King of the Indies 2001
Vallejo, CA
October 26 &27, 2001
Night 2
Show opens with a long promo by Roland Alexander about how the event was a success; put the wrestlers over as well as APW. It went a little too long though. Then there was a legends ceremony for the legends in attendance. The only notable names were Nick Bockwinkle, The Destroyer and Red Bastien. Anyway, after some nostalgia talk, the show begins.
QUARTER FINALS
Bison Smith vs. Donovan Morgan
During Smith’s intro, he did a front back flip into the ring. He did it the night before and was successful. Tonight, not so much. He hurts his knee because he didn’t land correctly on the front flip before the match even starts. He tries to work through it but it’s clearly not happening. Morgan gives him a small package to end at 1:27. N/R You can’t rate this. It’s almost not even a match. Smith certainly learned his lesson though.
QUARTER FINALS
Bryan Danielson vs. Doug Williams
I remember their two matches from ROH being very similar to this one. The match didn’t go that long either, but that’s understandable for a tournament. Feel out process to start for the first few minutes. Both men exchange some interesting holds and counter holds. Some decent strikes to boot as well. One really interesting counter that stands out is Danielson had a standing toe hold on Williams and the British counter to that is to roll over and use your other leg as a weight to hold down the held leg to break the hold. Danielson knew that and changed into a wheelbarrow, but Williams countered that into a roll through roll up. That got a great reaction from the crowd. Lots of back and forth strikes towards the end. The finish saw Williams kick out of the dragon suplex and Danielson immediately going into Cattle Mutilation for the submission at 9:30. I’d say this was on par with the two ROH matches, but this one had the quicker pace. Still worth checking out just to see Danielson doing his back to back combo move set of the dragon suplex followed by the Cattle Mutilation. ***1/4
QUARTER FINALS
Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki
Oh boy, I was excited to see this one. There match from ROH in 2002 is an under rated classic in my opinion and there match in PWG fives years later was almost as good. Those are the only other two times to my knowledge that these two have faced each other in singles action. Anyway, this was like a smaller preview of their match eleven months down the line inPhiladelphia. This was very MMA based as you’d expect to be. The match basically started on the ground and it literally worked it’s was up to a strike fest. Back and forth kicks to the head and slaps to the face. Joe went back to the ground game while Ki tried to strike at him to break the submissions. Then it became a pure strike exchange. Ki ripped off Joe’s shirt (he was wearing a singlet, with a shirt, kind of like Steen), and chopped him hard. After that he kicked Joe in the back super hard and Joe responded like Super Joe and the crowd went crazy. Joe responded the same. More kicks, slaps and chops exchanged. Then they messed up the finish. It looked like they were going to do the finish they had in ROH where Joe just took a flurry of offensive strikes by Ki and fell over and Ki pinned him. The same happened here and Joe didn’t kick out but the ref called it a two count. Well that was B.S. Then Ki applied a rolling butterfly choke for the submission at 9:49. Aside from the botched finish, this was an awesome match for 10 minutes. This was definitely a preview of what was to come in the rematch and you could tell both guys were going to be major players down the line. ***3/4
QUARTER FINALS
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels
Punk/Cabana. Flair/Steamboat. Ricochet/ChuckTaylor. Styles/Daniels. Some wrestlers just have those rivalries where you wrestle someone a thousand times. Styles and Daniels are some what eternal rivals destined to face each other in singles matches until they both retire. And really, that is TNA’s fault, but whatever. I’m not sure if this was their first match together, but this has to be one of the firsts. This wasn’t the best match they’ve had together, put it was still pretty good. I think their best match was the ironman from TNA at Against All Odds 2004, back when I watched TNA, meaning when TNA was good, but that’s beside the point. This was like a mixture of all their matches to come. There were some cool spots though, that I don’t think I’ve seen from them. There was one spot where Daniels went for the BME, Styles stopped him, tried to turn into a sunset powerbomb from the second rope, but Daniels blocked that and turned it into hurricanranna, but Styles rolled that through into standard sunset flip for a near fall. The other cool spot was where Daniels tried to hit a top rope hurricanranna but Styles held on and hit the Styles Clash from the second rope. Crowd went crazy but Daniels grabbed the rope before 3. Daniels then regained his composure and hit the Angles Wings for the win at 14:38. That was on par from what I’ve seen from them. ***1/2
BATTLE ROYAL
This was too long to watch with a bunch of people I don’t know and Super Dragon, as well as some of the other participants from Round 1 that didn’t make it the Quarter Finals. I skipped it. So whatever.
