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)

Noah Goes To: Epic Studios, Norwich (UK Championship Live Tapings)

Hey there friends and welcome to this second edition of 'Noah Goes To', where I, the titular the Noah, venture out into the world in my goal to see as much live wrestling as possible. This time around, on Sunday 7th May, I headed up to Norwich to have a look-see at the second day of tapings for WWE's United Kingdom Championship show.

So ya know, most probably gonna be S-P-O-I-L-E-R-S going on in this, I'll try keep it to a minimum, but its just a warning for those of the faint of heart.

I constitute this as my first proper British wrestling show, with the other shows I've been to being, in all fairness, a bit shit. No offence to the promoters, but Magnus versus some fat fuck in bin bag trousers foe the Global Force Wrestling Championship isn't that much of a spectacle. This had everything I wanted from a British show; a focus on domestic talent, a loud and hot crowd, weird chants and though I hadn't anticipated the sheer volume of it, I suppose the influence of alcohol in the building added to the atmosphere. The guys in front of me literally must have had like 5 or 6 pints during the show. Inevitably, that led to a couple cuntish acts here and there, but the show was too good to let that be much of a negative.

Epic Studios was quite alright. We queued up along the street and through a window that had like an obscuring mural type thing across it, I could see William Regal having a sit down with Tony Nese, Mark Andrews and Roy Johnson. I was so in awe of Regal I walked into the guy in front of me. He understood. Got patted down on the way in, gentle human contact is always nice I suppose so I can't really complain. Then, it was just up some stairs and then you were there. We were one of the later people entering, so it was already nearly full when getting in, and it is a sight to see. A really cosy wrestling show, but I was next to an aisle with no one in front of me either, so I had some breathing room.

I was sat on the first row of the tiered seats, no garden furniture for me. Depending on whether you think it's lucky or not, I was directly opposite the hard camera, so, if you see a guy with his arm in a cast with glasses, long hair and a Cesaro shirt, have a guess at who it is. I was about eye-level with the ring, so I comfortably watched all the matches, and the entrance way was high enough that even with all of us standing, I got to see the entrances in all their glory. The ramp was a little obscured, only really seeing their heads bob along, but that was okay with me.

Though a little thing, I was so glad they kept the theme from the tournament to presumably be used for the new weekly show. I love the song and other songs by the Astroid Boys, so hearing it blaring was nice for me.

We had the usual pumping the crowd up for the opening shots, the announcer man doing the typical 'not loud enough guys!' thing. Then, we had the owner of PROGRESS Wrestling, Jim Smallman come say hello. I really like Jim, and his background in stand-up comedy showed when he was picking a few people out to chat to. When he asked a guy up front why he wasn't at the previous night's show too, and he replied saying he was working, he got 'YOU SOLD OUT!' chats that made me giggle. You can tell the man loves wrestling and must be happy with the position of his company in relation to WWE.

First match we had was Wolfgang against Joseph Conners which was alright. A good mood setting match to get us into the active crowd feel. It wasn't until we started to we got some cruiserweights from 205 Live that I started to feel really into it. TJ Perkins teamed with Brian Kendrick to face Dan (DAN!) Maloney and Rich Swann. Got to chant 'TJ is a wanker' which was fun, caused mostly from him dabbing, but this match is mainly in my memory from shouting 'DAN!' over and over whenever Maloney moved a muscle. For context to this, there is a British comedy character from Norwich called Alan Partridge who is a bit of an icon (at least I think so), and the shouting comes from this skit;

Lotta fun. 

Can't really remember match order, but I think it was Tyson T-Bone against Saxon Huxley afterwards. Lotta people went for food/merch/a piss during this match. It was okay, and surprisingly despite Huxley being the most Jesus-looking person, he received the least amount of Jesus related chants, that award would go to James Drake later on.

If my schedule recollection is correct, next was Akira Tozawa versus Tony Nese that was rather good, getting to do Tozawa's "AH!" screams was cool too, though that might have been the biggest strain on my poor little vocal chords. Nese is proper big in person, a real adonis in person. Abs of a god. Also, a 'TO-ZA-WA' chant transitioned into a 'TOYS-R-US' one which was another highlight.

Intermission after this I think, which when we came back was punctuated by the appearance of Triple H! Hearing that opening riff on 'King of Kings' created possibly the largest holler from me the entire night, watching as he walked out onto the stage. Absolutely in awe of the man, hung on his every word. I did get to chant 'Alan Partridge' at him which was possibly the strangest things I have ever been apart of. He made it sound as if they'd be coming back to Norwich and I not be opposed to that in the slightest.

