anarchistxx

Watched the Di'Biase/Duggan multi-stip match today, and while it was fairly enjoyable, it's another match that I don't think lives uo to the crowd. The heat was great, and the punches, which the match was built on offensively, were among the best I've ever seen. Most of the offence was too low end to be exciting though, and I didn't find myself getting emotionally involved in the match or even being drawn in. Probably around ***1/4.

Well, no, we as individuals don't have to give credit to a certain match just because it draws more fans in, unless we are judging on what match is more universally loved or has the more drawing power, rather than which match we thought was better. But yes, I suppose if we were compiling a list of '100 Classic Matches', not based on opinion but on popular consensus, the amount of people the match appealed to would definately have to be taken into consideration.

Yeah, same here? Oh, and FlairPinnedMe is a reliable guy, if you need a reference given the post count. If it means much coming from me PM'd you. -- Loss, 01/20

It's subjective though, isn't it. An ECW fan might go crazy for a spot crazy gore-fest, that fan B would consider average. Fan B, a ROH fan, would go crazy for a 60 minute story driven wrestling bout, which the ECW fan would be bored by. Hogan/Orton is the best match I've seen in WWE this year, ahead of stuff like Benoit/Finlay. Just because others don't like it, it doesn't mean I can't still regard it as a great match. You could call Rock/Austin a more generally regarded classic, but Eddie/JBL is still regarded as a classic by some people.

Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama v Jonny Ace/Steve Williams (AJPW 07/06/96 For all the hype about this match, it isn't really all that worthy. It's a match built on well defined roles; Akiyama is the underdog kid, Misawa is the dominant champion, who struggles because he's teamed with someone who isn't actually that good, and the gajins play the typical roles of the evil foreigners. To be fair, they all play their roles perfectly, and it's great to watch, but apart from that, the match is fairly standard stuff. Whatever people might argue, there was no complicated story in this, and I think you miss the point of the match if you looked for one. It was solid, stiff action reminiscent of many All Japan matches of the 90's, but its substance has been vastly overstated. There is so much stuff they could have done better; shit, I know Misawa is stoic, but I'd like him to show at least a shred of emotion. Here, he merely looks lazy. Jonny Ace looks like his 'talent relations' job didn't come a moment too soon, with a lacklustre display only saved by a great moment where he gets pissed and murders Akiyama. Akiyama is decent enough in this match, but it's Doc who really saves this, with his usual awesome performance as the monster heel. I love the way he totally disrespects Jun, and he's so good that it ends up being more disapointing than satisfying when Misawa takes him out with some less-than-compelling offence. The final stages of the match are overbooked, and I couldn't decide whether it was five minutes too long or five too short, as I felt distincly underwhelmed by the finish. What you get out of this match depends what you look for. There are some neat moments, and if you love stiff All Japan tags building to an action-packed finale, you'll love this. And if you're some over emotional angst ridden teenager, I'm sure there's some complex and inspiring story for you to drag out of this; although, in reality, it's merely a pro wrestling match, and one with little emotional content at that. It's pretty good though. ***1/4

2000 was probably the best for me. A super fun tables match that I loved at the time, went off it, and would probably appreciate more now that I'm not constantly looking at 'transitions' and 'psychology'. The swimsuit contest was entertaining until Young spoiled the fun, Cactus/Trips was obviously awesome, and the Rumble was passable. Even the rubbish stuff was kept short. Enjoyed 2001 as well, Benoit/Jericho was excellent, a nice basic tag opener, HHH/Angle was a lot of fun, and I loved the Steph/Trish interaction, and the Rumble was all sorts of fun. I agree with Loss that Bret + Owen v Quebecers was very good. Really well worked tag match, and very underrated.

Kurt Angle v Shawn Michaels Nowhere near as good on the second viewing. They don't do enough to keep me interested for the duration, the outside spots seem like overkill and unnecessary, and the finish is rather overbooked. It's still a great match, and I love certain parts, but I'm not as high on it as I once was. ***3/4

The Misawa/Morishima match isn't great. Suprisingly good by Misawa's recent standards is a better way to describe it, but I wouldn't put it in my Top 10 Puro matches of the year, and I've only seen about 15 in total. Nagata/Bernard kills it.

