ROH 263 – Salvation – 24th July 2010
This show marks the climactic and concluding night of ROH’s big summer triple shot which has seen them debut in Louisville and produce a solid night of action the following night in Collinsville. However, most of what we’ve seen over the previous two nights has been geared up for proceedings tonight. Tyler Black defends against Kevin Steen in the main event, with Steen on a maniacal mission to ‘save Tyler’ and become the ‘antichrist of ROH’ by taking the belt from him. Elsewhere every team in ROH (and some thrown together combinations) has been put into three brackets for ‘Tag Wars 2010’, with the winners of the 3 brackets advancing to an Ultimate Endurance Tag Title shot later in the summer. The champions themselves – the Kings Of Wrestling – don’t enter Tag Wars 2010 until the finals so tonight are in non-tournament, non-title against GenerationMe, thus giving us the ROH Kings/Bucks match we were deprived of when the Jacksons left for TNA. Oh, and Amazing Kong wants to kill Sara Del Rey. Back in reliable Chicago Ridge, IL with Dave Prazak and Joe Dumbrowski
Necro Butcher/Erick Stevens vs Rasche Brown/Grizzly Redwood – Tag Wars 2010 1st Round
If either of these teams make the final then Tag Wars 2010 is a crock. I’m saying that right now, and I’ll stand by it. Necro and Stevens are the latest thrown together Embassy combo and are one of the oddest teams I’ve ever seen…and are even less of an odd couple than their opponents in Rasche and Grizz. They, of course, are united in their hatred of The Embassy so this opening round contest is deal for them.
Skullkrusher is starting to get seriously over in ROH and gets a big pop upon arriving. Stevens tries to demonstrate his strength by pressing Grizzly…so Brown grabs HIM and does a press slam. He then clobbers Necro out of the ring with a clothesline and leaves The Embassy crying for an early time out. Erick tries to rake his eyes, but Skullkrusher is such a bad ass he no sells it to chokeslam him. Redwood tags and actually demands to fight Necro, landing an enziguri on him in doing so. Nana tries to distract him and that’s enough of a delay to enable Stevens to PRESS SLAM INTO A BIG PUNCH FROM NECRO ON THE FLOOR! Amazing spot!! Redwood is busted wide open after that, proving just how insane that was! Butcher, sick as he is, starts biting at the cut. Grizzly, bleeding heavily, gets stuck in the ring with Erick and Necro taking no mercy on him. Grizz fights though, and comes out of the corner with a sunset flip bomb on Necro before getting the tag to Rasche. Stevens tries to stop him with the Choo Choo but Brown simply marches out of the corner to hit another chokeslam. Redwood dives off the top, spraying blood as he goes, into a crossbody on Necro and Nana on the floor. Stevens schoolboys Rasche, using the tights, to steal a cheap win at 09:01
Rating – ** – Much more entertaining than I thought it would be – although how much of that was due to actual wrestling skill and how much of that was due to the sheer guts of Grizzly Redwood for taking that nutty bump and carrying on is debatable. Tack a finish on the end and I’d have happily gone a star higher on the rating too.
Sara Del Rey vs Amazing Kong
Rematch from Supercard Of Honor 5 where Del Rey snatched a win using Chris Hero’s lucky loaded elbow pad. Will she be resourceful enough to pull out another win over the intimidating Kong (who is such a force she easily went toe-to-toe with the Kings Of Wrestling themselves in Collinsville yesterday) or will her opponents power and size be too much on this occasion?
