5 ROH Callbacks You Missed On AEW Dynamite Last Night
A deserved beating for the Fallen Angel, and a throwback to one of the all-time great ROH promos.
After two weeks of teasing a major announcement, Tony Khan finally let the cat out of the bag on last night's AEW Dynamite, as the AEW President has now purchased Ring of Honor.
What this means for AEW and the wider pro wrestling business remains to be seen, with some speculating that Khan may utilise ROH as a developmental territory of sorts, others thinking TK may attempt to run ROH as a standalone company, and others thinking Tony picked up ROH merely for the tape library that features a 20-year collection of fantastic content.
As soon as Khan opened Dynamite by announcing his new purchase, the long-term ROH fans out there were likely on the hunt for any nods and winks to the company throughout this latest offering of AEW's flagship show. While certain ROH alumnus made no mention whatsoever of Ring of Honor, there were still several ROH Easter eggs dotted across this week's Dynamite.
Having watched said episode of Dynamite back again, then, here are five callbacks to Ring of Honor that some wrestling fans may have completely missed or, in the case of those who have never seen ROH, simply not been aware of.
5. Danielson Vs. Daniels Re-Runs The First Ever ROH Main Event... Kind Of
After announcing he'd purchased Ring of Honor, Tony Khan introduced the first match of last night's AEW Dynamite, with former ROH World Champions Bryan Danielson and Christopher Daniels clashing.
Explaining how this was a rematch from ROH's first ever event - The Era of Honor Begins from 23 February 2002 - Tony detailed:
"The man he [Daniels] wrestled, neither one of them won that night in the main event and it's been eating both of them up for 20 years."
For those not well-versed in the history of Ring of Honor, both Danielson and Daniels were indeed in the main event of that inaugural Ring of Honor show. But for those same people, you might presume that the American Dragon vs. the Fallen Angel ended in some sort of no finish or a double countout.
In reality, there was a third man in that main event contest, as the bout was Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Low Ki. The reason that neither Danielson or Daniels were victorious at The Era of Honor Begins, was for the simple fact that Low Ki was the winner of the match - Low Ki pinning Daniels after hitting his patented Key Crusher.
An absolutely phenomenal match, complete with a brilliant end sequence featuring the Cattle Mutilation and a twisting Phoenix Splash, that triple threat can be watched in full below: