wrestling / TV Reports
Cook’s ROH TV Review 2.11.22
Image Credit: ROH
Loading...Hey kids! This week’s ROH Hall of Fame induction involves one of my personal favorite wrestlers of all time, Bryan Danielson. I’ve said before on this website that Ric Flair might be the greatest wrestler of all time, but I’ve also said that Bryan Danielson might be the greatest wrestler I’ve seen almost from the start. I watched him develop in ROH & work his way to the top of WWE. He’s as good now as he’s ever been, and his time in ROH has certainly served him well.
Cook’s ROH TV Review 2.11.22
Wrestling freedom is something that Bryan Danielson has fought for his whole life, and he found it in Ring of Honor. His fighting spirit eventually led him to the ROH World Championship and countless classic matches that solidified him as the Best in the World. Perhaps his greatest opponent was Nigel McGuinness, who took him into the deep waters on many occasions, especially in their match at Unified in 2006. Since his time in ROH, Danielson has gone on to compete in WWE & AEW, where he continues to inspire people inside & outside the ring. Much has changed for Bryan over the years, but his desire to chase wrestling freedom endures.
ROH Glory By Honor V: ROH World Championship Match: Bryan Danielson (c) vs. KENTA: The Manhattan Center hosted this event on September 16, 2006. 1,200 fans in attendance, and an absolutely stacked card. As I recall, Danielson had busted up his shoulder in a recent match and was seen as very vulnerable to a potential title change. Most ROH fans figured the title would go to a Pro Wrestling NOAH competitor at some point, and they weren’t wrong since Takeshi Morishima ended up winning it in 2007. Dave Prazak & Jared David were on the call. Prazak was a staple of ROH for awhile and an indy wrestling Hall of Famer in his own right for his work running SHIMMER and boosting the careers of Midwest folks like CM Punk, Colt Cabana, Chris Hero and too many others to mention here. David is also known as Mister Saint Laurent, and has done many things in the business.
Jared immediately reminds me of Bryan’s injuries, suffered during a recent match with that stiff bruiser Colt Cabana. No wonder Bryan knocked out one of his teeth in 2021. Tieup, KENTA goes for one of those lethal kicks of his but Bryan evades. KENTA slaps on the second tieup break. Bryan slaps himself in response, then wins the next tieup into the ropes and has a light slap for KENTA. Danielson takes KENTA into the corner with an armbar, then knees him in the gut on the break. KENTA kicks that injured shoulder and Bryan bails outside. Some profanity from the NYC crowd. Bryan gets back in the ring and we’re back to the tieup. Kick from KENTA leads to some slaps & a headbutt from Bryan, then a knee. Snap mare & the Spinal Tap by both competitors. Bryan favoring that shoulder heavily, with his right arm dangling to his side. He grabs a headlock with his left arm, takes KENTA down. Headscissors by KENTA. Bryan wiggles out and takes control on the mat, locking in a modified STF. Back into a chinlock. KENTA makes the ropes, and Bryan knows he has until 5. KENTA with a couple of kicks, and he works Bryan’s right arm. Danielson hits a dropkick sending KENTA to the floor as we go to commercial.
We return with both men feeling the effects of various moves in the ring. KENTA hits a running kick, then lands some standing kicks to Bryan. Springboard dropkick gets two. Butterfly suplex gets 2, then KENTA works into a cross armbreaker. Bryan reaches the ropes. Bryan with the trademark backflip off the top, then the rolling half crab on KENTA! He’d beat Lance Storm back in April and adopted one of Lance’s main moves as his own. KENTA reaches the ropes then hits the enziguri. KENTA goes for the G2S, but Bryan evades it and forearms KENTA into the corner. Bryan does the throat slash taunt that was more acceptable in 2006. He puts KENTA up top and goes for the superplex. Pauses. Hits it. Cover gets two, and Bryan locks in the crossface chickenwing. No, he didn’t beat Bob Backlund. KENTA reaches the ropes. Bryan slams KENTA, then heads up top for the diving headbutt. He meets KENTA’s feet on the way down. KENTA springboards into a dropkick from Danielson. Strike exchange! KENTA with big boots, Bryan with headbutts, then a German. KENTA with a suplex, Bryan with an elbow, KENTA with a clothesline and they’re down as we go to commercial.
We’re back, Bryan has nipped up and he’s delivering a forearm to KENTA. No, it’s reversed into the Fujiwara armbar. Bryan reaches the ropes. Bryan flips out of a back suplex, but jumps into an Ace Crusher and winds up back in that Fujiwara armbar. Bryan teases the tap, but makes it to the ropes. Bryan evades some strikes and hits a Regalplex for a 2.88. Bryan sheds the tape on his shoulder and places KENTA up top for the back superplex. Hits it for the two count, but locks in the Cattle Mutilation! KENTA finds the ropes. Suplex by Danielson, and he goes back up top. Nah, KENTA meets him up there. Bryan knocks him off, but jumps onto KENTA’s shoulders! Go 2 Sleep! Bryan’s foot gets on the ropes at 2.97! Nobody else has survived that here in 2006! Knees to the back by KENTA. KENTA goes for the Bushiaku knee, but Bryan evades and goes into an O’Connor Roll. 2.67! Big boot from KENTA. KENTA goes for the Go 2 sleep, Bryan gets 2 with a crucifix. Repeated elbows by Danielson! KENTA gets up, but Bryan goes for the Cattle Mutilation, but KENTA rolls through for the 2! Bryan’s still got the arms, hits a tiger suplex! 2.85. Cattle Mutilation! Danielson goes back to the elbows for a second, then goes back to the Cattle Mutilation. KENTA has nowhere to go and taps out!
