Match #1: Christopher Daniels vs. Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson (The Era of Honor Begins – 2/23/02)
Everyone trades strikes and find themselves at a stalemate. Daniels hits a back suplex on Low Ki and suplexes Danielson across the top rope. That was unique. Low Ki dropkicks Danielson in the corner and connects with a kappou kick on Daniels. Danielson attempts Cattle Mutilation on Low Ki but Daniels breaks up the hold. Daniels applies a double submission hold and takes control for a bit. Low Ki comes roaring back with his various kicks. Danielson traps Daniels in a muta lock variant. Low Ki kicks him, which only increases the pressure on Daniels. The crowd rises to their feet in appreciation. Things start getting heated during a kick exchange between Danielson and Low Ki. Daniels tries to intervene but that proves to be an unwise decision. Danielson connects with kawada kicks to Low Ki’s head. Daniels elevates Low Ki into hitting a tornado DDT on Danielson. Low Ki connects with a springboard gamengiri on Daniels for a nearfall. They apply some submissions in the ropes, including an awesome-looking dragon sleeper from Low Ki. He enzuigiris Danielson into a blue thunder bomb from Daniels for a two count. They do a tower of doom spot in the corner and all three men are down. Danielson hits a butterfly suplex on Daniels along with a dragon suplex. Daniels recovers with an STO on Low Ki and lands the BME for a nearfall. Low Ki catches Danielson with a phoenix splash mid-Cattle Mutilation. Low Ki hits the Ki Krusher on Daniels for the win at 21:10. This match was very fast-paced with few spots to catch your breath. Sometimes that’s a bad thing, but these three were trying to establish Ring of Honor as a promotion worth following. They were attempting sequences never seen before at the time and the crowd reaction tells the story there. I might not like this match as much as some, but it’s definitely worth checking out for the historical aspect alone. ****
Match #2: Christopher Daniels vs. Bryan Danielson (The Round Robin Challenge – 3/30/02)
Daniels connects with a dropkick but Danielson quickly responds with a forearm smash. They trade control on the mat and battle over a test of strength. Commentary talks about how many potential match of the year candidates ROH has had so far and it’s only the second show. Danielson holds onto a side headlock. Daniels eventually breaks free and starts working over the neck. Danielson comes back with a charging forearm. He can’t hit a suplex due to his neck, so he settles for a butterfly DDT. Danielson follows with a diving headbutt but immediately clutches his neck. Daniels hits an STO and lands the BME for a nearfall. Danielson once again comes back with a forearm but Daniels slows him down with more neck work. Danielson even tries some submissions but his neck restricts him. Daniels hits a piledriver, follows with Last Rites, and applies a crossface for the victory at 14:23. You have to appreciate how well Daniels was positioned in the early days of ROH. His systematic approach to working over Danielson’s neck was entertaining to watch and they made it count by illustrating that a large portion of Danielson’s offense was off the table. This wasn’t a long match by any means but they more than got their point across. ***½
Match #3: Christopher Daniels vs. Low Ki (The Round Robin Challenge – 3/30/02)
Low Ki connects with an early knockout kick and follows with more kicks. He applies a crossface but Daniels counters into a quick rollup to no avail. Low Ki just kicks him in the face again. Daniels hits an STO and takes control. Low Ki avoids the BME and connects with a springboard gamengiri. Both men are down. They trade reversals and Daniels hits an iconoclasm. Daniels follows with Angel’s Wings for a two count. Low Ki responds with the Ki Krusher for a nearfall. Daniels attempts Last Rites but Low Ki counters into the Dragon Clutch for the win at 11:00. Low Ki took advantage of Daniels having wrestled once already by coming out of the gates with a series of brutal kicks. Daniels was able to weather the storm somewhat, but Low Ki surprised him in the end with a Dragon Clutch out of nowhere. They definitely could have used more time, but this was solid regardless. ***¼
Match #4: Christopher Daniels and Donovan Morgan vs. Dick Togo and Ikuto Hidaka (Unscripted – 9/21/02)
