2001: Tournament Arc
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- Remembering the Master and Ruler of the World - August 28, 2024
I’m sure everyone with even a passing interest in wrestling knows the story of 2001 by now, and how it’s one of the most pivotal years in history for the sport of kings stateside. The closure, and eventual full acquisition by WWFE, of WCW and ECW created a true monopoly in American pro-wrestling for the 1st time since the foundation of McMahon’s empire as an entity independent of the NWA in 1963. For our fledgling Dragon, it just so happens that 2001 may also be one of the most pivotal years in his career.
Being such a landmark event, the completion of the purchase of WCW, (an event which some may not know actually began taking shape in the middle of 2000), caused an understandable stir of uncertainty within the locker room of Memphis Championship Wrestling. With no-one knowing what WWF would do with its newly acquired IP; in addition to the influx of young, hungry wrestlers who jumped at the opportunity to stake their claim in the company; not a soul there could begin to predict what fate would await them as the year started.
Per Danielson’s 2002 RF Video interview, one initial plan for WWF’s relaunch of WCW was to include him and Spanky, presumably as part of the Cruiserweight division. As with many instances, plans changed and the pair of Texas Wrestling Alliance alums would be part of the group released in June as WWF revamped its developmental system. However, before that could happen, the young Dragon would get the chance to share the ring with someone very important to his development as a wrestler.
BONUS MATCH: American Dragon vs. William Regal (MCW Unleashed [May. 5 2001])
Anyone familiar with Bryan Danielson will know that he heavily cites Lord William Steven Regal as being a key mentor of his, over time adopting the signature maroon of the Blackpool native as a primary colour across his own gear in tribute and taking after many of his stylings. Despite the fact that their tenure together was a relatively short one, it came at an important time as Bryan was looking to ground his style more, moving away from some of the flashier elements. Regal’s stint in Memphis was provided as an opportunity to prove his sobriety in the wake of his well documented troubles with alcoholism and drug abuse. Being the giving person he is, he kept open to anyone who wanted to learn which Bryan took advantage of to be introduced to the European style of wrestling that prevails through his work even today.
Although his tenure was cut short after wildly impressing the WWF office with his often heralded encounter with Chris Benoit at the 3rd Annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show in May 2000, Regal would return to Memphis the following April to take on his pupil Danielson. Playing to a crowd mostly made up of families, this is definitely much more of a house show affair than one would initially expect when considering the two people facing off.
The story centres around the rough technician Regal trying to ground the much quicker and flashier Danielson, often targeting the arm of Danielson that he traps for the Regal Stretch. Despite the fact this is very much a primordial Dragon, even as early as April 2001 in an environment like this, you see flashes of the wrestler he would become in his crisp execution of offence and connection with the crowd. Regal is absolutely wonderful in this, as one would expect from him. You can see how it’s this sort of environment that suits him to a tee; jaw jacking with the crowd, reacting with his signature expressiveness, keeping them engaged throughout with the simplest of stories. The selflessness of Regal also shines here as, despite being pencilled in as the winner, he takes the loss to Bryan following a Missile Dropkick from the top rope. In truth, I wouldn’t say that it’s one that demands seeking out outside of its novelty. Though I definitely can’t say that my time was wasted by it.
In December 2000, Danielson met the Haas Brothers in Memphis, who then put him in contact with ECWA promoter Jim Kettner. Since 1997, Kettner had been running the increasingly popular Super 8 tournament, a 1st of its kind tournament in the US indies with the aim of showcasing some of the best junior heavyweight talent in independent wrestling. Over the course of its 1st 3 tournaments, some of the talent it showcased included the likes of Billy Kidman, Scott Taylor (before he became Too Hot), Lance (later Simon) Diamond, the Hardyz, Trent Acid, Shark Boy and previous double-finalist Christopher Daniels.
The field for the 2001 ECWA Super 8 Tournament. (from top to bottom, left to right) American Dragon (Bryan Danielson), Spanky (Brian Kendrick), Mike Sullivan, Tony Kozina, Jayson Reign, Reckless Youth, Billy Fives, Low Ki
It gained notoriety through magazines, in turn inspiring a number of copycat tournaments over the years. One of which being the King of the Indies, started by All Pro Wrestling in 2000. APW being most notable for featuring in 1999s Beyond The Mat, which has a section dedicated to following 2 of its trainees as they go for a WWF tryout. Its only previous iteration has a much less impressive lineage of contestants, but does share some recognisable names in Christopher Daniels, “Black Nature Boy” Scoot Andrews and a young Vinnie Massaro. All of which would return in 2001, as part of a field is a veritable who’s who of 2000s indie wrestling; with names like Adam Pierce, AJ Styles, Doug Williams, Frankie Kazarian, Low Ki, Samoa Joe, Spanky.
