Match #1: Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong (ROH on HDNet #70)
They are pretty tentative with each other early on. Richards deviates from that with a slap to the face. They trade control on the mat and Strong retreats to the outside. Richards punts him from the apron and unleashes a barrage of kicks in the ring. He connects with a diving headbutt and applies a cross armbreaker. Strong turns the hold into a pin attempt for a two count. Strong lays in a dropkick through the ropes and drops Richards back-first across the edge of the barricade. In the ring, Richards connects with a handspring enzuigiri. He follows with a missile dropkick. Strong hits a uranagi and a gutbuster. They battle on the apron and Richards drives Strong shoulder-first onto the apron. He locks in a fujiwara armbar but Strong escapes the hold. Richards reapplies the submission and tries a quick rollup to no avail. Strong slams him back-first across the top rope and hits an innovative chinbreaker. Richards answers with a sunset bomb and two german suplexes. He connects with a knockout kick for a nearfall. Richards synchs in a cross armbreaker but Strong counters into the Stronghold. They trade strikes and Todd Sinclair inadvertently gets into the line of fire. Shane Hagadorn attempts to assist Richards, but Richards wants nothing to do with it. Strong connects with the Sick Kick for the win at 19:20. They threw a lot at the crowd, but it seemed like the crowd couldn’t have cared less about this match. The fact that Todd Sinclair getting knocked out generated the loudest crowd response was not the best sign. It’s not like the action was a chore to watch, either. In fact, I thought Richards did an excellent job of working over Strong’s shoulder. But the apathetic crowd along with the lame finish kept this contest from turning into anything memorable. ***
Match #2: Davey Richards vs. Kevin Steen (Champion’s Challenge – 8/27/10)
Richards low bridges Steen to the floor and punts him from the apron. He sends Steen into the barricade and connects with a yakuza kick. Steen avoids a baseball slide and hits a powerbomb onto the apron. He takes over in the ring until Richards punts him off the apron and lands a dive to the outside. Back in, Richards connects with a missile dropkick followed by a handspring enzuigiri. He applies an ankle lock but Steen rolls through the hold. Steen lays in double knees and hits a corner cannonball. Richards flips out of a package piledriver and hits a saito suplex. Steen responds with a german suplex and synchs in a crossface. Richards reverses back into an ankle lock. He misses a diving headbutt and finds himself in another crossface. Richards is able to reach the bottom rope. Steen whiffs on a top-rope moonsault attempt. Richards connects with a series of kicks in the corner. Steen levels him with a superkick but gets caught by a knockout kick. Richards hits a german suplex for a nearfall. Steen ducks a second knockout kick and hits the package piledriver for a two count. Richards back drops out of another package piledriver and connects with repeated kawada kicks. Richards follows with one last knockout kick for the victory at 18:46. This was an engaging back and forth contest that is pretty comparable to their matches against each other this year. Before they feuded over the ROH World Title, Steen and Richards feuded over the ROH World Tag Team Titles and this match is a good gauge as to what that feud looked like. Bracketing any personal issues between them, these two match up really well together in the ring. ***½
Match #3: Davey Richards vs. El Generico (ROH on HDNet #76)
They begin with some chain wrestling. Generico snaps off a few armdrags and connects with a leg lariat. He hits a backbreaker but gets pulled off the middle rope into an Alarm Clock. Richards takes over until Generico finds an opening to land a dive to the outside. Back in, Generico finds success with a huge flying crossbody. He hits a blue thunder bomb. Richards answers with an enzuigiri and a german suplex. They battle on the middle rope and Richards hits a superplex. They exchange forearms and Richards connects with the Alarm Clock. Generico responds with a corner yakuza kick and hits a half nelson suplex. Richards reverses a brainbuster into one of his own for a nearfall. Both men are down. Generico crotches Richards on the top rope and hits a half nelson superplex for a two count. Richards