[2002-12-07-ROH-Night of the Butcher] American Dragon vs Paul London

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[supersonic]

 

ROH Title Shot Match

Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson

A tremendous match that likely would been better if they didn't have qualifier matches earlier on the show. The All Star Extravaganza match Danielson had with Styles was the first glimpse in him being aggressive. This was his first display of actual frustration, and a sign of things to come much later down the road. London also showed that he could be the 21st Century Ricky Morton quite well, and I'd say he rivaled Rey Mysterio at the time for that role. Even though I didn't watch the qualifiers, I could see the psychology coming through from them, and everything led quite beautifully to the finish. The post-match was the icing on the cake for this classic, clearly explaining the simple story these two told throughout the contest.

Rating: ****1/4

[ShittyLittleBoots]

They are pretty even in the early going, but once Dragon gets the control, he sure doesn't give it up easily. He beats the brakes out of London, and it certainly is a winning dynamic with these two, because London was such a great FIP & Bryan destroying fools is always superb. Bryan is a mean motherfucker throughout, and London matches that intensity in his fiery comeback bursts, and it all culminates in that big finishing stretch where Bryan climbs up to the ropes over & over again, making London truly work if he wanted to put him down, which he eventually does. Great build-up to that finish, and a truly great match. ****

[ohtani's jacket]

God, I hate the commentary on these ROH matches. They rehash  the same talking points over and over again, that is when they're not busy shilling ROH. This is the first time for me to see a Paul London match, though I've heard of him before. Without knowing anything about him, he comes across as a CAW where you add whatever move set you feel like. That may be grossly unfair, but it felt like the dude knew way too many moves. Danielson is frustrated about not breaking through to the top of ROH (I know this because the commentators told me so.) He takes a more aggressive approach against London than the commentators have seen from him so far in ROH, but it's more of ode to pissed off and frustrated Bret Hart than anything full blown. The finish was cool. I loved their fight on the top ropes. I can do without the post-match, but ROH was big on the handshaking thing. Good match.