Yes, it's ROH's lynchpin vs. WWE's; the best wrestler in the world vs. the most profitable; a really tan guy vs. a really pale guy; the American Dragon vs. the Doctor of Thuganomics; the-- you can already see it's Danielson vs. Cena, right?
This is from early 2003, as made clear due to the fact that Cena is still on Velocity, Edge is still feuding with A-Train (who have taken very divergent paths since this happened), and the Cat is still employed and doing commentary. I can't believe he was so bad here when I liked him so much in WCW. Of course, it's hard to believe I was watching WCW at a point when he was one of its biggest stars.
Cena's sporting some canary yellow pants, instead of his trademark jean shorts. Or anything else that doesn't make me naseous. He also has music that predates his original rap entrance, the one he used before "My Time is Now." That was actually a better song, but lacked the cool horns. Or being on an entire album of Cena rap songs. Danielson is basically a generic jobber in white trunks. I assume he didn't get an entrance because, you know, he was a generic jobber.
They do some stuff with the arm and that goes on a bit. Apparently Cena had called out Brock Lesnar by this point. Man, I bet they wish they could do that match today. Also apparently, Danielson had been on Smackdown at this point. Cena charges after the arm work and gets drop toe held (toe holded?), and we go back to the arm. Top wristlock, called by Josh Matthews. No ownder he never caught on. Still on the damn arm, then a knuckle lock, and they work on that on the mat, and Danielson impresses the Cat with his strength. Danielson monkey flips out of that, but Cena counters with a nasty clothesline, with Danielson adding a flip to make it look really impressive, in the style of his trainer Shawn Michaels. Kick, forearm, and hard Irish Whip in short order, and then he adds a back elbow. It gets two. Bearhug, because that's what you need in a four minute match, but Danielson gets out, goes to a standing switch, and hits an enizguri to the shoulder, and then some European Uppercuts and a running knee to the gut. The commentators are plugging Rock/Hogan 2, which wound up unleashing Sylvan Grenier on an unsuspecting world. Kick to the back gets a near fall. Well, near-ish. Whip to the corner, but Cena gets the boot up on a blind charge and hits the spin out powerbomb to pick up the win, proving once and for all that he's better Danielson.
Might as well review Danielson vs. fellow future ROH Champ Jamie Noble, too, since it's right here. Or Jaime, as he's indentified here. I'll just give you the link instead of imbedding this one. Jamie makes out with Nidia to start. It's kind of sad that her career went downhill after she left this role. The Cat is going to bet all his money on Big Show in the Royal Rumble. I hope Bischoff let him sleep on his couch after that. Noble is apparently wearing Cena's jean shorts, while Danielson is sporting slightly longer hair with his generic trunks. I have no idea why I'm describing how they look when you can watch the matches. Or why I'm doing the post at all in that light.
Collar and elbow tie up to start. Noble grabs the arm off a standing switch and takes him to the mat with a headscissors. Danielson reverses out of that to a bow and arrow kinda thing for two. Knuckle lock, but Noble goes to the arm. Danielson rolls around, but Noble stays in control. Danielson uses a judo throw to get out of that. Given the commentary istalking about the Rumble (and Al Wilson's wake), this took place before the Cena match. Headlock on the mat and then they stand up. They trade collar and elbow tie ups and then Noble slams him. Knuckle lock gets one count. Noble with a Northern Lights suplex. Still in the knucklelock and Danielson uses some headbutts. Stiff running kick to the back gets two. Chops and a pair of stiff kicks for Danielson, but Noble blocks a third and comes back with some forearms and drop toe hold in to the bottom rope. Clubbering leads to a backdrop suplex gets two. Chokeout on the middle rope and Noble follows with the rope straddle Big Bossman used to use, God rest his soul. Nidea adds a kick, and that gets two. Straightjacket sleeper is your resthold, and it's a cool as far as restholds go. Lots of Benoit talk, as this was the night before he had a 5 star classic with Kurt Angle. Sunset flip by Danielson leads to some pinning combos and near falls. The video needs tracking as Noble hits a running knee on a charging Danielson. Headlock slows things down. They get to their feat, and Danielson gets a European Uppercut and Benoit-esque elbow thing to come down. Whip and charging elbow in the corner, but Danielson runs in to a powerslam for two. Cool running flip off the turnbuckle to counter a whip by Danielson, which puts him behind Noble. They fight over the switch a bit, but Danielson wins with a roaring elbow (called by Matthews!) and he gets a german with a bridge for two, which no one seems to do anymore. Danielson flips over in the middle of the count, which is weird. Maybe he was trying to do the roll up variation I've only seen in video games. Danielson goes for a Trish-esque high kick (hey, she's my base of reference here) but misses, but he's able to throw Noble off a tiger bomb attempt anyway. Roaring elbow attempt ducked and Noble gets a swinging neckbreaker for the pin. Okay. Never fear, Danielson would get the win back a few years later, and win a belt in the process. I'll be covering more youtube matches in the future, if for no other reason than that it's the only way I can watch indie stuff. And apparently there's a Danielson/X-Pac match out there. That should be worth watching, in all its bootleg glory.
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