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.
A. Better wrestlers/in ring product.
B. Better promos.
C. Better announcers.
D. Better lighting/sound.
Sales: ROH Sales start on Fridays usually at 1-2PM and usually last until Wednesday at 10 PM EST. 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.
10 Dollar Sales: Use on any 2003-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.
5 and 10 Sale: 5 dollar shoots, some of the best being Mr. Fuji, Skandar Ackbar and The Fantastics.
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.
25% off sales follow the same rules, except you get that discount on non ROH stuff too.
15-20% off sales shouldn't be used on ROH DVDs unless you are desperate.
DVD Deals: ROH is now discounting certain newer releases a certain amount for a week at a time. These deals are stackable with other sales. Also be sure to check out the "Weekly Specials" section. There's some ok stuff in there for just 5 bucks like the Jeff Peterson cup, and a couple OK 2004 Zero One Max shows.
WHAT SHOWS SHOULD I BUY?
There are holes in my collection, but just a few and nothing really that notable.
If you just want the Best Shows Possible:
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.)
Joe Vs Kobashi (Good top to bottom card, with one of the best matches in ROH History)
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.)
Fifth Year Festival: NYC (Morishima/Joe is a MOTYC, Cide/Rave is my favorite of his four title defenses, Briscoes tag rocks, and the rest of the crowd loved the tables match live.)
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: Philly (Briscoes/Steen and Generico tears the house down, Morishima wins the title, good tag title match, Joe and Rave, etc.)
Best in the World (SHIMMER 4CS, Briscoes/Strong and Evans, Dream Tag Main Event)
100th Show: (6 Man War, Dragon/Delirious, Bricoes/AJ and Sydal)
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.)
Chicago Spectacular Night 2: (The upper card here is all gold.)
Fight of the Century (Classic Joe/Danielson, Richards/KENTA also rocks, 4CS is alot of fun, UE is ok too.)
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 (Very good show.)
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, Upcoming Philadelphia Show)
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.)
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.
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.
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