This review was commissioned by portablestove over on my Ko-fi account.
The thing about ROH’s connection to what would become the super indie style–arguably something eventually codified in most people’s minds by PWG–often makes it difficult to process the presence of something like the Danielson/Delirious feud from 2006. At its core, this rivalry has a lot of that classic pro wrestling touch to it and plays out like a fun detour for the World Champion on any weekly TV show. In 2006, when Danielson is expected to do the most in the biggest ways possible for ROH with a year long reign, multiple hour time limit draws, multiple top level challenges, and more, it’s truly refreshing to see what he can do in a more low stakes environment and how much he’s able to get out of those circumstances.
There’s a lot Danielson has to juggle to make the most of this inciting angle at The 100th Show. Beyond just setting up the title match to come, he’s also out here to continue the ongoing CZW vs. ROH feud. As this show is in Philly, the audience is quite literally divided into sections for both sides of the contingent and through Dragon’s promo and into the match, it does occasionally come through that the crowd’s more invested in dueling each other than engaging with the wrestling. That’s an unfortunate byproduct of the heat necessary to sustain this feud, but I think Danielson and Delirious mostly succeed in spite of all that.
Earlier in the card, he breezed through a defense against Colt Cabana, getting a quick pin in something like five minutes to dispose of the challenger. Looking to gloat and for more of a challenge, Danielson comes out here in the show to say he’s granting a title opportunity to someone who’s won on the card before him. It becomes clear that this open challenge serves a twofold purpose for the champion. It allows him to flex on the challengers he’s already defeated (Christopher Daniels, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong) while also letting him select a challenger that he thinks will be a walk in the park in Delirious.
Delirious has always served as a more comedic-leaning midcarder in ROH. Even amidst the “great wrestling” branding, his character still serves the purpose of getting some laughs and adding variety to the show. It’s enough to get him over and, all things considered, makes him a sort of ideal challenger for someone like Danielson to bully. I think the match misses a trick by going straight into a heel heat with Dragon attacking Delirious before the bell and skipping any sort of babyface shine. In this case though, it serves to delay the eventual emotional rush of Delirious getting his own back, while also taking us into the real time journey of learning to believe in him as a potential challenger as the match progresses. It can also be noted that with Delirious already having wrestled and won on that same card, there’s less necessity for a babyface shine here, but I think that might have put added to the bout in the end.
Luckily for us, Danielson does so well at making that heat segment work. It’s here that the rowdy CZW/ROH crowd comes into play positively for Dragon’s performance. The raucous nature of the crowd seems to have given him the freedom to be loose and playful in a way that suits how his character looks down on Delirious as a challenger. He’s skillfully able to channel the disdain he feels for the CZW fans into meanspirited offense directed at Delirious. He’s so smarmy throughout, finding so many different ways to batter the challenger while also riling up the audience. It feels fairly seamless too. He centers a lot of his early attack around an Indian deathlock, allowing him to cycle through a modified bow and arrow and even into a Super Dragon curb stomp. Sprinkled in there is classic pro wrestling ass pro wrestling bullshit with Danielson slapping on a truly mean-looking abdominal stretch (with forearm grinding to boot) and still being smarmy enough to grab the top rope for additional leverage.
And when it’s time for Delirious to come back, it’s well-structure enough to take it in stages. The champion overextends by propping Delirious up on the top rope, so that when Delirious fights him off, it can lead straight into a Shadows Over Hell splash. In a nice touch, Delirious uses a rope break to escape a Cattle Mutilation before going back for more fight while later Danielson uses a rope break on a Cobra Stretch, only for him to slink out of the ring like a coward.
The final act twist here is so good too, with Danielson using the room on the floor to plot a final attack. Instead of doing an airplane spin when catching Delirious in a fireman’s carry, he instead rams the challenger head first into the ringpost (an important attack in this title reign). Delirious gets busted open and Dragon’s final attack is both focused and dastardly. He tears at the mask to go right for the wound, punching and biting at it, escalating the violence of the match far beyond what anyone might have deemed necessary for Danielson to put away a comedy midcard act. Even in victory, with Danielson knocking out Delirious with his elbow strikes, the final section of the match accomplishes so much for both men. It speaks to Delirious’ resilience that Danielson had to tap into a reserve of bullying violence to put him away, but it also speaks to Danielson’s capacity to access that violent nature to begin with.
Is Delirious the most credible challenger in the world? Probably not, even at that time. In the ring, he probably could use a little more on his offense and a bit more fire to get the absolute most out of this, but for what it is, these two play their roles perfectly. A beautiful show of what can be done with a World Champion and an unexpected challenger.
Rating: ***3/4
