A Modest Response

Welcome to A Modest Response, wishing everyone the best, particularly long lost Eric S who is sorely missed.

News of Honor

Tony Kozina, The Human Tornado and Karl Anderson will make their ROH debuts, TJ Perkins will return

Kozina is the trainer of ROH’s Davey Richards and among the more respected west coast talents available. Human Tornado is either a good or evil pimp depending on the promotion. He’s very charismatic and well liked around the indies, though he isn’t yet a very good wrestler. Karl Anderson is one half of the NWA tag champions with Joey Ryan and is a heavyweight WWE style worker. TJ Perkins, aka Puma, is like a poor man’s Matt Sydal and someone I hope will be kept on the roster. He and Romero have great chemistry and can steal the show.

Wrestlemania Weekend ROH tickets for Orlando, Fl are on sale

Get tickets at ROHwrestling.com and I’ll see you there!

Dragon Gate 6 Man #3 will come to Wrestlemania Weekend

These are a spectacle to behold. You absolutely must see one of these live if possible.

Strong is talking trash about Nigel

Last Week’s Column, looking good.

This Week on Inside Pulse

Dory Funk Jr wrote a tribute to the man Dave Ditch, Gordi Whitelaw and myself all agree is the best wrestler ever.

Brashear has an awesome lucha primer which is also pretty useful for Chikara.

Check our PWG results, including Danielson vs. Strong.

Mark Allen discusses a very kayfabed best teams of the WWE list. PWI would be proud.

Matt Francis is selling his giant ROH collection on ebay. Interested? click here.

A Modest Response: Whom I Mark For

I’m a wrestling analyst by trade, but I’m also a pretty hardcore wrestling fan. As such, there are certain guys I absolutely mark out for all the time, in almost any match. They each have earned that status a variety of ways. This isn’t company specific; I’d follow these guys through any promotion, but will list just indy favorites here today. Without further ado, here is the list of guys I absolutely just mark for, with a break down of why I like them each so much. I’ll even throw in a match review for each of the independent guys, incase you’ve never seen them and a second opinion.

“The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson – Bryan Danielson is, simply put, the best wrestler in the world. He debuted working a mat based, submission style offense, and was fantastic at that. He then added a new dimension to his character, slowing down the pace and wrestling a slow, but awesome cocky heel style. He was the world champion with this persona. His latest transformation has seen him adopt a more shoot based, MMA style offense with a much quicker pace unsurprisingly at this point, he’s still absolutely amazing.

What makes Danielson so amazing as that he is able to adapt his current style around anything his opponent does, from the ROH house style, to Joe’s heavyweight striking, NOAH’s variation on King’s Road, and the New Japan Junior Style. With any of these style workers, he can create a believable and compelling story, regardless of moveset.

His selling and timing are impeccable at this point. At one point he was one of the most bland workers around, but now, through perfect body language, great selling, and timing everything for the greatest reaction, he has the crowd in the palm of his hands constantly. He’s among the most complete wrestlers I’ve ever seen and every time he steps in the ring you know you will get something at the very lease that is very good.

Gordi Whitelaw (perhaps my favorite wrestling writer ever) had this to say about Dragon’s first iteration.

I’d say that American Dragon Bryan Danielson is an artist. At this point in his career, he’s had to face the possibility that he will never be on the receiving end of the big money contract and the international recognition that his talents so richly deserve. Still, he travels the world, putting on very good to great matches with everyone he faces, night after night. Hats off to American Dragon!

Here’s my review of Danielson’s (tied for) best match this year. From ROH’s second PPV Driven, which you can still find inDemand.

# 1 Contender Match: Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness

The winner here is the number one contender. Full entrances and the crowd is rabid, particularly for Danielson, except my girlfriend who was heartily behind Nigel.

They begin with heavily competitive mat work that really puts this over as an athletic competition. Danielson is better on the mat, but Nigel is more explosive.

They shake hands and Danielson follows that up with a slap, getting an immediate advantage out of it and attacking Nigel’s back and head. Danielson controls, but runs into a mule kick out of a headstand, again showing Nigel’s explosiveness. Nigel hits the divorce court and then fights for an arm submission, which he locks in. Smart, attacking Danielson’s hurt shoulder.

Danielson’s mat advantage shines through though and he uses a stranglehold while attacking Nigel’s back. This makes sense since Danielson finishes with elbows to the head as a knockout, or the Cattle Muttilation which puts pressure on the arms and back. Nigel counters the stranglehold finally, with a lariat, using his one big advantage to keep in the match.

Nigel takes the fight to Dragon outside, striking, but Danielson throws a chair and table at McGuinness so that he isn’t overmatched by Nigel’s heavy hands. He attempts to throw Nigel in, but Nigel rebounds with a lariat and knocks Danielson into the front row. Nigel, sensing that big moves are his only chance hits a dive on Danielson into the crowd.

Nigel, again on the outside tries a running European, and again is countered. Dragon then suplexes Nigel on the guardrail, hurting Nigel badly. Nigel’s big risks worked, but in thinking he had Dragon more worn down than he did, he left himself open to a counter that badly hurt his chances of victory.

Danielson attacks the back inside and locks in the crossface. He rubs Nigel’s face in the mat, stopping to let the ref know that he has ’til 5. Danielson methodically picks apart Nigel’s back and head.

