We’ve got a guy named Nigel joining Marquette men’s basketball this fall, so let’s celebrate with a tour through the best Nigel McGuinness matches from Ring of Honor.
I haven’t been particularly shy about the fact that I enjoy watching professional wrestling on this website. I don’t post about it much, but there’s a reference or two that drops in here and there. So, much like when Sandy Cohen and Dawson Garcia joined Marquette men’s basketball, the addition of Nigel James in the 2025 recruiting class tripped a wire in my brain. “Hey, Nigel! Just like former Ring Of Honor champion Nigel McGuinness!”
I had a very good idea for a silly summer series: Check out Nigel’s page on Cage Match, find the top rated ROH matches on ROH Honor Club, subscribe to Honor Club, watch them, write about them.
And then I found THIS:
Shouts to All Elite Wrestling, ROH’s current parent company, for posting a NEARLY TWELVE HOUR LONG compilation of what they’re calling The Best Of Nigel McGuinness. 25 Nigel matches, just sitting there for free on YouTube.
Yeah, I’m doing that.
We’ll go a match at a time, and they’re all in chronological order in the video, which is neat.
A CELEBRATION OF GUYS NAMED NIGEL: PART 13
Nigel McGuiness & Bryan Danielson vs Naomichi Marufuji & Takeshi Morishima
June 22, 2007
ROH United We Stand
Montgomery County Fairgrounds Coliseum
Dayton, Ohio
Last time out, we covered the #1 Contender’s match between Nigel McGuinness and Bryan Danielson, which was ultimately part of a ROH PPV had the rest of the show recorded one day after this tag match and didn’t air until three months later. This is confusing, and also I can’t exactly put together the backstory of why this match is happening as a result….. other than it’s four awesome wrestlers in a tag match together. It’s not even the main event of United We Stand, as that has The Briscoes defending the ROH Tag Team Titles against Claudio Castagnoli & Matt Sydal in a two out of three falls match.
Maybe we’ll get an explanation for what’s going on here as the broadcast goes along?
It’s Bryan Danielson and Naomichi Marufuji starting things off, and we get something of an explanation for this match, as it’s a Ring of Honor vs Pro Wrestling NOAH all-star collision kind of match, and Nigel & Bryan agreed to team because that allows both of them to get in the ring with Takeshi Morishima, the ROH World Champion. The opening of the match is Marufuji using his speed and athleticism against Danielson’s grounded grappling based approach, and after they fight to a stand still for a while, both men tag out to their partners.
Morishima starts out with a power advantage, frustrating McGuinness a little bit and leading Danielson to try to coach his teammate up from the corner. Not quite sure if that alleviated or added to McGuinness’ frustration levels. McGuinness gets an opening for some European uppercuts, and Morishima bulling him into the corner leads to Danielson tagging in. The two ROH guys team up to get Morishima into a leg hold even with the ROH champ’s leg on the rope, and Danielson puts one extra oomph into stretching Morishima before he has to let go before a count of five. That just pisses Morishima off as he starts running wild on Danielson and tags out to Marufuji to keep his team’s legs fresh.
Danielson’s grappling allows him to reverse things and get a tag to McGuinness, and a big strike battle goes in Nigel’s favor. He makes a tag back out to Danielson, who starts working Marufuji over on the mat, specifically his arm. Marufuji manages to get space to hit Danielson with a springboard dropkick that sends the Dragon out to the floor, and Morishima takes advantage of the situation to start brutalizing Danielson from barricade to barricade at ringside.
By rule, I’m not really sure if there’s much that referee Paul Turner can do about this, other than impeding Nigel from going over there to get himself involved in the situation and get his teammate out of trouble. Danielson gets thrown back inside, Marufuji gets a two count, and then tags out to Morishima who punishes Dragon with a variety of moves, making full use of his weight and power advantages. Tag to Marufuji, and he grabs a whacky neck crank crucifix thing, and the only thing that gets Danielson out of it is a low dropkick breakup from McGuinness, who then retreats back to the corner.
