The Wrestler's Arsenal #2: The Dropkick

Hey there readers! Spurred on by the positive reception of the first of this series, its another addition to 'The Wrestler's Arsenal'; the dropkick. If you thought the last one was crammed with gifs, get a load of this!

The dropkick is a move you are sure to see and good handful of times on a show, and to varying levels of success and beauty. Last time we looked at the lariat, and the visual appeal of that is very different to the dropkick. The lariat is a much more visceral action, and whilst dropkicks can be just as brutal to witness, the athleticism needed to pull one off adds a layer of poetic spectacle to it. Don't get me wrong, there's a fair few downright ugly dropkicks out in the world, but seeing someone leave their feet always has an air of excitement to it.

Following on from the point of the setup of the move, this also allows for a whole lot of variation and innovation. Again using the comparison to the lariat, that move essentially requires you to be on the same level, but with the dropkick, you can be on an entirely different plane of existence and still connect with the bastard.

Personally, my favourite dropkicks are always emphasised with height; a point made even cooler by the fact it gains the term 'missile' as a descriptor. 

Neville's are especially beautiful - the hang time is just graceful and the slight popping of the kick right before connection makes the impact shine and the move on a whole look much more effective. Springboards in general really add a lot to the dropkick. I cannot fathom how difficult it is to get the balance to steady yourself on the ropes, let alone pulling off a dropkick from it.

With that in mind, seeing what Gran Metalik can do to prime himself for one is insane. 

'King of the Ropes' is a well earned moniker. 

So, those are the flashier examples of what a dropkick can be, having both a pageantry to them, as well as being used as efficient and effective weapons of squared circle warfare. Changing pace a bit though, there lies within the essence of the dropkick the ability to be used for pure destruction. 

That's Conquest, War, Famine and Death all in one. With this, the devastation for me comes from both the connection of the kick and the victim being pinned down. In that one above, Honma is stuck between a rock and a hard pair of feet flying at his fucking face, not a lot of give there I don't think. As horrific as that is, probably a more vicious variety of dropkick comes when the victim is sent flying into something. 

You don't have to look too much further than the audience in that clip to see the sort of reaction that generates. It must really fucking suck to be hit with that; not only does Balor properly knock him back, that connection of the head and turnbuckle is not a pretty sight. They don't come much nastier than that.

Looking across the modern world of wrestling, as well as the above examples, there are some performers out there with some stellar dropkicks, and few get me more hyped than Braun Strowman's;

Those fan-dangled dropkicks ain't just for cruiserweights, brother. Even with a silent gif I can vividly hear Braun screaming at Mark with every loop.

Making it 2-for-2 in the shoutouts for this series, Kazuchika Okada also lays claim to one of wrestling's best dropkicks, mixing height and connection to create a jaw-jacking manoeuvre to put down any bastard that just so happens to be hurtling towards him.

Gedo's little cheer at ringside is probably my favourite part of that gif.

Doing my research for this, I like to have a look at who Wikipedia cites as popularising and innovating the moves. Okada was up there for the standing dropkick, but there was another name alongside him, one that caught me off guard. I knew this guy was awesome, and I guess its probably down to limited viewing of his work, but goddamn looking it up made me see the truth.

Ladies and gentlemen, Hardcore Holly. 

However, with money riding on it and in spite of Okada's majesty, I would say that the best dropkick in wrestling today goes to 'The Phenomenal One', AJ Styles.

Everything about it is beautiful, but for me, its the leap and the landing that makes it. AJ's not the tallest of lads, and for him to get the verticality needed to nail his opponent in the face is, well...phenomenal. On top of that, the landing at the end is slick as anything, essentially making the move more of a dropsault variation.

In conclusion, the dropkick is a thing of beauty. Whether you're dropping out of the sky, barrelling down at a poor fucker sat in the corner or laying in wait for perfect interception, connecting with two feet is an ideal way to rock some heads. With a lot of strikes, there's a general feeling of 'I could do that', but a dropkick is something to aspire to. I can't tell you how many times I've jumped on my bed going for a dropkick, but I can assure you each time they've looked like pure shit. So with that in mind, the next time you see a dropkick in action, look beyond the common spot it's become, and appreciate the athleticism needed to perform such a feat.

