The Independent Mid-Card 04.15.08: McGuinness vs. Castagnoli

Hello all and welcome back to this week’s edition of The Independent Mid-Card. At last weekend’s Ring of Honor shows, the company set the ball rolling for the main event at their debut in New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom. Interestingly, that match will be a rematch from one of the participants’ ROH debuts back in 2005. Though both men have developed significantly since their first meeting, and their upcoming collision will almost assuredly look nothing like that initial contest, it seems like the perfect time to look back at the origins of a rivalry that has worked its way up to the ROH World Title picture. Join me as we take a look back in this week’s IMC.

Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Ring of Honor – Fate of an Angel – Woodbridge, CT – July 16, 2005

The Wrestlers:
Nigel McGuinness – A British grappler who began his wrestling career in the Heartland Wrestling Association nearly ten years ago, Nigel McGuinness had trained in both the catch-as-catch-can European style as well as the traditional North American professional wrestling style early on. With outstanding in-ring acumen, an imposing physical presence, and an appearance reminiscent of Billy Idol, McGuinness began to gain fame in wrestling circles for his work in HWA before debuting in Ring of Honor in late-2003. Though McGuinness would continue to appear for ROH throughout 2004, it wasn’t until a match with “Classic” Colt Cabana in early-2005 that Nigel began to see his star rise. McGuinness and Cabana would form a short-lived tag team, but an eventual singles rematch between the two would signal the end of their partnership, as McGuinness would use a low blow to ultimately defeat Cabana. Though Cabana would take something of a sabbatical from ROH during the course of that Summer, Nigel’s issue with “The Windy City Warrior” would continue to simmer on the back burner.

Claudio Castagnoli – Hailing from Switzerland, Claudio Castagnoli first made his name teaming with Ares as Swiss Money Holding in Germany’s Westside Xtreme Wrestling promotion. The duo would make appearances in the United States for both CHIKARA and IWA Mid-South, but would never make it to Ring of Honor competition. Most notably, Castagnoli & Ares would make it to the semifinals of CHIKARA’s 2003 Tag World Grand Prix tournament before fighting The SuperFriends of Chris Hero & “Lightning” Mike Quackenbush to a time-limit draw. After a brief return to Europe, Castagnoli would return to North America to continue training with Chris Hero. Tangentially, Castagnoli’s return to the United States would coincide with his winning the 2006 Tag World Grand Prix alongside Arik Cannon, an event that would be made possible by Chris Hero joining the duo to form The Kings of Wrestling stable. Not long afterwards, Castagnoli would make his way to Ring of Honor for the first time, where he would be paired off with fellow European Nigel McGuinness.

The Match:
We cut right to the handshake and opening bell with both Claudio Castagnoli and Nigel McGuinness already in the ring. The two men begin to circle as the notably amped crowd cheers them on. Claudio moves in for a lockup, but Nigel ducks and grabs a waistlock. Nigel spins Claudio around into a wristlock, so Castagnoli somersaults through and then works Nigel down to the mat and reverses to a hammerlock. Claudio pulls Nigel to his feet to segue back into a wristlock, so McGuinness mirrors Claudio’s earlier counter to work back to a wristlock of his own. Claudio does a very complicated counter back to a wristlock, complete with basically allowing McGuinness to apply a waistlock, but Nigel goes through a similar counter to regain control of the hold. Claudio goes into another counter, this time stepping over a kneeling McGuinness, to once again get control of the wristlock, and this time Nigel pulls him over to the ropes before using them to perform a backflip to… hit a back elbow. Claudio retreats to the corner to force Nigel to back off, and motions that a back elbow in that situation flies in the face of them having shaken hands.

The two men begin to circle again. They lock up and Nigel grabs a headlock before turning it into a cravate. Claudio counters into a wristlock, but Nigel quickly works back into the cravate. Claudio flips out of the hold, but showboats a bit too much and Nigel reapplies it. Nigel snapmares Claudio to the mat and then comes off the ropes to take him down again with a shoulderblock. They go into a leapfrog sequence until Claudio floors Nigel with a European uppercut. Claudio whips Nigel cross-corner, but when Nigel tries a float-over thinking that Claudio had followed him in, Castagnoli puts on the breaks and levels Nigel with a European uppercut to the back of the neck. Claudio whips Nigel into the corner again and kicks him in the gut before coming cross-corner with a somersault into another European uppercut. You know what, I’m going to count them from now on. That was three.

Claudio whips Nigel cross-corner and goes for the same somersaulting European uppercut, but this time Nigel gets a knee strike in to block it. Nigel comes running off the ropes, but runs into a European uppercut (4) that sends him falling backwards through the ropes. It almost looked like Nigel was trying to hit the rebound lariat (what would become his Jawbreaker Lariat), but he ends up just falling through the ropes and crashing to the floor. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he was trying to end up on the outside. Claudio sets up for a dive and comes running with a suicide European uppercut (5) that the crowd very much appreciates. After rolling McGuinness back into the ring, Claudio makes the cover for two.