Danielson begins slapping Nigel, which angers Nigel enough for him to fire back with a lariat, showing his explosiveness still makes him dangerous. Nigel finally hits a running European uppercut and he’s right back in the match, following with a superkick and lariat.

Nigel then tries to lift Danielson to the top for a Tower of London, but his back acts up and Nigel is unable to connect. Danielson takes control off of that, his previous damage stopping Nigel’s momentum. Danielson gets caught on the top, but hits diving sunset flip. A series of counters ends in Nigel hitting a desperation powerbomb and he locks in a half-crab out of desperation, trying to wear down Danielson before he is overwhelmed.

Nigel again tries the headstand, but Danielson dropkicks Nigel in the face and hits a back-to-back superplex. Danielson goes straight to the crossface chickenwing, but Nigel will not tap and pushes Danielson back into the corner. He reverse suplexes Danielson onto the ropes for a Tower of London, hurting his back, but finally managing to keep Danielson down. He is unable to capitalize and the ref applies the ten count.

Both men get up and Nigel controls. He hits the seated top rope lariat on Danielson, pulling his arms away from the ropes, but Danielson still manages to get his leg on the ropes, then hugs the ropes in exhaustion. Danielson won’t release and hits an enziguiri and both are down again.

They rise, head to head and strike each other, all other avenues having been exhausted. They begin headbutting each other, and Danielson starts bleeding. Nigel lariat, but the jawbreaker variation is countered. A Tiger Suplex leads to a Cattle Mutilation, which Nigel counters to a pin, but Danielson rolls through that with MMA elbows. Cattle Mutilation is in again and Nigel is out cold. The ref stops the match and Danielson wins.

Bryan Danielson defeats Nigel McGuinness (Ref Stoppage, Cattle Mutilation, **** ¾)
So close to ***** it hurts. Every move was fought over from the start so everything counted, adding a layer of desperation. Danielson’s attack was focused here. He wasted nothing, attacking the back and head. Nigel had a fighting chance early, hitting Danielson with a lot of big moves, but big moves leave big openings and Danielson wore out Nigel, hurting the back badly. That ultimately hurt Nigel badly, as Danielson was able to beat on a near helpless Nigel until the desperation Tower of London finally evened things up a bit. From there it was Danielson’s counters to Nigel’s strikes that told the story, and Nigel was so worn out that Danielson, even taking it to Nigel with strikes, won the headbut exchange and was able to lock in his major maneuvers in a series (with a struggle, of course) to earn the victory. There is a point after Nigel hurts his back where he doesn’t sell it for a few minutes. This is the only small flaw in an otherwise perfect match. Match of the Year.

“The Emo Warrior” Jimmy Jacobs – Jimmy Jacobs is the modern day Raven. He’s slowly and carefully tweaked a fun loving, speed based character, into a warped emo lover who could brawl or fly with ease. His latest transformation is to an evil cult leader who’s almost a pure brawler, with some MMA influence. The transformation in ring went from a great Ricky Morton type seller, to a brawler who used his speed to get the advantage then tried to hurt opponents as badly as possible afterwards, to a sadistic heel who goes high impact right away. The amazing, ahead of the curve characterization Jacobs displays is only matched by his evolution in the ring.

Added to that, some characters just seem to have a knack for finding gimmicks and storylines that work. When Jacobs was a happy go lucky face, BJ Whitmer was his tough older brother, and he was a silly Berzerker knockoff, complete with “Huss.” After that he fell in love with Lacey and told one of the best love stories ever in wrestling with enemies Colt Cabana and former brother figure BJ Whitmer. Now Jacobs leads the Age of the Fall, after finding out love means nothing, he has taken to destruction. He’s an awesome promo, as well, getting across every character and personality quirk perfectly.

A second opinion from friend and reader Rick Cobos:

What he lacks in technical wrestling skill, he makes up for with his ability to perform in the big match. From what I’ve seen (only his work in ROH), he has always known how to do a brawl, from the Alex Shelley feud (peaking with their I Quit match at Joe vs. Punk II) to his classic feuds with Colt Cabana and BJ Whitmer. Against those men respectively, he put on instant classics at Fifth Year Festival: Chicago and Supercard of Honor II, the latter match being inside a cage (see the review below). The cage match was very special in despite the weaknesses of both Jacobs and Whitmer, they were able to put all the pieces in place and put on a spectacle for the ages. And with his current blood feud going on with the Briscoes, his brawling skills are sure to be highlighted once again. The Briscoes have shown an apparent disregard for their bodies, and with the NECRO BUTCHER! on the side of Jacobs, there are sure to be some memorable moments of chaos to come in the near future. Last but not least, Jacobs has truly excelled in knowing how to pull off a promo without the need of a live crowd. Yes, he needs to work on his live promo work, but for now, the positives far outweigh the negatives when talking about one Jimmy Jacobs.

Here’s Steve Murray with a review of Jacobs’ best match from Supercard of Honor II

Steel Cage Match: BJ Whitmer w/Daizee Haze vs. Jimmy Jacobs w/Lacey

Jacobs enters with Lacey (yelling at the crowd, of course), and the crowd starts a “Please don’t die!” chant before he even enters the cage. Whitmer makes his entrance, and when he tries to enter the cage, Jacobs nails him with a tope through the cage door, and follows up with a chair shot on the floor. Into the cage, BJ takes the upper-hand and sends Jimmy into the cage face-first multiple times. Oh, and did we mention that there are weapons in this match? Yeah – the first one is a steel chair. Jacobs blocks the first couple of swings with his feet, but Whitmer nails him with a dropkick into the chair in the corner. Jacobs comes back to dropkick the chair into BJ’s face, but gets misses and elbow-dropped, and gets a spinebuster on the chair.

