As the man who says that we can call him Wolfe mucks around the Impact Zone, we get an episode of Ring of Honor where Nigel McGuinness is the subject of “rumors.” From the start, Dave Prazak said that the word on the “interweb” is Nigel might be leaving. Mike Hogewood didn’t get the joke, so Prazak questioned whether he still used Prodigy. I laughed. Later on in the main event, Prazak continued talking about these rumors as the fans gave Nigel the “Sorry to see you go, thanks for everything” warm reception. Nigel’s match with Colt Cabana was pretty good stuff, with a lot of limb work, a Flying Asshole across the outside apron, and a shitty landing for Colt when he went for the moonsault to the outside. Cabana picked up the win with a variation on the Colt 45 (which started out looking like he was going for the Gringo Killer), and the fans show even more respect to the departing Nigel.

Nigel’s other contribution during the show was butting in as Tyler Black talked about Jerry Lynn (he’s resting up and convalescing) and how his injury wasn’t his fault. Nigel called bullshit on this, and even said the ROH World Title is cursed since you get injured after you win it. Not as bad as, say, Entry #27 in the Royal Rumble. Black was undeterred and vowed to still win the title. In other Lynn news, Killer Kenny King did a brief sitdown promo and said how it’s a young man’s game, so he’s not sorry Lynn didn’t know when to quit.

The opening match was The Briscoes vs. The Young Bucks, which took place before the already-announced matches between the two teams in Dayton and Manhattan. Like the main event, it was pretty good but nothing blow-away. The action built up as it went along, and Jay was about to get More Bang For His Buck, but the Dark City Fight Club ran in to beat up the Bucks. The Briscoes get at them like rabid dogs, and the Bucks join in to chase them off. The match ended in an unfortunate No Contest, but it was a nice teaser for their later matches on DVD.

The other two matches weren’t as newsworthy. Rhett Titus, the new Fat Chick Thriller tonight, beat Alex Payne with a handful of trunks. Not as bad as I had heard, but nobody cared. The highlight was Prazak dubbing Titus’ Razor’s Edge “The Taintalizer.” Afterward, Claudio Castagnoli defeated Grizzly Redwood in a match pitting Carnival Strongman vs. Sideshow Dwarf. Gorilla press, hands-free airplane spin, an extremely European Uppercut, and the mother of all Ricola Bombs to end it. Prince Nana and Ernie Osiris, out ringside for the match attempted to cut off some of Grizzly’s beard afterward, but Necro Butcher chased them off. Prazak speculated about the eventual Beard vs. Beard Match.

Bryan Danielson’s #4 moment was his 2007 Match of the Year with Nigel, taped 6/9/07 in Philadelphia for the “Driven” PPV. His focus was busting himself open on that ramming headbutt spot, then going to the hospital with Jimmy Rave afterward. In hyping next week’s match between Danielson & Roderick Strong and The American Wolves, Kyle Durden came off as a bigger asshole than both Richards and Edwards in constantly harping about being in a match with the departing Danielson. The Wolves were still great here. Also great was Rasche Brown’s latest promo, despite the subject matter – fighting seven guys and plucking out thirteen eyeballs – being as preposterous as his last one. They also showed footage from Glory By Honor VIII – spots from Ladder War II before they made impact, Jim Cornette returning and cracking a Vince Russo joke, Nigel and Danielson’s entrances – and a teaser of Jim Cornette cutting a promo next week.

The episode overall was okay. As I wrote this recap, I was watching two episodes of the truTV show “All Worked Up,” featuring ROH’s Head of Security Zach Yeager dealing with shlubs at the HDNet tapings. Zach’s story in the first episode this week, throwing out an obnoxious fan who came back with a bat and a friend that claimed to have MMA training, seemed to be more truth that truTV boasts. I’m willing to buy the second story, where he focused on the two ticking timebomb types in blue wife-beaters but ended up throwing out a fat drunk that jumped the rail, if only because those two idiots keep showing up and doing the same act. They’re either that dumb (but not dumb enough to go overboard), or pretty good workers. I wasn’t the least bit crazy about the perception these episodes gave of how nearly everybody at the show is an animal. Zach kind of helped perpetrate it, but did put just a little more focus on the drinkers. This marked the second c-grade cable channel where I’ve seen my face.

