10 Stiffest Wrestling Matches Ever

4. Takeshi Morishima Vs Bryan Danielson - ROH 2007

Vader Yokozuna Royal Rumble 1996
ROH

When Takeshi Morishima broke out as a star in the mid-2000s, he received a lot of international acclaim. Some people called him a larger version of Samoa Joe, while others compared him to Vader. Either way, the subtext was clear - Morishima hit people hard.

Morishima came into Ring of Honor in 2007, losing a dream match to Samoa Joe but capturing the company's World Heavyweight Championship the next day. He proceeded to take on all comers for the belt, but the best match of his ROH run came that summer, when he defended the title against former champion Bryan Danielson.

Danielson may have been ten inches shorter and a hundred pounds lighter than Morishima, but he could hit just as hard... well, almost. Morishima mauled Danielson with strikes, and while "The American Dragon" fought back with kicks and submissions, the ROH Champion actually hit a lariat so hard that Danielson suffered a detached retina. Morishima won with a Backdrop Driver, and Danielson was forced to miss several weeks of action.

This was the first (and best) match between the two men, but they'd battle four more times in incredibly brutal contests. In one, Morishima won by stoppage after pummeling Danielson repeatedly, and in another, "The American Dragon" was DQed for repeatedly stomping on Morishima's crotch. All in all, these two men had one of the stiffest feuds in wrestling history.

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Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013