The Independent Mid-Card 02.12.08: Morishima vs. Stevens
Posted by Samuel Berman on 02.12.2008
Sometimes you can win for losing.
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's edition of The Independent Mid-Card. A few months ago, as a result of a family tragedy, the ownership of Florida's Full Impact Pro promotion put the company on temporary hiatus. This Saturday, that hiatus will end, and FIP, which serves as Ring of Honor's sister promotion of sorts, will return with a huge event entitled Redefined. A cornerstone of the card will be FIP World Heavyweight Champion Erick Stevens defending his belt against former champion Roderick Strong, the man Stevens defeated for the belt in Ring of Honor late in 2007. It seems only appropriate to welcome FIP back to action with a look at the company's current champion and the match that arguably put him over the hump as a true rising star in Ring of Honor. It's a ‘welcome back' edition this week in the IMC.
The Wrestlers:
Takeshi Morishima – A former GHC Tag Team Champion, the massive Takeshi Morishima came to Ring of Honor in early 2007 as a part of the continued talent exchange between ROH and Japan's Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion. Though Morishima fell to ROH icon Samoa Joe in his first match with the company, he would rebound in a big way the following night, essentially squashing then-champion Homicide to win the ROH World Title. Since claiming the championship in February of 2007, Morishima had dominated nearly all of his challengers in an impressive title win, putting down bids from no less than Nigel McGuinness, Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, KENTA, Brent Albright, Shingo and Austin Aries, amongst others. Entering this match, Morishima had made seventeen successful defenses of his title in all.
Erick Stevens – The Mohawk-sporting Erick Stevens, a disciple of longtime ROH talent Roderick Strong, had first begun to hear a buzz for his work due to his outstanding contributions to Full Impact Pro, ROH's sister promotion based in Stevens' home state of Florida. There, Stevens had initially been a part of the Miracle Violence Connection tag team with Steve Madison, but had actually gained more fame after Madison turned on him and dissolved the partnership. Having debuted in Ring of Honor in March of 2007, Stevens was rather quickly recruited by Austin Aries into the latter's Resilience stable, ironically pitting Stevens against his trainer Roderick Strong's No Remorse Corps. Aries' untimely forced departure from ROH due to his commitments to Total Nonstop Action left Stevens and fellow Resilience member Matt Cross floundering for much of the next few months, but Stevens continued his steady in-ring work, slowly beginning to win over ROH's most questioning fans. Most notably, despite losing the fall to Strong, Stevens was one of the true stars of a bloody and epic Street Fight between the Resilience and the No Remorse Corps in August, further elevating him in the fans' eyes. Earlier in the evening, Stevens had won a Four Corner Survival over Strong, Delirious and Kevin Steen, pinning Delirious to earn this shot at the ROH World Title.
The Match:
Erick Stevens enters first to Pantera's Cowboys from Hell. He gets a mixed reaction, as was the norm for that evening, but still plays things like a straight babyface. Just as he had earlier in the show, he promises to not let the crowd down while he poses on the turnbuckle. Takeshi Morishima's Pro Wrestling NOAH theme (which, for the record, I really like) begins to play and the champion calmly walks through the curtain, belt in hand. He holds his championship aloft as he walks to ringside, taking a no-nonsense approach by climbing right to the apron and entering the ring. He tosses Stevens a glance before retreating to his corner to psyche himself up.
As is the tradition for ROH World Title matches, the introductions are done once both men are in the ring. Stevens is introduced first as the challenger, weighing in at 251 pounds, hailing from Sarasota, Florida, and representing the Resilience. The mixed reaction is beyond noticeable after the announcement. Reigning and defending ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima weighs in at 149 kilos (which is the equivalent of about 328 pounds for those scoring at home) and fights out of Tokyo, Japan. Also, as is traditionally done, Morishima is introduced as ‘Morishima Takeshi', the proper Japanese format for that name. By way of an interesting side note, for whatever reason that switch in format is usually only done for NOAH wrestlers and not for guests from Dragon Gate. Morishima surrenders his belt, which the referee displays for the crowd. A dueling chant begins as the ref calls for the Code of Honor to be followed. Stevens offers his hand, but Morishima refuses to acknowledge it, so the referee calls for the bell.
