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 McGuiness 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 9
Nigel McGuinness vs Bryan Danielson
ROH World Championship
Best Of Three Falls
August 25, 2006
ROH Epic Encounter II
St. Paul Armory
St. Paul, Minnesota
This match would be the first contest back in the United States for both men after Ring Of Honor went to England earlier in the month. Somehow, it would not be the first time that Bryan Danielson — the future Daniel Bryan in WWE — would be defending the ROH World Title since defeating McGuinness as we saw last timeout. He defended the title the very next day after beating McGuinnes, and he actually did it twice on one show. He picked up a win in 10:08 over SUWA at a ROH event named Anarchy In The UK in Hoddesdon, and then later on in the night, Danielson defeated Roderick Strong in 20:08. Neither match was technically scheduled or advertised before hand, largely because Austin Aries picked up an injury at the Liverpool show and thus threw off the planned main event against the winner of the Danielson/McGuinness match. In any case, it’s also ROH’s first show since the trip to England, so it’s clear that Danielson was not joking about setting up another title match against McGuinness after how the last one went.
As things get started, Nigel makes it very clear that he’s approaching this match very differently, as he’s throwing closed fist strikes right out of the gate. That’s been pretty much not allowed in the past conflicts between these two men, as they were competing with Pure rules where closed fist shots to the head are prohibited. A slight note about the contest here, as announcer Dave Prazak notes that this will be McGuinness’ last opportunity to compete for the ROH World Championship as long as Bryan Danielson is the title holder. That’s a little bit different from “I think he deserves another shot after that tough match,” although Danielson hasn’t been shy about his ego as the best wrestler on the planet.
Anyway, I’ve been typing most of that last paragraph while Danielson works a side headlock and a cravat. The fans start giving him static about not doing all that much in the way of athletic activity in this match, and he makes sure the fans understand that he doesn’t care, first by telling them to eff off, then by regaining the headlock and making a big show about getting the headlock, and then driving McGuinness to the mat in the headlock and point blank loudly proclaiming “I’m not leaving this headlock for 60 minutes!”
This actually gets a round of applause from the crowd, and then a brief “holy sh-t” chant as McGuinness tries to counter out of the hold, but Danielson gets the headlock back and the crowd cheers again.
We’re going to be in for a long night of hijinks, I suspect.
Nigel gets an escape on the headlock, so Danielson recaptures control and gets a headscissors and works on McGuinness that way for a while. Nigel fights out, Danielson gets the headlock, take over, two count, brief escape, Danielson gets the headlock again.
This gets a WE WANT HEAD LOCKS chant.
Not everyone in the crowd is having fun with this, as there are people throwing double middle fingers at Danielson when he’s holding the headlock. He asks the crowd if they want another headlock, they cheer, he smiles, he throws them the bird, and kicks McGuinness in the spine….. and then gets the headlock again to a huge ovation.
Bryan tries to work in the crossface chicken wing, that allows Nigel to back him into the corner to break the hold, a backwards headbutt gets Nigel loose and holding an advantage, and now he’s going after Danielson’s arm. A hammerlock spinebuster, a Divorce Court, he follows Danielson outside, and while Dragon avoids getting yanked into the post the same way he did to Nigel in England, McGuinness does yank him in shoulder first to keep working over the arm. If Danielson is going to keep trying to make that headlock work, it’s smart for McGuinness to lessen his ability to keep the hold strong. In fact, Danielson keeps getting counters or reversals or escapes and goes straight to the headlock, but he can’t keep it on Nigel very long.
By the way: This section of the Best Of video starts at 3:01:25, and we’re past the 17 minute mark into it as Nigel parades Danielson around the outside and keeps hammerlock throwing him into the ringside barricades. This is a two out of three falls match, remember, and it seems we’re nowhere close to that first fall.
Lots of armwork on Danielson, but eventually he escapes thanks to a between the legs scamper, then a dropkick, then a tope suicida as McGuinness tries to take a break. Missile dropkick, suplex, diving headbutt……. and all of that was for just a two count pin attempt. Danielson gets a Lou Thesz press, and now he’s going after Nigel’s arm, using the hold he would eventually call the LeBell Lock in honor of Judo Gene LeBell.
McGuinness eventually finds his way out of things and he gains a bit of control with a quick turnaround lariat, and the headstand in the corner leads to a double boot to the face on the charging Danielson. Danielson gets his boot up as McGuinness charges into the corner, bleaaahh, small package! 1, 2, 3, and Bryan Danielson gets the first fall as the clock on the video reads 3:27:19. It hasn’t been the full 26 minutes from when the section started, but it was definitely most of it.
Bryan shouts that he’s the best wrestler in the world — if this were a standard match, Danielson would have retained on that pin — and there’s a 30 second respite break as referee Todd Sinclair keeps the two men separated for a bit. After he sets them going again, Danielson heads outside, and no joke: He appears to start going from fan to fan at ringside handing out headlocks for photo opportunities. See, Sinclair’s going to be forgiving about a countout here to the point where the announcers said that there isn’t a count on the outside for an ROH World title match, so it’s kind of in Danielson’s best interest to not be in the ring. Danielson’s headlock tour is cut short and McGuinness gives chase, and guess what happens back in the ring? Yep, Danielson gets the headlock again.
We’re roughly 30 minutes in with a 60 minute time limit looming in the distance as McGuinness has to find a way to beat Danielson twice in the time remaining if he wants to win the ROH World title. Danielson takes to straight up choking McGuinness in the corner, making Sinclair count to get him to release the hold, letting go at 4, smiling, then reapplying the choke. After a few of these, he proclaims “I HAVE UNTIL FIVE, SINCLAIR,” and then, for giggles, changes up and slaps Nigel in the face.