Well that's gonna do it from me for this time folks. I hope you've enjoyed this part of The Wrestler's Arsenal, and if you've any requests on what should be covered next, please do let me know, and whenever that may be, I'll see you guys there!

Pro Wrestling Case Studies #2: Nigel McGuinness

Hey there readers and welcome to this second instalment in the blog's newest series, 'Pro Wrestling Case Studies' where we look at a particular something or someone in depth. In this one, we are going to be discussing one of the best and biggest British talents in history, Nigel McGuinness.

In 1998, Nigel McGuinness left England in the pursuit of professional wrestling, travelling to Cincinnati, Ohio to train under Les Thatcher at Heartland Wrestling Association. Debuting in 1999, Nigel would wrestle for the company until 2000 when he would return to the UK due to running out of money to fuel his early career. After working tooth and nail to raise funds, McGuinness returned to the United States in 2001, and would shortly begin to wrestle in more places, such as IWA: Mid South as well as wrestling in his home country as well.

2003 saw McGuinness make his first appearance for the company he would become synonymous with; Ring of Honour. His debut match would be tied to his HWA base, facing Chet Jablonski in a No.1 Contender's Match for the HWA Heavyweight Title, available for viewing here (YouTube). Over the next couple of years, as well as expanding his domain and competing in more places in the US, McGuinness would become a more regular member of the ROH roster. His early time there were spent teaming, and then feuding with Colt Cabana until setting his sights on the ROH Pure Championship.

The ROH Pure Championship was defended under it's own unique set of rules, which were as follows;

• Each wrestler begins the match with 3 rope breaks, once used up, pins and submissions that would normally be broken up by a rope break are legal.
• Closed-fist punches to the face were not allowed (shots to other parts of the body were fine apart from low blows). The first instance of such a punch landing would result in a warning, a second in taking away one of the wrestlers rope breaks, and the third in disqualification.
• 20 counts administered when outside the ring
• The belt can change hands in the result of a disqualification or count-out.

After a pair of failed challenges for the belt, McGuinness would defeat Samoa Joe for the belt in August of 2005, and go on to become the longest reigning champion in the belt's history, holding it for 350 days. In his time as champion, Nigel would carve his niche in ROH, turning heel in the process. During his reign, he would defeat the likes of Roderick Strong, Homicide, Austin Aries, Christopher Daniels and Claudio Castagnoli (Cesaro) in a prolonged feud.

It was during his time as Pure Champion that would see the emergence of his famed rivalry with Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan). Their first encounter came at Weekend of Champions Night Two, with McGuinness receiving a shot at Danielson's ROH World Championship whilst simultaneously putting his own Pure Championship on the line in a title for title match that was contested under the pure wrestling rules. This match can be viewed here (YouTube). McGuinness won by count-out, meaning both men kept their respective belts. The victory led to a rematch where Danielson would scrape a victory, which then set the stage for their most notable clash of all.

ROH: Unified took place in August 2006, with McGuinness and Danielson facing off again, with both titles on the line again under pure wrestling rules in a unification match. This was a bloody bout, something Nigel had wanted, with the match including one of the most brutal spots I have ever seen in pro wrestling.



In his autobiography, Danielson writes how McGuinness wanted to bust himself open the hard way on the ring post. They'd agreed that if there was no blood after 3 times hitting the post, they would stop. However, after taking the 3 and being devoid of colour, McGuinness wanted one more shot which would prove to be the clincher. Danielson also writes about regretting this spot, deeming it unsafe and unnecessary in hindsight.

The match went on, with Danielson himself being busted open, making for an even bloodier affair. Adding the brutality of the match, it would conclude due to referee stoppage, with Danielson laying in elbow after elbow to the defenceless McGuinness.

