It of course ended somewhat similarly to that classic. Styles escaped the Cattle Mutilation and used his body to get a hot nearfall and almost secure the top prize in the company, only for Danielson to immediately after the kickout use his positioning behind Styles to lock on the Crossface Chickenwing for the submission victory. Only a month into the year 2006 and we got our first genuine MOTYC for this company, my friends.

Rating: ****1/2

The DVD ends with two key segments, one for the short-term and one for the long-term. Whitmer tells Lacey to fuck off and reminds her of what he did to Allison Danger in the past. Meanwhile, Aries tries to play the "we gave you your big break here" card on Sydal, which only reinforces Sydal's decision to stand by Styles and go for the tag straps. I must point out that Sydal's acting was hilariously hideous here, but it leads to what should be a hot tag match, so it's all good.

So match quality wise, this show had an underrated MOTYC main event featuring two of the very best in-ring performers of the 21st Century. Other than Sydal vs. Daniels, nothing else stood out.

But this was still a VERY fun show with critical storyline segments all over the place. Sydal going for the tag straps. Jacobs & Whitmer having an ugly breakup. Another firecracker anti-CZW promo from Cornette with another chaotic little appetizer of a melee to get the crowd hot.

Of course, this show has unintentional historic value for ROH too. This was the final ROH appearance for Abyss, as according to Gabe Sapolsky he wasn't satisfied with his booking. It's a shame we didn't get Danielson vs. Abyss, as I'm positive Danielson would've given the monster the best match of his entire career.

But far more important was that this was Low Ki's final night in ROH, as the company got fed up with him off-screen, reportedly attempting to hold up for more money and being extremely reluctant to do jobs. I'm a big, big fan of Low Ki still in 2014, but I can understand why ROH put its foot down, and that's a real shame. We never got to see him in what would've been an incredible dream match against Strong in ROH for February 11, the stacked tag match pairing him up with Daniels against Danielson & Joe, and the long-awaited threeway rematch against Danielson and Daniels that was to be 99 shows in the making.

And knowing what would happen on the next show, that February 11 card, wow was it going to be stacked on top, with not just Strong vs. Ki, but also Danielson vs. Shelley as announced on this DVD, plus Nigel McGuinness putting the Pure Title on the line against Aries. But there was to be a surprise from mother nature to pile on the unfortunate Low Ki departure, forcing ROH to pull off a polarizing miracle that night as I'll detail on my preview at the end of this review.

There is no denying that Low Ki is one of the biggest stars in ROH history, and it's a shame to see him come and go with so many federations over the years. That Gabe Sapolsky has done business with him, but ROH hasn't eight years later after going through two more bookers AND a change in ownership tells me that his antics must have soured him permanently with then-owner Cary Silken, who still has some position in the company after selling it to SBG. I'll say it again, that's simply a shame.

But he can be proud of his performances in ROH. He was a critical figure in the birth of ROH, being the very first face of the company and having the honor of being the company's first ever champion. Who can ever forget his return and subsequent heel turn at Reborn: Completion? How many guys would be trusted to be picked for the debuts of two major indy stars AND a puro star? Who can ever forget that first main event in ROH history, turning all three participants into ROH stars in one shot and establishing the foundation that ROH would have for almost an entire decade?

I think it's safe to say that Low Ki will never return to ROH. Therefore, I present my picks for his ten best matches in an ROH ring.

Low Ki's 10 Greatest ROH Matches
Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels - The Era of Honor Begins ****1/2
Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson - Round Robin Challenge ***** (Ki's greatest match in ROH)
Low Ki vs. Doug Williams vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Christopher Daniels - Crowning a Champion ****3/4
Low Ki vs. AJ Styles - Honor Invades Boston ****1/2
Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe - Glory By Honor ****1/2
Low Ki vs. Paul London vs. AJ Styles - One Year Anniversary Show ****1/4
Low Ki & Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe & Jushin Liger - Weekend of Thunder Night 2 ****
Low Ki & Homicide vs. Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal - Punk: The Final Chapter ****
Low Ki & Samoa Joe vs. Homicide & Kenta Kobashi - Unforgettable ****3/4
Low Ki vs. KENTA - Final Battle 2005 ****3/4

Up next - Unscripted II
Matches will include:
Bryan Danielson vs. Xavier
Nigel McGuinness vs. Austin Aries
Roderick Strong vs. BJ Whitmer
Bryan Danielson & CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave & Adam Pearce

[supersonic]

This review originally posted in July 2014.

Unscripted II - February 11, 2006



Going into this show, ROH had cut ties with Low Ki as I had discussed in my Dissension review. That cancelled the dream match of him against Roderick Strong as well as other big matches announced involving him. But then at the last minute a big snowstorm came through the NYC area on this weekend. This put TNA, set to broadcast Against All Odds 2006 on PPV the next day in Orlando, in a predicament.

TNA requested a number of guys who had committed to this event to cancel and fly early to Orlando to make the PPV. Those talents included Homicide, Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley, and ROH Tag Champs Austin Aries & Roderick Strong. Aries & Strong ignored the request, which I appreciate since they were in a meaningless match at the PPV anyway. This postponed Shelley's ROH Title shot though, robbing the fans of another big match that had been scheduled for this event.

With all this chaos, ROH promised a big surprise, stating that if fans were not happy after three matches, they could ask for a refund. Look at the bottom three matches on the DVD cover above. The surprise return of CM Punk certainly lived up to the hype, but how arrogant was Gabe Sapolsky to assume that one guy making a surprise one night only return would please everyone and offset those awful three opening matches? And I certainly don't understand the need for a company that during this time relied on moving DVDs not to just list and show CM Punk on the cover at all.

So as mentioned, CM Punk returning for one night only was the big surprise, which on paper was a very good miracle to pull out. Now him getting on the show was a story too. Tommy Dreamer, who apparently had some clout in OVW at this time, said the office gave the okay for Punk to appear. That turned out not to be the case and this miscommunication almost led to Punk being terminated from WWE. It was good (although not completely as I'll detail later) to have him back, but wasn't worth all of the headache.

As for the booking of Punk's return, he showed up to try to mentally help his friend Colt Cabana during the epic feud against Homicide. During this segment, Punk would be attacked by Prince Nana, Jimmy Rave, and Adam Pearce.

Also early on the DVD is Prince Nana promising his own surprise since Shelley can't make it for his ROH Title shot against Bryan Danielson. Jimmy Rave wants the shot, but Nana says it will go on as scheduled at the Fourth Anniversary Show.

Pure Title Match
Nigel McGuinness vs. Austin Aries

Very good match here and definitely match of the night, worthy of the DVD cover, although the next match could've been on the same level if it had been booked as well as this one. McGuinness worked on the left arm early, standard in the business yes, but also ingenious since Aries is actually left-handed. When Aries got his turn to control the match, he used that left arm to elbow the champ and then drop a power elbow, immediately selling it. Awesome moment of natural tendency costing Aries.

Aries did some work on the neck, although it couldn't match the work McGuinness got on his left arm. McGuinness did a masterful job of forcing Aries to use rope breaks. But there were also two great drama-building moments that every wrestler should watch and learn from. McGuinness blocked the standard springboard corner elbow of Aries, and then much deeper in the match Aries would actually hit to a great ovation. Aries blocked a Tower of London, but then McGuinness was able to land that for a great nearfall.

But after getting Aries to use up his rope breaks, McGuinness finished him off with the London Dungeon, a fantastic payoff for all the arm work done throughout the match. Really good stuff with Aries getting a standing ovation, and the first standout defense from McGuinness during this reign. I'd have made this the opening match to really kick off the show well and make sure nobody asked for a refund.

Rating: ***3/4

Roderick Strong comes out to ask when he gets his ROH Title shot since he made Bryan Danielson submit at Tag Wars 2006, but BJ Whitmer comes out instead. He wants Strong to face him in singles action with that title shot on the line, as he's fed up with being passed over and needs to step up like the rest of the company. All solid points on Whitmer's part, but he missed perhaps the biggest point possible to demand Strong to put the shot on the line against him.

Whitmer was now finally on his own for the first time in over two years. He had lost Christopher Daniels. He had lost Dan Maff. And now he had lost Jimmy Jacobs as his tag team partner when they failed to be on the same page against Aries & Strong at Dissension. Whitmer should've pointed out that he wants to take away Strong's opportunity as a twisted retributionn.

Of course, the ROH Champ Danielson comes out and he has a pull-apart with Strong. Out comes Prince Nana with a surprise challenger to utilize the title shot of the departed Abyss.

ROH Title Match
Bryan Danielson vs. Xavier

I gotta say, I like this surprise and it was a good move to get the NYC native booked here. Would I have given him a shot at the title? Probably not (as I'll also detail later). HOWEVER, the former ROH Champ had yet to be granted a shot at the top prize after losing it to Samoa Joe three years earlier. Logically, he should've never had to be in contender's matches in 2003-04 or have to fill in for someone who stopped getting booked.

These guys worked hard, with Xavier especially bringing his working boots and having one of his best matches in ROH. I know, I"m shocked too, that one of his best singles matches would be against Danielson. Xavier did an exceptional job of working on the neck and shoulders, perfectly setting up the champ for his modified neckbreaker finish and signature transitional Kiss Your X Goodbye (a pumphandle facebuster). He would hit the latter, but never got to his finisher, as the all-around superior Danielson would get him in the Cattle Mutilation for what was to be the obvious finish. However, Rave interfered to go after Danielson. It was never explained, but I assume the Embassy used Xavier to weaken Danielson and/or Rave wanted the glory of ending his reign. That's the only logical reason I can think of for this match ending that way.

Rating: ***1/2 (and would've been higher without the Dusty finish)

Rave & Pearce continue to attack Danielson, which brings out Punk to set up a tag main event for the evening. Eight years later, it's somewhat poetic that Punk's last ROH match would be him getting paired up with the only other indy superstar to get on the same level of major-league success as him.

