Column of Honor: 11.06.10: Survival of the Fittest 2010 Tournament Preview Part Two

Posted by Ari Berenstein on 11.06.2010

More tournament coverage including a full show preview, a "Where Are They Now?" with last year's participants, and my official predictions which will be inevitably wrong! All that plus last minute ROH news and more.

Welcome back to the Column! More Survival goodness coming your way, so pack the trail mix, the S'mores and the pup tents and let's get hiking!


If your eyes happened to miss Part One of this week's two-part preview, click on that link and get caught up on this year's participants!





=Survival of the Fittest 2009: Where Are They Now?=


Tyler Black

2009 SOTF: Tyler Black had just returned from a month off due to neck surgery (in storyline Austin Aries had thrown a fireball at him). His big return weekend paid off huge dividends, first with a win against Chris Hero in Collinsville (Clash of the Contenders) and then winning the Survival of the Fittest tournament in Indianapolis the next night. Black defeated Kenny King in the qualifying match and then won the finale, eliminating Chris Hero and finally pinning Roderick Strong to win the whole shebang. It gave Black the right to an additional title shot beyond his placement in the Pick Six, which he would cash-in to challenge then-ROH World Champion Austin Aries for the title at Final Battle 2009.
November 2010: Tyler Black did become ROH World Champion, but not at Final Battle, rather at 8th Anniversary Show. He would go on to have a five month run with the title, ironically losing the belt to the man he defeated during Survival of the Fittest, Roderick Strong. After signing with WWE and dropping the title at Glory By Honor IX this past September, Black entered the wonderful world of WWE's developmental league, Florida Championship Wrestling with the nom de guerre "Seth Rollins". It remains to be seen if that will be the actual name Black will use if and when he is called up to the one of the two major WWE brands.


Delirious

2009 SOTF: Despite being a former Survival of the Fittest tournament winner himself, Delirious had not been included in last year's field. He had challenged for the ROH World Title against Austin Aries the previous night, with Aries cheating to retain the title. Jim Cornette decided at the beginning of the show to include Delirious in the tournament, granting him a bye into the finals due to the circumstances of the prior evening in Collinsville. Delirious pinned Colt Cabana before being eliminated from the tournament by Roderick Strong after a running Yakuza kick. Delirious' current overall SOTF record is 2-2 with three falls won (one qualifying match, one final and one elimination from last year).
November 2010: After an all-encompassing grudge feud against The Embassy, Delirious then waged war against Austin Aries and his protégés Kenny King and Rhett Titus when Aries brutally attack Delirious and injured his throat. Delirious won the feud with a submission victory in a steel cage match (pinfalls and submissions were legal). However, Aries and his men won the war by injuring Delirious and putting him out of action for good with a double team spike piledriver. Of course, the real world reason for Delirious no longer actively wrestling for ROH is that he had taken over as booker for the promotion, adding onto his responsibilities as booker of Pro Wrestling RESPECT (ROH's student promotion) and head trainer of the ROH wrestling school.


Kenny Omega

2009 SOTF: The night before the tournament Omega has the biggest win of his career in defeating Davey Richards at Clash of the Contenders. Unfortunately his attempts at the Survival tournament didn't go as well. He lost in the first round to Chris Hero.
November 2010: Omega has made some infrequent appearances for ROH, but most of them have been of superior quality and have led to must-see matches. A title shot against Austin Aries came up short, but it was a hell of a match. Then Omega and Richards engaged in another rematch, which was so well-fought that the show on which it took place became known as Epic Encounter III. Omega has not wrestled for ROH since Death Before Dishonor VIII against Christopher Daniels, which was another excellent match and another loss. However, Omega has decided to concentrate on building up his career in Japan, wrestling for the DDT promotion and teaming up with ROH international favorite Kota Ibushi. Together, the two recently won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight titles in New Japan.


Roderick Strong

2009 SOTF: The 2005 Survival of the Fittest champion and one of the all-time successful participants once again came close to winning. He defeated Rhett Titus in the qualifier and eliminated Delirious in the finals. It was down to the final two between him and Tyler Black. Ultimately it took four massive superkicks from Black to best Roderick Strong, but even then there was some question about whether or not Strong had actually kicked out before the three-count. Strong's overall SOTF record is 5-3 with 1 non-advance (in 2004 in a tag match qualifier winning on a team with Austin Aries but did not advance in field due to stipulation where the person taking the pinfall only advanced.) He is responsible for nine eliminations / falls won in five years. That is an impressive record.
November 2010: Of course, what's even more impressive is what Roderick Strong has accomplished since that time. Strong has become the ROH World Champion, defeating Black (as mentioned above) and usurping the top spot in the promotion. This immense success may be attributed to his taking on Truth Martini as a life coach and the kind of career guidance that the House of Truth has provided him over the last few months.


