The Good


Rising Stars

Tyler Black - It would be a travesty not to put him at the top of this list. He's the one who's been elevated the most. Simply put, the fans love him and was on some nights the most over man, even above Danielson. It all started in his "breakout" match with Dragon, in which he gained a considerably large amount of offense despite only being a midcarder. He held his own against him and it even looked like he'd win, if it wasn't for the Phoenix Splash getting reversed into a rollup. Dragon had won, but only barely. After putting on a very good match, it was then that Tyler's potential was seen and he was given yet another chance to shine and in a big way. He main evented a PPV against the champion. As much as I didn't care for Tyler's one-night-only face turns, I can't deny how much they worked in effectively getting him over. The fans absolutely loved him and both of his title shots in 2008, everyone thought he could walk away. Every false finish, the crowd went mental and it devastated them to see him lose both times. It was obvious he could hang in the main event scene. What was frustrating about it was that his push took the entire year as he was still stuck in the Age of the Fall, playing a background role in the Jacobs/Aries feud, only coming out now and again to face Danielson. In all three matches, he couldn't win, but he came out looking better than even those who defeated Dragon (Stevens, Steen). Throughout 2008, Tyler probably only had about 10 singles matches, winning only a few of them, but he was able to show that he can be great and now we know he'll be a huge part of 2009.

Tyler's Best Matches:
vs Nigel McGuinness (Take No Prisoners)
w/Jimmy Jacobs vs BxB Hulk & SHINGO (Dragon Gate Challenge II)
w/Jimmy Jacobs vs The Briscoes (Supercard of Honor III)
w/Jimmy Jacobs vs Motor City Machine Guns (Tag Wars 2008)
vs Bryan Danielson (Southern Navigation)
vs Nigel McGuinness vs Bryan Danielson vs Claudio Castagnoli (Death Before Dishonor VI)
w/Jimmy Jacobs vs Team Work (Respect Is Earned II)
vs Bryan Danielson (New Horizons)
w/Jimmy Jacobs vs Kevin Steen & El Generico (Driven 2008)
vs Austin Aries (Southern Hostility)

Davey Richards - Started off his year pretty well by gaining his first ROH championship by winning the tag titles with Rocky Romero. This didn't lead to very much and it will eventually be a forgotten reign as not much happened in their run and they ended up losing to The Briscoes. They ended up also having a forgotten and pointless reign, as they gave them the titles despite Mark Briscoe already being injured. Throughout the first half of 2008, Davey was good in the ring and very fun to watch. He was already intense and a pretty good heel and at several times showed that he could put on a great match. It would later be revealed that the only reason Davey didn't get more big singles opportunities is because Gabe wanted to save them for his push, which is understandable. In one of the shocking moments of the year, he betrayed his No Remorse Corps leader, Roderick Strong, and sided with SnS Inc., a move that worked great in execution, but didn't sound great to me in the long term. That's because SnS Inc. members don't do much and tend to get lost somewhere in Sweeney's feuds and become just another member. But Davey went to NOAH for a few months, coming back in the best shape of his career. His character barely changed, but he was more calculating, more stiff, and he was constantly getting put over as the most dangerous man on the roster. And it worked. He looks like a monster in the ring and is so very intense. He has one of the best entrances in ROH with his badass theme and doing 3 or 4 different heelish things on the way to the ring, whether that be throwing their hats away or actually trying to kick them. Davey finished the year by forming the American Wolves with Eddie Edwards. This sounded like quite the one-sided team to me at first, but when I saw them in action, I saw the chemistry and in the course of two shows have cemented themselves as the new top heel team now that Jacobs and Tyler have split.

Davey's Best Matches:
w/Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero vs CIMA, Erick Stevens & Go Shiozaki (Dragon Gate Challenge II)
vs Kota Ibushi (Bedlam in Beantown)
w/Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero vs Takeshi Morishima, Naomichi Marufuji & Go Shiozaki (Southern Navigation)
vs Kevin Steen & El Generico (A New Level)
vs Roderick Strong (Battle of the Best)
w/Chris Hero vs Kevin Steen & El Generico vs Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black vs LAX (Return of the 187)
w/Eddie Edwards vs The Briscoes vs Nigel McGuinness & Claudio Castagnoli (All Star Extravaganza IV)
w/Eddie Edwards & Go Shiozaki vs Brent Albright, Roderick Strong & Erick Stevens (Final Battle 2008)

Kenny Omega - While lacking in a high number of appearances and high quality matches, everyone loves this guy. He's flashy (but not overly), he's charismatic, unique, and has very cool moves and combos. He's secured himself a midcard spot, but I think he can go further. While not only proving he can put on solid matches against the likes of Delirious, Kenny King and Claudio Castagnoli, he's had one match that allowed him to prove that with more time he can put on a great match. The triple threat with Tyler and Dragon was one of the more entertaining non-hate-filled, non-stipulated matches of the year. Three guys went out and showed what they can do and it was very fun. In a match mostly moves-based, Omega shone and got the crowd very behind him. When he's in ROH, I love him. When he's gone, I miss him. Simply put. If he were to stay as a regular roster member, it would do nothing but benefit ROH.