This is the semifinals of a tournament to crown ROH Tag Team Champions. Togo catches Daniels with a frontal bulldog. Morgan and Hidaka trade chops. Hidaka connects with a nice front flip kick. Morgan sarcastically offers a handshake while Daniels attacks Hidaka from behind. Both teams start brawling around ringside. Daniels comes off the apron with an elbow drop on Hidaka. In the ring, Togo hits a slingshot senton on Daniels. The Japanese duo work over Daniels until he low blows Hidaka behind the referee’s back. The Prophecy isolate Hidaka until he plants Daniels with a tornado DDT and makes the tag. Togo hits a facebuster on Morgan along with a tornado DDT of his own. He applies a crossface but Daniels breaks up the hold. Hidaka takes out Daniels with a springboard dive. Togo hits an exploder on Morgan along with a fisherman suplex. He finishes with a fisherman neckbreaker. Togo lands a top-rope senton onto Morgan for a nearfall. Hidaka kicks out of Angel’s Wings. Daniels follows with the BME but Togo makes the save. Morgan knocks Togo to the floor. Daniels hits an STO on Hidaka and Morgan holds his legs down, allowing the Prophecy to pick up the victory at 13:55. Togo and Hidaka made for a fun team and this was exactly what you want out of a semifinal round match in a one-night tournament. The finish was pretty cheap considering all of the action that came before it, but it helped get some heat on the Prophecy heading into the finals. ***
Match #5: ROH Tag Team Titles: Christopher Daniels and Donovan Morgan vs. Bryan Danielson and Michael Modest
The winners will become the first ever ROH Tag Team Champions. Modest trained Morgan and they’re also business partners, so I guess that’s interesting. They have a heated exchange to start the match. Modest uses his veteran tactics to outsmart him. The Prophecy are able to isolate Danielson fairly early on. He creates some space with a hangman’s suplex on Morgan and makes the tag. Modest does a headstand in the corner and hurricanranas Daniels off the top rope. He follows with a diving headbutt. Danielson lays out Morgan with a roaring elbow but Daniels catches him with an enzuigiri. All four men are down. Modest throws Morgan through a guardrail at ringside. Daniels lands an arabian press to the floor. Danielson follows out with a dive onto Daniels. He seemed to have landed awkwardly on his knee. In the ring, Modest hits an exploder on Daniels. Morgan plants him with a fisherman neckbreaker. Danielson hits the regalplex on Morgan and locks in Cattle Mutilation. Daniels breaks it up with a dropkick. He lands the BME on Danielson for a nearfall. Modest and Morgan brawl on the floor, leaving Daniels and Danielson in the ring. Daniels hits Last Rites and the Prophecy become the first ROH Tag Team Champions at 14:45. Apparently this was a long show, as even commentary acknowledged how burnt out the crowd was for this main event. As a result, the finishing stretch just felt like a succession of moves without much rhyme or reason. Everyone was working hard, but things just didn’t come together to make a fluid match. **¾
Match #6: Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams (Glory By Honor – 10/5/02)
They have a fast-paced exchange and find themselves at a stalemate. They have a feeling-out process on the mat, with Williams pulling off some incredible transitions. Daniels takes a cheap shot at Williams’ left leg and takes over with a neckbreaker. Daniels prevents Williams’ comeback by countering a tornado DDT into an atomic drop. He follows with another neckbreaker and a flatliner. Williams is finally able to fight back with a tornado DDT. He comes off the top rope with a flying knee drop and hits a fisherman buster. Daniels finds an opening to hit a blue thunder bomb and lands the BME for a nearfall. Williams hits Chaos Theory but Daniels grabs the bottom rope to break up the pin. Daniels sneaks in a rollup with his feet on the ropes for the win at 12:29. The booking makes it clear that there’s more to come from these two, but this was a fine preview of what they could do together in the ring. **¾
Match #7: ROH Tag Team Titles: Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, and Donovan Morgan © vs. Homicide, Doug Williams, and Low Ki (All Star Extravaganza – 11/9/02)