SEMI FINALS
Donovan Morgan vs. Bryan Danielson
This was disappointing. Morgan didn’t seem motivated at all this whole weekend. He had a half-way decent match the previous night and barley a match to open the show. Word from that Art of Wrestling podcast with Roland Alexander was that Morgan was mad that the fly-in’s where getting booked further than the local home grown guys. Sad he didn’t take this opportunity to showcase himself like the others did. This match was just very basic. There was no real heat and the crowd didn’t get excited. The finish seemed really half-assed too. Morgan hit a rollup off the ropes onto Danielson but Danielson grabbed Morgan’s arms and barley held up his right shoulder to somehow pin Morgan while still being underneath him at 6:17. God that was very uncreative and uninspired. **
SEMI FINALS
Low Ki vs. Christopher Daniels
Now this was pretty good. This was better than the two ROH matches they had. Nose to nose to start giving it a big fight kind of feel. They started with strikes but Ki clearly has Daniels in that department so Daniels goes for the ground submission game. Daniels goes for Ki’s left arm and works it for a bit. There was an interesting spot where Ki did a sunset flipped but clutched his hurt left arm and tried to do one handed but it didn’t work. Good selling by Ki. Ki at one point towards the end kicked out the BME which came as a shock. The ending saw Daniels setting up Ki in the corner but Ki sat on the top turnbuckle and applied the Dragon Sleeper literally pulling Daniels off the ground but had to let go. After that he hit the Ki Krusher followed with a legal Dragon Sleeper for the submission at 15:07. Low Ki selling his arm reminded me of Bret’s performance at the 1993 King of the Ring. Strikes are not Daniels strong suit. Ki is known for his strikes. Therefore it’s no surprise that once the match turned to the striking that Ki would get the advantage and edge out Daniels, but injuring his arm for the finals in the process, just as Bret hurt his knee and hand before the finals of King of the Ring. Good stuff between these two indy icons. And ironically, there was a handshake afterwards (foreshadow). ***1/2
FINALS
Bryan Danielson vs. Low Ki
I’m not sure if Low Ki had a break or not, but if he went back to back, more power to him. This match is legendary. It’s not a five star classic, but it created a certain reputation and buzz for both Danielson and Ki that elevated them to a new level professionally. This match is probably what got them the main event spot at the first ROH show. It’s pretty much the genesis of what would become the prototypical ROH/EVOLVE type main event match. I think this is the first time they faced each other. This was just like their match in ROH in 2002, but not as intense. This was similar in structure, an MMA style wrestling match, where it started out slow with submissions and sporadic chops, kicks and forearms. Just like Joe, Danielson can match Ki strike for strike. Danielson even went as far taunting Ki to strike him harder. Then Danielson went for Ki’s hurt arm. Then it went outside. Ki hit a crazy Phoneix Splash from the top rope to the floor on Danielson. More nearfalls and submissions. Ki hit the Ki Krusher but couldn’t follow up to cover and both men recovered. Then something cool happens that I’ve only seen one other time in a match. Ki went for the Tidal Wave corner kick but when he did the hand stand, but Danielson kicked his hurt arm out from under him causing him crash hard. Joey Ryan did that to Brandon Gatson at “PWG Cyanide: A Loving Tribute to Poison”. Anyway, Danielson has Cattle Mutilation locked in but the ref is on Ki’s left side not seeing that his right hand is tapping out. Ref totally missed that. I don’t know if Ki did that on accident or on purpose because there was more to the match after that point. Danielson just let go of the hold because he was tired. Ki tapped but the ref missed it. Danielson went for another back drop off the top but Ki reversed into a Ki Krusher from the second rope. The crowd chants “Low Ki” and we all think it’s over right? Nope Danielson kicked out! Crowd is shocked. And it finally ends with Danielson’s trademark Dragon Suplex/Cattle Muttilation combo and Ki taps out (again) giving Danielson the win at 29:11 to win the 2001 King of the Indies. The boys from the back come to the ring to check on both guys who are spent. They get both men to their feet. A cool moment here sees Joe and Daniels carry Danielson around the ring. How fortuitous is that? Anyways, I think the ROH match from 2002 is slightly better but this is still is classic in it’s own right that set both wrestler’s careers into motion that has led us here today. ****1/2
Overall, these two shows are historic. This launched so many careers into a higher spotlight. Guys like Joe, Ki, Danielson, Daniels, Styles elevated themselves both in the ring and professionally. You can see that certain bookers and promoters watched these shows and had light bulb go off in their heads. But that is nature of cause and effect, isn’t it? Anyway, like I mentioned in the previous review, watch these shows now people, they are on Youtube for free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLADD6B154FB69686B&feature=plcp
Oh yeah, I got a twitter just for this site. You can follow if you want. I don’t know why you would, but whatever.
https://twitter.com/#!/BrianDaBrain