hits a dragon screw leg whip in the ropes. Generico fights off a sunset bomb but finds himself in an ankle lock. He rolls through the hold. Richards misses a charge but reapplies the ankle lock. Richards transitions into a cloverleaf for the win at 16:17. As expected, these two had great chemistry together. Once again, the crowd wasn’t as vocal as they should have been, but I’m starting to think that may just be a problem with the HDNet taping atmosphere. The psychology around Generico’s bad leg was pretty tight and sixteen minutes was the right amount of time for them to get their point across. They would have the same match quality-wise in thirty minutes at Glory By Honor X. ***¼
Match #4: Davey Richards vs. Tyler Black (ROH on HDNet #78)
Richards charges at the opening bell with a yakuza kick. Black dropkicks him to the floor and follows out with a dive. They brawl around ringside. Richards punts Black from the apron and lays in multiple kicks. Back in, Richards takes control until Black hits Paroxysm. Black now gains the advantage after a well-timed superkick. Richards kicks him off the apron and lands a crazy dive to the outside. In the ring, Richards connects with a missile dropkick and a handspring enzuigiri. He blocks a hurricanrana with a powerbomb and locks in a cloverleaf. Black is able to reach the bottom rope. He just dumps Richards over the top rope. Black uses the barricade to land a lionsault. He connects with a springboard lariat in the ring and hits an F5. Richards leaps to the top rope and hits a german suplex but Black lands on his feet! Richards connects with the Alarm Clock but Black responds with a reverse hurricanrana. Richards connects with a lariat and both men are down. They battle on the apron and Richards hits a DDT. He let’s Todd Sinclair count Black out. Black thinks about walking away but reenters the ring. Richards hits a saito suplex, connects with a knockout kick, and hits a german suplex for a nearfall. Black avoids a shooting star press and hits a bucklebomb. He connects with a basement superkick for a two count. Black steals Richards’ cloverleaf but Richards turns the hold into a small package for a nearfall. Black hits God’s Last Gift and connects with a flying double stomp. He quickly follows with a coast-to-coast dropkick. Richards gets his knees up to block a phoenix splash. Black connects with a superkick but gets caught by a discus lariat. Richards hits the DR Driver for a nearfall. He follows with Black’s bucklebomb-kick combination. Richards finally hits God’s Last Gift for a two count. Richards locks in a cloverleaf for the victory at 26:53. This might not be on the level of their Death Before Dishonor VIII match, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort. You got the sense that they were trying everything in their power to pick up the win, and that’s often a story that tells itself. These two were masterful at keeping the crowd guessing on just what was going to happen down the stretch. The stealing of each other’s moves didn’t feel out of place and I appreciated that Richards won with the cloverleaf, the hold that Black originally stole from him earlier in the contest. This match nearly took up the entire episode the week it aired and for very good reason. ****
Match #5: Davey Richards vs. Christopher Daniels (Richards vs. Daniels – 10/16/10)
Richards tries to ground Daniels early on with a bit of success. Richards snaps off an armdrag and connects with a leg lariat. Daniels responds with a leg lariat of his own. Richards punts him from the apron and lays in a yakuza kick at ringside. He synchs in an indian deathlock in the ring and takes over. Daniels blocks a dive with a palm strike and lands an arabian moonsault to the floor. Back in, Daniels follows with a flying crossbody and takes control. Richards throws a knockout kick out of nowhere and adds a diving headbutt. They battle on the middle rope and Richards connects with repeated headbutts. He hits a superplex and applies an ankle lock. Daniels quickly reaches the bottom rope. They exchange kawada kicks and palm strikes. Richards connects with the Alarm Clock but falls victim to a blue thunder bomb. Daniels hits an STO and locks in the koji clutch. Richards reverses into an ankle lock but Daniels counters into an ankle lock of his own. Richards sends him to the floor and follows out with a dive. Of course, Richards ends up in the front row. In the ring, Richards