ShittyLittleBoots

This was looking to become a full-on Chris Daniels 03 classic akin his matches vs. Doug Williams & Xavier, but in the last third (or so), they decide to pretty much say "fuck you" to the whole story of Walters' working over Daniels' leg vs. Daniels doing a number on Walters' back. Daniels in particular disappointed me a lot when it came down to that, as he was doing his moonsaults as clean as ever & running full speed -- I think it's especially disappointing when you know that he could also sell extremely well if needed. OH WELL & all that. I still enjoyed this tremendously, because the hold-for-hold back n' forth technical rasslin' in the beginning was really good, and then the mentioned bodypart-targeting story that happened was really great. More selling and this could've & probably would've been one of the years highlights. ***3/4

This was a pretty basic, yet extremely solid underdog tale with the dominant champion taking on a young challenger. At first Joe isn't treating Jay as a real threat, instead he is just toying with him while beating him down, and it's good stuff. Jay's eventual big comeback run is also good stuff, with him being full of fire to start it off & I feel like it lasted just about the correct time w/ Joe then ending it in badass fashion with that big uranage on the corner. From then on Joe is more in control, but Jay still gets some pretty awesome comeback bits + big kickouts and nearfalls to his own name, too. It's not the best match they've had, but it was a good one & kind of set the wheels in motion for what was about to come between 'em very nicely. ***

A really good match. The opening work on the mat is really tight, aggressive feeling & looking - really liked all of it. Eventually Punk sees a target in AJ's back, so he starts softening him up by going after it. Punk's work over the back is real good throughout, and there's some superb moments revolving around that, such as Punk catching AJ on his top rope attack & turning it into a crushing backbreaker. All of AJ's comebacks now that Punk is in firm control are great too with him bringing the big time energy & hard hits. That finish w/ him countering Punk's Shining Wizard attempt straight into the Styles Clash was very neat, too. ***1/2

The fact that this is a pro-wrestling PPV main event in 2020 rules so much. Sadly the match doesn't hold up from the initial viewing; it just feels slow, and while I understand why they did it, I do think it relies a bit too much on gimmicks rather than their actual strengths, which is having a constant scrap with wild fists flying, eye gouges, chokes, etc. There's a good amount of that kind of stuff - the good stuff if you will, but it's just moves at such an uninteresting pace throughout, it kills much of the energy of the match. It's still a good match though, just not as great as it easily could've been, given the participants involved. ***

It's not SO great the 2nd time watching it, but it's still pretty great. I felt like most of the match was some mighty fine, awesome tag team wrestling showcasing the differences of the philosophies behind these two teams, but some of the moments felt a bit forced, as in it felt like they wanted to cram it full of "moments", and some of them fell flat in the grand structure of the bout, in my eyes. It's still a helluva match though, as most of it totally rules. ***3/4

Darby showing up to Cody right from the get go with his superior quickness was very nice, and Cody taking control by brutally dumping him outside arm-first was a fantastic way to transition into his heat seg. Cody's work over the arm was all kinds of awesome with big focus & the confidence he showed throughout doing it was great. Really felt like it was a big gameplan coming to fruition & the wrestler doing it was executing it excellently. Those straight up bully-like moments with him running his mouth & doing some taunts were all awesome as well. And of course Darby is superb doing the selling -- his arm was total dead-weight throughout, and I loved stuff like him trying to lock in the choke from behind, but only being able to do it with one arm, ultimately leading to that failing. Also gotta mention that Super Cross Rhodes from the top, which was a legitimately insanely fantastic highspot. Everything about this was simply great... Up until the finish. I didn't like the finish at all. Everything they did in the match & even in the post-match, it all called for a better, more decisive, more "epic" finish. The result is awesome, but damn that finish leaves a lil' sour taste in my mouth after such an otherwise brilliant match. ***3/4