Kevin Steen - Already a huge fan favourite from when he turned face after the feud with The Briscoes, but he started to up his profile as a singles wrestler when stormy conditions became a blessing in disguise. Eye of the Storm became a show practically dedicated to him when some of the main roster couldn't show up, so a one-night tournament was arranged instead. During which he managed to defeat Dragon, something that gets anyone noticed. He won the whole tournament, having wrestled 3 times in one show, thus earning a title shot. It was then that he proved he could be cared about by the fans without Generico by his side, as he put on great matches with Nigel but just coming short in them, mostly due to cheating from Nigel. They had a great short rivalry that was a clash of egos, namecalling and insulting that was both hilarious and dramatic. This culminated in a match in Canada, Steen's homeground, where the crowd absolutely loved him and wanted nothing more than a title change. They had a fantastic match that had Steen practically killing his back (getting tossed from the guardrail upside down into the apron was one of the sickest spots of the year, in my opinion). Unfortunately it wasn't enough, as Nigel finally got the clean win over Steen. Despite the three losses, he looked strong enough against the champ to show that he could be a potential main eventer one day. He's proven that not only in the ring, but with his personality - the cocky loudmouth, yet the fans can still easily get behind him. Now this is just the singles part of Steen's 2008 run, I've yet to talk about him in the tag team scene.

Steen's Best Matches:
w/El Generico vs Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino (Dragon Gate Challenge II)
w/El Generico vs BxB Hulk & SHINGO (Supercard of Honor IV)
vs Nigel McGuinness (Injustice)
vs Nigel McGuinness (Return Engagement)
vs Nigel McGuinness (Northern Navigation)
w/El Generico vs Motor City Machine Guns (Death Before Dishonor VI)
w/El Generico vs Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black (Driven 2008)
w/El Generico vs Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black vs Davey Richards & Chris Hero vs LAX (Return of the 187)
w/El Generico vs The Briscoes (Bound By Hate)


Brent Albright - Intense, a good big man wrestler, and the crowd loves him. Although he really broke out in 2007 with his title match against Morishima, the moment when he turned on Larry Sweeney and destroyed almost all of Sweet 'n' Sour Inc. was when you knew he was something special. With a packed Hammerstein Ballroom chanting his name, cheering wildly, you couldn't deny it. He gets bonus points for almost killing Shane Hagadorn too. He was the ultimate face for a short while too; he was insanely over and was easy to get behind and support. He was simply a badass that everyone loved. By this point in his career, he didn't have many matches that could be considered great, but then him and Adam Pearce - someone who's known for having less great matches, probably none - provided a huge shocker. They had a Match of the Year Candidate. Very hard to believe, especially the fact that it was Pearce in this match. Then when I saw it, I was forced to agree because it was amazing. Albright's push pretty much slowed down afterwards as the feud focused on Larry Sweeney and SnS Inc. once Pearce left. Random matches, lack of much of a story, dragging out for so long until it finally ended. It took up most of Albright's year, be he nonetheless showed his potential.

Albright's Best Matches:
vs Bryan Danielson (Transform)
vs Go Shiozaki (Double Feature Night 1)
vs Adam Pearce (Death Before Dishonor VI)
w/Roderick Strong vs Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima (All Star Extravaganza IV)
w/Roderick Strong & Erick Stevens vs American Wolves & Go Shiozaki (Final Battle 2008)

Kenny King - Cocky, charismatic, over, fun. He hasn't won many matches this year, but he's certainly raised his profile and gotten noticed. I'm glad he's continuing to stay in ROH, because out of the YRR members that got their tryouts at the start of the year, he definitely impressed the most and stood out more. The YRR is a fun faction, but without him it's nothing and Jason Blade would be the only good member left of the generic indy-tastic group. Although I'm glad they're not sticking around so King can branch out on his own and form a very fun alliance with Rhett Titus, another rising star. We know King can put on good midcard matches, he even had a good, decent-lengthed match with Dragon that nearly went to a time limit draw. In the right situation, I think he can prove to be worthy of a higher spot.

Rhett Titus - Rhett pretty much came out of nowhere, turning from just another ROH student to "Addicted to Love", who had shoulders like boulders and proclaimed that "the thrust is a must". He was one of the most entertaining acts of the year. In the ring he's nothing special, but his promos, his charisma and his antics are hilarious and it's hard not to like him, despite being a heel. The storyline with Delirious and Daizee Haze was pretty horrible, but he came out of it looking fantastic and he made for some great moments. Daizee's face painted on his underwear, anyone? Rhett basically started the revolution of students developing over-the-top gimmicks to get over and still remains the best student gimmick and one of the best gimmicks on the roster.



I feel like I'm missing someone out, though.

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