Petey Williams

2009 SOTF: Williams was a few months into a mediocre run with Ring of Honor and this would prove to be his last appearance. It ended on a good note though, with a very entertaining but losing effort against Claudio Castagnoli.
November 2010: Williams continues to work the local independent scene in both the United States and Canada, as well as maintaining his rock band collaboration with Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin of the Motor City Machine Guns.

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=SOTF 2010 Match-by-Match Preview: November 12th, 2010 Dearborn, MI=


The Ford Community & Performing Arts Center
8:00pm belltime
15801 Michigan Avenue
Dearborn, MI 48126

Main Event #1- Survival of the Fittest 2010 Elimination Match Finals: TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD

competitors will be determined based on the winners of the qualifying matches

Fun fact: of the six wrestlers who made the finals last year, only three are wrestling in this year's tournament (Hero, Castagnoli and Cabana). Expect some new faces in the final bracket, but Hero and Castagnoli in particular are favored to return to the last round.

Main Event #2- Six Man Tag Team Match: ROH World Champion Roderick Strong and The House of Truth with Truth Martini vs. "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels and The Briscoe Brothers

This match is the obvious gearing-up for the next night's major ROH World Title match between champion Roderick Strong and challenger Christopher Daniels. It's a rematch of a six-man that took place on HDNet several weeks ago, with one difference. This will be the first show without Josh Raymond as a member of The House. Martini has found a replacement and a new member for his House of Truth group (slated to be Michael Elgin according to reports). Truth Martini could be the major determining force as to if his side can win this one, as his words of wisdom and the power of the Book of Truth have helped lead his men to victory. Daniels teams up again with The Briscoes in what is an obvious styles clash. However The Briscoes have had dealings with The House before (and Jay had a friendship with Roderick that was tested in a series of matches last year and in his disappointment in Strong joining up with Truth). They are always up for a fight. It should be interesting to see who walks away from the match with a victory and if either Strong or Daniels will be involved in the finish or if they will be protected leading up to Mississauga the next night.

Survival of the Fittest- 1st Rd. Qualifying Match: World Tag Team Champion Chris Hero with Shane Hagadorn vs. World TV Champion Eddie Edwards

A year ago this wouldn't have been a marquee match-up for Ring of Honor, but this is a new era where both Hero and Edwards now represent the upper tier of the promotion. Edwards can bring a high-octane battle that excites the crowd these days and Hero has produced up and down the card over the years for ROH shows. Expect a statement match out of both of them, hard-hitting and competitive in nature. It's also a preview of the tag team title match next month in Plymouth between the Kings of Wrestling and the American Wolves. Shane Hagadorn is at ringside and given recent past bad blood between Hagadorn and his former client one can expect some sort of confrontation between him and Edwards before, during or after the match.

Survival of the Fittest- 1st Rd. Qualifying Match: El Generico vs. "The Pretty Boy Pit Bull" Kenny King

Another solid opening round match, but whether or not this truly lives up to the potential of both men will be determined by how much time they are given and whether or not the story of the match will actually be the match or if perhaps Kevin Steen or Steve Corino insert themselves and distract Generico. Some of the more emotional and dramatic matches in recent ROH history have involved Generico and while this isn't a grudge bout it wouldn't be too unbelievable to state that Generico can create some great emotional reaction from the fans here and get them behind a victory comeback.

Survival of the Fittest- 1st Rd. Qualifying Match: Kevin Steen vs. Kyle O'Reilly

The first of two singles matches between two teams that recently fought against each other. Steen and Corino defeated O'Reilly and Cole in Dayton, Ohio last month. Steen is a top monster heel in the company, while O'Reilly is the rookie looking to make a mark. Expect O'Reilly to get his licks in, but Steen will fire back and it will be worse. Ultimately this is a chance for the rookie to impress the fans and make an impression for the DVD audience about his future success in the next year.

Survival of the Fittest- 1st Rd. Qualifying Match: Colt "Boom Boom" Cabana vs. "Addicted To Love" Rhett Titus

As written in part one of the preview Rhett Titus has begun to be positioned with more seriousness and with the new push comes an expectation that he could win this one and advance to the finals. These two fought several times in late 2009 and had decent, though more comedy-oriented bouts. Cabana is great when he is a more serious wrestler and tones down the comedy in exchange for his under looked technical acumen or brawling. However Cabana was only really "Serious Cabana" during his feud against Corino and Steen. Any other match during 2010 and he was the same old jokester he had been before (and to mixed results) in 2009. Sometimes that was a good thing in 2010 and led to some fun matches (including against Eddie Edwards). Othertimes, not so much. It will be hard to say which Cabana comes out to play during this show, but the answer to that may actually be more important than whether or not we get a "Serious Titus" portrayal during this one.