Del Rey starts by kicking Kong in the leg…only for Kong to stare straight back at her like nothing happened. She looks completely emotionless, and totally focused on killing Sara. SARA KICKS HER IN THE FACE! Kong floors her with a tackle in response and Sara quickly leaves the ring for some advice from the Kings and Hagadorn on the floor. The result of that is Claudio distracting Kong, allowing Del Rey to dive back into the ring and sneak attack her opponent. Just as in New York Sara starts attacking the arm…with Hero also in hand to lay in some cheap shots to that arm when the referee isn’t looking. Kong uses her good arm to drop Sara with a couple of clotheslines, then lands the Warrior Splash for 2. Amazing Bomb blocked though and Sara tries a crazy suplex off the apron. Kong has no intention of doing that, and simply shoves her off the apron and into Hero and Claudio on the floor. CROSSBODY WIPES OUT EVERYONE! Implant Buster for 2, and AK then heads to the ropes for the Press. Hero and Claudio get involved again…with Castagnoli booting her in the face. Capo kick by Death Rey. Kong counters the Royal Butterfly into a schoolboy (2 matches in a row) to win at 07:59
Rating – ** – It’s a shame that, for a second time, Adam Pearce didn’t feel confident enough to let these women have 12-15 minutes of match-time to really go out there and express themselves. What they did here was fine, but it was just another ‘greatest hits’ package of their moveset and felt very superficial. New York was better because there was slightly less Kings Of Wrestling interference, and a much more satisfying finish.
Josh Raymond/Christin Able vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe – Tag Wars 2010 1st Round
These two have fought a number of times, but since the House Of Truth recently secured an upset victory over the Briscoes, Jay and Mark do come into this one with something to prove. They enter Tag Wars 2010 already very upset that they don’t already get another rematch with the Kings.
Dumbrowski points out that the Briscoes are already 2-0 this weekend which is a great point, except that so are House Of Truth. Mark starts with Raymond, and both guys happily showcase their grappling skills by working the mat with genuine intensity. Able and Jay come together next, opting to go strike for strike instead of working the canvas. Advantage Briscoes after hitting the football tackle then a running neckbreaker on Christin. Able then bumps like a lunatic, almost landing on his neck out of the Briscoe Biel. Raymond gets a tag and sensibly goes for a flurry of pins on Jay, looking to secure a win by any means necessary. Truth Martini then low-bridges Jay forcing him to fall out of the ring…where he actually prefers to fight and happily drops both HOT members on the floor with a double clothesline. Able and Raymond hit the powerbomb senton on Jay for 2. Able hits a neckbreaker off the ropes, and holds Jay there for Josh to land on top of him with a slingshot senton. They start to work on the back and midsection…but Raymond takes way too long climbing the ropes and does his Spiral Tap straight into Jay’s knees. Mark tagged and brings in the kung fu skills to take it to both opponents. Palm strike into the Iconoclasm on Raymond gets 2. He goes for the Ace crusher on Raymond, but Able saves with the Lawn Dart. SHOOTING STAR SPEAR GETS RAYMOND 2! Alabamaslam from Christin, holding Mark in position for the quebrada/spinebuster combo. Jay returns to help his brother with a DVD on Able. Raymond saves his partner from the Doomsday Device…ABLE CONVERTS MARK INTO A MID-AIR POWERSLAM! Jay boots Josh in the mouth then watches in confusion as Truth Martini tries to interfere and falls back out of the ring. Mark wipes Christin out once and for all with a plancha as his brother hits the JAY DRILLER! Briscoes advance at 15:58
Rating – *** – Really good midcard match from these two teams. They normally have pretty decent matches, but this one stands out as one of their best (I can only think of Clash Of The Contenders being better than this). Had the heat segment on Jay Briscoe been a little more innovative and a little less tedious I’d have enjoyed this one even more. It’s a real shame that Raymond and Able both disappeared from ROH so suddenly through the latter part of 2010 because, at this stage, it looks all set for them to start to shine. They showed so much potential here tonight.
Roderick Strong (1) vs Austin Aries – Pick 6 Series Match
There’s a great little promo by A-Double in the Video Wire, where he talks about how he and Roderick Strong just can’t get away from each other. Aries’ motivation here isn’t necessarily to get into the Pick 6. He wants to beat Strong to send a message that HE should be his manager, not Truth Martini. He wants to lead Roddy back to championship gold, like the kind they held together years ago.