Whitmer CRACKS the chair over Jacobs’ head, and Jimmy cracks a tooth (legitimately). Jimmy calls for a weapon, and gets his favorite: the railroad spike. However, Whitmer pulls a spike out of his boot, and they face off. BANG – they both hit the spike the head. BANG – another. (They’re both cut open.) BANG. BANG. BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG… the crowd goes BERSERK. Jimmy motions to the crowd – and stabs himself in the head with his spike. Nice. BJ gets a running powerbomb into the corner, and asks for another weapon. And we get – a barbed-wire baseball bat.

Jacobs is able to counter with kicks, BJ whips him into the corner, goes for a blind charge – and gets the baseball bat to the head. Another shot to Whitmer’s arm. Jacobs has some fun with the barbed wire, holding it in his teeth, and hanging it from his hair. Jacobs drives the barbed wire into BJ’s arm, then picks up both railroad spikes. Jacobs licks the blood from Whitmer’s head, and spits it back at him. Umm – yuck? Jimmy then alternates railroad spikes into BJ’s head and arm, places Whitmer’s head on top of the bat, and slams a chair into the back of his head. More spikes to the forehead and the arm. Jacobs plays to the crowd, biting the bottom rope. BJ gets fired up by the crowd, gets back to his feet, and sends Jacobs into a chair set up in the corner. BJ gets a hold of the bat, and smacks Jimmy with it across his stomach, his back, and his forehead. The chair gets set up in the middle of the ring, and BJ does a brainbuster into the chair. For… TWO! Jeezus.

Lacey slams the door into Whitmer’s face, and Jacobs takes advantage with a Backsplash for two. Whitmer comes back with a Dragon suplex/powerbomb combo for two. A table gets brought out to ringside (sure, why not?). BJ goes for a top-rope powerbomb, countered with a rana; Jacobs goes for the Contra Code, countered with an Adrenline Spike. Cover, two-count broken up by Lacey. BJ grabs a hold of Lacey, and gets an Adrenline Spike on her, too. BJ climbs to the top of the cage, misses a Frog Splash, Contra Code by Jacobs, 1-2-NO! (And that’s where Jimmy suffers the knee injury that put him out until last weekend.) The table is set up in the ring, while Jimmy limps around and places BJ on top of it. “Please don’t die!” chant. Jimmy climbs to the top of the cage, BJ goes up to meet him, Jimmy fights back. BJ back onto the table, Jimmy back up, blows a kiss to the crowd. Backsplash through the table. 1-2-3.

Jimmy Jacobs defeats BJ Whitmer (pin, Backsplash through a table ****3/4)

Dueling “Thank you Jimmy”/”Thank you BJ” chants by the crowd.

Oh. My. God. Seriously – get the DVD for this match alone. That’s the sickest thing I’ve ever seen.

And in yet another bit of awesomeness, though Jimmy is legitimately injured, you can here him insisting “Get her out first!” when the ring crew shows up to help him out. (And in a less-than-wise move, he shoves off help and limps backstage himself.)

“Lightening” Mike Quackenbush – Quack is one of the most versatile and personable wrestlers I’ve ever come across. As one of the best faces around, his likable, approachable personality and expressive facial expressions make him a favorite before he ever steps in the ring. Once he steps in the ring, however, spectators are in for a show. A master of mat wrestling, the European style, various submissions, and lucha libre, Quack varies his styles and pace to create not only beautiful visuals in his matches, but also to completely frustrate his opponents. This switching of styles prevents his matches from becoming boring, while allowing for tons of innovation and different ways to finish opponents.

Quack is essentially the father of American lucha libre, since he founded the Chikara company. For some reason, although he is a veteran of over a decade, it took until recently for him to be noticed by Japan and pulled in by ROH. Of course he has immediately impressed and ROH fights for constant bookings and a major title was immediately put on him by mostly Puro promoters. A champion around the indies Quack is one of the most likable and interesting men in the business, who uses a unique style and unique strategy to create fantastic matches with a variety of opponents.

Here’s our own John Kirschner with more on Quack.

MIke Quackenbush cannot be described in one word. If you were to try, you would fail miserably. With a moveset of over 1000 Holds, and introducing new specials left and right, it’s hard to limit Mike Quackenbush to one word. Same with his opponents. Trying to identify Quack as a submission specialist is a huge underesimate for what he is capable of. Becuase he has adapted his style to the countries he has wrestled to and the opponents he has fought. Quickly rising among the top of the independent circuit, it’s actually harder to miss why Quack is awesome.

Here’s a review from Ollie Sutherland, of potentially this year’s Indy Match of the Year from Chikara’s Anniversario?

