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Column of Honor: 11.26.11: Kevin Steen–Nightmares of Violence to Come
Welcome to the Column and a Happy Thanksgiving weekend to everyone out there.
No, this is not a dream; this is reality. Kevin Steen is one win away from returning to Ring of Honor as a reinstated and fully contracted professional wrestler.
This may be a boon for fans of Steen, who have absolutely fallen for his chaotic, near insane displays of violence. However, it will be a nightmare for the promotions’ executives, officials, referees and the other wrestlers in the locker room should Steen return to ROH at full force.
After weeks of struggling between Steen’s legal team and Ring of Honor Executive Producer Jim Cornette, Steen finally made his debut on national television (do not adjust the horizontal, do not adjust the vertical) and made his demands known—after nearly a year of exile from ROH, he wants back in.
Luckily enough, his former best friend, tag partner, mentor and now apparent bitter rival Steve Corino has given Steen a golden path to a return. Corino challenged Steen to a fight at Final Battle 2011 in New York City on December 23rd. If Steen can win that match, he also wins his return ticket to ROH.
Steve Corino has been on a redemption road for much of the past year after realizing all the damage that he and Steen inflicted on ROH throughout 2010. Corino also felt guilty for not being able to control Steen when he was at his most uncontrollable and unpredictable—a situation which resulted in Steen losing his final match against El Generico at last year’s Final Battle event and being forced to exit the company.
Corino began his road to recovery by asking for the fans forgiveness, then requesting the same of ROH wrestlers and officials. Though many were initially skeptical of his change of heart, Corino went on to prove himself consistently throughout the past year. He spoke up for the younger wrestlers and gave advice to anyone who was willing to listen. He looked out for the smaller guy, frequently coming to the aid of underdogs such as Grizzly Redwood and Andy Ridge, even if they didn’t want his help. Corino also resisted the temptations to fall off the wagon and return to his former darkness, despite men like Mike Bennett provoking him to do so. He even went so far as to make amends to former rivals Colt Cabana and El Generico. For months Generico has resisted Corino’s overtures for an apology, but just last week at Glory By Honor X in Chicago, Illinois, Generico finally accepted Corino and embraced him as a changed man when he helped to stave off an invasion by Kevin Steen at the end of the show.
Jim Cornette upped the stakes when he announced that the special guest referee for the match would be Jimmy Jacobs, who has been Corino’s sponsor and someone whom Corino fought for to be allowed to return to the promotion even with a dark and maniacal past.
Though Jacobs—the former leader of The Age of the Fall faction—had once had a black rebellious heart, he has shown signs that he has grown and matured, even calmed with age. Jacobs was eventually allowed back into Ring of Honor and so far has demonstrated that his willingness to admit his evilness and work towards change is genuine. Conversely, Kevin Steen has shown no signs of being a different man or a desire to change himself. In fact, Steen LIKES who he is and HATES what Corino and even Jacobs have become. He views their road to deliverance from evil as an inner weakness and a betrayal of their inner nature. Thus, he has vowed to make them pay for not just that betrayal, but Corino’s betrayal of what he and Steen had worked to accomplish throughout much of 2010.
In fact, Steen cloaked himself in the guise of a redeemed person just to get his foot in the door at Best in the World 2011. Corino fought and pleaded with ROH officials to let Steen come in and speak his peace about being a changed person, but when they said no he snuck Steen into the building anyway. It was a decision that cost him dearly, as Steen quickly revealed his true colors—blasted ROH with epithets and destroyed both Corino and Jacobs before being carried forcibly from the building. It was a scene of violent and uncontrollable madness, but only a prologue for what has followed since and what craziness will surely happen at Final Battle 2011.
Steve Corino wants to stop Steen’s insanity from re-corrupting Ring of Honor. It won’t be easy and perhaps it is already too late. This could work out like a true vampire story. Steen was invited into the house by Corino and if he wins their grudge match at Final Battle 2011 he will be welcome to feed on anyone and everyone in his way.