This is heel vs heel, but the crowd seem to settle on Aries being their initial favourite, despite him being the more obviously dislikeable of the two. The pace from the bell is extremely slow, as you might expect given how intensely familiar these two are as opponents. Strong hits a headscissors escape basement dropkick as a reminder that he knows Aries better than anyone. He then chops him so hard that Aries leaves the ring. He returns, tags Strong with a chop of his own, then bails again. Strong regains control and continues to hammer on Austin in the corner, and he has the added advantage of Truth Martini distracting the former World Champion. The referee decides we’ve seen enough of Truth and his ridiculous hair for the night…and is ejected from the building. Aries takes advantage of all the distractions to run through Strong with the Heat Seeking Missile. He focuses his attack on Strong’s neck, as we’ve seen so many times before. Roddy throws his former partner away…so Aries kicks the leg out from under him too. That does sufficient damage that he is completely unable to lift Aries for the Gibson Driver. Apparently it doesn’t stop him hitting a VIOLENT jumping knee strike for 2. Powerslam comes next, almost dropping Aries on his neck, but still only good for a 2-count. A-Double goes back after the neck, with a neckbreaker in the ropes. Impact Explosion Dropkick countered with Strong’s enzi in the corner, then the Death By Roderick for 2. Gibson Driver countered with a rana, and as Roddy goes for the Sick Kick Austin counters again with a Japanese armdrag into the turnbuckles. IED nailed, but Strong still escapes the Last Chancery. Apron DVD blocked too, then both men scale the turnbuckles for a high-altitude scrap. TURNBUCKLE BACKBREAKER BY STRONG! Really rough landing for Aries on that one, but he still kicks out at 2. Stronghold locked in briefly but Aries has been in that hold many times and manages to escape. Half Nelson Backbreaker nailed…but when Roddy tries it a second time that is COUNTERED with the Crucifix Driver. Brainbuster lined up, BUT STRONG COUNTERS WITH A SUPLEX DEATH BY RODERICK! SICK KICK! He wins at 17:56
Rating – *** – These guys have been working together for so long that, by this point they can sleepwalk through a match and still produce the goods. This was far from being their best encounter, but it still oozed quality. I loved the amount of familiarity countering they were able to do since I’m a stickler for that kind of thing. I also really appreciated how Aries toned down his exceptional heel act to make sure he did a good job putting Roddy over ahead of his title shot at Glory By Honor. This won’t be stealing any MOTY honours but whenever these guys get together they deliver.
Aries takes the stick to congratulate Roddy on his win – then to announce that he’s now going into manager mode before bringing out the All Night Express for their match.
All Night Express vs Jerry Lynn/Delirious – Tag Wars 2010 1st Round
The Video Wire preceding this weekend has an impassioned promo from the All Night Express, where they talk about wanting to be taken seriously as a team. Being in Tag Wars means they get to test themselves against the elite teams in ROH, and they very much want to prove they belong up there with them and move into Tag Title contention. For Rhett Titus in particular, as a guy who came through the ROH school and has worked his way from the ring crew, dark matches and opening match comedy hijinx, the opportunity to be considered part of one of the top teams in ROH is a huge deal. Collectively they will be desperate for a big performance in this tournament. But they have a tough first round contest, in that they have Jerry Lynn who hates them both for injuring him on HDNet, and Delirious, who hates their manager and will want to beat them up to send a message to A-Double himself.
