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This set covers not just the singles matches for the title, but also several other tag and multi-way matches to cover literally every in-ring interaction between the two men. And I know that I just changed formats only a few reviews ago, but I think the way this feud played out warrants a return to the match-by-match format for one night only. I'd make a great writer for WWE since I can't stick to a decision for more than a week, wouldn't I?
Also, I'll take it a step further and say that you can break this feud down into four distinct chapters, and each one will get its own page.
Chapter 1: World Champion vs Pure Champion
ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson vs ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness: Weekend Of Champions, Night Two (4/29/2006 in Cleveland, Ohio)
The first ever Danielson-McGuinness match in ROH was pretty straightforward in concept: a singles match between the World and Pure Champions, with both titles on the line. Danielson had won the ROH World Title back in September of 2005, and had successfully defended the title against a who's who list of challengers that included Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, Christopher Daniels, Lance Storm, and Colt Cabana. Meanwhile, Nigel had won the Pure Wrestling Title about a month before Danielson's World Title win, and went on to have an equally dominant reign that saw him go through many of the same challengers that Danielson had been facing. The Pure Title had always been presented as roughly equal in stature to the ROH World Title but with a different set of rules to make it an alternate goal rather than a standard secondary title.
This match, the first ever Title vs Title match in company history, would be held under Pure Wrestling Rules, which predictably gave McGuinness the advantage. Since McGuinness had been wrestling under these rules for about eight months and this was Danielson's first time in this kind of match, Nigel knew how to use the rules to force Danielson to use up all his rope breaks fairly early on. Danielson managed to come back and run Nigel through all of his rope breaks, but made an ill-advised dive out of the ring, and Nigel whacked Danielson with a chair on the way down. Nigel got back in the ring and won the match via countout, causing the crowd to go nuts because they thought they had just seen a title change. However, the referee ruled that only the Pure Title could change hands by countout and not the World Title (since there were no countouts in ROH other than Pure Title matches), and therefore Danielson was still the World Champion. Danielson and McGuinness shared a tense staredown after the match, but Nigel had technically scored a win over the reigning World Champion and retreated to the locker room with his Pure Title intact.
McGuinness: 1, Danielson: 0
ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson vs ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness: Generation Now (7/29/2006 in Cleveland, Ohio)
Since Nigel had won their first match, he earned himself a rematch with Danielson where the World Title would be on the line, but not the Pure Title. This was very smartly booked because Nigel had become practically unstoppable under Pure Wrestling rules, to the point where he had used the rules to get his hand raised against the World Champion. However, this match was held under regulation rules and would take Nigel out of his element, and what we saw this time around was Danielson basically destroying Nigel for about a half an hour. Nigel had short flashes where he took control, but Danielson dominated nearly the entire match. They took turns cracking each other with hard headbutts toward the end and Nigel drove Danielson to the floor with a rebound lariat, but Danielson crawled under the ring and came out the other side, catching Nigel off guard with a small package to get the win and retain his title.
McGuinness: 1, Danielson: 1
ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson vs ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness: Unified (8/12/2006 in Liverpool, England)
After splitting the first two matches, this third bout was quickly signed just two weeks after the second, and this time we were guaranteed to see the match end with one man holding both titles. There would be no disqualifications, no countouts, and no time limit, and in fact when fans started looking for other ways ROH could get out of the match without a title change, the only thing they could come up with was a double pin, to which ROH immediately responded that if a double pin occurred, the match would be restarted until there was a decisive winner. The unification match also main evented ROH's first ever show in the United Kingdom and, appropriately enough, prominently featured ROH's highest profile British wrestler. Nigel McGuinness was back in his element, not only because the match was being held in his home country, but also because it was back under Pure Wrestling rules.
This time, Danielson came better prepared for the Pure Wrestling environment and actually ran McGuinness through his rope breaks first. McGuinness was totally overwhelmed and, despite mounting a couple of brief offenses, Danielson brutally smashed Nigel's head into the ringpost over and over again until Nigel was busted open and blood started pouring down his face. Nigel fought for his life and exchanged headbutts with Danielson in another brutal exchange, but in the end Danielson trapped Nigel's arms and rocked him with his trademark MMA elbowstrikes until the referee stopped the match and declared Danielson the new unified ROH World/Pure Champion. Danielson cut a promo after the match acknowledging it as his toughest title defense yet, and offered Nigel one last title shot in the future.
Danielson: 2, McGuinness: 1
ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness: Epic Encounter II (8/25/2006 in St Paul. Minnesota)
That rematch came two weeks later, and this time it would be decided in the best two out of three falls and would be Nigel's last title shot as long as Danielson was the champion. Danielson carried the Pure Wrestling Title belt to the ring with him even though it was no longer an active championship, and this match would obviously be contested under standard rules. Danielson spent most of the first 15 minutes working a side headlock to annoy fans who were chanting “boring†at him, but Nigel took Danielson to the floor and repeatedly rammed him into the barricades to get an advantage. They went back and forth until Danielson again pinned Nigel with a quick small package to go up one fall to none, and then he proceeded to literally toy with Nigel by repeatedly smacking him in the nose until it bled. Danielson shut Nigel right down whenever he tried to mount any offense, but eventually Nigel began to rally enough that Danielson tried his “crawling under the ring†trick again. This time, Nigel was ready for it and responded by killing Danielson with a rebound lariat and trapped him in a Kimura Lock to force Danielson to tap the second fall away.
Nigel McGuinness had finally managed to score a fall on Danielson, and the champion quickly regained the advantage, but Danielson tried a dive into the crowd on Nigel and ended up eating another chair on the way down. They made their way back inside and went back to exchanging headbutts, then tried using each other's finishers, then their own finishers, but neither man could put the other away. The clock kept ticking on the 60 minute time limit, and with just a few minutes remaining Nigel caught Danielson back in the Kimura Lock he won the first fall with, Danielson escaped that and tried to put Nigel away with the MMA elbows, and then Nigel escaped that and started hitting Danielson with MMA elbows of his own until the time ran out and the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
This match was a war, and Danielson was out cold afterward, taking a good five minutes before he started moving, and another two minutes and the assistance of Nigel to get back to his feet. Though this part was cut from the DVD, Danielson cut a promo after the match calling McGuinness his toughest opponent, and says that the Pure Title is retired but the belt belongs with the man who made it, and handed the belt back to Nigel. Very classy way to end the feud...for now.
Danielson: 2, McGuinness: 1, 1 Draw
Danielson and McGuinness didn't cross paths again for nearly a year after the Epic Encounter II match. Danielson had thoroughly dominated McGuinness up to this point, and had not only taken but retired Nigel's Pure Wrestling Title. However, this rivalry was very far from over, and we move on to the next stage in the Danielson-McGuinness feud on Page 2!
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