The field for the 2001 King of the Indies, along with legends who attended the event. (from top to bottom, left to right) Pepper Gomez, Red Bastien, Nick Bockwinkel, Adam Pearce, Samoa Joe, Bison Smith, Donovan Morgan, Frankie Kazarian, Spanky (Brian Kendrick), Kinji Shibuya, Low Ki, “The Destroyer” Dick Beyer, Jardi Frantz, Super Dragon, Doug Williams, Bryan Danielson, Scoot Andrews, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels & Vinnie Massaro
In addition to being pivotal for Bryan Danielson getting his name out there following his WWF release, both tournaments have the interesting distinction of gifting him the same opponent in opening and closing. I thought it would be interesting to compare these 2 pairs of battles, with 2 of his most renowned opponents from this time period, to see how Danielson evolved over the course of the year.
Super 8 2001 1st Round: Spanky vs. American Dragon (ECWA Super 8 2001 [Feb. 24 2001)
Spanky, better known to most wrestling fans as Brian Kendrick, was someone who had been glued to the hip with Danielson throughout his career at this point. Both were standouts at Shawn Michaels’ wrestling school, which led to the pair of young junior heavyweights being signed to developmental deals, being sent together to Memphis. They had once formed 2 parts of The Kliq 2000, along with Lance Cade and Shooter Shultz, (the other 2 standouts from Shawn’s school that got signed and shipped off to Memphis). But on this night, as had often been the case since day 1 of their careers, they were staring across the ring from one another.
The 1st thing many will note, especially those familiar with any form of Danielson in the past 2 decades or so, is the drastic difference in gear and entrance music he has chosen for this occasion. Still working Memphis at this point, he comes out to The Offspring’s Self Esteem – a song which, thanks to watching these 3 shows in back to back days, has been stuck in my head ever since – wearing baggy red pants. As I would pick up from his 2002 interview, as well as the other 2001 bouts I watched of his, this wasn’t typical gear of his from this time. Rather, a deliberate choice so as to visually obscure a knee injury he was carrying going into the show.
Despite taking place 2 months prior, this is much more of a peer through the looking glass at the wrestler Bryan would become than the Memphis encounter with his mentor. In many ways, the stories are mirrors of one another, with Danielson being on the opposite side of the coin in this instance – spending most of the time targeting the arm of the quicker opponent who tries to evade with flashier offence to set up a submission finish. Unbeholden to the expectations of a Memphis family crowd, the execution plays with a much more modern feel. That is to say there’s much more of a focus on the in-ring action itself over pandering to, or interacting with, the crowd. It also means that Bryan, though being more of the aggressor, isn’t afraid to also have some standout offence of his own too. Busting out some World of Sport-style limb work, and even hitting an Orihara Moonsault to the outside.
The particular standout moment for me comes when Spanky misplaces his footing when going for a Rebounding Forearm to start his opening shine, resulting in him slipping off the ropes. With the presence of mind and timing of a veteran, Bryan is right there to stomp him out instead to transition into a heat segment. Most young wrestlers of a similar experience level, flustered and confused, fall into the trap of trying to immediately repeat the spot, so as to maintain the planned layout. Instead they choose to revisit the spot later on to kickstart Spanky’s comeback sequence. For 2 wrestlers as young into their careers as both were, to make that transition on the fly, without missing a step, really speaks to their ability and presence of mind.
This is a match that wouldn’t look out of place as a solid undercard match on any card today. Not the most memorable, but there’s definitely enjoyment to be had in it. I’d say it’s worth a watch just to see how they adapt to Spanky’s slip. They handled that so well, I was honestly left questioning if it was a planned part of the match.
King of the Indies 2001 1st Round: Spanky vs. American Dragon (APW King of the Indies 2001 Night 1 [Oct. 26 2001])
2 things are immediately noticeable off the bat before either competitor locks up in this match. Firstly, how sparse the crowd feels for the King of the Indies tournament compared to the Super 8. Judging from some other footage I’ve seen of both shows in researching this, I think the crowds were of a similar size, but that definitely doesn’t come off aesthetically. Secondly, we have a fully healthy Danielson, back to wearing his long tights from his match with Regal. Tights that I swear I probably have easily recreated in a WWE game many times without even realising it, emblazoned with big stars on the right leg and a tribal design on the left I assume is representative of a dragon’s tail.