After losing his Pure Championship, Nigel challenged Naomichi Marufuji for the GHC Heavyweight Championship, the champion of ROH's Japanese partner company, Pro Wrestling NOAH. Due to their current working relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling, this time period isn't referred to as much by the company any more. Like their work with NJPW, this brought about talent exchanges, allowing wrestlers to compete in places they never had before. In 2006, Nigel even had more matches for NOAH than he did ROH and in February of 2007 became a representative and spokesperson for NOAH.

This partnership also resulted in another of Nigel's acclaimed rivalries in his pursuit of the ROH World Championship against Takeshi Morishima. Once his tag team partner over in NOAH, McGuinness would unsuccessfully challenge Morishima twice before he finally managed to beat the giant at ROH: Undeniable in October 2007 to become the 10th ROH World Champion. Although McGuinness' reign would take a shaky start sustaining a bicep injury in late 2007, McGuinness would hold the title for 545 days, the second longest reigning ROH World Champion behind Samoa Joe, and is tied in first place for successful defences with Bryan Danielson, defending the belt 38 times. Amongst those 38 include defences against some of ROH's finest as well as international stars such as KENTA (Hideo Itami), a day after sustaining another arm injury despite reportedly needing surgery, which can be viewed here (YouTube). His run with the belt would come to a close in April 2009, being defeated by Jerry Lynn at Supercard of Honour IV.

In September of that year, Ring of Honour announced that McGuinness had "in principle" signed a contract with the WWE as well as his storied rival, Bryan Danielson. The pair would have their final match with the company facing each other at Glory By Honour VIII: The Final Countdown. Danielson would go on to sign with WWE as planned, however, McGuinness' deal with the company fell apart after he failed a pre-screening physical test, down to the various injuries sustained during his career.

Shortly after, McGuinness signed with TNA, debuting in October under the new name of Desmond Wolfe in a programme against Kurt Angle. He would defeat Angle in his first Pay-Per-View appearance for the company at Turning Point, earning a 4.25 star rating from Big Daddy Meltzer, and can be viewed here (YouTube). The two would face off one last time at Final Resolution in a 'Three Degrees of Pain' match - a two out of three falls with each fall being earned by pinfall, submission and escaping the cage respectively. Angle would come out victorious, ending the feud as the victor. This match gained a 4 star rating, and can be viewed here (YouTube).

From there, McGuinness/Wolfe feuded with the likes of D'Angelo Deniro, before aligning himself with Ric Flair, later taking part in Lethal Lockdown as part of Team Flair (along with Sting, Bobby Roode and James Storm), where they were defeated by Team Hogan (RVD, Jeff Hardy, Jeff Jarrett and Abyss) after McGuinness/Wolfe took the fall. 

He still had the support from the fans though. In April 2010, TNA introduced the 'Championship Ranking' where fans could vote for the No.1 Contender for the World Championship. From start to finish, McGuinness/Wolfe led the poll from beginning to end, ahead of an illustrious list of other contenders including AJ Styles, Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy and Sting. McGuinness/Wolfe received his title shot against RVD on a May edition of Impact! He would lose in 3 minutes, never to challenge for the title again.

After that, McGuinness/Wolfe would have a feud with Abyss, comprised mainly of hardcore matches spanning a couple of Pay-Per-View. The whole while, he would look to gain the approval of Ric Flair to be put into Flair's new version of The Four Horsemen, Fourtune, later spelt properly as Fortune. The group would end up being comprised of Styles, Kazarian, Storm and Roode, with McGuinness/Wolfe being left out. 

McGuinness/Wolfe would find some success in forming a tag team with Magnus, later coined London Brawling, beginning a winning streak on Xplosion before earning a shot at the TNA Tag Team Championships for No Surrender in late 2010. However, this match would never happen due to more medical issues with McGuinness/Wolfe, revealed in 2014 to be down to him testing positive for Hepatitis B (and has since recovered). He would make his on screen return in May 2011, starting a brief run as commissioner of Xplosion, before being released from the company in June.