Stevens rushes in at Morishima and grabs a headlock to start. Morishima sends Stevens off the ropes but a shoulderblock ends in a stalemate. Morishima tries coming off the ropes with one of his own, but again no dice. Both men then try simultaneous shoulderblocks, but both still refuse to go down. Morishima goes off the ropes again, only to have Stevens catch him with a chop, but the champ runs right through it and rebounds off the ropes again and this time the shoulderblock is enough to put Stevens down. Great little opening sequence there.
Morishima sends Stevens off the ropes again. This time, Stevens ducks under a chop attempt and gets in a forearm shot to the champ's face. Stevens then goes off the ropes again, ducks a clothesline and rebounds with a diving shoulderblock that sends Morishima rolling all the way to the floor. Stevens, now incredibly pumped up, hops out to the apron and comes running with a diving forearm to the floor that sees Morishima crash into the barricade.
Stevens rolls Morishima back into the ring, and continues the assault with a pair of jumping stomps. He brings the champ to his feet for a couple of clubbing forearms, but Morishima no-sells and Stevens comes off the ropes right into a jumping hip attack. Morishima whips Stevens cross-corner and then follows up with a running Yakuza kick to the face. I must admit that that move looks somehow more devastating coming from smaller guys like Chris Sabin and El Generico who can do it more quickly and with a little more snap. Morishima intimidates the ref for a bit before returning his attention to the challenger by just peppering him with clubbing forearms in the corner. Morishima then just pitches Stevens out to ringside and hops out of the ring to continue working him over.
Morishima shoves Stevens into the chair in the ringside corner and comes running with a hip attack that squashes the challenger against the guardrail. Morishima then drags Stevens by the Mohawk to another ringside corner and again sandwiches him into the barricade with a hip attack. Morishima gets back into the ring to gloat a bit, strangely allowing Stevens to recover at ringside. It becomes a bit of a moot point, however, as Morishima goes right back to work when Stevens rolls into the ring, kicking at him and then standing on his chest.
Stevens tries to fight back after another pair of stiff kicks, but his right hand to the midsection gets no-sold and Morishima just clocks him with a forearm to the face. Morishima then hits him with another clubbing blow and essentially sits on the challenger in the corner, forcing his head into the second turnbuckle. Stevens tries to fight back with a couple of kicks and a headbutt out of the corner, but Morishima just no-sells everything and hits a series of clubbing blows before finally stomping Stevens into the mat. Morishima locks in a camel clutch chinlock to wear the challenger down, but Stevens reaches out and grabs the ropes to force the break.
Morishima whips Stevens cross-corner and follows him in with a cartwheel into an avalanche that sends Stevens crumbling to the canvas. Morishima climbs to the top, but Stevens is able to sidestep a front dropkick attempt and the champion crashes to the mat. Stevens comes off the ropes with a lariat, but it barely moves the champion. Another try sees Morishima block the lariat outright and clobber Stevens with a forearm. However, when Morishima comes off the ropes himself, Stevens catches him with a huge powerslam for a two count that really pops the crowd. Morishima rolls to ringside to recover.
Stevens hops out to continue working over Morishima and sends the champion into the barricade. Stevens sits Morishima in the ringside corner and hits the Choo-Choo Avalanche (running body attack to the corner) to follow up. The crowd is beginning to chant for Stevens, as more of the crowd has seemed to come around to the challenger. A dueling chant starts as Morishima is rolled back into the ring by Stevens.
Stevens locks in a half-crab, but Morishima uses his size to keep Stevens from fully locking in the hold and then eventually is able to crawl over to the ropes to force a break. Stevens pulls Morishima to his feet and forces him back into the turnbuckle. A couple of shoulderblocks follow and then Stevens whips the champion cross-corner. Another Choo-Choo Avalanche follows and Stevens sets up for the Doctor Bomb (gutwrench powerbomb). Morishima goes deadweight and Stevens isn't superhuman so the champ back body drops him overhead and immediately squashes him by sitting down on his chest for a two count.
Morishima sets up for the Backdrop Driver, but Stevens grabs the ropes to block. Morishima hits him with a forearm, but Stevens reverses and Irish whip. Morishima is able to rebound with another forearm shot and comes off the ropes again, but this time gets caught (impressively) with a TKO (fireman's carry into an Ace Crusher) that gets a two count for Stevens. Stevens waits for Morishima to get to his feet and then comes running with a lariat. Morishima barely budges, so Stevens comes off the other ropes with a lariat to the back of the neck and then immediately continues the assault by grabbing a waistlock and planting Morishima with a delayed German suplex. Morishima gets back to his feet rather quickly, so Stevens comes running with another lariat and this one is enough to take the champion off his feet, earning Stevens a very close two count in the process. The crowd totally bought that nearfall. Stevens astoundingly hits the Doctor Bomb but he's too close to the ropes and Morishima grabs them to break up another close two count. The crowd is in a near-frenzy at this point, unabashedly chanting for Stevens.