The Prophecy tease a pre-match attack and then their opponents actually conduct one. This is a six-man tag team match because there’s not actual belts (just a trophy) so Daniels figured they could defend the titles however they wanted. Joe doesn’t seem to trust his teammates very much. Low Ki and Morgan begin with some chain wrestling. Homicide and Daniels trade armdrags. Homicide hits a DDT and an exploder. He fights off the rest of the Prophecy, low blowing Daniels behind the referee’s back. The faces work over Daniels in their corner. He’s able to back Williams into the Prophecy’s corner and they isolate him. He fights off Daniels and Morgan (with Joe staying on the apron) and makes the tag. Homicide hits an ace crusher on Daniels off the middle rope. Williams takes out Morgan with a dive to the floor. Daniels wipes out Williams with an arabian press. Low Ki follows out with a springboard dive and Joe finishes with a dive of his own. In the ring, Morgan hits a saito suplex on Williams and a fisherman neckbreaker on Homicide. Daniels and Low Ki battle up top. Daniels brings him down to the canvas with a prawn hold. That was innovative. Daniels saves Morgan from the Dragon Clutch. Williams hits Chaos Theory on Daniels for a nearfall. Joe applies the Coquina Clutch on Homicide and the Prophecy retain their titles at 23:07. This match had a unique feel to it and the makeshift team of Homicide, Williams, and Low Ki felt like a unit. There was also some interesting characterization happening with Joe, as he won the match for the Prophecy without necessarily getting along with his teammates. Everyone just looked like they were having fun out there and it translated into a memorable match. ***¾
Match #8: Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams (Night of the Champions – 3/22/03)
Daniels gets sent to the floor by a shoulder tackle. Back in, Williams absolutely wrestles circles around him. Daniels is able to slow down Williams somewhat with a side headlock. Williams back suplexes out of it and takes control on the mat once again. Daniels sends him to the floor and connects with a baseball slide. He takes over in the ring until Williams catches him with a big knee strike to the face. Williams connects with a stiff lariat and both men are down. Daniels falls victim to a brainbuster but is able to block the tornado DDT. He connects with a palm strike. Williams fights off an iconoclasm and hits a tornado DDT. Both men are down once again. Daniels calls for the BME but finds himself in a crossface. He escapes the hold, hits a gutbuster, and lands the BME for a nearfall. Daniels synchs in the koji clutch. Williams connects with repeated knees to the face. Daniels blocks Chaos Theory. Williams counters Last Rites into a swinging cobra clutch. Williams connects with a flying knee drop from the top rope for a two count. Williams ducks a lariat and hits Chaos Theory for the victory at 18:13. It doesn’t come as a surprise, but Williams was absolutely on fire in his 2002-2003 run in Ring of Honor. He masterfully worked over Daniels’ neck to the point where I started feeling bad for Daniels (mainly during the swinging cobra clutch). They referenced their history together by simply having a plethora of counters to each other’s offense and the crowd couldn’t have been more vocal. A lot of the right elements came together and this match seemingly appeared out of nowhere to steal the show. ****
Match #9: Christopher Daniels vs. Amazing Red (Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II – 4/26/03)
Daniels throws Red around to start and seems pretty proud of himself. Red snaps off a satellite headscissors and dropkicks Daniels to the outside. Red teases a dive and then pulls off a slingshot hurricanrana. He connects with a missile dropkick and a high knee strike. Daniels slows him down with a lariat and takes control. Red comes back with an awkward bodyscissors and a swinging flatliner. He botches a hurricanrana but Daniels quickly follows up with an enzuigiri. Red hits an inverted DDT and both men are down. They trade strikes and Red connects with a gamengiri. Daniels hits the STO and lands the BME for a nearfall. Red hurricanranas him off the middle rope. Red hits the Code Red for a two count. Daniels crotches him on the top rope and hits Last Rites for the win at 11:08. Daniels tried his best but this match couldn’t help but suffer from Red’s sloppiness. You know it’s bad when commentary tries to cover it up by calling Red “woozy” from all of the punishment he’s taken. The crowd hung with them and prevented this from being a total disaster. **½
