supersonic

Do or Die - May 31, 2003 Tom Carter vs. Matt Stryker This one definitely hasn't aged that impressively, although I appreciated the effort in it. Full disclosure before I get to the critiquing: this and the match against Doug Williams two months later are the only matches of Carter's that I've seen; I've never watched any of his Reckless Youth material. Both men did a solid job of incorporating technical wrestling, and had the benefit of a hot crowd when the match started. It's a shame that neither man had the charisma and selling ability/willingness to truly engage the crowd. Put Alex Shelley and Bryan Danielson in this exact spot, with the same amount of time, with the same storytelling goals in mind, and this would have been significantly better. I appreciate that Stryker was able to overcome the leg work Carter had done on him by rolling him up during an attempted submission, since based on the commentary Stryker was more experienced with technical wrestling schemes. But this was honestly no better than a fun but ultimately forgettable 10 minute match on SmackDown! This certainly wasn't worth the $40 I shelled out on eBay just to see this match, but hey, I sold the master copy for $50. I'm not surprised that ROH hasn't prioritized including this match on Year Two or any other comps. The post-match is hilarious yet tedious, with Carter whining about being a junior style pioneer on the indies and not getting respect for it, saying Stryker's pin was a fluke too. Again, this is the only promo I've ever watched Carter/Youth cut, but it was not impressive, and the phenomenal promo later on this show in the exact same ring wasn't doing Carter any favors. I must note that Allison Danger came to the ring to discuss Carter having a spot in the Prophecy, and she had a one-piece spandax bellbottom outfit that had me laughing. Was fashion in the very early 21st Century really that horrendous, or was that just a wrestler lacking fashion awareness? Rating: ***1/4 Second City Saints post-match promo Epic. You get CM Punk's self-important preaching followed by Colt Cabana and Lucy just having a good time. This is CM Punk living up to his justified hype as a character. ROH Title Match Samoa Joe vs. Homicide A damn good match for its time, but these two were capable of better. Very dangerous shit they pulled off here, but there were times when the crowd bought that Homicide was really gonna do it. Pretty impressive when it was 2003! Rating: ***1/2 Up next - Night of the Grudges Matches will include: CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Raven & BJ Whitmer AJ Styles vs. Paul London

Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II - April 26, 2003 ROH Title Shot Match CM Punk vs. Homicide A really, really fun match that felt like a rough draft due to some issues with selling and pacing (they kept going several more minutes after peaking the crowd with the Pepsi Plunge.) I'm looking forward to seeing what they could do in their later matches. Just an exciting match from start to finish that needed some polishing. This is the 2003 (and better) version of Low Ki vs. AJ Styles from A Night of Appreciation. Rating: ***1/2 Round Robin Challenge Match #3 Paul London vs. Christopher Daniels London's 2003 run just kept rolling along with this classic. A tremendous match that built off of Daniels vs. Doug Williams, Daniels vs. Homicide, Xavier vs. London, and London vs. Bryan Danielson. While it didn't have the pace of Daniels vs. Williams, it had the more engaging story - there was just simply nobody else in 2003 that sold and got sympathy heat like London. Not Chris Benoit. Not Rey Mysterio. Not Shawn Michaels. Daniels also brought his A-game for this one, moving fluidly and with a vengeance. He had a weak spot on London, and he wasn't gonna succumb to London's tenacity like he did in his classic against Williams at Night of Champions. Daniels was just on point in this match. I can only imagine these two having an actual feud back in the day. Rating: ****1/2 Up next - Do or Die Segments will include: Tom Carter vs. Matt Stryker An epic Second City Saints promo Samoa Joe vs. Homicide

The Epic Encounter - April 12, 2003 Tag Titles Match AJ Styles & Amazing Red vs. Briscoe Bros. An improvement over their Night of Champions "effort," but still dripping with flaws. A huge problem with selling in this one, and the ref fucked off in the finishing stretch with enforcing the tag rules. I hope the final match they have is better than this one. Rating: less than *** 2/3 Falls Match Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson "You're my bitch!" - Paul London as he's locked in a seated abdominal stretch THIS. IS. ART. I could probably write an actual essay on this, but I'm too tired to do so. First of all, this match makes me wanna pop in some Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit and Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat just to compare. Every single thing in this match was perfect. Remember what I said about them being a little worn out at Night of the Butcher? Well they fucking proved me right in this one. This is the match anybody would watch and wonder why the FUCK London let his own ego get in the way. This kind of effort, in which his selling NEVER gets sacrificed, is what you want as a centerpiece of the WWE. Maybe Brian Kendrick by association killed his attitude, but there's no logical reason when looking at this match that London shouldn't be on CM Punk and Danielson's level right now. He looked like the second coming of Jushin Liger or Shawn Michaels in this match. I must not forget Danielson's performance in this masterpiece as well. He dove further into his subtle heel persona, giving us even more of a sign of things to come down the road. For the first time in ROH, he momentarily antagonized the opposition fanbase. His frustration, in the end turning to what appeared to be desperation, was nothing short of flawless going against London's tenacity. What also puts this match above Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams for me as the best ROH match of 2003 so far is that these men were both babyfaces; this wasn't a story of a clear-cut heel, and then failing to fully engage the crowd to its fullest potential. Danielson played the subtle heel to London's scratching-and-clawing babyface, and it got MORE of a reaction than the black-and-white Daniels vs. Williams. That is a true testament to both of these men. Get yourself the new ROH Danielson compilation if you haven't seen this yet - this match alone will be worth every penny. You don't need to wait for a sale. This is more engaging than Low Ki vs. Danielson; it's also my favorite ROH match so far in my rewatch. And there is NO way that this can be topped for 2003. NO WAY. Rating: ***** Up next - Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II Matches will include: CM Punk vs. Homicide Paul London vs. Christopher Daniels

Night of Champions - March 22, 2003 ROH Title Shot - FWA Title Match Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams This would be tied with Low Ki vs. Paul London vs. AJ Styles for my favorite ROH match so far, and it's a totally different flavor. EVERYTHING clicked and they fired on all cylinders. There was not a single sloppy moment in this match. Let me get the one nitpick out of the way - they didn't engage the crowd in enough of a frenzy at the end. With that out of the way, this is a wrestling purist's textbook match. Selling? Check. Psychology? Check. Storytelling? Check. Wow, Just WOW. And now Williams gets to shake hands going forward, that way we never have to talk about their disappointing Glory By Honor match again, and we can just remember this. This match is just a thing of beauty. This is THE most underappreciated match in ROH history. Hands down. It's hard for me to imagine this being topped as I move along in 2003. Rating: ****3/4 Oh yeah, Samoa Joe ended Xavier's out-of-place ROH Title reign on this show. I guess I should mention that. Up next - The Epic Encounter Matches will include: AJ Styles & Amazing Red vs. Briscoe Bros. Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson

Expect the Unexpected - March 15, 2003 Raven vs. CM Punk A good match but went too long just to establish that Raven "still had it." Also sloppy at points too. The beginning of Punk's ROH push though, and the rest is history up to where he stands today in the business. Rating: *** Tag Titles Match Xavier & Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles & Amazing Red Another good but sloppy match, although this was due to Xavier's concussion sustained early in the match from Red's enziguri. Daniels looked like a total pro once again, as he and Styles have an almost unstoppable chemistry with each other; it's almost automatic like Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage, Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit, or Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson. They should have definitely gone home much sooner than they did for Xavier's sake, as his injury clearly led to the botched finish. Oh yeah, this had the "fuck monitoring who is and isn't legal because we're about to go home" problems that plague the indies. Again, this is a good match, but NOT the magical moment the company was hoping for to close out the show. Rating: *** Up next - Night of Champions Matches will include: Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams

One Year Anniversary Show - February 8, 2003 Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe They couldn't measure up to the sheer heat of their Honor Invades Boston classic, and there were way too many finishers killed in this match, but it was still pretty damn good. The mind games early in the match were a nice touch that while the bad blood was gone, there was still some pride on the line. Hell of a memorable finish too. Rating: ***1/2 Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson Like Jay vs. Mark, this rematch couldn't measure up to its original, but still did a banging job. This one had less technical wrestling in favor of sheer brutality. Hindsight being 20/20, I'm not sure why Danielson went over considering Joe's title victory wasn't that far away. Maybe Gabe Sapolsky was gonna book Joe vs. Danielson III for the title on the same night as Low Ki vs. Paul London. Oh well. Rating: ***3/4 ROH Title Shot Match Low Ki vs. Paul London vs. AJ Styles Yeah this fucking ruled and should be seen to be truly believed. This is another match that I'm sure London reflects back on with regret. It was Sapolsky making the best of a corner he put himself in - he wasted the Final Battle 2002 main event by not having a winner. But on this night, he put the three biggest names in the ring together that had faced Xavier before. For Ki and Styles, they had proven throughout the summer of 2002 they could have some awesome multi-person matches feuding with Jerry Lynn in TNA. To put these three together was brilliant. But it was obvious who was gonna win, because the winner was gonna be a huge underdog in the title match. Ki vs. Xavier was apparently really shitty (I've never bothered watching it). Xavier vs. Styles was dull. Xavier vs. London was a hot match that got the job done, by having London play a sympathetic babyface. Therefore, London had to win this one. Rating: ****1/4 ROH Title Match Xavier vs. Paul London I want to thank whoever made the final decision to cut Xavier's pre-match promo from my Best of Paul London: Please Don't Die DVD. LONDON SHOULD HAVE WON THIS. PERIOD. This was easily Xavier's best title defense, and maybe the best match of his career. He did a fine job of working with the exhausted London. This rematch from Final Battle 2002 also had the advantage of a red-hot NYC crowd instead of Philly; they were going APESHIT at the nearfalls in the finishing stretch. Even the catfight added to the match's story and crowd heat. This was sports-entertainment booking done the correct way. But I can only imagine if London had won, and then his matches against Danielson, Amazing Red, Christopher Daniels, and Styles had all been title matches (making them more important than they already were), before he would drop the title in his farewell match to the dominating Joe. London wins, and I seriously call this a MOTYC instead of just a great match. Nonetheless, SEE THIS. Maybe London's greatest night as he had to perform two very different styles of matches back-to-back. Rating: **** Coming up - Expect the Unexpected Matches will include: Raven vs. CM Punk Xavier & Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles & Amazing Red

Revenge on the Prophecy - January 11, 2003 BJ Whitmer's ROH Debut Paul London vs. Homicide vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Colt Cabana A wild, wickedly fun match that I watched for the first time. There was a never a dull moment, and this was actually a hell of a debut for Whitmer, as his weaknesses weren't as annoyingly obvious in this match as they would become later. All four men were clearly different wrestlers back in 2003, and this is a nice look back on what they were before the business burned them out. I was about to go so far as to deem this a MOTYC, but again, the ref drops the tag rule without any explanation whatsoever. Rating: **** Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson Yeah this was fucking brutal. It was also just outstanding. The selling, the pacing, the psychology, the facial expressions. And to think this was just a sign of things to come for them! Danielson also showed a new side of himself that would later be perfected - an underdog outmatched by sheer size and also viciousness. SEE THIS. Rating: **** No Holds Barred Match Xavier & Christopher Daniels vs. Low Ki & AJ Styles A damn good main event and a nice conclusion to the Ki vs. Prophecy feud. In many ways, this match summarizes the whole storyline - very, very good, maybe even great, but not the end-all, be-all due to some awkward moments. This also did not have the heat of London vs. Michael Shane from Unscripted. But they went out and put on a hell of an entertaining match, one that would convince the Pittsburgh market to beg for ROH to return. I also greatly appreciated Daniels selling his exhaustion and beating in his backstage promo after the match. (Although I do not care whatsoever about Steve Corino & The Group.) Rating: **** Up next - One Year Anniversary Show Matches will include: Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson Low Ki vs. Paul London vs. AJ Styles ROH Title Match