Notes – Apologies for the poor audio quality and relatively late posting. This is the updated version. While editing it, I realized that listening to more than a few minutes at a time is actually physically uncomfortable, so listen at your own risk. Also, we forgot to mention it on the audio, but a big thanks to Brian Streleckis and Cal Henderson for saving seats for us so that we only had to stand up when we actually wanted to see something.

A bit of backstory for this one. These two put together a classic earlier in McGuinness’ world title run at ROH’s Final Battle show in NYC in December. Nigel won, but was busted open badly from an Aries missile dive that sent him into the guard rail. Nigel has since gone full-fledged heel. On this Wrestlemania weekend show Aries gets his rematch. Having been at this match live I’m interested to see how I feel about it the second time around. I enjoyed it live, but there were plenty of distractions, so I wouldn’t say I was completely in tune with everything in the moment. This is the first time I’ve watched the DVD.

We start off with some very quick chain wrestling and reversals. Aries goes left right to Nigel’s shoulder, usually a Nigel target considering his London Dungeon submission hold. On Commentary Dave Prasak and Lenny Leonard do a nice job of getting over their signature spots to look for. Nigel has to bail once Aires goes for his Last Chancery submission. Aries tease his missile dive to remind us of what happened at “Rising Above” in December.

More Aries beatings once Nigel gets back in the ring. He gets the Last Chancery, knees to the head, and assorted other damaging moves. Aries offense while in control is quick, but not overkill. It’s effective modern stuff. He switches to working the neck and high back. We get his signature twisting elbow. One of the great things about the ROH main eventers like Nigel, Aires, and Danielson is they have a bunch of signature stuff, including a finisher and submission. Lots to work around and play off of.

Nigel reveres Aires into the turnbuckle shoulder first at about 8 minutes in. He starts working on the shoulder right away. I’m a mark/geek for focused work on a body part at a good pace at first that dovetails into submission and crowd taunting. Nigel’s cocky looks as he settles into his offense sets a good tone for me. Divorce Court single arm DDT. He gets two one count pin attempts. Crowd gets behind Aries, and we get a slight hope spot. Nigel starts getting on the fans, stealing Brian Danielson’s catch phrase. Aries recovers for a quick roll up attempt, but Nigel shuts him down again. Seems Aries is getting hope spot pins. Aries is still selling the shoulder and gets caught again.

Nigel sets up Aries for his Tower of London (a cutter from the top turnbuckle) big move, but Aires fights free. Good tease because you know it’s coming at some point. Aries is strike with the injured arm, and quickly loses control. Nigel gets the Dungeon. To close to the ropes. Aires back with the Last Chancery. Nigel gets free and beats down Aries some more. 14 minutes in.

The Tower of London is set up again, but Aries face rakes him. Another hope spot begins, but ends quickly with Nigel getting his boots up to the face of Aries. They’ve done a good job with the story here. Nigel wears down Aries’ arm/shoulder, but Aries is resilient and keeps coming back. Nigel is for the most part in control, but can’t close the deal.

Third time is the charm as Nigel finally hits the London Dungeon, but only for two. I’m surprised the crowd doesn’t react as much, but then they’re conditioned for longer matches with near falls. Nigel sets him up for a top rope closeline (another signature Nigel moves), but Aries reverses into a submission. Aries looks like a young Macho Man with the double ax handle to the floor. Aries continues with a barrage of vicious drop kicks. He gets a near fall. Brainbuster? Nigel blocks. Nigel’s headstand spot? Aries drop kicks him. Nigel recovers with a HUGE lariat. Double ten counts and the crowd are hot now!

Aries hits a soccer kick, then Brainbuster, and goes for the 450. He misses. Nigel puts him right in the London Dungeon. Fans beg Aries not to tap, as this is the first Dungeon that is really in the center of the ring. They fight back and forth for him to eventually reverse into a roll up near fall. We’re 20 minutes into the match.

They go back and forth on signature moves and reversals. A lariat is blocked and Aries again ends up going for the 450. This feels like the end of the match and a title change, and the crowd reacts accordingly. You can see the great Dr. Keith Lipinski talking into his recorder as the near fall occurs and Nigel rolls outside. What a pro (Nigel and the Doc).

Aries crashes and burns when Nigel moves and Aries hits a missile dive into the guard rail. Nigel lariats him to hell off the guard rail. The near fall when they get back in isn’t as hot as you think, but they get behind Aries right after. Aries plays dead well. A few more near falls, Aries with one big comeback giving him a crucifix bomb, but Nigel rolls through and hits the Jawbreaker Lariat for the pin. 4 ½ stars and 9/10.