Sections:
Ranking all ROH shows up to Final Battle 2008
A Guide to ROH’s 2009 DVDs
A Guide to ROH’s 2010 DVDs
A Guide to ROH’s Best Feuds (Half Complete)
Welcome to the unofficial Ring of Honor Buyer’s Guide. This is a guide I am working on to help newer and older ROH fans make more informed purchases for DVDs and live shows. It isn’t close to finished, and this page has been updated from a version I did in early 2007, so some parts are out of date. If you have comments, feedback or questions about the guide, feel free to contact me at rayfordsteele (at) gmail.com not the email address for the poker portion of the website, thanks!
A general rule of thumb: The later the ROH show, the higher the quality. 2002 shows are weaker than 2003, which are weaker than 2004. 2005 is much better overall than 2004, and 2006 has been even better than 2005. So if you want to sample the product tend to pick later shows on this list. 2007 and 2008 are more controversial. They are definitely better than 2005 to the majority of people, but the ROH vs CZW war seems to make people think 2006 was the peak of ROH. I personally think 2007 was slightly better than 2006, and 2008 was slightly lower than 2006. My main reason for this is top to bottom the 2007 cards are generally pretty darn good. Most of the poor workers had been weeded out by then, and everyone seemed to have something to do. But basically as time goes on, the product gets better, or at least is better now than in the early days for these reasons.
A. Better wrestlers/in ring product.
B. Better promos.
C. Better announcers.
D. Better lighting/sound.
Sales: ROH Sales start on Fridays and usually last 3-5 days. Only idiots buy ROH stuff outside of the sales. Bigger idiots fail to properly take advantage of the sales in the most +EV way possible, and then brag about how much they saved when in actuality, they fucked up. Right now, ROH is pretty much never not running a sale.
10 Dollar Sales: Use on any 2002-Present show offered. These tend to only be offered on old FIP, old Shoots, and ROH shows over a year old. For 2003 you are getting 33% off. For 2004-2005 you are getting 50-60% off. Don’t bother getting 2002 shows during the 10 dollar sale, they only cost 12 dollars normally so your savings are pretty small compared to other sales.
10 Dollar sales tend to happen once a month and include something like 20 full shows. Generally these are the must have shows on 10 dollar sales: Death Before Dishonor, Night of Champions, Generation Next, Midnight Express Reunion, Third Anniversary Part 2 or 3, or any of the shows in the best shows list.)
10 Dollar sales now seem to also include 10% off your entire order, so if you want to order 2002 shows with this sale do so ONLY if you get 10% off.
FIVE DOLLAR SALES: Check the Weekly Specials section for 5 dollar (OR LESS!) shoot interviews. You can also get 5 dollar ROH best ofs, 5 dollar FIP shows, and sometimes 20% off on top of it.
Buy 3 Get 1 Sale: Best used on June 2005-Present Shows and 2002 shows. 2003 and 2004 shows make up the majority of the 10 dollar sales, as do early 2005 so wait for those to get shows that fall in those time periods. Only buy 4 shows equal in price.
For the shows I’ve listed you are getting 25% off in reality, and saving a buck or two in shipping.
Buy 2 Get 1 Sale: Rarer, but awesome.
Buy 3 Get 2 Sale: Also Rare, but also awesome.
25-35% off sales follow the same rules, except you get that discount on non ROH stuff too. 35% sale are rarer, but they happen from time to time. The norm now seem to be 25 and 30% off sales.
15-20% off sales shouldn’t be used on ROH DVDs unless you are desperate. They have been mostly phased out.
Just Starting out?
To me, the best way for a new fan to start out is with the KOCH vision releases.
These DVDs are: Stars of Honor, Bloodstained Honor, Greatest Rivalries, and Best in the World
Stars of Honor focuses on mainstream stars like Foley and ROH guys who have gone to WWE and TNA like Punk and Joe. It is the weakest of the four releases in terms of match quality.
Bloodstained Honor is a hardcore release, and if you like hardcore this is for you. All of the brawls and cage matches on here are good-great.
Greatest Rivalries is focused on ROH’s best feuds, but not just blood feuds. Stuff like Aries/Danielson and Stevens/Strong are on here as well. Probably the second best release.
Best in the World focuses on foreign stars who have come to ROH, although some of the matches feature guys who are from other countries but became known in ROH like Generico and Claudio. Another great release.
All four of these feature Prazak and Leonard doing commentary on matches they didn’t do commentary on before, so no need to worry about Nulty, or any of the old shitty announcers.
WHAT SHOWS SHOULD I BUY?
This is not an exhaustive list, if you want that please check out the year by year listings.