Match #10: Christopher Daniels vs. Paul London (Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II – 4/26/03)
London’s playfulness frustrates Daniels early on. Daniels offers a handshake but it’s all a ruse. London dropkicks Daniels as he tries to skin the cat and lands a plancha to the floor. In the ring, Daniels takes over, focusing his attack on the midsection. London attempts a comeback but he falls victim to Angel’s Wings for a nearfall. Daniels is not happy about that. London connects with a spin kick but misses a lionsault. Daniels hits an iconoclasm. They trade rollups to no avail. London lands a shooting star press but Allison Danger distracts the referee. London kisses her and back drops Daniels onto her. London lands a dive to the floor onto Daniels. Back in, Daniels blocks another shooting star press and hits a flatliner. Daniels follows with the Best Moonsault Ever for the win at 24:52. Daniels did an excellent job of working over the ribs and London didn’t miss a beat with his selling. London’s unwillingness to go crazy with his offense really put over Daniels as a threat. I could do without the constant interference from Danger, but this was just a solid overall package. ***¾
Match #11: Christopher Daniels vs. Xavier (Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies – 8/16/03)
They begin with some chain wrestling and neither man can gain the advantage. Daniels slows the pace down with some crowd arguing. They tease shaking hands and both attempt cheap shots at the same time. Daniels hits a spear and begins targeting the midsection. Xavier takes control and works over Daniels’ neck, which seems to be a commonly used strategy against him. Xavier hip tosses out of an abdominal stretch and hits an inverted DDT. Daniels connects with a leg lariat and hits a flatliner. Xavier fights off an iconoclasm and finds success with a short-arm lariat. He locks in a japanese stranglehold and slams Daniels to the canvas. Daniels spears Xavier into the turnbuckle but misses the BME. Xavier lands a 450 splash but cannot cover right away due to his injured midsection. They trade quick pin attempts to no avail and both connect with clotheslines at the same time. Daniels sneaks in a rollup with a handful of tights for the victory at 22:26. This match encapsulated everything entertaining about the former Prophecy and I couldn’t see this contest playing out any other way. They showed their familiarity with each other why heelishly working over a body part on their opponent. It’s also fitting that Daniels would out-wit Xavier in the end. This didn’t have any mind-blowing spots or anything, but the storytelling was sound. ***¼
Match #12: ROH World Title: Samoa Joe © vs. Christopher Daniels (Glory By Honor II – 9/20/03)
Joe connects with a mafia kick at the opening bell. He charges with a forearm smash and drops a knee. Daniels finds an opening with a russian leg sweep but eats a backfist. Joe connects with a facewash kick and sits back deep on a boston crab. Allison Danger helps Daniels to the ropes. Joe drags her into the ring and corners her. He teases a facewash kick but Daniels cuts him off and lands an arabian press to the floor. Joe finds an opening to connect with a facewash kick on the floor. Daniels hits a german suplex but Joe responds with a snap powerslam. Daniels musters up some strength to hit a samoan drop. He follows with a uranagi and the BME for a nearfall. Joe connects with a lariat but finds himself in the koji clutch. He’s able to get his foot onto the bottom rope. Daniels hits a blue thunder bomb and hurricanranas Joe off the middle rope. Daniels hits Angel’s Wings for a nearfall. Joe counters Last Rites into the Coquina Clutch. Joe transitions into the Island Driver to retain his title at 15:00. These two have a match later in the compilation so hopefully we get to see what they can do with more time. They delivered a very solid fifteen-minute match here, though. Daniels’ characterization in Ring of Honor has been great, as he was able to survive Joe’s early onslaught and lure Joe into unfavorable positions. They kept things interesting despite Joe being early into his title reign and there’s something to be said for that. ***½
Match #13: All Japan Tag Team Titles: The Great Muta and Arashi © vs. Christopher Daniels and Dan Maff (Final Battle 2003 – 12/27/03)