Stevens pulls Morishima to his feet and grabs a waistlock again, but the champion rushes over to the ropes to block. Stevens hits a forearm to the back and then comes off the ropes with a running clubbing forearm, but his second try at a German suplex sees Morishima shift his weight and sit on the challenger's chest mid-move for a two count. Morishima comes off the ropes with a boot to the face, but Stevens is able to reverse a Backdrop Driver attempt into a headlock takedown and cradles Morishima's leg for a tow count. Stevens runs off the ropes, but walks into a clothesline and Morishima begins to truly stalk his prey. Morishima hits a running lariat that turns Stevens completely inside-out, but the cover is only able to get two. Morishima finally hits the elusive Backdrop Driver and the pinfall is academic at 10:52. The match gets a mostly standing ovation from the crowd, who actually seem somewhat disappointed that they didn't see the belt change hands. Morishima's music begins to play as he is announced as the winner. And now, unlike before the match, Morishima helps Stevens to his feet and initiates a handshake with the impressive challenger. Morishima raises Stevens' hand to further put him over and then exits the ring to let Stevens soak in a loud chant. Stevens slowly makes his way to the back as we cut out.
The Analysis:
Some have compared Morishima's in-ring style to that of Vader, but to me this performance reminded me at various points of The Undertaker, with Morishima no-selling strikes and continuing his assault in an almost zombie-like fashion. In some ways, that style makes Stevens' performance in this match all the more impressive, as he had to not only survive Morishima's onslaught, but furthermore had to dig down to find a powerful enough offense to battle the dominating champion.
The true credit to Stevens in this match is the fact that he was able to win over the crowd based on his in-ring work throughout the match. The crowd went from somewhat hostile to almost universally supportive between the bells, an occurrence that is something of a rarity in wrestling. The most memorable spots in the match were also those featuring Stevens on offense, with the early powerslam, the TKO, and ultimately the Doctor Bomb being the most impressive moments of the match.
This defense reminds me in many ways of Morishima's defense against Shingo in April of 2007, in that both matches were initially seen as ‘look-ahead' defenses, but both ended up delivering entertaining and surprisingly competitive contests. In that way, the similarities between Shingo and Stevens (both are wrestlers who combine immense strength with surprising speed) should not be overlooked. It should be no surprise then that Morishima's defense against Kevin Steen a few weeks after this received similar praise. In retrospect, perhaps Morishima has not been recognized enough for helping to elevate some of ROH's most capable mid-card talents.
The Aftermath:
Takeshi Morishima would make only two more successful ROH World Title defenses after this match before losing the belt to third-time challenger Nigel McGuinness at the taping for Ring of Honor's fourth Pay-Per-View in early October. In total, Morishima would make twenty defenses of the belt, third only to "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson and Samoa Joe in the history of the strap. In the wake of his title loss, Morishima would continue his feud with Danielson, with the two exchanging disqualification losses towards the end of the year. Morishima's most recent ROH appearance saw him fall to Austin Aries' 450 Splash at Final Battle 2007 in a Four Corner Survival that also featured Danielson and Chris Hero. Morishima will reportedly return to ROH in 2008, but more infrequently than he did in 2007.
Erick Stevens would use his narrow loss to Morishima as a springboard to bigger and better things. Though Stevens would be forced from ROH competition due to injury in October, his absence would turn out to be something of a blessing in disguise. In the meantime, Austin Aries dissolved the Resilience, leaving Stevens free to focus on his future as a singles competitor. By the time Stevens returned to ROH at the end of November, he was out for blood, even teaming with then-ROH World Tag Team Champions Jay & Mark Briscoe to defeat the No Remorse Corps in the main event of the Unscripted III show in Chicago Ridge. Then, at Final Battle 2007, Stevens successfully defeated his trainer, wresting the FIP World Heavyweight Title from Strong and ending the veteran's nearly fourteen-month reign as champion. Since winning the belt, Stevens has made three successful defenses, defeating Danielson and Aries in singles matches and then surviving a three-way match with Aries and Davey Richards. Next up for Stevens is a rematch with Strong at FIP's Redefined event this coming Saturday.