Supposedly taped at Dissension, a backstage promo from Jim Cornette is shown. Another fucking awesome promo taking shots at CZW. I'm going to assume this was not taped in Cleveland, but VERY shortly after ROH told Low Ki to fuck off, cancelling what appeared to be a planned Rottweilers vs. Generation Next feud, and going all the way with an ROH vs. CZW program to make up for that and carry this company throughout much of 2006.

ROH Title Shot Match
Roderick Strong vs. BJ Whitmer

Like the match prior, this was definitely a downgrade from the scheduled match Strong had. This was good stuff with Strong dominating the first several minutes and of course working the back. Whitmer's transition to gain control was good too, landing a neckbreaker on the outside and working on Strong's neck throughout the rest of the match. But despite the great psychology displayed in their offenses, neither did an exceptional job of selling the work done on them. Still good, but this could've actually been a GREAT singles match. And yes, Strong won of course to maintain his title shot since whoever he'd face would be a money match.

One thing I realized in this match was that Whitmer has never seemed to fully get comfortable using his larger stature on the indy scene. It stood out to me when he attempted a Frogsplash. Perhaps if he was in the larger WWE ring his body, which is built like an NFL strong safety, would feel more comfortable and he wouldn't look as clumsy, but we know that'll never happen.

Rating: ***1/4

CM Punk's Last ROH Match and One Night Only Return
Bryan Danielson & CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave & Adam Pearce

Good main event tag here, and since it involves three storytelling masters, no nearfalls were counted unless both participants were legal. Punk wanted Rave when he got tagged in, and manipulated Pearce's arm into making the tag, reigniting the great feud from 2005. The match would eventually turn into Danielson playing the Ricky Morton role, which is smart to protect Punk while under contract to WWE. The match's next segment would be a brawl outside the ring, with Danielson pulling out a springboard flip to the temporary Embassy in the audience.

The closing stretch broke down into all four men going at it in the ring, including a botched leaping hurricanrana from Punk on Pearce that seemed to hurt both of them. Punk and Rave would have a nice exchange, and the finish came when Rave, who by the way was scheduled to face Danielson for the ROH Title on the next show, tapped out to the Anaconda Vise while Danielson kept Pearce at bay with the Cattle Mutilation. I think my readers are smart enough that I don't need to spell out the flawed booking of that finish.

The file on my hard drive for this match abruptly closes shortly after the finish, so I miss Punk's post-match bonus East Coast farewell speech. And considering what an ass he made out of himself over one heckler, I'm glad I don't have it. Here's my quick rating before I expand on Punk.

Rating: ***1/2

So where do I begin with my actual assessment of this event and everything surrounding it? There are so many points of discussion involving this.

LOL at TNA for having a temper-tantrum at Aries & Strong over ignoring their request to leave early. There, that part's out of the way.

I think it's safe to say that Gabe Sapolsky, much like his mentor Paul Heyman, wasn't quite so super duper spectacular at composing an event that required numerous last-minute changes. I can't really fault him for that since hindsight is 20/20, but here's how I would've booked this show.

First, as I mentioned, McGuinness vs. Aries would've been the opener. Rave would've cashed in his title shot and lost here in a great semi-main. And I'd have tried so hard to have Punk job to Strong in a third and final match, to really deliver a classic main event. I am VERY thankful that Sapolsky didn't pull the trigger on Danielson vs. Punk doing a 90 minute Broadway though.

For the Fourth Anniversary Show, Danielson vs. Rave would obviously be off it'd be expedited to this night. But Shelley also wasn't booked for that show. So I'd have booked Danielson to defend the title against Lethal. The Lethal vs. Joe feud never really got over and didn't really need a conclusion, or could've been saved for later. It'd be a great way for Danielson & Lethal to follow-up on their great tag match together at Tag Wars 2006, with the motivation either being that Danielson is granting a shot to show appreciation, or they're pissed at each other, blaming one another for that Tag Title loss, and want a piece of each other. Let's not forget too that Lethal really did earn himself an ROH Title shot, as he had singles victories over both Low Ki AND Samoa Joe. That is title shot worthy, my friends. This also makes Lethal the defacto babyface challenging for the top prize in the company in his home state of New Jersey, making for an amazing atmosphere. This scenario still leaves Shelley to get his title shot the next time he would appear.

Now let's say I keep the card the same. Well, Xavier does the clean job to Danielson since there was no certainty about him coming back soon, and Pearce does the job to Danielson or Punk in the main event. There was no good reason for Rave to do the job here.

Speaking of the Rave & Pearce tandem, considering where they would be as 2006 came to a close, I'm really surprised that the former didn't align with Cornette or the latter didn't become a permanent member of the Embassy. Really would've given them something to lean on after both moved on from major chapters of their ROH tenure. But that's to dig in deeper when I come around to that.

I wanna make sure to mention that with the exception of a forgettable fourway match a year later, this was pretty much it for Xavier in ROH. He never, ever should've held the title, but he found his groove by 2003 and it's a shame his indy career didn't take off from there. I know he still attends ROH events, and I think it's a shame ROH does nothing to showcase him as a former champion that did have some great matches during the early years. I found his matches against Paul London and Christopher Daniels to be quite exceptional, and he definitely played his part in the main event at Revenge on the Prophecy. Sounds like a spiritual person too as Eddie Guerrero detailed in his autobiography.

Of course, that leaves one last big subject to discuss here, another former ROH Champion.

It's pretty ironic that when CM Punk fled WWE after Royal Rumble 2014, my rewatching got to the Summer of Punk right afterwards. Now as of this review being posted, I catch up to his final match in ROH ever, just days after WWE has officially moved him to its alumni section. This was not intentional on my part.

Punk returning was definitely a surprise that lived up to the hype, but to me wasn't presented well. I know this would've been impossible, but with hindsight, his East Coast one night only farewell would've been more poetic at the Fourth Anniversary Show. After all, that's an anniversary show. What better way to kick off The Milestone Series? And don't forget too, that was in New Jersey, the same region where he had that landmark career moment at Death Before Dishonor III. Just some "what if" food for thought.

To state the obvious, it certainly appears that Punk has retired, as he has made it pretty clear. One thing though I've noticed is he has not directly said to the public that he is done for good. And I sense that is intentional. I selfishly hope he finds the passion and gets healthy enough to come back to the ring one day, and I get the sense based on what he said several months ago that he probably thinks that's a possibility in the back of his mind. He had stated shortly before fleeing WWE abruptly that he didn't want to directly say what his decision would be, as he had made it clear he was done in 2011, but we know what happened then of course.

If Punk ever returns to the ring, I highly, highly, highly, highly doubt it will be for ROH. If he never returns at all to the ring, I certainly don't blame him. But after making an ass out of himself on this show, that was the ROH equivalent to another Chicago icon coming out of retirement for the Washington Wizards. Punk: The Final Chapter was the perfect storytelling farewell for Punk in ROH, and there was no need for him to have a sentimental East Coast goodbye, just like Michael Jordan's Wizards tenure felt unnecessary after having his perfect fairytale ending in 1998.

Luckily, this is wrestling and not actual competitive sports, so if Punk were to ever return to ROH for just one night, perhaps even cash in what should be his rightful shot at the ROH Title as a former holder of that title, that'd be a great way to make sure his antics on this snowy night in the NYC metro area were not his final moments for Ring of Honor, and I don't think any of us can imagine just how electric that would be after everything he has accomplished in WWE.

With all of that out of the way, I don't need to spell out how important CM Punk is in ROH history. He had absolutely everything during his three years in ROH that makes someone a legend on this stage, and I am thankful for the memories. Here are my picks for the ten best matches he had during an absolutely stellar chapter of his career in ROH.

CM Punk's 10 Greatest ROH Matches
CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe - World Title Classic ****1/2
CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe - Joe vs. Punk II ***** (Punk's greatest match in ROH)
CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe - All Star Extravaganza II *****
CM Punk vs. Alex Shelley - Third Anniversary Celebration Pt. 2 ****1/4
CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave - Nowhere to Run ****1/4
CM Punk vs. Roderick Strong - The Future is Now ****
CM Punk vs. Austin Aries - Death Before Dishonor III ****3/4
CM Punk vs. Jay Lethal - Sign of Dishonor ****
CM Punk vs. Roderick Strong - Escape From New York ****1/2
CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe vs. James Gibson vs. Christopher Daniels - Redemption ****1/2

Up next - Fourth Anniversary Show
Matches will include:
Jay Lethal vs. Samoa Joe
Homicide vs. Colt Cabana
Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Rave
Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal

[supersonic]

Fourth Anniversary Show - February 25, 2006



This is the first event in a seven-part Milestone Series for ROH.

Jim Cornette is shown from his home/office in Louisville. Love that little tape/DVD shelf library he has, would be very interested in seeing some of that stuff.

The show is about to open with a meaningless jobber tag match, but then a blast from the past shows up...

Briscoe Bros. vs. Jason Blade & Kid Mikaze vs. Tony Mamaluke & Sal Rinauro

Not the all-out squash I was hoping for to make the returning bad-ass Briscoes shine (much like I had hoped for when Generation Next formed at Generation Next), but I can see why. Blade & Mikaze I believe were a project at the time, while Mamaluke & Rinauro were former Tag Champs (that they weren't over in such a position is a different topic.) Having the Briscoes wipe the mat with these teams would've made Austin Aries & Roderick Strong as well as Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer look really weak for having hard-fought matches against Mamlauke & Rinauro.

The action itself is decent, but ultimately means nothing because the Briscoes are the real stars. The best parts were the starting and closing segments, which isn't a coincidence as those were the segments in which the Briscoes just smashed it.

