What’s All The Hubbub: ROH Hate: Chapter II

This is the second show in a three-night series of shows after Death Before Dishonor VII. Kevin Steen is one night removed from facing ROH World Champion Tyler Black in one of the marquee title matches of the year. But before he can do that, he has to have a rematch with former partner and now bitter rival El Generico. Meanwhile, the ongoing feud between The Kings of Wrestling and The Briscoe Brothers continues with a twist; Sara Del Ray and Awesome Kong, fresh off a well received match at Supercard of Honor V, are joining the mix.

Hate: Chapter II
July 23, 2010
Colinsville, Illinois

The House of Truth vs. The Bravado Brothers
This is about what you’d expect out of one solid tag team and one very good team wrestling for nine minutes. It’s rather telling that even though the Bravados are much larger than the House of Truth, I still can’t buy them having such a competitive match with them. It’s not that they are bad, it’s just that they are entirely lacking in presence. The House of Truth win in a match that’s really nothing to write home about.
Match Result: Josh Raymond and Christian Able win via pinfall
Match Rating: **1/2

Prince Nana sees fat pigs everywhere in St. Louis.

Erick Stevens vs. Grizzly Redwood
These two have surprisingly good chemistry. Redwood is a guy I get a kick out of because of his dedication to his gimmick (the log roll, chopping the legs), his athleticism (the springboard DDT), and the ragdoll factor (Stevens puts him in the coolest bearhug ever in this match). And really, it’s not like he was setting the world on fire as Mitch Franklin. In the end, this serves to set-up a post-match brawl between The Necro Butcher and Rasche Brown. The spontaneous violence was fun and brief. Entertaining, but hopefully we can get into the show proper now.
Match Result: Grizzly Redwood wins via disqualification
Match Rating: **3/4

Pick Six Contender’s Match
Roderick Strong vs. Colt Cabana
Talk about your contrast in wrestling styles. I like both of these guys, but not against each other. I guess it’s kind of like Ernie and Bert facing each other. This is probably the best match I’ve seen them have against each other, but it is a very WWE type of match. Cabana gets some early shine, Martini trips up Cabana, Strong takes over, Cabana makes a comeback, Martini interferes again and Strong pulls out the victory. They also bust out some sick offense; Roddy’s flying knee is always a treat, and Cabana dropping him from a Fireman’s Carry onto the ropes in the corner is very cool. However, these two really don’t compliment each other very well. Cabana isn’t in Roddy’s league offensively, and Roddy doesn’t have enough personality to play to Cabana’s strengths. Maybe a brawl with the rules thrown out would serve them better.
Match Result: Roderick Strong wins via pinfall
Match Rating: ***

Generation Me vs. The American Wolves
Max Buck sets the match up by refusing to go by their old Young Bucks name, and Davey calls them a something I don’t feel like repeating. Ahem. Anyway, for me, going heel kills the appeal of the Young Bucks. Max is the only one who really does anything heelish, but mostly it means we are denied the innovative double teams of The Bucks, which really is the only thing special about them. Fortunately, it means they become whipping boys for The Wolves, so this match ends up being awesome. Other than the Kings of Wrestling and the Motor City Machine Guns, I don’t think there’s another team on the Wolves’ level as individual wrestlers and as a tag team. Here, you get to see them deliver on both fronts. Davey does his stuff, Eddie does his stuff, and they work in their double-teams (including a nice ode to the British Bulldogs with Eddie hitting a powerslam to set up Davey’s headbutt). There is an annoying moment where Davey shrugs off the inverted hurracanrana (a sick head drop move) to hit a clothesline. He really needs to stop doing that.

