ShittyLittleBoots

At over 41 minutes, this is a real long boy. It's an absolutely phenomenal one, though. They pace it perfectly from start to finish, with the action being good for each step of the way & never going down, as it instead gets hotter & better as the match progresses. It's a very good match all the way through with the peaks of it being superb. It naturally & gradually built into an amazing, show-stealing affair. Everyone involved delivered big time & looked great in the process. ****1/4

Punk & Cabana are such a well-oiled machine together - watching them isolate Whitmer & do a real sweet tag team number on him ruled. As did Dan Maff's eventual hot tag; he is at his best when wrecking shop in short bursts, and that's pretty much what he got to do here. Both the hot tag & the build-up to it was some good stuff. They eventually brawl all over the crowd, with this being a no dq match & all, and during & after it there's this very nice chaotic feeling to the match, and I really liked that as well. The more "traditional" first half ruled, but so does the frantic second half. Banging match. ***1/2

Not as great as their previous meeting, but still a really awesome match in its own right. This had almost the same lay-out on paper as that said previous match of theirs @ Reborn: Stage Two, but with the teams assuming different roles & putting some new touches into things. I thought the highlight of the entire match was pretty easily the Mark FIP segment with him selling well & The Saints doing a real lovely, focused number on his banged up ribs. ***1/2

I thought that the first 2/3rds of this were some really great, extremely fun-to-watch stuff. The Chicago crowd gave this an amazing atmosphere w/ them obviously being fully behind The Saints, which gave us a real nice traditional babyface team vs. heel team dynamic. Punk & Cabana get a fantastic shine to start things off, and I loved it all -- the nice lil' touches of comedy with them embarrassing Briscoes were oh so good, and the fact that the crowd ate it all up made it even more sweeter. It really felt like it was the perfect stuff to do on this night. It just all came off as SO spirited because of the atmosphere. Loved Punk's FIP segment as well w/ the Briscoes doing a very good, compelling job of cutting the ring in half & isolating him + even utilizing some old-school heel tactics while doing it. Cabana's eventual hot tag rules, and after that they kick the thing into its 2nd, finishing gear w/ them essentially saying fuck the tag rules, as most of the action for the rest of the match is with all four men inside the ring. Usually stuff like that doesn't really annoy or disturb me at all, because I'm so used to it I guess, but this felt like such a traditional tag bout before that section, so it did bother me a little bit. It was still good action though, but I preferred the lead-up to it. It's a great match overall with a fantastic start, great middle, and a solid last third. Then you add in the absolutely terrific atmosphere and you got yourself a real banging tag outing. ****

Homicide had some lengthy matches against AJ Styles & CM Punk earlier on in 2003, and comparing this one - another lengthy match - to them, this is so much better it's not even funny. Goes on for about half an hour, and the wrestling is really good for the entire duration with both guys employing nice strategies; Homicide softens Bryan's neck throughout to prepare him for his finish, and Dragon answers to that by beautifully & viciously manipulating 'cide's hand after he banged it against the guardrail. It's a very good match, even with extremely long matches like this certainly NOT being Homicide's strongest suit, but he looked real good in there against an opponent who knows how to make each moment of a long match like this compelling. ***1/2

Off the top of my head I can't think of a better Street Profits match that I've watched. This had a charming dynamic of two babyface teams going at it, with Kofi & Xavier kind of assuming the role of vets protecting their spots. I thought the early stuff with Kofi going against Montez ruled & had a couple of really nice moments. The New Day lads isolating Ford & doing a number on his mid-section also ruled -- not many times have they come off as so focused, but watching them execute their attack here w/ such a great focus indeed was truly a joy. The multiple Boom Drops by Kofi, Woods' big gutbuster etc, such good stuff! Ford's selling was also solid; he did his badass dives, but also always remembered to sell the big pain caused by the assault on his mid-section. Dawkins' hot tag was also pretty damn great. Everything about this was at least good in all honesty. Just some real fine tag team wrestling. ***1/2

