ROH on Sinclair – Episode 152 – 16th August 2014
It’s a sign of the times in Ring Of Honor that such an important and historically significant moment as Kevin Steen’s final match actually takes place at a TV taping rather than at a big ppv or live event. He was allowed to select his final three opponents on the Summer Heat Tour – and thus far is 1-1 after a win over Tommaso Ciampa followed by a No DQ loss to Silas Young. His handpicked final opponent is his former friend and SCUM co-founder Steve Corino. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness are at ringside in Dearborn, MI ready for an emotional episode.
Steen opens the show with a promo discussing his lengthy history in the wrestling business with Steve Corino. He wants to go out with a win and vows not to take it easy on the King Of Old School tonight
Tadarius Thomas vs ACH
This is a grudge match several months in the making. These two are former tag partners, with their team splitting when Thomas opted to join The Decade rather than side with his now-former friend. Will ACH get a measure of revenge tonight, or will TD’s choice to align himself with the veteran group be vindicated?
Jimmy Jacobs spits in ACH’s face for trying to follow the Code Of Honor with his former partner. As you’d expect the start is fast-paced, with plenty of flips and spins from both men. Thomas is the stronger of the two, and potentially the harder hitter…but ACH is super quick and he SOMERSAULTS out of a suplex attempt to demonstrate that. Davey Richards-style soccer punt scores to TD’s chest. In the end he tries one flip too many, nearly tangles himself in the ropes and gets punted off the apron by Tadarius. Tope suicida COUNTERED with a jumping enzi strike from Thomas, cementing his advantage for the first time. He slows the pace and pummels his former partner with a barrage of strikes. ACH’s wild attempt at a corkscrew enzi is ducked…but his springboard flatliner from the ropes isn’t! A kung fu movie style near miss sequence REALLY impresses, and ends with Tadarius landing a German suplex for 2. HEAD DROP KOBASHI-PLEX gets 2! ACH defiantly clings to the ropes so eats more vicious close-range kicks. He SPITS at Tadarius…who DESTROYS him with strikes. CORKSCREW ENZI BY ACH! Some of this is like watching a martial arts movie – and a gruesome close-up shows that the strikes have actually knocked part of ACH’s tooth out. He flies at Thomas with a double stomp for 2! Jacobs again tries to distract him, allowing Thomas to hit an AVALANCHE SWINGING NECKBREAKER! With blood now pouring from ACH’s mouth, Thomas positions his mouth against the ringpost and looks to shatter his jaw with a running kick! ACH avoids it to hit a RUNNING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! 450 SPLASH! ACH WINS!
Rating - **** - This is my favourite match from these entire Dearborn tapings so far, largely because it came out of nowhere and really blew me away. Tadarius, so bland and forgettable for much of his ROH run, suddenly has a character. He was believable as a cocky, violent bad-ass who was under instruction to destroy his former partner. And across the ring from him was ACH, who has always been one of the most sympathetic and entertaining babyfaces ROH has on the roster. Together they just clicked as opponents. Some of the strike exchanges they produced were incredible (I mean Low Ki vs Amazing Red good), and also so believably violent. It didn’t look fake. You had kicks going everywhere, teeth flying out, guys bleeding from the mouth. It was everything a grudge match should be – and both men have their stocks raised higher by a tremendous performance here. This is the most I’ve been surprised by a Ring Of Honor match in a LONG time.
BJ Whitmer appears at ringside too, joining Jimmy Jacobs to slap around and berate both the Decade young boys. Both Page and Thomas tease fighting back but think better of it and hold the ropes open for their mentors instead.
THANKS STEEN THANKS – Clips are shown of his spectacular challenge to Nigel McGuinness’ World Title at Northern Navigation.
THANKS STEEN THANKS – The next clips are of Kevin winning the World Championship from Davey Richards four years later at Border Wars 2012.
TWO WEEKS – Cedric Alexander challenges Michael Elgin for the World Title
THANKS STEEN THANKS – The next highlights are of the Steen/Generico Ladder War at Final Battle 2012, the dramatic conclusion to their three year epic feud.
THANKS STEEN THANKS – Back to Driven 2008 where Steen and Generico memorably captured the ROH Tag Team Championship from Age Of The Fall.
