The first installment of my new weekly column Matt’s Musings. Check it out!
This is the first installment of my new weekly column. I think I’m going to do like a match of the week type of deal. The match will be from any promotion, so it will probably be something that I’m watching at the moment. Without any further adieu let’s get started….
My match of the week for 5.12.2010 is Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuiness from Unified in 2006. The premise of the match was the unification of the pure and world titles. Dragon and Nigel had been feuding over who was the best champion in Ring of Honor for quite a few months. This was actually their third match in the series with the first two being at Weekend of Champions Night 2 and Generation Now. The rules of the Unified match were structured so that the unification of the titles was guaranteed.
This match has been called one of the greatest matches in ROH history and I cannot say that I disagree. Everything about the match screamed big fight. With the match being in Liverpool Nigel had a huge home field advantage. With this making Danielson the heel it allowed him to jaw with the fans more, which made for an entertaining story. The match was also a technical wrestling clinic. The two go hold for hold for a good 30 minutes. The match is filled with stiff lariats, kicks, chops and slaps. My favorite spot of the match was when Nigel pulls Bryan into the ring post shoulder first a couple times, followed by Bryan pulling Nigel headfirst into the ring post 4 times leaving Nigel bloody. They transition from this spot into Bryan’s insane springboard dive to the 3rd row. Dragon and Nigel tell a great story by working with the 20 count on the floor. The image of Nigel popping back into the ring at the count of 19, followed by him yelling like an insane person at Dragon, then trading head butts with Bryan for a good 10 seconds is an absolutely epic part of the match. After the head butt exchange Nigel goes for a cover but Dragon kicks out at 2 and floats over into the Cattle Mutilation. Nigel reverses that into a pin but again gets 2. Bryan then starts with the MMA style elbows which leads to the ref stopping the match and Bryan Danielson being the undisputed singles champion in Ring of Honor.
This match is absolutely epic. I’m not sure what else I can say about it. I recommend that you go out of your way to pick it up. As a matter of fact I think you can pick up the show for $10 on rohwrestling.com right now (cheap plug). This match gets ****3/4 from me. Absolutely epic.
That concludes this week’s be sure to check it out next week. Have a good week everyone!
Great article on that match man. I'm liking your thoughts on it as it was probably one of the very best from both men.
Great article on that match man. I'm liking your thoughts on it as it was probably one of the very best from both men.