CHIKARA Aniversario?: 2 Years in the Making: Mike Quackenbush vs Chris Hero

The bell rings. Intense STAREDOWN. Hero prods Quack’s chest. DISRESPECT. Quack then does the most awesome thing ever. grabs hero’s arms, ties him up in some weird stuff, drags him down, flips over and ROLLS HIS SHOULDERS DOWN! 1 2 NO! That was great. Quack taunts Hero with a ‘2′ sign on his fingers, Hero gets pissed and forearms Quack hard in the face. Quack responds with his own forearm! They go into some lucha, as Quack runs wild with some stuff I’ve never seen him do before. Quack goes for all kind of nice looking pin attempts of submissions, but none are successful.

Quack goes for his patented bulldog out of the corner, but Hero catches it, and drives Quack ass first to the mat. Hero starts working over Quack. He hits some kicks to the face and some slams. He goes for his usual moonsault into twisting senton, but Quack moves! Senton! 1 2 NO! Hero quickly cuts off Quack’s momentum with a sick roaring elbow.

Hero works over Quack some more, but Quack shows he has fight left in him, getting a neat victory roll off of hero’s shoulders. Again though, as Quack gains momentum hero cuts him off, this time with a dropkick to the head. Hero whips Quack into the corner. He hits his dropkick there, then takes himself to the apron. He flip/rolls back in, but Quack has that move scouted, and NAILS him with the PALM STRIKE!

Quack is back in this, and the fans are loving this. Quack takes Hero to the corner WINDMILL CHOPS! He destroys Hero’s chest for roughly a minute with those. He hits the clothesline this time he hits the bulldog out of the corner! TOP ROPE SWANTON! 1 2 NO! Hero regains control with a neckbreaker, and puts Quack up top. He puts the cravate on, tries to slam Quack to the mat from there, but Quack gets out of it. HURRICANRANA puts Hero right on his head! 1 2 NO! Man that was close! They trade some more hot nearfalls, with hero hitting a sick reverse suplex, and Quack hitting a high angle reverse Brainbuster.

Quack grabs Hero motions for it QUACKEN DRIVER #3! 1 2 NO! How did Hero kick out of that? Quack tries for another palm strike, but hero sees it coming, and puts Quack on his shoulders. HERO’S WELCOME CHAMPIONSHIP ADDITION! 1 2 NO! Hero gets pissed, and starts head butting Quack. Quack surely isn’t one for strikes, but he fires back with his own headbutts! Hero takes Quack out with a big one, and quickly places him up top. He applies the cravate. Quack KNOWS it though, and maneuvers out of it, knocking Hero off the top with a headbutt to the throat.

They both avoid each other’s attacks with some lucha flips, until Quack takes Hero down with the DOUBLE KNEES. Quack wraps his leg around Hero’s head and arm, grabs the other arm, grabs hero’s far leg and lock his hand in with Hero’s! What a submission! The crowd wants Hero to tap! Their wish is fulfilled, as he does! Everyone goes crazy. Quack has done it!

Winner: Mike Quackenbush (**** ¾)

Phenomenal match. It was mostly made on the atmosphere in the building, and the story built that atmosphere. Needless to say, that atmosphere of everyone wanting to see Quack pull it out was incredible, and had me marking out for every single move.

The story was basic in reality. Two guys in a heated rivalry, both know each other VERY WELL. But what separated this match from every other match with that story, is the fact that story was played off with EVERY single spot here. Both men changed up their regular offence to start, but when they had nothing new they used their usual moves, and that’s where their opponent would get the advantage.

Hero’s workover period was really excellent, because it showcased the story so well. Hero would work over Quack’s injured back, wear him down and just plain disrespect Mister Mike. Whenever Hero used a move he normally uses, Quack would immediately counter it and get his hope spots in. Hero would have to keep changing his offence, but in the end he couldn’t change it fast enough and Quack made the most awesome comeback ever with that palm strike. In the end Hero brought back a move that was previously popular with him, but Quack knew it all too well, reversed it and tied Hero up in a brand new hold (CHIKARA special) to get the win. Awesome stuff.

The wrestling was some of the crispest you’ll ever see. The selling was to perfection. Everything was timed right. The emotion was certainly there. The finish fit the match superbly. I think I could go on all day about how great this match was and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a match which used its surrounding circumstances so well. Even if you’ve never heard of CHIKARA, you must go out of your way to see this match. It really is pro wrestling done right.

Jigsaw – Jigsaw is the best young high flier in the business. Trained in the Chikara Wrestling Academy by Mike Quackenbush, he has taken a lot form Quack’s mat wrestling and lucha styling, but also cut out much of the cartoony offense that draws Quackenbush criticism. Often overlooked, Jigsaw is very crisp in the ring and an excellent seller. He’s nearly stolen the show with Davey Richards at two tournaments, 2006’s Ted Petty Invitational, and 2007’s Race to the Top Tournament in ROH. His selling and unconventional offense both nights had the crowd fully in his corner and going “oooh” with every maneuver.

Jigsaw was recently placed in The Vulture Squad with fellow high fliers Jack Evans and Ruckus. The group of fliers represents the best flier from ROH, CZW, and Jigsaw, the best in Chikara. So far, Jigsaw has stolen all of the matches since being featured in the group, looking as good or better than both big name counterparts. Jigsaw is a future star to watch. And to those who question is hood credentials, he’s from the Bronx.

Broken Dial Chief, Shawn Smith had this to say about Jigsaw, but first he wanted you to know [Contest] Win a Deluxe Prize Pack from Broken Dial a contest that runs through November and we will be adding more stuff to the pack every few days.

