ROH Classics: CM Punk’s greatest moments, Dragon Lee vs Will Ospreay, more!

ROH is still laying low with no new shows due to the coronavirus. That hasn’t stopped them from releasing entertaining content. ROH profiled CM Punk’s great moments, Dragon Lee’s fantastic matches against competitors from around the world, and much more.

We’ll start with The Honor List showcasing CM Punk’s greatest moments in ROH.

8. Dap from Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat
7. First taste of gold with Colt Cabana
6. Blood feud with Raven5. Punk’s “unscripted” surprise appearance
4. Summer of Punk begins by winning World Championship
3. Punk goes corporate by signing WWE contract on ROH championship
2. Legendary series with Samoa Joe
1. A tearful farewell in Chicago

Dragon Lee vs The World

Dragon Lee was the focus for ROH Wrestling, episode #453 (here). The show looked back on his ascending career. Featured matches were against Kamaitachi, a three-way with Taiji Ishimori and Bandido, and closing with Shane Taylor. This entire episode is definitely worth watching. All the bouts contained plenty of high-risk and high-impact maneuvers. For those that are familiar with Dragon Lee in name only, this is an excellent introduction to his ring work and will make you a fan.

Dragon Lee vs Kamaitachi took place at All Star Extravaganza VIII on September 30, 2016 in Lowell, MA. Top highlights include a sunset flip powerbomb off the apron by Kamaitachi, a flying stomp by Dragon Lee to Kamaitachi in the Tree of Woe outside the ring, a flying senton from Kamaitachi to a standing Dragon Lee on the floor, and a mid-air counter from Kamaitachi into a Japanese Destroyer. In the end, Dragon Lee stunned Kamaitachi with a big knee then followed with a brutal bridging package fallaway powerbomb Dragon Driver to win.

The next bout was Dragon Lee winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in a three-way against Taiji Ishimori and Bandido. This contest took place at G1 Supercard on April 6, 2019 in Madison Square Garden. The fight was a sprint of action. Top move was an awesome 360 flip double slam from Bandido off the turnbuckles to both Dragon Lee and Ishimori at the same time. Amazing! The finish came about after Dragon Lee clobbered Ishimori. The luchador focused on Bandido to win via vertical suplex powerbomb.

The main event of this episode was Dragon Lee winning the ROH TV Championship from Shane Taylor. It took place at Final Battle on December 13, 2019 in Baltimore, MD. Dragon Lee displayed his heart in this speed vs power matchup. He kicked out of Taylor’s signature package piledriver and spinning sitdown driver. Taylor decided to get dirty by wrapping a chain around his fist. Dragon Lee was too slick and countered with a Mexican Destroyer. He then tied the chain around his knee to attack with a running knee strike. Taylor kicked out at one. Dragon Lee continued the pressure with a vertical suplex and one more running knee to finish the job.

ROH kept the Dragon Lee train rolling by releasing his first match against Will Ospreay from Manhattan Mayhem 2017 on YouTube. The contest was as exciting as you would expect given the participants.

Other matches recently posted on ROH’s YouTube channel include:

• Hana Kimura, Stella Grey, & Sumie Sakai vs Jenny Rose, Kagetsu, & Hazuki (here)
• Matt Taven provided commentary for his first ROH match (here)
• Matt Taven vs ACH in 2013 Top Prospect Tournament (here)
• Mandy Leon provided commentary for her first ROH match (here)

Holy shit!

Let’s hit another edition of The Honor List. This one counts down the 7 most shocking holy shit moments in ROH.

7. Adam Cole cuts Jay Lethal’s hair (2016)
6. Austin Aries stuns Samoa Joe to win World Championship (2004)
5. Age of the Fall hang Jay Briscoe (2007)
4. Samoa Joe crashes 13th Anniversary (2015)
3. Bullet Club reloads by adding Adam Cole (2016)
2. Adam Cole kicked out of Bullet Club by Marty Scurll (2017)
1. PCO wins World Championship from Rush (2019)

We’ll close with Bandido challenging Dragon Lee to a thumb wrestling match.

If you are looking for ROH merch, they currently have a sale.

What are your favorite moments from CM Punk’s ROH career? What is your top holy shit moment from ROH? Do you think Dragon Lee has the ability to breakthrough as a top star in the US?