ROH Motor City Madness, Novi, MI
Danielson is ROH champion, Aries is a former champion. They have been big rivals in the Ring of the Honor. So it’s a marquee matchup in Novi.
This is a match where both guys had their luggage lost by airlines so they’re each wrestling in makeshift gear. They don’t look ridiculous or anything, but that’s a real story.
These two had a 74-minute match in 2004 in ROH for no other reason than to do it and things like that could sell video. “Wow! 74 minutes! Golly!” we used to say. They start slow here to tease that sort of possibility again, and the crowd is really quiet for a bit and then get woken up when Aries hits a great tope suicida. Look, I think Austin Aries absolutely sucks, but I don’t think he’s a bad wrestler because of that. He’s not. He was an outstandingly talented wrestler, in my opinion.
They slow it down again for a bit, but the pace isn’t a problem, they both do everything they’re doing with effort and emotion. And they’ve got history so they’re working off of some of that. Danielson works on the back, which Aries tries to fight through for bigger offense, including a Finlay roll right into a frog splash, and he does the frog splash with some stiffness to reflect the aching back.
Danielson has come up with a somewhat bum shoulder, and is trying to ignore it, but keeps Aries from focusing on it. Danielson also goes to the knee of Aries, like on a wrestling game where you try to turn different body parts red. Danielson hits a big back superplex, goes for a pin, and when Aries kicks out, an enraged Danielson elbows him to the skull repeatedly, then grabs a crossface chickenwing. But Aries gets to the ropes, amazingly.
From there we break down into a slugfest, and Aries gets the better of it, hitting his brainbuster and going up for the 450, which misses. Danielson catches him out of that with an inside cradle for the win to retain the title.
It’s a good match, far from their best together, but a good match. They would have struggled to not have a good match, frankly.
Tape Machines Are Rolling 
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