Dusty Rhodes - I love a bit of Dusty, and consider his articulate Texas driven promos to be the best anyone has ever done. He isn't great in the ring, and I can't get into much of his stuff that doesn't involve Flair or tag team partners, and his WWF run is cringe worthy. Still, I consecutively watched all his promos on his DVD a few weeks back, and it was the most fun I'd had watching wrestling in about a year. Awesome, awesome interviews. Jim Breaks - One of the best heels ever, no doubt about it, and you enjoy it even more if you live in England and thus can relate to all the people. Watching him insult a crowd is better than any Davey Richards match, ever, and he wasn't half bad in the ring either, from what I can gather from the bits and pieces of WOS I've seen him in. CM Punk - Decent enough wrestler, who probably deserves his push as he's one of the better characters WWE have got. I like his serious, intense promos, but I hate his big bravado promos. His DBDIII interview which people were calling one of the best ever, was decidedly underwhelming and copied. Good ring worker from his ROH days, but haven't seen any of his WWE run. Randy Savage - Good ring worker who could keep up with the best workers of the day, but was rarely the best worker in the matches he had with them. Hated his promos, but could mix it up in a veriety of different styles in the ring, and was really the predeccesor to small guys, more than Michaels or Benoit were. Like him, but wouldn't buy his DVD.

Don't really know why I loved it so much. A lot of wrestling these days depends on the mood I'm in to how much I enjoy it. I loved the match, old school feel, they knew what they did and did it really well, only thing that could have made it better would have been Orton going over. Haven't been watching anything recently though, gone off wrestling altogether apart from the odd match. Kind of got to the point where I was watching a match and analysing it, instead of enjoying it. ROH put me off a lot as well, with people kicking out of multiple finishers in the second match on the card, and other stuff like that. I couldn't get excited about the brilliant hot finishes in the main events because I'd seen all the stuff before on the undercard, multiple times in many cases. I'm pretty sure every wrestler on the roster uses the Lariat as one of their finishers. Strangely enough, KENTA v Matt Sydal is the only match I'd be interested in seeing right now, I might pick up the DVD off my trader. Sorry, rant over.

Yeah, I watched it live and thought it was an abysmal mess. Repetetive, nothing innovative, nothing interesting, they came in with an awful feud, the pace was slow as hell, and they didn't do anything to compensate for it. Shouldn't have even been a cell match in the first place.