Final Battle 2008: (Bryan Danielson vs Takeshi Morishima, Marufuji s McGuinness, Black vs Aries, Street Fight, Briscoes vs Sasaki and Nakajima, and Necro chain wrestling.)
Death Before Dishonor VI: (4 Way Elimination ROH Title Match, MCMG vs Steen and Generico, Go vs Marufuji, Albright vs Pearce NWA Title match, Aries vs Jacobs vs Necro)
Manhattan Mayhem II: (Danielson vs Morishima, Briscoes vs Steen and Generico, Claudio vs Hero)
Final Battle 2007: (Danielson vs Aries vs Morishima vs Hero, Briscoes vs AoTF for the Tag titles, Stevens vs Strong for the FIP title, important Nigel promo that ends up setting up heel turn, Evans vs Necro)
Glory By Honor V Night 2 (Best show in ROH history, both main events are MOTYCs and possibly *****. Tag title match and Briscoes Vs Joe/Cide are both great as well, plus a fun 3 way, a good opener and solid Delirious/Pearce = you must own this.)
Manhattan Mayhem (Considered the best show in ROH history)
Better Than Our Best (Great top to bottom Show, Gabe says it is the best ROH show ever.)
Final Battle 2006: (Homicide vs Bryan Danielson for the title, Briscoes vs Kings of Wrestling, excellent Rave/Nigel match and a DG rules match, all of which rock.)
Good Times Great Memories: (Cabana’s last match, Briscoes vs MCMG I, Shingo vs Morishima, lots of other good stuff)
Driven: Danielson vs McGuinness and Danielson vs KENTA
Supercard of Honor III (Aries vs McGuinness, Dragon Gate Six Man III, lots of other good stuff.)
Glory By Honor VIII (Danielson vs Nakajima, Steen vs Go, Generico vs Nigel, Steel Cage Warfare)
Supercard of Honor II (Jacobs vs Whitmer in a cage, Dragon Gate 6 Man II, Strong vs Aries)
Fifth Year Festival: Finale: (Joe’s final match, Rave vs Nigel FWH, NRC vs Dragon Gate, Pac vs Sydal)
Man Up: Ladder War, Danielson Morishima II, Aries vs Richards, Strong vs Stevens)
Supercard of Honor (Uneven, but Do Fixer/BG and Danielson/Strong are classics, GN Vs AJ/Sydal is great, Joe/Daniels/Jacobs is good. Rest isn’t so hot.)
The Final Showdown (Most overlooked ROH show ever, is as good top to bottom as Manhattan Mayhem, but lacks that incredible MOTYC. It does have the Comedy Match of the Century in the 4CS though.)
Unified (Nigel/Dragon III, Briscoes/Gen Next III, Richards/Rave III)
Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool: (Samoe Joe vs Nigel, Briscoes vs Dragon Gate, Pac vs Strong, Sydal vs Delirious)
Death Before Dishonor II Part 2: (Stacked with a violent main event)
Nowhere to Run (Two great main events, and a quality undercard.)
Ring of Homicide (Great Delirious/Danielson II, Cide/Necro, Lethal/Nigel)
Honor Reclaims Boston: (Really good top to bottom show with a MOTYC main event.)
All Star Extravaganza (STACKED 2002 show. Since it is a 2002 show there is some crap, but the good stuff totally makes up for it.)
Fight of the Century (Classic Joe/Danielson, Richards/KENTA also rocks, 4CS is alot of fun, Ultimate Endurance.)
Third Anniversary Parts 2 and 3 (Almost equally good, I slightly prefer 3 to 2.)
Generation Next (Classic Gen Next matches, a Punk/Steamboat confrontation and Homicide/Joe
Death Before Dishonor IV (COD, great undercard.)
Final Battle 2005 (Low Ki vs KENTA, Marufuji vs Danielson Very good show.)
Death Before Dishonor IV: (Cage of Death, Strong vs Nigel)
For People who Want to Follow a Feud/Chapter: (Not in any particular order)
1. The Joe/Punk Trilogy: These three matches are three of the best in ROH history, but you really should buy them as a set. They include: World Title Classic, Joe Vs Punk II and All Star Extravaganza II.
2. Embassy/Gen Next: Joe Vs Kobashi, Unforgettable, Vendetta and Steel Cage Warfare. All good shows, and they pretty much sum up the feud.
3. The Summer of Punk: Not the best overall cards, but all worth seeing. Death By Dishonor III, Sign of Dishonor, Escape from NY, Fate of An Angel, Redemption and Punk: THE FINAL CHAPTER.
