On August 25, 2024, after nearly thirteen years away from active competition, Nigel McGuinness returned to the ring during ALL IN: LONDON 2024's Casino Gauntlet Match, all in hopes of earning an AEW World Championship match, and in the case of McGuinness, hoping it also came with “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson defeating Swerve Strickland to claim the AEW World Title, thereby setting up a match a large of group fans had been hoping might come to fruition ever since Nigel first arrived under the AEW umbrella at ROH's SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2023 and even more so when he was tabbed to be one of the announcers for COLLISION upon its debut in June 2023.
Given that it had been 4,634 days since Nigel had his last professional wrestling match inside a Volunteer Fire Department located in Clarksburg, WV, there is an entire generation of fans who may only know Nigel McGuinness by his voice rather than from the amazing body of work he produced around the world from September 1999 until December 17, 2011. There are those unaware of his experience watching wrestling inside Wembley Stadium on August 29, 1992 and how it inspired him to chase that dream in his own life. There are those oblivious to Nigel's journey from England to Ohio where he trained at Heartland Wrestling Association under the watchful eye of Les Thatcher, the same man who helped break Jon Moxley into wrestling several years later. There are those who aren't aware that Nigel broke in back in 1999 sharing the ring with AEW competitors like The Blade, as well as competitors fresh off television like Mark Jindrak, Jason Jett, Shannon Moore, and others on that track such as the late Lance Cade, the late Matty Anoai (aka Rosey), and Charlie Haas.
But that wasn't all Nigel did; he returned to England where he toured with Brian Dixon's All-Star Wrestling, tours that gave him experience with men like Doug Williams, Jonny Storm, and Ricky Knight (Saraya's father). Upon returning to the States, Nigel branched out beyond the rings of HWA and first encountered the likes of Chris Hero, Colt Cabana, Jimmy Jacobs, and got the attention of the promotion that changed the track of his professional wrestling career: Ring of Honor.
Debuting at WRATH OF THE RACKET on 8/9/03, an event taking place at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Dayton, OH that HWA essentially called home, Nigel impressed enough that he was brought to New Jersey several months later for MAIN EVENT SPECTACLES, and invited back for BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN in Wilmington, OH that January. Beginning with AT OUR BEST in March 2004, an event in which he took on Jerry Lynn, Nigel became a regular presence on Ring of Honor events around the country, quickly becoming part of the Pure Title mix in late-summer 2004, and having his first meeting with “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson as part of a trios bout at TRIOS TOURNAMENT 2005. Who could've suspected that inauspicious bout would mark the first meeting of those two ROH icons, and that the rivalry that blossomed in the following year would prove to be one of the most definitive in ROH's history?
Before they finally found one another as rivals, the path of Bryan and Nigel took very different routes. Danielson walked away from ROH for several months during the Summer of 2005 after failing to win the ROH World Championship, meanwhile Nigel engaged in a very heated rivalry with Colt Cabana that culminated in an unforgettable Soccer Riot Match at NIGHT OF THE GRUDGES II, and just one week later, at DRAGON GATE INVASION, Nigel would take the ROH Pure Title from Samoa Joe. At GLORY BY HONOR IV just a few weeks later, Bryan Danielson would return to wrest the ROH World Championship from James Gibson on the same night Nigel would defeat Roderick Strong in a match for his championship, and over the course of the next several months, each man would solidify their position as the best at what they did.
The unique nature of the Pure Title rules allowed Nigel to find creative ways to defeat Christopher Daniels, Jay Lethal, and Claudio Castagnoli, just to name a few, while Danielson was proving himself the better of challengers like Daniels, Lance Storm, Roderick, Naomichi Marufuji, and Chris Hero, for a few examples. Then came April 29, 2006 and WEEKEND OF CHAMPIONS: NIGHT 2, that night at the Grey's Armory in Cleveland, World Champion faced Pure Champion in a Title vs. Title match with the Pure Rules in effect. What took place that night was magic, a nearly 30-minute battle between two of professional wrestling's finest technicians, that ultimately came down to Bryan attempting a springboard dive into the crowd, McGuinness greeting him with a chair while in-flight, and Bryan being unable to get back to the ring before the 20-count. Under the Pure Title rules, that title could change hands on a countout or disqualification but only that championship, meaning while Nigel won the bout, he only retained his Pure Title.
Three months passed before the two met inside the squared circle again, this time at GENERATION NOW only the ROH World Championship was at stake despite Nigel still maintaining his grip on the Pure Title between their two clashes. Just like the first meeting in April, this July '06 contest was red-hot and showed once again that McGuinness was more than capable of hanging in the ring with Danielson, a wrestler even in 2006 people already considered one of the best to ever do it. In fact, Bryan only escaped that match with the World Title by using a bit of trickery, hiding under the ring only to pop out the other side and roll up Nigel into a Small Package pin after 25 minutes of fighting. That was the moment Danielson arrogantly dubbed himself “Mr. Small Package” to rub it in Nigel's face, but their record stood at 1-1 as ROH was on the verge of running their first events in England, an event dubbed UNIFIED slated to feature a Unification Match between these two champions.
Undoubtedly the most famous, or perhaps infamous, of their battles inside a ROH ring, this August 12th bout between Danielson and McGuinness took everything they'd done in the previous two contests, and amplified the aggression a hundredfold. Perhaps it was due to Nigel fighting in his home country, and the energy the fans brought to the fight, but it truly seemed like McGuinness dethroning Danielson that night was inevitable. The level of violence in this fight is difficult to watch, the sound of Nigel's head cracking against the ring post is not for the squeamish, and the blood oozing across his skull from the impact hampers him the rest of the bout. As Bryan and Nigel crash their heads together like two bighorn sheep fighting for dominance, it's hard not to wonder just what it will take to make either of these men relent this battle. Ultimately it is Nigel who succumbs to the pain and punishment, or rather it is the referee who makes that choice for McGuinness as he's unable to respond to Bryan's onslaught of elbows. That night the Pure Championship that Nigel McGuinness had truly made through his hard work as champion was retired, unified with the World Title, and it would remain as such until September 11, 2020 when the tournament to crown a new Pure Champion began.
That may have marked the end of the Pure Title, but it wasn't the end of the Danielson/McGuinness story. In fact just two weeks after their UNIFIED epic, the two would meet in a 2/3 Falls bout at EPIC ENCOUNTER II, a match that saw Danielson survive as champion with a 1-1 draw after 60 minutes. After their match, in a sign of respect, Bryan returned the Pure Title to Nigel in recognition of all he accomplished carrying that title for 350 days and it felt like a a moment of closure on their rivalry. Sure they shared the ring three more times before the close of 2006, but no one-on-one matches, it seemed as if that chapter in each man's life was closed, but the new year brought a new aspect to their rivalry when both men were in the hunt for the ROH World Championship...
***TO BE CONTINUED***
ATTN: HONOR CLUB SUBSCRIBERS
Just added to the BEST OF ROH Section, the “Danielson vs. McGuinness” compilation highlighting their epic rivalry across the landscape of Ring of Honor. This is one of the most definitive collection of history-making matches Ring of Honor ever created, and it is now available here for Honor Club subscribers!