Watched nearly all of WWE Summerslam 2006. Rey v Chavo was a solid enough opener. Nothing they did stood out especially, but it was still good action mostly. Unfortuately, the storyline is so terrible that it's hard not to let it affect you, especially with Vicki Guerrero interfering and the crowd constantly chanting 'Eddie'. There's one funny botch where Rey's mask comes off, and he has to hide his head while he picks it up and gets it back on. Inoffensive stuff, but they've had much better matches. ** Show/Sabu was suprisingly fun. The pace was too plodding at times, and setup times for spots, especially with Show involved, got really long and annoying. But what they did do they did well. Show was the guy with the power advantage, Sabu had to be reckless and take chances to beat him. A couple of blown spots, but then again it is Sabu, so it's pretty much a given. Boring at party, but mostly fun. **1/4 Hogan/Orton was suprisingly great. They basically worked a really simple match, but they added emphasis to everything they did, and held the crwd in the palm of their hand. Orton but in a very impressive display as the cocky heel, and in fact just the visual of these two guys facing off seemed to give it a big match atmoosphere. Even better, they managed not to ruin the RKO, and Hogan gave Orton much more than usual here. WWF MOTY so far. ***1/2 It's no coincidence that Mick Foley's match was on after the crowd were tired from Hogan, and yet the DX match was put on after Booker/Batista, a predictably dull and boring affair, which meant the crowd would be more up for DX. Even so, after a quiet start Foley and Flair got the fans into this, but it was just too short. It could have done with about 5 minutes more at the start, and while the early barbed wirte and stuff does get across how much they hate each other, it ends up feeling rushed. The last 3 minutes are what really stops the match from moving up a level though, because when Melina comes in, the bout falls apart and it's pretty much a sorry mess. But before that it was going along really well, great emotion, great spots, the visual of the bloody Flair was great, it felt realistic. Just needed to be longer, and have a much better ending, and we'd have been looking at one of the top matches this year, anywhere. As it is, it's still the second best match of the card. ***1/4 Batista/Booker is predictable and dull. I simply don't get this love for Booker's heel act at all- I find it cringe worthy. To make matters worse, Booker is awful in the ring, and has been for the last few years, and he is the main reason why this match isn't better than it is. Suprisingly enough, Batista actually expands his moveset considerably here, using stuff I've never seen him use before. Shame Booker goes back to the same holds with no reason behind them, and makes no attempt to gwet the crowd involved. The only time they make any noise in this is when they're chanting 'boring'. The finish hurt the match as well, it was confusing and frustrating. Not bad a times, but this was a mostly boring affair. *1/2 How is it that the DX/McMahons tag gets double the length of Flair/Foley? We know who's running this company. Cheers guys. Problem with this feud is, the only people that care about it are the people who're in it, and even then HBK looks like he couldn't care less. It's overbooked, but at least at that stage it's entertaining, once it gets down to a reguar tag match it's totally average. McMahons stealing the 80's tag finishers was kind of cool, but the bout really dragged on too long, and I was just waiting for it to end. *1/4 I guess I'll watch Edge/Cena later tonight, but I aren't that excited at the prospect. I also started to review WWE Judgement Day 2006 a couple of weeks back but I couldn't be bothered in the end, and I didn't make it past the first two matches... WWE Tag Team Championship Joey Mercury/Jonny Nitro© v Paul London/Bryan Kendrick It's always good to open the show with a match like this, since the crowd are instantly hot, and it'll get a lot more heat than it likely would later down the card. This is definitely the case here- London/Kendrick really aren't that over, but the crowd are solidly behind them, and that has a lot to do with it's position on the card. The match itself was a well worked formula tag. The Face In Peril sections were good- I always enjoy the not-so-subtle heeling of MNM, and at worst it got the crowd behind the face challengers. The threw in a couple of nice spots that were to my liking- the London Dropsault Press was probably the highlight of the match. The challengers were nice and fiery, both in their comebacks and the hot tags, though I could have done without them hugging each other every couple of minutes, however white meat they want to be. They figured a nice way to get to the big tag, which has kind of become of fixture of MNM matches. However, I've seen them in a lot better matches than this. They were their usual selves, but I didn't think London and Kendrick did that good a job of stepping up to the plate. They kind of establish their quickness advantage, but don't really go anywhere with it, and their offence is pretty standard, if well executed. This was a nice opener, but they can do better than that. Unfortunately, we'll never know, as MNM break up after this match, in what I thought was a rather good little segment. **1/2 Chris Benoit v Finlay If we're talking about matches looking legit, this is where it's at. Both guys just pound each other all match, and every little thing they do looks like it hurts like hell. It feels like a big, athletic struggle in many ways, and the little things these two are so good at are what make it such a good match. The grimaces, the struggles for moves, the strikes: it's all out of the top draw. Stuff like the fight for the sharpshooter, the stiff Finlay clotheslines, there's so much to love about the contest. There's one flaw: it isn't terribly exciting. While this is technically great, and flawless in many ways, they fail to lift me off my seat, and in many of Finlay's holds I find my mind quickly wandering. They don't really do a great job of building to the finish- while it fits in with the idea of a legitimate fight, I'd have liked it better if they built up with a good stretch. Now these faults may not matter to some people- in fact, to a good extent I can look past them myself. I like the match. A lot. But if you like your wrestling realistic and hard hitting, you'll probably love this match. Surprisingly, it's Benoit if anyone who lets the side down. He and Regal probably worked the best US match in this style I've seen, but here, he's almost formulaic. He goes through his German's just for the pop, without any struggle, he brings little offence to the table apart from his trademark stuff, which really isn't that much in 20+ minutes. Don't get me wrong, if that means Finlay controls most of the match, it isn't entirely a bad thing, but Benoit strikes me as being really lazy here. That said, it's one of the better matches you'll see in 2006, at least in WWE, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I just didn't get the feeling I was watching a great match. ***1/4