Perhaps Corino has taken on too much with this endeavor. Kevin Steen at the peak of his abilities is a difficult man to contend with in the ring. He is a great brawler and an underrated tactician in the ring, but even more importantly the man loves violence. He loves inflicting it and he loves taking it and giving it right back. There is nothing so imposing and intimidating as a man who is equally sadistic and masochistic-and Kevin Steen is such a man. Steen has used chairs, chains, tables, ladders and even barbed wire to inflict pain on his opponents…and Corino has been there to see that with his very own eyes. Now he will have to confront that hurricane-like force inside the ring and it is a question as to whether or not Corino is up to the challenge.
Choas begets chaos and change begets change. Steen’s re-emergence in ROH, even as just an outside force has changed Steve Corino already. Corino claims that he will have to bring out the embers of the darkness that he had worked so hard to resolve this past year. He must do this, so he says, in order to have what it takes to win against Steen and put him away for good. Or, as CM Punk once so eloquently put it, “I will become a monster to fight the monsters of the world.” Corino believes he is ready to pay that price if it means the monster known as Kevin Steen can be slain and put to rest, so that Ring of Honor won’t have to contend with him in 2012.
However, Corino must be careful that in fighting the monster, that he doesn’t regress to his formerly evil self forever. Recidivism is an incredibly high statistical possibility among former criminals and ne’er-do-wells—as high as 70% in the United States in 2010 according to studies conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Of course, not every person will relapse and return to their former ways, but it is not a very hopeful number for someone who wants to change, much less someone who is subjected to a number of temptations in a high-risk profession such as professional wrestling.
Of course, there is also the chance, the same as there was back in January, that Steve Corino has been and is still now playing us all. Maybe this is all some devious plan that he has been engaged in with Steen—a long con set in motion to bring about his former protégé’s inviolate and irrevocable return from exile. It is often difficult to believe an evil man has changed and such men are most dangerous when they have curried and earned trust. For such a person is at a precipice in their own world—what does he or she do with that trust—prove its worth by holding up to one’s word, or break it at the most convenient and self-beneficial moment? Has Corino worked so long and hard to make the fans, the wrestlers and the officials believe in his change just to be able to get into a position where he can bring back Kevin Steen and no one would be any wiser to it?
Or, is Jimmy Jacobs the one who we must suspect? Has he been playing Steve Corino all this time, working his way back to the promotion as part of his master plan that somehow involves the return of Kevin Steen? No one is above suspicion when dealing with players with a dirty past. Now that he is special guest referee, Jacobs now holds a vast amount of power and influence in determining the fate of Steen and Corino. What Jacobs does with that authority and control (which, mind you, is the very goal he was fighting so much to gain as leader of The Age of the Fall) will reveal the truth about everything that has arisen since his return in May.
An unleashed Kevin Steen is a dangerous prospect indeed. He has made no bones about what will happen if and when he is back on the ROH roster. He has already stated that he will go after his enemies such as El Generico and Jim Cornette. He has made claims about targeting Davey Richards and winning the ROH World Championship. Further, he will do everything he can to tear down the foundations of the promotion—its tenets and beliefs. Steen has no hold on his inner filters and he will say or do whatever he wants. There is no doubt that he can back up his word and accomplish all of his objectives, if he is given the opportunity to do so.
Ring of Honor relies on the very concept of following a code of honor and being an honorable person inside and outside the wrestling ring. Many people and groups have tried to bring down those concepts and replace it with dishonorable and deviousness. Most, like The Prophecy and the CZW invaders ultimately failed in their pursuits. Not one of those previous groups has the one intangible possessed by Kevin Steen—a willful desire to shed every moral compunction to be found in a working and functioning society. Steen is insanity inviolate—an agent of change for the worse; a complete and total anarchist. Or, to put it simply and truly, he is what he claims to be—the anti-Christ of professional wrestling.
If Steen is allowed free reign, then he will bring dishonor on the house of ROH—and long, dark days will be ahead for the wrestlers and the officials in the promotion. For what nightmares of violence may come if Kevin Steen wins his match at Final Battle 2011.
–Davey Richards defeated Tommy End in Barcelona, Spain on 07/04/2011.
–Davey Richards defeated Chase Owens in Kingsport, KY on 08/04/11.*
–Davey Richards defeated Colt Cabana in Carrolton, GA on 08/06.11.
–Davey Richards defeated Roderick Strong in Chicago, Illinois on 08/13/11.