This was a simply magnificent four corner survival. Everyone involved delivered a show-stealing effort - it truly felt like I was watching four hungry young guys go out there & make a little statement. Aries was the most over man at the start of the match & he looked really good with everything he did, I absolutely loved the pure intensity & aggression Rocky brought into the thing, and then there's Nigel McGuinness. Goddamn I love that man. Maybe my favorite moment of the entire match was when there's one very vocal fella in the crowd making noise that gets rest of the crowd to focus on him & get distracted from whats going on inside the ring, then Nigel busts out this amazing sequence w/ a bit of some WoS-like charm, and the crowd explodes into a standing ovation. He's probably my pick for the star of the match honors, even though everybody indeed looked great -- and that brings me to Jimmy Rave, who didn't get too much time to "shine", as in he didn't get as much time as the others to showcase his signature offense, but he still looked absolutely tremendous getting his lunch eaten & shit kicked out of him throughout. Played his role perfectly. Loooved Romero & Aries destroying his arm, his selling was on point, and Nigel coming in & smartly getting the victory by targeting that arm some more ruled. Such a great match! ****

Didn't reach the greatness of their Do Or Die title bout, but it's still Joe & 'cide doing their thing, so it's obviously good. Both guys, especially Joe, deliver some vvverrry nice offense throughout, and I dig the fireball ending, giving Homicide's character some new direction. ***

This is actually their first ever 1-on-1 meeting, which makes it quite noteworthy on paper. It's a really good match! At 26 minutes, it definitely goes on for a bit too long & there's periods where it isn't as compelling as you'd like, but for the absolute majority of it, the wrestling is lovely. Danielson seeing a target in Punk's mid-section, going to work over it & then getting the win with the abdominal stretch was awesome. Also have to say that knowing what happens years later, the dueling "YES! NO!" chant when they're battling on the top rope towards the end always pops me. ***1/2

This is a Steel Cage Match for Samoa Joe's ROH World Championship. Jay Briscoe's crimson mask is one of the most stunning blood-related visuals that I've ever seen in pro-wrestling. It's what I thought when I first watched this match yeaaaaars ago, and it still strikes me on that same level. It's amazing & truly helps this already-totally-great match kick things up to another notch -- the Briscoes vs. Joe feud comes to its conclusion beautifully with Joe dishing out amazingly compelling punishment throughout + Jay taking it all like a champ and also delivering big time with all of times he is on the offense himself. Him hitting the Jay Driller towards the end was such a fantastic moment. To put it simply, both parties involved were absolutely on point w/ their roles in this match. It's constant, superb violence, and the big spots, such as the cutter from the top, Joe's backdrop driver from the top & that match-ending super Muscle Buster -- it's all holy-shit worthy & simply amazing stuff. This is an essential watch for anybody looking to get into prime ROH, as it really is a bona fide classic for the company. ****1/2

Whitmer & Maff are of course stablemates in The Prophecy, so they really are teaming up throughout this 4-way dance, which causes Joe & Ki to form kind of an alliance to combat against that. It's good stuff; BJ's & Maff's heat seg on Joe towards the end was really good I thought, but the ultimate highlights of this one, unsurprisingly, are the exchanges between Joe & Ki -- the one true sequence they had very late in the match where they just slap, knee & kick the shit out of one another was pure joy. ***1/2

Jimmy Rave assaulted AJ's knee at the closing minutes of their tournament match earlier on in the night, and it didn't take long for that same knee to become the main target of Matt Stryker's onslaught in this bout. I thought that Stryker did a really good job being the aggressor here; his work on that said knee was focused n' vicious, and when he wasn't attacking it, he was doing other awesome stuff like smashing AJ's head into the barricade on the outside. AJ sold really well throughout too, even if his match-finishing springboard maneuver was maybe a bit too clean given the amount of pain he was supposed to be in, but it still worked, as it felt like everything kinda just fell into the perfect place for him to hit that move. A really good match and real good performances by both as well, especially Stryker. ***1/2

