Ring of Honor
Tennessee State Fairgrounds Arena (Nashville, Tennessee)
Kevin Steen is yet another in a constantly growing list of pro wrestlers that are currently in transition from one place/promotion to the next. Steen reportedly is in the process of getting a WWE developmental deal. However, these things are never final until they are final and are especially uncertain these days given WWE’s desire to trim expenses. Steen has publicly acknowledged that his ROH contract is ending and he is likely to leave, but when and in what fashion is unknown.
This match was setup when Young interrupted what was played up as a goodbye speech from Steen at May’s War of the Worlds event in New York City. The fans acknowledged the fact that this could be Steen’s last ROH match throughout the bout. If that were indeed going to be the case, it seemed likely that Steen would put over the relative newcomer Silas Young on his way out.
The match opened with Steen knocking down Young and attempting his running cannonball splash in the corner, but Silas evaded. I liked the quick start given this was a grudge match – it added a sense of urgency to the proceedings.
The body of the match was fine. A trimmed down Steen is wrestling with more energy than he has recently and his offense looked crisp. I think Young is fine – particularly from a personality standpoint – but his offense doesn’t match his personality. Here is a guy with stringy shoulder length hair and a porn star mustache who calls himself “wrestling’s last real man”. He also happens to be the legitimate nephew of Stan Hansen. A guy with those qualities should be a knock ‘em down, drag ‘em out wrestler. Instead Young’s signature move is a somewhat goofy springboard moonsault. It just doesn’t fit, just as a lot of his offense doesn’t. His brawling was a bit better here with a brawler like Steen opposite him but there is definitely a disconnect between Silas’ persona and the style of wrestling.
The match was fine, but really a set up for the post-match angle.
Steen won the match with the package pile driver (a sign he would be around for at least one more show) but then cut another leaving promo in which he put over Young and shook his hand (a sign that the feud was ending and Steen was leaving). Young accepted the hand shake and left the ring, allowing Steen to continue the supposed farewell speech. Just as he seemed to be wrapping it up, Young appeared suddenly and attack Steen. The attack came off great on TV – the camera didn’t catch it until it was happening and nothing else gave it away – and it was an effective angle all around.
Young and Steen appear to have at least one other match in them before Kevin heads to greener pastures. Young defeated Mark Briscoe in a strap match some months ago and began to proclaim himself as the “King of the Strap Match”. That has been downplayed recently but it would not be a surprise if these two are heading to a strap match blow off sometime in the upcoming months.
Diagnostics
US Indie | Common | Angle & Quality
