The Wrestling Bard 09.06.09: ROH's Dynamic Duo

Posted by Aaron Hubbard on 09.06.2009

My feelings on McGuinness and Danielson becoming WWE's newest members.

Let's take a trip down my memory lane, into my pensieve, or whatever method of time travel you prefer:

It is September 2007, and I am seventeen years old. Despite being a lifelong fan of pro wrestling, I am currently disenchanted with it. It is a mere three months after the Benoit Family Tragedy, and I haven't fully recovered from the shock yet. It doesn't help that fifteen wrestlers have been suspended due to being named as customers for a pharmacy that distributes steroids. Even without this going on, the state of wrestling is depressing. WWE's PPV for the month, Unforgiven, is headlined by Undertaker vs. Mark Henry. TNA has Kurt Angle holding all of it's titles and defending all three of them at No Surrender. His challengers for the tag titles? Ron Killings and Pacman Jones. I am desperate for something new, something exciting, and something that can make me forget about how crappy wrestling has been this month.

So I look around 411mania to see if there's anything that peaks my interest. I read a review for "ROH Driven", the second pay-per-view event by Ring of Honor Wrestling. I hear almost universal praise (at least from those who actually saw the show. Larry Csonka gives the show a near perfect score, and says that ROH PPV's are the best bang for your buck. Given that they only cost fifteen dollars, the hype for the show was amazing. I had read reviews about "the little indy that could", and I had been immensely intrigued by the descriptions of Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness. These two men were supposed to be amazing technical wrestlers, and on was called "The Best Wrestler in the World". I had been reluctant to buy DVDs, but here was a PPV that only cost fifteen dollars. So I caught a replay.

And I saw Nigel and Bryan put on one of the finest matches I've ever seen. They showed true mastery of all elements of wrestling. There was chain wrestling and wild brawling. Valiant fighting spirit and dastardly cheating. Powerbombs and dives to the floor. Classic wrestling moves and MMA-inspired matwork. All of these elements were executed at an astounding level, and progressed naturally so that each segment of the match flowed into the next. The crowd showered it with praise, chanting "This is wrestling!" and "Thank you both!" The match was voted as match of the year by many respected sources.

Fast forward to the present. It is now September of 2009. August brought news that Bryan Danielson had signed with WWE, and September has brought news that Nigel McGuinness has followed suit. These signings have created a mixture of emotions for me. I think the different parts of me can pretty much sum up what most fans of both men are feeling.

On one hand, I couldn't be happier for both guys. These are two GREAT wrestlers who have worked their asses off for the last ten years. They have earned everything that has come their way, and have risen to the top of the independent wrestling scene. They deserve a chance to ply their craft in front of a worldwide audience, a chance to have a legacy that will be remembered by ALL wrestling fans and not the lucky few who have followed them since their early days. And they deserve the financial security that WWE can bring them, if they are responsible. They have done something that many of us only dream of, and it's hard not to admire them for achieving this goal.

On the other hand, I'm pissed. Not at their decision to leave ROH, but pissed that two amazing wrestlers, who have worked a very different style from WWE, will most likely be heavily changed, in gimmick and in style, so they can be marketable to the masses. Taking these two wrestlers and limiting their abilities or their opportunities to show off those abilities is criminal. It would be like smearing red zigzags across the Mona Lisa. Sure, there are bits of the wonderful artwork, but it's distorted, ruined. And neither Danielson nor McGuinness deserve that.

My third strong emotion is a kind of spiteful hope. As with all fans of wrestling other than WWE, I have to put up with a bunch of assholes calling my favorite wrestlers "Indy nobodies" and "spot-monkeys that can't work" and "McDonald's workers". Because, you know, people that post on a wrestling website are important people that never worked at a fast food place. These guys have the BALLS to do something most of never even attempt, and they've worked their asses off to get to where they are. And because of their hard work, the company that they work for is the third largest in America, had a PPV deal and now has a TV deal. People mock and say that being on HDNet means nothing, but most of us won't end up on TV outside of the local news. Even if ROH only gets .1 on the Nielson ratings, it's more people than will ever see most of us. So I feel some validation, a vindication, that these two great wrestlers were signed by WWE. I'm thrilled that they have a chance to shut all the people who've doubted them up, to prove them wrong.

And then, there is doubt. Doubt that they will be Colt Cabanas, and not CM Punks, or even Evan Bournes. I worry that they will be jobbers on ECW, that they will amount to nothing, and they will back to main eventing ROH shows by 2011. And that would just give these losers more ammunition, more "I told you so". I would like to think that this won't happen, but it COULD happen and the thought scares me.

Where ROH goes from here, I don't know. Can they handle two top stars, two LEGENDS of the company leaving? What if more follow suit? Are we really seeing the last days of Ring of Honor? Perhaps even scarier, could that be the best thing for ROH? Would it be prudent to sell the company to WWE? WWE could create a "Rise and Fall of ROH", that told the story of a company that focused on a counter-culture (the "smart" fans who were disenchanted with WWE, or merely wanted something different) and made one hell of a go of it. Maybe that's the best way of ensuring that that company has the lasting legacy that it deserves, to make certain that it will be seen by many people that should have paid attention when it existed?

Personally, I know that a lot of the appeal of going to an ROH show is gone for me. I wanted to see Danielson live, and to see McGuinness live. Now, if it happens, it will be in a large arena, and not the intimate confines of a small building filled with passionate fans who appreciate everything about them. And while there is no shortage of exceptional talent in ROH, I can't think of any that's worth the plane ticket out of Kansas to see. I find that depressing.

But mostly, the emotion I feel is excitement. It is a very real possibility that Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness could main event an ECW show in the near future, wrestling for twenty minutes in front of 20,000 fans, and millions watching at home. I am excited that these two great wrestlers will get to show people why they have been raved about for years. And should it happen, I know that I'll be smiling, and marking out. I am eagerly anticipating seeing these two on a WWE screen, entertaining the WWE universe, and being on WWE PPVs, having their matches raved about by the same WWE fans who said they were indy nobodies that would never make it. I can't wait for that.

I don't feel abandoned or betrayed by these two, and I won't abandon or betray them now that they are going in a new direction. One of the joys of being an ROH fan was talking to anyone who would listen, and telling them to watch ROH, to see Danielson and McGuinness. My best friend in the world will never watch wrestling, but he has watched a handful of matches with me. And his favorite is McGuinness vs. Danielson, from Driven. I look forward to telling him that both men will be going to WWE, where they belong.

I have always wondered how it felt to be an ECW fan, hearing that Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Eddie Guerrero were going to WCW. To feel the fear, the excitement, the doubt, and the hope. Now, I think I know exactly how it feels. And hope is the emotion burning brightest.

Thank you Nigel McGuinness. Thank you Bryan Danielson. I wish you the very best of luck in WWE, and I will be watching faithfully, just as I have the last two years, when I was one of the lucky few who knew how great you were. God bless both of you.




*****
I find that great wrestling always seems to make these times better. So here's the sequel to last week's epic tag team match. And trust me, it's even BETTER.