My immediate thoughts going into this match was a curiosity about how much similarity it would share from their Super 8 match. Especially being as familiar as they are with one another, they could have been forgiven for going in a very much similar direction for a new crowd that hadn’t seen either of them beforehand. It was a very pleasant surprise to be treated to something that was wholly unique in comparison, but that also displayed impressive growth for both wrestlers. Especially Spanky, who shows off an entire new side to his skillset. The contest is much more open than its more clearly segmented predecessor. There’s a very clear decision from both that this will be much more technically based than when they met earlier in the year, and they both pull it off very well. In fact, I wouldn’t hesitate to say that they pull it off better than most people at their experience level would, then or now.
There’s a level of aggression and purpose to everything that I absolutely fall in love with, particularly with Danielson’s work. That’s not to say that Spanky’s contribution wasn’t impressive, but Danielson wrestles so much beyond his experience level here that it’s remarkable. Maybe less so now in the wake of the 2007 tragedy, but definitely at this time, Danielson would freely admit Chris Benoit as one of the primary influences in his stylings. That influence is patently obvious in how he wrestles this match. It’s aggressive. It’s deliberate. Everything serves a purpose, and is punctuated with an intensity and a struggle that is often a lost art.
One may say, due to the lack of vocal reception at points, that the crowd was fairly dead for most of the match. However, I believe that they were appreciating and paying the fullest attention to what was being shown in front of them. I know I definitely was.
Following on from this victory, Danielson would wrestle 3 times the following day. Firstly, he wrestled Doug Williams in a fantastic technical showcase that I would also definitely recommend to anybody reading this and who likes the sound of some of the points that I illustrated about Bryan’s work in the 1st round. It’s around 10 minutes of glorious technical wrestling that is ripe for the enjoyment of the sickos, great stuff. His semi-final match was much more plain and entirely missable by comparison owing, according to Danielson, to Donovan Morgan not wanting to do much in the match at all. But then in the finals, he was once again matched up with a man who he had developed quite the little rivalry with over the course of 2001. A rivalry that started with the Super 8 Finals.
Super 8 2001 Final: Low Ki vs. American Dragon (ECWA Super 8 2001 [Feb. 24 2001)
When the Haas brothers put Jim Kettner onto Danielson for the Super 8, they recommended him thinking that he’d be the perfect opponent for ECWA’s star trainee Low Ki. This was likely without knowing the 2 had actually fought once before at a Memphis show sometime across the previous year in front of 40 people. This Memphis match is a personal holy grail for me.Not even recorded on Cagematch, Danielson describes it in the RF Video interview as a “typical Memphis match with some me and Low Ki stuff thrown in it”, with the bit that stands out to me being that Danielson pointed out that they even did some comedy. Low Ki doing comedy, count me in.
The night of the 2001 Super 8, though, Low Ki wasn’t doing any comedy. His road to the final tore through Billy Fives and Jayson Reign before reaching a crossroads with Dragon, who passed Reckless Youth in the semi-finals. Much like Dragon, Low Ki was just getting started with his career, though having a years advantage in terms of experience, and wasn’t quite fully formed into the warrior that many know him as today. No more obvious is that in this match, and throughout the tournament, when he busts out a Phoenix Splash to the outside as a signature highspot. As someone more familiar with the wrestler Low Ki would become, to call that a shock to the system would be an understatement.
In saying that, he still shares a lot of the tendencies that he would become notorious for as his name spread across the scene. It’s plain to see why the Haas brothers thought that this would be a good combination, too, as they match intensity with each other right from the bell. Danielson wrestles the match much closer to the stylings of his King of the Indies encounter with Spanky than his Super 8 one. With his injury going in, one can’t help but wonder if he was saving himself in the opening rounds a bit to give this match all the vigour that he could.
Speaking about this match to ChicagoWrestling.com, Low Ki said about working with Danielson “I was happy to fight someone who fights more like me… I haven’t faced a lot who work my style. He brings it to the table when he gets in that ring. He knows what he’s doing. A lot of guys try watching tapes and do what they see. But he puts it together very well. I have a lot of respect for him. For him to get cut, it’s another lesson in life. It’s not necessarily a bad thing for him. Maybe it brings him another opportunity.”
