Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Kevin Steen – Ascension to the Top – Disc 2

 

Proving Ground
Boston, Massachusetts
January 11, 2008

Kevin Steen vs. The Necro Butcher (w/ Lacey) [Relaxed Rules]

I think this greatly suffered from Necro working on top for the great majority of the match. Necro was a great talent, but him taking a beating and fighting back was always much more interesting. The idea may have been to make Steen look tougher for surviving an ass-kicking from Necro; it possibly worked on that level, but the journey was not better for it.

The ending was pretty weird as well. Necro asked for an unprotected chairshot and got one (a year after the Benoit murder/suicide and right as the company was doing a concussion awareness story with Nigel). (Not that I think about it, Nigel was a heel for not wanting to wrestle with a concussion. Hey, you know what? ROH was fucking dumb about that.) Anyway, Necro asked for a second one, but Steen just kicked him in the balls and hit a package piledriver on a chair for the win. (**1/2)

 

Eye of the Storm
Deer Park, New York
February 22, 2008

Kevin Steen vs. Bryan Danielson

I believe some wrestlers were caught in a snowstorm and this one-night #1 contenders tournament was booked the day of the show. This was a semifinal match in the tournament. As far as I know, this is the only time these two had a singles match against each other.

Steen got control after a few minutes, and he relentlessly targeted the right leg. This went on for a while. Tragically, Bryan had no interest in selling the leg during his comeback. The saving grace of that was Steen still managed to win because of the damage. He went back after the leg again late in the match and then applied the sharpshooter for the victory. Bryan selling the leg more would have made this a good match. Instead, that poor work by Bryan and the overwhelming “flat” feeling gave this match a ceiling it could not get past. (**3/4)

 

Kevin Steen vs. Go Shiozaki

This was the finals of the same tournament.

This was a bit of a mismatch, and they never got into much of a rhythm. Go got control pretty much right away. Steen came back and then he had control for a while. Steen was targeting the neck at least to give this match *some* structure. However, after all that work, Go kicked out of the package piledriver anyway. Why make the neck the one constant of the match and then not even making a finisher on it automatic? I just don’t get it. Anyway, Steen followed it up with a lariat and another package piledriver. These two matches did not give Steen much momentum for his title opportunity. They needed more energy. (**1/2)

 

Dragon Gate Challenge
Orlando, Florida
March 28, 2008

Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Muscle Outlaw’z (Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino)

This was actually far more interesting than I expected/remembered. The key to the match was that Doi and Yoshino were just constantly a step ahead of Steenerico but in a really subtle way. It kept seeming like Steenerico were on the verge of being in control only for them to fall behind again. At the same time, Doi and Yoshino never truly dominated the match or any one guy. That made the eventual back-and-forth sequence more satisfying *and* a bit more logical. The final sequence was of course quite exciting and hot. Steenerico managed to finish Yoshino after the brainbuster/package piledriver sequence. A great match. (****)

 

Injustice
Edison, New Jersey
April 12, 2008

Nigel McGuinness(c) vs. Kevin Steen [ROH World Championship]

Nigel McGuinness was such a great champion for Ring of Honor. He was able to take performers like Kevin Steen (among others) who had no shot of winning the belt and make them seem like credible challengers who *might* actually win. That not only led to great drama for matches like this one, but it also elevated wrestlers like Steen just for losing to Nigel. Nigel’s work on Steen’s arms was great and only just needed to cause Steen more problems on offense to take that element to the next level. The work was not overwhelming during the match though, which makes the lack of impact less annoying. Nigel eventually had to resort to grabbing onto the ropes on a pin to put Steen away.  Steen came away from this match looking like a future main-eventer. (****1/4)

 

Nigel cheated to beat Steen in their second title match as well. That led to one final battle for the title.

 

Northern Navigation
Toronto, Ontario
July 25, 2008

Nigel McGuinness(c) vs. Kevin Steen [ROH World Championship]

The only way this match could have been better was if Kevin Steen had won the title clean in his home country. Instead, it’s “merely” one of the greatest ROH matches ever. Nigel was at the peak of his powers here. He dominated wrestlers in a compelling fashion, had his heel-champ character down pat, and had almost every crowd in the palm of his hand. Steen really worked perfectly as a babyface challenger here, and this proved how he was absolutely capable/worthy of being a ROH champ one day.

