Beast in the World

It was recently revealed (through the magic of Twitter) that Eddie Edwards is being trained by Dan ‘The Beast’ Severn for his Final Battle world title match with Davey Richards. Naturally this is part of a storyline but it’s an interesting direction for the rivalry to head in.

Training regimes have played an increasingly important role in ROH title matches over the last year or so. Part of the reason for this is the ascension of Davey Richards to the top of the card. ‘The American Wolf’ (it feels appropriate, given that moniker, that Edwards has aligned himself with a man that looks like a lumberjack) has always been presented as a serious competitor who places great emphasis on incorporating different fighting styles and training regimens for big matches, shunning the over-the-top gimmicks usually associated with wrestling. His entourage, Team Richards, is intended to aid in his portrayal as a serious athlete who is focused on excelling in the ring (it also has the unfortunate side effect of making Richards appear a nutcase who has no interests outside of training).

It has been subtly implied that part of the reason Edwards lost the title to Richards at June’s Best in the World is because of Richards’ approach to preparation. This hasn’t been stated outright but the company’s depiction of the current champion has made it clear that his win was in part due to the time he spent training and studying different fighting techniques.

This being Ring of Honor there’s a fair chance that Edwards will legitimately spend some time with Severn before the match takes place. I expect we’ll see him employ Severn’s signature belly to belly suplex and Beast Choker submission hold on December 23^rd. Both moves should form key parts of the bout.

Can ‘Die Hard’ become a two time Ring of Honor world champion? In the past the promotion has seemed reluctant to give people more than one reign at the top, with only one man regaining the title for a second reign in its nine year history. My initial feeling is that Edwards won’t capture the gold, but the current booking team seems less interested in epic title reigns than their predecessors have been and more inclined to surprise audiences so it’s not impossible that Edwards will leave as champion.

Right now I’m expecting Richards to win. That could change in the next few weeks as the event gets closer and we learn more about Severn’s role in Edwards’ preparation. One thing I am confident of is that both men will strive to better their excellent encounter from Best in the World. It should be a fitting final match of 2011 for the company that prides itself on giving fans tremendous action.

Cult of Celebrity

Big Brother has recently returned to British TV on its new home channel of Five. As I was watching all the alleged celebrities entering the house on Thursday evening (what does it say about the word ‘celebrity’ that it now covers some guy from a clothing catalogue?) I thought that being a contestant on the show would have worked perfectly as part of the brief “viral” campaign CM Punk embarked on last month.

Rewind back to Money in the Bank. Punk won the WWE championship by beating John Cena in one of the most anticipated WWE title matches in years. The next night on RAW Punk was nowhere to be seen and it was clear he’d done exactly what he’d said he would all along: he’d left the company with the title. Well, in the storyline at least. For the first time in the company’s history the title was (again, in the storyline) around the waist of someone not under contract to the promotion, and they were free to accept bookings from rival promotions and show up wearing WWE’s top prize. The situation had huge potential to gain WWE publicity, make CM Punk a household name, and shake up the wrestling business as a whole.

Unfortunately WWE got an itchy trigger finger and brought CM Punk back to television on July 25^th, just eight days after his title victory. I get why they did it: they felt they needed Punk, the hottest star in the wrestling business, to help their TV ratings and pay-per-view buys. I can understand their position: why would they invest all that TV time allowing Punk to become so big and re-sign him to a contract only to allow him to go and work for New Japan, Ring of Honor and various US indy promotions just as his new contract kicked in? Those companies and the business as a whole would’ve benefitted from that approach immediately whilst WWE would have had to wait. As any long time fan knows, WWE is good at many things but waiting isn’t one of them.

Bringing Punk back to TV after just eight days away allowed a rematch with John Cena to be set up for SummerSlam. It also meant WWE could finally put a world title on Alberto Del, something they’d been postponing for months. It also meant they could reintroduce Kevin Nash and start whatever storyline he’s going to be a part of over the coming weeks. It was all about cashing in on Punk’s popularity as quickly as possible. It wasn’t the worst thing they could have done, but it was short sighted.