Maff doesn’t fare too well against Arashi. Muta sprays some mist after an exchange with Daniels. The Prophecy appropriately take some time to regroup. They find an opening to work over Arashi. He fights off Daniels and tags in Muta. Muta connects with a powerdrive elbow on Daniels but Allison Danger prevents a moonsault. The Prophecy now isolate Muta. Arashi eventually enters the match with a huge dropkick. He hits a belly to belly suplex on Maff. Arashi gets shoulder-blocked into an STO from Daniels. Arashi fires back with a powerslam on Daniels. Muta hits a dragon screw leg whip on Daniels and synchs in a figure four. Maff breaks up the hold and brings a chair into the ring. Muta sprays him with the mist! Daniels misses the BME and Muta connects with a shining wizard for the victory at 16:10. The Prophecy undoubtedly did their best to highlight Muta and Arashi’s strengths but at the end of the day this match’s value mostly comes from its nostalgia. All Japan’s involvement with Ring of Honor was nonexistent after this show, so while this match wasn’t stellar, it still main-evented a forgotten show in ROH’s history and may be worth a watch. **¾
Match #14: Christopher Daniels vs. Matt Hardy (Fate of an Angel – 7/16/05)
Daniels connects with a leg lariat. Hardy grabs control of a wristlock. Daniels counters into a side headlock and they trade reversals. They escape each other’s finishers and Daniels tries a backslide to no avail. He hits a flatliner and transitions into a koji clutch. Hardy is able to grab the bottom rope. Daniels hip tosses Hardy to the floor and follows out with the arabian press. Hardy finds an opening to take over in the ring. Daniels mounts a comeback but Hardy catches him with a splash mountain. Daniels connects with an enzuigiri and hits a blue thunder bomb. Hardy responds with a superplex from the middle rope in a continued attempt to work over Daniels’ back. Hardy tries a fourth superplex and succeeds. Daniels crotches him on the top rope and hits a super side slam. Hardy misses a moonsault and Daniels lands the BME. Hardy blocks a lionsault by getting his knees up. Daniels recovers with a death valley driver. CM Punk runs out and attacks Allison Danger. Punk hits Daniels with a chain behind the referee’s back. Hardy hits the Twist of Fate and applies a guillotine choke for the win at 20:25. Much like the Xavier match from earlier in the compilation, this wasn’t the most visually spectacular match but the storytelling was on point. The finish was a bit of a deflator. Even though Hardy didn’t see Punk’s interference or endorse it, the crowd still treats him the same way. Hardy made his return to professional wrestling here and proved that he could be immensely valuable to ROH. Let’s hope he can do that once again in 2013. ***¼
Match #15: ROH Pure Title: Samoa Joe © vs. Christopher Daniels (Night of the Grudges II – 8/20/05)
They begin with some chain wrestling as the crowd chants “awkward silence.” That would be a theme early on, as the crowd just seemed flat. Daniels inadvertently uses the ropes to free himself from an armbar and Todd Sinclair charges him a rope break. The crowd harps on Sinclair’s call because they have nothing better to do. Joe connects with a knee drop and hits a delayed vertical suplex. Daniels hits a lungblower and starts working over Joe’s midsection. Joe uses two rope breaks trying to avoid Daniels’ offense. Joe traps Daniels in a cross armbreaker after hitting a snap powerslam. Daniels uses his second rope break and gets a warning for closed fists. Joe immediately responds with a closed fist and Sinclair warns him as well. Joe hits a powerbomb and transitions into an STF. Daniels connects with an enzuigiri and hits a samoan drop. That’s ironic. He lands a lionsault and goes back to work on the midsection. Daniels synchs in the koji clutch and Joe is forced to use his last rope break. The ropes are in play for both men. Joe connects with a yakuza kick. He misses a charge and crotches himself on the top rope. Joe blocks an iconoclasm and applies the Coquina Clutch in the ropes to retain his title at 20:16. This match was always going to have a tough time because of the completely disinterested crowd. Joe and Daniels tried doing some unique tricks with the pure rules but the crowd still didn’t seem to care. Even the innovative finish didn’t come off as special. It’s nice that the Pure Title match received a chance to main event a show but the crowd did this one no favors. ***