Jigsaw has the coolest mask in Ring of Honor. I used to say that same thing about Delirious before he was Main Eventing and look where his career has gone. Now, he trains the students too. Jigsaw is the protege of Mike Quackenbush, which means that his style is a combination of American-style lucha and a handful of imaginative Gumby submissions. If awesome came in buckets, Jigsaw would have 90 of them and his sandcastle of rad would be the biggest.

Also, he reminds me of a less annoying Jack Evans, which makes him perfect for the Vulture Squad (whom I liked a LOT better when I thought they were the Voltron Squad and everyone would have a special color: Julius Smokes, um, Black; Jack = Yellow, Ruckus = Green, Jigsaw = Red).

Here’s a review from John Kirschner from Chikara’s Rey de Volvadores highlighting how great of a flier Jigsaw is.

Equinox vs. Jigsaw vs. Ruckus vs. Lince Dorado

Ruckus is the odd man out here and has no mask. He does have a bandanna though. The four men circle around the ring as none of them want to be the first to get stricken. Ruckus has an easy solution for this problem and just leaves the ring. Jigsaw doesn’t want Ruckus to get off that easy and takes him out with a baseball slide. The two brawl outside as Lince and Equinox Lucha it up. Lince gives Equinox a senton splash and a lionsault ¾ away from the ring.

The two spill outside and Jigsaw and Ruckus run into the ring. They exchange arm drags and clotheslines, and Jigsaw takes Ruckus out of the ring with dropkick. Lince Dorado comes into the ring, but is tossed right back outside by Jigsaw. Jigsaw jumps over the ropes and connects with Equinox and Lince on the floor. Ruckus sees an opportunity to get the upperhand and flips outside the ring onto the bunch, but Equinox side steps it and runs back into the ring. Equinox hypes the crowd up and climbs to the top rope and does a twisting senton! Nice spot.

Equinox is in control now and brings Jigsaw into the ring with him. He puts Jigsaw on the top rope and follows him for a frankensteiner, but Lince clubs him in the back. Lince then goes to the top and executes a double frankensteiner, sending Jigsaw and Equinox to the canvas. Ruckus knocks Lince down with a cartwheel rebound heel kick, and gets clobbered by a Jigsaw super kick. Equinox catches Jigsaw off-guard with a hurricanrana driver for a near fall. Lince rolls up Equinox with a schoolboy the same time Ruckus is rolled up by Jigsaw.

Referee Derek Sabato uses both hands and counts two 3 counts. The crowd is loving the fact that the fnal two is Jigsaw and Lince, and they have a reason to love it. Jigsaw monkey flips Lince Dorado into the corner, but Lince holds on, upside-down. Jigsaw comes over to knock him off the turnbuckle but gets kicked in the face. Lince continues t pull himself up and pulls off a fantastic looking Top-Rope Tornado DDT for a near fall. He goes back to the top rope looking for the Lynx-Sault, but Jigsaw jumps up and dazes Lince with a enzeguri. Lince is sent to the canvas following a facebuster, and gets a double stomp to the back. Jigsaw flips Lince to his feet and gives him a Burning Hammer. Jigsaw just can’t seem to put him away as he gets ANOTHER near-fall. Lince reverses an Irish Whip into a snap hurricanrana and only gets a two count. He follows that hurricanrana with a reverse hurricanrana, and Jigsaw lands on top of his head here. Lince Dorado finishes him off with the Lynx-Sault to advance to the finals.

Lince Dorado beat Equinox, Jigsaw and Ruckus to advance to the finals. (*** ¾)
Lucha!

“Choo Choo” Erick Stevens – Speaking of future stars, Stevens is a future main eventer. With an imposing, unique look, and a heavyweight’s frame, Stevens immediately attracts notice as something different and special. It isn’t his appearance that makes him so great, however, it’s his ability to connect with fans. On his way to a corner charge he casually went “Choo Choo” once and that stuck, causing the casual, fun loving fans to happily anticipate Stevens matches. These same fans, along with other viewers are instantly sucked into Stevens matches because as a big man he is a phenomenal seller. He’s the best big man at generating sympathy in recent memory. As he generates sympathy, he times his comebacks perfectly, and they pop the crowd huge, since he uses a realistic power based offense to take it to opponents. He’s a big strong guy, who makes people care about his matches, will sell for anyone, and has a great offense. What’s not to like?

As a member of the Resilience, he has been dominant. The NRC, the Resilience’s frequent opponents, have mostly used a strategy of trying to eliminate Stevens from contention in the match as he dominates their team. His chop battles with his trainer Roderick Strong are particularly epic and worth checking out. Stevens is a rising star and visibly improves every time out. Go out of your way to see a man who might just be the next big thing.

It’s Andy Mac with

Why Erick Stevens will be a future star

There are two simple answers as to why Stevens has a future in
professional wrestling. His height and his weight. He is over six
feet tall and over 250 pounds. He is one of only a few stars in Ring
of Honor that fit the WWE mold of a superstar. Besides that, though,
he is proving himself to be one of the top new stars of 2007. He is
a fairly unique commodity in Ring of Honor given his style. But perhaps most importantly he has a skill that many bigger men on
wrestling rosters lack, and that is the ability to sell and draw
sympathy. No, he is so big, he should not have to sell at all, but in
a company where the focus is on wrestling acumen he has used his
rookie status as a selling point for making him interesting. He uses
it to draw sympathy when a more experienced wrestler takes advantage
of him. He has an amazing understanding of psychology and
storytelling for being so new to the game, and “gets it” in a way that
few do. He has proven a solid tag team wrestler and it won’t be long
before he is threatening the top of the card as a singles star. In
short, Erick Stevens is awesome.

