The Steel Cage

That name may not mean a lot to many of you, but “The American Dragon” is widely regarded as, pound for pound, one of the greatest wrestlers in the country today. His fans in Ring of Honor – where he has long shined as the promotion’s top star – have even taken to chanting, “Best in the world!” during his matches. That’s high praise, especially in a promotion built on workrate.

But despite his reputation, the common thinking has long been that Danielson would likely never find a place in WWE, where his 5’10”, 185-pound frame and bland appearance would never past muster.

Yet there he was last week – not only going over clean on one of WWE’s rising stars with his “Cattle Mutilation” finisher, but doing so in the longest match of the night. At 12 minutes, the match was 1/3 longer than the night’s main event of Triple H and Jeff Hardy.

So what’s going on here? Was this a tryout for a possible spot on the roster? Or was it just a one-time payday since WWE was near his hometown last Monday? All sides have remained relatively coy about the subject. I reached out to several ROH officials, who all declined to comment other than to say that Danielson, who is under an ROH contract, worked the match with the company’s permission.

On his blog, Jim Ross said, for his money, Danielson is a “keeper” and keeper who exhibits “great work ethic, unique skills, lots of character, and… wrestles like he is a 'star.' ” It's also worth noting that Danielson was trained in Shawn Michaels' now defunct wrestling school, alongside fellow student, Lance Cade.

While adding the Dragon to WWE’s roster could theoretically be a boon for the company at a time that it desperately needs an injection of new blood, ROH loyalists would likely frown at the move – not only because they’d missing listening to Danielson cheesy “Final Countdown” entrance music, but because they would fear that Danielson would get lost in the WWE shuffle.

It’s a warranted concern. I can’t imagine that, with his size, look and peculiar wrestling style, WWE would have high hopes for Danielson. Knowing WWE, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Danielson be repackaged in a one-dimensional gimmick and sent out to do jobs for the Great Khali.

But maybe not. Some people may have had the same doomsday expectations for CM Punk, but within a year, he was pushed as the top star of WWE’s third brand and even given a run with the ECW championship. Heck, just about six months after his WWE debut, he had the chance to wrestle in the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 23. At this year’s WrestleMania, he won the match.

Still, it would be a bit disingenuous to look at some of those facts as proof that Punk is a big star in WWE. He’s doing OK, but in the bigger pecking order of the WWE roster as a whole, he wouldn’t break the top 12 in terms of WWE’s priorities.

But that doesn’t mean that his decision to join WWE wasn’t the right one. The reality is, sometimes being a medium sized fish in a big pond could be well worth it. Look at Jamie Noble – another former ROH heavyweight champion who has essentially worked as a jobber in WWE since returning from an ROH stint in 2005.

I’ll bet you that, despite his low spot on the cards, Noble is making more money working for WWE than he ever would working the occasional ROH show every few weekends and fleshing out his salary with independent gigs. Appearing on television, pay per view, and in front of thousands of fans each night, Noble is also far more recognized in his WWE role than he ever was before. What’s more, as a designated WWE agent, I believe Noble also collects benefits from the company, and has some say in the creative direction of the matches he helps “produce.”

If WWE decides to sign Danielson, it may be the end of the “American Dragon,” as we know him, but it doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be the right decision for him. Danielson would make more money, and have the opportunity to ply hid trade on the biggest stage of them all.

But that one dark match last Monday may have had even bigger ramifications than the services of one wrestler. It could be an indication that WWE is finally taking notice of ROH. When WWE finally opened its eyes to the red-hot product that was ECW in the late 1990s, it tremendously benefited both companies. ECW got a much-needed injection of cash, and WWE got use of some of the hottest young talent in the wrestling business at the time. What’s more, WWE leaned on Paul Heyman to help establish some of WWE’s struggling acts, like Al Snow.

WWE would be well served to establish a similar relationship with ROH. One of WWE’s biggest failures in recent years has been developing its farm system to produce young, capable talent. ROH could help WWE do just that.

The one problem – and it’s a fairly big one – is the clashing of wrestling styles between the two companies. An ROH-trained wrestler – even one of the promotion top stars – would probably need to be stripped down and retrained in the far-less-bombastic, but fundamentally sound WWE style.

There’s another benefit to WWE in doing business with ROH. At a time when wrestling ratings are sluggish, ROH is the one wrestling product that actually “hip” – not unlike ECW was ten years ago. That “hip factor” is imperative in wrestling. And while ROH’s fan base may be small, it’s incredibly passionate – and God knows WWE could use every fan they can get. Otherwise, they might resort to something desperate.

…Like a money giveaway.