ROH Ring Of Homicide 13/05/2006 Colt Cabana v Kikitaro As you would expect this is mostly comedy, and it's mostly successful in its quest to amuse. To be honest it's just a relief to have relaxed cabana back- he's more comfortable in the role, and he's a whole lot better at it. You can only see Kikitaru's comedy spots a certain number of times though, before they start to get dull, and at the moment I'm pretty worn out on the guy. Here, luckily enough, they manage to incorporate enough fresh stuff and with enough style on the execution to make it worthwhile. Not much to say really, entertaining opener. *3/4 Homicide/Ricky Reyes v Dunn/Marcos Basically the only chance this match had of success was if it was a full on squash. Bumping is about all Dunn and Marcos are good for, so I'm guessing it would have been great fun to watch the Rottweiler's destroy them. Unfortunately, I'll never know, as this is actually a plain and forgettable bout, where the despicable Ring Crew Express actually get a pretty good amount of offence in. Seriously guys, it al looks terrible, and I completely don't buy them going toe to toe with Homicide, however well he sells their attack. Reyes is where he usually is, just sort of there, but not actually doing a great deal to impress. Dunn and Marcos shouldn't last much longer, and their opponents shouldn't be wasted on matches like this. 1/2* Jimmy Rave v Jimmy Yang It's credit to Jimmy Rave that he managed to take Akio to one of his best matches in his ROH run. That really isn't saying a lot though, as Akio has been pretty dreadful, and in fact this match is helped by the overbooked nature along with the heat the Embassy generates. The quickly established that Rave didn't want to go one on one with Yang, and built the early stages of the match around that. The finish kept both guys looking strong, and the match as a whole was well put together. Yang's bumping and selling are his strong point, so Rave's attack on him is pretty good- Rave's heeling also never gets old, even with the average Yang as his foil. Finish was nicely done, and the interference from Haze was probably the highlight of the entire match. Back to WWE for Yang- to be honest, good riddance. *3/4 ROH Pure Title Nigel McGuinness© v Jay Lethal In theory this looks pretty good. You have the hometown hero Lethal as the white meat babyface, a role in which he has excelled in before. The you have Nigel, one of the best heels in the world. And in practise, this is pretty good, though nothing more. It was hard for them to produce something really good, with a lack of any past history and no storyline to build from. But they used what story they had, and it worked well. Nigel was great as the sly heel, who knew the rules better than anyone else. Lethal was good as the local face making his return. It would have been nicer if the fans were all for Lethal, but instead we got the dreaded duelling chants. You can't win them all. The offence was nothing out of the ordinary, but it did the job, and it was actually one of the better builds I've seen, which culminated in some nice and believable near falls, especially on the first Tower Of London. The opening goes a long way to making the match enjoyable; instead of starting with the British matwork which would have felt really out of place, they spend time establishing roles and even throw in a few tit-for-tat revenge spots. 14 Minutes was more than enough for this match, but they made good use of it and it didn't really drag. Could have done with a bit more heeling from Nigel, a bit more charisma from Lethal and a bit more heat from the crowd. It kind of lacked the 'it' factor, but it still wound up being a nice midcard bout. **1/2 ROH World Heavyweight Championship Bryan Danielson© v Delirious I enjoyed their match at the 100th Show, and I enjoyed this even more. Dragon put on another one of his heel displays, and was actually rather mint working over Delirious here. This was Delirious' match to make though, and he put on an excellent performance as the underdog face who is driven by revenge and his quest for the gold. A little more hate wouldn't have gone amiss, especially as it started out so heated, with the vicious brawling and the attack before the bell as a throwback to their previous match. I felt they lost some of early momentum when Dragon went to the floor though, especially as when he got back in they started to wrestle, when they were supposed to hate each other. It isn't that the wrestling was bad, just given the past storyline and how it started out, a bit more violent brawling would have likely gone down better. Dragon's altercations with the CZW fans were funny, and actually did a good job of giving Delirious openings, and making his comebacks a little more believable. That was a major issue here though- it was hard to buy Delirious as any sort of legitimate threat to Dragon, takinh their past records into account. The match also overstayed its welcome- ROH have to learn that every title match and every mid card match doesn't have to go long to be good. They could have taken 5 or maybe even 10 minutes of this and it wouldn't have affected what they were trying to do or the story they were trying to tell. It didn't feel that long., but by the time we got to the finish, I'd lost a lot of the interest I'd got from the build. But make no mistake, this is good stuff. It's a good example of the underdog challenger v cocky champion story working well and getting the crowd into a frenzy, but there has to be some sort of hierarchy ROH, because a guy like Delirious shouldn't be lasting 25 minutes with your unstoppable champion. *** Matt Sydal v Christopher Daniels It wasn't as bad as it could have been. This had the potential to be really horrible, and while they escape that, it's still really average. Daniels is Daniels, and if you've seen him before you've probably realised his matches look like something you'd be more likely to see at the Royal Balley Company. Emotionless, effortless and far too perfect. Buy I'm quickly doing another U-Turn on Sydal. I loved him at first, then I didn't like him much, but now, he's back in my good books. His great looking offence and superb facials and selling are what keep this match alive. His character work is also very good here, as his portrayal of the desperate guy trying to get his breakthrough win is actually very believable. A couple of the intricate spots get my attention, and though I don't care for anything Daniels does, Sydal makes this at least watchable. Don't expect anything good though as it's by the numbers stuff mostly. *3/4 ROH Tag Team Championship Austin Aries/Roderick Strong© v Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe As with the world title match this was just too long. For the first 5 or 10 minutes of this match it's totally uninspiring stuff. It lacks structure and direction, there's no reason for much if any of the offence- in short, it looks like they're killing time. Which is a shame, because one the Briscoe's start working over Aries, who is a great face in peril, the match picks up dramatically. Whatever else you say about the Briscoe's, their tag psychology has been pretty great in the recent matches I've seen, and this is no exception. There's a good number of tag teases, great heel tag offence, and they cut off the ring like they're Arn and Tully. Don't get me wrong, it isn't anything I've not seen before, but in this day and age, solid tag team wrestling is something you don't see that often. Once the match breaks down and they decide to throw the legal man rules out the window, it's also good. They bring a nice number of spots to the table, without it looking like overkill, and Strong is a ton of fun as the hot tag, given his high impact offence. In fact, tags are the best use of most of these guys, because, aside from Aries, they have little charisma but can work a good bout. The Briscoe's are so much better when they're not using high end offence for the duration of their matches. Aries is the real star once again though here, his offence could do with being a bit less generic, but he has improves in leaps and bounds, and even has somewhat of an aura round him now. First 10 minutes drag this down, but otherwise it's a really solid piece of tag action. **1/2 Samoa Joe v Necro Butcher Not much of a match really, but what they do fit in is actually more fun then nearly everything else on the entire show. Both guys are insanely over and actually give the impression of being two stars, something guys like Yang and Whitmer could never achieve. The brawling is solid, and though it pales in comparison the the next match, it's enjoyable while it lasts. I just wish the CZW guys had been booked a little stronger, as Joe is booked as being stronger than both Necro and hero together, and unless they're at a numbers handicap the ROH guys nearly always seem to have the advantage in the brawls. ** Homicide v Necro Butcher Just an awesome brawl and a load of fun. The Homicide face turn was executed to perfection, and it brought an insane pop which transcended into brilliant heat for this match. The brawling was really tight throughout, and felt believable and vicious. Some of it was a bit too repetitive, not within this match but within the entire brawls on the shows- there's only so many times I can gasp at a chair being thrown at someone's head or a suplex on a chair, as I seem to witness them every other show if not more. But that isn't there fault as much, and while the brawl isn't as intense in the middle stages, it would be a big ask for them to keep up the electric pace and action for the full 10 minutes. The chair throwing and what follows is what makes the match, and the numerous moves performed on the chair filled ring are brutal and effective. Necro doesn't really sell being buried under chairs that well, as he's back on the offence a minute later, but I guess you could put it down to his character. As a match it's good, but as a spectacle it's superb, and if you're a fan of sick bumps and hate filled brawls, this is probably for you. ***1/4 Overall I felt the show was very solid. Only one really 'bad' match, the rest of it was either in and around average or better. No top class match, but the world title match and the main event are both a blast.

