ROH Classics: AJ Styles & Samoa Joe, Ric Flair in greatest moments of 2009, more!

Ring of Honor has returned with more classic material. Big names battled in four-way action from 2003, Jonathan Gresham showcased his pure wrestling style, and The Honor List has an appearance from Ric Flair in the greatest moments of 2009.

Throwback four-way

The throwback match this week is a four-way between AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Chris Sabin, and Jay Briscoe from 2003 at Beating the Odds. It was technically a four corners match where only two wrestlers were legal with tags, but you know it breaks down with mass chaos in the end.

The final five minutes do a great job of keeping the suspense. There were several close calls that would have won if it were a singles bout, however, the pins were broken up by an outside man. I had no reading on who was going to win.

In other free matches, Jonathan Gresham received the spotlight for episode 462 of ROH Wrestling (here). The Octopus displayed his technical wrestling while tagging with Jay Lethal against Mark Haskins & Bandido, in a singles feud with Lethal, and in a strategic chess match versus Alex Shelley. All three bouts were very good. Gresham is one of those names that doesn’t get a lot of press, but he has serious skills. A lot of wrestlers utilize mat work, however, Gresham is one of the best at making it entertaining.

The Honor List

The Honor List counts down the greatest moments of 2009. It features an appearance from Ric Flair, Daniel Bryan’s last match in ROH, and a heartbreaking end to the friendship between Kevin Owens and El Generico.

9. ROH debuts on HDNet with Seth Rollins vs Jimmy Jacobs
8. Nigel McGuinness conquers Kenta
7. Larry Sweeney meets Ric Flair
6. 45-minute tag team classic with American Wolves vs Daniel Bryan & Seth Rollins
5. Daniel Bryan’s final ROH match
4. American Wolves win gold versus Kevin Owens and El Generico (allegedly played by Sami Zayn)
3. Jerry Lynn vs Nigel McGuinness
2. Briscoes defeat American Wolves to become 6-time champs
1. Kevin Owens betrays El Generico

Watching Ric Flair strut will never get old. Nor does seeing Kevin Owens be a scoundrel. Why anybody would ever trust him as a partner these days is beyond me. That said, who wouldn’t love for him to reunite with Sami Zayn one more time and then turn on him again?

As for why Flair was with ROH, he was apparently setting up for an authority figure role. Flair ended up no-showing events then ditched ROH for TNA.

ROH Week by Week

ROH Week by Week had two segments worth mentioning. First is Joe Hendry explaining why he adopted the ankle lock submission and also why he added a twist variation. Both ideas came at the advice of Kurt Angle and Goldberg.

Brian Zane listed his top 5 big men in ROH history.

5. Punishment Martinez
4. Shane Taylor
3. Takeshi Morishima
2. PCO
1. Samoa Joe

Aside from height, what do you think is holding back Jonathan Gresham from greater fame? Could Ric Flair have raised the profile of ROH if he had stayed? Who are your top big men in ROH history?