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ROH BRYAN DANIELSON - THE AMERICAN DRAGON DVD REVIEW: A COLLECTION CONTAINING SEVERAL OF DANIELSON'S GREATEST ROH MATCHES, INCLUDING THE EPIC ENCOUNTER AGAINST PAUL LONDON, THE 75 MINUTE MATCH WITH AUSTIN ARIES, HIS WORLD TITLE WIN OVER JAMES GIBSON, AND MUCH MORE

Disc 2 kicks off with Danielson's first ever shot at the ROH World Title, challenging Samoa Joe at Midnight Express Reunion in October of 2004. Danielson and Joe had split a pair of matches in early 2003, but Danielson left ROH shortly afterward and this is their first meeting in a year and a half. I remember this being a really good match from the first time I watched it years ago, but the thing that I didn't recall was how Danielson controlled probably 90% of this match, not only outwrestling Joe, but outfighting him for most of the match as well. At one point Danielson took Joe out to the floor and hammered him with running dropkick versions of Joe's Ole kick, then came back inside and pummeled him with European uppercuts. Joe was already 19 months into his title reign at this point, so it was absolutely believable that he could drop the title to Danielson, especially when he got Joe in Cattle Mutilation and then rolled that through into the double armbar he pinned Aries with. Joe finally got a flurry of offense in at the end and connected with a series of kneestrikes to the face before rolling him into the rear naked choke for the tapout win. Danielson came out looking like a million bucks given that Joe had seemed unbeatable for so long, and this was the first time in a long time that he truly appeared to be in jeopardy of losing the title.

The next two matches were from the Weekend of Thunder, when Japanese junior heavyweight legend Jushin "Thunder" Liger came to ROH to face Danielson twice over the course of two evenings. The first was a Liger-Danielson singles match, and they played up that Danielson had been successful in Japan and had been the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, but had never beaten Liger. Danielson tried to get into Liger's head, taking cheapshots and at one point trying to take his mask off in an attempt to get under his skin and cause him to make a mistake. The strategy didn't work, and even though Danielson kicked out of the Liger Bomb, Liger quickly followed up with a super brainbuster for the win. This leads us into the second night, as Liger and Samoa Joe took on Danielson and Low Ki, a man who had a lot of history with both Danielson and Joe in ROH. The loss to Liger on the first night really seemed to affect Danielson, as his obsession with beating Liger caused him to resort to decidedly heel tactics, including illegal double teaming behind the referee's back such as the classic "put your opponent in an abdominal stretch and grab your partner's hand for leverage" spot we've seen in all the best southern territories. It was all for naught as, after Danielson accidentally knocked Ki out with a mistimed roaring elbow, Liger gave Danielson the Liger Bomb to pin him for the second time in two nights.

We now flash forward about six months to May of 2005 for the blowoff of what had become a very heated feud between Danielson and Homicide, which began over a year earlier when Homicide used a low blow to beat Danielson over Reborn weekend. Danielson was only making sporadic appearances in ROH at the time, but returned to ROH full time later in 2004 and wound up embroiled in a best of five series with Homicide that culminated in a cage match at The Final Showdown. I hate to say it because I have the utmost respect for both guys as workers, but I wasn't a fan of the Danielson-Homicide matches because I felt like they had no chemistry and I felt like they were capable of so much more than what they did together. This particular Danielson-Homicide match was literally the only one that I thought was good, so of course it had to be the match where they threw the wrestling out and just brawled in a cage. Homicide brought the ghetto fork in with him and went after Danielson with it, but even with a shot at the ROH World Title on the line, this would not be Homicide's night. Danielson came off the top of the cage with a flying headbutt, then gave Homicide what may have been the longest airplane spin in recorded history for the win.

Danielson got his title shot the next evening in a losing effort to Austin Aries (which was not shown on this DVD), and the loss demoralized him so much that he left ROH with no word on when, or even if, he would be back. While he was gone, Aries dropped the title to CM Punk, who then in turn lost to James Gibson before departing ROH to go on to fame and fortune in WWE. Only thing was that Gibson had also signed with WWE and needed to drop the title on the way out, so in September of 2005 at Glory By Honor IV, Danielson returned to ROH for one last shot at the title in the next match on the DVD. Everyone knew Gibson was leaving, and nobody had any doubt who was walking out with the title here. It's too bad, because I think this was one of the best ROH matches of 2005 and seems to get overlooked in the history books except for the fact that the title changed hands. Danielson used the crossface chickenwing for the first time in ROH to tap Gibson out and win the ROH World Title, beginning a legendary reign that would cement his place in history as one of the all-time greats in ROH. This was a great match, and I have to give Gibson credit for working much harder than he really needed to since he already had his WWE deal. They also showed Danielson's entire postmatch speech, as he asks the Long Island fans to give Gibson a round of applause for sticking around and defending the ROH World Title, then says that as long as he's champion, he's not going to WWE or TNA because the title represents wrestling freedom.

