On August 25, 2024, after practically 13 years away from energetic competitors, Nigel McGuinness returned to the ring throughout ALL IN: LONDON 2024’s On line casino Gauntlet Match, all in hopes of incomes an AEW World Championship match, and within the case of McGuinness, hoping it additionally got here with “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson defeating Swerve Strickland to say the AEW World Title, thereby establishing a match a big of group followers had been hoping may come to fruition ever since Nigel first arrived underneath the AEW umbrella at ROH’s SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2023 and much more so when he was tabbed to be one of many announcers for COLLISION upon its debut in June 2023.
Provided that it had been 4,634 days since Nigel had his final skilled wrestling match inside a Volunteer Fireplace Division situated in Clarksburg, WV, there may be a complete technology of followers who might solely know Nigel McGuinness by his voice moderately than from the wonderful physique of labor he produced all over the world from September 1999 till December 17, 2011. There are these unaware of his expertise watching wrestling inside Wembley Stadium on August 29, 1992 and the way it impressed him to chase that dream in his personal life. There are these oblivious to Nigel’s journey from England to Ohio the place he educated at Heartland Wrestling Affiliation underneath the watchful eye of Les Thatcher, the identical man who helped break Jon Moxley into wrestling a number of years later. There are those that aren’t conscious that Nigel broke in again in 1999 sharing the ring with AEW opponents like The Blade, in addition to opponents contemporary off tv like Mark Jindrak, Jason Jett, Shannon Moore, and others on that observe such because the late Lance Cade, the late Matty Anoai (aka Rosey), and Charlie Haas.
However that wasn’t all Nigel did; he returned to England the place he toured with Brian Dixon’s All-Star Wrestling, excursions that gave him expertise with males like Doug Williams, Jonny Storm, and Ricky Knight (Saraya’s father). Upon returning to the States, Nigel branched out past the rings of HWA and first encountered the likes of Chris Hero, Colt Cabana, Jimmy Jacobs, and received the eye of the promotion that modified the observe of his skilled wrestling profession: Ring of Honor.
Debuting at WRATH OF THE RACKET on 8/9/03, an occasion going down on the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Dayton, OH that HWA primarily known as house, Nigel impressed sufficient that he was dropped at New Jersey a number of months later for MAIN EVENT SPECTACLES, and invited again for BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN in Wilmington, OH that January. Starting with AT OUR BEST in March 2004, an occasion during which he took on Jerry Lynn, Nigel turned an everyday presence on Ring of Honor occasions across the nation, shortly turning into a part of the Pure Title combine in late-summer 2004, and having his first assembly with “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson as a part of a trios bout at TRIOS TOURNAMENT 2005. Who may’ve suspected that inauspicious bout would mark the primary assembly of these two ROH icons, and that the rivalry that blossomed within the following yr would show to be one of the definitive in ROH’s historical past?
Earlier than they lastly discovered each other as rivals, the trail of Bryan and Nigel took very completely different routes. Danielson walked away from ROH for a number of months through the Summer season of 2005 after failing to win the ROH World Championship, in the meantime Nigel engaged in a really heated rivalry with Colt Cabana that culminated in an unforgettable Soccer Riot Match at NIGHT OF THE GRUDGES II, and only one week later, at DRAGON GATE INVASION, Nigel would take the ROH Pure Title from Samoa Joe. At GLORY BY HONOR IV just some weeks later, Bryan Danielson would return to wrest the ROH World Championship from James Gibson on the identical night time Nigel would defeat Roderick Robust in a match for his championship, and over the course of the following a number of months, every man would solidify their place as one of the best at what they did.