This felt like a sprint for most of it, and of course it's good stuff. I do think the match feels a bit disappointing considering who are the two wrestlers in it though, and the fact that the backstory was there for something bigger & better, but it's still a good match so. Like I said, it does feel like a sprint with the pace they go at right from the get go, and both Joe & Daniels sure look good there w/ their great signature offense, but I do also think that some of it doesn't register so well though, as it feels like they are indeed just hitting moves, but HEY, at least those moves look great. And the match gets better as it goes on too w/ the urgency levels rising, especially in the last 5-or so minutes when the action is red hot. That Angel's Wings nearfall was simply tremendous. ***1/4

The fact that this is a match that happened in 03 is a blessed thing. It's a good match too! Terry looked very good with everything he did and Punk sold tremendously for him. And talking bout selling, the selling of his own when the knee became the focal point of Punk's attack, Funker was simply on point. He sold that damage to perfection, which shouldn't surprise anyone. Fun little match. ***1/4

I think this smokes their Wrestlerave match tbh. And that match already ruled & had quite a few insane moments, but this is totally great & super consistent with its action (which is something I thought the Wrestlerave match wasn't). It feels very sprint-y with how fast they go right from the get go, and that adds a lot to the overall intensity & the feeling of the dislike they have for one another. Acid & 'cide both bring some truly fantastic offense w/ their own signature touches into the thing, and it's just awesome to watch them beat each other up, to put it bluntly. The blood added quite a bit too, and the ways they both got cut? Naaaaasty stuff. Superb match. ****

A ROH classic worthy of its reputation. It's always as nasty as ever; Homicide & Corino just completely brutalize one another in the most vicious, stunning ways they could here, and it's some compelling stuff, to say the least. Corino's epic introduction, THE SLAP, 'cide cutting Corino's arm with barbed wire & then continuing to destroy it with a FORK & by biting it, Corino smashing Homicide's head on the barricade & cutting him open, digging his fingers & barbed wire in that cut, Homicide's fucking dive where his back eats shit on the rail on his way flying to the crowd, that dramatic, blood-filled 2nd gear they kick the thing into once the finish is coming nearer & nearer. Everything always holds up. It's a masterpiece of its genre -- the big moments in the match are visually stunning & super memorable + the action really never gets boring for one second. One minute they are doing a number on one another with weapons, and one minute they are punching & booting their heads in. It's all oh-so-good. Hate-filled pro-wrestling grudge match violence done brilliantly. ****1/2

5 months earlier Xavier lost the ROH Title to Samoa Joe, and this is his first match in the company since that. He is going up against his Prophecy pal in Christopher Daniels, so this already has a pretty intriguing dynamic from the start. As the match starts & goes on, it plays out kind of like you would expect it to go between two stablemates; it's some really good, charming back & forth that comes with a nice feeling of caution. Def kept me hooked throughout, and then Xavier unloads the first punch of the match, which shocks Daniels, who of course then returns the favor. From that point it's truly ON, with them upping the intensity & one-upmanship -- one of the best moments of the entire matches came right after they traded those punches, as they try to trick one another into thinking it's a "clean" fight again without punches, but it turns out they both tried to double-cross each other, resulting in a full-on SCRAP with fists flying. That whole sequence truly captured the essence of this heel vs. heel match-up. Eventually Daniels finds a target in Xavier's mid-section, and he truly doesn't forget about that target for the entirety of the thing, as it becomes the focal point of his onslaught. Daniels' work over the ribs is fantastic throughout & Xavier's selling is really good. Xavier finding an opening & noticing Daniels banging his neck on the barricade, which then resulted in him fully attacking that said neck was a great, compelling gameplan to counter Daniels' hellacious beating of his ribs, too -- Xavier's work over it is also great, and Daniels' selling is very good as well. A full-on ribs vs. neck story this turns into, and it rules so much. There's lots of great, perfectly dramatic moments involving those said targeted bodyparts of the two, and the wrestling is just super compelling each step of the way. It all really blew me away. Now Xavier had some really good matches vs. the likes of Paul London & Low Ki before this in his ROH career - all those matches had some overbooking which either hurt or helped them though, but then comes THIS? Those said matches vs. London & Ki were indeed really good, but THIS? What. a. gem. I think it's very comparable to Daniels' fantastic match vs. Doug Williams from Night of Champions earlier on in the year, but I would probably put this even above it, because of the super charming heel vs. heel dynamic & the way they tell their story with it. Absolutely tremendous match in every way possible. Xavier & Daniels wrestled their asses off, straight up. ****1/2

