Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Kevin Steen – Thanks Steen Thanks – Disc 3

Raising the Bar
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
March 7, 2014

Kevin Steen & The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson) vs. Michael Elgin & The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe)

This is the kind of match PWG killed for me in 2013-14. I’ve just seen too many of these kinds of matches go way too long to be particularly interested in this one. The good news is that the matchup was somewhat unique, and the ROH fans responded to it well. With that in mind, I’ll compromise and give this a solid rating. It was very successful but not for me. It ended with a Super Elgin Bomb on Nick. (**3/4)

 

Global Wars
Toronto, Ontario
May 10, 2014

Adam Cole(c) vs. Kevin Steen [ROH World Championship]

There were a lot of things to take from this match. For starters, Kevin Steen is far more capable of giving a nuance performance than a lot of people give him credit for. His selling of the knee that Cole attacked here was consistent, and there were genuine consequences to his chances of winning as a result. Secondly, Adam Cole was remarkably un-over as Ring of Honor World Champion. Steen got a “big star” response. Cole came out to silence. That is scary given that he was about eight months into his reign at that point. Finally, Cole’s work in the match was just not main-event level. He tried to be a goofy heel and do work on Steen’s left leg. The latter was executed better than the former at least, but neither came off impressively. I avoided a lot of ROH and PWG shows with him on top, and every match I see of his proves that I was right to avoid the periods when those companies pushed him to the moon. Anyway, a late Mike Bennett interference spot led to the finish. Steen gave him a package piledriver, but that did damage to his injured knee, and Cole pounced. A superkick finished Steen. (***1/2)

 

War of the Worlds
New York City, New York
May 17, 2014

Kevin Steen vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

I remember being foolishly skeptical about this match when it was announced, and that was so wrong of me. It is a battle between the two most charismatic men on the shows in front of a NYC crowd that was obviously going to love them both. They took advantage of that and delivered an incredibly fun match that beautifully blended shtick, exciting action, and cool sequences. It obviously greatly benefited from being a fresh, once-in-a-lifetime matchup as well. Nakamura won after a couple of Boma Ye. This was the highlight of the first NJPW/ROH tour. (***3/4)

This was Steen’s last ROH match in NYC. He went to give a speech, but Silas Young interrupted him. Silas Young would be the last feud of Steen’s time in Ring of Honor.

 

Aftershock
Minneapolis, Minnesota
July 12, 2014

Kevin Steen vs. Tomato Camper

This was a part of the official or unofficial (can’t remember) “Thanks Steen Thanks” tour where everyone knew he was signed by the WWE. The match was actually a bit more interesting than I expected (I fluctuate on my feelings about Ciampa’s work). Steen basically just wanted to have fun early on and mess with Ciampa by constantly grabbing the ropes and screaming “REFFFFFFFFFFFF!” as soon as Ciampa touched him. This was a big match for Ciampa though, and he got sick of the games. He even managed to start targeting that left arm which was a nice touch. Kevin then had to start taking the match much more seriously if he was going to have a chance. He did just that. Kevin needed some big movez late in the match though to make a win possible. An apron bomb and sleeper suplex did not put him away, but the package piledriver (after a couple of failed attempts) did. Solid stuff. A payoff to the arm work would have put it over the top. (***)

 

Summer Heat
Cincinnati, Ohio
July 18, 2014

Kevin Steen vs. Silas Young

This mistake this match made was that Silas ended up controlling way too much of it. Compare this to the Cliff Compton street fight which totally over-delivered in large part because Compton just took an ass-kicking almost the whole time. Here, a match with far superior opponent in Silas, under-delivers because the crowd simply does not care enough a wrestler ROH has portrayed as a midcard goof. (Granted, I ended up giving both matches **3/4, but this match had a much higher ceiling based on the matchup. There is no reason my feelings on each’s quality should be so similar.)

To Steen’s credit though, he did a surprising amount of stuff in here that he did not need to do on his way out of the company to put over Silas.  He took a bump onto a ladder and  took a top-rope bump through six chairs. They even set that up fairly well with Steen not showing enough urgency late into the match. He was too busy goofing around and arranging the chairs. Silas put him away with the Pee Gee Waja Plunge with a chair after that. A good effort but the wrong kind of match. (**3/4)

 

Ring of Honor Television
Dearborn, Michigan
July 19, 2014

Kevin Steen vs. Steve Corino

Ring of Honor advertised this on the set as being the first time it was released in full.

This match was not so much about the action but far more about the fact that it was the last time the ROH fans would get to see Steen. The pre-match shenanigans with the streamers and the speech that Corino had Bobby Cruise read were really enjoyable and a fittingly funny end to Steen’s ROH career. While Steen’s most memorable matches will mostly like be his epic title matches or the blood feuds he was involved in, he was truly a funny performer that made fans laugh as much as anyone in ROH. The match itself ended up being very generic with not much happening in it of note. Steen won with the package piledriver in what felt like a match that did not require all that much effort. That’s genuinely not a criticism. Steen gave way more to ROH than most people ever did. He did not need to give them anything else. (**1/2)

They actually teased turning the post-match celebration into a beatdown from The Decade. That would have been the most post-2010 Ring of Honor way to have ended Steen’s run. I’m surprised they resisted.

Anyway, the rest of the ROH roster came out and threw Steen a party. Steen then gave a speech. It was lovely with plenty of shout-outs.

 

Watch Steen matches for free!

Kevin Steen vs. Sami Callihan III

Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Super Dragon & Excalibur

Kevin Steen vs. Mike Bailey

Kevin Steen, Steve Corino, & Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jay Lethal & ANX

Kevin Steen & Jimmy Jacobs vs. Davey Richards & Kyle O’Reilly

Kevin Steen vs. Jerry Lawler

Kevin Steen vs. Dave Mastiff

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

This final Kevin Steen set from Ring of Honor covers most of his big matches from his last eighteen months with the company (but oddly skips BOTH of his matches with Michael Elgin from that time period). After dropping the title fairly early on in that period, he was mostly reduced to a midcard role. I understand the desire to not build a company around a guy who is likely not long for it, but it did seem odd to see him in match after match that was positioned as not being important. His last two feuds being with Mike Bennett (inoffensive but largely useless) and Silas Young (talented but terribly handled) reflects Ring of Honor's poor decision-making and planning. Surely there had to be a more effective way to use Steen on his way out? Regardless, there are a lot of fun matches on here, and I was very grateful to go through it. The booking put Steen in position though to not really have matches that you *need* to see, but most of them work.