[2000-06-17-WCW-Worldwide] Chris Candido vs Christopher Daniels

[ChosenOne]

Candido controls the arm of Daniels following a knee lift to the midsection. Daniels comes off the ropes and soon takes Candido down with a headlock, but his advantage isn't very long. Daniels does the move again and this time controls Candido for a few moments. Candido backs Daniels into the corner and continues to work over Daniels with strikes. Daniels sends Candido into the corner and Candido flips over the top to the floor. Daniels goes to the floor and slams Candido face first onto the apron. Daniels takes Candido out with a moonsault to the floor! Candido low blows Daniels but misses a chair shot. Daniels doesn't miss a chair shot over the head! Daniels misses a clothesline in the ring but Candido hits a spine buster for a near fall. Candido lifts Daniels up and connects with a delayed vertical suplex. Candido comes off the middle rope to hit a leg drop for a two count. Daniels manages to take Candido over with a hurricanrana and hit the Best Moonsault Ever, but can’t make the cover! They trade a few strikes until Daniels backdrops Candido followed by a dropkick. Daniels boots Candido in the corner and attempted a tornado DDT but Candido countered with a northern lights suplex. Daniels plants Candido with the Angels Wings! Daniels follows up with the Last Rites but Candido gets his boot on the bottom rope. Candido hits a sit down piledriver and signals for the end. Candido goes to the top and hits the diving head butt for the win. (***1/4. That had to have been the tryout match for Daniels. He literally got all his stuff in and it’s the most competitive match for unknowns thus far. How Daniels didn't get a regular role in WCW following this match is baffling to me, honestly. This was a really fun match.)

[soup23]

This was a fun match and a good showcase for Daniels. Candido bumps well for him and Daniels throws all of his high impact moves into the match and they flow well enough. We get to see the moonsault and the Angels Wings. Hudson does a good job on commentary pushing Daniels as well. The transition back to Candido is good and he ends up winning the match with a nice aerial move of his own. *** (5.8)

[cheapshot]

I was confused who was playing heel and face in this match, nevertheless it was a fun TV match that was action packed. The moonsault landing was a little clunky regarding the sell, however that's a minor quibble. The commentators put both guys over well in this. **3/4

[GSR]

Great fast paced opening ending with Daniels finally getting the better of things with a side headlock takedown. Candido backs him into the corner, but no clean break as he forearms him in the mid-section. Daniels reverses the whip to the corner and Candido goes flying over the turnbuckle and to the outside. Arabian moonsault and he then levels Candido with a steel chair. The action returns inside and Daniels with a back elbow, however Candido counters his next attack with a high slam to the canvas which gets him a two. Awesome delayed vertical suplex. Legdrop off the middle for two as Daniels kicks out. My version of the match is clipped, and returns just as Daniels hits a top rope frankensteiner. ‘Best Moonsault Ever’ from the opposite corner, but he ‘winds himself’ on the landing. They trade rights and Daniels with a one footed dropkick. Tornado DDT is blocked and Candido counters with a Northern Lights suplex for another near fall. Daniels ducks an enziguiri and hits the ‘Angel’s Wings’, however he plays to the crowd instead of making the cover. ‘Roll the Dice’, this time he does make it, but Candido is too close to the ropes and is able to get his foot over them. Irish whip, Candido is able to float over and a sit down tombstone piledriver (Rikishi Driver). Diving headbutt off the top and he gets the three.

 

I was surprised at how much offense Daniels got in here and they also put him over well in commentary. If it was his try-out, you do wonder how why on earth WCW passed on him, but at the same time, where would he have fit in in the promotion at this point of 2000? Remember that Daffney was the cruiserweight champion less than a fortnight before this so that shows how serious they are taking that belt. If they were still producing a Saturday Night show he would have absolutely worked there, but unfortunately for him they weren’t. Good stuff mind.

[Migs]

Daniels really got caught in the middle here - he got cracks at WCW and ECW, but at times when they were starting to collapse, and the only real national exposure he ever got in his prime was TNA (which wasn't really national until about 5 years after this). But his work was really of this moment - the fluidity and the high spots combined with the so-so character work. Feels like if he'd gotten into WCW even a year before this, he might have a very different place in wrestling history.

[Calvin]

Fun showcase for Daniels. Candido bumps hard for him, too. This degenerates into a robotic back-and-forth rather quickly, though, but luckily this is only a 5-ish minute match.

**1/2