[2009-09-04-PWG-Guerre Sans Frontieres] Bryan Danielson vs Chris Hero

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[stomperspc]

The first ten minutes are really enjoyable. Hero and Danielson were arguably the two best US mat workers of the 2000's and the opening minutes demonstrate why. Hero could sometimes be a little "showy" with his mat work, but not here. The mat work is high end as always but it is also logical and progresses. They get to the body of the match in a really enjoyable and effective fashion.

 

The body of the match is the usual stuff one would expect from 2009-era ("Young Knockout Kid") Chris Hero - lots of strikes to the point they lose their effectiveness/credibility as major moves. Bryan takes far more punishment that you'd expect for a guy WWE-bound. He gets cut open when Hero blocks a top rope dive to the floor with a chair. I hate writing this because I feel like I write it all the time (particularly with 2000's-era indie matches) but this went on about ten minutes too long. The last five minutes are very strong but by that point I didn't care as much as I could have because of what preceded it.

 

I've seen this praised as one of the better PWG matches of all time. I haven't seen enough PWG to feel confident weighing in one way or another, but I thought the match was just okay. It was technically sound as can be in terms of execution and the first ten minutes were a ton of fun, but the overly long body dragged it down. I am going to try to watch their Dayton ROH match from two weeks after this which I don't think I've ever seen before. It's shorter and I could see these two having a really strong, compact match in 2009 (which hopefully that one is).

[Childs]

I liked their ROH match better. Also preferred their BOLA match from the year before. I agree this one was overlong and unfocused, despite some great moments.

[Loss]

I was already to go over the moon for this based on how it built in the opening 10-15 minutes. That was some great matwork, and the intensity and frustration on both sides was palpable. But overall, they took a few detours that took this down a few pegs for me. I'm not a fan of yay-boo strike exchanges at all, which was a lot of the final stretch. I'm also not a fan of the adrenaline rush where wrestlers are impervious to suplexes, and there was a lot of that. It's a shame, because they were building a classic in many ways, and it was cool to see both guys in with someone at their level. This came together as a great match at the end but it was building into something a lot more special than that, and that never quite came to pass. Sometimes I think matches that hover around this level are good matches that overachieve, but this was a would-be classic that fell short. ****

[cactus]

The opening matwork is the kind I like. It didn't look like synchronized swimming. It keep my attention and I was intrigued to see what hold would follow in the transitions. The story of Hero wanting to concuss Danielson led to a generous serving of stiff elbows, and boy were they stiff. He controlled Danielson by laying him out with a nasty elbow whenever he tried to fight back. This really put the crowd behind Danielson and sent a nice amount of heat in Hero's direction. They did end up a tad overused, making them feel not as dangerous as they were during the earlier portions of the match. Still Danielson being the fantastic babyface that he is, this didn't matter too much in the grand scheme of things.

 

Best PWG match ever? I could see that.

 

★★★★¾

[SmartMark15]

I agree that this was unfocused. Definitely one of Bryan's most maximalist efforts (take note I've yet to see many of his 40+ minute matches) as he and Hero really draw on their own influences and wear it on their sleeves here. Their love for European style wrestling with the opening mat work, the King's Road influences with the big suplexes, the dramatic indieriffic moments of Bryan getting busted off a dive to the outside. But the thing, is Bryan's just such a good wrestler that his performance in each disjointed section is just excellent. They feel like stitched together segments from different matches, but they're all very good segments on their own. That being said, there's so much more good than bad in this match. It's very much Bryan and Chris's take on a big epic formula and it delivers more than it doesn't. Bryan's selling in particular and his babyface body language does a lot to drive the narrative forward and give it weight. 

****1/2

[EnviousStupid]

I'm starting to see a pattern of Bryan forgoing damage and selling to an extent for the sake of more epic back-and-forth exchanges and sequences. For example, in this match we see Bryan dive off the top rope to the outside and his head collides with a chair. The result initially is him being busted open and barely able to make it back into the ring before the count. Hero works over the head somewhat afterwards, but it gradually dissipates and Bryan does get back ahead by the finishing stretch, no longer showing signs of damage that relates to the aforementioned spot. I don't think it hinders the quality of the match however, and that's more to do with Bryan's dynamic with certain opponents; like in his match with Nigel at ROH Driven, Bryan acts as a measuring stick for other wrestlers to reach. It's about them testing and proving themselves against who, at the time, was accepted as the best wrestler in the world, and so the story of the match isn't as reliant on Bryan showing vulnerability in his performance. Here, Hero is PWG champion, but still a distant 2nd to the American Dragon, even in the eyes of PWG's own audience. What the match gets right is really impressive, but something like that is worth criticizing Bryan for.

[ohtani's jacket]

I like this look for Hero. I'm used to watching him clean shaven, wearing the blue Superman t-shirt. I don't know who originated this look on the indies, but he reminds me of Steve Corino. Danielson looks like Luke Skywalker with a beard.

I've seen a lot of comments about this being unfocused. It's true that they move from one section to the other, starting with what some folks would call a matwork section (to me it was more holds than matwork), then potato shots, big moves and strikes. I've never wrestled a match, but I imagine it's easier to break it down into sections in your head. You run the risk of telegraphing things for fans who've been around the block a few times, but I'm willing to cut them a little slack. The strikes weren't as popular among reviewers as the early mat portions, but I really liked the ear shots. I wish more wrestlers would take a page out of Hero's playbook and mess with a guy's ears. It's better than the twisty shit he does on simple moves. I get why wrestlers like to get a little showy with moves, but if you're a big guy just drop an elbow or knee. You'll get more mileage out of it in the long run. 

The size difference bothered me early on. I kept thinking that Hero should just beat the crap out of Danielson, so I was actually happy to see Danielson crank thing up. The two things Danielson had going for him here were high impact strikes and nasty looking submissions. The best in the world shit drives me crazy. I know it's a gimmick, but the fans are so slavish about it. You're wrestling in front of a 100 fans. You're not the best in the world. You're the best indy worker to make tape. Still, everybody takes that shit seriously. The whole story revolves around Hero having to prove that he's better than Danielson even though he's the champ. It's too bad they deliver a regular sort of bout instead of a match for the ages. Regular Hero/Danielson isn't bad, but can't live up to the hype. I liked this moment-to-moment, and I thought the finish was cool, but I dunno what they smoke on cagematch to rate this so high. Whatever it is, it must be the best in the world.