Here’s John Kirschner with a FIP match of Stevens against the new ROH Champion.

FIP Florida Heritage Title Match: Erik Stevens © vs. Nigel McGuinness w/ Dave Prazak

The two monsters exchange strikes and McGuinness flees the ring after taking a back body drop. Stevens stalks the apron, waiting for McGuinness to get back in. McGuinness gets the upper hand after taking Stevens down with a shoulder block. Stevens gets right back up and gives him a hiptoss. Nigel rolls to the apron and talks to Prazak and Stevens pulls him up. Nigel punches Stevens in the stomach and uses the top rope and slingshots it into Stevens’ face. He has Stevens in an arm-and-hammer lock and throws him into the ringpost.

McGuinness is in command, breaking down Stevens’ left arm. Nigel hits a short arm clothesline and gets a two count. Stevens gets some momentum on his side after a few forearms and chops (not using the hurt hand), but Nigel knees Stevens and tosses him to the outside where he gets beat up by the DP Assocaiates. Stevens has had enough and lays out Beasley on the outside.

McGuinness comes down to stop Stevens from going onto Prazak, but Stevens wont have any of that. Erik Stevens gets an adrenaline rush and goes wild, giving McGuinness splashes in the corner, belly to belly suplexes and a snap powerslam showing what a monster face is.

Stevens tries to finish Nigel off with a TKO, but Nigel kicks out. Nigel goes for a European uppercut but it’s countered into a backslide! Nigel kicks out at two. Stevens goes up top and Prazak holds him down. McGuinness gives Stevens the Tower of London for a two count. Nigel is fed up and goes for the lariat. Stevens sees it coming, ducks under, and rolls Nigel up for the three count,

Erik Stevens beat Nigel McGuinness when he rolled him up for the pin. (*** ½)

“Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen – Kevin Steen is fairly new on this list and I can explain his inclusion in one word: personality. Kevin absolutely lives his character. Every second from when he’s out the curtain he’s jawing with fans, pushing around Generico, taunting opponents and being a complete attention whore in the best way possible. There is simply no way to not watch Kevin Steen when he’s out there performing.

It’s a good thing Steen demands so much attention, because in ring he’s absolutely spectacular. Not the most technically sound man on the roster, he might be the most fun. He uses an array of head drops and flippy moves to set up further taunting. These moves don’t necessarily mean a whole ton without the personality, but with them all of this flashiness furthers his persona and the story in his matches. He is a man who is never without a role in the ring. He’s also, because he loves attention so much, easily angered, so it’s beneficial that he’s among the best brawler’s in ROH. Kevin Steen is among my favorites because everything he does, everything about him, is in service to his personality, and he’s so good at getting exactly the reaction he wants that my girlfriend went for desperately wanting him to suffer to him being wholly sympathetic at PPV #4.

Here’s Steve Murray with another opinion on Steen.

Kevin Steen is the best all-around performer going in ROH. His ringwork is excellent: he’s extremely agile for a “big guy” (though he’d be considerably undersized in WWE), he sells like a pro, and he can work just about any style, including some very effective brawling, such as his Lights Out match with Jay Briscoe. But what really makes him stick out is his character: his ability to draw the crowd into his match and his skill on the microphone are all too rare in the indies (unfortunately). It’s difficult to overstate just how few heels there are, including those in WWE or TNA, that could pull off the dynamic he has in his tag team with the face El Generico, and just nail it for such a long time.

And my review of Steen and Generico’s Fighting Spirit match

Jay Briscoe and Erick Stevens vs. Kevin Steen and El Generico

Jay is extremely angry at Steen for attacking Mark Briscoe’s injured head last night and continually attacks him even when Steen isn’t the legal man. Jay is absolutely great and gets over huge with the crowd by stiffing the hell out of Steen and Generico. Stevens continues to earn a name after the previous night, managing to do the Briscoe tackle with Jay and getting his Choo Choo corner charge to a big pop. Steen shows why he is so impressive, mixing his power, head drops, and speed, while Generico keeps the crowd involved in every motion he makes.

This was going along normally until the heat sequence began on Jay Briscoe. When it did, the No Remorse Corps came out and powerbombed Erick Stevens into the guard rail. Erick, showing no Resilience, had to be helped to the back, leaving Jay alone to endure a beating.

Jay continually fought back, drawing hope spots, but was outnumbered. Who would help Jay? Could Stevens return? Would the Claudio, disrespected by Steen the night before, come to aid his enemy Jay? Mark wasn’t in the building, but surely someone would aid Jay.

Well, Jay finally manned up and got a double count with his opponents when Mark Briscoe emerged from the crowd to the pop of the night, ignoring ROH officials and owner Cary Silkin and taking his place in Jay’s corner. The hot tag was a huge pop and everyone was on their feet. Mark hit his usual high speed, high impact offense and Steen and Generico were in trouble, but every time his head was touched he went down in a heap.