Claudio grabs a side headlock, but Nigel works his way back to his feet and reverses the hold by slamming Claudio to the mat with a wristlock takedown. Nigel grabs a wristlock again and then hoists Claudio up into the Break Special (knucklelock lift). Nigel then legdrop’s Claudio’s arm and locks in an armscissors before turning over to increase the pressure. Nigel then switches up his positioning to slam Claudio’s arm into the mat with his leg.

Claudio tries to make a comeback with a headbutt to the midsection, but Nigel grabs a wristlock again before taking Claudio over with a Break Special Suplex (knucklelock into a suplex). Nigel goes to whip Claudio off the ropes, but instead takes him down with a Dragon Screw Armwhip. Claudio rolls through a second attempt, but takes the worst of a shoulderblock and they go into another leapfrog sequence, but Nigel does a pendulum rebound off the ropes and goes right into a schoolboy cradle for two. That’s actually an interesting spot in retrospect because now Nigel only goes for the Jawbreaker Lariat off of that rebound. Nigel gets another complicated rollup for two, but Claudio quickly responds with a backslide for a two count of his own. Both men back off and the crowd applauds their efforts.

Claudio offers a handshake to Nigel, who is hesitant to accept it. In a nice, subtle bit of psychology, Claudio is careful to hold his bad arm behind his back and extend his good arm for the handshake. Nigel looks to accept the handshake, but instead rushes Claudio into the ropes and tries to hiptoss him to the ground. Claudio flips through and lands on his feet before catching Nigel coming off the ropes with a tilt-a-whirl. Nigel counters into an armdrag mid-move and then ducks a clothesline attempt from Claudio before rebounding off the ropes with the as-yet-unnamed Jawbreaker Lariat (pendulum rebound into a running lariat) to leave both men down on the mat. Nigel is slow to recover but eventually drapes an arm over Castagnoli for a two-count.

The crowd cheers for Nigel, who is the first one to his feet. He pulls Claudio over to the corner and sets up for a Tornado DDT, but Claudio shifts the momentum mid-move and presses Nigel into the air before catching him on the way down with a European uppercut (6). Claudio makes the cover, but it only gets two. Crowd probably would have bought that as the finish. Claudio climbs to the top, but Nigel is able to cut him off and plant him with the Tower of London (hanging Ace Crusher) for the academic pinfall at 8:10. Nigel is announced as the winner and begins to celebrate to a very sizeable pop from the crowd as we cut out.

The Analysis:
As I think back through the match, it occurs to me that I might have been better off counting Claudio’s non-European uppercut moves instead, as he hit exactly none (absent a few rollups and transitional strikes). In part that was probably due to the brevity of the match overall and McGuinness’ offensive sequences working Claudio’s arm, but for whatever reason Castagnoli’s offense was hardly varied here. On some level it’s a testament to how much Claudio has improved in the last few years and how vastly he has expanded his offensive repertoire. When you compare this match to one of similar length between Castagnoli and “Lightning” Mike Quackenbush from the 2006 Ted Petty Invitational, it’s almost night-and-day in terms of Claudio’s offensive variety.

The opening European reversal sequence here was interesting, and a nice introduction to Claudio’s abilities in that realm, but was ultimately meaningless in the scope of the match. I suppose that in the context of McGuinness’ ongoing issue with Colt Cabana it made sense that he would want to prove his technical superiority over a similarly trained opponent, but taken on its own, the sequence was very much sound and fury signifying nothing. Nigel’s back elbow didn’t lead to him working overtly as a heel, nor did the series of wristlocks lead directly to the later arm work.

The finish did a lot to legitimize the Tower of London as a finisher, as it appeared devastating enough to put Claudio away, but interestingly, that move has become one of the most disrespected as Nigel’s ROH run has continued. One might wonder what caused it to swap places with the Jawbreaker Lariat as Nigel’s finishing move rather than as a near-fall maneuver, when the two were in the opposite role here and looked convincing in those positions.