This makes Nigel furious, Danielson realizes his mistake and tries to beg off, and after a bit of offense from Nigel, the thing degrades into a slap fight, but Danielson breaks that up with a double slap to both sides to get a two count. Back to the headlock. Danielson transitions to a bow-and-arrow hold attempt, which he quits on as the fans get into it, stomps down on Nigel’s hamstrings, and gets the legendary Figure Four leglock.
Of course he grabs the ropes for leverage when Sinclair is distracted talking to McGuinness about submitting. Nigel eventually manages to roll it over and into the ropes, forcing Sinclair to tell Danielson to let go of the hold. This actually leads to Danielson giving Sinclair a shove when the ref reprimands him, and Sinclair shoves Danielson back, giving him a “don’t you dare disrespect me or Ring of Honor.” Danielson realizes he crossed a line, and with Nigel still recovering a bit, he starts to set him up for a superplex, but McGuinness comes to life and switches positions. Danielson’s up on Nigel’s shoulders, he gets both feet on the second rope, and a BIG Electric Chair drop…… gets two. Keylock wristlock behind Danielson’s back forces him towards the ropes for a break, and the champ goes outside to recover. He elects to pull the “crawl under the ring” stunt again, this time getting a missile dropkick to Nigel’s back, but McGuinness uses the momentum to score the seesaw lariat, then grabs Danielson’s arm for the keylock again and forces the champ to tap out with the clock on the video reading 3:40:46.
20-ish minutes to go to the time limit, all tied up at one fall each. Maybe a strategic tapout by Danielson, knowing it would only be a tie not a loss, and that he would have 20 minutes to still get the win. More importantly, Bryan knows he probably needs his arm to get that second fall, so giving up the fall quickly is a pretty solid plan.
For a moment, it seems like Danielson’s a bit more interested in trying to avoid any conflict with McGuinness — after all, the match is tied now — but he eventually starts working some holds. Nigel gets a reversal, and that perhaps doesn’t go so well for the champ. He works his way out, and asks Sinclair to yank on his shoulder to try to get it reorganized. It’s not like it’s out of socket if he’s asking Sinclair to yank on it, y’know? Nigel pounces in and grabs a Cattle Mutilation, but Danielson gets the ropes quickly. McGuinness tries some offense out of the handstand in the corner, but Danielson gets him with a flying headbutt while McGuinness is in the headstand and Dragon’s back in control of the match.
We’re past the 3:45:00 mark of the video.
Danielson gets a two count with a jawbreaker as a counter to Nigel trying to tie him up with a hold. 3:48 goes by, and Danielson works a leglock. More slapfights, a snot blow from Danielson, and McGuinness tries some European uppercuts. Danielson gets McGuinness on the far side of the ropes, and kicks him off the apron, and then uses a baseball slide to boot McGuinness into and over the ringside barricade. As the clock winds past 3:50, Danielson gets the springboard dive to the outside AND MCGUINNESS GETS THE CHAIR UP JUST LIKE IN THE FIRST MEETING.
But he needs to get this into the ring.
3:51, and he sets him up for the lariat as Danielson is crotched on the ropes. That gets two.
They trade headbutts, Danielson turns their knucklelocks into a straightjacket, and throws McGuinness into a German suplex with a bridging attempt. That gets two. TOWER OF LONDON ON MCGUINNESS…. that gets two. 3:53.
Dragon uses a snap suplex to set up the diving headbutt, but McGuinness gets a knee up and then quickly grabs Cattle Mutilation. Danielson gets the ropes, just ever so slightly. Nigel tries his own Tower of London, Bryan comes off the ropes to try to get Cattle Mutliation, Nigel powers through, hurks Danielson up and scores with the Tower of London!
Two count. 3:55:00 as Danielson dodges a flying lariat and gets Cattle Mutilation, McGuinness gets the ropes at 3:56:00. Whatever Nigel’s got left in the tank, it’s time to get it. He catches a leg on a kick, flips Danielson backwards, scores with a lariat, and grabs that key lock again, the same hold that got him the fall earlier, as ring announcer Bobby Cruise grabs the house mic to announce that there are five minutes remaining in the building on the official clock.
The slapfighting returns, both men are staggering, European uppercuts get traded, slaps start getting thrown again, but neither guy’s putting full steam behind them. A rolling elbow from Danielson sends McGuinness back into the seesaw lariat, he gets two, but pounces on Bryan to grab Cattle Mutilation. Bobby Cruise announces two minutes remaining.
Bryan gets out, McGuinness gets to his feet first, and gets the Tower of London again, that gets two, and Nigel grabs the key lock again, putting himself between Bryan and the ropes. McGuinness can’t hold on, and Danielson quickly switches into the hammer & anvil elbows, the same strikes that Danielson beat him with in England.
30 seconds left.
McGuinness explodes to life, switches things around, throws his OWN hammer & anvil elbows, Sinclair is right there, watching Danielson, trying to decide if this should be stopped…….
…….. and the bell rings.
The time limit has elapsed. This match has been ruled a draw, with one fall for each man. Nigel McGuinness can never again challenge Bryan Danielson for the World title.
I thought this was a good match, though the England unification contest was probably better? That might be bias on my part because I knew this one was going to a draw, since I had to spoil myself by reading Cage Match to set all of these posts up. Still though, lots of call backs to the previous matches between these guys, lots of drama, the comedy with the headlocks at the beginning was a fun way to spend time….. especially if you know the match is going 60 minutes like I did. Cage Match users give this one a rating of 8.36 out of 10.
NEXT TIME: We jump forward a couple of weeks to ROH’s Glory By Honor yearly event, where Nigel McGuinness challenges Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Naomichi Marufuji for the GHC Heavyweight title.