I believe WWE made a mistake bringing Punk back that quickly. Personally I’d have kept him off television until Survivor Series. That would have allowed Cena to become more established as the WWE champion, which would have resulted in the unification match meaning more upon Punk’s return. It also would have created space at the top of the card: WWE would have been forced to elevate some talent to fill the vacuum created by Punk’s hiatus.

While off TV Punk could have continued the “viral” campaign that was hinted at when he made appearances at Comic Con and the July 23^rd All American Wrestling show. I mentioned above that he could have appeared for ROH and NJPW, and that’s just scratching the surface. Punk could have helped the WWE reach new markets by appearing at any public gathering or media event and simply being himself.

The only downside of this proposal is that WWE wouldn’t have benefitted from Punk’s popularity until November, and would have been forced to run the risk of him not generating the attention they were hoping for. A company that is so used to being in control simply couldn’t allow Punk to effectively create his own schedule for a prolonged period of time especially while calling himself the WWE champion.

This brings me back to Big Brother. Punk is probably the least likely wrestling personality to want to appear on a show like that, but that in itself would make great TV. I’m sure the combined forces of WWE management and, more importantly, Colt Cabana could have persuaded him that it would be a good move and he’d have ended up appearing in some fashion, even if it was just a weekend in the house (which Big Brother executives have announced will happen). Having a reigning world champion inside that house (especially one with such strong beliefs as Punk) would have helped attract new viewers to WWE, created media attention in the States (WWE’s primary market remember), and helped Five’s ratings (pretty much every wrestling fan in Britain would have tuned into the show religiously to watch Punk).

The opportunity’s gone and it will be a very long time before anything remotely similar falls into WWE’s hands again. This time they simply weren’t ready to release a bit of creative control and exploit the situation to its maximum potential. Next time I hope they learn from their mistakes.

Do We Still Want Steen?

One of the big selling points of Ring of Honor’s June 26^th Best in the World show was what would happen with Kevin Steen. Having lost a mask versus ROH career match to El Generico at Final Battle last December he was allegedly banned from the company for life.

Steen’s mentor Steve Corino spent the first half of this year reinventing himself and trying to convince audiences and his fellow wrestlers that he’d changed. He brought Jimmy Jacobs, another man that had been synonymous with heelish antics in the past, back to the company to help him on his quest to become a better person. But what he and the fans really wanted was for Kevin Steen to be allowed to return to the promotion.

When Ring of Honor announced on their website that Kevin Steen would not be welcome at the Hammerstein Ballroom everybody knew it meant he’d be there. But nobody knew what form this unofficial appearance would take. Would it just be a run-in or would Corino somehow get him into the ring to address the fans? It was, as I said, one of the bigger talking points going into Best in the World.

What we got was Steen arriving through the crowd before Corino’s match, only to be stopped at the barrier by Jim Cornette and security. Despite having left as a heel Steen received one of the loudest ovations of the evening. Fans unleashed chants demanding Steen be allowed into the ring to speak, but Cornette stood firm: he had lost a match that stipulated he would leave the company and that was what was going to happen. Steen, playing face, gave a reluctant nod and shook Cornette’s hand. He walked out of the arena to loud cheers.

‘The King of Old School’ then had his scheduled match against Michael Elgin. It was enjoyable, though nothing spectacular. Elgin won and then followed up with a post-match beating of Corino and Jacobs, until Kevin Steen returned through the crowd to make the save.

With the House of Truth sent scurrying for the safety of the locker room Corino took a microphone and started a “let him speak” chant. Jim Cornette, having returned to ringside, agreed to the demand on the condition that Steen leave the building immediately afterwards.

Taking the mic Steen introduced himself and informed us that he was an evil person, as Corino and Jacobs have both done at recent events. But instead of saying how good it was to be back or apologising for his behaviour of 2010, as pretty much everyone expected, Steen yelled a heartfelt “fuck Ring of Honor” and smashed Corino in the head and gave him a package piledriver.

Steen removed his shirt as he continued gleefully pummelling Corino and Jacobs, revealing what appeared to be a Pro Wrestling Guerilla shirt (though it was impossible to be sure and the commentators didn’t comment either way). Eventually several members of security managed to gain control of Steen (once again doing his very believable madman routine) and carted him out of the building.