Jay Lethal vs. Samoa Joe

Above average match here; this feud simply put just didn't get over. Perhaps had Lethal not been presented as the asshole, but the federation and commentary had pointed out that Joe was a fucking prick at A Night of Tribute, this would've been a layered feud to polarize the audience. Instead Joe is the face-of-the-company hero and looked to be taking it easy while Lethal controlled the match. There were some moments when it looked this would really heat up, especially when it transitioned to Joe being in control, but it was way too quick to get some real drama going. For a monster babyface vs. smaller but still credible chickenshit heel, this certainly was not in the same league as Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels in 1997.

Rating: less than ***

I FF to the BJ Whitmer vs. Christopher Daniels match getting thrown out as they have an extended brawl in the audience, leaving the ring open for a gang of ultraviolent predators to exploit...

"Happy Birthday... Fuck You"

Chris Hero & Necro Butcher lead a group of CZW wrestlers in hijacking this historic event, with the former cutting an excellent promo and mockingly singing "Happy Birthday" to ROH. This draws out a fuckton of ROH stars and jabronis, including Aries, Strong, the Briscoes, AJ Styles, Adam Pearce, and also Whitmer, who drops his brawl immediately with Daniels. A phenomenal brawl ensues with Hero left in the ring, who talks some more shit and questions if anyone in ROH can stop him.

Out comes Joe to step up for ROH for the first time, and the crowd goes fucking berzerk. He has a great brawl in the ring with Hero in a battle of true superstars to represent their brands. That caused the interpromotional brawl to pick back up again, resulting in another frenzied crowd.

Aries, Strong, and the Briscoes would be left in the ring, with the Tag Champs about to leave, but the Briscoes attack them!!! Another huge pop from the crowd and pull-apart here. What brilliant booking, as the Briscoes took advantage of the champs' involvement in the ROH vs. CZW brawl to get their hands on the champs and establish they were back to reach the mountaintop.

But if the audience thought that was it, they were sorely mistaken, as out comes two hated enemies from the curtain to ringisde, tearing at each other and getting yet another frenzied pop from the crowd...

I Quit Match
Homicide vs. Colt Cabana

I really appreciate the effort these two put into making this program work, but they were too violent in this match, and I can't imagine they look back at this and would completely disagree with me.

Homicide dominated this as expected at this point in the feud, just fucking Cabana up left and right, even with a bad right shoulder (injured in a match against Steve Corino at Steel Cage Warfare). This was vicious, it was hard-hitting, and it told a fantastic story that no matter how much pain Homicide dished out, Cabana would refuse to go down. Cabana would get his moments in with some great transitions, but that would always be short-lived. The match is stopped when Homicide makes him pass out with a coat-hanger around the throat.

Cabana, gasping for breath and wearing a crimson mask, demands the match be restarted, and it just gets better. Homicide hits an Ace Crusher, which turns out not to be all that beneficial as it ignites the pain in his right shoulder. Cabana, having been established as an outstanding technical wrestler that had been pushed to getting even better from his feud against Nigel McGuinness, smells the figurative blood and takes advantage of it, even fucking biting on it like a savage.

Julius Smokes has to grab Cabana's feet to bail Homicide out of this jam, reinforcing just how soulless Homicide is and putting over Cabana's mettle to step up in this environment. Ricky Reyes helps them out as the Rottweilers tape Cabana's wrists to a top turnbuckle, and the referee again gets fed up and stops the match out of concern for Cabana's well-being.

But yet again, Cabana refuses to let it end this way, trolling Homicide by telling him that his son will never respect him if he walks away from this. They have one more brief segment that both told a fantastic story and went over the top with the violence as I mentioned earlier. The match finally reaches its merciful conclusion when Cabana is knocked out taking a piledriver off an apron onto the table. However, the table didn't break and both men slid off it to the floor.

Post-match, Homicide throws chairs around and boasts with pride about his psychotic violence. As he is about to walk through the curtain, he looks into the camera and tells both ROH and CZW to fuck off, this is Rottweilers territory. Excellent storytelling brawl here.

Rating: ***3/4

Jim Cornette is informed in Louisville about the CZW interruption. He blows a gasket and cuts another absolutely splendid promo on CZW, and shows off his Louisville Slugger that he'll be bringing when he makes return in Chicago for the WrestleMania 22 weekend events. EARTH TO CURRENT ROH: make a fucking comp of this feud already, and while you're at it, throw in a documentary reflecting on it too. The majority of those involved are available, and I"m sure you can work out something with Cornette and Gabe Sapolsky to be interviewed for it.

ROH Title Match
Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Rave

Excellent title match as expected here. Rave really stepped up, although to me his performance wasn't quite up to par as exactly one year earlier against Styles or in the cage match against CM Punk. After being dominated on the mat early, he tried to offset it with some pie-faces in order to piss off the champ. He also relied on chops which is smart, as both men had come off being victimized by Strong's brutal chops shortly before this, and nobody to this point had come as close to dethroning Danielson as Strong had.

Danielson of course, being technically superior, would find ways out of just about everything Rave threw at him. But the match really got interesting about halfway through. Danielson attempted a superplex, but Rave threw him off and then baited Danielson to the outside. Rave threw Danielson on some guardrails, wearing down the champ but also inflicting some damage on the back and shoulders (which are connected to the neck), a very good strategy to soften him up for the Pedigree and swinging neckbreaker. It also established that although Danielson had won the feud against Homicide in 2005, he didn't go through the quantity of extensive brawling as Rave had in his feuds against Punk and GeNext.

Rave would copy Danielson's established Cattle Mutilation to followup on the shoulder/back work, but lacked the proper arch to fully clamp it on. This allowed the champ to escape and they had a very hot finishing stretch, helped out when Prince Nana pulled the ref out, igniting the crowd. They had great nearfalls and tapout teases, including, but of not course not limited to, a sleeper, proper Cattle Mutilation, and Shining Wizard. Danielson finishes Rave off with a Regalplex and then his elbows that had finished off Strong while locking the challenger in a crucifix position. An overall excellent match and best on the show.

Rating: ****

Tag Titles Match
Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal



Very good action all-around and this had a hot finish. When it got to the closing moments, everyone was allowed to throw bombs on one another, but everyone involved (not just the ref) kept track of who was legal. What a crazy professional concept.

The ring got cut in half of course, but here's the odd surprise: the larger, more powerful Strong and Styles were the ones to play those roles for their respective teams. That didn't seem to maximize the fullest emotional connection to the audience, but the match was good for what it was. My favorite part of the entire match was actually right when the end was coming. Sydal had taken a gutbuster from Strong; when he hit a Shooting Star Press on Aries moments later, he sold the ribs and was delayed from going for the immediate cover.

As all four men embrace to close out this historic show, the Briscoes come out and attack all four, this time making it clear for anyone who hadn't figured it out that they wanted the straps.

Rating: ***1/2

An excellent kickoff to The Milestone Series. No MOTYCs or consensus multiple great matches, but the key matches all delivered, it had an amazing segment that escalated the CZW program, marked the return of the Briscoes and put them in a program for the tag straps, and was paced exceptionally well. Get this shit.

Up next - Arena Warfare
Matches will include:
Austin Aries vs. Matt Sydal
Bryan Danielson vs. Alex Shelley

[supersonic]

Arena Warfare - March 11, 2006



ROH Video Recap - March 2, 2006



Important news/footage in the above video:
Gary Michael Cappetta interviews ROH Champion Bryan Danielson and reveals for the first time in the DVD universe... DANIELSON & SAMOA JOE VS. KENTA & NAOMICHI MARUFUJI. Nobody bothers to mention the date and location but whatever. Danielson is worried that Joe won't be on the same page and may attack him based on ROH Title reign pride. Not completely unwarranted.

Remember when getting booked at the ECW Arena was instilled into the indy smarks to be a prestigious milestone? Man, those were the days.

BJ Whitmer storms to the ring after the opening match concludes and demands CZW to step into an ROH ring, specifically calling out Necro Butcher. Apparently the Christopher Daniels issue was important to him and CZW ruined it. Whatever, I'm not in the mood to break down why that program meant nothing. I'm just glad to see Whitmer booked into something that's clicking for him finally.

Prince Nana & Alex Shelley cut a backstage promo, with Shelley promising Bryan Danielson that he will fulfill his destiny established at Generation Next, which is to take the top spot and ROH Title from the champ tonight. He once again references being trained by Brian Kendrick as an expert on the Shiranui. Danielson already beat Naomichi Marufuji after taking that move, but whatever.

The promo is interrupted by footage going back to ringside, with Whitmer not taking no for an answer and wanting a fight immediately. Out comes Necro and they have a nice brawl that has the crowd in a frenzy, only for Super Dragon to come to Necro's aid. After mugging Whitmer, the ROH locker room gets fed up and runs off the CZW duo. That the Briscoes led the ROH charge makes me suspect Gabe Sapolsky was going to eventually book them against Necro/SD. Probably beneficial for all four men's health that it never ended up happening.

Austin Aries vs. Matt Sydal

Really good stuff here, telling the great story that Sydal was on the brink of singles stardom. Sure, he got a victory over Jimmy Rave at Unforgettable, which is nothing to scoff at. Rave was a phenomenal heel at the time in the top mix, but beating him would be like going over Randy Orton in recent years. It's a big victory, but it's not quite as meaningful as going over the likes of someone like John Cena, CM Punk, or Daniel Bryan. In this case, Sydal was looking for that type of victory over someone that had truly been established as one of the kings in ROH.

Sydal did a great job of trading holds with his Generation Next leader, keeping a headlock on early and doing a good job of bringing back memories of Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 21. Sydal would even do a great job of avoiding the signature headscissors escape into a dropkick spot signature of Aries, but the Tag Champ and former ROH Champ still found a way to get it done.

Sydal also attempted to do some work on his GeNext buddy's left arm, but was unable to be a master at it like Nigel McGuinness had been the month before. Therefore, Aries was able to land his trademark left-handed spots (since that is his dominant hand) such as the corner elbow counter from an Irish Whip as well as the leaping elbow on a fatigued Sydal in the corner.