Delirious is as mental as ever, and starts chasing Titus all over the building as Aries desperately tries to talk strategy with his team (having now donned his ‘managerial pipe and sunglasses’). It doesn’t take long for King and Jerry to renew acquaintances either. The babyface team are in control until Aries heads backstage, then returns dressed in Daizee Haze’s outfit (remember he kidnapped Daizee last night). That obviously distresses Delirious and hands the initiative to the ANX. They rock Delirious with some nice combo moves, such as Rhett’s Rocker Dropper into King’s springboard bottom rope leg drop, and that awesome triple kick sequence they’ve been using recently. The springboard blockbuster over the knees gets a 2-count. Finally Lynn gets the tag for some standard ‘fiery babyface’ spots. He turns things up a notch by DUCKING the ANX blindside lariat and forcing Kenny to take out his own partner. Delirious then drops him with the cobra clutch suplex. The All Nights are sent out of the ring where Jerry rolls through them with a cannonball senton. Delirious wipes out Aries on the other side with a tope suicida…but as he tries to give Aries the Shadows Over Hell King and Titus make the save, nail him with the One Night Stand and advance in the tournament at 11:56
Rating – ** – Again, this wasn’t a bad match by any means, it was just generic and entirely forgettable. Ultimately the right team won, but in years to come this will the answer to ‘hey, what match/show was it when Aries dressed up like Daizee Haze?…and not a lot else.’
American Wolves vs Colt Cabana/El Generico – Tag Wars 2010 1st Round
This is the final Tag Wars 2010 match of the evening. You have to consider the Wolves as one of the favourites to advance to the Ultimate Endurance finals. They are former Tag Champions and dominated the division in 2009. Even this year, when they’ve been focused on their singles ambitions, they’ve put in some impressive displays. They come into this match hot after arguably their biggest win of 2010 last night in St Louis when they overcame GenerationMe. Colt and Generico won’t be pushovers though. Both are former ROH Tag Champions themselves, and if you have any doubts about how well they can function as a team, pop in the Bitter Friends Stiffer Enemies 2 DVD, where you’ll see them winning a main event, tag team street fight which still stands as one of ROH’s best matches of this calendar year thus far.
Cabana and Richards start, with Colt getting lots of laughs for mocking Davey’s seriousness. He then spits in his face to get some revenge for Richards doing the same thing to him before the bell rung. Colt’s usual comedic chain-wrestling seems so much funnier when he does it with the uber-intense Davey Richards. The American Wolf tries to get his own back with his take on the Flying Asshole but misses hopelessly and is on the receiving end of more punishment from Colt and Generico. Edwards tags but similarly struggles to overcome the athletics of El Generico and the non-stop shenanigans of Cabana. Finally Generico goes for the Yakuza Kick on Davey, misses and walks into an enzi kick from Eddie instead. Davey drags him to the floor and hits his own yakuza kick against the guardrails too. The Wolves get a nearfall with a nice running powerslam/diving headbutt combo as they start to isolate Generico from his partner. Frustrated at being cut out of the ring, Colt starts hugging the ref to stop him counting potential American Wolf pinfalls. Funny as that is, it doesn’t stop Richards and Edwards taking all the wind from his partner’s lungs with a boot to the chest/double stomp combo, then the Double Alarm Clock. Superkick German blocked…then he ducks Eddie’s superkick and ensures he accidentally kicks his own partner. Tag to Cabana who drops the Wolves again with a quebrada. Edwards tries to haul Cabana out of the ring only for Generico to spring off Colt’s back into a SOMERSAULT PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR! In the ring Cabana briefly has Davey in the Billy Goat’s Curse. He escapes and lays in a flurry of kicks…ELEVATED YAKUZA KICK from Generi-Colt, followed by the Billy Goat’s Curse again! Eddie saves his partner that time. Handspring Enzi COUNTERED WITH A HALF NELSON…BUT DAVEY LANDS ON HIS FEET AND KICKS GENERICO! Edwards tags and gets 2 with the shining enziguri. Superkick rattles his skull again, only for Generico to pop up with a Michinoku Driver. Cabana in with the Flying Asshole, then the Colt 45. Davey breaks the fall and puts Colt on the mat with STEREO KNOCKOUT KICKS alongside Eddie. Doomsday Ace Crusher blocked…YAKUZA BY GENERICO! BILLY GOAT’S CURSE ON EDDIE! BRAINBUSTAAAAAAAAAA ON RICHARDS! EDDIE TAPS! Huge upset at 16:14
Rating – **** – I think if the Wolves had won this I might only have gone 3* with the rating, but this was a really high quality bout, and the tremendous final few minutes coupled with the sheer excitement of the Generi-Colt upset victory is enough to pull that rating up. This match made me really want to see Davey and Colt in a singles match because they had such strong chemistry in there. Cabana tends to fool people into thinking he’s not a world class wrestler with some of his antics, but he easily hung with Davey ‘best in the world’ Richards, and his jovial attitude is such a polar opposite to Richards that they are great fun in the ring together. What a weekend from the Wolves too. Although they end it with a 1-2 win/loss record, all 3 of their tag matches this weekend have been great.
