It seems to be me that the prevailing opinion is that Nigel McGuinness‘ famous clash with KENTA in Ring of Honor is considered disappointing.
Fans had been dreaming of the match for years. They were clamouring to see the best the UK and Japan had to offer battling in the ring to see who was the top dog in ROH. It had hype behind it, and had the chance to be one of the best matches of all time.
Could any match live up to the hype?
The match at the ROH 7th Anniversary Show is considered good by most, which is fair. Both Nigel McGuinness and KENTA were sporting injuries and wear-and-tear, which threatened to bring down their performance.
The result was also without question. KENTA got his world title shot just two weeks before ROH’s next pay per view. This is where McGuinness dropped the belt to Jerry Lynn, and it seemed impossible he’d lose the belt so close to the big match.
Additionally, KENTA wasn’t a ROH wrestler. He was the GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion in his third reign a the time of the bout.
The future Hideo Itami (remember that) was a semi-regular guest in ROH at this time.
While he was arguably at his peak as a wrestler, ROH weren’t going to put their belt on a foreign star who wouldn’t be sticking around, reliably, long-term.
Nobody walked into the building thinking that KENTA was walking out as champion. Nigel McGuinness reign had been so long, so bogged down with injuries that lesser men would have succumbed to, that it couldn’t end anywhere but on pay per view.
The result of the match was unquestionable, but the performance in the ring seem to have got people down. Handwerk Reviews called it “exactly as good as it could have been under these circumstances”. One Cagematch user called it “sort of dull”, while numerous reviewers bemoaned its lack of psychology and story.
However, I think they’re all wrong.
I think the match is a five-star classic.
Here’s why.
How Injuries Shaped Nigel McGuinness vs KENTA
Injuries plagued Nigel McGuinness in his 38th ROH Championship defence, against KENTA. His right bicep injury—the one that cost him the opportunity to sign for the WWE— was well known, and had been worked around for months.
In fact, he tore his right bicep at the end of 2007. This was nearly a year-and-a-half before the clash with KENTA, and encompassed almost the entirety of his title reign.
This only made his near-two year reign with the belt even more impressive. While the quality of his defences had dipped in the previous six months, his resilience was something to be admired.
The 37 title defences prior to this match managed to build up the legend of McGuinness in ROH, and placed him among the top champions in the company’s history.
However, disaster struck the night before this dream match.
McGuinness injured his left bicep in a tag team match aimed at building the story for this title defence. Instead, it put the match in jeopardy, and threatened Nigel’s chance of defending the belt against Jerry Lynn at Supercard of Honor IV.
Many wrestlers would have pulled out of the match with KENTA, especially with a PPV coming so soon after. Most of them would have vacated the title and spent months on the shelf, recovering from the horrendous injuries.
However, Nigel McGuinness wasn’t “most wrestlers”. He had worked for the past year through one bicep tear, so what was another. Just for one or two more matches, at least.
Luckily, the arm injuries only made the match better.
They Built The Match Around His Arm Injury
Some may claim that injuries hampered Nigel McGuinness’ clash with KENTA.
I think that is nonsense. It made the match even better.
The hype for the match was enormous, and it was certain to be a match of the year candidate. But you knew exactly how the match was going to go. It would be a fast-paced, all-action wrestling match, with some amazing counters and hard-hitting action.
That would have been amazing, and I wish we’d have seen that in a potential rematch.
But having Nigel McGuinness have very little use of his arms forced them to work a much different, much more thoughtful match.
They managed it, and it was great.
The opening of Nigel McGuinness vs KENTA showed how the rest of the match would go. KENTA overpowered the larger man, pushing him into the ropes and delivering a thunderous slap.
McGuinness returned the favour. However, he wasn’t quick enough, and KENTA simply ducked and levied him with another ferocious hit to the face. Nigel looked shocked, and in pain. His body was failing him, and he was just seconds into this war.
His usual offense of hitting lariat after lariat was wholely ineffective. The power and speed in his arms were gone, thanks to a pair of torn biceps. KENTA dodged each one, responding with sharp kicks to the upper arm which had McGuinness weeping on the mat.