This wasn't as dramatic and epic as it could've & really should've been given all the circumstances around it, but it's still a helluva match. It's two of the best wrestlers of 2003 going at it, and when you put it that way, it probably didn't reach its full potential as I already implied, but it still rules. London & Joe seemed to have a natural chemistry, with London using his quickness to get some flow going in his output, and then Joe of course looked like a killer with his always lovely offense, which London also sells tremendously. Really good underdog dynamic throughout. The post-match with London saying farewell to ROH is really special as well, making this a really sweet deal all around. ***1/2

This is a really good match, and as an overall package w/ Punk's pre-match promo & the whole post-match included, it's a pretty memorable one as well. I thought they made good usage of the Dog Collar gimmick with the chain coming into play in many of the momentum swifts, and both Punk & Raven offered rock-solid performances in their respective roles. Punk sold extremely well when Raven was kicking his ass all over the place, and Raven looked good doing the said ass-kicking; the clothesline frenzy he went on after Punk's control period pretty late in the match was the highlight of the thing in my eyes. That was some really good shit, as was the match as a whole. Sure Raven's initial shine maybe went on for a bit too long, but I thought Punk's selling made up for it, and the energy & the heat between 'em never left during it, so it's fine. Punk also looked great when controlling things; I especially loved when he picked up the microphone to talk some shit to Raven while beating him down, truly shining as the proud, cocky youngster heel that he was. A pretty damn great performance from him overall I thought, pre- & post-match included. ***1/2

This is a simply WONDERFUL 4-way dance with each competitor firing on all cylinders. Everybody has multiple shining moments & they all simply look constantly good in there as the action keeps on getting hotter & hotter as each moment passes. Just when you think that the energy might be going down a little, BOOM -- here is one of them busting out some more hype shit. ***3/4

This is a FIGHT WITHOUR HONOR, and Homicide & Trent take that stipulation to the heart by going pretty bonkers in the thing. Lots of brutal punishment thrown towards one another throughout, with the most memorable spot being that Ace Crusher from 'cide to the floor through the table. Gawd damn. If you're a big fan of matches like this, I could see it being rated even higher & loved even more than I did, and I already really liked it. ***1/2

I would probably rank the 2/3 falls match against Danielson as London's #1 match, but at the same time this probably is his most captivating individual performance. His mind games in the early stages of the match with the constant handshake offers & sly looks was very interesting to follow, and the action was just as good, and even better than you would expect from these two. It was smooth, crisp, nasty & violent -- simply some beautiful pro-wrestling, man. Beautiful pro-wrestling. Eventually London sees a target in AJ's leg, and that is when his full-on mean streak & killer instinct kicked in, and my GOODNESS the match kicks up a notch after that. It already was phenomenal, but once the leg becomes the main story of the match, that's when you, or at least I, realize that I am watching a classic unfold. The ways London goes to that leg any chance he gets is so great & as compelling to watch as one could ask -- there's so many great moments revolving around the legwork throughout. AJ totally rocks his role fighting in peril from underneath too -- he's the lovely, aggressive, scrappy pitbull that he was around this time, and it compliments London's work here perfectly. A better finish and this would be a bona fide 5-star one, but even with the lame double pin that kinda came out of nowhere, it's still totally a classic & one of my personal favorite matches. ****3/4

This is a real lovely piece of business. It's a heated fight with the main focus of it obviously being the continuation of the feud between CM Punk & Raven, and it makes some awesome action, to say the least. It feels heated right from the get go & never lets up -- everything especially after Punk & Raven introduce the chairs into the match is some truly quality stuff. Cabana & Whitmer also more than play their roles well in this thing, making every interaction in the match at least good, and for most of the time VERY good. ***1/2