The Aftermath:
Nigel McGuinness would ultimately lose his feud with Colt Cabana, only to turn around and upset ROH legend Samoa Joe for the ROH Pure Title. Nigel would hold onto that belt for the vast majority of a year, including an extended program with Claudio Castagnoli, before losing it to then¬-ROH World Champion “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson in a title unification bout during the Summer of 2006. Nigel would quickly end his long run as a heel and would be a crowd favorite when he challenged then-GHC Heavyweight Champion Naomichi Marufuji for his belt, becoming the first man to challenge for that strap outside of Japan. After winning a program with former Embassy member Jimmy Rave, McGuinness was positioned as the top challenger to new ROH World Champion and Pro Wrestling NOAH star Takeshi Morishima in early-2007. Though Nigel would fail in his first two bids for the title, he would eventually fulfill his destiny by upending the massive Morishima for the championship in October of 2007. Though a myriad of injuries marred the early months of McGuinness’ reign, he has since rebounded with a string of excellent defenses against the likes of Austin Aries, Go Shiozaki and Bryan Danielson. This past Saturday, after defeating “Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen by nefarious means to retain the ROH World Title, McGuinness was challenged by his old rival Claudio Castagnoli for a title match at Ring of Honor’s upcoming event at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom, a big time main event certainly worthy of such a momentous show.

Claudio Castagnoli, who would tread water in ROH competition for the balance of 2005 while losing a string of Pure Title matches to McGuinness, would have his first major moment in the company early in 2006 when he became the first man whose hand “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels would shake (to that point, Daniels had famously refused to shake hands during the entirety of both legs of his ROH run). Mere hours later, Castagnoli would turn his back on Ring of Honor by joining up with CZW star and longtime tag team partner Chris Hero in the latter’s war with ROH. Castagnoli became a major piece in the chess match between the two companies, but would ultimately end up on the losing side of the ledger in the penultimate Cage of Death Match between the promotions. Castagnoli & Hero would rebound by winning the ROH World Tag Team Titles a few months later, but their reign would be cut short when Castagnoli signed a deal with World Wrestling Entertainment in late-2006. For undisclosed reasons, Castagnoli never ended up making the jump to WWE, but his partnership with Hero was already on the road to dissolution. The two ended up in a long-running feud in 2007, primarily built around Hero having chosen to align himself with “Sweet ‘n Sour” Larry Sweeney rather than continue competing as The Kings of Wrestling alongside Castagnoli. Midway through 2007, Castagnoli made a quantum leap as a singles star, including winning the inaugural Race To The Top Tournament and having a pair of impressive bids at Takeshi Morishima’s ROH World Title. Though Castagnoli’s issues with Sweeney and Hero seemingly continue to this day, despite a number of alleged blowoff contests, his sights now seem firmly focused on McGuinness and the ROH World Title.

The Final Word:
In my opinion, as good as Claudio Castagnoli is, he’s not the right man for Nigel McGuinness to lose the ROH World Title to. For me, that honor goes to Kevin Steen, who himself has a (second) shot at McGuinness scheduled for this coming Saturday in Chicago Ridge. Ultimately, I think Nigel will survive both of those defenses with his title reign intact, but if this past weekend’s ROH shows taught me anything, it’s to never take a title defense for granted. After all, who really saw the Briscoes’ fifth ROH World Tag Team Title reign coming?

To see this week’s match, Fate of an Angel is… umm… well it’s currently UNavailable from rohwrestling.com. It seems as if this fantastic card is out of print at the moment, which is sad because it features a handful of fantastic matches, including Matt Hardy’s return to wrestling as he takes on Christopher Daniels, CM Punk making a spectacular ROH World Title defense against James Gibson, and “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles taking on an up-and-coming Roderick Strong. If you can find this show elsewhere, get it. You will not be disappointed.

Sorry, but I’m doing abbreviated plugs this week because I’m late for the Sara Bareilles concert and, well, that’s the way things go sometimes. Column of Honor, Truth B Told, The Navigation Log, Buy or Sell, Wacky Wrestling Theory, SHIMMER Vol. 5, and IWAMS Phenomenal Invasion. Check them out at your convenience.

This week’s Buy or Sell will feature Larry and myself previewing the big ROH shows, and there will obviously be an ROH RT for the same events up on Friday.

Actually-on-time-this-week iTunes flyby looks like this:

1. “Let Me Go” by 3 Doors Down – from Acoustic EP
2. “The Lime Tree” by Trevor Hall – from Trevor Hall Live
3. “Beautiful Disaster” by 311 – from Greatest Hits ’93-‘03
4. “Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service – from Give Up
5. “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits – from Dire Straits

Over at The Cool Kids’ Table Dot Net, you should really be sure to read my most recent edition of The Up & Under as well as check out our weekly podcast. Also, Brad & Jake have ROH Survival of the Fittest 2007 and Brad goes solo on PWG Giant-Size Annual #4. We’ve also got a new Cool Kid, with the debut of new movie reviewer Daniel J. Hoag, so check him out as well. Great new stuff every weekday at The Cool Kids’ Table Dot Net. Viva la renegade website!

Brewers took a step back this week, but I’m leading the 411 Staff Fantasy Baseball league, so I’m willing to overlook it. I’m still concerned that the commissioner is going to make me take a ‘steroid suspension’ or something, but I’m sure we’ll work something out…

203 to 6. Get Started. The Cool Kids’ Table Dot Net. Ole!

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