So I've gotten around to watching the good shit for ROH April 2010. Now I can see why Strong got the title. He was on fucking fire in the spring. If you wanna see Strong with a fire under his ass, you need to get Pick Your Poison. He's quicker, he's more aggressive, he's getting more hostile. It's the Roderick Strong of 2005 that I've been begging to return. Plus his matches against Davey (yeah, I'm including the ****1/2 Titannica match) and the Big Bang match were sights to behold as well. Pick Your Poison is also worth picking up for the novelty of seeing the Dark City Fight Club in a good match for once.
Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies II is the first truly must see event for ROH in 2010. Sure, the Big Bang has three ****+ matches, and there's been some other classics here and there, but on this show, I count a **** (Strong vs. Davey), a ****3/4 (Black vs. Hero), and a ****1/2 (Cabana/Generico vs. Steen/Corino.) The Briscoes vs. Aries/King match is quite entertaining as well for the storytelling and foreshadowing for the inevitable breakup that will come between Aries and King.
I've not gotten past this point for ROH, but I cannot possibly imagine that Black's title defenses against Strong, Davey, and Steen can touch his defense against Hero. Easily his best match since his first title shot against Nigel, with tremendous storytelling and a match that put over Black as a true champion. I'll put it to you this way - it was Hero, not Davey, that proved Tyler Black was a legit champion and the right man to carry the company.
The main event from the Chicago show brought back reminders of the Attitude Era for me in the best way possible (which can also be seen as a bad thing.) Yeah, some dangerous shit, but pales in comparison to the likes of the Briscoes vs. Steen/Generico and Super Dragon vs. Kevin Steen feuds. True hatred, fantastic dramatic spots, being in the right place at the right time, everything clicked for this fight with the right team going over in one of the best finishers of the year. This brought back memories of Steve Austin vs. Dude Love, The Rock vs. Mankind, Triple H vs. Cactus Jack, and the Dudleyz vs. the Hardyz vs. Edge & Christian.