connects with a handspring enzuigiri and hits a german suplex from the top rope. Daniels avoids a shooting star press and positions himself to apply a koji clutch. Awesome. Richards barely gets his foot onto the bottom rope. The action goes to the apron, where Daniels hits a nasty death valley driver. Richards recovers and starts taking the fight to Daniels. Daniels hits Angel’s Wings in response for a nearfall. Richards counters the BME into an ankle lock. Daniels reverses into a rollup for a two count. Richards connects with a lariat and a knockout kick. He follows with the DR Driver. Richards applies an ankle lock and transitions into an indian deathlock variant for the win at 28:52. Daniels is criminally underrated. Upon returning to Ring of Honor, he called out Richards and this match had been months in the making. If you bought into the “old guard vs. new guard” vibe during this contest, the action perfectly fit that feel. These two brought the fight to each other for the entire twenty-nine minutes, trying to one-up each other on multiple occasions and busting out unique counters to each other’s offense. Richards might receive some flack for having overly-long matches on occasion, but there was so much substance to this encounter that nearly a half an hour was necessary. A true highlight of ROH in 2010 and a match to hunt down. ****¼
Match #6: ROH World Title: Roderick Strong © vs. Davey Richards (Final Battle 2010 – 12/18/10)
They showcase some counter wrestling early on and trade control on the mat. Richards locks in a surfboard and transitions into a muta lock. Strong escapes an ankle lock and is forced to play defense. Richards even locks in a cross armbreaker and a cloverleaf but can’t keep the holds synched in for very long. He hits a northern lights suplex and applies a kimura. Truth Martini puts Strong’s foot onto the bottom rope. The action goes to the floor where Richards connects with a running yakuza kick. Strong finds life after a gamengiri and takes control in the ring. Richards dropkicks him off the apron and follows out with a dive. Back in, Richards connects with a missile dropkick and hits a saito suplex. They exchange strikes and Strong gets caught by an Alarm Clock. Richards finds success with a diving headbutt. He hits a falcon arrow and transitions into a cross armbreaker. Strong quickly reaches the bottom rope. He plants Richards with a falcon arrow of his own. Strong hits a uranagi and synchs in the Stronghold. Richards is able to reach the ropes. They trade strikes and Richards hits a german suplex. He catches Strong up top with a superplex. Richards connects with a knockout kick and goes back to the ankle lock. Martini stops the referee from seeing Strong tap out. Richards punts Martini and lands a shooting star press onto Strong for a nearfall. They battle on the middle rope and Strong drops Richards’ back-first onto the top turnbuckle. Richards rolls to the apron. Strong gives chase and suplexes him through the ringside table. Strong hits a Gibson Driver onto the floor, throws Richards into the crowd, and waits in the ring. Richards makes it into the ring at nineteen. Strong hits another Gibson Driver for a nearfall and locks in the Stronghold. Richards counters into a cloverleaf. Strong reverses into a crossface. Richards turns the hold into a rollup for a nearfall. He hits a Gibson Driver of his own and locks in an ankle lock. Richards suddenly falls to the canvas and breaks the hold. Todd Sinclair checks on him. Strong hits a backbreaker, connects with a Sick Kick, hits an orange crush backbreaker, connects with another Sick Kick, and locks in the Stronghold to retain his title at 30:12. This is the type of match that would later make people extremely critical of Richards’ ROH World Title reign. The first half of the match featured great submission work from Richards with Strong playing defense well. However, the action became a bit silly in the final five minutes. Richards kicked out of way too much down the stretch, to the point of actively devaluing Strong’s offense. These two have had better, more concise matches elsewhere, but there was still a large portion of this contest that was worthwhile. ***½
Match #7: Davey Richards vs. Chris Hero (Only the Strong Survive – 1/15/11)