McGuinness would return to the independents in late 2011, in a retirement tour that would see him compete in the United States and the UK, wrestling the likes of Eddie Edwards, Trent Seven and Jack Gallagher as well as returning to the place it all began, Heartland Wrestling Association. He wrestled his last match in December 2011.

2011 did see McGuinness return to Ring of Honour in a non-wrestling capacity as on-screen commissioner, as well as being a member of the commentary team. During this time, as well as becoming an advocate for hepatitis B vaccination and for stopping intentional bloodletting in wrestling, McGuinness made a documentary, a career retrospective as well as capturing his retirement tour following his TNA departure. Personally, I found 'The Last of McGuinness' quite a hard and saddening watch, with McGuinness airing his frustration over the breakdown of his WWE deal due to his bicep injury, as well as discussing how he thought his career was a failure to do not reaching WWE.

But, this story ends on a happy note. In December 2016, it was announced that Nigel McGuinness had signed to WWE as a commentator for the United Kingdom Championship Tournament, and now a permanent fixture on the NXT announce team.

Nigel's career is one punctuated with phenomenal matches and legendary feuds, but plagued and shortened by injury. Despite being booked much worse than he deserved in TNA, Nigel should be remembered as one of the greatest British, or otherwise, wrestlers to have ever competed. His feud with Bryan Danielson is one of the industry's best and most celebrated, featuring arguably the best in-ring work of both men's careers and in ROH history. Plus, he had a fucking awesome lariat

That's gonna do it from me for this Pro Wrestling Case Study. Once again, big ups to How2Wrestling for being the main inspiration between this series, I really recommend checking them out. If you have any requests of who I should cover next, please let me know, but until next time, enjoy your graps. 

Further Viewing

NOTE: Links in bold are matches from the McGuinness/Danielson feud

Nigel McGuinness vs Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) - ROH: Epic Encounter II, 25/08/2006 (YouTube)

Nigel McGuinness vs Kotaro Suzuki - Pro Wrestling NOAH: Summer Navigation 2007 Day 2, 1/7/2007 (Dailymotion)

Nigel McGuinness vs Takeshi Morishima - ROH: Fighting Spirit, 14/4/2007 (Vimeo) 

Nigel McGuinness vs PAC (Neville) - King of Europe Cup Quarter Final (Dailymotion)

Nigel McGuinness vs Davey Richards - King of Europe Cup Semi Final (Dailymotion)

Nigel McGuinness vs Doug Williams - King of Europe Cup Finals (YouTube)

Nigel McGuinness vs Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) - ROH: Domination, 09/06/2007 (YouTube)

Nigel McGuinness vs Austin Aries - ROH: Rising Above, 29/12/2007 (Vimeo) - WARNING: McGuinness goes head first from a suicide dive into the guard rail and sustains a concussion, broken nose and cut above eye needing 14 stitches. 

Nigel McGuinness vs Go Shiozaki @ Pro Wrestling NOAH: The First Navigation Day 9, 1/20/2008 (YouTube) - Part One - Part Two

Nigel McGuinness - vs Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) - ROH 6th Anniversary, 23/2/2008 (YouTube)

Nigel McGuinness vs KENTA (Hideo Itami) vs BJ Whitmer - Pro Wrestling NOAH Northern Navigation 2008 Day 1, 15/5/2008 (Dailymotion)

Nigel McGuinness vs Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) - ROH: Battle of the Best, 13/9/2008 (YouTube)

Nigel McGuinness vs Eddie Edwards - 2CW 11th Hour, 11/11/2011 (Vimeo)

WredditCountryClub GOAT Rumble Entry: AJ Styles

AJ Styles.

What's the first word that pops into your head when you hear that name? I know what it is for me; 'Phenomenal'.

Styles, for the majority of his 18-year-career, has been considered on the best to ever grace a professional wrestling ring, past and present. We're going to be looking at this in depth, to see if we can prove, indefinitely, if these claims are true.

