Last week, Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins had a great match on RAW. It was their first RAW match, but it wasn’t the first time those two guys had a one-on-one match. Bryan and Rollins are both former Ring of Honor wrestlers. Daniel Bryan was Bryan Danielson and Seth Rollins was Tyler Black. I did some research and it looks like there were six Danielson vs. Black ROH matches. It’s possible that they had more than six matches, but if they did, I didn’t find them. Three of them were on HDNet and the other three were Pay-Per-View matches. I’ll explain how I picked the match I’m reviewing. I didn’t want to review one of the TV matches so that cut the list down to three. Ring of Honor released the Southern Navigation match on YouTube right after the RAW match and I decided I didn’t want to review that match. That left two matches which were the Breakout match and the New Horizons match. I have the Breakout match on DVD and I was going to review that match, but I couldn’t find a link for it so other people could watch the match. I found a link for the New Horizons match so I decided that would be the Danielson-Black match I was going to review.

The Facts:

  • The Ring of Honor New Horizons event happened at the Michigan State Fairgrounds and Expo Center in Detroit, Michigan.
  • This match was first aired on September 26, 2008.
  • Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black are 2 out of 8 Ring of Honor wrestlers that held the ROH World Championship for more than 200 days.
  • Daniel Bryan was asked by RVA Magazine to compare wrestling with Seth Rollins in Ring of Honor and WWE. The interview was published a few days before the Bryan vs. Rollins match on RAW. Bryan said, “Well, I think we’ve both evolved as wrestlers, in some ways good and in some ways bad, but a big difference is the crowd. It’s way different wrestling in front of 500-700 people than it is wrestling in front of thousands of people, you know? Unfortunately we haven’t had a singles match yet, but I would love to be able to wrestle Seth Rollins in a singles match and really show people what we can do.”
  • Dave Prazak, Lenny Leonard and Nigel McGuinness were the announcers during this match.
  • The time length of the match was 24:30.
  • The match can be watched at http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xw6nm1_bryan-danielson-vs-tyler-black-roh-new-horizons-2008_sport#.UcTimJzgxvA.

The Match:

Before the bell rings, the fans chant “You’re gonna get your fucking head kicked in.” Black attacks Danielson before the match officially starts. Then Black chokes him with Danielson’s robe. Black kicks Danielson in the corner. Black whips Danielson into the ropes and Danielson slides underneath Black. Danielson blocks a kick and does a dragon screw leg whip. Danielson works on Black’s arm and Black fights out of it. Black gets a pin attempt and Danielson kicks out. Black works on Danielson’s arm. Danielson hits Black with a dropkick. Danielson is hitting Black with kicks to the back. These are the kind of kicks I see Danielson do all the time in WWE. Danielson covers Black and Black kicks out. Danielson has a submission hold on Black’s leg and it looks very painful! I don’t think legs are supposed to bend like that. The bottom of Black’s foot is nearly touching his elbow!  Now Danielson has a different submission hold on Black’s legs. Danielson gets Black in a pin position and Black kicks out. Black gets Danielson into the corner and drives his shoulder into Danielson’s mid-section. Danielson fights out of the corner. Danielson is working on Black’s arm and he bends Black’s fingers backwards. Danielson stomps on the elbow. Danielson does a suplex that turns into the cross armbreaker. Black gets out of the cross armbreaker. Danielson kicks Black and twists Black’s arm. The submission holds Danielson is doing in this match are very unique looking. It is said many times on WWE TV that Danielson knows 1,000 holds and this match is proving that Danielson knows a lot of different holds. Black’s shoulders are down and Black kicks out at two. The fans chant “This is wrestling”. Danielson has Black in another submission hold. Black gets out of it by shoving Danielson into the ropes. Danielson knocks Black down with a shoulder block. Black blocks a suplex. Danielson lifts Black onto the ring apron and then Black lifts Danielson onto the ring apron. Danielson gets knocked down and he falls to the floor. Black drops to the floor and his right foot lands on Danielson’s head. Danielson is thrown into the guardrail. Danielson is thrown back into the ring and works on Danielson’s neck by putting it against the ring post. Danielson sells the pain by grabbing the back of his neck.

Black covers Danielson in the middle of the ring and Danielson kicks out. Black is punching Danielson’s head and gets a near-fall. Black uses the ropes to choke Danielson. Black hits Danielson with punches to the head. Danielson fights back. Black puts Danielson in a sleeper hold. Danielson fights out and Black hits him with a leg lariat. Danielson kicks out of a pin attempt. Black is focusing on Danielson’s neck. Neckbreaker by Black gets a near-fall. Danielson hits Black with kicks and knocks Black down with a dropkick. Running forearm strike by Danielson in the corner. Danielson knocks Black down and hits him with a hard kick to the back. Cover by Danielson and Black kicks out. Black whips Danielson into the ropes and Danielson knocks Black down. Missile dropkick by Danielson off the top rope. Black rolls out of the ring. Danielson suicide dives out of the ring and Black avoids him! Black goes to the top turnbuckle and moonsaults to the floor onto Danielson! Black throws Danielson into the ring. Black springboards into the ring and hits Danielson. Black covers Danielson and gets a two count. Neckbreaker by Black gets a two count. Black slaps Danielson in the corner. Black charges at the corner and Danielson kicks him in the face. Flying knee strike by Danielson gets a two count. Cattle Mutilation by Danielson! Black gets his foot on the bottom rope and Danielson has to release the submission hold. Danielson tells the referee, “I have till five!” Danielson slaps Black a few times. He slaps Black one more time. Danielson goes for the tiger suplex. Black lands on his feet. Black hits Danielson with a hurricanrana. Danielson turns it into a pin attempt! Black kicks out at two and covers Danielson. Two count and now Danielson is covering Black. Kick out and Black turns it into another pin attempt. Danielson kicks out! Great sequence of moves after the tiger suplex! Danielson rolls up Black and Black kicks out. Black has Danielson in a sleeper. Danielson gets to his feet and is able to push Black into the ropes. Danielson puts a sleeper hold on Black and turns that into a cross armbreaker hold. Now Danielson has Black in the triangle choke! Black lifts Danielson with the choke still applied! Danielson is thrown into the corner and the top turnbuckle breaks! Danielson’s body broke the ring! Wow! With no top turnbuckle, most of the top rope is now on the mat and is being held up by three turnbuckles instead of four. Danielson and Black hit each other with forearms. Black hits Danielson with a kick. It looks like he hit the back of Danielson’s head. Danielson is whipped into the corner. Danielson flips off the turnbuckles and Black catches him. Black gets him in a fireman’s carry and drops him. That move looked like Brock Lesnar’s F5. Black hits Danielson with a super kick! Danielson kicks out of a pin attempt! Small package driver by Black! Danielson kicks out at two! The crowd starts a “This is awesome” chant. Black and Danielson exchange forearm shots. Danielson hits Black with several open hand slaps! Elbow strikes by Danielson to Black’s head! The referee ends the match and Danielson is the winner!

Winner: Bryan Danielson

Rating: ****1/4

Great match. It wasn’t the best Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan match I have seen, but I liked it more than the Bryan-Rollins match on RAW. There was very good wrestling in this match and it made me hope that someday WWE does a 20 minute Bryan vs. Rollins PPV match. I haven’t seen many Tyler Black/Seth Rollins matches and I was impressed with how Black worked the match. He did a good job focusing on Danielson’s neck during the match. If you liked the Bryan vs. Rollins match, I think you will enjoy this match.

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