Match #1: Austin Aries vs. Go Shiozaki (6th Anniversary Show – 2/23/08)
They trade control on the mat. A chop battle goes very poorly for Aries. Aries keeps throwing strikes but they don’t seem to phase Shiozaki. Aries catches Shiozaki with a double axe handle from the top rope to the floor. He rams Shiozaki into the barricade and connects with the IED at ringside. Aries takes over until Shiozaki comes off the top rope with a shoulder tackle. He wears down Aries with a sleeper hold and continues with the chops. Aries blocks a charge and hits a nice stunner out of the corner. They battle on the apron and Aries hits a back suplex to the floor. He follows with the heat-seeking missile and adds a missile dropkick. Shiozaki fights back with a german suplex and connects with a superkick. A discus lariat gets him a nearfall. Aries connects with multiple IEDs. They battle on the middle rope and Shiozaki hits a nice spinning uranagi. Shiozaki misses a moonsault. Aries applies the Last Chancery but Shiozaki hits an orange crush for a two count. Shiozaki connects with a lariat. Aries hits the brainbuster and goes back to the Last Chancery. Shiozaki dead-lifts Aries into a suplex. Aries dodges a lariat and hits a crucifix bomb. Aries punts Shiozaki, hits the brainbuster, and lands a 450 splash for the win at 20:03. Aries was great at making Shiozaki’s offense look threatening and this was a breakout match for Shiozaki during his stay in the United States. This match really showed Aries’ versatility, as he was able to work with Shiozaki on multiple levels and this led to some fantastic exchanges throughout the match. ***¾
Match #2: Austin Aries vs. Genki Horiguchi (Dragon Gate Challenge II – 3/28/08)
Aries snaps off a series of armdrags. He hits a uranagi and connects with his powerdrive elbow. Horiguchi goes to the eyes and escapes an early Last Chancery attempt. He pulls Aries to the floor and throws him into the barricade. Horiguchi takes control until Aries avoids a moonsault and comes off the top rope with a chop. Aries back drops Horiguchi to the floor and lands the heat-seeking missile. In the ring, Horiguchi hits a tornado DDT. Aries fires back with an IED. They battle over a brainbuster and Horiguchi is able to hit it. They trade quick pin attempts to no avail. Aries kicks Horiguchi in the chest but almost gets caught with an inside cradle. Aries hits a brainbuster and locks in the Last Chancery for the victory at 9:07. A solid showcase for both men. I didn’t quite see Horiguchi as Aries’ equal here, but the crowd seemed to be vocal for the action. **¾
Match #3: Relaxed Rules: Austin Aries vs. Necro Butcher (Battle for Supremacy – 6/27/08)
Necro attacks before the opening bell. Aries clotheslines him to the floor and follows out with the heat-seeking missile. They battle in the crowd and return to the ring, with Aries mostly maintaining the advantage. He catches Necro with the IED and dropkicks him from the apron through a table at ringside. Aries questions Necro’s motivations as he recovers. Specifically, Aries tries to get Necro to leave Jacobs and realize that Jacobs doesn’t care about him. Aries refuses to fight Necro. Necro somewhat hesitantly punches Aries in the face. Aries still doesn’t fight back. Necro connects with a series of punches. Necro eventually lays out Aries with a chair shot for the win at 9:21. Pure angle advancement but pretty effective in starting Necro’s face turn. Jimmy Jacobs looked like such a mastermind back then, as opposed to his somewhat bland role in SCUM today.