They trade control on the mat and wrestle to a stalemate. Hero catches Richards with a shoulder block and he retreats to the floor. Back in, Richards connects with a spin kick and it’s now Hero that retreats to the outside. Sara Del Rey gets involved from ringside, allowing Hero to attack from behind. Richards ducks a mafia kick and connects with a dropkick. He elevates Hero to the floor and punts him from the apron. Shane Hagadorn provides a distraction and Hero lays out Richards with a mafia kick. In the ring, Hero connects with a flash kick and takes control. Richards finds life with an enzuigiri but gets back suplexed to the floor. He lures Hero to the outside and then takes him out with a dive. Back in, Richards connects with his handspring enzuigiri and applies a fujiwara armbar. Hero escapes the hold and answers with a roaring elbow. They trade boots and Hero lands a springboard moonsault. He synchs in a stretch plum but Richards reaches the bottom rope. Hero tags Richards with a roaring elbow. He goes up top but Richards catches him with a german suplex. Richards hits a saito suplex and connects with a knockout kick for a nearfall. Hero comes back with his kick-roaring elbow combination. Richards avoids the Deathblow and applies a cross armbreaker. Hero makes the bottom rope. They exchange kicks and chops. Hero blocks a knockout kick and connects with two roaring elbows. Richards fights back with a discus lariat. Hero blocks a charge and connects with a roaring mafia kick. He hits a brutal piledriver but Richards won’t stay down. Sara Del Rey tosses in the loaded elbow pad. Richards almost pins Hero with a backslide. Hero goes to use the loaded elbow pad but Todd Sinclair catches him and takes it away. Richards missile dropkicks Hero’s bad arm, punts Hagadorn, and lands a shooting star press. He applies a kimura but Hero turns it into a pin attempt for a two count. Richards locks in a cross armbreaker for the victory at 29:01. Tremendous encounter between arguably the two best wrestlers on the ROH roster at the time. Hero looked like a killer when he was in control, doing whatever was necessary to keep the persistent Richards down. I have to believe that the finishing stretch was playing off of Richards’ match at Final Battle. Commentary even pointed out that Richards was looking out of it down the stretch. However, this time Richards was able to fight through and get the win. They also added in a few nice touches, such as Richards acknowledging his hatred of Shane Hagadorn and Hero finally getting caught using the loaded elbow pad. This was comparable to their awesome match in PWG from the year prior. ****
Match #8: Davey Richards vs. TJ Perkins (SoCal Showdown II – 1/28/11)
They cautiously exchange kicks and trade control on the mat. After constantly dodging each other’s strikes, they humorously agree to take a step back. Richards almost finds success with a crucifix. Perkins escapes a powerbomb attempt and drives his knees into Richards’ chest. Perkins begins to target the left leg until Richards almost traps him in a cross armbreaker. Richards sets his sights on the left arm and connects with a diving headbutt. Perkins finds life after suplexing Richards to the floor, taking himself out as well. Back in, they trade strikes and Richards dropkicks Perkins to the outside. Perkins blocks a dive with a quick hurricanrana. Richards answers with a series of kicks in the corner. Perkins connects with shotgun knees and returns the favor. He blocks the Alarm Clock and hits a powerbomb. Both men are down. Richards sends Perkins to the apron with a stiff kick. Perkins leaps off the top rope but Richards catches him in a fujiwara armbar. Richards hits a superplex and applies a cross armbreaker. Perkins reverses into a sharpshooter but Richards turns it into a small package for a nearfall. They exchange kicks and Perkins delivers a vicious knee strike. Richards avoids a 450 splash and hits a german suplex. Perkins tries a small package to no avail. Richards connects with a discus lariat and a knockout kick. Richards hits a falcon arrow and transitions into a cross armbreaker for the victory at 18:55. A lot can be said about this match. However, the aspect that I appreciated the most was that Richards and Perkins were established as equals from the onset. While the strike exchanges were excellent and the mat work was awesome, those elements worked so well because I legitimately believed that Perkins could win this match. I truly felt like I was watching two of the best at this style lock horns. The match certainly didn’t feel like nineteen minutes and they nicely incorporated the body part work into the closing stretch. This is definitely a match worth seeking out and ROH could gain a lot from using Perkins on a consistent basis. ****