Shane Hagadorn comes out to argue with the Wolves, presumably about why they continue to demand he stays in the locker room whilst they’re losing matches. Davey boots him in the stomach and has to be physically restrained by Eddie Edwards…
SIDENOTE: That is now Blocks A and B of Tag Wars 2010 complete. Block C will be shot at the next Philadelphia TV tapings, with the Block Finals and Ultimate Endurance Grand Final taking place in Richmond and Charlotte at the end of August. I think Block C has the likes of the Dark City Fight Club, Super Smash Bros. and the Bravados in it. The Block Finals thus far are:
Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Necro Butcher/Erick Stevens (Block A)
All Night Express vs Colt Cabana/El Generico (Block B)
Kings Of Wrestling vs GenerationMe
One of the real disappointments about the Young Bucks’ departure earlier this year was that they left for TNA before the Kings Of Wrestling reunion had really got it’s legs, and we were deprived of a Kings/Bucks match. Thankfully, with the Bucks being brought back with their TNA gimmick for the weekend, we’ll now get to see it after all. Note that, with the next title shot booked for the Tag Wars 2010 finale, the GenMe do not get a title shot as the Machine Guns did earlier this year.
Claudio easily shoves Max around to demonstrate his size and power advantage. Hero humours the Bucks by working a few holds with them, but eventually grows tired and belts Jeremy with an elbow and re-establishes the KOW control. Jeremy gets his knees up as Hero tries to drop a senton though, and for the first time the Bucks manage to build up some speed, dropping Chris with a leapfrog dropkick combo. Sadly the Kings slow it right back down again with Hero ramming Jeremy into Claudio’s boot then bringing the European back into the match to methodically pick him apart. The Bucks manage to catch him for a neckbreaker/springboard senton double team, once again showing that they need to increase the pace if they want to threaten the Kings. Castagnoli catches Max going for a crossbody….and in comes Hero for the DROP SUPLEX ON CLAUDIO’S KNEES! Divide and conquer seems to be the Kings’ strategy, as they trap Max in the ring for the next few minutes. Even when he inches towards a tag Hero sprints around the ring for a FLASH KICK TO THE LEGS! Jeremy plummets off the apron in a heap after that. Even Sara Del Rey gets involved, rocking Max with a huge kick across the chest as he is trapped in the ropes. Finally Max victory rolls into a hot tag to brother Jeremy who shoots through the ropes into a MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR to wipe out Hero. Flying headscissors on Claudio, into a slingshot jawbreaker for 2. Claudio goes for the Pop Up European but it’s countered…NECK DROP CHOKE SUPLEX INSTEAD! That looked horrific! Just like that another Bucks comeback is extinguished for the time being. Hero peppers Jeremy with elbow smashes, but Buck then turns the Ligerbomb attempt into a rana. Max tries that somersault cutter he always does only for Hero to block it. ASAI DDT OFF CLAUDIO! INVERTED CODE RED ON THE SWISS! Jeremy hits the tope atomico…but as Max looks for another dive Hero hits the ropes and cuts him off with a ROARING ELBOW! Suplex/Elbow combo on Max! Claudio with the Big Swing, but as Max flails around Jeremy gets the tag and flies in to drop him on his neck with another headscissors. UFO ON JEREMY! Max saves his brother from the KRS-1 before going into a ridiculously fast-paced strike exchange which sees everyone smack the sh*t out of everyone else – including their own partners! ELEVATED 450 SPLASH BY GENME! They line up More Bang For Your Buck but Castagnoli catches Max and hits the POP-UP EUROPEAN! KRS-1! Kings win at 18:44