4. The Prophecy Vs The Code of Honor: The Era of Honor Begins (for the three way) Round Robin Challenge, All Star Extravaganza, and Revenge on the Prophecy. Yeah technically Unscripted is massively important to this feud, but that show/title match fucking sucks.
5. The Milestone Series: 4th Anniversary-100th Show
6. ROH/CZW War: Hell Freezes Over, Tagwars 2006, Fourth Anniversary, Arena Warfare(weakest show of this list), 100th Show, Weekend of Champions N2, Ring of Homicide, In Your Face, Death Before Dishonor IV and War of the Wire II
7. Homicide Vs Corino (1st Anniversary Show, Bitter Friends Stiffer Enemies, War of the Wire, Steel Cage Warfare, Fight of the Century, Suffocation, Honor Reclaims Boston, The Bitter End)
8. Punk Vs Raven: Expect the Unexpected, Night of Champions, Wrestlerave, Death Before Dishonor, Beating the Odds (skippable the match is clipped and supposedly not good.), The Conclusion
9. Joe Vs The Briscoes: Tradition Continues, The Conclusion, Final Battle 2003, Battle Lines are Drawn, The Last Stand, At Our Best. (BLaD and TLS are skippable.)
10. Briscoes vs Steen and Generico: FYF Philly, Fighting Spirit, Fight at the Roxbury, Respect is Earned, Driven, Death Before Dishonor V N1 and 2, Caged Rage, Manhattan Mayhem II, Man Up.
11. Danielson vs Morishima: Respect is Earned, United We Stand, Manhattan Mayhem II, Man Up, Glory By Honor VI N2, Rising Above, Final Battle 2007, Final Battle 2008
12. Danielson vs McGuinness: Weekend of Champions N2, Generation Now, Unified, Epic Encounter II, Respect is Earned, Driven, Race to the Top Night 2, Survival of the Fittest 2007, Sixth Anniversary Show, Death Before Dishonor VI, Battle of the Best, Driven 2008.
13. Aries vs Jacobs: Sixth Anniversary, Tag Wars 2008/Return Engagement, A New Level, Respect is Earned II, Vendetta II, Death Before Dishonor VI, Night of the Butcher II, Ring of Homicide II, Bound By Hate, Driven 2008
14: Whitmer vs Jacobs: Dissension, Dragon Gate Challenge, In Your Face, Gut Check, Dethroned, Dedicated, Battle of the Icons, FYF: Philly, FYF: Liverpool, FYF Finale, All Star Extravaganza III, Supercard of Honor II.
If you want one particular starting point, try the milestone series. Every show except Arena Warfare is must have, and AW isn’t a bad show by any means. If that is too far back, Respect is Earned, Driven, Manhattan Mayhem II and Man Up are a good starting point for the PPV era. (I know MMII isn’t a PPV)
Straight Shootin Series:
ROH’s Straight Shootin series is generally high quality, the shoots are quite entertaining or informative, or both. I haven’t seen a number of the shoots so I’ll just list the best of what I have.
Must Haves:
Bruno Sammartino: The best shoot they’ve done yet, and a great look at bruno’s career and the way the business used to be.
Samoa Joe and CM Punk: First hour is basically a commentary on their trilogy. A few funny moments, but really interesting. The next two hours are mostly hilarious stories, pranks and incidents. #wrestling has made a hobby of quoting this shoot, and yet it remains funny.
Raven and the Sandman V1: Mostly really funny sex and drug stories with a bit of insight into their feud.
Jim Mitchell: Almost as funny as Joe and Punk, and even more informative. Mitchell goes into great detail about how he became a manager and his early career which is really interesting and hilarious. The segments on SMW, WCW and ECW are also really detailed with some amazing WCW and ECW road stories, and rat stories.
Bobby Heenan and Jim Cornette: Pretty funny, very informative about the 60s, 70s and 80s. If you do not care about the AWA and NWA, you probably won’t like this as much as I did.
Bill Watts and Jim Cornette: Don’t expect to laugh outside of a few moments. Very interesting stuff though if you are at all interested in Watts.
CM Punk and Colt Cabana: Basically 3 hours of road stories. Hilarious stuff, almost as funny as Joe and Punk.
Christopher Daniels: Very informative about his career and the indies of the 90s, a couple funny stories, but mostly an informative shoot.
Samoa Joe: First half is a very interesting look at his career up until 2004, second half is made up of more fantastic road stories.
Skandar Ackbar: Really interesting shoot. No real funny stories, but just a lot of great stuff about being a big time heel in the old days.
Konnan: Just awesome stuff, Konnan is really interesting to listen to.