The finish is very cool as Eddie catches Jeremy going for the 450 Splash part of More Bang For Your Buck, Davey takes out Max with an enzugiri and then flies off the top rope for the powerbomb/lungblower combo. Jeremy’s submission to the Achilles Lock with head stomps is pretty much academic after that. Not an all-time classic or anything, and their 12-minute HD Net epic was better, but this may be the finest showcase of the Wolves as babyfaces to date. I could also do without Davey’s “shoot” promo afterward.
Match Result: Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards win via submission
Match Rating: ****

Tyler Black, Jerry Lynn & Delirious w/Daizee Haze vs. Austin Aries, Kenny King & Rhett Titus
Once again, this is about what you would expect out of six talented individuals having a relatively brief tag team match the night before a big show in Chicago. It’s enjoyable the whole way through, with Lynn, Delirious, Black and the All-Night Express all getting moments to shine. Aries does the only thing that really sticks out in my mind by applying the Cobra Clutch to Delirious while yelling at Daizee Haze, but then get pinned with a small package. Kind of sad to see how far he fell in ROH after losing the title, despite probably still being the best all around performer the company had.
Match Result: Delirious, Jerry Lynn & Tyler Black win via pinfall
Match Rating: **3/4

After the match, Aries kidnaps Daizee Haze, and everyone leaves except for Black. This brings out Kevin Steen to attack the champion and get a head start on his title match the next night, but also sets up.

Kevin Steen vs. El Generico
If you want high-impact wrestling, this is the match for you. I had one major problem with the match at Death Before Dishonor VIII, and that was that Steen didn’t sell his hatred of El Generico as well as I thought he should have. That isn’t an issue here, as Steen sticks to brawling and high-impact offense. El Generico gives pretty much the same spirited performance he gave last time, busting out the bigger moves in his arsenal, such as the exploder into the buckles and a Tornado DDT on the metal ramp, as well as the half-and-half suplexes. Steen responds with the ever impressive apron powerbomb, his rarely used moonsault, and by beating Generico while berating a fan in the front row wearing a mask. But the highlight of his offense is when Generico avoids the pumphandle neckbreaker, so Steen just reapplies the half-nelson and hits a sick suplex out of it.

There are two major nods to the DBD match, Generico survives the Top Rope Northern Lights Bomb this time, but when he tries to sail from one side of the ring, through the two bottom ropes and hit the tornado DDT, Steen blasts him with a chair Sabu style. It’s a great finish that obviously leaves the feud open for more while being appropriately violent. Generico gets the victory, and a measure of revenge by splashing off a scaffold to put Steen through a table after the match. A worthy successor to the Death Before Dishonor match.
Match Result: El Generico wins via disqualification
Match Rating: ***3/4

The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) & Sara Del Ray vs. Amazing Kong & Jay & Mark Briscoe
This is probably the best inter-gender tag team match I’ve ever seen. A lot of that has to do with the incredible talent of all six people. You expect everyone involved to deliver quality matches. But the nice thing is that it rarely even feels like an inter-gender match because both women are treated as equals with the men, especially offensively. The relative size of the women helps, but so does their reputation for being physically imposing on other women. It’s believable watching them on offense against the men. I’m still slightly uncomfortable with the men attacking the women, especially the Briscoes since they are supposed to be honorable babyfaces, but it’s not all that bad. And Kong looks like a beast for kicking out of one of Hero’s Rolling Elbows. There are several highlights, including nice twists to the standard double-teams such as Kong assisting the Briscoes on their shoulder tackle spot so they can take out both Kings, Del Ray and Hero hitting flash kicks on Mark while Claudio does a European Uppercut to the back. The Kings do a European Uppercut version of the Doomsday Device in a nice moment, and Kong’s big dive off the apron is memorable. I think it was nice to put this in the main event slot. Even if it wasn’t the best match on the card, it was the most unique.
Match Result: Jay & Mark Briscoe & Amazing Kong win via pinfall
Match Rating: ***1/2

The 411: This is a fun show, and a nice companion piece to Salvation. There are three excellent matches in Steen vs. Generico, the Six-Person Main Event and Generation Me taking on The American Wolves. I enjoyed watching the show, but there are better and more important shows that you should buy first. But if you see it on a sale (which ROH does frequently), pick it up.
Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]