Match #9: Davey Richards vs. Colt Cabana (9th Anniversary Show – 2/26/11)
They trade control of a wristlock and Cabana narrowly avoids a kick. Cabana tries a few rollups but gets caught by a baseball slide on the floor. Richards follows out with a dive and takes control in the ring, working over the left arm. Cabana blocks a diving headbutt and connects with a series of punches followed by a bionic elbow. He adds a springboard moonsault and goes up top. Richards kicks him and goes up top as well. Cabana gets him in a fireman’s carry position and drapes him across the top rope. Cabana lands a moonsault from the top rope for a nearfall. Richards escapes the Colt 45 and connects with a missile dropkick. He follows with a diving headbutt and applies a cross armbreaker. Cabana escapes the hold and locks in the Billy Goat’s Curse. Richards turns it into a pin attempt for a two count. He connects with a knockout kick and hits a german suplex. Cabana gets planted by a tornado DDT. Richards hits a falcon arrow and reapplies a cross armbreaker for the win at 12:10. I think that Cabana should be in this position more often. He wasn’t in a grudge match with anyone but at the same time, he was facing an opponent where he had to keep the comedy to a minimum. They delivered a smartly-worked, entertaining match that was definitely the right choice for the opener of an anniversary show. ***¼
Match #10: Davey Richards vs. Claudio Castagnoli (Defy or Deny – 3/18/11)
Claudio asserts his power advantage early on. Richards is able to impressively hold Claudio’s weight on a bridge and snaps off a hurricanrana. Richards dropkicks Claudio to the floor and follows out with a dive. Shane Hagadorn grabs Richards’ boot, allowing Claudio to boot him off the apron. Claudio throws Richards into the barricade and takes over in the ring. Richards almost makes a comeback but Claudio stops him with a flying european uppercut. Richards elevates Claudio to the floor and punts Hagadorn from the apron. He leaps off the apron and plants Claudio with a tornado DDT. Back in, Richards connects with a missile dropkick. He tries for a superplex but they accidentally fall to the floor. Richards lands a flying crossbody but runs into a bicycle kick. Claudio hits a wheelbarrow german suplex along with a chokeslam. Richards escapes the Ricola Bomb and they trade strikes. Richards hits a saito suplex. Claudio counters a handspring enzuigiri into the UFO for a nearfall. Both men are down. Claudio powers out of a triangle choke and hits a fallaway slam from the middle rope. Richards counters the Ricola Bomb into a code red for a two count. He connects with a knockout kick followed by a flying double stomp. Richards lands a shooting star press for the win at 19:27. Richards came out of this contest looking great, as he had an answer for all of Claudio’s signature moves. Early on, Claudio was able to maintain control due to his power and interference from Shane Hagadorn and Sara Del Rey. Once Richards was able to neutralize his former managers, he was able to use his counters and pick up the win. While I’ve seen some of the exchanges before in various tag team matches involving both men, the crowd was extremely vocal for the entire duration. Everything clicked here. ***¾
Match #11: Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong (Honor Takes Center Stage – Chapter 1 – 4/1/11)
Both men are relatively cautious early on. Richards avoids a chop and connects with a kick. Strong slaps him and Richards responds with more kicks. Richards controls with various submissions and even hits a backbreaker. Truth Martini interjects himself, allowing Strong to enzuigiri Richards to the floor. Richards has a bloody mouth as Strong takes over, dropping him back-first across the apron. Richards punts Strong from the apron and lands a dive to the floor. In the ring, Richards connects with a missile dropkick and follows with his handspring enzuigiri. He hits a german suplex and applies an ankle lock but Strong counters into a lebell lock. Strong hits a gourdbuster and a side slam. He drops Richards back-first across the top turnbuckle. Strong locks in the Stronghold but Richards quickly reaches the bottom rope. They exchange strikes in the corner and Richards