The angle was executed perfectly. It was very believable and a genuine shock. I had assumed that Steen would turn up, confront Jim Cornette in the ring, and then apologise for his treatment of the ROH locker room and El Generico in particular. It seemed as though this was Ring of Honor’s way of reintroducing Steen to the roster as a babyface, and I’d expected a few more “uncontracted” appearances to go by before an announcement that ROH would overturn his ban due to fan demand.

What we got instead was an expertly performed swerve turn. Clearly Corino and Jacobs are going to continue along the same path they’ve been on, attempting to rehabilitate themselves and gain acceptance as babyfaces. But what about Steen? Would ROH have gone to the trouble of promoting his appearance (such strenuous denial made it clear something was going to happen involving Steen) if there were no plans to use him beyond Best in the World? While there’s no obvious next step for Steen and ROH I’m sure he’s not yet finished with the company. Judging by what we saw last Sunday I think a feud between Steen and Ring of Honor as a company could be on its way. Maybe, if that was a PWG shirt he was wearing, we could see a PWG v ROH inter-promotional feud.

Even though he insulted the company itself the fans still loudly cheered Steen as he was removed from the building. He is an undeniably popular wrestler, and that’s something all wrestling companies need. In answer to the question “do we still want Steen?” I think the answer is a firm yes. If the reaction he got at Best in the World is anything to go by (and New York crowds are usually trendsetters on these things) he’ll have a fight on his hands establishing himself as a heel again, but I believe he can manage it. Surprise run-ins during Corino and or Jacobs matches would be a good place to start, building up to Steen randomly interfering in any match he can. Right now I think the most likely way this story will go is to have Steen wanting to deprive fans of an enjoyable product. That would be the best way to turn him heel.

Whatever comes next I’m sure we’ve not seen the last of Steen in Ring of Honor. Steve Corino, Jimmy Jacobs and Jim Cornette will likely want to address ‘Mr Wrestling’s’ actions in detail, and the execution of the turn makes it clear there’s more to come.

We’ve not seen the last of Kevin Steen in Ring of Honor. And that’s a good thing.

We Want Steen

When Kevin Steen turned heel on El Generico at Final Battle 2009 it didn’t just signal the end of one of Ring of Honor’s most popular teams and begin one of 2010’s top feuds anywhere in wrestling, it also revitalised Steen’s career. Reinvented as a psychotic, uncontrollable heel Steen became the company’s most effective heel. The turn was a big success in terms of creating a memorable storyline and elevating all the wrestlers involved.

The man credited for convincing Steen to ditch Generico as a partner was Steve Corino. According to him the association needed to finish in order for Steen to realise his full potential as a singles wrestler and become the RoH world champion.

At Final Battle 2010, after a year of feuding, Steen lost a street fight to Generico. The stipulation agreed before the match was that if Generico lost he would remove his mask while if Steen lost he would leave Ring of Honor. Losing that match meant Steen wasn’t going to capture the RoH championship any time soon. It also meant the promotion had lost one of its most over acts: Steen had become incredibly popular despite his great effectiveness as a heel.

With his charge gone Corino segued into a storyline in which he regretted his action of 2010. He vowed to become a changed man and sought redemption from the locker room. Six months later he hasn’t yet received that redemption from his peers but he has from RoH crowds. Corino’s quest to prove he is a changed man has struck a chord with audiences, his plight being one of the most intriguing aspects of the 2011 Ring of Honor product, partly because it’s so different to the typical wrestling storyline.

At Supercard of Honor VI Corino revealed the man sponsoring him on his road to change was (and is) Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs left the company in 2009 after a very effective run as a heel, so being reintroduced as Corino’s backer made sense: in storyline terms he understands what ‘The King of Old School’ is going through.

The reveal of Jacobs surprised some people, not because it was a huge shock to see back in Ring of Honor but because Corino had deliberately hinted that his sponsor would be Kevin Steen. There was a reason for the misdirection though: Steen’s return was being held off until a later date. While it hasn’t officially been confirmed it very much looks like that date will be this Sunday, at the Best in the World internet pay-per-view.

Recent video wires (videos that further the company’s various storylines through backstage promos, released every week or so on their website) have revealed that Steen is affiliated with the changed Corino, and that Corino has purchased tickets for him to fly to New York and appear at the iPPV. In a typically realistic touch Ring of Honor has released a statement saying that Steen is not welcome at the show and Jim Cornette (RoH’s on-screen Executive Producer) has been on Twitter to say that Steen is a loose cannon. The company’s storyline standpoint on the issue is very clear.

