Nigel McGuinness vs. Takeshi Morishima

[7.0] "[3. 50*] Really good stuff in the first half but lost track in the second. For all the arm work they do on Nigel his arm sure feels fine as he goes for his 20th lariat. The last 2 minutes made zero sense either. Morishima was great and this whole match was intense with again a foundation for an incredible match."

[8.0] "Very good way to end their trilogy. With Morishima being far more dominant in this match compared to their previous matches, which were more back-and-forth between the two. It allowed Nigel to play as the stubborn underdog who refuses to be put down 'til death. The finish is hype as hell, and Nigel winning was lovely. And the post-match was also great, with Danielson doing his best to ruin Nigel's big moment. Probably my favorite match of theirs."

[8.0] "[****] Perfectly good match to end Morishima's big run as ROH World Champion. The match is slow and pretty average at the start, nothing too great happens. Nigel keeps trying to hit that jawbreaker lariat, which gets old quick. Morishima's work on Nigel's arm is nice, but Nigel just walks it off. Despite these complaints, the lariats hit by Nigel & Morishima are heavy and somewhat desperate by both men. One of the best parts of the match is the Nigel finally hitting the lariat, only for Morishima to kick out at one.. then he hits another one and.. boom. three count. ROH Crowd bump as they go crazy like always."

[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] "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."