comes out on top. Strong blocks a charge but gets caught by an Alarm Clock. Richards connects with a knockout kick but eats a flying knee. Both men are down. They battle on the apron where Strong drops Richards back-first across the apron yet again. Richards tries to reenter the ring but Strong superkicks him to the floor. Back in, Strong connects with the Sick Kick for a nearfall. He follows with a backbreaker and a gutbuster for a two count. Richards answers with a saito suplex and connects with a discus lariat. He adds a knockout kick but Strong spits at him. Richards connects with another knockout kick and applies an ankle lock. Martini gets involved, allowing Strong to hit his orange crush backbreaker. Strong follows with the Gibson Driver and synchs in the Stronghold. Richards counters into an ankle lock but Martini actually enters the ring this time. Richards boots him to the floor and reapplies the ankle lock. Strong gets to the ropes and they battle up top. Richards hits a superplex and transitions into a falcon arrow. Richards goes back to the ankle lock for the win at 27:06. The predictability of Richards winning didn’t have me biting on any of Strong’s nearfalls (especially because Richards kicked out of everything at Final Battle) and made Martini’s interference down the stretch kind of moot. Additionally, Strong didn’t come out of this match looking the greatest, as I felt he relied almost too much on Martini throughout the contest. Still, this match was filled with fantastic action and exchanges. It was smart for ROH to book this style of match on WrestleMania weekend, as I could see this kind of action appealing to those new to the promotion. Upon rewatching both matches, I actually enjoyed this one a bit more than their Final Battle encounter. ***¾
Match #12: Davey Richards vs. Charlie Haas (Supercard of Honor VI – 5/21/11)
They trade control on the mat and wrestle to a stalemate. Richards applies a guillotine choke and connects with a dropkick. Haas retreats to the outside where Richards punts him from the apron. Richards slingshots back into the ring but lands across Haas’ knee. Haas hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker along with a butterfly suplex. Richards kicks him off the apron and lands a dive to the floor. In the ring, Richards connects with a missile dropkick and follows with a handspring gamengiri. He can’t find the back strength to hit a suplex and falls victim to an exploder. Haas goes up top but Richards catches him with a superplex. Richards transitions into a falcon arrow and synchs in an ankle lock. Haas rolls through, sending Richards to the floor. Haas hits an olympic slam into the ringpost. Richards barely makes the twenty count. He escapes another olympic slam and hits rolling german suplexes. Haas responds with rolling german suplexes of his own. They go back and forth trading german suplexes. After a brief strike exchange, they start trading german suplexes again. Richards applies an ankle lock but Haas rolls through. Haas hits an olympic slam and both men are down. Richards connects with the Alarm Clock but runs into a lariat. Haas locks in the Haas of Pain but Richards reverses into an ankle lock. Haas is able to fight out of the hold. Richards connects with two enzuigiris and a knockout kick for the win at 18:50. Perhaps allowing Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team to have singles matches on this show was a good idea, as this was the best performance that I can ever remember seeing from Haas. He was able to hang with Richards for nearly nineteen minutes while wrestling a predominantly back and forth match. They didn’t need many nearfalls down the stretch to capture the crowd’s attention as everyone just seemed fascinated by watching these two give it their all. While some people might be annoyed with the constant german suplexes or lack of selling at times, I thought that everything worked in context and these two managed to blow away expectations. ***¾
Match #13: ROH World Title: Eddie Edwards © vs. Davey Richards (Best in the World 2011 – 6/26/11)