Tag to Morishima, who shows some of his surprising speed, and then tries to use a rear naked choke to end things. Turner checks on Danielson with the three arm drops, and after the first two fall, Danielson’s eyes flicker to life and he throws his hand on to the ropes on the third. Tag to Marufuji, and that exchange gives Danielson an opening for a flurry of offense. A backbreaker interrupts Marufuji long enough for Bryan to get to the corner to tag Nigel, and McGuinness is running hot after an extended time waiting in the corner.
He builds up to a Tower of London which Marufuji pushes his way out of, but his attempt to follow it with something off the top rope lets Nigel catch him with a superkick. McGuinness misses the Jawbreaker as Marufuji dodges, catches McGuinness with a move of his own, and that means time for a tag to Morishima. He’s flying furiously after McGuinness, but the ROH champ’s agility and power are too much for him. Danielson works in an assist with a missile dropkick, then scurries back to the corner so Nigel can tag him. A second missile dropkick keeps things in Danielson’s favor for a minute, but a quick hip attack lets Morishima tag to Marufuji and the NOAH guys hold the advantage for now.
Marufuji and Danielson are a bit more evenly matched right now, but Danielson can’t get an edge. He hits a rolling elbow as a counter that sends both men sprawling, and McGuinness sees Morishima starting to lurk for a sneak attack on Danielson. He bolts over and knocks him off the apron and the ROH team gets a double team in: First some charges into the corner, then a whip into McGuinness’ headstand kick straight into a German suplex by Dragon with a bridge….. for two, as Nigel plays defense in case Morishima tries to break it up.
Superkicks almost get Marufuji in charge, and he tries for a Shiranui onto Danielson, but McGuinness grabs him, and turns it into a Dragon-assisted Tower of London. Morishima rolls in to break it up, throws McGuinness out, and helps Marufuji with an assisted standing middle of the ring Shiranui….. but he can’t get a pin attempte. Turner starts counting and both men crawl for the corner and eventually get tags. That conflict goes in Morishima’s favor, and the NOAH guys start executing double teams with ruthless efficiency. Backdrop driver gets a two count on McGuinness that needed Danielson to break it up.
Marufuji ends up outside, McGuinness tries to go off the top rope, Morishima stops him, Danielson stops that, and eventually it turns into Nigel getting the crossbody onto Morishima instead. Nigel & Morishima are still the legal combatants in the ring, and they tangle outside, building to the roll-back-inside variant of the Jawbreaker lariat…. that only gets a two count back inside.
Nigel keeps after Morishima, and hooks a single leg Boston Crab. Obviously Marufuji tries to break this one up, but Danielson hurries in to play defense. Now both NOAH guys are in submission holds with Bryan hooking the Cattle Mutilation, but only the Nigel hold matters in legal terms of this match. Morishima eventually gets the ropes, and Danielson lets go of his hold at the same time to go help Nigel’s offensive attempts. This goes poorly as the champ reverses a double team suplex attempt into suplexing both of them. Morishima heads to the top rope with blood coming out of his nose, and it’s Danielson who notices first and climbs up there with him. Dragon gets clubbed down, straight into the Tree of Woe and OH MY GOD WHERE DID MARUFUJI COME FROM WITH THE VAN TERMINATOR.
Nigel darts over in the confusion, manages to get the Tower of London, but only gets a two count as Marufuji pops back in to break it up. Danielson comes in and throws Marufuji out, and then gets hurled into the barricade himself. McGuinness gets some strikes, but he’s not really affecting Morishima other than firing him up, a Marufuji superkick derails McGuinness, but only straight into a HUGE Jawbreaker! The crowd goes NUTS, and Paul Turner counts the 1-2-3. Team ROH gets the win by pinfall in 24:14.
That was a fun all-star showcase of wrestling even if it wasn’t a particularly important signpost on the overall direction of Nigel McGuinness’ career here. All four guys looked awesome at varying points of the match, and of course, OUR GUY Nigel got the win. Cage Match users give that one a rating of 8.55 out of 10.
NEXT TIME: Ring of Honor goes to Japan, and in the main event, Nigel McGuinness challenges Takeshi Morishima for the ROH World Title.