–Davey Richards defeated Daga in Tulancingo, MEX on 10/15/11.
–Davey Richards defeated El Generico in Chicago Ridge, IL on 11/19/11.
* These matches are not as yet officially recognized by Ring of Honor on their records page, but as they did occur as billed “ROH World Title” matches for the live crowd in attendance they are listed here for posterity.
–Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe in Toronto, ON on 5/7/11.
–Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli), Jay & Mark Briscoe and The All-Night Express (Kenny King & Rhett Titus) in New York City, NY on 06/26/11.
–Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated El Generico & Colt Cabana in Richmond, VA on 07/08/11.
–Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) in Chicago, IL on 08/13/11.
— Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated Future Shock (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly) in Collinsville, IL on 11/06/11.
— Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated The All Night Express (Kenny King & Rhett Titus) in Chicago Ridge, IL on 11/19/11.
–Jay Lethal went to a time-limit draw with Mike Bennett in Louisville, KY on 10/01/11.
–Jay Lethal went to a time-limit draw with El Generico in Louisville, KY on 11/05/11.
These wrestlers have earned a future title shot in the following ROH title divisions.
I appreciate ROH for their focus on competitive wrestling but I’m glad when they remember that it’s okay to be fun and goofy now and again. That’s why I disagree with the decisions not to use Colt Cabana and the downplaying of El Generico on ROH TV.
-Obviously, I am very saddened to report the death of Mark “Bison” Smith who passed away at 38 years old due to a massive heart attack while in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Smith wrestled for Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan but Ring of Honor fans will remember his run with Prince Nana and The Embassy from 2009 to mid-2010. Smith was used as The Embassy’s bruiser and dominated many of the matches he was involved in and was used on some episodes of ROH on HDNet. One of the early highlights ROH fans will recall is his utter decimation of Sal Rinauro in several squash matches introducing him into the promotion. The news hit ROH and independent wrestlers very hard, especially as it appeared Smith was a very genuine and nice guy, of which there never seems to be enough of in the business, much less the entire world. There were some very heartfelt words about Smith left by Kevin Steen and El Generico through Twitter, which you can check out through those links. My condolences to Smith’s family and friends on the loss.
-Results for Survival of the Fittest 2011 are available here, while you can catch up with what happened at Glory By Honor X here.
-Congratulations to Michael Elgin on winning the 2011 Survival of the Fittest tournament (and he will be booked for an ROH World Title shot in early 2012 as a result). Elgin has been building momentum throughout the year and proving himself to be capable of carrying the ball in big moments and big opportunities. His size and brute force make him a unique presence for the promotion and a contrast to more technical and strike-based workers like Richards, Edwards and Strong. Obviously there is far more to come from him in 2012.
-Even more than that, congratulations to ME! for FINALLY getting a Survival of the Fittest tournament prediction correct! The running joke in this column is that though I love doing the annual SOTF preview, not once did I predict the winner accurately. At last the long national nightmare is over! Not only did I get Elgin right, but I went six-for-six in determining the qualifying round winners. The one gap was in the order of elimination in the finals, but had I got that right I would wonder very heavily about whether or not my brain had been switched with Delirious in some sort of weird “trading places” kind of movie BAH BAH BAH BAH BAH BAH BAH.
…ahem, sorry.
-Here is a look at the upcoming ROH schedule and matches announced so far for December 2011:
Sothern Defiance– Spartanburg, SC — December 3rd, 2011
Proving Ground Match-Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin vs. Roderick Strong & Michael Elgin with Truth Martini
First Time Ever In ROH-“Die Hard” Eddie Edwards vs. El Generico
Proving Ground Match-World TV Champion Jay Lethal vs. TJ Perkins
Tag Team Challenge Match #1-The Youngs Bucks vs. The All Night Express
Tag Team Challenge Match #2-Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander
20 Man Over the Top Rope Interval Battle Royal-Participants TBD, winner receives a ROH Title shot in early 2012
This card has shaped up to be perhaps one of the best overall cards of the year, replete with unique and interesting match-ups that for the most part do not have predictable winners or finishes. Strong and Elgin earning a future tag title match would be great, as would Perkins winning a future TV Title match should he beat (or more likely, take to the time limit, because that hasn’t happened before with) Jay Lethal. Edwards vs. Generico should be fantastic with any amount of time, but hopefully they’ll be given plenty and Steen won’t be booked to interfere during the match. The Bucks vs. The Express is a very fresh match-up and both teams could be up to the task of stealing the show. The Briscoes vs. C&C Wrestle Factory is likely a Briscoes win but I look forward to any time Coleman and Alexander are together as a team. Finally the 20-man Royal Rumble is a complete question mark, but the big goal of earning a title shot at least gives it some stakes and importance for a future show. The participants have yet to be named but I’d imagine some of the wrestlers on the card in other spots will go again for this one and the regulars who haven’t been booked in a match like The Bravados and Andy Ridge should be thrown in as well.