Never thought he'd actually leave. Sounds like he's just having time off to deal with his issues though, rather than looking at any rival companies.

Finished the Milestone Series with ROH: The 100th Show Christopher Daniels v Claudio Castagnoli This was really bland and boring, and to be honest looked more like ballet than wrestling. Yes, it has well executed offence, good psychology and all the rest of it, but everything is hit with no passion or intensity, and the spots, instead of looking like they fit into the match, look choreographed. I'm sure they're not, but both guys look like they're going through the motions what with the static facials and limited character work. Some decent offence in there, and what they actually do would be rather good, if it was done by two characters who, well, have some character. * Jimmy Jacobas v Jimmy Yang v Jimmy Rave v Delirious Another one of these oh-so-annoying 4-Ways. Luckily for this one, it isn't a total waste, as it features three good characters, and a at least serviceable wrestler in Yang. That isn't to say it's any good though, as despite some good character work, the in ring action is pretty bland and poor. There doesn't seem to be any reason for the match, and therefore there's no reason to care. However, it is good at times, and Jacobs once again excels in his role. Finish was smart too. *1/2 Austin Aries/Roderock Strong v Homicide/Ricky Reyes Talk about disappointing. What's up with Homicide in this match? He puts no effort in at all, messes up a couple of things, and is generally a shadow of his usual self. Unfortunately for him, his backup is Reyes, who while a decent worker, isn't capable of carrying his partner and making the match something good. I enjoy Aries here, Strong is so so. They try to tell a story around the Rotts brawling, but problem is the brawling in the match is pedestrian and lacking in much cohesion or intensity. It's OK at times, and Aries does his best, but not the match I was hoping for. *1/4 Bryan Danielson v Colt Cabana This was pretty good. The interaction between Dragon and the fans made it what it was, but I was happy to see the end of serious Colt, and the ending was shocking and worked well. The action before that was pretty average, but purposely so, as they had to make the fans believe they were building to something longer. It didn't help that the fans didn't react to anything as they were so caught up in the duelling chants. More an angle than a match, but it was well executed. ** Derick Dempsey v Pelle Primeua Pointless students match. They looked really green, and Primeua is surely never going to get over with that look, because it's horrible. 1/2* Bryan Danielson v Delirious The setup for this match was brilliant, and the match itself wasn't half bad. Dragon was decent taking Delirious apart, and bloody good at some parts, but the real fun came when Delirious started to look like he might have a chance. Strangely, the CZW fans added to this, although sometimes it seemed the match was less important than what was going on outside. Credit to Delirious for being such a good sympathy face, and the blood certainly did the match favours. A lot of fun. **3/4 Briscoe Brothers v Matt Sydal/AJ Styles Man, I should have hated with. The Briscoes annoy me so much, with their mountain of high end offence, and spot based matches. I used to love Sydal as a great sympathy face with cool offence, but he had been grating on me as a goofy face recently, probably due to lack of quality heel opponents. Styles is hit and miss. But somehow this is one of the best tags of the series. Had a really goos structure, some nice tag psychology by the Briscoes, and their offence was in fact excellent- high impact stuff but nothing over the top. The way they built to the hot tag was great, and when it came it got a great pop, leading into a great finishing sequence with, yes, some cool moves. This is no classic, but it's suprising how good it is, and it's probably the best Briscoes match ever, and Sydal's second best outing. ***1/4 Super Dragon/Necro Butcher/Chris Hero v Samoa Joe/Adam Pearce/BJ Whitmer I don't love this as much as some, but this was a really good, hate filled brawl. Everyone on ythe CZW side was awesome, Necro was great at being crazy, Hero was a good chicken shit heel with awesome facials, Dragon was also a great heel, just a shame the camera didn't catch him Monkey Flipping a fan and attacking Xias. Oh well. The crowd was molten hot, and the brawling was intense as hell. Whitmer and Pearce, unfortunately, do nothing for me. Whitmer was good for a few big bumps, Pearce was good for a blade, but I don't even know why they're in this feud in the first place. Anything with Joe in was gold, with the other two, it wasn't so good. A slight complaint is that the brawling got a little repetetive. But it's actually a ton of fun, and if you've been into the feud, which I haven't that much, then you'll love it a lot more. Really good stuff. ***1/4 On the whole an enjoyable show. The last two matches were really good, the Dragon stuff was fun, and it was only let down by a poor beginning, which was at least bearable. OK, my ten best matches of the milestone series... Anarchistxx's 10 Best Matches Of The Milestone Series 1. Jimmy Rave, Alex Shelley, & Masato Yoshino vs. Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi, & Ryo Saito ***1/2 (ROH Better Than Our Best) 2. Bryan Danielson vs. Alex Shelley ***1/2 (ROH Arena Warfare) 3. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe ***1/4 (ROH 100th Show) 4. Samoa Joe, Adam Pearce, & BJ Whitmer vs. Chris Hero, Necro Butcher, & Super Dragon ***1/4 (ROH 100th Show) 5. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. CIMA & Naruki Doi ***1/4 (ROH Better Than Our Best) 6. Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, & Jack Evans vs. CIMA & Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino ***1/4 (ROH Dragon Gate Challenge) 7. Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi, & Ryo Saito vs. CIMA, Naruki Doi, & Masato Yoshino *** (ROH Supercard Of Honor) 8. A.J. Styles & Matt Sydal vs. Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi *** (ROH Dragon Gate Challenge) 9. Austin Aries v Matt Sydal **3/4 (ROH Arena Warfare) 10. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal vs. Austin Aries & Jack Evans **3/4 (ROH Supercard Of Honor)