One of my favorite parts of the match was how they used big spots to signal major turns in the match. Steen was standing on the guardrail, and Nigel tossed him onto the side of the apron in brutal fashion to cut him off. Late in the match, as Steen was progressively making the match more and more competitive, he hit a crazy senton to the floor. If you’re going to use dangerous spots, make them count and make them stand out.

By the time they got towards the end, they truly earned all the big finisher kickouts. Nigel kicked out of the package piledriver, and Steen kicked out of a number of lariats. Steen was loopy and made a desperate attempt for a small package only for Nigel to finish him with the diving lariat that Steen avoided earlier in the match. Masterful wrestling when it’s all said and done. (****3/4)

 

Death Before Dishonor
New York City, New York
August 2, 2008

Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin)

The odd part of this match is not that it’s not good, but that they did so little with so much time. You would think a poor match between these two teams would be because they did too much in too little time. It mostly just felt like a house show effort in a marquee match on one of ROH’s trademarked shows. The longest segment of the match was MCMG working over Generico. Nothing of note was done with that time, and it did not really get people excited for the inevitable hot tag. The movez-fest in the final minute or two did not feel earned as a result at all. This disappointment ended with Steen making Sabin tap out to the sharpshooter. (**1/2)

 

Age of Insanity
Cleveland, Ohio
August 15, 2008

Kevin Steen vs. Jigsaw

This match was largely worked as you would expect. Steen dominated Jigsaw, and Jigsaw used speed and flips to make it somewhat competitive. Steen gave Jigsaw a solid amount of offense to make sure he did not come off like a jobber. Steen of course won though, and this match showcased a Steen formula that almost always worked. Fun fun fun. (***)

 

Night of the Butcher
Chicago Ridge, Illinois
August 16, 2008

Kevin Steen vs. Kenny King

This was not much at all. They decided to swim upstream by having Kenny King work completely heel here. If this was worked more like the Steen/Jigsaw match, it could have been a good time. Instead, it mostly felt forgettable. Steen won with the sharpshooter. (**1/4)

 

Driven
Boston, Massachusetts
September 19, 2008

Age of the Fall(c) (Tyler Black & Jimmy Jacobs) vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico [ROH World Tag Team Championship]

Steen promised that he would win gold in 2008 after their failure to win either of them in 2007. This was the match where he (and Generico) finally got their gold. That story coming to an end in as an exciting and dramatic fashion as possible truly carries the match. The opening portion of the match was surprisingly relaxed and did not convey much in the way of stakes. The heat segment on Generico was performer in a perfunctory manner. It was all about everything that happened after that though. They perfectly timed the slow build to the Steenerico win so that the place came absolutely unglued when it finally happened. Everything after the Steen hot tag starts is pure gold. Great match overall. (****1/4)

 

Watch some Steen for free!

Kevin Steen vs. Alex Shelley

Kevin Steen vs. Kyle O’Reilly

KENTA, Kevin Steen, & El Generico vs. Chris Hero & The American Wolves

Kevin Steen vs. Chris Hero

Kevin Steen vs. Homicide [ROH World Championship Match]

Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. The Young Bucks

Kevin Steen vs. PAC vs. Takeshi Morishima vs. Ashley Reed

Kevin Steen vs. Player Uno

Kevin Steen in a Royal Rumble match with Johnny Gargano, Tommy Dreamer, & many others.

Kevin Steen vs. Brodie Lee vs. Slyck Wagner Brown vs. Jay Freddie

Kevin Steen vs. Sami Callihan III

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

This set accurately captures Kevin Steen's first two full-time years with Ring of Honor. The highs were absolutely tremendous and showed how much potential he had. There were a fair amount of disappointments along the way though, and you could tell he was not fully comfortable in the company until 2008 got going. This is an easy recommendation regardless just for the big matches with the Briscoes and the Nigel matches.