ShittyLittleBoots

This was by far my favorite match of the night & the only one that truly felt like worth watching. 6 minutes of badass action with two mean motherfuckers going at it -- Kross' dominant work with him throwing Ciampa around with ease was a joy to watch, and Ciampa's big comeback run was epic in all of its urgency & explosiveness. ***1/2

I fucking love these two, and this unique PIT FIGHT presentation fit them like a glove. Every stomp, every kneestrike, every kick, every SMACK is treated like a big deal & they truly look n' feel gnarly throughout. That Showtime like kick by Riddle off the cage was absolutely sick & I love how it was sold w/ Thatcher spitting out those teeth & bleeding from the mouth. My goodness his selling was amazing in the match overall -- I've said it many times before, but here we go again; he might just be the greatest seller in the business today. They of course go to the mat quite a bit as well with them being them & this being a KO or Submission to finish match, and it's great stuff; it's scrappy, everything looks painful & there's great struggle in everything. Just an absolute hit in every way, this one was. Really couldn't ask for a better match to put over Tim Thatcher & his brand of pro-wrestling in NXT. ****1/4

This was awesome. It's a total Kushida punishment showcase with him totally destroying Drake throughout; his focus on the arm is extremely vicious & compelling, and Drake sells it pretty big, which of course makes it all the more better. A very good underdog tale with some pretty great work by both men from bell-to-bell. ***3/4

The first fall is great & sets the tone for the match perfectly; the work on the mat is competitive & tight, looks & comes off as really great. Some very fun mind games that make the match get meaner eventually with London calling Danielson a BITCH, which causes him to get his ass kicked -- BUT it did eventually pay off for London, as he countered Dragon's signature back bodydrop from the top attempt into a pinfall to make it 1-0. Great first fall. They continue right where they left off in the 2nd fall with Bryan accepting London's handshake, but then starting to blast him right away with strikes. London gets some comebacks here n' there, but it's mostly Bryan on top, and it's oh so fantastic. The major moment of the 2nd fall was when London was going for that SSP, but Bryan recovers quickly enough to dropkick his knee to stop that from happening; from then on, Bryan's target is on that knee, and the attack on it is obviously fantastically vicious, focused & compelling. That fall ending half crab, which looked kind of like a Liontamer was such a brutal looking hold. Terrific 2nd fall. The 3rd & final fall is also absolutely amazing with Bryan continuing that attack on the knee -- Bryan continues to be an awesome aggressor, London's selling is superb & it creates for some superb drama w/ the half crab. That finish is all kinds of awesome as well with London's truly great selling. It's a really fantastic way to finish this classic; it's always been one of my favorite matches, and that ain't changing. It keeps you, or at least me, hooked for the entire 40-minute duration of it. Pure brilliance. It really probably is the best match ROH had up to that point, even though Danielson/Styles & especially Danielson/Ki give it some extremely tough competition. ****3/4

The Elite and Matt Hardy take on the Inner Circle in a ten man Stadium Stampede match Hangman arriving & chasing Sammy with a horse, the whole LAX vs. Matt bit, the bar brawl between Hager & Hangman + Omega, Jericho killing that mascot w/ the Judas Effect, Jericho's epic fight vs. Aubrey, Matt's Northern Suplex rampage on Sammy, Rick Knox eating a Superkick like it's the good ol' days in Reseda, Matt & Kenny chasing Sammy w/ that golf cart AGAIN, that amazing finish w/ that big One Winged Angel. This was an absolute spectacle & a blast. When it comes to these "special presentation" (I struggle to call this a cinematic match tbh) matches that have happened recently, this was on a level above. This has been a truly tragic & sad week for pro-wrestling, but this was an amazing, smile-inducing way to end it. And for that I salute The Elite, Matt Hardy, The Inner Circle & AEW as a whole. I don't wanna give it a star rating, but it's one of my favorite things that I've seen this year.

Jon Moxley defends the AEW World Heavyweight Title This was badass as hell. Felt & looked like a true pro-wrestling fight between two guys who don't like each other very much. Brodie was just so great brutalizing Moxley with his superb looking offense, and Mox himself also brought the goods with his vicious offensive arsenal. The finishing stretch has to be one of my favorite scenes of 2020 with Brodie kicking out of those Paradigm Shifts, and Mox going into a killer mode because of it, totally destroying MISTER Brodie by relentlessly targeting that cut on his head & slapping in that tight choke for the W. ****

Final Match of the tournament to crown the first ever AEW TNT Champion I was a little disappointed in Archer's tournament match vs. Dustin, but this one delivered THE GOOD STUFF in spades. Arched looked like a true monster throughout with his heavy blows & easy throwing-around of Cody. Him shutting down Cody's attempts at mustering up a comeback were great as well, and on the topic of Cody's comebacks, I do think that his eventual big one would've had so much more juice behind it had there been a crowd. Still good though. I was ready to call this a flat-out great match all around, but the stuff w/ Arn, Jake & Iron Mike towards the end didn't go well with the flow of the match, and kinda stopped its momentum for a bit. It was still really damn good though. Extremely good showcase for Archer & a very good underdog performance by Cody. ***3/4

This match felt kind of all over the place? It had a very basic heel vs. babyface dynamic, with some good stuff like MJF faking that injury early on & going after Jungle Boy's arm throughout, but it also felt like a shitty generic indy match at the same time. No selling Destroyers & chops galore like its Kobashi vs Sasaki or something. Dragged like a motherfucker too -- I guess they went like 20 minutes, but it sure felt like 40. If it indeed was 20 minutes, that's 10 too many for the material the two had here, in my honest opinion. *1/4

Absolutely tragic. Every wrestling related death hits me, but this one is really gutwrenching. R.I.P. Hana. May you be at peace now.

