I haven't seen much of "classic ROH" but I did enjoy the Punk/Joe trilogy and Joe/Briscoe cage match is fucking beast. I've seen a couple of their 2002 shows but nothing really stands out,atm, that I can recall.
There are some matches I didn't like though. Firstly, I'm not a fan of Punk/Aries. Punk just popping up after Aries hit him with the Pepsi Plunge...meh. Also, Aries constantly no selling and one minute he was working Punk's neck, then it was the back. I don't care for the match at all as most die hard ROH fans do.
I've seen Danielson/Strong Vendetta. For the most part I liked it. There were some stupid moments coming down to the end. I can't recall it properly but there was just this unnecessary powerbomb spot. I wish i could remember it well but I can't atm. I just found it over kill. Still enjoyed the match as a whole though. But, there are some things that just define 'indy' that there's no escaping. No matter how much selling and story telling you put into a match, it just wouldn't be an indy match if it didn't have some sort of suplex into a powerbomb into a half boston crab. You know? I mean, I can't be the only who has noticed this. For the most part, I've grown to accept it so it doesn't bother me as much.
But yeah, the current ROH style is really off putting. I mean, trading fucking superkicks? But the thing is, I think it's unfair to put all the blame solely on ROH or any one particular wrestler. Trading big boots and trading super kicks has no replaced trading elbows and strikes and is now a common spot in any indie match. I can stomach the boots to the face, but the superkicks, really? Another growing trend si to slap the leg every time you kick someone. Sami loves to do it. And I love Sami. Sami's awesome and deserves every damn bit of praise he gets. But still, his work at times doesn't sit well with me and the slapping the leg thing is one of them. It takes away from the bigger moments if you ask me. If from the get go, every time you do a kick, you slap the leg then 15, 20, 30 minutes in when it's time to do a real game changing kick, the slap has long lost it's appeal. What's the difference between the 'smacking' kick 1 minute in and the 'smacking' kick 15 minutes in? I don't. They both look and sounded same. You get what I'm saying? If you just do some regular kicks throughout, the guy's selling fine. Then he puts some heat on you, then out of nowhere, smack! It means more.
I've lost my train of thought at this point. But yeah, trying to get back to my original point, ROH may have had its gems way back when but, imo, there were still some Davey-like moments. It's just that the matches didn't involve Davey. But yeah, for the most part, I agree that Edwards and Richards fucking damn near killed this company. I can't remember what event it was (maybe it was BITW) but that match was just the epitome of...I don't know....bullshit or something. The match sucked.