Survival of the Fittest- 1st Rd. Qualifying Match: "The King of Old School" Steve Corino vs. Adam Cole

Perhaps the best chance for an upset special in the tournament comes here. Expect the smaller Cole to be running-and-bumping for the larger Corino, who will look to slow the pace down and heel it up. The cheat-to-win mentality will definitely show here for Corino with some dirty tricks. The events that occur during this match may play into the O'Reilly-Steen qualifier and vice versa. Like O'Reilly, Cole has a great chance to impress fans with his performance and solidify his presence on the roster for the coming year.

Survival of the Fittest- 1st Rd. Qualifying Match: World Tag Team Champion Claudio Castagnoli with Shane Hagadorn vs. Grizzly Redwood

How high will Claudio be able to throw Grizzly up in the air for the pop-up European? How many revolutions of the giant swing or the UFO airplane spin will there be? Can Grizzly pull off the ultimate long-shot and surprise Claudio with the win?

Trial Series Match #3: Andy "Right Leg" Ridge vs. "The Notorious 187″ Homicide

The other non-tournament match of the show is the third in the five-match trial series for ROH student prospect Andy Ridge. It is also likely to be his third loss in the series. Homicide is a nuclear hazard of a threat for Ridge, with too much offensive firepower to offer against Ridge. Will this be an out-and-out squash match or will Ridge actually be able to take the fight to Homicide for some time? If he does, is that enough for Ridge to gain a measure of respect from Homicide and even from the fans?


=Survival of the Fittest 2010 Bracketology & Official Predictions=


-Maybe the biggest running joke in this column over the years is that I have been pretty horrible with tournament predictions. It seems that no matter what tournament ROH runs, I cannot figure out who will actually win. So, here we all are once again, and I have my typing fingers set on this bracketing sheet. I have never been correct as far as choosing a Survival of the Fittest tournament winner. But daggumit, I am going to try again anyway. Why not? At least then you'll know who it won't be… therefore, my 2010 Survival of the Fittest predictions:

Qualifiers
[El Generico vs. Kenny King]	[ Kenny King ]
[Grizzly Redwood vs. Claudio Castagnoli]	[Claudio Castagnoli ]
[Kyle O' Reilly vs. Kevin Steen]	[ Kevin Steen ]
[Colt Cabana vs. Rhett Titus]	[ Rhett Titus ]
[Adam Cole vs. Steve Corino]	[ Steve Corino ]
[Eddie Edwards vs. Chris Hero]	[ Edwards ]
Finals: [ Kenny King vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Kevin Steen vs. Rhett Titus vs. Steve Corino vs. Eddie Edwards ]
SOTF '10 Winner: Kevin Steen

Here's how I broke it down: I see Kenny King and Rhett Titus making it into the finals and playing the tag team game—teaming up when possible and helping them to an advantage over the rest of the field. They are stronger together than individually, so King goes over Generico (it won't hurt him to lose if he has a good showing, maybe Steen gets involved as well) and Titus pulling a small upset over Colt Cabana. Kevin Steen and Steve Corino are also in the match together going over O'Reilly and Cole (who make good efforts but can't overcome the brutal beatdown and wiles of their opponents). Therefore both of them pool their resources together and try to isolate and victimize anyone who gets in their way during the finals. Claudio Castagnoli smashes Grizzly Redwood and sails on through to the finals, but Eddie Edwards eliminates Chris Hero via the Achilles Lock (Hero has all the metrics going for him, but Edwards is on a career roll in ROH and I don't think he can be stopped), so no Kings of Wrestling together in the final six.

It's a very heel heavy final six with Edwards the lone fan favorite, who I see going the distance to the last two remaining wrestlers. Claudio is on his own but he should make a good showing and eliminate at least one man before bowing out. Ultimately I see this tournament coming down to Steen, Corino and Edwards. While Edwards is able to tap Corino, he is unable to survive a final onslaught from Steen, who becomes this year's tournament winner.

Why do I see Steen winning? The answer is in the overall picture of the promotion heading to the end of the year. Kevin Steen wrestles El Generico in a "career versus mask" match at Final Battle 2010 this December. IF Steen loses, he must leave Ring of Honor. However, a win in the tournament here gives Steen the perfect insurance policy. He will have a claim on a title match and should he lose the match against Generico it would grant him the opportunity to return when the time is right and enact that title shot. Kevin Steen is above all else, a survivor. He knows how to face the pain and the suffering that is his life and turn lemons into cyanide poison. Therefore, Kevin Steen is my official prediction to win this year's Survival of the Fittest tournament.

Sorry Kevin.