Rating – **** – I loved this match. It’s right up there with my favourite Young Bucks matches in ROH. I’ve seen some people say that this one ‘wasn’t as good as they were expecting’…but for me, this one met my expectations and actually exceeded them. I was expecting it to be a thrilling exchange of unique double team spots – and when that came down the stretch of this match it was no surprise at all. What I wasn’t necessarily expecting was such a solid and believable story to be told around all the spots. The psychology in this one was just so good – with the Kings constantly over-powering and splitting the Bucks up, and the Bucks continually trying to increase the pace and get 2-on-1 situations so they could hit combo moves and inflict damage on the ROH team. It sounds so simple, but the fact is, the Jacksons could have taken a paycheck, hit all their spots with no rhyme or reason and gone back to TNA having pleased a live crowd and done their job. But they visibly went the extra mile to put on a good match along the way and I truly appreciated that.
Tyler Black vs Kevin Steen – ROH World Title Match
I don’t think Mr Wrestling has been more motivated for a match in his ROH career than he is tonight. His promo on the Video Wire for this is absolutely sensational. He talks about wanting to take the ROH Title tonight, and become the antichrist of ROH, looking to forever change it and alter it according to his own vision. He also has a demented fascination with Tyler Black. Of course he still hates El Generico and has that going on, but he clearly has a lot of respect for the World Champion. He has criticised the way the fans in ROH’s major markets boo him. He has even said he wants to ‘save him’ from that…but by taking the title from him so fans can cheer him in the chase like they did before.
Steen’s bizarre preoccupation with Tyler continues before the match starts. He applauds Black during his entrance, and even encourages the fans to be quiet and pay respect to him during his intro. It doesn’t stop him slapping Tyler square in the face as the bell rings though. They have an intense slug-out, with the fight spilling to the floor. Steen rams Tyler into the ringpost, so Black responds by throwing him THROUGH the guardrails. Steen goes for the Package Piledriver in the early going, only to be back dropped back to the floor. APRON POWERBOMB NAILED! At this stage in the match that probably does more damage to Black than the vaunted Package Piledriver would have done. Mr Wrestling makes a point of leading his opponent around the ring to throw him through the exact opposite segment of guardrail that he himself went through just minutes earlier – that’s the depths Steen has gone to whilst portraying this psychotic persona. He is so convincing as he stomps, scratches, claws and screams at Tyler that he’s in serious danger of becoming the de facto babyface tonight as the ROH crowd will always route for someone THAT good at what they do. Tyler tries the Springboard Lariat only for Kevin to catch him with an Ace Crusher…but then he tries the Steen-ton far too early and gives Black a window back into the match as he gets the knees up. Back suplex and a neckbreaker from the champion…only for him to make the same mistake Steen just made by climbing for the Phoenix Splash way too early. Steen shoves him from the top all the way to the guardrails on the floor, and he is BUSTED open after that fall.