I also appreciated the tension both men showed on occasion when it appeared the match had reached a potential stalemate midway through, talking some trash to each other. Shortly after this as Aries was on the outside, Sydal went for a corkscrew plancha and ended up taking a back bump on the cold Alhambra Arena concrete. That must have been a ton of fun.

In pain from that bump, Sydal dug down to keep the match even, busting out some quick burst counters and chops as hope spots agiainst the larger Aries. But Aries, being larger and more successful, was able to use his strength and leverage to come out on top. One spot near the end was Sydal going for a crucifix, only for Aries (who would know how to counter that with it being one of his signatures) to turn that into a Finlay Roll. As the match was nearing its end, Sydal landed a unique-looking tornado DDT on Aries. They then had an awesome exchange at the end with both men collapsing, only for Aries to beat Sydal to the figurative punch, landing a kick to the head, followed by the brainbuster and 450 Splash.

This didn't have the pacing to be a great match, but that wasn't the goal. This was really good storytelling, perfect for its mid-card position on the show, with the established superstar in Aries elevating his friend's stock in the company. After losses in great efforts against Aries, AJ Styles, and Christopher Daniels, Sydal was sitll looking for his first A-list victory.

The Briscoes attack both men post-match, drawing out Roderick Strong. Fuck I can't wait to catch up on the Briscoes working with these guys.

Rating: ***1/2

ROH Title Match
Bryan Danielson vs. Alex Shelley

This has been one of the most anticipated matches on this rewatch project for me.

Danielson cuts a phenomenal extended promo before the match starts, trolling the CZW marks that irrationally can't appreciate his in-ring gifts. I won't spoil it all, but anybody who questions if Danielson can be a dynamic character must see this promo. He played off the CZW-friendly environment, poured fuel on the ROH vs. CZW fanbase fire, had fun pointing out a child in the crowd, and compared himself to other technical wrestling legends who had wrestled in this venue for ECW.

After the bell has rung, Shelley gets annoyed with the CZW fans who bitch that the match is boring, and lays out some phenomenal zingers about what he believes said fans do for a living. So we got not just what promises to be an excellent in-ring match, but a battle of two major douche-bags. Works for me. Btw, these promos were done to give Samoa Joe time to get to the arena, as he was running late from a show in Mexico. This is how you kill time, folks.

They of course go on to have a classic match, playing off of their character work to start, just being vicious douche-bags to each other. It eventually turned into Shelley working on Danielson's neck to set up for the Shiranui and Border City Stretch. Danielson meanwhile just applied different strategies, including splendid legwork or just being a cheating bastard such as going to the eyes to break a submission or using the ropes for leverage while applying an abdominal stretch.

Shelley of course would have his share of cheating as well, including in the third act distracting the ref so that Prince Nana could get in a couple cheap shots on the champ. It was in this part that Shelley had a scare going for a tope suicida and hitting the barricaded guardrail, similarly scary to Lita's ringside bump on Raw in December 2004. But in some ways, that made this match even better from a logical standpoint.

With Shelley's back and neck certainly sore from that botched tope suicida, it only made sense that Danielson came out the victor in this one. But how it happened was an abrupt thing of beauty. After having a nice back-and-forth exchange which had the crowd rocking, Shelley finally seemed to be able to hit the Shiranui on Danielson (the champ had evaded numerous attempts during the match.) However, the viewer could see that Danielson ran with Shelley to give him the momentum, then showed his brilliance ny releasing his head partially from Shelley's grasp while being flipped over. Danielson then immediately used his back-rolling momentum to get on top of Shelley, lock in the Cattle Mutilation, and then surprise Shelley with a pin, giving the challenger absolutely no leverage to kick out, especially with what I assume was a sore back and neck.

Just an absolutely outstanding technical wrestling match that played off of a divided crowd. What really put this into MOTYC territory is that this wasn't just two guys having a great technical match. These were CHARACTERS that carried themselves as stars and emotionally engaged the crowd. This is what I imagine Ric Flair in his prime colliding with late 1997 Shawn Michaels would've been like.

This match also backed up Danielson's claim in his pre-match promo of cementing his technical wrestling legacy for this venue. As great as the likes of Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, and Eddie Guerrero were in ECW, I'm not sure they ever had a match this fantastic at the ECW Arena. Post-match Danielson thanks the ROH fanbase for appreciating great wrestling and mocks the CZW fanbase.

I want to point out that Danielson's facial expressions and body in this were just tremendously perfected. I still give the nod to his match against Roderick Strong at Vendetta as a better heel performance from him and as an overall match, but his character work in this match was a sight to behold, genuinely must-see stuff.

Rating: ****1/2

I FF to the end of the main event, a meaningless match whether Joe had arrived on time or not. Whitmer comes out and wants a fight, but the segment is temporarily interrupted when a mark throws toilet paper at Joe, which pisses him off and security escorts the mark from ringside. Whitmer plays off of Joe's anger from this and says it looks like he's still ready for a fight, and he calls out CZW once again.

Out comes an army of CZW superstars, which brings out an army of ROH superstars in a chaotic brawl that has this Philly crowd in an emotional frenzy. It looks like ROH may be getting the upper hand until CZW owner John Zandig walks to ringside with a barbed-wire bat and accompanied by someone that is brandishing a fucking WEED WACKER. Just a surreal moment for ROH.

Needless to say, this scared off the ROH crew, although the brawl kept going backstage and outside the building, while about 15 of the top CZW names ambushed Whitmer alone in the ring, brutalizing him. And I mean they fucking brutalized him, taping him to the ropes in a crucifying position and using a staple-gun on him, including his back, forehead, and stomach. Probably not worth all the trouble just to get an indy program over, but hey, I can't deny that it worked.

Whitmer is of course spray-painted with CZW on his spine, and Zandig spray-paints the CZW initials proudly over the ROH logo on the mat. As he's about to cut a promo, Gabe Sapolsky says to turn the fucking tape off.

The rest of the footage is from the very beginning of the Best in the World 2006 DVD, and of course I'm going to review it here for continuity. Zandig cuts an irrational promo on ROH, mirroring Jim Cornette's irrational promos from the recent several weeks leading up to this show. He says that this venue is CZW territory and basically says ROH can go fuck itself, including daring Sapolsky to come to ringside. Of course that doesn't happen.

What an absolutely amazing emotional masterpiece of an angle to close out this event. Just fucking phenomenal.

This show isn't quite stacked with quality matches left and right, but this is certainly worthy of being included in The Milestone Series. And that has nothing to do with this being ROH's first event hosted inside the former ECW Arena.

This show had a very good mid-card match that served its purpose in elevating an up-and-comer, a classic title match with absolutely excellent promo and character work, and one of the iconic closing segments in company history that made Whitmer a legitimate star in one night. This is an absolute must-own.

Also on this show is the calm before the storm for the Homicide vs. Colt Cabana feud, as they are kept away from each other but in backstage promos promise that the inevitably violent end is nearing.

Up next - Best in the World 2006
Matches will include:
Alex Shelley vs. Christopher Daniels
Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Roderick Strong & Jack Evans vs. Briscoe Bros.
Bryan Danielson & Samoa Joe vs. KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji

[supersonic]

Best in the World 2006 - March 25, 2006



ROH Video Recap - March 17, 2006



Important news/footage on the above video:
Adam Pearce challenges some CZW guys to show up and face him on March 25 in NYC
Bryan Danielson and Samoa Joe are interviewed by Gary Michael Cappetta, confirming that the date and location for their tag match against KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji is March 25 in NYC. Video highlight packages are shown of both men's reigns as ROH Champion, but Joe insists that although he will be coming for the ROH Title again after he takes care of CZW, all the NOAH guys coming from overseas, and his on-again, off-again feud with Christopher Daniels, he will not backstab Danielson in the dream tag match.

After airing the unseen footage from Arena Warfare, Gabe Sapolsky dares anyone from CZW to come ruin tonight's show.

About 45 minutes into the show, Jason Blade & Kid Mikaze come out to see who will accept their own challenge, and it turns out to be Chris Hero & Necro Butcher. Hero cuts another great promo shitting on ROH, taking out Mikaze while Necro destroys Blade outside the ring. Adam Pearce comes out and his sanctioned impromptu match against Necro gets thrown out when Hero reinserts himself back into the picture.

Hero calls out his tag team partner and established ROH superstar Claudio Castagnoli to help out with the CZW cause. Castagnoli instead takes both Hero & Necro out, which is actually quite smart, as the CZW representatives were not expecting their invitation to be declined via violence AND reinforces that Castagnoli is a threat for his match later in the evening, a final Pure Title shot against Nigel McGuinness, AND on top of that, should make him an even more sympathetic, beloved babyface for that match. Pearce says now that the odds are even, for Hero & Necro to come back for another fight, which they of course don't do. Pearce & Castagnoli leave the crowd in a loud, passionate "ROH" chant.

Alex Shelley vs. Christopher Daniels

Really good stuff as expected. Shelley was tremendous at being a disrespectful douche-bag to Daniels to start the match. Daniels however would gain the advantage working on the left arm for a few minutes, although not enough to cause pain in that limb for Shelley throughout the entire match. Shelley would gain the advantage and the crowd abruptly went for a "Y2J" chant. Shelley, obviously influenced by the HOFer, struck Chris Jericho's "King of the World" pose to a massive pop.

They had some more nice back and forth stuff, nothing super spectacular, but all very well paced and making the viewer wonder who would win this first-time matchup in ROH. But once Shelley got planted with the Angel's Wings, everyone knew it was over. That booking was best for business considering the directions of both stars coming out of this. Good stuff all around, and hopefully these two will get to collide in a couple dream tags for ROH, PWG, and/or NJPW in the near future.