Not to be outdone Steen has launched the #wewantSteen hashtag on Twitter, encouraging people to show their support for him and attempting to convince Cornette and RoH to reverse their decision on his banning.

Whether he appears this Sunday or not it’s clear Steen is on his way back to Ring of Honor. I personally believe that he will appear at Best in the World. It’s the biggest stage Ring of Honor have had all year so it’s a natural choice to host the comeback of a big name wrestler. And with their new TV show due to begin in September it’s expected that the company will be expanding its roster (which is part of the reason Jacobs has returned). Steen is one of the names that has risen to the top of the company in the post-Bryan Danielson/Nigel McGuinness era, and so would be a perfect fit for a top spot on the new TV show. Taking into account his popularity, verbal skills and in-ring ability he could very well be a future RoH world champion.

The possible return of Steen is one of the things I am most excited about for Best in the World. He’s a charismatic man and a talented worker whose contributions to the company have been missed by a lot of people. Seeing how his reintroduction to the company plays out will be one of the highlights of the next few events and will help to keep the enjoyable Corino storyline moving.

In short: I want Steen.

Best in the World preview

This weekend will be the third in a row that has seen a wrestling pay-per-view available from a North American promotion. Two weeks ago we had TNA’s (predictably) disappointing Slammiversary IX and last week we had WWE’s Capitol Punishment. This weekend it’s the turn of Ring of Honor as they present their latest internet pay-per-view, Best in the World.

This being an RoH show we can expect a heavier emphasis on in-ring competition. The current crop of storylines have been given a slower, more methodical build, which is preferable to the rushed approach of WWE or TNA. The biggest match of the show, Davey Richards v Eddie Edwards, has several years of history to fall back on, and the match itself has been building since March. It’s a refreshing and enjoyable approach and something RoH does particularly well.

Davey Richards challenged for the Ring of Honor title twice last year, once again Tyler Black and once against Roderick Strong. He lost both title challenges but beat both men in various non-title situations. As far as fans were concerned he was the uncrowned RoH champion as 2010 ended. But losing to Strong caused Richards to have a change of heart: he no longer wished to be known as the ‘Best in the World’ (a chant a select few RoH wrestlers hear upon gaining the respect of the fans) because he didn’t have the title to prove it. He said he would work on perfecting his craft before requesting another title match.

And that’s what Davey has been doing this year: facing the best wrestlers RoH has in order to hone his game in preparation for his next title challenge. It’s a simple plot that can be followed with the minimum of attention.

But while Davey was honing and perfecting Eddie Edwards shockingly captured the title from Strong in his first ever shot. As soon as it happened everybody knew Richards and Edwards would end up facing one another, it was just a question of when. The two men addressed the situation in the ring at Honor Takes Center Stage, where Davey stated he didn’t want to face Eddie for the world championship as he didn’t want to be the one to end his reign. This unintentionally arrogant remark naturally led to tension between the two men, which contributed to their loss to the World’s Greatest Tag Team in a match later that evening. The same thing happened at Revolution: USA. Only after that match did Davey finally relent and agree to face Edwards for the championship.

The importance both men place on the world title and their years of working as a tag team should ensure that Sunday’s main event has a big fight feel. They’re two of the hardest working men in the company and their styles should complement one another well. In their one previous encounter (in the finals of the RoH Television championship tournament) they put together a good match, and I’m sure they’ll do the same here. As long as the crowd’s vocal (and I’m sure they will be) this should be a match of the year contender.

As far as picking a winner goes I think Eddie will retain in a time limit draw. For the last year Davey has been built up as the guy who can’t “win the big one” and it would be uncharacteristic of Ring of Honor to book such a short world title reign (if Eddie were to lose he would have held the title for just over three months), so I can’t see Richards winning. Plus the fact that this is one of the promotions most lucrative pairings so they’ll want to leave the door open for a rematch. By doing a draw neither man can say they are a conclusive winner and a rematch will be the next natural step in the rivalry. I expect things will start with a handshake but won’t end so well: Davey could be headed for a sore loser-based heel turn.

