Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Kevin Steen – Descent into Madness – Disc 2

 

We saw Steen attack Tyler Black at a TV taping. We then saw a truly wretched backstage promo from Black afterwards. Holy shit, was it bad. We then saw footage of them getting into a brawl after a TV taping. We then got a Steen promo. It was better than Tyler’s obviously, but this set has made me remember how far Steen has come in terms of promos.

 

Hate: Chapter 2
Collinsville, Illinois
July 23, 2010

Kevin Steen vs. El Generico

Steen was attacking Tyler Black, and Generico made the save to kickoff their rematch.

While this one started out fairly hot, you could tell that something was missing. After a few minutes, it was like the wrestlers and the crowd realized that there was zero chance anything was being settled here. It was a fun battle though for sure. They once again teased the turnbuckle brainbuster, but then Steen escaped. Generico went for the DDT through the turnbuckle, only to be met by a tossed chair from Steen for the DQ. (***1/4)

There was some halfhearted brawling after the match with Colt Cabana and a chain to set up the next PPV match in this feud. Generico ended up jumping off something high to put Steen through a table.

 

ROH on HDNet #66
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Kevin Steen & Steve Corino vs. El Generico & Colt Cabana [Street Fight]

Much like the Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies match, they basically found a way to make this have a more traditional tag structure. After the initial brawl, Colt got worked over. Generico made the “hot tag.” There was a back-and-forth sequence after that. You get the idea. This ended up being another solid weapons brawl overall. It was nothing special unlike a lot of the feud ended up being though. Corino and Steen won when Corino gave Colt a superplex off a table and then through another table. (***1/4)

We saw footage of Steen and Generico continuing to brawl in the parking lot. Steen ended up giving Generico a powerbomb onto a car. Tyler Black made the save.

 

Salvation
Chicago Ridge, Illinois
July 24, 2010

Tyler Black(c) vs. Kevin Steen [ROH World Championship]

2010 saw a real shift in how Ring of Honor approached booking their world champions. Instead of multiple defenses in a weekend, the company generally only did one (if that). I understood the reasons for changing philosophies (the idea was to make each defense more special), but the consequence of doing that (when they were starting to build their years around the four main iPPVs) was that it made it painfully obvious that the house show title matches were not going to result in title changes. This is all a long way of saying that these were starting behind the eight ball. They made it work though. They took their time and slowly got more fans invested they had every single one in the palm of their pocket by the end. While that does make for the most exciting match wire to wire, it is a more impressive accomplishment in some ways. Tyler actually ended up making Steen tap out to the sharpshooter to win (which made sense given that they were stealing each other’s moves in the match). (****)

After the match, we saw Steen talking to Corino on the phone. He talked about they “got him.” The idea being that feuding with Kevin Steen finally caused Tyler to turn heel.

 

We saw a backstage promo from Steen and Corino where they talked about the upcoming double chain match. We also saw Steen interfere in a Generico television match. Yada, yada, yada.

 

Glory by Honor
September 11, 2010
New York City, New York

Kevin Steen & Steve Corino vs. El Generico & Colt Cabana [Chain Match]

Despite some clunky moments (some of which were caused by an iPPV glitch forcing them to stall), this was another very good brawl in their feud. They took what should have been a gimmick that limited what they could do and instead turned it into an advantage. They used the chains to up the violence and intensity, which helped to make this match stand out from the other tag team street fights that already happened in the feud. I liked how they used Colby Corino again, as he unhooked Steen and Steve from the chains. They then strung up Colt with the chains and threatened to mutilate him. That’s unfortunately when they had to start stalling a bit, and the momentum of the match almost completely went away. The comeback/finish (Colt making Corino tap) came shortly after that. Steen got the last laugh though, as he avoided the turnbuckle brainbuster and stole Generico’s mask. Colt rushed Generico to the back. This was a fun (if flawed) brawl with a fantastic post-match angle to continue the feud. (***1/2)

 

Fate of an Angel
Mississauga, Ontario
November 13, 2010

We saw Steen try to interfere in Generico’s match. Generico hit him and some geeks with a dive though. This is where we got our first glimpse of DARK GENERICO.

 

The Kings of Wrestling(C) (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) (w/ Shane Hagadorn & Sara Del Rey) vs. Kevin Steen & Steve Corino [ROH World Tag Team Championship]

In what seems like a miscalculation, they had Steen cut a promo before the match to establish him and Corino as the real heels of the match. If you want to do a heel vs. heel match for the tag titles with Steen and Corino, why book it in Canada if you did not want them to be face? As a result, no one cared about this match. They tried to do a few clever sequences and spots to save this one, but there was nothing to be done. It felt like a completely unimportant match with zero chance of a title change happening. A late appearance by El Generico distracted Steen, and the Kings then easily finished off Corino. This was poor. (*3/4)

Steen and Generico brawled in the crowd after the match. It was announced that their Final Battle match would now be a Fight Without Honor. Their match would be cancelled though if they did not remain fifty feet apart at all times.

 

ROH on HDNet #82
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Kevin Steen vs. Grizzly Redwood

This was a squash match that went was too long. After the match, Steen lays out the challenge for Final Battle: Steen’s ROH career vs. Generico’s mask. Steve Corino was not happy about Steen proposing this stipulation. Dark Generico came out and agreed to it though.

 

We saw another promo from Steen on a later edition of ROH on HDNet. We then got the hype video for the Final Battle match.

 

Final Battle
New York City, New York
December 23, 2010

Kevin Steen vs. El Generico [Unsanctioned Fight Without Honor/Máscara contra Retiro]

While this was not the hottest blowoff to a feud in Ring of Honor history, it was a beautiful and fitting end to the last great story in the company. Steen and Generico busted out everything possible in order to so. They made a ton of callbacks to their year-long feud (like Generico using a chain to bust Steen open early on). Steve Corino and Colt Cabana made cameos. They ended up going through three referees (Generico accidentally put Sinclair through a table, and Steen purposely gave Remsburg a package piledriver). Both men took some absolutely ghastly bumps. Generico managed to connect on two of the moves he had been desperately trying to hit on Steen all year but had failed to do so (the leaping tornado DDT and the turnbuckle brainbuster). Steen survived everything Generico threw at him. Generico had no choice but to finish this feud in the same way it started: an unprotected chairshot (even using the same chair Steen hit Generico with a year ago) to the head. This was everything it needed to be. (****3/4)

 

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

9.0

The final score: review Amazing

The 411

This is, unquestionably, one of the best DVDs that Ring of Honor has ever produced. It chronicles, from beginning to end, the last great story in the company's history. Kevin Steen vs. El Generico is a feud that everyone should look at one point if you have any interest in either guy or independent wrestling.