Watched ROH Better Than Our Best. The 6-Man opener (Evans/Sydal/Crist/Crist/Steele/Jacobs) was pretty fun actually. Some good interaction between the various participants, I can't say I care for Steele or the Crist's a lot, but on the whole this was nicely watchable. *1/2 Reyes/Delirious was decent, if a little plodding. Reyes looked rather poor on offence, and he doesn't seem to have a lot of motivation since his push is seemingly over, but the crowd love Delirious and they really got into the match. OK. *1/2 The Embassy + Yoshino v Do Fixer tag is probably the match of the milestone series. Great heel work, strictured well, and combined it all with the awesome finishing stretch that the DG guys usually provide. Do Fixer are all great at sympathy selling, even if their long term selling is a little dubious, so the Embassy's control segment works well. It has some problems, but with great role playing, a believable and over face/heel dynamic and some great action, I loved this match. ***1/2 Joe/Styles/Daniels/Yang was good. I've seen about enough of Joe/Styles/Daniels to last a lifetime, and I hate Yang, so I was in fact suprised at how decent this match was. Joe was of course brilliant, the others were pretty much there. As you would expect, the finishing sequence stands out as being great. **1/2 The Aries/Strong v CIMA/Doi tag was the 3rd best match of the milestone series, and another top draw tag. It was going OK until Aries busted his nose, and then it picked up a whole lot. Blood Generation were awesome dick heels working him over, and they built fantastically to the hot tag. Thing was, everyone knew their role in the match, and with another awesome final run this is up there with any tag in the series and miles better than the more spot orientated 6 Man the night before. Aries selling towards the end could have been better, and if I never see a delayed vertical suplex again it won't be a moment too soon, bot overall this was another insanely fun tag. ***1/2 Dragon/Storm was like Lance Storm in a lot of ways. In that it was good all round, and very good technically, but did little to grip or excite you. They did some fair work around the veteran/youngster story, the action was perfectly good. Make no mistake about it, the second half of the match is far better than the first, and the ending is done really well. There isn't mch to say about this match, apart from that it was perfectly enjoyable yet totally forgettable. **1/2 Homicide/Cabana was a mixed bag. Much of the first half was filled with plodding, predictable brawling, and average strikes. They picked it up for the second half, and while a lot of the set ups for the weapons took too long and were contrived, what they did with the weapons was generally very good. Chair riot was fun, Cabana was really aggressive and brought the hate. Not sure about Cide here though, he looked a tad unmotivated at times, although his selling of the alchoghol was out of this world. I never did like this feud, but in the end they produce a good, if unspectacular match to end it. **1/2 This is an all round good show. It has no really bad matches on, even the ones below ** are perfectly watchable. Two awesome tags steal the show, and the two main events were fairly good in my view, and if you're a fan of any of the guys you'll probably like them even more. It might not be Better Than Their Best, but it's probably the best ROH show of 2006 up to that point.