Final Battle 2002 - December 28, 2002 Tag Titles - 2/3 Falls Match Christopher Daniels & Donovan Morgan vs. The SAT I can't believe I read a review that claimed this match was technically sound. I hit skip with less than two minutes remaining due to the fucking atrocious physical conditioning of the SAT. Just pathetic. And reminds me that these two guys got Eddie Guerrero's farewell instead of their opponent on this night, Christopher Daniels. They made him look like the greatest wrestler of all-time. Perhaps Alan (of f4wonline.com) should watch this - the theory of relativity might finally cause him to love Daniels. Rating: less than *** ROH Title Match Xavier vs. Paul London Xavier cuts one of the most unintentionally hilarious in-ring promos you'll ever hear prior to the match. As for the match itself... Now this is more like it. Easily Xavier's best title defense up to that point, as London actually knows how to play a sympathetic babyface. But the champ brought his A-game too, working on the neck and paying that off at the conclusion of the match. This isn't the greatest match of all-time or anywhere near it, but it did its job perfectly - you now had a reason to put down your hard-earned money to see someone take the title away from Xavier, because he finally proved that he (with the right opponent of course) was capable of taking you on a hell of a journey. Rating: ***3/4 ROH Title Shot Match Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe vs. Steve Corino vs. Bryan Danielson A pretty damn good main event that I was about to give ****+ for, but there were too many negatives to do so. First, it did NOT have to go 45 minutes. This could have been wrapped up in 25-30 minutes with a clear winner. Second, I appreciate a match finishing with a dramatic pace, but not at the sacrifice of logic (the ref stopped giving a shit about who was legal without any explanation being given.) Third, Corino clearly tapped out to Ki right before the time-limit had exceeded. After the show the audience sat through, it'd have been a great audible to just have Ki win, and it'd give the NYC crowd something to look forward to at the One Year Anniversary Show. Rating: ***1/2 SUPER DUPER ROH 2002 AWARDS Wrestler of the Year: Low Ki Runner-up - Bryan Danielson Debut of the Year: Samoa Joe - Glory By Honor Breakout Performance of the Year: Paul London - Unscripted Feud/Rivalry of the Year: ROH vs. The Prophecy Runner-up - Paul London vs. Michael Shane Show of the Year: All Star Extravaganza Runner-up - Road to the Title and Honor Invades Boston Moment of the Year: Eddie Guerrero's farewell @ A Night of Apprecation Runner-up - Low Ki's victory @ Crowning a Champion and Paul London's performance @ Unscripted Match of the Year: Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson - Round Robin Challenge ***** Runner-up - Low Ki vs. Doug Williams vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Christopher Daniels - Crowning a Champion ****3/4 ROH's Top 10 Matches of 2002 (in chronological order): Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels - The Era of Honor Begins ****1/2 Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson - Round Robin Challenge ***** Low Ki vs. Doug Williams vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Christopher Daniels - Crowning a Champion ****3/4 Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe - Honor Invades Boston **** Low Ki vs. AJ Styles - Honor Invades Boston ****1/2 Paul London vs. Michael Shane - Unscripted **** Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe - Glory By Honor ****1/2 AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson - All Star Extravaganza ****1/2 Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson - Night of the Butcher ****1/4 Xavier vs. Paul London - Final Battle 2002 ***3/4 Up next - Revenge on the Prophecy Matches will include: Homicide vs. Paul London vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Colt Cabana Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson Xavier & Christopher Daniels vs. Low Ki & AJ Styles

Night of the Butcher - December 7, 2002 ROH Title Shot Match Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson A tremendous match that likely would been better if they didn't have qualifier matches earlier on the show. The All Star Extravaganza match Danielson had with Styles was the first glimpse in him being aggressive. This was his first display of actual frustration, and a sign of things to come much later down the road. London also showed that he could be the 21st Century Ricky Morton quite well, and I'd say he rivaled Rey Mysterio at the time for that role. Even though I didn't watch the qualifiers, I could see the psychology coming through from them, and everything led quite beautifully to the finish. The post-match was the icing on the cake for this classic, clearly explaining the simple story these two told throughout the contest. Rating: ****1/4 ROH Title Match Xavier vs. AJ Styles Yeah I didn't care for this one very much. Xavier just didn't have the charisma, presence, or in-ring consistency (Jerry Lynn at least had that last thing going for him) to be in such a high-profile position, and this match did him no favors in my opinion. Over the years, Styles has shown that he's best suited playing a bad-ass or an underdog to a bad-ass. Letting a chickenshit heel get heat on him? That leaves a lot to be desired. This just wasn't very engaging, but the finish at least had some psychology and saved it from being a failure. Rating: less than *** Coming up - Final Battle 2002 Matches will include: Christopher Daniels & Donovan Morgan vs. The SAT Xavier vs. Paul London Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe vs. Steve Corino vs. Bryan Danielson