This is somewhat comparable to Ki's excellent match vs. The Amazing Red from Road to the Title, as it follows a fairly similar formula, and there's quite a few similarities between Red & Jody Fleisch. Ki puts Fleisch over big throughout, by giving him a lot of the match & selling big for him, making this feel like a true star-making moment/match for the man, as he totally hangs in there w/ THE major asskicker in town in Low Ki. It's a charming story to tell, and they tell it wonderfully with badass action -- some notable highlights for me were that awesome springboard sequence where Ki gets the control by evading Jody's springboard attack, and then answering with one of his own immediately, that springboard SSP-piledriver thing Jody did - it didn't look pretty at all, in fact it could be called VERY messy, but it also looked vicious as hell. And I sure prefer it that way when it comes to these super highflying movez -- messy, but vicious looking >>> overly pretty & choreographed. And then of course the match ending super Ki Krusher, which was just killer. Excellent match. ****

This is a ROH classic that doesn't get the appreciation it deserves. The meat of it is Williams' focus on Daniels' neck & Daniels' counterattack on Williams' ribs, and it's excellent stuff. The selling of both men is great, and so are those mentioned focused attacks on those body parts. There's some great drama involving Doug's submission holds on Daniels' neck, and of course the whole apex of the match is the finish where he finally hits that Chaos Theory for the win, making his gameplan complete. It's an amazing finish, and the journey there was absolutely terrific. ****1/2

This starts right after London beat Styles & Ki in that excellent 3-way dance, giving it a nice dynamic of exhausted-underdog London going against the asshole champ. London is still fiery with all of his work over Xavier, but he sells the exhaustion of that triple threat very well throughout, and his overall selling was pretty great as usual. Xavier is a good foil against that with his heel tactics, and those vicious moments such as him busting London open, dumping him through a table, that nasty German Suplex to stop his momentum, etc. There's some really great nearfalls in the match too; it really felt like it was destined to be London's moment with those and how the thing was laid out, which then made the finish with Xavier reversing his roll-up into one of his own feel pretty underwhelming, but it is what it is, innit. It's a very good match for sure, even better than their also-very good meeting from Final Battle a few months prior. Between this & the 3-way vs. AJ Styles & Low Ki, Paul London sure had one HELLUVA night to say the least. ***3/4

This match is just exceptionally good when it comes to 3-way spotfests. It starts with a big pace right from the get go, and it never lets up; the action stays incredibly exciting & compelling from bell to bell. They are so innovative & creative with the 3-person spots they do, and all the bigger spots in this match hit me as a viewer beautifully. And of course with this involving Low Ki & AJ Styles (London brings it as well though!), there's plenty of awesomely mean & intense striking involved as well. As of this viewing, I would honestly put this above the legendary Daniels/Danielson/Ki 3-way dance from The Era of Honor Begins. It's that good. ****1/4

Their first ever ROH 1-on-1 meeting from the month prior was already bordering on it, but this one I thought was totally great. It's just filled with fantastic wrestling, coming with great feeling of caution, urgency, one-upmanship & pride. In the early going, they just go at it, locking each other in submissions any chance they got, while also busting out those vicious strikes to one another for good measure. It's great stuff, and once we move on to Joe's control seg, it's also great stuff; he just completely brutalizes Danielson & it's awesome. Danielson has to fight from underneath from that point on, and as I'm sure most of us know, he is excellent at that role. All of his comebacks are terrific, and so are Joe's cut-offs of those, continuing the trend of violence that this match is full of. Pure excellence. Also a fun sidenote is that this was actually the first time Bryan used the ring-name of "Bryan Danielson" in ROH. ****

It's a rematch from their March MOTYC, and it's unsurprisingly absolutely terrific. I like how the dynamic between them has changed from that PPV match of theirs to this one - they had respect for each other back then, but now they're FRIENDS, and it created for this nice little charming vibe between them here, especially in the early going w/ the fantastic back & forth grappling. Gulak establishes the first real control of the match by dumping Bryan outside, and from then on it seems like his main gameplan is to soften up Bryan's neck. Loved how he didn't give up that tight headlock when Bryan started to slam him with those shin breakers -- it took 3 of them for Bryan to get out of that damned headlock, and I thought that was some fantastic pro-wrestling right there. After that Bryan finds a gameplan of his own by going after Gulak's leg w/ a series of dragon screws, and that ankle lock into a German Suplex, which was vintage Bryan. Gulak returning into things after Bryan's assault on his leg was quite something; that modified Michinoku Driver looking move where he just dumped Bryan on his head was brutal. And Bryan returned the favor right back at him with that vicious release German! Extremely lovely stuff all match long. That finishing stretch was wonderful as well w/ Bryan delivering that second dragon screw by the ankle, after Gulak had reversed the first one, but was still hurting bad. That move gets the "move of the match" honors, as it looked vicious as hell. And then of course to make all the work in the match feel like it actually mattered, Bryan gets the win with the Heel Hook! Excellent, excellent stuff. Not on that top-top-top MOTYC level of their first match, but still one of the finest matches I've seen in 2020. ****