Match #16: Christopher Daniels vs. Low Ki (Tag Wars 2006 – 1/27/06)
They back each other into the corner and Low Ki attempts a cross armbreaker in the ropes. Daniels backs away and is not happy about the situation. Dave Prazak notes that these two have only had one previous singles match in ROH (also included on this compilation). They trade control on the mat. Low Ki connects with a dropkick, sending Daniels into the barricade. Low Ki takes over in the ring, working over Daniels’ midsection. A distraction by Allison Danger allows Daniels to sneak in a few rollups to no avail. Low Ki blocks a sunset flip and connects with a sick double stomp. Daniels fires back with a flurry of offense. Low Ki traps him in a tree of woe but misses the flying double stomp. Daniels lands an arabian press to the floor. In the ring, he lands a flying crossbody. Low Ki connects with a clothesline and finally succeeds in hitting the flying double stomp. He tries to double stomp Daniels through a table but Daniels moves and Low Ki appears to have hurt his leg. In the ring, they tease finishers. Low Ki reverses Angel’s Wings and pins Daniels for the victory at 20:53. It was Low Ki’s reckless abandon that won him their first match together. In contrast, Low Ki had to use his resourcefulness to defeat Daniels this time. This was much different yet just as solid as their first encounter four years ago. ***¼
Match #17: Christopher Daniels vs. Alex Shelley (Best in the World – 3/25/06)
Shelley slaps Daniels and retreats to the floor to do some stretches. Daniels quickly returns the favor and the crowd gets on Shelley’s case. Shelley comes off the top but gets caught by an atomic drop. They get into a chop battle and Daniels slows things down on the mat. Shelley rakes his eyes and connects with a stiff basement dropkick. Shelley takes control until Daniels hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Shelley connects with a superkick out of nowhere. They trade rollups to no avail and Shelly lays in a dropkick. Daniels hits a blue thunder bomb. Shelley avoids the BME and blocks an arabian press with knees. Daniels escapes a backslide and hits Angel’s Wings for the win at 14:34. There was not one moment in this match where Shelley wasn’t being awesome. Daniels complemented him perfectly and it looked like they were having fun out there, which instantly hooked the crowd. The series of reversals leading to the eventual finish was brilliant and had the crowd reeling. This was an entertaining and compact match from these two. ***½
Match #18: Christopher Daniels vs. Claudio Castagnoli (The 100th Show – 4/22/06)
We are deep into the ROH/CZW feud at this point. They trade control on the mat. They exchange armdrags and find themselves at a stalemate. Daniels escapes an early Neutralizer attempt and regroups with Allison Danger. Claudio hits a delayed vertical suplex. Daniels dropkicks his leg out and starts going to work on the left leg. Claudio creates an opening by coming off the middle rope with a european uppercut. Both men are down. Claudio hits a spinning sit-out slam but falls victim to a death valley driver. Daniels lands the BME. Claudio traps him in the Neutralizer but Daniels reaches the bottom rope once again. Daniels sneaks in a rollup out of nowhere for the win at 15:53. This did just enough as an opener and successfully highlighted one of the cornerstones of Ring of Honor on a milestone show. A trend I’m finding is that Claudio is so good at working with others that his opponents often feel comfortable trying certain moves that they wouldn’t otherwise. The finish was bit abrupt, but this was an enjoyable match regardless. ***
Overall: Christopher Daniels: The Fallen Angel has a plethora of quality matches but most of them fall into the low three star range. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but the match quality on this compilation falls quite short of some of the other current releases. Besides the Era of Honor Begins main event and the ROH World Title match against Samoa Joe, I also never got the sense that these matches had much historical significance and there’s a few contests that appear on previously released compilations. I would certainly recommend this DVD for diehard Christopher Daniels’ fans, but I don’t think it’s necessary viewing otherwise.
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