Being one of their first matches, the Super 8 Final isn’t the best match the two would have, nor the best they’d have with each other. But it is an interesting view into what both wrestlers would become. And a damn solid match in its own right. There are certainly much worse ways to spend 10 minutes than to watch these 2 duke it out.
King of the Indies 2001 Final: Low Ki vs. American Dragon (APW King of the Indies 2001 Night 2 [Oct. 27 2001])
Low Ki and Danielson’s series would continue throughout the year. First rematching in ECWA in June with Ricky Steamboat as the referee, before making up half of a 4-way match for the ECWA Heavyweight title in September that also featured defending champion Scoot Andrews and Christopher Daniels. Much like poetry, the circumstances of their final encounter of the year rhyme with the circumstances of their first. To make it to the finals on this occasion, Low Ki had a much more notable pathway – felling Vinnie Massaro in the 1st round, Samoa Joe in the quarter finals, and defending tournament champion Christopher Daniels in the semi-finals.
Legend goes that it is Nick Bockwinkel who we have to thank for this match. According to Dave Meltzer, in a November 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter; whilst watching Dragon’s match against Spanky on Night One, Bockwinkel was beaming, talking about how when he was champion, he would loved to have shared the ring with someone so talented. The plan for the 2001 King of Indies was for Donovan Morgan, APW’s head trainer, to beat Danielson and Low Ki in the semis and finals respectively. However, following Night One, Bockwinkel went to APW booker, Roland Alexander, and said, “If you don’t put that guy over, you’re crazy,” pointing to Danielson. Alexander had so much respect for Bockwinkel’s opinion, that he not only changed the finish, but also offered Danielson the head coaching position at his school.
If the matches so far have been glimpses into the future of Danielson as a wrestler and what he’d become, then this match is grabbing and heaving you right into the future. For as much as Danielson has grown and matured across the year, Low Ki has done equally so. Low Ki matches, and at some points exceeds, intensity in a way that Spanky doesn’t purely by virtue of who he is as a wrestler. He is much more reminiscent of his more notorious self here, absolutely blistering Danielson with strikes all along the way. Something which, naturally, is returned in kind. It was so easy to be hooked in, right from the moment of the pair headbutting each other during a test-of-strength. And much like watching the Spanky match, I found myself grinning from ear-to-ear as I was watching.
There is almost an audacious subtleness to moments early on that reward a knowledgeable viewer for knowing that Dragon goes for 3 of Low Ki’s signature moves within the first 10 minutes – with the first 2 being quickly reversed and Dragon only succeeding with the Tidal Wave, which he then follows with a beautifully sarcastic chant of Low Ki’s name. Moments like Dragon baseball sliding the basing arm on a Tidal Wave, and the referee missing Low Ki tapping out on Low Ki tapping out of the Cattle Mutilation because he was checking the wrong hand to catch it also serve to bring me joy on the truest of “sicko shit” levels.
For likely either participant’s longest match of their career so far, it’s a wonderfully commendable effort from both. In a tighter package, I would probably have said it was my favourite of the 5 matches I watched so far. But I definitely can’t begrudge a few lulls from a pair of performers who haven’t gone that length before, and then make up for those lulls by still managing to maintain the intensity and purpose despite the exhaustion they must have been feeling.
Danielson is held aloft with the King of the Indies trophy following his tournament victory.
Consuming various interviews from the time period, what really stands out to me about Bryan Danielson is his open-ness to taking inspiration from anywhere and everywhere. Everywhere definitely has no limits for 2001 Danielson too, as he shows via his “favorite monster fighter in the universe” being Japanese indie mat-wrestling legend Survival Tobita. He proudly shares that sicko energy that many in our corner of fandom proudly flaunt, although in that day and age the term “tape trader” was the adjective of choice. When discussing his tape trading, he even credits Mike Lorefice of Quebrada.net for turning him onto Megumi Kudo – who’s Kudome Valentine he briefly co-opted as a finisher, calling it the Dragon Spike.
The 2001 King of the Indies tournament would go on to inspire the creation of Ring of Honor, one of the seminal promotions of the 2000s indie scene where the modern US wrestling style was crafted. Danielson would go on to call ROH his home promotion from its inception and have many of his most revered battles upon it’s black and red canvas where he sacrificed blood, sweat, tears and body parts. But those are stories better told by different people at different times.