Match #4: Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs (Vendetta II – 6/28/08)
Jacobs tries to frustrate Aries early on by mat wrestling. Then he kisses Aries. Not the best idea for Jacobs. Aries comes off the top with a double axe handle and sends Jacobs into the barricade. They battle through the crowd and up the bleachers. Jacobs locks in the End Time, but Aries rams him into the wall to escape. Jacobs gets sent down the bleachers. In the ring, Jacobs uses the referee as a distraction to take control. He hits a suplex on the floor and sends Aries through a chair with a dive. Aries fights back with a stunner out of the corner. He escapes an End Time by sending Jacobs to the floor. Aries follows out with the heat-seeking missile. Back in, Aries hits an implant DDT and connects with corner punches. Jacobs hits snake eyes. He spears Aries off the apron and into the barricade. That’s a pretty cool visual and I’m surprised that Jacobs doesn’t do it more often. In the ring, Jacobs hits a top-rope senton for a nearfall. Aries counters the End Time into the Last Chancery. Jacobs goes to the eyes to escape. Aries blocks the Contra Code and hits a death valley driver onto the apron. At ringside, Jacobs uses the barricade to hit the Contra Code. Back in, Aries fights out of the End Time and swats away the Contra Code. He synchs in the Last Chancery. The Age of the Fall try to interfere but the Briscoes fight them off. MsChif spits mist into Aries’ eyes and joins the Age of the Fall. Jacobs hits another Contra Code for a nearfall. They trade submissions. Aries connects with a kick to the head. He adds multiple IEDs. Aries finally lands the 450 splash for the victory at 26:38. The feud between these two had been happening for a decent bit until they finally had their first grudge match here. Even still, this singles match left a lot of room for future matches and this was a good example of solid booking accompanied by great wrestling. Jacobs shined here in a singles role and he should be used more in that capacity in Ring of Honor. Just an excellent grudge match with a lot of small touches to highlight the feud. ****
Match #5: Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Necro Butcher (Death Before Dishonor VI – 8/2/08)
Necro was still under Jacobs’ rule at this point, though the tension was starting to form. Aries attempts to take them on by himself. He lands the heat-seeking missile onto Necro and hits a side slam on Jacobs. The numbers game eventually catches up to him. Aries causes some miscommunication between Jacobs and Necro. The Age of the Fall are able to regroup and regain control. Necro hits a chair-slam and Jacobs adds a top-rope senton. They start arguing over who should pin Aries. Necro gets fed up and attacks Jacobs! Necro walks out on the match. Aries connects with an IED on Jacobs and hits a brainbuster. Aries lands the 450 splash for the win at 11:47. The whole match was used to build towards Necro turning on Jacobs. While the wrestling wasn’t anything special, everyone really played their role well in helping to get the storyline over. **
Match #6: Dog Collar Match: Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs (Bound By Hate – 11/8/08)
Jacobs attacks before the opening bell. Aries fights back with his powerdrive elbow and tries to put the dog collar on Jacobs. Jacobs moves out of the way of a heat-seeking missile and connects with a dropkick on the floor. He ties Aries to the ringpost by using the dog collar chain. Jacobs lays in multiple chair shots and taunts Aries on the microphone. Aries creates some space with a low blow and returns the favor with a chairs hot. He busts Jacobs open with the chain and puts the dog collar onto him. Jacobs tries to run away but that plan doesn’t work very well with the dog collar in play. Jacobs lures Aries into an attack from Tyler Black. Black connects with a basement superkick on Aries. Jacobs tells Black to leave after he has the upperhand. Aries comes back with the heat-seeking missile. He goes for the 450 splash but Jacobs uses the chain to pull him to the canvas. Jacobs applies the End Time but Aries powers out of the hold. Aries pulls Jacobs into a chain-assisted Last Chancery for the victory at 18:09. Though I liked their match at Vendetta II a bit more, this contest broadened what a dog collar match could be by Jacobs not wearing the chain for half of the match. They told an excellent story with Aries fighting through Jacobs’ tactics and the Black interference was able to make its point without overwhelming the match. This was a fitting way to progress the feud. ***¾
Match #7: I Quit Match: Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs (Rising Above 2008 – 11/22/08)
