BustedQuad Reviews: ROH END OF THE YEAR AWARDS

ROH 2002 YEAR IN REVIEW

When I did my old WCW (among other) reviews on the original BustedQuad message board, I copied this from my compatriot Simon (@ElHijoDelSimon on Twitter/@HandwerkReviews too). During all of the shows, I keep a running tally of the star ratings I give. And it yields these results. It’s totally meaningless (even more so because nobody reads this website — whoops, too passive aggressive!) but it’s fun. In the past, this exercised has resulted in funny things happening like Rick Steiner accidentally winning Wrestler of the Year in NWA 1988. I don’t know if these results will be as funny, but let’s see!

SHOW OF THE YEAR:

To come up with these rankings, I simply took the total sum of the match ratings and divided it by the number of actual reviewed matches (e.g. - something like the 4 second squash of Eddie Guerrero over BrianXL or, more recently, the Simply Luscious squash on Alexis Laree that was more of an angle, things like that won’t count.)

#3: ROH Night of Appreciation, 4/27/02 - (2.11 Star Avg.)
ROH was still very much finding its identity at this point. No real memorable angles on this show, and the only really outstanding match was the very first encounter between AJ Styles and Low Ki. But what this show has that the ones ranked below it lack is consistency. Granted, the consistency is that of being completely average, but that’s sort of the accidental theme of ROH 2002, is it not? Daniels carries Donovan Morgan to something just about average, Danielson & Spanky save a TWA gauntlet match while London & Shane were still figuring things out and Eddie has a fine and fun farewell match from his brief stint in the indies between Fed runs. Do I recommend going out of your way to watch this show? Not unless you’re a completionist. But again, while shows below had some of the better matches of the year, they were also counterbalanced by some of the worst matches of the year, and sometimes a hair above average gets the job done.

#2: ROH Road to the Title, 6/22/02 - (2.21 Star Avg.)
ROH’s very next show chronologically just so happens to be its very next show in terms of quality. This was a show that, due to the size of the card, had very little time to waste on segments or angles (although it did feature one of the worst segments of the year with the tag team intermission brawl). The tournament was overly intricate for the sake of it, and while I can’t fault Gabe for wanting to do something that stood out, this format probably wasn’t “it”. It did, however, produce some good to great matches. Some early stinkers out of the way, we got to see Doug Williams and Jay Briscoe tear it up, Amazing Red carry Xavier to the best match of his 2002, AJ Styles do the same for Jerry Lynn, an insane stunt show with Spanky and the emerging Jody Fleisch, and two of the best matches of the year in Danielson/Williams I, and Low Ki/Amazing Red, the latter of which may wind up being one of my favorite wrestling matches of all time. And this show also sets up ROH for the run before the run in terms of show quality, as it lays out the second half of 2002 by setting up the incredible ROH Title match the next month, starting the Prophecy up, and getting Steve Corino out of the announce booth to begin his run, albeit just in a short (and creepy) angle. If by some magic, ROH was able to have the same exact four way they’d hold the next month but do it on this card instead (which would’ve been physically impossible), it might’ve done down as one of the greatest independent wrestling shows of all time.

#1: ROH All-Star Extravaganza, 11/9/02 - (2.50 Star Avg.)
Hands down, the show of the year both match wise and in terms of angles/stories. In terms of the in-ring, we get a good gauntlet match that would’ve been great if it wasn’t interrupted by an overly long Nommy Dreamer promo, ROH’s first great six man tag in the Prophecy & Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki, Homicide & Doug Williams, Low Ki wrestling again by teaming up with Steve Corino to face Masato Tanaka & Shinjiro Ohtani, and another candidate for one of the greatest wrestling matches I’ve ever seen when Bryan Danielson and AJ Styles battled for the #1 Contenders trophy. Then when it came to angles and stories, we got the continued dastardly doings of the Prophecy all night, a fun JT Smith segment with Special K, and then an all-timer where Homicide stabs Steve Corino in the eye with a fork to kick their feud into high gear. An incredible night of pro wrestling no matter what floats your boat.

MATCH OF THE YEAR:

Honorable Mentions/Fun Watches:

Jay Briscoe vs. Spanky - Round Robin Challenge, 3/30/2002
Spanky vs. Jody Fleisch - Road to the Title, 6/22/2002
Carnage Crew vs. Natural Born Sinners - Crowning a Champion, 7/27/2002
Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Briscoe - Honor Invades Boston, 8/24/2002
Michael Shane vs. Paul London - Unscripted, 9/21/2002

#10: Bryan Danielson vs. Paul London - Night of the Butcher, 12/7/2002 - ***1/2

#9: Bryan Danielson vs. Doug Williams - Scramble Madness, 11/16/2002 - ***1/2

#8: The Prophecy vs. Low Ki, Homicide & Doug Williams - All-Star Extravaganza, 11/9/2002 - ***1/2

#7: Bryan Danielson vs. Doug Williams - Road to the Title, 6/22/2002 - ***3/4

#6: AJ Styles vs. Low Ki - A Night of Appreciation, 4/27/2002 - ***3/4

#5: Low Ki (c) vs. AJ Styles - ROH Title - Honor Invades Boston, 8/24/2002 - ****

#4: Low Ki vs. Amazing Red - Road to the Title, 6/22/2002 - ****

#3: Low Ki vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams vs. Spanky - Crowning a Champion, 7/27/2002 - ****1/4

#2: Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe - Glory By Honor, 10/5/2002 - ****1/4

#1: Bryan Danielson vs. AJ Styles - All-Star Extravaganza, 11/9/02 - ****1/2

TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR

I’m just going to skip doing a lot of pomp and circumstance here because this was one of the worst overall tag divisions I’ve ever seen in a singular year. I’m talking like maybe only WWF 94-97 (pick a year) is worse.

#5: THE PROPHECY [Daniels/Morgan] - 8.00 pts.

#4: DIVINE STORM - 10.50 pts.

#3: CARNAGE CREW - 11.00 pts.

#2: THE SAT - 12.25 pts.

#1: DA HIT SQUAD - 15.75 pts

ODDS & ENDS:

Some loose superlatives before we wrap up with Wrestler of the Year:

Least Favorite Match: The Prophecy (c) vs. The SAT - ROH Tag Titles, ROH FINAL BATTLE 2002 (I can forgive squashes, and there’s stuff I have ranked lower. But this was the worst 2/3 falls match I’ve ever seen and a testament to how bad this division was.)

Worst Cameo: Abdullah the Butcher (Tommy Dreamer is so lucky.)

Interview/Promo of the Year: The Carnage Crew Hate Their Dumb Kids and Fat Wives

Cringiest Worked Shoot/Reality Based Moment: CW Anderson’s “shoot” promo and “fight” with Gabe Sapolsky, ROH Night of the Butcher

Stable of the Year: Special K!!!!