Rating: ***1/2

Pure Title Match
Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli

As stated earlier, this was Castagnoli's last shot at the Pure Title while Nigel McGuinness was reigning. They had another good match, not quite on par with Shelley vs. Daniels, but certainly the best out of their five singles matchups in ROH up to this point. Castagnoli wasn't as over as I would have expected after the red-hot ROH vs. CZW segment earlier in the evening, which made the match suffer a bit. Without visiting any of their IWA-MS work, I'm going to guess that they hadn't quite captured whatever magic they had shown in 2004.

Before the match, the crowd was heckling referee Todd Sinclair as he was explaining the rules, and McGuinness attempted to brown-nose him. Castagnoli had none of it, interrupting the blatant ass-kissing with a European Uppercut to start the match and having the early heat. They had some really good back-and-forth heat segments, and Castagnoli had a major moment for his ROH tenure when he kicked out of a Tower of London.

In the end though, despite Castagnoli putting forth a great effort and unloading numerous uppercuts plus an Alpamari Waterslide or two, McGuinness found a way to knock out his greatest challenger to this point with the rebound lariat. This time, there was no cheating, no manipulation, no bullshit whatsoever. McGuinness was clearly the better wrestler, and there's no way to spin it: Castagnoli choked, which had to eat at him after knowing he had proven to be better than the champion in their prior matches.

Rating: ***1/4

At intermission, a special music video gets aired by Jimmy Jacobs, called "The Ballad of Lacey."



Just brilliant stuff displaying his creepy infatuation over his agent Lacey, including a MySpace mention, plus him pouring wax on himself while wearing leopard skin boxers and thrusting his pelvis in the direction of a Lacey photo that he was holding. The song itself is badly produced and edited, with his singing being horrific, only making this even more brilliant. The lyrical highlight is easily "there are no other candidates... together, we're the match of the year!"

In a backstage scene that has no lighting whatsoever, Nigel McGuinness cuts a great promo, saying that he's legitimate, he still has the Pure Title around his waist. He declares that he's the best pure wrestler on the roster, specifically calling out the ROH Champion Bryan Danielson. He says that he'll be in NOAH putting the Pure Title on the line, and THAT makes his belt the real world championship. I'm loving this.

Ricky Reyes gets DQed in his match against Austin Aries when he refuses to break the Dragon Slepper hold (why on Earth did Reyes have to get this strong of a push?), drawing out Roderick Strong & Jack Evans to save their Generation Next leader. This also brings out the Briscoes.

Roderick Strong & Jack Evans vs. Briscoe Bros.

Here are the positives: the spots were very nice for the most part, and after the structurally messy several minutes to kick off the match, the Briscoes did a nice job of turning Evans into the Ricky Morton for the next quarter of the match. It was painfully obvious that should've been the primary plot of the match. I did like seeing Strong pull out a standing moonsault, something I don't believe he'd ever shown in ROH. That is a nice subtle message to Danielson.

Now on to the negatives.

I don't care that the crowd reacted well to this match. Quite frankly, this NYC crowd was fucking clueless and unsophisticated on this night, and their attitudes only got worse in the main event. There were NUMEROUS times when the referee just counted a pinfall on whoever was in the ring, not caring one iota about who was legal. This match just had no structure outside of the heat segment on Evans. NONE. And I'm not going to give this match a pass for being a shallow spotfest just because it happened to be in ROH during the aesthetic hey day. This was just like the tons of matches I shit on in PWG that got cheap pops out of the crowds in Los Angeles.

I also have no fucking clue why the Briscoes did the job in this one after saying that they were coming for the tag straps. WHAT THE FUCK? And it was Evans to get the pin too, not Strong, who was scheduled as the next challenger to face Danielson for the ROH Title.

Rating: less than ***

Homicide and Colt Cabana are both not booked for this event, surprising not to have the former, a Brooklyn native, and just a week before the big triple-shot. But a pre-taped promo from Cabana airs. He uses some great analogies to explain his feud with Homicide. Surviving a car crash and then getting back in the driver's seat, putting the key in the ignition. Getting drilled by a baseball while up to bat, and then returning for another at-bat. Having a finger bitten off when going to pet what appeared to be a friendly dog, and then keeping an open mind about animals.

He says that he will face his face his fear, and it's time to end this, it's getting too violent and has been going on for too long. Detroit and Chicago, the big triple-shot on WrestleMania 22 weekend, this feud finally comes to its conclusion. Really good promo.

Bryan Danielson & Samoa Joe vs. KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji

Great tag team main event, not the all-time classic that many expected, but awesome nonetheless.

So I started with the positives in the prior match. In contrast, I'm going to get the negatives out of the way first for this one.

This NYC crowd fucking sucked, treating Danielson and Marufuji as after-thoughts. Now don't get me wrong, KENTA and Joe colliding was a dream matchup. Their work against each other in this one was quite the doozy, and they probably should've just faced each other in a singles match to main event this show. But this crowd only seemed to give a fuck about names, spots, and stiff moves, with no appreciation and patience for storytelling and technical wrestling. I firmly believe this match would've hit the MOTYC mark in Chicago, Detroit, Boston, or Philadelphia.

The match these four put together was great stuff as I mentioned. KENTA refused to shake the opposition's hand before the match, drawing an ooh from the crowd, but the commentators seem to only catch on to him refusing to shake Joe's hand. Danielson and Marufuji start the match with the usual good wrestling and reach a stalemate. Marufuji tags in KENTA and the crowd is SCREAMING for Joe to get tagged in. Danielson though refuses to make the tag, fitting his fuck-off gimmick at the time.

After a collar-and-elbow tie-up that had Danielson bring KENTA to the ropes, the then-current GHC Jr. Champ hit a Yakuza kick on Joe, who was standing on the apron, drawing a huge pop. Danielson agreed on the second request to make the tag, although KENTA demanded it. Joe and KENTA then had a great strike exchange segment, just as good as their work against Low Ki and Kenta Kobashi in late 2005.

KENTA & Marufuji tried to pull out their double-team stuff that many of the ROH faithful had not gotten to see yet, with Marufuji going for a corner charging move on Joe after using KENTA as a springboard, only to get met with a Uranage Slam. That got another great pop from the NYC crowd. Marufuji also attempted to cheat at times, although that couldn't drive the passionate ire from the ROH team that KENTA had drawn from Joe. Marufuji even showed some attitude towards the referee a couple times.

The rest of the match, about another 20 minutes or so, was intelligently worked. It also had the nice story that the former GHC Jr. Tag Champs had far more chemistry than the ROH team. Sure, Danielson & Joe had teamed up a couple times before this in ROH, but they didn't have the established chemistry and tag team foundation of KENTA & Marufuji. This was very obvious when Joe completely ignored Danielson's request for assistance later in the match.

KENTA also did a nice job of knocking Joe off the apron a couple more times, both for trolling purposes and to focus on the ROH Champ. Danielson had a great finishing stretch with him. KENTA went for the G2S, only for Danielson to counter with a crucifix, positioning the GHC Jr. Champ to eat the elbows that had taken out Jimmy Rave and Roderick Strong. But KENTA was able to absorb them, taking only a few, and position himself to roll back and get Danielson back on his shoulders, planting a G2S for the victory. Now THAT is brilliant booking unlike the other tag match on this night.

Post-match, Joe says KENTA did a good job, but he hadn't beaten Danielson for the title, and he for sure would never beat the former champ either.

This match only further reminded me that I wish we had gotten to see KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Super Dragon & Davey Richards for ROH in 2006.

Rating: ****

Lance Storm says that Danielson's open contract has him contemplating about coming out of retirement. Why not just make it official that Storm would be coming in to face Danielson the next weekend, whether it's for the title or not?

Prince Nana is with Rave & Shelley, who bury each other for their recent losses. Nana tells him to cool down, then threatens to garnish their paychecks. That causes them to get focused on business, with Nana now aiming for the Tag Titles. I should note that the Tag Titles declaration portion is shown on the next DVD due to the annoying cliffhanger formatting of The Milestone Series.

I did like this overall, but so far it was the weakest of The Milestone Series due to weird formatting, a shitty ADHD crowd, and questionable booking. This is definitely a must-have for a great main event and as an important piece of the puzzle for bigger moments to come for ROH in 2006, plus the Shelley vs. Daniels match is much better than what they put together in PWG.

Hindsight is 20/20, and here's what I would've booked. KENTA vs. Joe as the main event, and Joe could've done the fucking job by TKO (thus still somewhat protecting him.) Rather than be wasted in a singles match against Reyes, I'd have Aries challenge Danielson for the ROH Title in the semi-main. That could've been used to enforce the Best in the World bragging name for promoting this show, AND teased that Strong either gets to face Danielson for the strap in a money match, or must face his GeNext leader and fellow Tag Champ Aries for the biggest prize in the company, a first-time ever singles matchup in ROH and rematch of their finals at Survival of the Fittest 2005. I'd have Daniels in a dream match against Marufuji. And I'd have Rave vs. Shelley with the story being that they were becoming so irritated with each other that they needed to see who was the true alpha of the Embassy. I'd have that be a draw, with Nana talking sense into them afterwards and making the Tag Titles chase declaration. The other two matches that mattered would've stayed the same, albeit one of them formatted and booked differently.

And now I've reached what might very well be the aesthetic pinnacle of ROH. There are no TNA, PWG, or NOAH matches for me to watch before the ROH triple-shot. I will not be going through any Dragon Gate projects either. That's because a major factor in the Dragon Gate superstars getting over and stealing the show was that it was largely an introduction of them to the ROH audience. That's a magical dynamic I want to experience as best as I can in this project.

I sometimes wondered in the back of my head when I did start this project if I would ever stick with it after about 20-25 shows, and I'm glad I have. Time for me to be reminded that I made the mistake of not flying to Chicago just to see ROH on WrestleMania 22 weekend.