All Star Extravaganza - November 9, 2002 The Prophecy cut a group promo. I mention this because Xavier's portion is some of the worst drek you will ever hear and not convincing in the least. At least with Low Ki you're convinced he has some conviction in his tedious promos. What a great idea to put the title on this guy instead of Michael Shane, who busted his ass in the ring and cut awesome promos yet could still get heel heat. I should also note that while skipping through the earlier chapters on the disc, seeing CM Punk and Paul London very briefly on-screen together really makes me wish Gabe Sapolsky had booked that match back in the day. ROH Title Shot Gauntlet Match Bryan Danielson vs. Paul London This was simply nothing more than a quick sample of what they would go on to do later. The winner was pretty obvious since London had already wrestled Michael Shane and Amazing Red (even with a break due to Tommy Dreamer's appearance to perform fellatio on the promotion.) Rating: less than *** Tag Titles Match Christopher Daniels, Donovan Morgan, & Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki, Homicide, & Doug Williams A very fun tag, albeit long and turned into a Dragon Gate style match at the end without any explanation whatsoever. You really couldn't go wrong with this six man combination in 2002. The match started Joe's rise to prominence, which was necessary due to Brian Kendrick's departure to WWE, cancelling Sapolsky's original idea for the ROH Title. Rating: ***1/4 ROH Title Shot Gauntlet Final AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson Another excellent match for the promotion, and standard affair for Danielson. The mat work in this was just phenomenal, and Styles might be the most underappreciated guy in that aspect. Matches like this show he's not just some high flyer, and it was a great followup for him after his performance at Honor Invades Boston. I can only imagine what these two could be doing in a rivarly for the WWE nowadays. And what a finish! THAT is how you maintain the momentum for the winner and loser. Rating: ****1/2 Low Ki & Steve Corino vs. Shinjiro Ohtani & Masato Tanaka Another damn good match to close out an ROH event after the mediocrity (putting it nicely) that was Glory By Honor. Yeah, it was really a showcase match for Ohtani & Tanaka, but the crowd heat made it more than that. Ki & Corino, even with Ki already wrestling a 20+ minute six man tag earlier, showed that they could go toe-to-toe with the two legends. This is a nice little preview of when other legends would come into ROH, such as Jushin Liger, Kenta Kobashi, and Mitsuharu Misawa. Rating: ***3/4 The show closes out with Homicide stabbing Corino with his ghetto fork backstage. You know, back when the feud started and was actually interesting. I'll be skipping Scramble Madness as there isn't a match on there that I'd ever wanna see again. The three main events (Samoa Joe vs. Homicide, AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels, Bryan Danielson vs. Doug Williams in a 30 Minute Iron Man) are tedious and/or super disappointing. Scramble Madness stock photo - https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7469/28137602213_a3c91d96a0_c.jpg Up next - Night of the Butcher Matches will include: Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson Xavier vs. AJ Styles

Glory By Honor - October 5, 2002 Samoa Joe's ROH Debut Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe Yeah, this match sure saved the show from being considered among the crowd of Suffocation, How We Roll, Underground, The Bitter End, and Escalation. (Don't be fooled by the card on the DVD cover artwork.) Not just a show-saver, but an incredible debut for Samoa Joe. The backstory itself was brilliant (Joe being nothing more than a hired gun of the Prophecy). And then to see someone come in to IMMEDIATELY show he could be Ki's equal in terms of brutality. The finish couldn't have been booked any better, as EVERYTHING in the match logically led to it. An absolutely fantastic way to maintain Ki's momentum and get Joe's ROH career started with a fucking BANG. Due to a number of unforeseen circumstances, I'd consider this to be one of the most important matches in company history; this showed that Joe could potentially become a cornerstone of the company at some point. Rating: ****1/2 Up next - All Star Extravaganza Matches will include: Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson Christopher Daniels, Donovan Morgan, & Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki, Homicide, & Doug Williams ROH Title Shot Gauntlet Final Low Ki & Steve Corino vs. Masato Tanaka & Shinjiro Ohtani

Unscripted - September 21, 2002 Tag Titles Tournament Semifinal Dick Togo & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Christopher Daniels & Donovan Morgan A smooth, well-executed tag match, but nothing all that special. This one didn't live up to expectations, but is still a good match. Just not the great one that you'd imagine on paper. It's a shame Togo got hurt after this show, I'd love to see what he could have done in singles with someone like Paul London. Rating: ***1/4 Hardcore Match Paul London vs. Michael Shane (Note: the above video does NOT include the full post-match.) Before there was Kevin Steen vs. El Generico, there was Paul London vs. Michael Shane. An extremely dangerous match that London tends to reflect back on and question due to the insane risks taken. Nonetheless, this is a classic, but not the end-all, be-all five star match that the crowd claims it to be. What I really appreciated is that because of the brutality, that allowed logically for time to be available to set up the big spots. Nobody takes the pounding these guys did and just gets up right away to "hulk up" or have "fighting spirit." On the other hand, I have to knock off a 1/4* due to Shane not selling the beating he took whatsoever when he got the post-match heat on London. With all that said, a star-making performance for London (and should have been for Shane). I wish Shane had done the surprise dethroning of Low Ki and Gabe Sapolsky had booked Shane vs. London in the first ever Fight Without Honor match (Ki vs. Samoa Joe is insane but not in a gimmick match way) for the Pittsburgh debut, with everything on the line as it'd be a title match with the loser being fired. (And need I mention all the awesome title defenses London could have had with Bryan Danielson, Ki, AJ Styles, Homicide, CM Punk, Daniels, and Joe?) Rating: **** Tag Titles Tournament Final Christopher Daniels & Donovan Morgan vs. Bryan Danielson & Mike Modest Another good tag match with solid storytelling but not engaging in the least. If you've seen Beyond the Mat, don't listen to that carny Alexander - it is NOT a tragedy Modest was never signed by WWE. Daniels? Yes. But Modest? Maybe he should have been a trainer or agent, but that's it. He has about as much of an attention-grabbing charisma as Linda McMahon. The post-match is quite stupid as well, as it makes the babyfaces look like whiny bitches and no better than the Prophecy, who won the match by having chemistry and outsmarting them. Rating: *** Up next - Glory By Honor Matches will include: Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe

Honor Invades Boston - August 24, 2002 Michael Shane vs. Paul London Shane quite easily surpassed Christopher Daniels as the biggest cunt on the roster in 2002 with this match. His pure arrogance and narcissism was just amazing during this time. Of course, this was the first time London showed that he could play a sympathetic babyface and he was damn good at it. And what a smart finish to put even more heat on Shane! Rating: *** Bryan Danielson vs. Donovan Morgan As if you needed any evidence that Daniels was not only eclipsed as being the #1 heel before 2002 ended, here is proof that Danielson surpassed him as ring general too. The submission work was far more engaging in this match than in Morgan's debut at A Night of Appreciation, and the booking of Morgan being an established red-ass certainly helped. I'd have paid money to see these two have a rematch, but that unfortunately never happened due to Japan commitments the two had. Rating: ***1/2 Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe This match between 18 year-old Jay and 17 year-old Mark is a hell of a lot better than one would assume. Sure, there were lots of video game moves, but there was also a remarkable psychology going on between the two. It was a simple story of Mark being presented an opportunity with the opponent he would know best and making the most out of it. And yes, this match has SELLING. Quite a bit of it actually. Rating: **** ROH Title Match Low Ki vs. AJ Styles For the first time, ROH has TWO ****+ matches on the same show. Perhaps working with Jerry Lynn throughout the summer in TNA made the difference, but this was a huge improvement over their previous match at A Night of Appreciation. Instead of just providing a spotfest, these two decided to spread the spots throughout and make them mean more once the audience got to see them. I just love the work they did on the mat in this one, and my favorite moment is probably Ki being on his back, but coiling his legs to strike at any moment. This was just a FANTASTIC first title defense for Ki, and the importance of the championship showed in the work and demeanor of both men. Rating: ****1/2 I must mention that immediately following Xavier challenging Low Ki, the DVD cuts to a promo from the guy who SHOULD have ended Ki's reign - Michael Shane. Fantastic promo from him, none of the bitching and moaning that you'd get from Daniels and the Prophecy. Up next - Unscripted Matches will include: Dick Togo & Ikuta Hidaka vs. Christopher Daniels & Donovan Morgan Paul London vs. Michael Shane Tag Titles Tournament Final

Crowning a Champion - July 27, 2002 Hardcore Match Natural Born Sinners vs. Carnage Crew I'd say a lot of wrestlers could actually learn from this match. It was quick and made its point - these two teams despised each other, and weren't out there in the middle of the show to have a MOTYC. They didn't waste time setting up spots; they grabbed shit and beat the fuck out of each other. If ROH decides to ever do another Homicide compliation, I'd say to include this - this is EASILY the highlight of the Natural Born Sinners short lived run in ROH. Rating: ***1/2 Vacant ROH Title - 60 Minute Iron Man Match Low Ki vs. Doug Williams vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Christopher Daniels The MOTYC main events for ROH came back with this one and with a serious vengeance. Just excellent work for all four men, and I loved the storytelling told within the rules (gain 2 points for a victory, lose one point for a defeat), as it very cleverly built to the finish (a finish that had been five months in the making), and gave a solid reason to continue the ROH vs. Daniels feud. In this match, Low Ki relied on determination and intelligence to outsmart Daniels, rather than beating the shit out of him as usual. Daniels did his best, remembering when certain trademark Ki spots would come from previous matches and countering them. Williams and Kendrick were masterful in this match as well, doing their jobs perfectly to set up the finishing sequence of this classic. Rating: ****3/4 Up next - Honor Invades Boston Matches will include: Paul London vs. Michael Shane Bryan Danielson vs. Donovan Morgan Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe Low Ki vs. AJ Styles