The Final Word:
Full Impact Pro's Redefined show takes place this Saturday, February 16 at the National Guard Armory in Crystal River, Florida at 8pm. If you're in the area and don't already plan on attending, please feel encouraged to go to the show and support FIP, a company that features some of the Independent scene's top workers. Even with only a handful of matches announced, let me assure you that Stevens' defense against Strong will be reason enough to attend this event. More information is available at fullimpactpro.com. Also, Brad Garoon and I have something of a makeshift preview for the show over at The Cool Kids' Table, so be sure to check that out.
To see this week's match, Motor City Madness 2007 is available at rohwrestling.com. The card is a solid if unspectacular affair, but does feature a fantastic match between El Generico and Naomichi Marufuji as well as a solid main event tag title match that sees Jay & Mark Briscoe defend their belts against Austin Aries & Matt Cross. The show also has a fun No DQ contest between Jack Evans and Rocky Romero, so while it's not a must-own, it's a nice addition to any DVD library.
While you're here, check out some of 411's other great columns and reviews this week. Ari's got Column of Honor, Bayani's got Truth B Told, and Short's got The Navigation Log, all of which should be on your weekly schedule by now. Specifically, you really should check out Truth B Told this week, as it's pretty much the most comprehensive introduction to PWG that you could ask for. The most recent Buy or Sell features Larry and Short going heads-up on some big ROH topics, while Dunn's got reviews up for a veritable bevy of ROH shows, including Survival of the Fittest 2007, Chaos at the Cow Palace, and Glory By Honor VI Night One and Night Two. Campbell's got a look at SHIMMER Vol. 6 while RB takes on Motor City Madness 2007, which is of course the show featured in this week's IMC. Finally, be sure to read Brad's review of PWG All Star Weekend 3 – Crazymania Night 2 because things are REALLY starting to wind down now.
Buy or Sell this week has Mike Campbell and the debuting Steve Cook, so you're definitely going to want to be on the lookout for that. As usual, no ROH shows means no ROH Roundtable.
Weekly iTunes update looks like this:
1. "Cowboys" by The Fugees – from The Score
2. "Long Time" by The Roots – from Game Theory
3. "Stand Up" by Ludacris – from Chicken-N-Beer
4. "Waiting in Vain" by Bob Marley & the Wailers – from Legend
5. "Shout" by Tears for Fears – from Songs from the Big Chair
As always, you should be sure to swing by The Cool Kids' Table for more wrestling coverage. We've got a great new podcast up now that previews FIP's return to action as well as Kota Ibushi's impending week of work for ROH. And as always, the big move is on the horizon, so you're going to want to keep checking back for updates. Again, that's The Cool Kids' Table. Viva la rebel podcast!
In reality, life is just life, so I'll just put off any sort of real update until something interesting happens. For now everything is the move. Well, both of them, really.
Instead, I'll finish off this week's column with a bit of response to some of last week's feedback. For ease, I'll do this in point-by-point format:
-There seems to be some confusion about the move I reference as the ‘quesadora'. That name describes a running inverted bodyscissors which often leads to either a rollup or an armdrag. It's far more commonly used by wrestlers in CHIKARA than it is in Ring of Honor, which is possibly why some fans don't recognize the name.
-Obviously there's something of a wide divide on the song "Leader of Men" and on Nickelback in general. Just for those curious, I'm not really a fan of the band so much as that song in particular. In fact, I think a lot of the band's music sounds similar, but perhaps that's why they remain popular; they've found a winning formula and have stuck with it. For my money, I think they got it right with their first single, but have failed to live up to that promise with subsequent popular tracks.
-In response to the question regarding why I do play-by-play in this column, I suppose the answer is that I can't really imagine an in-depth match analysis column without it. I know that some reviewers (most notably Mike Campbell) eschew play-by-play, but that's for reviews of entire shows. Without play-by-play (and the inherent analysis that creeps its way into that section), this column would be incredibly short, as it's focused on a single match rather than an entire show. In reference to the question "Why watch a match after just being told about it?", I would say that many people prefer to get a clear idea of the action in a match when reading this style of column. I suppose that this column does ruin some of the suspense in watching a match, but that's something of an accepted evil in wrestling reviewing of all styles. I also think that there's only so much of the emotion in a matchup that one can get by reading a review, and that there is so much nuance and subtlety to a good wrestling match that seeing it with your own eyes really is the best way to experience it properly.