Up next - Dragon Gate Challenge
Matches will include:
Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer
Bryan Danielson & Delirious vs. Jimmy Rave & Alex Shelley
AJ Styles & Matt Sydal vs. Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi
Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, & Jack Evans vs. CIMA & Speed Muscle
Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels

[supersonic]

Dragon Gate Challenge - March 30, 2006



Lacey wants Jimmy Jacobs to destroy BJ Whitmer tonight, and she doesn't give a fuck about wins and losses, just Whitmer getting his ass kicked for having the temerity to call her out for her bullshit. She promises a reward to Jacobs, who is googly-eyed over her, and he wants to selflessly give her a foot massage. She rolls her eyes at this, clearly expecting him to ask for something far more demanding, and gladly says yes.

Colt Cabana interrupts the show introduction from Bobby Cruise, demanding Homicide to come out. He wants to end the feud right now, and they have a short, brutal brawl masquerading as an actual match with Homicide winning after chairshots to a ladder wrapped around Cabana's head. Not a memorable match at all, but this served its purpose of showing how heated the feud had gotten (one of the wrestlers unwilling to wait for later in the night) while saving the goods for Chicago. THIS is how a certain match booked for Battleground 2014 should've been laid out, although toned-down of course.

Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels have some backstage promos that bookend the second match on the show, putting over what a thorn they've been for each other over the years.

Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer

These two just have unreal chemistry together. Whitmer beat the fuck out of the Detroit native Jacobs, who took his beating in this one with great stride. Of course, Jacobs did a great job of displaying his overwhelming infatuation with Lacey. He had some great hope spots, using his tenacity, psychology, and smaller size to evade some of Whitmer's offense. There was a great segment early in the match with Whitmer tossing Jacobs around on the guardrails, the first time ending with Jacobs taking a bump neck-first on the concrete floor. That must have been lovely.

Jacobs really showed his tenacity established in 2004 during his matches against Generation Next, but this time it was amplified emotionally with his motivation to please Lacey. Unfortunately, that same motivation caused him to take his eye off the ball at times, such as blowing kisses at her instead of going for a pinfall attempt on his former fellow Tag Champ. But this match really should be seen, because for all of Whitmer's weaknesses as an in-ring performer, he did a great job of making the offense of Jacobs look credible.

Jacobs took a beating on his neck and back in this one, including a transition for Whitmer to regain control with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex counter when getting charged at by Jacobs. Jacobs took some nasty head-drops in this one, but managed to get some tremendous nearfall attempts that had his hometown crowd rocking. They had a delayed vertical suplex that had them spill to the outside, which allowed Jacobs to temporarily regain control, but an attempted head-scissors off the apron would be for naught. That spot was countered with Whitmer catching him and landing a powerbomb on the top edge of a guardrail.

The most memorable portion of the match was also the most legitimately terrifying. Whitmer was going to hit a super powerbomb on Jacobs, but his foot slipped and it took them backward. Jacobs had his head hit one of the ropes, then his head and neck hit the apron before crashing to the floor. Whitmer came up limping from this too. To say this got quite the reaction would be like saying that Saints and Seahawks fans like to make noise.

With the crowd red-hot, both men suck it up and get back in the ring. Jacobs is able to land a Shiranui to the crowd's delight, which he'd been unable to do a number of times earlier in the match. But Lacey got on the apron and said to keep dishing out punishment, not giving a shit about Jacobs getting a landmark victory. Jacobs obliged but also wasted time paying attention to her, allowing Whitmer to finish him off with a super overhead belly-to-belly suplex followed by a lariat.

An outstanding, awesome match with a botch that fortunately didn't kill either man and only made the crowd even hotter. They earned great respect as shown in the reactions from the crowd afterwards, both men's stock being elevated greatly. I'm sure if Gabe Sapolsky had known how much these two would've clicked, this would've been the last match before intermission.

Whitmer wants to shake hands with Jacobs, having earned even more respect for his former fellow Tag Champ despite their tension. But Jacobs refuses, choosing to leave with Lacey. Whitmer can't believe it, calling Lacey a "skanky piece of ass." This draws Jacobs to the apron and he teases a handshake, only to spit on Whitmer before leaving.

Rating: ****

With Jacobs & Lacey gone, Whitmer turns his attention to CZW, since this was his first appearance in ROH since getting brutalized like a prisoner of war at Arena Warfare. He says the war isn't over, he's ready for a fight, and he's glad to hear that Chris Hero & Necro Butcher are rumored to be in the building. Good smoke-and-mirrors promo from Whitmer to hide his verbal weaknesses that got a fantastic reaction from the crowd.

Bryan Danielson & Delirious vs. Jimmy Rave & Alex Shelley

With the Embassy still bitter about losing to Danielson in singles for the ROH Title, they've set their focus on the Tag Straps and challenged Danielson to a tag match. Danielson was so confident when the challenge was made before this show that he told Nana to pick any partner for him. Thus, Danielson's partner is Delirious, the most lovable established jobber on the roster.

This was really good stuff, with Shelley in particular getting great heel heat in his hometown. I wonder if Gabe Sapolsky had thought of having him cash in his ROH Title shot in front of his hometown crowd (as if that match could've been that much better than it already was in Philadelphia.) There were some cool moments in this, such as Shelley first not knowing how to react to Delirious, which is funny after he had picked Delirious to be his partner the previous year against Roderick Strong & Jack Evans.

The highlight of the match was Delirious giving Rave an airplane spin. Danielson got tagged in and did an extended, far more graceful airplane spin, while Delirious ran around it in the opposite direction in the ring. That got a tremendous reaction. What also stood out is that Danielson surprisingly played the Ricky Morton role in this match, which is something I wouldn't have expected at all since he had two big title matches booked for the weekend and Delirious was still a curtain-jerker. Delirious was a house of fire once the hot tag was made, but ultimately proved to still be prone to losing when he got pinned. Danielson left unimpressed and irritated with his partner.

Rating: ***1/2

Cabana cuts a promo outside the building at intermission, likely concussed. He says the feud with Homicide MUST end this weekend in Chicago, and he's not backing down.

Claudio Castagnoli makes quick work of Shane Hagadorn, and Hero & Necro finally appear afterwards. Castagnoli stands firm on the side of ROH, helping out Whitmer after he came into the ring with a chair. Another great little ROH vs. CZW segment that had the enthusiastic crowd passionately marking out.

AJ Styles & Matt Sydal vs. Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi

Food for thought: be glad that this match wasn't booked by Vince Russo or Jim Cornette. Why do I say that? Styles is a documented homophobe, and Horiguchi is a character blatantly aimed at homosexuals.

This was a fun tag, although Styles seemed to have some difficulty gelling with the Dragon Gate team. Sydal was definitely up to par. What surprised me is that this match had no issues with tag legalities being reinforced for pinfalls, as the wrestlers actually kept track. I was going to overlook that since this involves Dragon Gate talent and I'm aware that federation likes to utilize lucha rules (legalities can change either by tagging OR a partner coming into the ring as his partner rolls out.) Styles was able to hit the Styles Clash on Horiguchi to finish off the match. I'd like to have seen Styles & Sydal collide with Speed Muscle, as I imagine that matchup would've gelled better.

Rating: ***

Dragon Gate Rules
Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, & Jack Evans vs. CIMA & Speed Muscle

The commentators make it clear that this is under Dragon Gate rules this time, which is fine with me. Be upfront about this kind of stuff.

This was simply an amazing, phenomenal match. The action was fucking incredible with the exception of Evans missing a blow on Naruki Doi. Other than that, this match absolutely stole the show and had me wondering how Joe and Daniels could possibly follow this. Strong did a great job of pummeling Blood Generation; a favorite moment for me was when Masato Yoshino was in, having shown off his incredible speed when running the ropes. He no-sold a chop from Aries while in GeNext's corner. Once Strong got tagged in, Yoshino basically shit himself, dreading what was to come, and took a VICIOUS chop from Strong. Yoshino did just an excellent job of selling that chop.

Blood Generation managed to take this fantastic trios action and cut the ring in half, working on Evans. Now some may be wondering why GeNext didn't just get involved since this was Dragon Gate rules. As stated in the prior match, legalities change either by tag OR coming into the ring when a partner rolls out. Blood Generation cut the ring in half on Evans, AND kept him inside the ring, so GeNext could not legally get involved during this segment of the match.

However, after this heat segment, and the match reached its third act, the legalities got thrown out the window. With this likely being Todd Sinclair's first time officiating a match of this style, I can empathize with him forgetting who was legal. I as a nit-picker couldn't keep track. The last third of this match was absolutely amazing, fantastic, phenomenal, incredible, jaw-dropping, spectacular shit. Just nonstop action, big moves one after another. But this wasn't bullshit from the RF days of ROH. This third act was a spotfest, but all of it was executed and laid out incredibly well.

When CIMA landed the Schwein (also known as White Noise when used by Sheamus) on Evans, after having done some work on his neck, I knew it was over. This got a rousing standing ovation from the Detroit crowd, many of them never having seen this kind of action before. This match must be seen to believed, and I imagine ROH will be including it on the Year Five compilation whenever that inevitably comes out. An absolutely splendid MOTYC.

Rating: ****1/2

Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels

An extended video of their rivalry/feud is shown that goes on a bit too long (one of the audio tracks even has to start over abruptly), but does a great job of showcasing how these men are able to hit spots and make them matter.

Joe and Daniels had their work cut out for them after the trios match right before this, but they managed to put on a great main event. Joe came out first, which was unusual for him during his time in ROH. However, it became crystal-clear why that happened. Daniels came out and stopped on the ramp, with "Disposable Teens" being turned off. "The Champ is Here" then began playing, and Daniels revealed the NWA-TNA X-Division Championship to remind Joe of how his reign for that title had ended earlier in the month. Masterful trolling.