We will begin our discussion by looking at his first tenure in Ring of Honour (ROH). Styles debuted for the company in 2002 on their third show, A Night of Appreciation, and quickly rose to become one of ROH's premier wrestlers. AJ helped to establish Ring of Honour in it's formative years, main eventing shows and bringing about a product quality synonymous with ROH. In 2004 at ROH's second anniversary show, Styles won a one-night tournament to become the inaugural ROH Pure Championship, a championship designed to determine the best pure wrestler on the roster, contested under different rules to standard matches.

• Each wrestler has three rope breaks to stop submission holds and pinfalls during the match. After a wrestler exhausts his rope breaks, submission and pin attempts under the ropes by the opponent are considered legal.
• There are no closed-fist punches to the face allowed in a Pure match, only open-handed slaps or chops to the face are allowed. Punches to other parts of the body (save for low-blows) are permitted. The first use of a closed fist will get a warning, and the second will cause the wrestler to be penalized a rope break. If he is already out of rope breaks, he will be disqualified.
• A wrestler is subject to a twenty count by the referee if the wrestler goes to the floor.

After defeating CM Punk to win the title, Styles reigned for 70 days before he was forced to vacate it due to his contractual obligations to Total Nonstop Action Wreslting (TNA), meaning no-one has ever beaten AJ for that championship. 

AJ would continue to wrestle for Ring of Honour until 2006, when his ties to TNA caused him to cease appearing for the promotion.

Also beginning in 2002, AJ appeared on the first TNA weekly pay-per-view, as well as their first iMPACT! later on, and became a mainstay of the company until his departure in 2013. In this time, AJ Styles won 17 championships in the company, including 2 reigns with the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and currently holds the record for the most matches on TNA iMPACT!. 

AJ was an influential figure in the establishment, development and success of the X-Division which has been touted by many as the main reason for TNA's success in the mid-2000s. In total, Styles held the X-Division Championship on six occasions (joint second highest), accumulating to 272 days as champion (joint seventh longest). His work in the X-Division also produced widely considered to be the best match in the company's history and also receiving a 5* rating: Styles vs Christopher Daniels vs Samoa Joe - Unbreakable 2005.

Over the next few years, AJ would branch out of the X-Division, finding success in the tag division with multiple partners and moving up the card into the main event scene. In 2009, AJ achieved what many regarded as well-deserved and frankly, about damn time, winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. 

With the title in hand, AJ would top the PWI rankings in 2010, the first and only TNA wrestler to do so, beating the likes of John Cena, CM Punk, Randy Orton and The Undertaker. Styles would hold the title for a then record of 211 days.

However, after Styles's reign as champion, AJ began to slip from the main event, through no fault of his own or lack of fan support. It was around this time that TNA brought in Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff to help run the company. It is of general consensus that this period of TNA is considered the worst in the company's history, both for fans and talent. This time included AJ being cast aside in favour of wrestlers considered to be more of a draw (usually meaning at some point they were in WWE). Whilst the storylines and opportunities were lacking (see Claire Lynch), AJ made the most of what was given to him and put on great matches.

After the whole Hogan/Bischoff ordeal had passed, AJ entered a new phase in his character that would be influential in his career then on, if for just looks alone. Deemed 'The Lone Wolf', AJ donned dark attire and grew his hair out, an image that would become the usual Styles appearance. In 2013, AJ won the Bound for Glory series, granting him a shot at the TNA Heavyweight Championship which he would then win at the Bound for Glory pay-per-view. 2013 would also see Styles depart the company in favour of greener pastures.

Whilst his time at TNA could be described as turbulent at times, putting it nicely, there is no denying that without Styles' work, the company would be a very different place. We can safely say that Styles was at least partly responsible for the success of the X-Division and the boom of TNA in the mid-2000s.

Following his departure from TNA, Styles made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) in 2014. On his first night he attacked the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada, and challenged him to a title match. It was revealed that Styles was the newest member of one of the biggest faction's the company, and wrestling as a whole, The Bullet Club. This would be his first match in NJPW, and it would be a match he would come out of victorious, with a new hunk of gold on his shoulder. Not only was this an unprecedented event in regards to the championship and the company, but also the fact that a 'gaijin' (Japanese term for foreigner) could win the title in his first match was a rarity, a feat shared with one Brock Lesnar. 

