Ed's European Reviews #4 - Bryan Danielson Vs Nigel McGuinness
The one where Nigel hits the beans on toast a lot
It’s All In week, which means it’s the biggest European wrestling show of the year in a couple of days. It’s also potentially the final match in the career of the greatest wrestler ever, Bryan Danielson - If he has successfully worked you into believing that. I wanted to do something on the European Reviews to celebrate Danielson’s career if this is to be the final countdown, and what better match to choose than his infamous and highly regarded match with Nigel from ROH Unified.
You may have heard of this one before! Or at any rate I can’t imagine there’s a wrestling fan alive that hasn’t seen the sickening gifs. This was ROH’s first international show held in Liverpool and it’s main event saw a title unification match between the ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson and ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness. A huge match that perhaps could have been used on one of their bigger American shows, but maybe they needed a big hook to sell tickets in a new market. This is the third match in what was a defining feud of the 2000s indies and it’s a match that hits deeper if you’ve seen the first two and understand the callbacks.
In their first match at Weekend of Champions Night 2, both titles were on the line but neither changed hands after Nigel won via countout when Bryan dove into the crowd and Nigel used a chair to protect himself - hence why there was an added rule to this match that there must be a winner so the title can change hands on a countout or DQ in Liverpool. In their second match at Generation Now, only Bryan’s World title was on the line, which was successfully defended after Mr. Small Package sneaked the win to level the series at 1-1. The unification match is still held under Pure title rules which I think adds a nice wrinkle to proceedings in Liverpool given the Pure title rules feel like an evolution/variation on the classic British rounds rules.
This is probably the 4th or 5th time I’ve seen this match and this is the first time I’ve not been bowled over by it, particular the first half. The first half of the match is nice, competent professional wrestling but feels like there’s a certain amount of cues they have to hit to before they can progress the match to something special. This is an incredible crowd of hardcore wrestling fans that are 100% behind Nigel making British wrestling history and the pure rules almost gets in the way of that because we have to get rid of all the rope breaks first before the match has real drama which feels like it’s always the case with those rules.
Nigel has to use two of his rope breaks early when Danielson catches him in an armbar and then later a Cattle Mutilation. When a cocky Bryan goes to the top rope, it costs him as Nigel drops him with a Tower of London. I never know what to think about the Tower of London because the move spikes an opponent very close to two sets of ropes to escape any pin, but perhaps that’s 4-D chess from Nigel in a Pure rules match knowing that using that move early will burn off an opponent’s rope break quickly. In a hallmark of modern (can we say modern for 2000s wrestling anymore?) feuds, we get some finisher stealing when Nigel locks Bryan in the Cattle Mutilation to leave each man with only one rope break left.
When Bryan forces Nigel to use his last one to escape a chickenwing, Bryan knows he has a strong advantage over his opponent and this is the first real step in the match becoming special when Bryan starts heeling it up. As Nigel recovers, Bryan invites a shit-talking fan into the ring before exclaiming he’ll kill every single fan in the crowd and gloats that he’s the best in the world. That then stokes the fires and we begin to get a great Nigel babyface performance. This match probably wouldn’t be a top 50 Bryan Danielson performance, but I think without question it’s Nigel’s career performance.
We get a heated slap exchange which leads into Nigel doing the rope crotched lariat to Bryan which burns the final rope break to escape the pin. Now we’ve got a match with some drama that can end at any time. When Bryan locks up Nigel in a chickenwing on top of the turnbuckle, it’s squeaky bum time for the fans in attendance because there’s no obvious easy for Nigel, but he fights out of it for another Tower of London for the match’s first great nearfall.
The match then spills outside the ring where we get ‘the spot’. Both men are standing between the ringpost, Nigel has a hold of both Bryan’s wrists (#wristcontrol) and pulls him forwards smashing his shoulder off the post. When he goes for it again, Bryan blocks and then reverses the move forcing Nigel to go face first into the post pretty fucking hard and without any way of gimmicking it to soften the blow. Bryan does this three more times to the point where Nigel’s head has busted open hard way.
It’s a gruesome, provoking, watch between your fingers spot and I’m thankful that unprotected headshots are a rarity these days and that a major wrestling promotion advocates blading to avoid hardway blood - but the dirty fact here is this spot propels this match forward at the speed of light towards greatness. It takes Nigel on an even playing field to on his last leg within seconds and forces the crowd to rally behind him even more to eek out a little bit of energy and resolve from somewhere. An understandably loopy Nigel is sent into the crowd and then Bryan does the somersault tope into the crowd (just like Weekend of Champions Night 2 to set up the countout). Bryan recovers first and the crowd help a bloody Nigel get back to his feet and stumble back into the ring just in time.
If the ring post spot was a hard watch, then the exchange of headbutts is going to be even tougher. At this point an exchange of forearms or punches would have been sufficient, but instead both men went at it like bulls locking horns which forced Nigel’s cut open even wider. Nigel attempts a hail Mary rebound lariat but it isn’t enough. When Bryan locks in the Cattle Mutilation in the middle of the ring with no rope breaks remaining, that appears to be curtains. Nigel finds just enough spirit and knowhow to counter the submission into a pin, but he’s swimming against too strong a tide at this point. Bryan traps him in the hammer and anvil elbows and shows no mercy rattling down about 20 before the referee (a rather young looking Tassilo Jung from wXw) calls it off and declares Bryan the unified champion. Bryan Danielson proving that you have to have that killer instinct to be world champion….just another example of wrestling being circular.
It’s a heartbreaking finish to the show for the crowd and they chant bullshit and throw rubbish into the ring. There’s some slight consolation post-match when Bryan offers Nigel another crack at the world championship in 2 weeks time, but that’s little use to the UK fans who will have to wait until the DVD comes out to see it.
18 years later these fans are still waiting to see a Bryan/Nigel rematch in the UK. Nigel on commentary never gives up his feud with the clam digger so I’m sure it’ll happen one day with expectations reasonably adjusted. I’m glad to see they haven’t wasted Wembley on that match, especially as there won’t be a Wembley show in 2025 as I don’t see it at that level and we’re at least one generation past Nigel being an active wrestler at this point so how many sickos are there that would be invested in it. To me Bryan/Nigel if it ever happens again should be something run on a TV taping in the UK, something in the vein the recent Jarrett match.
I previously always considered this match the best one to take place on British soil, and having found a few problems with it on this rewatch, it’ll be interesting to use it as benchmark as I watch more classic BritWres matches in this series.