They had a nice brawl at ringside due to that entrance from Daniels, and once they got in the ring the bell officially rang to start the match. Joe did his usual brutal offensive work on Daniels, but Daniels had an extra focus on this night, knowing this was their last singles match against each other in ROH. Joe went for a musclebuster early in the match, but Daniels was able to use that position on the turnbuckle to body-scissors Joe out of the ring, following that up with an Arabian Press.

Joe would regain control and dominate with his vicious offense as stated earlier, both in strikes and submissions. But Daniels made sure to get his hope spots in to make sure this segment of the match was engaging, only to get cut off quickly. Joe though did a great job of selling the pain from the offense of Daniels, even while having control. Joe cut off another brief hope segment for Daniels when he dropped the X-Division Champ with a Uranage Slam. He then brought Daniels to the outside, delivering TWO Ole Ole Kicks to the crowd's monster approval. Sure, that's a trademark spot for Joe, but very brilliant to soften up the head for the musclebuster and get the crowd to pop. Joe would also work in the Crippler Crossface later to soften up the neck, a neck btw that had documented damage on it from the dying days of WCW.

Joe attempts a seated choke while on the turnbuckle, but Daniels blocks it and lands the Fall From Grace for a nearfall, but only maintains brief control. He blocks an attempted senton with the knees, although that's Samoa Joe landing on someone's knees, so it's no surprise that Joe stops Daniels shortly afterward with a trademark powerslam. After the Crippler Crossface spot as mentioned, Allison Danger helps out Daniels by grabbing his foot. This allows Daniels to regain the advantage, but it's teased that could be brief again with a chokehold.

Daniels is able to break that chokehold and land the Angel's Wings for a great nearfall, shocking Daniels after putting Alex Shelley away with that (and only have to do it once also) on the prior show. Completely focused and with it sinking in that Joe doesn't go down so easily, Daniels hits three consecutive BMEs and finally gets a pinfall over Joe in a one-on-one match, their last ever in that format in ROH. Just a great match that was intelligently worked and smoothly paced.

Rating: ****

Hero & Necro immediately run into the ring afterwards and ruin this magical moment for Daniels, but Danger pleads with him not to take the bait, wanting him to stay out of this violent ROH vs. CZW issue. This didn't exactly make Daniels look like a team player which he seemed to have become for ROH by this point and I wish Daniels had gotten a minute to shine after this great match and big win, but I could see Danger talking him out of being involved with this situation after a grueling main event. I wonder if Daniels, an established manipulative character, will find a way down the road to get a taste of retribution over Hero and/or Necro for this in the future.

Joe steps into the ring to fight off the CZW duo, and gets help from Whitmer of course. ROH students keep the CZW stars from getting back in the ring after being thrown out, and Joe cuts a fantastic promo to represent ROH, He "officially" declares war on ROH, saying he's ready to fight and dares CZW to bring its various weapons again, he'll win with his fists and wrestling ability, as well as the incredible locker room that ROH has put together. This was a great way to finish off the show, and had I been in attendance and didn't plan on going to Chicago to see the other 2/3 of this triple-shot, I'd at least be reconsidering.

Lance Storm reminds us that he's interested in facing Danielson for the ROH Title. Why not just announce that it's booked?

A tease of Jim Cornette is shown talking to someone on the phone. I'll discuss this in my next review.

This show, while recognized as an excellent show, gets overshadowed by the Chicago events that followed it and that's unfortunate. This was an absolutely magnificent wrestling event, with a couple good tags and three genuinely great but very different flavors of matches, one of them being a show-stealing, jaw-dropping MOTYC. It also managed to move forward three great angles in Homicide vs. Cabana (fantastically placed as storyline advancement disguised as an opening match), Jacobs vs. Whitmer, and ROH vs. CZW. This show was also paced incredibly well, one of the best ever during the Gabe Sapolsky era in that regard.

LIke I said, had I attended this event, I"m pretty fucking sure I'd have gotten a vehicle ready by the next morning to take a trip to Chicago. This event is a must-own and one of the greatest shows that ROH has EVER hosted. This would be standing head-and-shoulders over about 99% of the ROH events between 2008 and 2014. GET. THIS. NOW.

Of course, the next event. Oh, what can I really say? If you're not aware of what ROH was like at this time, be ready for lots of praising from me.

Up next - Supercard of Honor
Matches will include:
Jimmy Rave & Alex Shelley vs. Jimmy Yang & Claudio Castagnoli
Austin Aries & Jack Evans vs. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal
CIMA & Speed Muscle vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, & Genki Horiguchi
Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Christopher Daniels
Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong

[supersonic]

Supercard of Honor - March 31, 2006



Jim Cornette is informed by an unnamed eyewitness via phone as to who exactly knocked his tooth out with a chairshot during the chaotic melee at Tag Wars 2006. It is none other than Low Ki, who receives a lifetime ban from ROH, with Cornette citing all the previous chaos and high-maintenance demands from the ROH cornerstone as the sundae to this figurative cherry back in Dayton. This was a great way to give a kayfabe explanation for Ki’s departure, and also remember that the ROH and CZW brawl last time in Dayton had poor lighting, so Cornette and the viewer had no idea Ki was the one responsible.

A video package airs for tonight's main event, showcasing the brutality Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong have laid upon each other in the past five months.

Earlier in the day, Chris Hero talks shit to some fans waiting in line outside the Frontier Fieldhouse.

The camera gets to ringside, and this looks like quite the capacity crowd, significantly more packed than any prior Chicago event for ROH. Bobby Cruise announces that Colt Cabana is out for tonight due to a suffered concussion the night before in Detroit.

Jim Cornette comes out to start the show for the live crowd. He’s accompanied by BJ Whitmer, who is on crutches and has a cast on his right foot. Supposedly that’s due to a CZW brawl, but that had to have been from the botch in the match against Jimmy Jacobs. Cornette then cut a childish promo about CZW and then introduced two masked jobbers pretending to be CZW stars. Samoa Joe and Adam Pearce came out to squash them. I wish Low Ki had shown up to knock Cornette’s grill with another chairshot after watching this shit, and I’d have saved this trolling squash segment for an East Coast event in front of rabid CZW fans.

I FF to the end of the next match, and now I’m reminded why Ricky Reyes got a substantial undercard push, including Austin Aries being unable to break out of the Dragon Sleeper the week before. Delirious fell victim and Reyes refused to let go here. He and Smokes mugged him and left him laying, completely cocky thugs ganging up on the loveable established jobber.

Jimmy Rave & Alex Shelley vs. Jimmy Yang & Claudio Castagnoli

Some fun stuff but never truly clicked. I’ll pinpoint that on Yang, who played the Ricky Morton role. Now some may believe that’s a good formula with Castagnoli being the taller, more aggressive partner, and the Embassy were fantastic cheaters especially with Prince Nana & Daizee Haze in their corner to help out. But Yang, fine wrestler that he is, lacks the charisma and facial expressions to be truly sympathetic and get the crowd behind him.

Post-match, Hero shows up and he’s bitter that his fellow King of Wrestling refuses to join the CZW cause.

Rating: less than ***

Homicide & Julius Smokes berry (and that’s not a typo on my part) Cabana, saying that this is what he gets for fucking with the wrong people and he should be afraid. Homicide is ready to move on in another direction.

Austin Aries & Jack Evans vs. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal



The referee forgot who was legal for one temporary moment about 3/4 of the way into this match, keeping it from MOTYC territory.

But this was a tremendous tag match nonetheless. Evans and Sydal started off with Sydal winning that battle after hitting a dropkick, and he tags in Styles. He manhandles Evans and tosses him in GeNext’s corner, demanding Aries to get in. They too have a nice but brief exchange, as Sydal wants to test himself against his GeNext leader. Their exchange is also great, trading leverage and arm-drags. Sydal hits the headscissors escape-into-a-dropkick spot, showing his leader his continued progression. Aries would pridefully look to return the favor, only to fake out the dropkick on a blocking Sydal, who drops his arms and gets a stiff kick instead.

Styles & Sydal eventually cut the ring in half on Evans, who takes a nasty head-drop from a release German Suplex. I was happy to see them focus on his neck afterward, double-teaming him left and right, and Styles made sure to charge at Aries a couple of times to keep the numbers game in his team’s favor. The highlight of this segment for me was Styles gorilla pressing Evans, then the Tacoma native getting dropped and bumping like he took a spinebuster. Evans did a MUCH better job of playing the Ricky Morton role than Yang in the prior match.

Once Evans got the hot tag, the match turned into a spotfest, with one missed legality as I mentioned before. However, the action was so great that I could somewhat see why the referee allowed this to turn into a spotfest, similar to officials in sports leagues that don’t want to get ticky-tacky with being rulebook sticklers during the dramatic closing moments of games. During this action-packed third act, Sydal somehow got a broken nose and bled from it, but gutted through it.

With Styles on the outside, Evans sucked up whatever pain he had and went for a handstand somersault corkscrew plancha, landing in precise position to deliver a hurricanrana to the then-TNA superstar. Styles though, not having been through as much pain and also being a bigger, stronger, more aggressive, and more successful competitor, blocked the hurricanrana, planting Evans with the Styles Clash on the gym floor. That got a MASSIVE pop.

Aries was briefly distracted out of concern for Evans, which allowed the bleeding Sydal a moment to fight him off as they were on the turnbuckle. Evans got brought back in by Styles and Sydal finished him with a gorgeous shooting star press, bringing this show-stealer to a conclusion that had the crowd giving all four men a standing ovation.

Rating: ****

Dragon Gate Rules
CIMA & Speed Muscle vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, & Genki Horiguchi

I can say for sure now that I regret not booking a flight to Chicago for WrestleMania 22 weekend.

Both trios units come to ringside and get respectful ovations, even some streamers, but it’s obvious that most of the fans in attendance are not familiar with these Dragon Gate superstars.