This continued until Generico managed a Yakuza kick in the corner on Mark, which was way too stiff, and Mark, manning up, totally no sold it and went at his attacker again. He knocked his opponents to the floor and Jay followed, but Steen managed to spear Jay into the guardrail, putting him down and giving Steen and Generico a chance to hit a Package Piledriver and Brainbuster respectively to get the pin on Mark Briscoe.

Kevin Steen and El Generico defeat Jay and Mark Briscoe (Pin, Package Piledriver and Brainbuster, **** ½)
This was the best booked match I’ve ever seen. The crowd was rabid for The Briscoes and everyone in the building turned on Steen. This is an angle executed to perfection. WWE wishes they could get this level of real emotion from the audience. Must see.

“The Last of a Dying Breed, The King of Diamonds” Eddie Kingston – Eddie Kingston is the newest man to make this list for me. Much like Kevin Steen, Kingston is an amazing character and great promo, facts that shine through especially in the fact that he’s the best promo in the indies, perhaps anywhere. He clearly knows the business, and his promos and color commentary are always highlights. That, I already knew and isn’t why he became someone I mark for, though it didn’t hurt.

Eddie Kingston has become awesome in the ring. The man is just an absolutely great storyteller at this point. His moves are not at all crisp and many use this excuse to overlook just how good he’s become at his chosen style. That style is Strong Style. The stiff, realistic Japanese wrestling is absolutely handled great by Kingston. His many strikes are hard hitting, his head drops are beautifully timed, and his wear downs perfect in context. He sells amazingly, managing to make his opponent look like a superhero (pun intended) by looking like he’s so begrudging to let pain show. When he finally is hurt, he sells like he’s being tortured. It’s a sight to behold. Eddie Kingston is one of the best big match, hatred filled matchup wrestlers in the world.

Here’s Ollie Sutherland on The Last of a Dying Breed.

Eddie Kingston is an American pro wrestler, wrestling for Independent promotions such as CZW, IWA: MS and CHIKARA. He’s a solid heavyweight, and can work many different styles, such as hard hitting, brawling, and sometimes a bit of Lucha Libre.

Ignore all that though, what you really should be seeing as his fabulous heel work. King is easily the most believable heel in wrestling today. He’s not an entertaining heel, he’s not a chickensh*t heel, he’s all business. He plays a pissed off character from the mean streets of New York. He’s a bully, and isn’t afraid to fight dirty.

What’s best about him is that his anger feels 100% legit. Whenever he shouts in a promo, you don’t think he’s just doing it because he’s paid too. You think he’s shouting because he’s legit pissed. That trait is one that his been overshadowed by a few people on the Indies nowadays, emotion.

King is great at putting over his opponents. In a recent storyline in CHIKARA, he’s want a match booked with his enemy, Hallowicked. But due to his bad behavior, the CHIKARA commissioner will not grant him it; instead will put him in the ring with a smaller dude. King, being pissed off at not getting his match will beat the crap outta the kid, and sell really well for them. In his matches with Tim Donst and Ricochet he made both guys come out looking great, even though they got barely any offence in respectively.

King is a damn great heel. When I watch his stuff, I think to myself ‘King’s just a guy that gets wrestling”, and I can back that up by telling you to go out and hunt down some of Eddie Kingston’s awesome heel work.

Here’s my new review of my favorite (thus far) Eddie Kingston match, a Loser Leaves CZW match with Chris Hero from Out with the Old, in with the New. Please note, there is no play-by-play, just analysis.

Loser Leaves CZW Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Chris Hero

These two establish their immense hate for one another very early with security keeping them separated until the bell and a huge slugfest to start off the match. That’s most of the story of this match: they hate each other and know each other extremely well. Kingston’s personality is fantastic for this display as when he’s finally knocked down, he demands that Hero kill him. These kind of brawl displays are sprinkled through the match, always extremely stiff, and almost exclusively with Kingston coming out for the worse in them. The pain and exhaustion in these exchanges are obvious and graphic.

Fortunately for Kingston, he knows Hero like the back of his hand. Hero may be able to quickly gain control, but the Hero’s Welcome, the cravate, flip elbow, and more are countered by Kingston into big moves. The selling of Hero’s frustration is awesome.

Kingston makes his one mistake of the match when he hits Hero with the Hero’s Welcome, rubbing in how well he knows his opponent, but firing up Hero who gets the closest to a win he does all match with the Hangman’s Clutch. Kingston claws his way to the ropes, fighting out of the hold. Nothing is given in this match, everything is battled for.

Hero, now totally spent, loses a slugfest with Kingston and eats a back drop driver, one of Kingston’s finishers. A backfist later, another of Kingston’s trademarks and Hero is down and out.

Eddie Kingston defeats Chris Hero (Pin, Backfist, **** ¾)
This is a major match of the year contender. The brutality and hatred conveyed by both men is a sight to behold. That Hero could outbrawl Kingston barely was a surprise, but Kingston had that covered with his big move counters. Those allowed him to wear out and Knock Out Chris Hero in the best non-ROH match I’ve seen this year, and the third or fourth best I’ve seen overall.

