Saturday, February 13, 2016

ROH: Year Five DVD Review


2006 is one of the most highly regarded years in Ring of Honor history. This DVD encompasses the best matches from that year which includes moments from Bryan Danielson's record breaking reign as ROH World Champion, the promotional warfare between ROH & CZW, and much more.

1) AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal - Hell Freezes Over - 1/14/06
This match is extremely interesting to look back on considering it was a decade ago and both men are now looked upon as veterans. However, here, Sydal was the newcomer and this was a big match for him against AJ who had already made a big name for himself. As always with a contest involving either of these two, it was fun to watch although things didn't really pick up until the final few minutes which were top notch. The finish is pretty unique as well!

Match rating - ***1/2

2) CM Punk & Bryan Danielson vs. Adam Pearce & Jimmy Rave - Unscripted - 2/11/06
CM Punk returned to Ring of Honor for one final time here in February of 2006 despite still being under contract with WWE. He teamed with ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson against former rival Jimmy Rave and Adam Pearce, a man he also has history with. Both Pearce & Rave are members of the heel stable The Embassy so the crowd was obviously behind the champion and the returning Punk. This wasn't a blow away match, but it was certainly a good tag contest worth taking the time to see for the historical significance alone. Beyond that, the action was solid throughout, as said before. Seeing Punk & Rave lock up again gave me flashbacks to their feud which was awesome and the crowd was hot much like they were all the time during this time period. Punk & Bryan pick up the victory and both men give a nice speech afterwards.

Match rating - ***1/4

3) Samoa Joe vs. Jay Lethal - 4th Anniversary Show - 2/25/06