This is just really good wrestling throughout, with things kicking up a notch once Punk goes after Doug's knee. He's like a shark smelling blood attacking it, and that finish where it came to play was SO awesome. Seriously love, love, LOVE the crap out of that finish - everything leading up to it was already awesome, but that is the cherry on top of the cake. ***1/2

AJ Styles had taken Jimmy Rave under his wing & he had been trying to motivate him to find that killer instinct within him to succeed. Styles actually requested for Rave to be his opponent here. The match plays out excellently into that storyline between 'em, with it having a lovely little young boy dynamic; Styles is pretty dominant throughout with his viciously excellent looking offense, but Rave gets some very nice chains of offense in himself, and in the end he finds that killer instinct by going after the knee AJ seemingly hurt. I really, really enjoyed this one. Clocking in at under 8 minutes I thought they told their charming story very well bell-to-bell. ***1/2

This is on par with Joe's match alongside AJ Styles against The Briscoes. The thing rules, to put it simply. Bryan & Joe are all kinds of awesome when they're working over the Briscoe Bros, wrenching their arms, stretching them boys out & blasting them with vicious strikes. Briscoes are great as well with especially their heat segment on Bryan being absolutely lovely. ***3/4

This is a Fight Without Honor grudge match. Comparing this to the very good battle Homicide & Trent Acid had of the same match type earlier on the year, this is a level above. There's A LOT of truly insane spots, such as the springboard 450 to the outside through the table, Xavier's Arabian Press onto Walters who was laying on the ladder, Kiss-Your-X-Goodbye from the top rope & of course also that absolutely BRUTAL finish -- but even more importantly, on top of all that, I felt like these two here captured the true essence of a Fight Without Honor, which could be summed up to the one word of "dislike". That's where I think it edges out 'cide vs. Acid, which also had some great, vicious spots/moments, but this one felt simply more heated. ****

Such an awesome opener. Starts off with some very nice, charming technical wrestling that covers the first half of it. Then they eventually start unloading the more heavy offense & things get a bit more intense, and it's equally awesome. ***1/2

It's a No Ropes Barbed Wire match to end this feud. When you talk about pure nastiness & sheer violence, this probably ups their previous match. There's some stuff here that's legitimately pretty hard to watch, and I mean that in the best way possible. I don't think it's as good overall as that said Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies match-up of theirs though, but it's not far off. One slight negative that bothered me was Homicide going for multiple flash roll-ups in the beginning; it didn't fit the match, and it ESPECIALLY didn't fit Homicide of all people at all. Other than that, this was him & Corino doing pro-wrestling grudge match violence brilliantly, once again. ****1/4

This is as hard hitting as one would expect and has some neat, interesting bits of storytelling with AJ having to counter Joe's big size advantage. Joe is on top for a lot of the match, and it's of course some pretty great stuff with his arsenal looking brutal as always & AJ bumping like AJ does for it. That's already a winning combination, but then you add in AJ's explosive, vicious n' excellent comebacks, and you got a real kick-ass bout. Going back to that interesting storytelling mention, I also really liked the whole little narrative they did with AJ busting out big power moves on Joe, which ultimately caused him to essentially gas himself out. ***3/4

This is probably the best 2-on-2 tag team match ROH had held up to this point in time. It's just full of super exciting tag team sequences & overall kick-ass action -- Joe & Styles wrecking shit n' cleaning house together was so much fun, and The Briscoes were awesome as well, matching the viciousness & straight-up awesomeness of their opponents throughout. Them working better as an unit with the little things and capitalizing on the one miscommunication AJ & Joe made in the end was the most obvious narrative to go with it, and it worked super well, I thought. One big misstep for them caused the loss against the tag champs. This match was such a super good time. ***3/4