Always loved this pairing, so I unsurprisingly loved this. It's almost all contested on the mat with some great grappling throughout, plus of course there's also some gnarly strikes thrown in there as well. Every exchange in the match rules & comes with a good sense of urgency. It's essentially Thatcher & Riddle doing Thatcher vs. Riddle, and it's real lovely stuff. ***3/4

The moment that is getting meme'd a lot w/ Hardy & Kenny chasing Sammy in that golf cart was indeed pretty hilarious, but other than that, the match wasn't as good & wacky as I hoped it would be given the hype. Standard brawl'ish action in the ring before they start wandering around the arena, and while on paper them going full-HCTP w/ the gimmick sounds funky in the best way possible, it wasn't as interesting that I had hoped for. It was still pretty solid though - didn't go on for too long, and the action was good enough for the whole duration of it. **3/4

The highlights of this match, that wasn't good, were easily the bits with Drew just manhandling & throwing Seth around. Other than those, this was a bore. Seth wasn't interesting in the slightest with his control work, and I largely didn't care for most of Drew's stuff either. On top of that, they also of course had to do those "classic" Seth Rollins indy-spots -- shout out to that awful finishing stretch with big move no-selling, rope-bouncing. I don't want to call it disappointing because my expectations weren't high at all to begin with, but both guys had WAY better empty arena PC matches at Mania for sure. *3/4

Their first ROH match, and it's a pretty great one. Real intense from start till finish, as the tensions between the two had been building for a bit. Lots of brutal strikes, some really good work on the mat, some brief knee targeting by Bryan -- they just brutalize one another & it's some real good stuff. Joe locking in that STF & maniacally yelling "I OWN YOU!!!" was such a fantastic moment. ***3/4

This is such a well paced & built spotfest. It gets hotter & hotter as it goes on, and ends just when it hits its peak. Everybody gets their big stuff in, and it rules -- everything looks impactful, vicious & crisp. Definitely a standout match of its genre. ***1/2

A good comparison to this would be the Crowning A Champion 4-way, because this is also a true long boy, going to the 45-minute time limit draw, but much like that said match at Crowning A Champion, this is also absolutely excellent. The 45-minutes fly by, as the action is very good & compelling throughout, with the peaks of the match being straight up great. Corino was on fire with his character work & he brought his own old school-ish flavor to the thing which fit it super well, and then of course Dragon, Ki & Joe just killed it. Every combo in the match just WORKED and created for some damn fine professional wrestling throughout. A terrific way to close out Ring of Honor's 2002. ****

Xavier is getting a shitload of heat from the crowd at this point, and London is THE babyface underdog going, so this unsurprisingly ruled. All of Xavier's work on the offense is very good, and his gameplan of softening London up by the neck was fun to follow. London's performance from underneath was really good as well, all of his comebacks ruled & his selling n' bumping was great. Good stuff all match long, with everything from the London win-tease w/ that Xavier rope-break on being red hot great. ***1/2

Hahaha, this was just an absolute blast from start to finish. Totally on par with the Boneyard match for me. So many great moments like the boys arriving at the gym where the match started off, AJ seeking revenge at Rey, those flashbacks to the Boneyard match, Bryan delivering those repeated YES Kicks to Corbin while Otis does the chanting right next to him, Corbin throwing Rey & Aleister casually off the roof, AJ going "STOOOP!!!" when Otis celebrated his victory, and of course then the highlight of it all -- Bryan & AJ brawling themselves into Vince's office. That bit was amazing. The whole thing was just soooo much fun.

Abdullah The Butcher in ROH in 2002 is a SIGHT to say the least, and a few minutes in, he has already busted Loc open badly by the forehead, and that FORK is being put to good use, obviously. This is such an entertaining, messy, ugly and bloody brawl, and I loved every second of it. You could call it an extended squash even, because 95% or more of it is just Abby & Homicide going to town on the Carnage Crew, and goddamn it was entertaining! Homicide was great with his violence-filled performance, and ABBY being ABBY in a setting like this was just wild. ***1/2

They are pretty even in the early going, but once Dragon gets the control, he sure doesn't give it up easily. He beats the brakes out of London, and it certainly is a winning dynamic with these two, because London was such a great FIP & Bryan destroying fools is always superb. Bryan is a mean motherfucker throughout, and London matches that intensity in his fiery comeback bursts, and it all culminates in that big finishing stretch where Bryan climbs up to the ropes over & over again, making London truly work if he wanted to put him down, which he eventually does. Great build-up to that finish, and a truly great match. ****