Honorable Mention: Claudio Castagnoli, El Generico, Necro Butcher, Tyler Black

ROH Weekend Previews

Survival of the Fittest: 10/19 in Las Vegas

Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Matches:

-ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness vs. 2004 Survival Of The Fittest
Champion Bryan Danielson

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy-pinion: This is the toughest match to
call. I sincerely doubt that they will book this match as a draw
since they did this the last time a champion was in Survival of the
Fittest. There are one of two ways this could go. The first is the
Nigel has a newfound fire with the belt around his waist and is able
to get the huge win over Dragon. The other, and the way that I would
go would be to have Danielson get the win yet again and have Nigel
eventually defeat him in a one on one match for the title down the
line, maybe Final Battle.

Winner: “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson

-2006 Survival Of The Fittest Champion Delirious vs. Austin Aries

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy-pinion: Delirious has a very tough
road ahead of him if he thinks that he is going to make it to the
Survival of the Fittest finale. I think Aries will win this one, and
in convincing fashion.

Winner: Austin Aries

-2005 Survival Of The Fittest Champion Roderick Strong vs. Brent Albright

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy-pinion: This is a difficult one to
pick, Albright, and by extension the Hangmen 3, need to get on a bit
of a role, but it doesn’t make a ton of sense for it to be at the
expense of the No Remorse Corps. I think that Roddy gets the win and
two previous SotF winners will be in the finals.

Winner: Roderick Strong

-Race To The Top Champion Claudio Castagnoli vs. Davey Richards

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy-pinion: I think that good ole Davey
Richards is going to be the lone NRC member watching the finale from
the back. Claudio is doing too well lately to lose in a qualifying
match. Also, Claudio has just proven himself to be on a different
level than Richards.

Winner: Claudio Castagnoli

-Rocky Romero vs. TJ Perkins

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy-pinion: Ring of Honor sets the odds of
TJ Perkins winning so high for a reason. He is going to. I do hope
that TJ impressive enough to earn more bookings, but I think that will
be all he is good for in Las Vegas.

Winner: Rocky Romero

-Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney vs. Karl Anderson

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy-pinion: Karl Anderson sort of falls
into TJ Perkins territory in that he is not winning either. I don’t
really have much more to say about it.

Winner: Chris Hero

Survival of the Fittest Finale

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy-pinion: Bryan Danielson vs. Austin
Aries vs. Roderick Strong vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Rocky Romero vs.
Chris Hero.

The match itself has many stories it can tell. First I think Strong
and Romero will try to team up on the competition in the same way that
Aries and Strong did in the second Survival of the Fittest. That will
be good to eliminate Chris Hero and, why not, Claudio Castagnoli.
Dragon will then get an elimination on Romero preventing the NRC from
double teaming their way to the finals. That leaves the final three
as Austin Aries as the two men who prevented him from winning Survival
of the Fittest. I think Aries will exercise both demons and win
Survival of the Fittest despite the fact that he already has a title
match lined up.

Winner: Austin Aries

All winners will advance to the Survival of the Fittest Elimination
Match later in the main event!!!

Tag Team War
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Necro Butcher

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy-pinion: This one will be violent.
Ultra-violent. I think that the Age of the Fall will get the win here
if there even is a winner in this match. It could easily result in a
no decision. Either way it should be awesome.

Winners: The Age of the Fall

Plus more with Human Tornado, Tony Kozina, Shane Hagadorn and others!!!

Wrestlefan Fest 10/20 in San Francisco

ROH World Title Match
Nigel McGuinness defends vs. Jay Briscoe

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy-pinion: No World champion has lost in
their first defense. It won’t happen here either. The match should
be awesome though.

Winner: Nigel McGuinness

Bonus Main Event- 2nd Match In Best Of 3 Series
Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy-pinion: This has a pretty easy line on
being match of the night. It makes no sense to be a best of three
series to be decided in two matches. Also I think that Aries will
beat Danielson at Survival of the Fittest giving Dragon all the more
reason to gain some modicum of revenge.

Winner: “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson

FIP World Heavyweight Title Match
Roderick Strong vs. Claudio Castagnoli

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy-pinion: FIP titles don’t change hands
on RoH shows. Also they seem to be building a bit of a rivalry
between Nigel and Roderick over who is the better champion. I’ll give
you a hint. It is the guy whose belt has the same letters as the
promotion on it. Either way this should be a really good match. In a
side not, does anyone else think that the FIP title being defended in
RoH is a failed experiment and they should just go back to them being
separate promotions.

Winner: Roderick Strong

Grudge Match
Delirious vs. Brent Albright

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy-pinion: Delirious loses again, and
most likely gets something stapled to his head again.

Winner: Brent Albright

Tag Team Attraction
Davey Richards & Rocky Romero vs. TJ Perkins & Tony Kozina

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy-pinion: Perkins and Kozina should have
a good showing here, but they are not winning it is simple as that.

Winner: Romero and Richards

Special Challenge Match
Adam Pearce with Shane Hagadorn vs. Karl Anderson

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy-pinion: Do you like old school? Then
this is the match for you. This could either be super entertaining or
super boring depending on your prerogative. I am hoping for the former. I would love to see Anderson get the win, but I have a
feeling these West Coast shows will be his only appearance.

Winner: Adam Pearce

Special Attraction Match
Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney vs. Human Tornado

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy-pinion: Tornado is mildly
entertaining, but his schtick will wear thin for the Ring of Honor
fans methinks, or rather me hopes. Chris Hero will get the much needed
win.

Winner: Chris Hero