Road to the Title - June 22, 2002 ROH Title Shot Qualifier Paul London vs. Brian Kendrick Yet another match that is a great showcase, but doesn't hold up very well. Comparable to the Do or Die pre-show matches that would occur later on. Nothing special here and mildly disappointing for their careers prior to WWE. Still a million light years ahead of their work since WWE pink slipped them though. Rating: less than *** ROH Title Shot Qualifier Jerry Lynn vs. AJ Styles My pick for match of the night, as Lynn brought his A-game being the ring general that Styles needed. While not everything paid off, there was solid psychology and storytelling with Lynn trying to soften Styles up for the cradle piledriver, and I was interested to see where the armwork for Styles was gonna lead to. If it had been more clearly defined, this may have been great more than just very good. Satisfying match though and a nice appetizer for their TNA work involving Low Ki at the time. Rating: ***3/4 ROH Title Shot Match Doug Williams vs. Bryan Danielson Another solid technical match, but lacking the true drama to be anything special. Everything was solid, the storytelling/psychology worked, but they made the mistake of not finishing the match with the Chaos Theory, which had the crowd popping HUGE. Rating: ***1/4 ROH Title Shot Match Low Ki vs. Amazing Red You need to see this for the opening minute sequence, but there was more to the match than that. I would consider this the indy version of Chris Jericho vs. Evan Bourne or Bret Hart vs. 123 Kid. A great way of showing that Red could hang with the main-eventers and take an ass-kicking instead of just flipping around with a bunch of jabronis. Rating: ***1/2 ROH Title Shot Match AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels Yet another good, solid technical match, but with more intensity than Williams vs. Danielson. This is a nice preview of what the two would go on to do later in TNA. In the end, the earlier match Styles had with Lynn had too much of a residual effect on him (Daniels merely had to defeat Scoot Andrews earlier), as the exhaustion was more evident in him compared to Daniels. Rating: ***1/2 Up next - Crowning a Champion Matches will include: Natural Born Sinners vs. Carnage Crew Low Ki vs. Doug Williams vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Christopher Daniels

A Night of Appreciation - April 27, 2002 The ROH Debut of AJ Styles Low Ki vs. AJ Styles A pretty damn impressive debut for Styles, and I'm sure at the time this was a great DVD seller. While it's good and fun, it doesn't hold up in 2012, and is in no way a MOTYC. Neither of these two had found their grooves yet as ring generals, and the lack of someone such as Eddie Guerrero, Bryan Danielson, or Christopher Daniels showed. What they do put together is a very visually dazzling 15 minute exchange of spots and strikes, occasionally mixing in some actual technical wrestling, but without the subtle drama of the main events of the past two shows, or the psychology of Eddie vs. Super Crazy and Daniels vs. Danielson. Despite its flaws, this is a match that I would want as a PPV opener, as it gets the crowd going and sets an edge-of-your-seat tone for the show. Rating: ***1/2 Christopher Daniels vs. Donovan Morgan This was a crisp, clean technical match, but lacked the drama due to Morgan's lack of charisma (talking about Donovan, not Jim Cornette's Mr. Untapped Potential). Everything made sense and looked great, and I can only imagine if Gabe Sapolsky had stuck with his original main event for this show. I have no idea why he thought the forgettable Morgan deserved the rub of going over Daniels though and starting a decent push, but thought Daniels would be hurt jobbing to Eddie Guerrero in a dream match. Rating: *** Gauntlet Match Final Brian Kendrick vs. Bryan Danielson Everything was fine, but this was 10-15 minutes of nothing special. When the most memorable aspect of the match is a wardrobe malfunction, you know you've put together a forgettable contest. I should also mention that the post-match angle goes on FOREVER and is not once interesting. Rating: less than *** Eddie Guerrero's Independent Farewell Eddie Guerrero & Amazing Red vs. The SAT Another match that was fine but nothing memorable (I SO wish we had gotten Eddie vs. Daniels instead.) It's nice if you're curious to see proof at how superior Eddie was to the other three participants. This is the kind of match that Bryan & Vinny would probably gush over while everyone else drifts off during their wank-fest. Eddie's post-match appreciation is very touching though and a special moment, one of the greatest in ROH history. Rating: less than *** Coming up - Road to the Title Matches will include: Paul London vs. Brian Kendrick Jerry Lynn vs. AJ Styles Doug Williams vs. Bryan Danielson Low Ki vs. Amazing Red Christopher Daniels vs. Jerry Lynn OR AJ Styles

