Nigel McGuinness vs. Takeshi Morishima

[7.0] "Okay, this probably will need some good explanation. The match is pretty good, okay, and Nigel getting the belt with a eruption from the crowd is, honestly, lovely. Can make a grow man cry, for sure. He was finally rewarded with the big prize he fucking gave his blood to get, finally the fan favorite, one of the best wrestlers of all time, did it. He is the champion. So, what is the problem at all? The atmosphere was...strange. First of all, the commentary desk didn't made a strong act to make you care about the ring action and the importance of this. It was like everyone knew how important this was except ROH. Didn't had a proper build and didn't had the best match style to corelate with his victory. Still a unforgetable moment but the match didn't helped to create this thought about the match. However, the post match with all the wrestlers coming to celebrate with Nigel and Bryan almost ruining his moment, man, it was so good. Don't acrescent at anything in my rating because this was a post match angle, but keep that in mind when I return to the Bryan matches with Morishima."

[9.0] "Nigel McGuinness is a wrestler that I feel to this day flies under a lot of people's radar when looking back at old matches and great wrestlers from earlier times. Nigel wrestles in a way that almost seems scarce in modern wrestling with a believable, hard hitting, technical style. His matches have steady yet quality builds where the term "wrestling psychology" actually applies. As for Morishima he's a fucking beast. I love a big man that just beats the shit out of you and seems indomitable and Morishima achieves this with ease. As a champion, Morishima simply can't be put down. Try as other wrestlers might, an unwavering force can't be beaten by simple talent. However, what happens when such a force is met with pure will? What happens when the indomitable giant meets indomitable determination. Nigel wrestles his ass off, attacking Morishima's limbs and striking him trying to weaken him with anything he can. His lariats strike the fucking heavens with a force I rarely see in any matches. Morishima eventually recognizes Nigel as a worthy challenger beating the shit out of him with stiff forearms and nearly knocking him out. However, Nigel won't be broken. Haven been embarrassed by Danielson on several an occasion, Nigel's journey to the world title was filled with trials and tribulations testing his will. Yet against possibly the most dominant ROH champion at the time, he fought on. The last stretch of this match is absolutely electric with a roaring crowd nearly drowned out by the thunders slaps and strikes both were delivering to the other. Ultimately, in this striking exchange the fire of determination refuses to give in, Nigel hits the ropes, spins back, and lays Morishima the fuck out for the 3 count and finally achieves his dream. And after all of that? Danielson, his greatest enemy, won't even let him have that moment, interrupting the celebration, brilliantly continuing one of my favourite rivalries of all time. ****1/4"

[9.0] "An incredibly physical and brutal match that was the pay off to a multi year story of McGuinness never winning the big one. And here he FINALLY did it to an absolutely amazing pop. Nigel earned it with an amazing performance in a fantastic match that looked like it really hurt more than anything. A great showing. Not McGuiness or Morishima's best matches by any means, but still a very important and emtoional climax to a lovely story."

[5.0] "Unfortunately their weakest match together. The story of the previous matches being Nigel's reliance on the lariats and then doing almost exclusively lariats in this one is a weird way for it to go. Morishima targets the arm for the first time here too and it does not go anywhere, Nigel never registers it and it's a total mute point just to seemingly fill time which is even more odd when this is much shorter than their previous matches. Some egregious "fighting spirit" spots too with Nigel no-selling the backdrop and Morishima kicking out at 1 of the lariat. Still some nice stuff though with the sunset flip attempts paying off with Nigel hitting it here and it's impossible not to feel so happy for Nigel winning the big one here. Just wish the journey was as satisfying as the destination."

[7.0] "I thought this was a bit disappointing and the weakest match in the trilogy. It felt like a strange companion piece to their match at Live in Tokyo, where Nigel relying too heavily on lariats proved to be an unsuccessful strategy. It felt strange to me to have Nigel attempt the exact same strategy with success in their next bout here. Even if Morishima's ineffective new gameplan of working the arm gave a reason why it worked this time, I feel like that is an unsatisfying story as it is more about the champion making an unusual mistake considering he already beat Nigel at this game last time, rather than Nigel being the one to find a new gameplan that would lead him to victory. I think it puts the focus on the wrong man - it becomes Morishima's story instead of Nigel's. The story they went with in this match would have worked better if it came directly after United We Stand, with the Live In Tokyo match not existing at all (even though that was my favourite in the trilogy). I also thought the fighting spirit spots were executed fairly poorly here compared to their other matches (the no sell of the backdrop driver looked particularly goofy and was strangely timed), and the finish didn't really land for me either as Morishima's hip attack barely connected and then he was left standing around too long waiting to be hit with the Rebound Lariat. I liked Nigel succeeding with the Sunset Flip Bomb by hitting it off the top rope instead of the apron (which failed in their last two matches), but unfortunately even this didn't quite work out as Nigel slipped on the landing. While it was obviously still a physical match given who was involved, it didn't even really feel like this was as heavy hitting as their previous two matches. I do still think this was a pretty good main event despite all my gripes, but considering the previous two really exceeded my expectations I thought this was pretty underwhelming by comparison."

[10.0] "Amazing crowd atmosphere like every other ROH title change. Morishima did some pretty great work on Nigel his injured shoulder (lariat shoulder), which is actually surprising cause Morishima never really works on body parts. The closing sequence with the lariats and backtruck drivers was amazing as well. ****1/2"

[8.0] "Morishima feared the lariats (especially the Jawbreaker) so he went after the arm. But working a body part isn’t Mori’s usual approach to a match and ultimately he couldn’t do enough damage. McGuinness knew that he could pin Morishima using his Jawbreaker after beating him with it at United We Stand. He focused on what he knew would be successful (the McLariats) and basically managed to beat Mori at his own game of heavy-hitting, whilst Morishima failed because he tried to adopt Nigel’s approach and work the arm. My biggest criticism was the use of the Jawbreaker for a nearfall. The whole match was built around putting over that move as a devastating finisher. McGuinness spent the whole match going for it, whilst Mori spent the whole match trying to avoid it. It SHOULD have only been used to finish the match. The finish was still exciting of course (it always is when a new ROH Champion is crowned) but I think it would’ve had some extra psychological pay-off had it been the only time the Jawbreaker had been used. Nigel should’ve won the belt sooner, just try to remember that this weekend was initially booked to be in the UK. Imagine the reaction if Nigel, having failed to win the belt in the US and in Morishima’s country, finally won the big one in his own home nation. It would’ve been fantastic pay-off to a good series of matches."