---

As of 011/06/10


=ROH World Champion=
Roderick Strong

Champion since 09/11/2010 | - successful defenses (NEW CHAMPION)
Glory By Honor IX defeated Tyler Black in New York, NY to win the championship.
Next Defense vs. Christopher Daniels in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada on 11/13/10.



=ROH World Tag Team Champions=
The Kings of Wrestling: Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli

Champions since 04/03/2010 | 6 successful defenses
The Big Bang defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe in Charlotte, NC to win the championship.
Next Defense vs. Kevin Steen & Steven Corino in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada on 11/13/10.


--Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin by DQ after The Briscoes interfered in New York, NY on 5/8/10
--Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe in a No DQ Match in Toronto, Ontario on 6/19/10
-- Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe in Philadelphia, PA on 8/21/10
--Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe, The All-Night Express and Dark City Fight Club in Ultimate Endurance in Charlotte, NC on 08/28/10
--Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated El Generico & Colt Cabana in Plymouth, MA on 09/10/10
--Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Christopher Daniels & Davey Richards in Dayton, OH on 10/15/10




=ROH Television Champion=
Eddie Edwards

Champion since 03/05/2010 | 8 successful defenses
ROH on HDNet defeated Davey Richards (tournament final) in Philadelphia, PA to win the championship.
Next Defense vs. El Generico in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada on 11/13/10.


--Eddie Edwards defeated Colt Cabana in Philadelphia, PA on 3/6/10
--Eddie Edwards defeated Petey Williams in Mississauga, Ontario on 3/20/10
--Eddie Edwards defeated Kenny King in Philadelphia, PA on 8/20/10
--Eddie Edwards defeated Rhett Titus in Philadelphia, PA on 8/21/10
--Eddie Edwards defeated Erick Stevens in Plymouth, MA on 9/10/10
--Eddie Edwards defeated Shawn Daivari in New York, NY on 9/11/10
--Eddie Edwards defeated The Necro Butcher in Philadelphia, PA on 10/1/10
--Eddie Edwards defeated Colt Cabana in Philadelphia, PA on 10/2/10

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Some quick ROH news hits for this week:

-Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin have been booked for the January 28th, 2011 ROH Wrestlereunion show in Los Angeles, California.

-ROH World Champion Roderick Strong and ROH Television Champion Eddie Edwards made it all the way to the finals of the Pro Wrestling NOAH NTV Junior Tag League tournament before losing to the tandem of KENTA and Atsushi AOKI on October 30th in Korakuen Hall. It is by far the most success any American Ring of Honor talent has had in that promotion since The Briscoes in their brief run with the NOAH Jr. Tag Titles several years ago. That's excluding Takeshi Morishima's championship defense against KENTA several years ago considering Morishima is considered a NOAH talent. NOAH is going through its own in-fighting and business problems and is not as strong as it once was, but this is still a very strong showing for ROH's top two singles matches, symbolic of the relationship between the two companies and the name brand recognition that ROH still receives among the Japanese fan base.

-Strong and Edwards will be back for the next set of television tapings that take place in Louisville, Kentucky on December 9th and 10th.

-ROH is running an angle with Prince Nana and his column in ROH where the newswires indicate that the powers-that-be believe Nana is losing his grip and is on verge of a mental breakdown. Meanwhile Nana claims he is finding an answer to help The Embassy become bigger and better than ever and advising fans to stay tuned to the last few shows of the year for something major from him and his group.

-Andy Ridge will face-off against Mark Briscoe on November 13th, 2010 in Mississauga in the fourth match of his Trial Series. Expect redneck fu to be unleashed on Andy's right leg.

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Head on over to TwitterNation and follow me at: http://twitter.com/AriBerenstein. I provide up-to-date links to my columns, major and breaking ROH news, random comments about WWE Raw and Smackdown and whatever else strikes my fancy.

Michael Ornelas reviews a huge week of ROH on HDNet, including a cage match between Steen & Corino and Generi-COLT.

Michael can also be found alongside 411's new 5&1 writer Greg DeMarco for this week's 411 Buy or Sell discussing Dragon Gate USA, Jimmy Jacobs and Prince Nana.

Aaron Hubbard reports the right, wrongs and ridiculous of last week's episode of ROH on HDNet in this week's Wrestling 4R's.

Kevin Ford reviews a duo of EVOLVE shows from earlier in the year, EVOLVE 3 with Chuck Taylor against Claudio Castagnoli and EVOLVE 4 with Bryan Danielson against Bobby Fish.


Next week, results from the big tournament, a preview of the major ROH show in Mississauga with Strong vs. Daniels and yes, finally, my thoughts about Tag Wars 2010. Till then, thanks for reading.

Apropos of next weekend, let me close with the words of BROOKLYN!'s own Tazz: "Beat me if you can...survive...if I let you!"
--Ari--


P.S. mea culpa Michael Melchor. You are still the man.