That wXw Countdown of 2005 continues with our first sighting of Bryan Danielson on this list, as he challenges Robbie Brookside for the gold.
Andy Jackson introduces us to number five on the list, staying in May 2005’s Full Force 3. He mentions that this happened once before for EWP in Hannover – but didn’t make tape… so the big cheeses at wXw wanted to do it again, and this time make sure there was a record of it.
wXw World Heavyweight Championship: Bryan Danielson vs. Robbie Brookside (c)
I wasn’t expecting to hear chants for Everton on this…
Danielson was the clear bad guy here going by the crowd chants. He responds by taking Brookside into the ropes, before a knuckle lock took Brookside down to the mat for a two-count. Brookside’s forced to bridge out as he then threw his way free. Taking Brookside down by the wrist, Danielson keeps the champion on the deck, but Brookside kicks his way free and gets back to his feet.
A full nelson from Brookside turns into an abdominal stretch, but Danielson counters with one of his own, before Brookside hiptossed free. Danielson claimed to have had his tights pulled, which led to the referee looking for neutral witnesses to confirm something that’d not happened. We resume with Danielson tying up Brookside in a straitjacket, but Brookside reverses the hold, before Danielson un-reverses it into the ropes.
Another lock-up sees Danielson sneak in some punches to the head behind the ref’s back, before he headed into the ropes to try and create some distance. He comes back with another side headlock, slipping in a punch as well, before Brookside had enough and snapmared Danielson so he could punt him in the back.
Danielson powders outside as he tries to control the pace once more, coming in with a standing surfboard stretch. Brookside rolls through and kicks his way free, before rolling Danielson to the mat for a one-count. They lock up, but Danielson come off the ropes with a shoulder tackle, before Brookside jarred his knee on a leapfrog… and of course, Danielson wasn’t in any mood to give him time to heal.
Danielson rolls Brookside into a half crab, then drove the knee into the mat before wrapping the leg around the rope, making full use of those five counts. A deathlock keeps Brookside in the middle of the ring, as did a Muta lock, but Brookside countered out… only for Danielson to go right back to the knee.
We’ve a random 15-minute time call as Danielson continued to leap on Brookside’s knee, following in with another half crab. An elbow drop onto the knee gives Brookside a chance to counter with a cross armbar, but Danielson gets to the ropes and immediately back onto the knee, but Brookside gets back up and hangs Danielson in a Tree of Woe for a dropkick in the corner.
Brookside’s quickly back on the defensive as Danielson attempts a Romero special, but instead he just stomps the knees before punting Brookside’s back again. Danielson looks to return the favour from the Tree of Woe, aiming for Brookside’s knee, before some boot choking kept Brookside in the corner.
Brookside manages to fight back with a monkey flip, but was too slow in heading up top as Danielson caught him with a superplex. Another half crab followed from Danielson, but that ends in the ropes as Danielson proceeds to suplex Brookside ahead of a swandive headbutt attempt. This time though, it’s Brookside who caught Danielson up top and threw him down to the mat with an Iconoclasm for the win.
This was a good outing between Brookside and Danielson – a touch on the slow side for my liking, but a lot of small touches were there that would make this match connect a lot more with the live crowd than on tape.
Result: Robbie Brookside pinned Bryan Danielson in 21:32 to retain (***¾)