This is an awesome little match. The early back & forth is really good, and so is Rave taking over by targeting Daniels' arm. Daniels' initial selling is on point, and him taking the control back by going after Rave's back ruled -- the whole heat seg he did on it was great stuff w/ his full focus being on that one bodypart. Then add the always charming young boy vs. an established cocky superstar of the company dynamic to the thing, and you got yourself a big hit. ***1/2

They truly did the gimmick justice here. This was fantastic grudge-match violence mixed with perfect touches of lil' fun -- very much exactly what I wanted out of it. Dustin & QT rocking kneepads over their jeans, every participant wearing white to show off those eventual bloodstains, haystacks flyin', fire extinguishers, handcuffs, BLOOD, epic ladder & plywood spots, super satisfying babyface ending to the match. QT Marshall absolutely killed it. What a BLAST. ****

This is Dragon's first appearance in ROH since his MOTYC vs. Paul London. So what does he do in his first match back? Has another classic for the company. GOAT shit only. And it's against a man he had one of the finest matches of 2002 against. So their first match already was an amazing contest, and their 2nd match here is just as good. They bring that now-signature Danielson vs. Styles strategic pro-wrestling aggression & competitiveness into it. You know right from the first time they touch that it's gonna be a good one, as they quickly move into some grappling, which indeed comes with a nice sense of aggression & violence. Extremely intense, just the way you would expect from the two. Eventually Bryan sees a target in AJ's shoulder/arm as he ties him up on the ropes; Bryan's work on the arm is SUPERB in all of its vicious glory. AJ also bumps & sells for it big time, which makes it all feel & look all the more brutal n' amazing. Styles eventually finds an opening by dumping Bryan on the outside legs first, which results in him returning the favor from the arm-destruction that Danielson did on him by going after his knee. AJ is also brutal as hell targeting it; he is dumping Bryan knee-first into the post n' guardrail, which actually also cuts the knee open, really putting over the brutality of it all. The dueling bodypart-targeting story that is going on is wonderful to watch unfold, and the pure sense of competition is so grabbing throughout. Absolutely adore the whole finishing sequence too, especially everything leading up to that one-armed Styles Clash -- so much struggle in display, but that could be said about the whole match, because they brought that in spades. Absolutely WONDERFUL stuff all in all. If I had to choose which is a better match between 'em, this or the first one @ All-Star Extravaganza, it wouldn't be an easy one, because they really are just as good. ****1/2

This match is just fucking ridiculous. It's a pretty infamous match in Ring of Honor's lore, mostly due to the post-match, but it's also EASILY the silliest & most ridiculous match they have held up to this point. And I loved it. It's pure chaos & carnage for every single passing second of it -- a full-on brawl with fists flying & wrestlers being thrown into the steel cage walls, and then there's so many absolutely RIDICULOUS, if I may repeat myself, highflying spots from the top of the cage, mostly involving dem boys Teddy Hart & especially Jack Evans. It is 100% worth a watch, even if there's a good chance that you would hate it, because it's such a ridiculous (word of the day) kind-of-shitty spectacle. I wouldn't call it a full-on "it's so bad, it's good" kind of deal, because it really rules in a good way for most of it, but some of the absolutely nutty flying spots sure work with that saying. Madness. ***1/2

This is SUCH a blast right from the introductions to the post-match promos by both men. It's two huge personalities going at it, and they play off of each other wonderfully throughout. The "actual wrestling" part of the match rules too, with them blasting each other with some fantastic looking punches, forearms, chops & kicks. Corino faking that ear injury in a nice ode to his fantastic fight vs. Homicide was awesome, and the flurry he went on after revealing that he wasn't actually hurt was some truly great stuff. And yeah, then there's indeed the joyous pre-match w/ their ridiculous introductions + the post-match with them bonding over Corino swerving the crowd & Punk giving them a usual Punk-like jawing on the mic. A real lovely piece of business as an overall package. ***3/4