They battle to the floor and Jacobs gains control by throwing Aries into the barricade. Jacobs grabs a table from under the ring. Aries fights back and places Jacobs onto the table. Black smartly pulls Jacobs off the table. Aries attempts the heat-seeking missile but Jacobs blocks it with the dog collar from their previous match. In the ring, Jacobs uses the dog collar to bust Aries open. Jacobs spears Aries to the floor and puts him through a chair with a dive. Aries is tied to a chair by the dog collar chain. Just as Jacobs is about to hit him with another chair, Lacey makes her return and threatens to throw in the towel for Aries. While Jacobs is distracted with her, Aries frees himself from the chair. Aries lands the heat-seeking missile and hits a brainbuster. He busts Jacobs open with the dog collar. Aries ties Jacobs to the turnbuckles and brutalizes him while continually stopping the referee from stepping in. Both men battle up top and they send each other through the table at ringside. Back in, Jacobs delivers a low blow and locks in the End Time. He transitions into the Last Chancery. Aries dodges Jacobs’ spike and applies his own Last Chancery. Lacey steals Black’s towel as Aries repeatedly drives the spike into Jacobs’ forehead. Jacobs quits, giving Aries the win at 21:58. This had all of the makings of a fantastic blowoff to a feud. The interference from Lacey was significant for storyline reasons and executed decently well despite some indifference from the crowd. I liked how they worked in the dog collar and spike s it related to their previous match. Most importantly, the hatred could be seen and we received a satisfying conclusion. ****
Match #8: Austin Aries vs. Naomichi Marufuji (All Star Extravaganza IV – 12/26/08)
Both men give each other clean breaks. Aries snaps off some japanese armdrags and whether or not you find that ironic is up to you. Aries goes for an early Last Chancery but Marufuji escapes. Aries gets nailed with a superkick but regroups on the outside. He dodges more kick attempts and takes control. Marufuji looks for his coast-to-coast dropkick but Aries moves out of the way. Aries hits a neckbreaker in the ropes and regains control. Marufuji shows life with a series of quick pin attempts but Aries connects with a dropkick after a sunset flip. Aries misses his powerdrive elbow and gets caught by a superkick. Aries counters the Shiranui into a gutbuster and connects with the powerdrive elbow. Marufuji blocks a dive attempt. Aries hits a crucifix bomb in the ring and Marufuji goes back to the floor. This time, Aries successfully follows out with the heat-seeking missile. Back in, Aries locks in the Last Chancery. He attempts another brainbuster but Marufuji fights out. Instead, Aries settles for consecutive IEDs. Marufuji responds with a coast-to-coast dropkick. Aries once again fights off the Shiranui. Marufuji fires back with three big kicks and hits the Shiranui Kai for the victory at 20:06. I liked this match a lot better the second time I watched it. They setup a lot of psychology early on that never really went anywhere, but Aries’ characterization along with Marufuji’s increasing desperation to put Aries away make this worth watching. This can be seen as the first step towards Aries heel turn. ***½
Match #9: Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black (Final Battle 2008 – 12/27/08)
The winner will earn a future shot at the ROH World Title. The crowd is pretty split. Aries finds ways to out-wrestle Black early on. As they trade control, the crowd starts cheering Black and booing Aries. Aries tries the powerdrive elbow to a terrible response. Black takes control after Aries fails to mimic Black’s offense. Aries comes back with the heat-seeking missile. He throws Black into the barricade and connects with an IED. Black makes the ropes to escape the Last Chancery. They battle back on the floor, where Black hits a TKO onto the apron! He follows with a fosbury flop that wipes out Aries. In the ring, Aries attempts a brainbuster but Black counters into Paroxysm. Aries fights back with the Last Chancery. He breaks the hold to lay in some knee strikes to Black’s neck. Black connects with a superkick and hits a bucklebomb. He goes for the phoenix splash but Jimmy Jacobs comes out to talk some sense into him. The distraction causes Black to miss. Aries hits a brainbuster and adds a 450 splash for the win at 17:07. This was the best match that they’ve had in Ring of Honor up to this point. The crowd turned on Aries, but that’s exactly where the storyline was headed so it was a welcome reaction. Even the Jacobs’ interference was subtle enough as to not affect the match quality. Very solid back and forth affair. ***¾
Match #10: ROH World Title: Elimination: Jerry Lynn © vs. Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black (Manhattan Mayhem III – 6/13/09)