Oh hell yeeeeah. These two brutalize each other in very compelling fashion from bell-to-bell. Joe's beatdown of Homicide is absolutely joyous in all of its viciousness -- Joe obviously brings it, but much of it is also of course thanks to Homicide's nutty bumping; my man made those signature suplexes of Joe look so much more terrifying than they already do. Bless that man. He also totally delivers when on the offense himself, especially towards the end after Ki comes out to fire him up, leading up to his last big rally, which was some truly exciting pro-wrestling. I do think they could've trimmed some minutes from that point on though, as it feels like the match doesn't maintain its kick-ass high all the way through after that, but it does pick up pretty quickly & ends in badass fashion, so that's a minor, minor complaint. Joe is the man & a helluva underdog performance from 'cide. ***3/4

Kind of a famous match when it comes to the ROH lore. And it's a good one. It's a beatdown by Samoa Joe for the most part, so of course it's good, but he also sells big when it comes time to do that during Zebra Kid's comebacks. Kid's comebacks aren't all that exciting when you lay them out on paper, but I thought they worked well within the context of the match, and Joe's selling of those + cut-offs were truly on point, so I enjoyed it all. ***

This was a very nice opener with some exciting sequences & offense in general by both men. In particular London as usual delivered THE GOODS & probably was the main reason why I enjoyed the match as much as I did, but Tighe also does hang in there w/ him and has a few nice moments. ***

This is one of those matches that obviously was great. It's one of those matches that obviously was great, but for whatever reason(s) that I can't even name, I just didn't enjoy it on a level that I enjoy matches that I would call certified great ones. It feels super weird & stupid to type that out, but that's how I felt when this match was going & once it was over. Maybe it's because I've seen them do this match quite a few times already, and I feel like WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov hit their peak at wXw Superstars of Wrestling 2018 when it comes to my enjoyment of the pairing, but yeah. It was great, but it really was "just" very good to me. That is not a complaint at all, because I am still rating this pretty high, but I also recognize that it definitely was better than what my personal rating suggests. A true war in the style of Ilja & WALTER, a match that should be watched. ***3/4

Holy hell what a gem. They pack so much compelling, excellent wrestling into the 12-minutes or so that they go. Williams' focus on Joe's arm was really fantastic; he was like a snake with the ways he targeted that bodypart, always going after it any & every chance he got. Joe sold being in trouble brilliantly throughout, as any time he was on the offense himself busting out some sweet stuff, he never forgot to sell the damage Williams had done to his arm. And talking bout that sweet stuff, the finish w/ him countering Doug's Chaos Theory attempt into some GENERAL SAMOA JOE BADASSERY was aaaawesome & a truly superb way to cap off a great match. Everything about this ruled. ****

They start it off with some nice grappling stuff -- it's certainly not the best grappling ever seen in a pro-wrestling ring or anything close to that, but it's slick n' nice, aaaaand it also comes with a GREAT sense of caution & danger, which help make it all extremely enjoyable. The match really explodes once Nakamura decides to deliver a lil' disrespectful slap to Sakuraba, to which Saku answers accordingly by going on a huge strike-flurry. It was a great way to transition into the 2nd stage of the match I thought, and everything that followed was just superb. Everything Sakuraba does has such a fantastic feeling of danger to it, Nakamura sells his ass off & they make every bigger move and submission truly feel BIG. It's some terrific Tokyo Dome worthy drama, but with its own, unique charm. I love it. Saku vs. Naka is such a beautiful match that holds up on every single viewing of it. ****

This is the best dick-measuring contest of the year. It's Ibushi & Dangerous T trading kicks literally for the entire duration of it with amazing facial expressions & body language. It's an amazing overall package -- it's so unique, yet so simple. The kind of a spectacle that would fit the Tokyo Dome, even. The best match of the 2020 G1 Climax. ****1/4

Very much a slugfest for the most of it, and these two sure hit each other in compelling fashion, but then there's also some very nice arm targeting in the thing by Minoru, combined with some equally very nice selling of the said targeted bodypart by Shingo! It's actually somewhat almost shocking at how rock-solid his selling was all the way through. MiSu was of course indeed great with the attack too; he was persistent & torturous with the ways he found openings to continue the assault. The whole match was full of some badass stuff. It was a joy to watch it all unfold. ****