Watched ROH Supercard Of Honor and thought I'd do a mini review. Shane Hagadorn v Flash Flanagan v Ricky Reyes v Delirious Who the hell picked this to open the show? Why was this even on the show? Nobody could care less about Hagadorn or Flanagan, and this match is pretty awful. No legal man rules, no action of note except for maybe two Delirious comedy spots, which make this just above a train wreck. 1/2* Alex Shelley/Jimmy Rave v Claudio Castagnoli/Jimmy Yang Thanks god for Shelley and Rave, who manage to make a match with the abysmal Yang and the nondescript Castagnoli interesting. It helps that a lot of the match is spent throwing Yang about who, to his credit, takes a couple of nice bumps. Worth a watch for the Embassy's heeling, it really isn't all that good, just a pleasant suprise given the participants on the face team. *3/4 First Blood Match Ace Steele v Chad Collyer On the surface it looks like they do everything right. Both spend the entire match trying to bust each other open, making the stipulation mean something, both bring the hate, it should be a compelling battle. Problem is, it isn't. Collyer is awful most of the time, so nobody cares, Steele is a little less awful, if still a completely boring character, whose promo before the match was one of the worst I've ever seen. So yes, the match itself is good, it just makes you wish the participants were different, and actually had some character. *1/2 Austin Aries/Jack Evans v Matt Sydal/AJ Styles The action here was really good a lot of the time. There was just too much of it. They did some nice work around each character's interaction with others at the beginning- but I didn't need to see every character facing off against every opponent. The face in peril segments were nicely done- just I didn't really need to see two of them. You get what I mean. But I'll give them credit, between the 4 of them they produced some good action, which the live crowd ate up, and did a good job of furthering the friendly Sydal/GN rivarly, even if it isn't that good of a feud. Finishing sequence stood out as being excellent, some good character work, Styles didn't really shine here, and if anyone let the side down it was him. **3/4 Blood Generation v Do Fixer Well this isn't 5*, or even close, but it is fun. The lack of selling hurt the match, as did a complete lack of reason to care. Some of the offence was really sloppy as well. But the action flowed seamlessly along, building to an insane finishing sequence, which was nearly marred by the ridiculous chants. Not much I can say, it's been discussed to the end. It definately falls victim to its own hype, and while it's a good multiman, and probably a high end match in the style they wrestled, it wasn't really my cup of tea. *** Daizee Haze v Allison Danger v Lacey v Rain v Cheerleader Mellissa v Mischief This really wasn;t the best use of these ladies. Maybe they'd get over a bit more if used in a singles match or even a tag, and to be honest, I think ROH should start using the Shimmer girls a lot more, and maybe book them in some actual feuds, since they're better than a lot of the men on the roster. The match wasn't anything to write home about, but there were a few neat moments, although the action came accross as a bit too contrived. * Homicide v Mitch Franklin As squashes go, I've seen a lot better. Nothing much to say, but I much preferred the Reyes squashes to this. 1/2* Brawling was OK, both the Cabana/Cide brawls andf the ROH/CZW brawls had enough stuff in them to make them worthwhile. Samoa Joe v Jimmy Jacobs v Christopher Daniels Jimmy Jacobs must be the revelation of the year. His character is suddenly brilliant and he's turned it up in the ring as well. No content with the 'Ballad Of Lacey' being the best thing on this entire DVD, he is the star of the match, and makes it great fun with some humorous touches. Even Daniels is less offensive than usual, though I could do without him using almost his entire high end moveset in the first 5 or 6 minutes of the match. Great fun. **1/2 ROH World Championship Bryan Danielson© v Roderick Strong This was really average, and on many accounts a failure. It failed to hold my or the crowds interest. It failed in getting Strong over as Dragon's equal. It wasn't all bad.... The Good - Some really nice sequences - Actually liked quite a bit of the opening matwork - They set the building blocks nicely in the early stages - I felt that Strong was desperate to win the title at times The Bad - The length of the match was all wrong. The crowd was already worn out, it was midnight, why did they have to go so long? It didn't hold my interest at all - Strong has a total lack of charisma. Therefore, stuff like the stealing of Dragon's moves in a revenge spot wasn't good at all, as he didn't have the facials or character to carry it off. - Selling was really negligent throughout. Strong sold too much, and looked like he was trying too hard to be some sort of indy god. Dragon didn't sell enough, and blew most of Strong's high end stuff off. - The action was far too similar to their previous matches, except Dragon was less of a dick, which made it even worse - A lot of the offence became predictable. Plus, Dragon insisted on dominating 90% of the match, when he wasn't all that entertaining doing it. - Dragon was wrestling the same match 50 minutes in as he was 5 minutes in. No sign of desperation, no nothing. I'd have to say the match was average at best. The MOTY talk is really misguided, and while it's solid action, it lacks anything that makes it exciting, compelling viewing. The commentator gag about how people who don't like this will like the Cena match at ONS II was ridiculous as well- especially since Cena/RVD was better than this, and especially due to the fact that Cena has 20+ matches in his career better than this dull bout. ** This was a show that was decent for the most part, and had two matches that stood out as being good, but the problem is you have so high expectations coming into these shows that you can't not be disappointed. It isn't the best ROH show ever, it's a solid all round show that's very fun at parts.