Lynn and Black go right after Aries. Black chases Aries around the ring and Lynn catches Aries with a dive from the apron. Lynn sends Aries into the barricade with a baseball slide. Lynn and Black wrestle to a stalemate in the ring. Aries eventually interferes to prevent Lynn from escaping a headscissors. Awesome. Black wipes out both of his opponents with a dive. Aries takes out Black’s left leg at ringside and applies a figure four around the ringpost. Nigel comes over and makes Aries break the hold. Black finds life by connecting with a springboard clothesline. He launches Aries to the outside and onto Lynn. Everyone battles up top and Lynn hits a double bulldog. Lynn hits an air raid crash on Black for a nearfall. Aries locks in the Last Chancery on Black but he reaches the bottom rope. Aries gets crotched on the top rope and Lynn hits a superplex. Lynn hits a TKO on Aries but gets caught by a corner dropkick. Black superkicks Aries, who unintentionally DDTs Lynn. Black hits God’s Last Gift on Lynn to eliminate him. We are guaranteed a new champion. Black and Aries trade strikes. Aries goes back to the leg. Black hits Paroxysm for a two count. Black hits a TKO but misses a phoenix splash. Aries hurricanranas him into the turnbuckles and connects with an IED. Aries hits the brainbuster and 450 splash but Black grabs the ropes during the pin attempt. Aries locks in a figure four but Nigel stops him from using the ropes for leverage. Black goes for the bucklebomb but his leg gives out. Aries kicks him in the head and hits a brainbuster to become the first two-time ROH World Champion at 20:01. There were so many little things done well here. From Black and Lynn giving nods to their previous matches to Aries stopping the headscissors escape, the list goes on. Lynn being eliminated first was undoubtedly the right call, as the crowd immediately came alive. Black kicking out of the same combination that put Samoa Joe away was awesome as well. Even Nigel as the enforcer was tolerable. This was definitely a suitable match for the ROH World Title to change hands despite Black’s win being delayed even longer. ****¼
Match #11: ROH World Title: Austin Aries © vs. Tyler Black vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Nigel McGuinness (Death Before Dishonor VII Night 1 – 7/24/09)
Black takes Aries to the outside as Lynn and Nigel do battle in the ring. Lynn hits a tornado DDT but falls victim to a springboard clothesline from Black. Lynn blocks a dive from Aries by hitting a tilt-a-whirl slam. He follows with his guillotine leg drop and a crossbody. Aries connects with the IED on Lynn and applies the Last Chancery. Nigel breaks up the hold and goes to work on Lynn’s shoulder. There’s a spot where Black superkicks Nigel, causing him to hit a double Tower of London on Lynn and Aries. Black lands a plancha to the floor onto Aries. Back in, Black hits a TKO on Lynn followed by Paroxysm on Nigel. He follows with a bucklebomb on Lynn. Nigel traps Black in the London Dungeon. Lynn tries to break the hold, but Nigel puts him through a ringside table with the Tower of London. Aries takes out Nigel with the heat-seeking missile. Black finishes with a dive of his own. In the ring, Aries lays out Black with a belt shot for a nearfall. Aries dodges a jawbreaker lariat and Nigel ends up connecting with Black for a two count. Aries tries to flip over into a Last Chancery but Lynn lifts him into a Cradle Piledriver. Lynn hits another Cradle Piledriver on Nigel but gets caught by a superkick from Black. Black goes for a phoenix splash but Kenny King pushes him off the top rope. This allows Aries to hit a flipping leg drop from the top rope onto Nigel to retain his title at 16:08. The match started off badly for me, as I dislike when four wrestlers simply split off into groups of two in a four-way. Thankfully, they ended up adding a lot of unique multi-man spots and made this feel like a true four corner survival. Though this match was entertaining for its duration, using a four corner survival here felt forced as I never gave Lynn or Nigel a chance to regain the title here. ***½
Match #12: Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong (ROH on HDNet Episode 22)
