It was great and everything, but I wouldn't say it was as great as the OP has put it. Sure there was emotion and great story to it, and the action was top notch... and it damn sure held up its end of the purpose... but to say it's the best match in the past 3 or 4 years... that's a stretch. Taker vs. HBK 1 was an absolute great match. It was such a great match that WM will now be about doing what HBK never could.
Not to mention, what about other matches in ROH that have been great? What about Tyler Black vs. Davey Richards? What about Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards for the ROH World title? What about the tag team greatness that was also displayed last night? What about KoW vs. ANX at the 9th Anniversary Show?
I get it, the match was great and everything but there's no need to over hype it.
That's the thing, though. Tyler vs Davey was an absolutely phenomenal match, but there wasn't even close to the same amount of emotional investment involved.
If you ask people what made HBK vs Taker great, one reason would be that it's probably one of the best matches in the ring that the WWE is capable of putting on at this time, and the other would be because of the level that the WWE forced you to invest emotionally.
Davey vs Tyler was a better match between the ropes than HBK/Taker, but I don't see it as being better overall because it was just another great world title match between two phenomenal athletes. At the end of the day, if Tyler won (which he did) it was a strong title defense and if Davey won it was a feel-good title win for a guy who had only ever had one title shot before that.
Davey/Eddie for the TV title was good but it didn't even compare to this match, so I won't go there.
The amazing tag matches that ROH puts on are also great, but again, the level of emotional investment just isn't there. KoW/ANX was a great match, but again, it was just another great ROH Tag Title match. If KoW won (and they did) it was another notch on the post. If ANX won it would have been too early but a huge upset, which would've been cool and all but people would've been pissed that ANX won the titles before they were ready.
Davey/Eddie yesterday was as amazing as it was because not only was it on the same level as Davey/Tyler or one of those amazing tag matches as far as in-ring work goes, but it had such a huge story behind it. If you were following ROH to any decent level leading up to the PPV you couldn't help but find yourself investing into these two guys emotionally. Davey Richards, the man who fans claim is the best wrestler in the world, is on a 3 title match losing streak. His main goal in life is to win that goddamned title. At the same time, Eddie Edwards is, what many people view as, Davey's capable sidekick. They have a great match for the TV title which Eddie wins, putting him a little bit closer to "on Davey's level" but still not quite there yet; he had a good night is all. Then when Eddie won Survival of the Fittest you kind of saw them get a little closer to equals. The day Eddie won the ROH World Title was huge not only because he won the title at such a young age but because a lot of people saw it as a shifting in the goddamned cosmos because he got it
before Davey. Then Cornette came out and said that he wanted the big money match which was Davey vs Eddie. Eddie was all for it but Davey didn't want to be the one to take Eddie's dream away from him, which pissed Eddie off because Davey made it seem like a sure thing that he would beat Eddie one on one for the title. It all led up to the Eddie saying that unless Davey fought him for the title, he would leave ROH. That forced Davey to accept, and the on top of that shit, Davey added the stipulation, which Jim Cornette re-enforced, that if he lost this fourth title match, he would never be allowed to receive another ROH World Title shot again. I can't say this about other companies, but with ROH, that actually means something. It was basically the same as Taker vs HBK II, it was Career vs Streak, but instead of the Streak, it was the ROH World Title.