Round Robin Challenge - March 30, 2002 Round Robin Challenge Match #1 Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels A stellar as hell opener, with some absolutely terrific psychology by having the wrestlers work on each other's necks. While it was blatantly obvious this these two were not out to have Bret Hart vs. Owen, Jushin Liger vs. Brian Pillman, or Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero, the two definitely set the bar for opening matches. The story of Daniels out to prove a point while having a chip on his shoulder, building up to the sudden submission finish, couldn't have been booked any better. Rating: ***3/4 Round Robin Challenge Match #2 Low Ki vs. Christopher Daniels This match was ALL story - thankfully, the story was largely centered around actual wrestling. Reflecting back, the work these two put together in-ring and as characters has gone on largely to be underappreciated. A fine top-of-the-hour-on-Raw style paced match. The post-match Daniels promo is a tad disappointing, as Low Ki failed to call him out on his shallow excuse - remember, DANIELS made the remark that he could beat both Ki and Danielson on the same night. The commentary also does an oversell of the mention of a championship, not allowing the viewer to listen to the crowd reaction. It sounded like the crowd wasn't all that excited over it. Rating: ***1/4 Round Robin Challenge Match #3 Guest Ref - Ken Shamrock Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson Now THIS is a work of art - Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards should study and analyze this match to the point of absolute mental exhaustion. This is how you mix mat wrestling with strikes and dramatically close near-falls, with nice spots blended in here and there. At least 75% of this match is purely on the mat, and everything is done smoothly and crisply. The transitions are just gorgeous. Finishers are executed and the crowd actually buys into them. The psychology of Danielson's prior match with Daniels is played up to flawlessly. Danielson vs. Daniels set the bar for openers in this company; this match set the bar for ALL ROH matches. I thought of taking a 1/4* away, but the post-match selling of complete exhaustion and fatigue from both men boost it to perfection. Shamrock is two for two in refereeing a five star match. Rating: ***** Up next - A Night of Appreciation Matches will include: Low Ki vs. AJ Styles Christopher Daniels vs. Donovan Morgan Brian Kendrick vs. Bryan Danielson Eddie Guerrero & Amazing Red vs. The SAT

The following is an ROH revisiting project that I started in the spring of 2012. For those of you who haven't seen any of these reviews on the Observer, ROH World, Freakin' Awesome Network, Craphole, Voices of Wrestling, and Wrestling Forum communities, behold and enjoy! There will be no pattern to how I review matches. Some could be rants, some could be quick blurbs, some could be ten page essays. They will be reviews only of matches, promos, and videos that interest me though (largely just the good shit.) Reviews may include spoilers for those who haven't watched retro ROH. The Era of Honor Begins - February 23, 2002 IWA Intercontinental Title Tournament Final Eddie Guerrero vs. Super Crazy A fine match that was obviously not meant to be a show-stealer (leaving that for the main event), but certainly worthy of watching. While it's a short match, Eddie gives a fine appetizer of his Black Tiger persona that later morphed into Latino Heat, not taking Crazy as seriously as he could. Eddie completely outclasses Crazy (who may be starstruck even though this is their second singles match with one another) and the hardcore fans cheer every vicious and dirty tactic of his. He does nothing to actually make the crowd go against him, spending 99% of the match not playing to the crowd. In the end, Eddie's unwillingness to respect Crazy's in-ring ability costs him the title and the match. Rating: ***1/4 Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels Largely a spotfest, but a fantastically, intelligently executed one. While not on par with the Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit matches, this is one of the greatest threeway matches of all-time, and for good reason. There is NEVER a dull moment in this match, with combinations of maneuvers not yet seen at that point by a large portion (if any) of the audience. Everything done in the match serves a purpose while also being dramatic and entertaining, whether it's a submission, strike, takedown, or highspot. The ending is brilliant and does a great job of setting up the first major storyline and next show. These three were given the opportunity by Eddie and Crazy to go out and have the best match of the night, and they delivered in spades. A match that still holds up ten years later. Rating: ****1/2 Up next - Round Robin Challenge Matches will include: Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels Low Ki vs. Christopher Daniels Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson

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