They trade control on the mat until Strong is able to hit an early backbreaker. He lays in a few chops. Aries tries to return the favor with limited success. Aries anticipates a chop at ringside and goes for a brainbuster onto the floor. Strong counters with a gourdbuster. He tries to throw Aries into the ringpost but gets pushed into the ringpost. Aries comes off the top rope with a double axe handle. In the ring, Strong comes back with a backbreaker. Aries reverses a gutbuster into a crucifix bomb. Strong dodges an IED but falls victim to a neckbreaker in the ropes. Strong comes back with a spinning slam and connects with a dropkick. He hits another backbreaker. Aries sends him to the floor and follows out with the heat-seeking missile. In the ring, Aries comes off the top rope but Strong catches him with a backbreaker. Aries connects with an IED and applies the Last Chancery. Strong reaches the bottom rope. He hits a slingshot falcon arrow for a nearfall as the crowd comes alive. Strong connects with the Sick Kick for a two count. Aries counters a Stronghold attempt into a rollup for the win at 16:35. A great television main event that completely played off the familiarity between these two. It was odd that Strong lost given the non-title stipulation, but both men came out of this one looking strong. ***½
Match #13: ROH World Title: Austin Aries © vs. Bryan Danielson (Final Countdown Tour: Chicago – 9/19/09)
They battle over a knucklelock and Aries snaps off a few armdrags. Danielson connects with a dropkick and applies a surfboard. He takes control on the mat, working over Aries’ shoulder. Aries fights out of a superplex and throws Danielson to the floor. He follows out with a double axe handle. Back in, Aries continues his attack until Danielson comes back with a series of strikes. Aries catches him coming off the top rope with a dropkick. Danielson responds with a flying knee strike but can’t synch in Cattle Mutilation. Aries tries a dive but Danielson blocks with a knee strike. They battle on the apron and Aries connects with a dropkick. Danielson sends Aries into the crowd with a baseball slide. He follows out with a springboard dive into the second row. In the ring, Danielson connects with a missile dropkick along with a running knee strike. He locks in Cattle Mutilation but Aries bridges out of the hold. Aries applies the Last Chancery but Danielson escapes with MMA elbows. Aries connects with knee strikes while Danielson matches him with MMA elbows. They exchange strikes and collide on crossbody attempts. Danielson blocks an IED, hits a superplex, and locks in a triangle choke. Aries makes the ropes. He connects with the IED and hits a brainbuster for a nearfall. Aries attempts a 450 but Danielson counters with a triangle choke. That wakes the crowd up. They exchange quick pin attempts to no avail. Aries flips out of a tiger suplex and punts Danielson in the head. Aries hits a brainbuster from the top rope! Aries applies the Last Chancery to retain his title at 24:46. These two always have stellar matches and this one was no different. There were a variety of unique spots here such as the MMA elbow/knee strike exchange and the triangle choke counter to the 450 splash. The crowd hurt the match with their lack of reaction but they came to life by the finish. A fitting last title match for Danielson in Ring of Honor. ****
Match #14: ROH World Title: Austin Aries © vs. Kenny Omega (The Omega Effect – 11/14/09)
Aries frustrates Omega with some dirty tactics and then runs away whenever Omega wants to wrestle. This goes on for quite some time. They trade control on the mat. Omega hits a body slam and connects with a basement dropkick. He clotheslines Aries to the floor and throws him into the barricade. Omega connects with a dropkick through the ropes. Aries fights back with a double axe handle from the top rope. He reenters the ring with a slingshot senton and takes control. Aries takes entirely too long on a powerdrive elbow attempt and Omega comes back with a spin kick. Omega lands a springboard moonsault. Aries snaps his neck across the top rope and lands the heat-seeking missile. On the floor, Aries tries a brainbuster onto a chair. Omega counters with a leaping facebuster onto the chair. He charges with double knees. In the ring, Aries counters another leaping facebuster and locks in a half crab. Aries hits two shinbreakers and locks in a figure four. They exchange strikes while in the figure four. Aries hits his shinbreaker-back suplex combination. Omega connects with an enzuigiri and lands a dive to the floor. In the ring, Omega lands a flying crossbody. Aries escapes Croyt’s Wrath and connects with an IED. He applies the Last Chancery but Omega reaches the ropes. Omega hits a super 2k1 bomb for a nearfall. He follows with Croyt’s Wrath for a two count. Aries finds an opening and tries for a cheap countout victory to no avail. They exchange rollups. Aries connects with an IED and hits the brainbuster for a nearfall. Aries hits another brainbuster and transitions into the Last Chancery to retain his title at 34:53. Though there was a lot of good wrestling to be found here, this match felt like thirty-five minutes and not in the good way. There was a lot of stalling early on which seemed a lot more fun for the live crowd than it came across on DVD. Again, a solid title defense but too long for what they were ultimately going for. ***¼