Now onto 2006 ROH with ROH 4th Anniversary Show. The Briscoes v Mamaluke/Rinauro v Mikaze/Blade tag opener was a waste. The only point of it was to put the Briscoes over and they didn't even spend most of their time in the action. A few head drops later and they get the win. I thought they got rid of this garbage in 2002. 1/2* Claudio/Pearce/Azreial/Fury was next. 4-Corner Survivals are usually pointless and average. Add 3 crap workers to the mix and they become terrible. Pearce was boring as hell, nobody cared about Fury, Claudio's gimmick is annoying as hell, Azreial is just plain awful. No need for this stuff. 1/4* Joe/Lethal was decent-good. Not as good as their previous 2 matches- Lethal was leaving, and it showed, having the blowoff to a feud in the early portion of the show, and it not being a match that either put 100% into. I enjoyed it, but it was probably too long and in the long run it won't be remembered. **1/4 Whitmer/Daniels is a match that I don't think anybody wanted. And with good reason. The work they did was pretty uninspiring, and I found myself delighted when the bout was stopped for some excellent brawling. 3/4* I actually liked Homicide/Cabana. Content wise it wasn't exactly great, but I loved the idea of the restars and thought they were carried out really well, and Cabana being willing to get killed for the sake of the feud certainly did the match some favours. More of a match to further storylines than anything else, it succeeded in that respect by getting me into the feud, and there was some nice action as well. Hate Cabana's selling though, and it's been said a million times, but the serious role does not suit him. **1/2 Rave/Dragon has been overhyped. It went on way, way too long, and I felt it did little for Rave. His periods of offence were really short, Dragon's selling of most of his stuff was average at best, and while they established he could hang with Dragon on the mat, it seemed irrelevant as for much of the match he was clearly treated as inferior. He never looked like winning. There was some nice stuff in the match. Dragon's offensive reportoire is somewhat repetetive at this point, but I dug Rave stealing his offence, among other things. It's hard to point to the good stuff in the match, as it was really forgettable, but it's in there, and the match is a decent title encounter, though admittedly one of the worst Dragon defences I've seen. And I have to say that was more down to Dragon then Rave. **1/2 Evans/Reyes was never going to be a classic, especially after Evans' late flight. It's fun seeing Jack get killed for a while, and they actually make a good job of the earlier portions, establishing the speed v power roles. I found it hard to watch after Evans landed on his head though. The botches didn't help the match at all, and Evans looked out of sorts. Still, wasn't a disaster, and it's too their credit they gave us something watchable. *1/2 Aries/Strong v Sydal/Styles was good. I'm not a great fan of Sydal constantly teaming with random guys against Aries/Strong, but him and Styles looked decent as a team, and in terms of tag team fundamentals, they both seemed to understand how to work the structure in their favour. The ending sequences were fun, but the match dragged in the middle, and the face/face dynamic didn't help the match at all. Good match, but not one that will live long in the memory. **1/2 Which pretty much sums up this show. It won't live long in the memory. After the opneing 2 disasters, the rest of the show was respectable, but I cared for little of it. Not one of ROH's better shows.

At the end of the day, what would you rather hear? Retarded duelling chants especially when there's a clear face/heel. 'This Is Awesome' chants making it so you can't concentrate on the match. 'Please Don't Stop' chants. Or some kids cheering for their favourite wrestler. I know which I'd rather have to listen to.