What followed was, and I wont mince my words here – KENTA kicking the shit out of Nigel McGuinness’ arms.
The Japanese star didn’t hold back. He laid kick after kick after kick straight into the freshly-torn bicep of the ROH Champion.
Apparently, nobody told them that wrestling wasn’t real, and that maybe they should go easy.
KENTA targetted the torn bicep—mainly the newly-injured left one—for the entirety of the match. While his GTS finisher targeted the head. Targetting such a blatant weak spot was an obvious choice that added an entirely new dimension to the match.
It forced the pair to abandon plans of a no-nonsense spot fest, and dig deep into crafting a story, not just built around Nigel McGuinness limitations, but embracing them wholesale.
Nigel McGuinness Put His Body On The Line To Beat KENTA
With almost no use of his arms, it took McGuinness a good five minutes to get any kind of offense in on KENTA.
After taking an ungodly amount of kicks to his arm, he managed to duck out the way and out of the ring. This was the first of so, so many Tower of London moves that he hit during the match.
(The “Tower of London” is one of Nigel McGuinness’ signature moves. It is effectively a cutter/RKO, but where the opponent is dangling from the top rope, or other elevated surfaces).
The first Tower of London he managed to hit was on the outside. He draped KENTA on the apron, but the force of his crashing down onto McGuinness should only worsened the state of his arms.
You could literally see Nigel McGuinness crying with every move he hit, or was hit by, in this match.
He genuinely cannot use his arms for 99% of this match. He manages to get on top with some kick-based attacks, playing KENTA at his own game.
They even do the classic Boo/Yay punching back-and-forth spot. However, it sees KENTA punching McGuinness, before the Englishman lays in an increasingly violent-looking headbutt in return.
That’s one thing that makes this match so good. It subverts your expectations, and gives you something you’d not seen before.
If it weren’t for the injuries, you wouldn’t that.
If you can’t think of a way to make the much larger, much strong Englishman the sympathetic babyface against his smaller Japanese opponent, this is the way.
The story told, as McGuinnes struggled to lift his arm above his head and barely threw a punch, was excellent. It was much different than other ROH main events, yet kept up a faster pace than you would imagine, while still allowing the big moments to breath.
It also shows the flaws in Nigel McGuinness’ character. The ROH Champion cannot shy away from who he really is. He continuously teased, and attempts, huge lariats which KENTA easily telegraphs.
It shows that he isn’t the perfect wrestler, and when in a pinch goes back to what is familair. This adds more depth to his character, showing that even he is not invincible.
In fairness, I’d have let KENTA win this match, and possibly had a three-way with Jerry Lynn two weeks later. That would allow McGuinness to protect himself more in the match, while adding KENTA to the list of legendary champions of Ring of Honor.
The finish of the match was built upon through the match. Nigel struggled, but focused on KENTA’s arm throughout through kicks and arm-based submissions.
While the crowd missed out on his patented arm-based tecnical wrestling, he did well to change things up while still achieveing his goal.
The Englishman locked KENTA in the London Dungeon submission, before leaning back and driving his knees into his back.
It was an impressive, painful-looking modification to the move, and the NOAH star had no choice but to tap out.
Nigel McGuinness beat KENTA by submission, retaining his ROH Championship in his final successful defence. He dropped the title to Jerry Lynn at Supercard of Honor.
Nigel McGuinness vs KENTA Was A Five-Star Match
Watching this match, you just appreciate both men’s incredible wrestling talent.
KENTA worked a slower-paced match than you’d expect, and came across like a dominant heel despite losing about a foot and five stone to his opponent.
Nigel McGuinness proved why he was arguably the best wrestler in the world for a time. Putting on such an amazing bout with zero arms is unwordly, and something 99% of wrestlers couldn’t fathom with one, or even the ideal two, appendages.
This performance should be viewed similar to Cody Rhodes’ match against Seth Rollins inside Hell in a Cell. If Nigel’s injuries were more visible, he would get so many more props for this match.
Read about some of Nigel McGuinness’ other best matches by click this link!
You can click below to watch the full Nigel McGuinness vs KENTA match from ROH 7th Anniversary below.