Winner: Bryan Danielson (33:01 via submission, somewhere below 22:00 shown here)
Match Rating: ****1/2
I’m darn sure that rating would certainly be higher if I saw the match in full. I’ve got the DVD in a shoebox somewhere. That rating would also be higher if I was in the habit of giving matches seven snowflakes. Things to take into account.
We see Danielson win the ROH World Championship from James Gibson at Glory by Honor IV via crossface chickenwing. I was in attendance when Gibson won the title from CM Punk in Dayton, Ohio. At the time I would have preferred that Samoa Joe or Christopher Daniels won that 4-way instead, but things worked out for the best.
ROH Unified: ROH World & Pure Championship Unification Match: Bryan Danielson (c) vs. Nigel McGuinness (c): So this one was on August 12, 2006, before our previous match and the injuries Bryan had suffered against Colt Cabana. Bryan & Nigel had had two matches prior to this that didn’t result in a clear winner, leading to a proper unification match. It was ROH’s first trip to the United Kingdom, drawing 1,700 fans to the Olympia in Liverpool, England. Dave Prazak & Jared David were on the call for this one too.
Tieup. They work around the ring into a corner. Another tieup into the ropes. Bryan with a slap on the break. Bryan working the left arm. Nigel rolls out of it, drags Bryan over and lands a slap of his own. Bryan works Nigel’s arm, then Nigel works Bryan’s arm, then Bryan kicks his way out of it and the fans chant for Nigel. Nigel with the Spinal Tap. They go into the corner. Bryan wrings the left arm and stomps away. Bryan keeps working the arm and the fingers. with some of that small joint stuff that the smarks really get off on for some reason. Dropkick by Danielson as we go to commercial.
We return to Bryan working Nigel over in the corner. Butterfly suplex into a cross arm-breaker by Bryan. Nigel reaches the ropes, and apparently rope breaks count in this match. Nigel does the headstand in the corner and works Bryan into some strikes to take him down. Now Nigel works Bryan’s left arm. Running Euro uppercut in the corner gets two. Nigel works a modified cobra clutch on Danielson on the mat. Nigel misses the clothesline, Bryan doesn’t miss the kick. Bryan goes for the surfboard! Opts to stomp Nigel’s knees into the mat instead. A toilet paper roll goes through the ring, much respect to Jimmy Rave. Danielson hits the superplex off the top rope, then goes up top and hits the diving headbutt for two. Cattle Mutilation! Nigel uses that second rope break. We go to commercial.
Bryan goes up top and gets crotched. Tower of London by Nigel gets two, thanks to Bryan’s first rope break. Nigel uses Cattle Mutilation! Not the first time, he made Delirious tap to it in a previous match. Bryan uses his second rope break. He may regret using Nigel’s game. On the outside, Nigel gets introduced to the ringside table. Danielson uses it to choke Nigel on the floor as the referee keeps counting. Nigel barely makes it in before the 20 count. Strike exchange! Bryan with some forearms, but a clothesline from Nigel gets two. He would become too reliant on that strike for his own good. Headstand in the corner, Bryan dropkicks Nigel in the process, and a forearm gets two. Bryan locks in the crossface chicken wing. Nigel has to use that third & final rope break. Bryan hits a German suplex and heads up top. Diving headbutt meets a boot. Strike exchange! Brutal slaps from Bryan. Forearm in the corner. Nigel crotches Bryan on the top rope, hits the lariatoooo. Rope break #3 for Bryan. We go to a final commercial.
Looks like we missed the part in this match where Nigel got busted open via repeated headbutting of the ringpost, as he’s bleeding and yelling “COME ON” at Bryan in the ring. A disgusting spot that added to the match but obviously couldn’t be included here. They’re exchanging headbutts & Nigel is winning. Nigel on the apron with some headbutts, eventually they work into a rebound lariat. Cover gets two, then Bryan gets Nigel into Cattle Mutilation! He can’t get a rope break! He’s trying to reach the ropes, but it doesn’t matter! Nigel works out of it, gets a near-fall, and then Bryan does the repeated elbows! Todd Sinclair stops the match. The fans chant “That was Wrestling”.
<b<Winner: Bryan Danielson (26:24 via referee stoppage, a little below 20:00 shown here)
Match Rating: ****
It might have been higher…or it might have been lower if I saw that ringpost headbutt spot and got disgusted. 2006 me would have loved it, 2022 me not so much.
Next Week: Samoa Joe!