When we got back to the action we had James Drake taking on Sam Gradwell. Another fine match, made most memorable from all the chants if I'm honest. Due to Gradwell's lack of hair, we ended up just chanting the names of different bald people at him, as well as singing 'Dude Looks Like a Baby'. I know some people aren't a huge fan of chants like this, some outright hating such things, but personally I am fine with it. I think there is a bit of a difference being there in person and over a screen, but I like them either way. 

After that came most probably the two best matches I have seen live. Pete Dunne versus Trent Seven. Mark Andrews versus Tyler Bate.

Dunne and Trent had everything I wanted from both men, Dunne doing some devastating limb manipulation and some big lariats from Trent, plus some huge spots off the top and on the apron. Dunne definitely has a presence about him, couldn't take my eyes off the man. I found myself being very conflicted with my support in this match. I started off with shouts of 'Moustache Mountain' only to find myself changing to 'Bruiserweight' a little while after. Great match.

Seven and Dunne had got some new entrance themes made for them, which are pretty damn good. But y'know who kept his awesome theme?

Huge pop when that percussion intro hit, the level of Bate's support even causing Andrews to get booed a little. Title was on the line for this one and it was incredible. Sitting at home reacting to big moments is fun, being there and jumping to your feet when things go down is even better. This match was the first time that I did so in person with some awesome spots that looked like death. I was glad I finally got to take part in a 'Tyler Bate, Tyler Bate, Tyler, Tyler Bate' sing-song, love the guy.

Post match saw Dunne come out to confront Bate and confirming them to face each other at NXT TakeOver: Backlash. Some more Bate celebrating and that was the show.

I had an amazing time and you can darn tootin' believe that when this gets put on the Network it's gonna be hard for anything to beat Bate/Andrews for match of the week, whenever it may be shown.

A lovely time was had and I cannot wait for the next opportunity to attend a wrestling show. I would love to get to a show for either PROGRESS, RevPro or a something along those lines. Plus, if ROH comes back to the UK again this year I might have a look-see, I could even be driving by then. I missed the boat this time around, but every year my school offers funding to students for independent trips, like a grand, so maybe next year I might look into going to wXw's 16 Karat Tournament. 

I also encourage you, my lovely comprades, to seek out attending a quality wrestling show. There is a fair share of not great and 'trash' wrestling in the world, but if you can get chance to go somewhere reputable, it's always a blast. 

That just about does it for me this time around guys and gals, hope you enjoyed this little recount of mine, and I hope to bring you another one soon. Have a good day everyone, and remember, you are all lovely.

BWOTW: 16/1/17 - 21/1/17

'Ello guv'na and welcome to this shiny new edition of 'Noah's Best Wrestling of the Week' AKA 'Coming From a British Angle' 

But before we get into it (and gee do I want to), let us first take a gander at the news from this past week;

1. Tyler Bate is your first ever WWE United Kingdom Champion, becoming the second youngest WWE champion history, only by a matter of months! Good lord what a tournament that was over the past weekend, and I loved every bit of it. We also had Tommy (Tommy, Tommy Fucking) End debut against Neville, using the End name, so whether he's using that for good who knows? It has been reported all the competitors were signed, and there has been a bit of controversy with WWE pulling people out of events and appearances, but that's contracts for ya, so you can't really blame anyone.
2. KURT FUCKING ANGLE IS IN THE HALL OF FAME! He's come back to the WWE and it feels so good. So amped to here that theme blare through the TV again and seeing that man make his way to the ring again. Expect a special li'l something out of me sometime soon, and remember, just because he's not contracted for any matches doesn't mean he can't slap an ankle lock on some motherfuckers.
3. Mickie James has returned too! After her match at TakeOver: Toronto, James is now on the SmackDown! brand, unveiling herself as La Luchadora and alligning with Alexa Bliss. Lets see where we go with this then.
4. Big Triple H can't get enough tournaments, seen with him confrming that there will be a WWE Women's Tournament in the future. Cruisers, Brits, Women, can we have a proper good King of the Ring please?
5. After debuting on 205 Live, Tajiri was injured at an NXT show. I'm sending all my love to the Japanese Buzzsaw, sending it to that lovely man.
6. Pentagon Jr. is done with AAA, now independent, though I'm not too sure of his dealing with Lucha Underground at the minute. He will now go by Penta Ciero Miedo or Penta 0M, which is still a pretty cool name.

And now for the gold in this Olympic medal of a wrestling blog, its the matches!

WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament

Night 1

Best Match on UKCT N1: Tyler Bate vs Tucker - First Round Match

Kicking us off is the final first round match of the tournament, pitting the eventual winner Tyler Bate against the man from Northern Ireland, Tucker.

Most of the other matches of the night were in'n'out fairly snappily, but this one had a good chunk of time dedicated to it. I was impressed by both men, with Tucker being relatively unknown to me and being a lot better than I would have thought, and Tyler showing off a lot more than I knew about him. This match made me root hard for Bate on the second night, and I love that his gimmick at this point really is just 'a lovely fella'.

We had some great, proper wrestling in this one, having a hefty dose of the British technical base as well as incorporating all the lovely things in the modern wrestling scene. We'd heard a bit about it in the promos and I was a bit tepid in my anticipation, but my word Tucker's superkick was goddamn awesome. He like leaped in the air, clocked Bate on the jaw like he was in a kung-fu movie so hard that he flew out the ring, nicely protecting the move.

Soon after, we had what was from my recollection, the only outside dive in the first day of the tournament. I thought that was a nice touch, seeing as the previous tournament, the Cruiserweight Classic, was inundated with high-spots of that ilk, so whilst it might not be massively noticeable, it was refreshing. It was real cool dive as well, a bit different than most things, a hurricanrana off the steps and onto the ramp. Tucker had a sore looking landing, the back of that neck/head coming down a bit awkwardly, but no worries, he looked to be fine afterwards.

The crowd was eating it all up, and by the end of it, the whole building was on their feet to witness the finish of the match.

Great match this to round of the first stage of the tournament, I went it sort of supporting Bate, came out loving him and eager to see more of both of the men. Check it out.

Night 2

Best Match on UKCT N2: Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne - Grand Final

Tyler's popped up again, taking on Pete Dunne in the grand final and the deciding match to see who would be crowned the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Championship.

Going into this, we had Bate suffer some sort of shoulder/arm injury in his semi-final match against Wolfgang, which would be exacerbated in a post-match attack by Dunne. They did a great job of making sure Dunne was gonna be booed in this tournament, with him starting off the weekend receiving quite a cheered reception, and ending it being despised by all. Plus, it helped that Bate had won the hearts of essentially everyone watching.

So, with the K-Tape applied and being as useless as ever, there was a lot of working that arm. Dunne stretched and tweaked and wrecked that arm of Bate's, constantly abusing him. A slam into the turnbuckle was one of Dunne's damn nasty methods of brutalising Tyler, landing him pretty roughly on the mat.


Tyler had his fiery babyface flurries and retaliations, building back his momentum and landing some big money shots. I'm not sure whether he meant to do, or whether he didn't get quite enough rotation in the space for a splash, but he had a sweet looking 450 double footstomp.

Dunne was hammering Bate for what seemed the most part of the match, and even looked to end it after hitting his finisher, with it then becoming the only finisher that was kicked out of for the whole tournament. Then after a sequence of trying to put Tyler away, we came out with the sight of a Tyler Driver '97 and history being made. Just listen to that crowd;

That was an awesome match to cap off the weekend, bringing it all to a phenomenal close, with some lovely post match celebrations to follow. I loved that whole tournament, I may write a little retrospective piece on it if I feel I have enough to coherently say, but other than that, I recommend all of it all of you.

And as if I have to convince you any more that Tyler Bate is awesome, here's that sweet goodness of his theme;

Monday Night RAW

Best Match on RAW (16/1/17): Cesaro & Sheamus vs The Club (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) - RAW Tag Team Championship Match

We're back in the USA now, and we've got the tag team champs of Sheamus and Cesaro taking on Gallows and Anderson.

We're starting to get some nice sequences with Sheamus and Cesaro, rather than just a tag move and then one goes off for a bit. Anderson was on the receiving end of this little flurry;

The Club actually had quite a decent amount of domination in this match, working over both of their opponents at one time or another. We actually had a dusty finish with The Club getting the decision reversed on them, which certainly did get me going. Sheamus knocked the ref down, The Club gets him out then Magic Killer's Cesaro; took a while for a new ref to come running down so I figured Cesaro was gonna kick out. Nope. I let out a big Stone Cole-esque 'What?' as the bell rang. I mean, Gallows and Anderson have had a bit better booking as of late, but fuck me that was a dramatic increase, and still is all things considered. They laid the champs out and picked up a pinfall, even if the match should've ended just before.

So Cesaro and Sheamus retain via disqualification, but The Club come out of this looking like legit contenders. Good stuff.

