At the last Ring of Honor pay-per-view, Nigel McGuinness finally managed to capture the Ring of Honor World Champion after defeating Takeshi Morishima. However a torn bicep kept him out of a couple of shows including Glory by Honor VI. Meanwhile Austin Aries returned to Ring of Honor at the Driven pay-per-view and is now here vying to become ROH's very first two time champion, having previously ended Samoa Joe's two year championship reign back in 2004. I did always love how rare it was for a guy to become a multi-time champion in Ring of Honor, and how important it was made to feel when someone did eventually achieve it.
The reason I mentioned Nigel's arm injury is twofold. First of all, it is the basis of some of the story of this match. But it's also a catalyst to why ROH fans turned on Nigel in late 2007 that ultimately led to his heel turn during his title reign. ROH had an irritating habit of not pulling the trigger on guys at the right time, letting them lose a bit of steam, and then their title win is less satisfying as a result. Nigel was no exception to this after losing multiple big matches in the two years leading up to his eventual title win. When he got the title, he dared to miss time for injury - even though a torn bicep was a pretty reasonable excuse for missing time if you ask me. Not only this, but Nigel had been getting more and more vocal criticism from ROH fans at the time for his matches. I remember frequenting the ROH forums at the time, and Nigel had many critics based on his over-reliance of the lariat. It also birthed slander names such as Nigel McLariat, for example.
This match feels like the turning point in fans' perception of Nigel going forward and a point of no return. There is a very noticeable crowd contingent that despises him, and chanting "fuck you, Nigel" and "same old shit". In a bizarre way, it feels like Chris Jericho vs. John Cena from Summerslam 2005 where it basically signalled the end of crowds unequivocally loving Cena and Nigel respectively as the booker intended.
I've made no secrets about my admiration for Austin Aries as a wrestler. To me, he's one of my favourite wrestlers of the 2000s. He also has the distinction of having one of the most beautiful suicide dives in wrestling history. I say that to say that within 5 minutes of this 25 minute match, Aries hits the suicide dive at his typical rocket speed. Nigel goes head first into the steel guard rail, cut above his eye immediately, and is knocked completely loopy. This match was always hard to watch, but knowing what we know about Nigel's health issues that ultimately led to his retirement makes this even more uncomfortable to watch. Uncomfortable, yet compelling.
Aries can now focus on two parts of Nigel - his head and the already injured arm. There's an ever so slight lull after they get back in the ring after Nigel gets knocked out, which I don't blame them for as they were likely just re-calibrating. Aries becomes incredibly aggressive at this point, even more so when McGuinness taunts Aries after a blocked dropkick. Aries in his prime always felt like he was wrestling with more speed and intensity than just about everyone else. That fits well into a main event title match because I feel like his intensity inherently brings prestige to the match.
Thanks to the injury issues, this felt like a believable place for a title change. Nigel could have easily dropped the belt, gotten surgery and I don't think anyone would have been upset. Well, maybe some people on the ROH Forums would have found a way to be upset. But thanks to the head injury, it put Nigel in a situation where he's the underdog. One thing I loved was how Aries began to utilise some familiar Bryan Danielson strategy. Bryan had beaten Nigel before via referee stoppage with elbows to the head, and that's something Aries tries to emulate in this match. Fantastic storytelling.
I love how this match is paced in spite of the issues they had because it felt like everything continued to escalate. Nigel was on the defensive for a lot of the match and that made the big moves he was throwing out feel like the act of a desperate, injured champion. My favourite spot in the whole match is when Aries takes a top rope lariat and falls to the outside in a visually incredible moment. Surprisingly they don't overload the match with false finishes, and the finish itself is smooth as hell. Aries had been countering the rebound lariat in many creative ways through the match, but only through Aries' own counter was Nigel able to find the opening to hit the rebound lariat. Aries sold it by landing directly on his head, giving this vicious match a fitting ending.
In a lot of ways this is difficult to review because I think it isn't a good look for anyone involved given when it took place. A part of me hates that this exists as it does. But on the other hand, it's that head injury that turns this from being just another great ROH title match to one of the more compelling ROH title matches in history. It's not a match I'm enthusiastic to rewatch constantly, but I think it shows the best and worst habits of both of these tremendous, tremendous wrestlers. I think this is their best match together, even moreso than their Supercard of Honor III rematch. I would like to have seen what could have happened in a world where Nigel wasn't injured (they had an okay match at Unscripted II but that was on a much smaller scale than a main event match).
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