Kevin Steen vs Steve Corino
The history between these two is far too long to recap in a paragraph here. As far back as ten years ago Steen has credited Corino with taking him under his wing and giving him important guidance which helped shape his professional wrestling career. Corino was the guy that lost to Steen at Final Battle 2011 to allow him back into the company after a year in exile. Together they gave in to evil and created SCUM – a group which led Steen to the World Championship and threatened the very existence of ROH. Since the demise of SCUM Corino has concentrated solely on his commentary and had been considered a retired wrestler at this point – until Steen brought him back through the ropes for his final match. Is Steve in any serious shape to wrestle? Does he pose a threat to one of the most dangerous performers in ROH history? Can Steen give us one last memory before heading to Florida?
There are actually duelling ‘Mr Wrestling’ chants from different portions of the crowd as they await Steen’s entrance to the arena. He gets so many streamers that he is actually able to bury himself in them, visibly causing Bobby Cruise and Scarlett Bordeaux to crack up. Corino goes OLD SCHOOL and hands Bobby one of his trademark lists – spotlighting Corino’s many achievements in wrestling. He then cheapshots Steen before the bell to show that he’s not pulling any punches tonight either. The fight goes to the floor where Steve gleefully tosses his old friend into the guardrails repeatedly. Steen responds by grabbing an El Generico mask from a ringside fan then hitting a YAKUZA KICK! Corino misses a Flying Asshole (Ode to Cabana obviously), then sees a Thumb In The Bum countered with a Codebreaker. FLYING ASSHOLE/CANNONBALL COMBO by Steen gets 2! Running STO from Steve to put an end to the nostalgia-fest…before they spill to the floor again and take each other out with simultaneous clotheslines. Northern lights bomb gets 2 for Corino before Steen bounces back with the Steen-ton Bomb. But Steve refuses to lie down for Steen and drops him again with the Colby Shock. F-5 gets 2 for Mr Wrestling! Package Piledriver blocked with a superkick then the Eternal Dream! The crowd sportingly give him a ‘you still got it’ chant as he drags Kevin up the ropes. Unfortunately the only thing he ‘gets’ for that is an avalanche fisherman buster from Steen! PACKAGE PILEDRIVER NAILED! Steen wins his last ROH match at 11:46 (shown).
Rating - *** - Honestly this was better than I’d expected it to be. Corino was always pretty hit or miss when it comes to standard, straightforward wrestling matches so it was only fair to be a little cautious. We shouldn’t have worried though, as these guys struck the right blend of comedy, nostalgia and hard hitting wrestling. Steen got the win, Corino’s performance was really decent too, and the crowd are sent home happy. Not quite on the level of Danielson/Nigel for best ever ROH farewell match, but it’s definitely one of the better ones.
Steen has tears in his eyes as he hugs Corino in front of a standing ovation from the crowd. Jimmy Jacobs stomps into the ring too, and the three SCUM creators smile broadly as they share one final moment together. Kayfabe is restored when Roderick Strong and BJ Whitmer try to spoil the moment, but the locker room empties to run The Decade off. Jimmy slams Steen for leaving as the show ends…
Tape Rating - **** - An episode which combines a shockingly awesome undercard match with Kevin Steen’s farewell appearance is obviously going to deserve a strong rating. I encourage everyone to check out TD/ACH because it will really knock your socks off. And hopefully it won’t be too long before we can watch Steen in the ring again on NXT, because he truly is an exceptional talent. A man able to be entertaining, comedic, downright fun…yet also believable as a violent, psychopathic bad ass in equal measure. You don’t see many able to combine those two extremes of the pro-wrestling spectrum, yet he does it easily. His popularity with independent wrestling fans is almost unparalleled at this point. He sells crazy amount of shirts, has way more compilation DVD’s than anyone else, and even has his own interview series published by Highspots. He is as close to a ‘Steve Austin’ type, uber-cool babyface that Ring Of Honor ever managed, and had he stuck around you really feel like there was plenty of mileage in another World Title run somewhere down the line. However, such is the affection fans have for him that, despite their disappointment at him leaving, you do feel that literally everyone on the indie scene is thrilled for Kevin to get a chance at a big break. Everyone will be pulling for him in NXT and routing for him to make the main roster and the serious money that his talent deserves.
Top 5 Dearborn Taping Matches
5) reDRagon vs Monster Mafia (*** - Episode 149)
4) Kevin Steen vs Steve Corino (*** - Episode 152)
3) The Addiction vs The Decade vs Briscoes vs War Machine (*** - Episode 149)
2) Michael Elgin vs Kyle O’Reilly (*** - Episode 151)
1) ACH vs Tadarius Thomas (**** - Episode 152)