From Reseda to Rampage: Revisiting Bryan Danielson vs. Nick Jackson a Year Later
Previously, I briefly discussed a match that changed the trajectory of the Young Bucks’ tag career. Today, I’ll analyze both that match and Nick Jackson vs. Bryan Danielson from the October 1, 2021 episode of AEW Rampage.
It’s 2009. The Young Bucks are picking up momentum on the independent circuit; fresh off their second trip to Japan for Dragon Gate. PWG is set to hold a single-day tag team tournament (DDT4) for the vacant PWG Tag Titles. At the time, the Bucks were the PWG tag champions. Going into the day, they had a reasonable amount of momentum behind them as babyfaces. All of that quickly changed once they stepped into the ring with the team of Kenny Omega and Chuck Taylor, Men Of Low Moral Fiber. If you’ve read the Bucks book, you know all about what happens next. However, if you are somehow unaware, I’ll catch you up to speed. Taylor and Omega had wrestled as a tag team exactly one other time, the year prior in a three-way nine-man match that had some … questionable characters to say the least.
Going into the tournament, both men defeated Dark And Lovely (Human Tornado & Scorpio Sky) to advance to the semi-final where they’d face current champions, the Young Bucks. The match started off like any other, but as it progressed the crowd began getting more and more behind Men Of Low Moral Fiber (especially after their impressive first-round victory). Matt Jackson and Omega would be legal in the ring, with Jackson rolled up into a pin. Referee Rick Knox began the count, 1 … 2 … 3? Fans had assumed that Omega and Taylor got the victory, thus making them the new champions. However, Knox held up two fingers, so the match continued. At this moment, the crowd instantly turned against the babyfaces, the Bucks, booing them out of the building in Reseda. Talk about harsh.
And so it was. The Young Bucks moved on to the finals to face Hybrid Dolphins (Roderick Strong and Bryan Danielson). Both Matt and Nick have talked about this extensively in interviews and in their book, but essentially Strong and Danielson’s idea (being the heels) they’d beat them up so badly that the crowd would have no choice but to feel sympathetic and cheer for them. Seems simple, right? Well, the exact opposite happened.
Every time Bryan kicked, slapped, or chopped us, the crowd wanted more. Every time Roderick suplexed or body-slammed us, the crowd wanted more. And guess what? When we tried to fight back, the audience booed. Too stubborn, Roderick and Bryan were convinced they could still flip the crowd, so they continued to give us a beating. The crowd continued to cheer. Finally, feeling taken advantage of, Matt and I began to defend ourselves, and suddenly the match felt like a real fight. But the more we fought back, the harder they hit us back. And the harder they hit us, the louder the bloodthirsty fans got. All our chests were purple and blistering. And while Bryan continued to deliver multiple stiff elbow strikes to my head, I yelled, “Okay! That’s enough!” I didn’t want to look like a punk, and I respected the hell out of Bryan, but I simply couldn’t take any more.
As I said, the match is very unsettling to watch after reading their book. They’re visibly wincing in pain as they take 30 chops to the chest and equally as many elbows to the head. It wasn’t like it was intentional, but really what was there for them to do? In the end, though, the Bucks prevailed, retaining their tag titles.
Fast forward 12 years, it’s now October 1, 2022. Danielson finished up with WWE in April and debuted at All Out that September. Face to face with The Elite, Danielson is fresh off an incredible 30-minute time limit draw match with, at the time, AEW World Champion Kenny Omega at the Grand Slam debut show at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The next week, he’s stepping into the ring with one of the guys he (unintentionally) beat the hell out of a decade ago.
Much more seasoned and a vet himself, Jackson looks effortlessly confident in his abilities. They’re both doing what they do best: Jackson’s hitting his high-flying moves (albeit scaled back) and Danielson is sticking to his perfected mat wrestling and submission holds. Each knows what the other brings to the table and how to counter it. Jackson spends a lot of time in control, which, again, is not something he was able to do the last time they wrestled. Eventually, Bryan gets the upper hand and they start a dizzying back and forth.
In Reseda, both Jackson brothers were getting repeatedly chopped and kicked across their chests. This time, Jackson gave him a taste of his own medicine, delivering a series of kicks to Danielson’s chest who remained unphased, by the way. Gritting his teeth and standing to his feet, he got his revenge on Jackson who had spit in his face after taking brutalizing kicks for minutes, spitting back at him.
Another moment that stood out to me was Matt’s involvement. The Bucks are notorious for their scheming ways as heel characters. Always using the other to gain an advantage over their opponents. What are siblings for, right? In the middle of their DDT4 final match, at about the only time they had an advantage, Nick hits a monkey flip to Danielson who lands on his feet, only to be met with a spear from Matt.
This time, they’re once again performing a 2-on-1 on Danielson, and Matt gives him that same spear on the outside while Knox is distracted by Nick. Speaking of Knox, who was the referee for both matches, he was much more cautious with Nick this go around, obviously having seen what he dealt with last time, heavily referenced when Matt goes on the attack, as Nick complains about his chest. Yet another fun layered touch to this outstanding rivalry.
Inside of that room or sitting at home, the magic of both performers could be felt. Love them or hate them, the Young Bucks are great long-term storytellers. If you refuse to acknowledge that you’re just missing out on so many nuggets of lore and that’s on you. As for the rest of us, there’s always a guaranteed payoff and Bryan Danielson vs. Nick Jackson is certainly one of them.