AJ was now a major player in New Japan, and took the Bullet Club to new heights. A case can be made to say that AJ was perhaps the greatest 'gaijin' to perform in New Japan, though Kenny Omega could be on the cusp of surpassing him sometime soon. 

It is also worth noting that whilst under contract with New Japan, Styles also competed for NJPW's partners ROH as well as in the UK for Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW). Though championship gold proved elusive in ROH, Styles won the RPW British Heavyweight Championship on June 14th, 2015. AJ, along with The Young Bucks, also made the finals of the Chikara King of Trios tournament, only to be defeated by the team of Aero Star, Drago and Fenix.

2015 also saw Styles become 1 of only 15 men to have ever held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship twice, defeating the ace of New Japan, Hiroshi Tanahashi. Overall, he would reach 307 combined days as champion, ranking 13th overall.

Towards the latter end of that year, AJ suffered a back injury that put him out of action for nearly two months. In January of 2016, before his departure from the company, Styles competed classic match against Shinsuke Nakamura at Wrestle Kingdom 10, ending an amazing run in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

The next chapter of Styles's career takes us now to the biggest wrestling company on the globe, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Debuting in the 2016 Royal Rumble match, Styles lasted roughly 28 minutes, eliminating 2 men in the process and set the wrestling world on fire. Going on from this Styles feuded with Chris Jericho until WrestleMania 32, an exchange he would come out of as the loser. 

Styles would really begin to shine in the WWE during his pursuits for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns. AJ faced off against Reigns twice for the gold, receiving star ratings of 4.5 and 3.75 (average of 4.125).

Following this feud, Styles began a program with John Cena, long thought to be a fantasy feud that would most probably never come to fruition, yet, here it is. In his two encounters one-on-one with Cena, their matches have an average star rating of 4.375, the latter of the two at SummerSlam considered an instant classic to some and deserving of a 5* rating to others.

Moving on from Cena and becoming the new 'Face That Runs The Place', Styles won the opportunity to challenge Dean Ambrose for the WWE World Championship at the revived Backlash PPV. After putting on one hell of a match, Styles would walk out victorious, with a new championship to add to his already overflowing list of accomplishments. Along with adding that acclaim to his record, in doing so, Styles also became only the third person ever to have held both the WWE Championship and the NWA Championship, joining the duo of two 'Nature Boys', Buddy Rogers and Ric Flair, who are debated to be two of the greatest of all time.

So far in WWE, AJ Styles has competed on 9 pay-per-views (also being every one he was eligible for), achieving a 4.05* average match rating, with his lowest rating being 3.5 for the six man tag of The Club vs Enzo & Cass & Cena at Battleground. Now, if we compare this to his last 9 big matches in New Japan, his average match rating is 3.80, showing that Styles is performing even better since coming to WWE, even at the age of 38 he continues to improve.

In conclusion, looking over Styles's career, we can see that he was influential in the early success of Ring of Honour and TNA, two companies which now rank at the number 2 and 3 spots in the US wrestling scene. We can also conclude that he played a major role in what many consider the 'Golden Age' of TNA and the X-Division. Looking to where he went afterwards, we can assess that AJ was key in the development of the Bullet Club becoming a top-tier faction of all time with his main event success, and also gave 'gaijin' wrestlers new heights to aim for. Finally, we can note that Styles has certainly heavily impacted the landscape of the WWE, proving how a seemingly 'overlooked' performer can come in and positively affect the company massively. And all the while, we can see that Styles has been putting on stellar matches from his early years to his current run against opponents of all shapes, sizes and styles. 

Thus ends my essay on why I believe AJ Styles to deserve the moniker of 'Greatest of All Time' in the field of professional wrestling.

[DISCLAIMER: ALL STAR RATINGS COME FROM profightdb.com, MELTZER CERTIFIED]