Match #15: ROH World Title: Austin Aries © vs. Davey Richards vs. Kenny Omega vs. Roderick Strong (ROH on HDNet Episode 37)
Everyone tries quick rollups early on to no avail. Strong connects with a leg lariat on Richards. They battle in the ring until Aries intervenes to interrupt Richards’ handspring enzuigiri. Strong throws Aries into the barricade. In the ring, Omega connects with a missile dropkick on Aries and hits a leaping facebuster. Richards hits a back suplex on Omega. Aries lands a frog splash onto Strong. Omega snaps off a hurricanrana on Richards. Aries connects with the IED on Strong. Richards blocks the heat-seeking missile with a gamengiri. Strong takes them out with a plancha and Omega finishes with a dive of his own. In the ring, Aries escapes Croyt’s Wrath but falls victim to a top-rope german suplex from Richards. Omega plants Richards with a reverse hurricanrana. He follows with Croyt’s Wrath on Aries for a nearfall. Strong hits a gutbuster on Aries and connects with the Sick Kick. Omega hits a 2k1 bomb on Strong, who fires back with another Sick Kick. Richards and Strong stare each other down and have a strike exchange. Strong hits him with the Tiger Driver. Aries shoves Strong away and pins Richards to retain his title at 15:22. The action was solid but hurt by the fact that there really wasn’t a reason for this match to be happening. This was just a collection of Aries’ recent challengers. The hot finishing stretch was also dampened by the cheap finish. A fine television main event but nothing more. ***
Match #16: ROH World Title: Steel Cage Match: Austin Aries © vs. Colt Cabana (Reverse the Curse – 12/5/09)
If Cabana loses, he will no longer be able to challenge for the ROH World Title in Chicago. Aries begins with a slap but Cabana returns the favor. Aries tries many times to escape the cage to no avail. Cabana works in some goofy offense, which seems totally out of place here. Aries crotches him and starts working over the left leg. Cabana yanks him off the top rope and lands a lionsault. He blocks a corner dropkick and lays out Aries with a leg lariat. Aries comes back with a missile dropkick but falls victim to a gutbuster. Cabana misses an enzuigiri and Aries goes back to the injured leg. Aries dropkicks Cabana into the cage and busts him open. Aries tries to escape but Cabana catches him with a spinning slam. They battle on the top rope and Aries hits a sunset bomb. Cabana ducks a kick and locks in the Billy Goat’s Curse. Aries rolls through and slams the cage door into Cabana. Aries connects with punches but Cabana hulks up. Cabana drapes Aries across the top rope and throws him into the cage. Now Aries is busted open as well. Cabana sets Aries up between the ropes and the cage. He hits the flying asshole…ARIES GOES THROUGH THE CAGE AND TO THE FLOOR! Aries retains his title at 26:13. This was a fine cage match but I have to say that I expected more. They were good at teasing escape attempts. But for every previous instance, there was a time where Cabana or Aries would stand around instead of trying to escape. To be honest, the finish was a little off-the-wall. However, it would have been effective if Cabana didn’t bust out his comedy offense in the early portions of the match. To truly feel like Cabana was cheated, I need to believe that he was desperately trying to win the belt. I didn’t get that vibe here. I have mentioned some aspects working against this match. I’ll give them credit for trying some different things and there were some nice moves utilizing the cage. I just think that they could have done a lot more, especially given twenty-six minutes. ***
Overall: First off, I should mention that the title of this compilation is a bit deceptive. “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived” moniker was given to Aries after his heel turn at the beginning of 2009. The first disc of this compilation covers 2008 while the second disc picks up in 2009. Fortunately, covering 2008 means that plenty of matches from Aries’ feud against Jimmy Jacobs were included. When the Age of the Fall lost steam, that was the feud that gave Jacobs the spotlight again and allowed Aries to show a new side of his character. Aries’ heel turn was built up incredibly well and the reaction to him winning the ROH World Title for the second time was generally positive despite the majority wanting Tyler Black to be the one to dethrone Jerry Lynn. In short, what I’m trying to say is that this compilation covers an interesting period in Aries’ ROH career and the match quality is high enough for this to be easily recommendable for fans of Aries.
You can purchase this DVD at Ring of Honor’s store right here.