ROH Glory By Honor IV: Bryan Danielson vs. James Gibson
They open it up w/ some wonderful technical rasslin' -- it's pretty even throughout, but to use somewhat of a commentator cliche here, I'd say that if it was scored on points, Danielson would be in the lead. There's a true feeling of competition in everything they do, and I like the little playfulness in their exchanges; it demonstrates that feeling of competition & one-upmanship perfectly. I also like how, as the match progresses, things get meaner & meaner between the two; stomps, knees to the face, trashtalk, etc. One spot that I absolutely adore is when Danielson goes to drop an elbow on Gibson who is on the ground; Gibson ducks, so Danielson looks to go for another one, but as he is going for it, Gibson keeps on rolling away & starts to get up, so Danielson stops himself from doing that elbow drop & instead blasts an uppercut to Gibson, who was now standing. It's so brilliant in all of its simplicity. Gibson gets the first real work-over segment of the match, and he's really great punishing Bryan -- he nastily drops him rib-first on the guardrail, launches him into the corner w/ a lot of force behind it, busts out some excellently brutal looking backbreakers & neckbreakers. They swift the momentum to Bryan beautifully -- just a bit earlier, there was a moment where Gibson started striking Bryan, which essentially woke Bryan up to strike him back & almost win the exchange, so here Gibson makes that mistake again after getting a bit too cocky about his control; once again, as Bryan is on the corner, Gibson goes to strike him, but he took his time with it, which he pays for as Bryan strikes back & gets back into things. Now Bryan is pretty much in control, and oh man is he brilliant. His main focus goes to Gibson's arm, and he is superb going after it w/ all kinds of violent work over it. Goddamn I also love the bit where he goes to pin Gibson multiple times in a row, just to tire Gibson out some more. And of course the whole finishing stretch rules w/ Gibson escaping the Cattle Mutilation, only for Bryan to lock-in his new ultimate weapon of choice in the Chickenwing. Brilliant wrestling all the way through. It's the kind of a match where I find something new to love about it every time I watch it. ****1/2
ROH Better Than Our Best: Bryan Danielson vs. Lance Storm
This sure has some beautiful technical wrestling throughout. I like how Bryan tried to get into Lance's head by being mean w/ that slap early on, but to the champs surprise, Lance just shrugged it off & gave him one back. Bryan continues to be lil' nasty as the match goes on by using the lace of his boots to grind on the side of Lance's face, choking him, trashtalk n' slaps. It's very good stuff and it showcased Bryan's frustration very well, because he sure wasn't liking how Storm was hanging w/ him, and even showing him up in their exchanges. If I had to pick one singular moment to point out as my favorite from the match, I'd probably go with the Surfboard bit. Loved how much fight & struggle Lance brought into it, as he never stopped trying to fight out of that thing. It's a real good, borderline great match overall. ***3/4
ROH Unified: Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness
One of my favorite matches of all-time. Everybody who knows about this match knows about the last 5-6 minutes w/ Nigel getting busted open hard way as Bryan pulls him repeatedly into the post. It's one of the most brutal things I have ever seen, and knowing everything that happened to the two years after the match, it's extremely uncomfortable as well. I don't want to call it stupid (even if it is), because ultimately, it was their choice to do it, and they're the artists painting that picture, you know. And it sure created for some unforgettable art, to say the least, as those last 6-minutes or so are indeed some of the most magical I've witnessed in a wrestling ring w/ Nigel rising like a zombie after beating the refs count, roaring & shaking like a maniac while the crowd goes crazy. The actual finish w/ Bryan absolutely destroying him with those elbow strikes is one of the most legendary scenes in ROH history too, and for a good reason; it's an amazing visual, and I think an underrated part of it is the ref having to come in & stop Bryan from continuing with them elbows -- it's not the usual heel like stuff w/ him just being a dick to continue beating his opponent after the bell, but it felt like he had to dug so deep to finish this English madman that he was just doing anything & everything to put him away, and he was so focused on that. It's a very powerful ending imo, and very fitting for one of the greatest matches of all-time. Even before the ringpost-spot, everything is extremely compelling all the way through w/ them playing up to the Pure rules amazingly & busting out callbacks to their previous 2 meetings. It all excellently builds to that bloody, brutal climax. *****
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