Referee Todd Sinclair had difficulty completely enforcing the rules, but he was obviously put in a situation in which he was still becoming familiar with these guys, and the heelish Blood Generation took advantage like the night before. That’s something I can appreciate after the antics of Generation Next in 2004.

I would not have booked Naruki Doi to take the fall in this one, since he would be teaming with CIMA the next day to challenge Aries & Roderick Strong for the Tag Titles. But with that said, this match is another one of the rare magical occasions that fans get to have the privilege and pleasure of experiencing. To deem this match to be a show-stealer would not be doing it justice.

The match was paced incredibly well, getting more intense with each minute passing by. Guys came in and out as they pleased, but unlike so many of the geeks that plague the independent scene, there was a grace, timing, and fluidity to this spotfest. These guys had such an impressive professionalism to their movements as they delivered the nonstop action for the last 10 minutes or so.

This match also had another ingredient that it didn’t require to have been voted as the 2006 Match of the Year by the readers of the Wrestling Observer. That would be SELLING. Deep into this match, CIMA went to work on Horiguchi’s back, and this came into play later during the extended action-packed third act. Horiguchi dropped a member of Blood Generation with a modified piledriver-type move, and then sold his back that had been worked on. This delayed him from going for the cover, causing a nearfall that got a red-hot reaction. Horiguchi would continue to sell the back throughout the rest of this instant, timeless classic.

Speaking of red-hot nearfalls, the third act was dripping with them. The match would look to be over, but a kickout would occur or someone would make the save. This only increased the crowd’s red-hot enthusiasm, which became white-hot, and the commentators eventually said “this action speaks for itself,” which was the right call to make. When Dragon Kid hit the second hurricanrana pin on Doi, it brought the emotionally satisfying end to this work of art.

This match was simply magical, on par with numerous other magical moments involving CM Punk, Kenta Kobashi, Eddie Guerrero, Jushin Liger, AJ Styles, Low Ki, Paul London, Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, KENTA, and Generation Next. It was a much different flavor of magic, and I so badly wished I had made the trip just to see this match. These are the days I miss in independent wrestling.

Is this the best match of ROH in 2006, let alone the company’s best match ever? I can’t really say at this point about 2006, but I’d have it just a notch below the London vs. Danielson 2/3 falls match at The Epic Encounter. This is DEFINITELY a top ten match in ROH’s history, no doubt about it for me. Get yourself a copy of this or the Japan’s Finest compilation if you’ve yet to witness this.

Rating: *****

The first disc concludes with a Nigel McGuinness promo, bragging about being gone on this historic weekend because he’s in Japan defending the Pure Title. He reminds the viewers that doing this, along with him slaying such names as Samoa Joe, Jay Lethal, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, and Claudio Castagnoli, makes him the best pure wrestler and best overall champion in the company, the true world champion in fact. He again calls out Bryan Danielson. I’m so ready to see these two fucking collide.

Homicide makes quick work of Mitch Franklin, and then proceeds to shit on Chicago's beloved Cubs as well as their native Cabana. Even with a concussion, Cabana comes to ringside and has a hardcore match masquerading as an unofficial brawl. He dominates Homicide early through anger and determination, but the Notorious 187 is able to seize back control. He once again hits multiple chairshots on a ladder wrapped around Cabana's neck and head. Concussion angles nowadays can be very polarizing for obvious reasons, and I hope no company ever books a concussion angle this violent again. That said, it worked for the story.

Right as Homicide & Smokes are leaving, and with Cabana outside the ring getting help with leaving too, out comes Hero with Necro Butcher. Necro grabs the ladder in the ring and tosses it outside, with Hero saying that what the fans just witnessed was practically child's play compared to the hardcore lengths that CZW superstars go to. Pearce comes out to have a great brawl with Necro, and I roll my eyes when I see Necro take a Ric Flair backdrop on the gym floor from the apron. Meanwhile, Castagnoli had come to ringside and chased Hero away, who had taken a powder.

After a few minutes, Hero manages to get involved again, this time drawing out the ROH Commissioner Cornette, who is brandishing a baseball bat. Hero is able to take him down with an arm submission though. Not bad for a supposedly untalented hack, huh James? This draws out Joe & Whitmer, who together with Pearce fight off the CZW duo. This was a phenomenal crowd-popping segment, getting passionate chants for both ROH and the individuals representing the brand.

Joe is left in the ring, saying he came to chew bubble gum and lay down some ass-kickings. He's now out of bubble gum.

Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Christopher Daniels

Lacey dismisses Daniels to not bother coming to ringside, as this is a huge opportunity for Jacobs to pull the biggest upset of his career against Joe. Of course Daniels comes out though. He and Joe try to ignore Jacobs at first, but he makes his presence known. This was well-timed, not much to be anything special, but it was good and not bad for a breather before the big money main event. My favorite spot was Daniels about to hit the Angel's Wings on Joe, but he saw Jacobs coming. So he planted Jacobs on top of Joe with a Uranage, while using the other arm to drop Joe with a reverse DDT. But once Joe got the choke locked in on Jacobs later, that was obviously the finish.

Rating: ***1/4

ROH Title Match
Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong

Danielson is disrespectful early as expected, and takes a couple powders in the early stages of the match to maintain control and composure while also talking shit to the fans. Having learned from their masterpiece at Vendetta, Strong stays inside the ring. Even when Danielson threatens to just walk out, even going all the way backstage, Strong stays in the ring and calls out Danielson, not playing into the mind games.

It took awhile, although not as much as in his matches before this against Danielson and CM Punk, for Strong to get some chopping sequences, only getting the occasional one planted on the champ. But Danielson was able to get in his own chopping sequences, obviously trolling Strong to show off what he could do. Danielson would go on to dominate Strong on the mat throughout most of the match, but there are of course some things I should point out in this classic that have stood the test of time.

Danielson just dominated Strong, who of course would get his chops in. His strikes and submission work were splendid as usual, just softening up the challenger and testing him for what was sure to be another grueling test of stamina between them. But the match got REALLY interesting, getting into actual MOTYC territory, when Strong attempted to plant his body on Danielson's back when the champ was leaning on the middle ropes. Danielson moved out of the way, causing Strong's right knee to awkwardly strike the rope.

Danielson went to work on that right knee, charging it on the mat and putting it through the submission grinder, including an Indian Death Lock, Boston Crab, and figure four leglock. Strong would manage to bring the match back to neutral, but his right knee was shot the rest of the match, which went on for about another 20 minutes. They brawled to the outside and Strong had Danielson positioned against a ring-post. Strong landed a chop, but then his second attempted chop got his hand to meet the steel when Danielson got out of the way.

Strong did just a terrific job of selling his right arm and right leg in the rest of the match. Like in his classic against James Gibson at Unforgettable, he would only chop with his left arm, and used the damaged right arm only to deliver vicious forearms to rock Danielson. In a sequence I'm sure was influenced by Strong studying KENTA's defeat over Danielson just days before this, Strong was able to absorb the crucifix position elbows of Danielson, rolling back and putting the champ in a fireman's carry position. Strong then delivered a perfectly timed gutbuster on the champ.

But Strong's right knee took some more damage just from that move, forcing him to briefly tend to it before going for the cover. This very brief moment was all the time needed for the champ to kick out. Strong, knowing that this would likely be his last chance at the ROH Title while Danielson held it, delivered numerous backbreakers to Danielson using his right limbs, telling his pain to fuck off so that he could obtain the top prize in the company. Danielson still kicked out though, making these for more great near-falls, while also causing more damage to Strong's right limbs.

Strong would also be unable to fully turn Danielson over during a Liontamer, giving the champ leverage to get out of the hold. Danielson would attempt some Cattle Mutilation submissions, but Strong also found a way to get to the ropes for the break. He would then go for the Crossface Chickenwing, but Strong broke that too. Danielson went for another trick in his bag, crotching Strong on the top turnbuckle. Strong would use that positioning to land a super gutbuster on Danielson, getting another massive pop on a night when there were many of them. Strong again told the pain in his right knee to fuck off, making a last-ditch effort more than 55 minutes into this classic to take out Danielson with another Liontamer, this time locking it completely in.

But Danielson would position his way out of the properly applied Liontamer, forcing Strong to stand upright and allowing Danielson to use his legs to roll up the challenger for the pinfall. Strong's right knee had nothing left, leaving him unable to kick out after more than 56 minutes had passed in this excellent main event.

My only problem with this match is that Danielson didn't sell the back work to the best of his ability. Other than that, I think I've made it pretty clear that this match fucking delivered and closed out this great show in splendid fashion. The match had started shortly before midnight, more than 4 hours passed for this show, and nearly an hour later these two men had the Chicago crowd in a fucking frenzy. I assume this will be included on the inevitable Year Five compilation. I don't have this as high as Vendetta, but overall it's better than This Means War.

Rating: ****3/4

It's official: Lance Storm challenges Bryan Danielson for the ROH Title tomorrow night.

I'm with most longtime ROH viewers in that I prefer the shorter but equally if not greater events in ROH's history, such as the night before and after. But this show was tremendous, even though some matches didn't deliver much of a star rating. This was formatted to be similar to NOAH's events at the Tokyo Dome, going very long with all kinds of various styles across the board. This once again advanced some white-hot programs, and it was obvious that Homicide and Cabana would finally be bringing their violent, epic feud to an end the next night to close out the weekend.

This is definitely a must-have, not just for the storylines, but for having two all-time classics in ROH, one of them considered by many to be the greatest match in company history, that same match winning the Match of the Year Award in the Wrestling Observer. Don't forget that other great show-stealing tag too, which should be included on a Sydal compilation once he makes his ROH return in the near future. A long but VERY amazing night of professional wrestling.

Up next - Better Than Our Best
For the first and what might be the only time for me on this project, I'm not watching certain matches. I'm watching and reviewing the entire fucking show.