Danielson defended the title against Christopher Daniels when ROH returned to Long Island, after Daniels earned the title shot earlier in the evening by winning a three way match against AJ Styles and Matt Sydal. This was only their second singles meeting in ROH, with the first taking place on the second ROH show as part of the Round Robin Challenge. Daniels won that match, so now Danielson is hoping to not only retain the title, but avenge that loss while he's at it. The happy, sportsmanlike Danielson who had won the title only two months earlier had disappeared very quickly, and was replaced by a cocky jerk who enjoyed physically torturing his opponents simply because he was good enough to. Danielson sadistically tied Daniels in the ropes and gouged at his face to reopen a cut he suffered against Samoa Joe in TNA, then grated his forearm across Daniels' head to further agitate the wound. Danielson also started to show an enjoyment for openly not giving the fans what they want, such as one moment when he got Daniels up in a fireman's carry and the fans chanted for an airplane spin, so he flipped them off, hit a Finlay roll, and kicked at Allison Danger instead. Daniels got the champion in a Koji Clutch, but Danielson escaped and got Daniels in Cattle Mutilation, then Daniels escaped that and hit the BME for 2. Danielson got a Dragon Suplex for 2, went back to Cattle Mutilation, then tried to get the crossface chickenwing, but Daniels blocked that, so Danielson knocked him out with a roaring elbow and got the win.

We close the DVD set with Danielson defending the ROH World Title against Naomichi Marufuji at Final Battle 2005, the first of what would turn out to be many appearances by Marufuji in ROH over the next several years. I think the world of Marufuji, I regard him as the best out of the group of NOAH wrestlers who made regular appearances in ROH a few years ago, and he's a solid technician with unbelievable timing, and always seemed to pull out something new in every match I saw him in. If he had ever been around for a full time run in ROH, I would have welcomed the idea of him winning the title with open arms. That never happened, but he at least got a shot here against Danielson, and made a great impression the first time out. Much like he did against Daniels, Danielson tried to psych Marufuji out early on by slapping him in the face off a handshake and turned it into an exchange of forearms and chops to try and prevent Marufuji from using his speed and array of kicks. After taking Marufuji outside the ring for a brawl on the floor, they come back inside and Danielson continues smacking Marufuji around before locking him in a figure four to try and take away Marufuji's mobility. He didn't succeed, as Marufuji escaped and began mounting a comeback, dropkicking Danielson out of midair and suplexing him over the top rope and to the floor. Marufuji hung Danielson in the Tree of Woe and connected with a baseball slide to the face, followed by a coast to coast dropkick. Danielson blocked Sliced Bread #2 and nailed Marufuji with a roaring forearm and a German suplex, then went right into Cattle Mutilation. Marufuji got out, so Danielson put him up top and hit a belly to back superplex, then went right back to Cattle Mutilation. Marufuji still wouldn't tap, and he managed to get out of Danielson's grasp and hit Sliced Bread #2 out of nowhere. Unfortunately, Marufuji was too tired to follow up right away, and Danielson had collected himself by the time Marufuji got to his feet. They went back and forth in a series of pinfall reversals, and Danielson wound up on top for 3 to retain.

The DVD closes with a really nice video package looking at the early years of Danielson in ROH, including clips of many of the big matches that didn't make it onto this set, leading into Danielson failing to beat Austin Aries for the ROH World Title and quitting afterward. It then continues to clips from the match where he returned to beat James Gibson for the title and his postmatch speech and celebration. I thought this was a great video, and a classy way to wrap up the story of this portion of his career.

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There is a ton of great stuff in this set, and it not only features several top notch matches, but it's a great way for fans who discovered ROH later on to understand what made Danielson special during the early years of the company. Speaking of which, this set cuts off at the end of 2005, so you still have nearly another four years of material to use for Bryan Danielson Volume 2, and probably even a Volume 3. For people who have only seen him in WWE and don't know what the big deal is, buy this set and it will explain everything. Big thumbs up for this one, and you can find out how to order it by going to the ROH website here.

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