Best in the World is far from a one match show. The centrepiece of the undercard is the four team tag team championship match which sees Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin defending against the Kings of Wrestling, Jay and Mark Briscoe and the All Night Express. The past six months have seen these four teams established as the focus of the company’s tag division. They’ve all faced each other in standard doubles bouts, there have been various singles combinations, and there was an excellent eight man tag match which saw the Kings of Wrestling and the All Night Express take on the Briscoes and the WGTT towards the end of the run on HDNet. This four way match is the natural climax to the reemphasis on the RoH tag division. It could get busy but I’m sure it will be a massively enjoyable match. I’d love to see the Kings walk out as three time tag champions but I suspect Haas and Benjamin will retain.

The Colt Cabana v Tommaso Ciampa and Homicide v Rhino (yes, the former ECW wrestler) matches should both be enjoyable but neither is likely to steal the show. The Cabana match will see the usual comedy routine before Ciampa gets the victory to keep his winning streak alive, though there may be some interference from the Embassy to stop Cabana from looking too weak.

Homicide hasn’t really been given much to do since returning to RoH last year: his feud with Strong for the world title was flat and his more recent disagreement with the Embassy has done little to excite fans. On the plus side this show is being held in New York, the one place guaranteed to react favourably to Homicide. I predict a victory for the ‘Notorious 187’ and a solid performance from Rhino. I hope this earns him a regular spot on the roster: he strikes me as a good fit for an enforcer for Prince Nana.

On the subject of former TNA stars: Jay Lethal makes his return to Ring of Honor at Best in the World to face Mike Bennett. I’ve always appreciated Lethal’s ring work but his lack of charisma has always prevented me from fully warming to him. His impersonations of Randy Savage and Ric Flair are very good but they’re not a substitute for a personality of his own.  Bennett works what could be described as a “sports entertainment” style which I don’t think will mesh well with Lethal’s. I’d like to be proven wrong, but I don’t have much hope of this match being anything special. I’ll pick Bennett to win because they’ve spent a while building him up now and I don’t think he’ll be sacrificed to Lethal.

Steve Corino v Michael Elgin is a rare instance of an RoH match that’s more interesting because of a storyline than for the match itself. Last month at Supercard of Honor Corino revealed Jimmy Jacobs as his sponsor on his quest to becoming “a good person”. Basically Corino wants to move away from being a heel and has asked Jacobs to help him. It’s been an enjoyable story so far mainly because it’s so different to what we’re used to seeing from wrestling stories.

In recent video updates it has been revealed that Kevin Steen has also supposedly changed for the better and Corino wants him brought back to the company for support. Steen’s recent Twitter name change (from @KillSteenKill to @SteenIsChange), Jim Cornette’s commenting that Steen would not be welcome at the show, and Corino saying he’s already bought Steen a ticket has all had the desired effect of creating intrigue concerning a Steen return. I’d like to see him back in the company and I think this show would be the perfect platform for the return.

The winner of the match will likely be Elgin, but as I say the continuation of Corino’s road to sobriety storyline and possible appearances from Jacobs and Steen are far more interesting.

Finally, there’s TV champion Christopher Daniels’ title defence against El Generico. I predicted a few months ago that ‘The Generic Luchadore’ could be headed towards a TV title victory so I’ll pick him as the winner. Not only would that take the title off of a TNA performer (which has to be an issue for RoH decision makers) but it would further raise the profile of Generico, provide a title change for the show (which I suspect the company would like) and advance the House of Truth v Cabana and Generico feud. If they get fifteen minutes or more this match could be exceptional.

I’d like to point out that if you’re in the UK (as I am) then the 4pm bell time for US viewers means a 9pm start time here. I’m not sure if that was a conscious decision from RoH (I suspect it wasn’t) but it works out well for us and it’s something I’d like to see the company continue to do semi-occasionally as it will help to encourage UK fans to purchase shows.

Will it be the biggest show in Ring of Honor history as has been claimed? It’s not impossible, but it’s not overly likely either. The announced card is a good mix of big matches, storyline progression and enjoyable filler, which is what all wrestling shows should be. With three matches guaranteed to be good (the title matches, appropriately) I’d say it’s well worth buying. I know I will be.