Northern Aggression– Greensboro, NC — December 4th, 2011
8 Man All Star Elimination Tag Team Match- Special 2 Hour Time Limit-ROH World Tag Champions Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin), “Die Hard” Eddie Edwards, and El Generico vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe, Roderick Strong, and “Unbreakable” Michael Elgin with Truth Martini
Proving Ground Match-World TV Champion Jay Lethal vs. Adam Cole
Tag Team Challenge Match-The Young Bucks vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander
Scheduled to appear:
– The All Night Express
– TJ Perkins
– “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett
The new matches announced are Cole / Lethal and Bucks / C&C—both fine additions to the card that will put the focus on athleticism and in-ring entertainment. However, it seems like the 12/3 is the more appealing of the two thus far in terms of the overall card. ROH put a lot of the eggs in one basket with the Survivor Series-style match with many of their marquee names. That match should go for a while, though I don’t expect it to push the boundaries of the two-hour time limit.
Final Battle 2011– New York, NY — December 23rd, 2011
World Title Match-Davey Richards with Team Richards defends vs. “Die Hard” Eddie Edwards with UFC Hall of Famer Dan “The Beast” Severn
World Tag Team Title Match-Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defends vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe
Steen’s Reinstatement on the Line-Steve Corino vs. Kevin Steen with Special Guest Referee Jimmy Jacobs
Also scheduled to appear:
– Current ROH World TV Champion Jay Lethal
– Roderick Strong with Truth Martini
– El Generico
– TJ Perkins
– “Unbreakable” Michael Elgin with Truth Martini
– The Young Bucks
– Future Shock (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly)
– The All Night Express (Kenny King & Rhett Titus)
I’d expect the top three matches announced for ROH’s year-ender to come through with quality efforts and some interesting shake-outs in the aftermath of the ROH World Title match and the Steen / Corino showdown. Lethal should defend his TV Title on this show as well and the booking on TV leads one to believe it will be either against Generico or Bennett, or both.
At the beginning of the year, “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett vowed that within one year that he would become the Ring of Honor World Champion. Then he extended it to include ALL ROH Titles. So let’s see how he’s done so far, eh?
ROH World Tag Team Titles Won: 0
ROH TV Titles Won: 0
Days Left to Reach Goal: 35
It’s appropriate that we near the one month to go threshold this Thanksgiving week, because up until now Mike Bennett’s quest for a ROH Title has been quite the turkey. I’m giving thanks that there’s not much time left in this countdown, that’s for sure.
Twitter me at: http://twitter.com/AriBerenstein.
-Shawn S. Lealos covers the teacher vs. student showdown between Davey Richards and Kyle O’Reilly in ROH SBG TV with his report.
Jeremy Thomas has this week’s ROH 4R’s about the Richards vs. O’Reilly episode.
-Kevin Ford has his review of Death Before Dishonor IX on DVD.
-T.J. Hawke interviews Gran Akuma and Tony Kozina and even has time to review PWG’s The Perils of Rock’n’Roll Decadence (of which there are many).
-Mike Campbell reviews SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Volume 4 with a seminal Daizee Haze vs. Rebecca Knox match-up.
-Michael Weyer gives thanks with his annual Thanksgiving-themed column for Shining a Spotlight.
Speaking of giving thanks, hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend and thanks to everyone for reading and for the feedback to the column.
BROOKLYN!
DAH EM BAH SEE FOR-EVAH!
–Ari–
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