Mr Wrestling starts dragging the champion around ringside to show as many fans as possible how bloody his face is now, smearing the blood across his own face as he goes. Tyler isn’t strong enough to hit Peroxism and Steen acts with LIGHTNING speed to put the champ in the Crippler Crossface for a short time. The battle spills through the ropes…PEROXISM ON THE APRON BY TYLER! He sets up for his somersault plancha, only for Steen to have another Black staple move scouted. He slides into the ring and powerbombs Tyler into the Sharpshooter. Cradlebreaker countered with the Pele, then a desperate F-5 as Black continues to fight his totally insane challenger. Springboard Lariat…COUNTERED TO THE CRADLEBREAKER FOR 2! He thinks about the Moonsault but gets kicked in the chops and BUCKLE BOMBED SUPERKICK NAILED! Steen gets the shoulder up! Tyler manages to get the big man up for a superplex. BUT STEEN ROLLS THROUGH IT TO HIT A GUTBUSTER! MOONSAULT GETS 2! SUPERKICK DUEL! SUPERKICK FLURRY BY TYLER! BOTH MEN DOWN! Steen tries to roll out of the ring AND GETS DOUBLE STOMPED THROUGH THE TIMEKEEPERS TABLE! Now Steen is busted open! SUPERKICK! STEEN NO SELLS! GOD’S LAST GIFT! STEEN KICKS OUT! PHOENIX SPLASH MISSES! BUCKLE BOMB ON BLACK! PACKAGE PILEDRIVER! BLACK KICKS OUT! Steen’s face is pissing blood by the way. Perhaps blinded, he staggers to the top again. Tyler blocks a Package Piledriver from the top. FRANKENSTEINER…INTO THE SHARPSHOOTER! STEEN TAPS! STEEN TAPS! Tyler retains in an incredible 23:04
Rating – ****1/2 – Kevin Steen just gave arguably the most memorable, one-man virtuoso performance in a Ring Of Honor match since Chris Hero in the Cage Of Death. Sure Tyler was as good as he always is, but this was, hands down, Steen’s best ROH singles match (even above the McGuinness match at Northern Navigation). His commitment and effectiveness conveying his deranged lunatic heel was amazing – to the extent that the Chicago fans watched this match cheering for the whole thing. They literally didn’t care whether it was the traditional ‘babyface’ or Steen’s sensational ‘antichrist heel’ that won. Truth be told, I don’t think everyone will ‘get’ this match. I don’t think you could show this to a casual fan and expect them to enjoy it like I did. But long term viewers of the product, and long term fans of Kevin Steen’s work will hopefully like this a lot. I know the crowd reactions towards Tyler are decidedly mixed, but his last three title defences (Strong, Richards and now Steen) have all been absolutely stellar and will almost certainly feature on my end of year Top 10.
Tape Rating – *** – Similar show to Hate Chapter 2 in that the three main event matches were all great, 4* matches that make this DVD a worthy purchase. However, much of the undercard was pretty forgettable. This was definitely a stronger show than Collinsville and there’s not a ‘bad’ match all night. But Briscoes/HOT, Del Rey/Kong and Aries/Strong are all on this card and have been done better elsewhere, on better shows. Unless The Embassy vs Skullkrusher and Grizzly is a major selling point, you’re really buying this DVD for those main events and those main events alone. That said, Black/Steen is probably worth the money by itself. If you’re a fan of Steen’s heel run through 2010 then this DVD is absolutely must-own
Top 3 Matches
3) Colt Cabana/El Generico vs American Wolves (****)
2) Kings Of Wrestling vs GenerationMe (****)
1) Tyler Black vs Kevin Steen (****1/2)
Top 7 Bluegrass Brawl/Hate Chapter 2/Salvation Weekend Matches
7) El Generico vs Kevin Steen (**** – Hate Chapter 2)
6) Tyler Black vs Claudio Castagnoli (**** – Bluegrass Brawl)
5) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs American Wolves (**** – Bluegrass Brawl)
4) American Wolves vs GenerationMe (**** – Hate Chapter 2)
3) Kings Of Wrestling/Sara Del Rey vs Briscoe Brothers/Amazing Kong (**** – Hate Chapter 2)
2) Kings Of Wrestling vs GenerationMe (**** – Salvation)
1) Tyler Black vs Kevin Steen (****1/2 – Salvation)