This is Richards’ final chance to claim the ROH World Title. Edwards doesn’t offer a clean break and almost pays for it. They trade reversals and strikes. Richards gains the advantage after a punt to the chest. Edwards fights back with a TKO and a gutwrench suplex. Richards sends him to the floor and punts him from the apron. Richards slingshots back into the ring and lands a dive to the outside. Edwards gets caught by a missile dropkick back in the ring. He tries a backpack chinbreaker but Richards almost reverses into a cross armbreaker. Richards hits a northern lights suplex and goes back after the left arm. They trade headbutts on the top rope and Richards hits a superplex. He transitions into a falcon arrow and applies a cross armbreaker. Edwards reverses into an achilles lock. Richards goes back to the cross armbreaker but Edwards rolls through. Edwards counters a handspring kick with a sit-out gourdbuster and hits a fisherman buster. He comes off the middle rope with a lungblower. Richards sneaks in another cross armbreaker but Edwards just stomps on his face to escape. Edwards sends Richards to the floor and lands a moonsault off the apron. Back in, Edwards connects with a missile dropkick and hits a tiger suplex. Apparently, Edwards hurt his left knee at some point. They exchange forearms and battle on the apron where Edwards hits a 2k1 bomb. Edwards connects with a superkick and double stomps Richards through a table at ringside. In the ring, Edwards connects with another flying double stomp. Richards catches him in the ropes and Edwards dares him to hit a dragon screw leg whip. Richards connects with a flying double stomp of his own. He synchs in an ankle lock but Edwards reaches the ropes. Back up top, Richards lays in a series of headbutts and hits a german suplex. He kicks Edwards into the corner and adds another german suplex. Richards applies an ankle lock but Edwards counters into one of his own. Richards reverses back and Edwards is able to reach the bottom rope. They battle on the apron and Richards inadvertently kicks the ringpost. Edwards snaps off a top rope hurricanrana and hits a powerbomb. He connects with a lariat and follows with a 2k1 bomb. Edwards synchs in an achilles lock and transitions into a cloverleaf. Richards hits a saito suplex out of nowhere and Edwards returns the favor. Both men are down. They exchange forearms, chops, and kicks. Richards connects with a lariat. Edwards won’t stay down so Richards follows with a flurry of kicks. Richards connects with two superkicks and a knockout kick for a nearfall. Richards says “you will always be my brother” and lays in one final kick to become the sixteenth ROH World Champion at 36:00.
A lot has been said about this match. Some people have called this an easy match of the year candidate, even going as far as five stars. However, there is a minority that doesn’t agree with the match of the year praise and I’m in that minority. After watching his excellent title defenses against Roderick Strong and Chris Hero, it’s easy to see how this match against Richards deviates from them. Instead of sticking to the limb work and telling a great story (his defense against Hero) or playing off of a previous match (his defense against Strong), this contest seemed to just be about throwing cool moves out there and hoping that the crowd gives them a reaction. While the crowd reacted for the most part, there were definitely times where the crowd felt burnt out, such as when Richards and Edwards traded saito suplexes and received no response. Don’t get me wrong, there are some awesome exchanges throughout this contest. I just don’t feel as though those exchanges really meant anything in the long run. If anything, this is a match where you simply need to decide for yourself. While I would say it’s worth a watch, I would not say that is a match of the year candidate. ***¾
Overall: Davey Richards is an incredibly polarizing figure in professional wrestling today. For some people, watching this compilation is the last thing that they’d want to put themselves through. However, if you’re even the slightest fan of Richards, the quality on this release is tough to argue against. Every one of the thirteen matches is worth watching, with many of them hovering around four stars. Another huge aspect of this compilation is that Richards provides his thoughts on every match included. Honestly, there’s enough interview footage included to call this a mini shoot interview. I’ll repeat what I said earlier. If you’re not a fan of Richards, you aren’t even thinking about a purchase here. If you enjoy watching Richards perform and don’t already own most of these matches, I would highly recommend picking up this compilation.
You can purchase this DVD at Ring of Honor’s store right here.