By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

RADICAN’S ROH DVD REVIEW SERIES
“DANIELSON vs. THE WORLD”
BY SEAN RADICAN, TORCH COLUMNIST

ROH’s “Danielson vs. The World” (Daniel Bryan in WWE) features a selection of matches where Bryan Danielson is matched up against international competition in the ROH ring. This release would be a good introduction for anyone that has seen Daniel Bryan in WWE and wants to see what he was all about when he was a top star in ROH. Danielson’s matches featured on this release showcase the different styles of wrestling Danielson excelled at while also giving new fans an idea of how he progressed as a performer during his ROH career.

The DVD begins with a pair of matches from 2002 when ROH was just getting started as a company with a reputation of putting on great matches. Danielson is matched up with Doug Williams in the first two matches on the release and although the matches are good, they aren’t particularly memorable. One thing that stands out is the mat wrestling between these two. Williams wins the first encounter, so they go to a second encounter several months later in a 30 minute Iron Man match. The first 15 minutes of the Iron Man match feature more solid mat wrestling. I never thought Danielson was in any danger of losing the match after going up 1-0 with around 10 minutes remaining as both men picked up the pace exchanging strikes and big moves.

The action then moves to 2006 as ROH began to bring in wrestlers from Japan on a regular basis, the best being KENTA from the NOAH promotion in Japan. ROH worked closely with Japanese promotions NOAH and Dragon Gate during this time. KENTA stood out as a bad man you wouldn’t want to face in the ring and his match with Danielson at “Glory By Honor V: Night 2” was set up nicely at “In Your Face.” At the time Danielson was the ROH World Champion in the midst of one of the best title reigns in the history of the company. KENTA’s charisma and believability in the ring was showcased in a Non-Title Triple Threat match against Danielson and Samoa Joe in one of the more underrated matches in ROH history.

KENTA gets the win setting up a match with Danielson for the ROH World Title in front of a red hot crowd in Manhattan at “Glory By Honor V: Night 2.” The fans carry the match and the believability that KENTA might end Danielson’s reign was present. The standout exchange is KENTA escaping Danielson’s signature cattle mutilation submission and hitting the Go 2 Sleep for a nearfall. The crowd heat gets better and better down the stretch until Danielson finally finishes KENTA off with a series of elbows to the head followed by cattle mutilation for the submission win.

The real treasure on this release is Danielson’s entire feud with Japanese Super Hvt. Takeshi Morishima, who also came to ROH from the NOAH promotion in Japan. The feuded began in 2007 and didn’t end until “Final Battle 2008.” Danielson and Morishima had a series of brutal matches that eventually built to a Fight Without Honor match at “Final Battle 2008.” These matches were very different from the other matches included on this release, as they were all full-blown wars between these two men.

Morishima, the ROH World Champion at the time, comes across like an absolute beast during his first encounter with Bryan Danielson at “Manhattan Mayhem II.” He dominates the action and breaks Danielson’s orbital bone with a brutal strike during the early stages of the match. Danielson mounts a comeback and shows the fire in the ring that sparked so many crowds during his run in ROH. Morishima takes the first match with a backdrop driver, despite Danielson’s gutsy effort in the ring.

The feud resumed the next month at the “Man Up” PPV. The story going into the match was that Morishima promised not to go after Danielson’s injured eye. This time around, Danielson is ready for Morishima’s brutal offense and the match was a back and forth encounter. One of the things that really stood out here was that Danielson’s selling made Morishima come across like an absolute beast in the ring. Although the next three matches between these two were shorter, they played an important part in building to their Fight Without Honor match.

Morishima drew the ire of the ROH fans when he attacked Danielson’s eye after promising not to at “Man Up” 2007. In the next match, Danielson got DQ’d after shoving the ref when the ref was trying to prevent him from giving Morishima repeated kicks to the groin as he held his arm. In their fourth encounter at “Rising Above 2007,” the issue exploded after Morishima returned the favor at the end of a short match and shoved the ref after the ref tried to stop him from kicking Danielson repeatedly in the groin. Danielson eventually recovered after the match ended and went after Morishima’s eye with the bell hammer, as he tried to do the same damage to Morishima’s eye that Morishima had caused to his eye at “Manhattan Mayhem 2.”

Danielson and Morishima were kept apart for nearly a year before their blow off match at “Final Battle 2008.” The DVD includes the original highlight package that set up their blow off and it was a really well-done video to set the stage for this huge encounter.

The blow off match is the most brutal encounter of all of the matches Danielson and Morishima had with each other. The match was well-designed and played off of their previous matches. Danielson goes after Morishima right away with the bell hammer. Morishima then mounts a comeback and tosses Danielson head-first into the barricade that busts him open. They have some amazing exchanges and a chain gets involved as they trade spots based on their previous encounters. Even the nearfalls can be traced back to the previous matches. This was a great match and just as good if not better than their first encounter.

The match selection for this release overall is really good. There are a number of matches at the four star level. Danielson-Shiozaki from “Live in Tokyo” and Danielson vs. Marufuji are both excellent matches that are well-worth checking out. Although it was short, Danielson vs. SUWA from “Anarchy in the UK” is a heck of a little match.

There are only of handful of matches that lost my interest. Danielson vs. PAC from “Caged Rage” is average at best. Danielson & CIMA & Marufuji vs. Richards & Romero & Mochizuki brought back bad memories from the Faction Warfare era in ROH. Other than that, this release is filled with very good matches that mostly showcase Danielson’s ability to wrestle a variety of different styles against competition from NOAH.

Overall thoughts: (9.0) – Danielson’s feuds with KENTA and Morishima are worth the price of admission alone here. You get two really good matches featuring Danielson and KENTA facing off, although one is a Triple Threat match with Samoa Joe thrown in the mix. One of my favorite feuds in ROH history is Danielson vs. Morishima. Their matches were different from anything else ROH was doing at the time. Morishima and Danielson engaged in several hard-hitting wars in the ring and Danielson made Morishima look like a beast in the ring. This feud is well-worth checking out if you haven’t seen these matches before.

The rest of this release features a number of really good matches with Danielson engaging in some fantastic matches with talent from NOAH. I really enjoyed Danielson’s singles encounters with SUWA, Shiozaki, and Marufuji. Danielson’s matches against Kanemaru and Nakajima are also well-worth checking out.

ROH is putting out some really strong best-of releases and this one is a gem. If you’ve only seen Danielson in WWE as Daniel Bryan this a good introduction to his in-ring work in ROH. If you followed Danielson during his independent days, this is still worth owning, as it’s nice to have these matches all in one place.

You can purchase “Danielson vs. The World” at ROHWrestling.com

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