SmackDown! LIVE

Best Match on SD! (17/1/17): Alexa Bliss vs Becky Lynch - SmackDown! Women's Championship Steel Cage Match

SmackDown! LIVE now here on this blog of mine, and we're main eventing with a Steel Cage Match for the Women's Championship, Bliss versus Lynch. RAW, just come here, take a note about how our throats aren't having the fact that the women are the main event or that this is a cage match shoved down them, I can figure that shit out, okay? Cool.

As a have-r of long hair, I always feel a little uncomfortable watching people with long hair in cage matches, just the thought of it getting snagged in the chain link makes me wince. All that aside, this was a pretty good watch. Had quite your run of the mill cage match antics with the door and chasing people up the walls. However there was one spot I really liked, I don't think I had seen a top rope Exploder Suplex before, so this was a nice treat to see; 

Overall, it was a pretty solid match, nothing amazingly spectacular, but it was a nice watch. Plus we did get the Mickie James reveal at the end, which I thought deserved a bigger pop, though I suppose the crowd might not have had a great time seeing it in a cage and all. 

205 Live

Best Match on 205 Live (17/1/17): Jack Gallagher vs Ariya Daivari - 'I Forfeit' Match 

Stickin' around after SmackDown!, its 205 Live, this week featuring the what I would assume is the climax to the Gallagher vs Daivari feud, the 'I Forfeit' Match. 

It was pretty much what you can expect from a hardcore match on the weekly TV, brawling up to the ramp and around the ring with a bit of use of foreign objects. Not one, not two, but there were three different umbrellas used in this match, how much of a plan did Gallagher have going into this?

I can't really recall there being a whole lot of cool stuff in this match, though the finish was pretty nice, Gallagher locking in a crossface chickenwing assisted with an umbrella;

Not a whole lot to say about this one, it was an alright match, big on the gimmick side with a fair bit of mic time from both men essentially, 'I'm just gonna beat the shit outta ya, mate'. Decent.

NXT

Best Match on NXT (18/1/17): Roderick Strong vs Steve Cutler

Starting on the pre-taped side of things now, its NXT! Steve Cutler's back from being a thing for like two weeks a couple months ago and nothing afterwards, this time facing off against a man with a new theme that's a bit better; Roderick Strong. 

It was a fairly standard match in NXT, we've got a guy we want to make look good against one of the less relevant members of the roster. Not a lot to write home about in this one, Cutler did some things amidst Roddy hitting and throwing him quite a bit, but yeah, not much to say really. 

One thing that stuck out to me was that Percy Watson did have an inane comment in this one; 

'Deceptively strong there, Roderick Strong.'

It's in his fucking name, pal, what more do you want? 

Ring of Honour

Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 277): The Rebellion (Caprice Coleman, Kenny King & Rhett Titus) vs Jay White, Lio Rush & Donovan Dijak

Six-Man tag action kicking off the hour this week, with The Rebellion taking on the team of Dijak, Rush and White. 

Just a real snappy, boom-boom-boom type of match this one. We had some regular tagging in and out, keeping things rolling smoothly, even when The Rebellion were pounding on Rush they kept switching it up as to not stagnate anything. 

Dijak was getting involved in all the high flying antics of Rush and White, with the trio pulling off 3 moonsaults all on different sides of the ring, the camerawork making look pretty awesome.

Overall, it was good. Lots of stuff going on to keep you engaged with both teams busting out some high-paced, high-risk manoeuvres to give it a pacy feel. As always, you can watch ROH TV for FREE on both www.rohwrestling.com/tv/current or on the Fite TV app. Next episode should be proper good, with Marty Scurll facing Johnathon Gresham, and a three way between Will Ospreay, KUSHIDA and Dragon Lee!

The Verdict

Best Match of the Week: Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne - Grand Final - WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament

What else? This was a classic match with stellar storytelling and psychology plugged into it, flourishing it with a feel-good moment. I definitely recommend checking this out, the whole tournament too, to anyone interested in British wrestling in the slightest, and even if you aren't, I'm sure you'll come out of it pleasantly surprised.

And with that lot in the books, here's how the leaderboard looks nowadays. Finishing up this instalment, its time for 'The Best Wrestling Quote of the Week'.

'I was born to win an Olympic Gold medal, but I think my destiny was to come here in the WWE and entertain the fans' - Kurt Angle

That's all from me for this week readers, hope you enjoyed not only this post but also your past seven days, and I hope the next seven are equally as good, if not better! I'll catch your ass down the road...