The distinctive nature of the Pure Title guidelines allowed Nigel to search out inventive methods to defeat Christopher Daniels, Jay Deadly, and Claudio Castagnoli, simply to call just a few, whereas Danielson was proving himself the higher of challengers like Daniels, Lance Storm, Roderick, Naomichi Marufuji, and Chris Hero, for just a few examples. Then got here April 29, 2006 and WEEKEND OF CHAMPIONS: NIGHT 2, that night time on the Gray’s Armory in Cleveland, World Champion confronted Pure Champion in a Title vs. Title match with the Pure Guidelines in impact. What came about that night time was magic, a virtually 30-minute battle between two {of professional} wrestling’s most interesting technicians, that finally got here right down to Bryan trying a springboard dive into the group, McGuinness greeting him with a chair whereas in-flight, and Bryan being unable to get again to the ring earlier than the 20-count. Below the Pure Title guidelines, that title may change fingers on a countout or disqualification however solely that championship, which means whereas Nigel received the bout, he solely retained his Pure Title.
Three months handed earlier than the 2 met contained in the squared circle once more, this time at GENERATION NOW solely the ROH World Championship was at stake regardless of Nigel nonetheless sustaining his grip on the Pure Title between their two clashes. Identical to the primary assembly in April, this July ’06 contest was red-hot and confirmed as soon as once more that McGuinness was greater than able to hanging within the ring with Danielson, a wrestler even in 2006 individuals already thought of among the finest to ever do it. In actual fact, Bryan solely escaped that match with the World Title by utilizing a little bit of trickery, hiding underneath the ring solely to come out the opposite facet and roll up Nigel right into a Small Bundle pin after 25 minutes of preventing. That was the second Danielson arrogantly dubbed himself “Mr. Small Bundle” to rub it in Nigel’s face, however their document stood at 1-1 as ROH was on the verge of working their first occasions in England, an occasion dubbed UNIFIED slated to function a Unification Match between these two champions.
Undoubtedly essentially the most well-known, or maybe notorious, of their battles inside a ROH ring, this August twelfth bout between Danielson and McGuinness took all the pieces they’d accomplished within the earlier two contests, and amplified the aggression a hundredfold. Maybe it was as a result of Nigel preventing in his house nation, and the power the followers dropped at the battle, nevertheless it actually appeared like McGuinness dethroning Danielson that night time was inevitable. The extent of violence on this battle is troublesome to observe, the sound of Nigel’s head cracking towards the ring submit isn’t for the squeamish, and the blood oozing throughout his cranium from the impression hampers him the remainder of the bout. As Bryan and Nigel crash their heads collectively like two bighorn sheep preventing for dominance, it is arduous to not marvel simply what it’s going to take to make both of those males relent this battle. Finally it’s Nigel who succumbs to the ache and punishment, or moderately it’s the referee who makes that selection for McGuinness as he is unable to reply to Bryan’s onslaught of elbows. That night time the Pure Championship that Nigel McGuinness had actually made by his arduous work as champion was retired, unified with the World Title, and it will stay as such till September 11, 2020 when the match to crown a brand new Pure Champion started.
That will have marked the top of the Pure Title, nevertheless it wasn’t the top of the Danielson/McGuinness story. In actual fact simply two weeks after their UNIFIED epic, the 2 would meet in a 2/3 Falls bout at EPIC ENCOUNTER II, a match that noticed Danielson survive as champion with a 1-1 draw after 60 minutes. After their match, in an indication of respect, Bryan returned the Pure Title to Nigel in recognition of all he achieved carrying that title for 350 days and it felt like a a second of closure on their rivalry. Positive they shared the ring three extra occasions earlier than the shut of 2006, however no one-on-one matches, it appeared as if that chapter in every man’s life was closed, however the brand new yr introduced a brand new side to their rivalry when each males have been within the hunt for the ROH World Championship…
Simply added to the BEST OF ROH Part, the “Danielson vs. McGuinness” compilation highlighting their epic rivalry throughout the panorama of Ring of Honor. This is without doubt one of the most definitive assortment of history-making matches Ring of Honor ever created, and it’s now accessible right here for Honor Membership subscribers!
