1) Kevin Steen vs. B-Boy - Do Or Die IV
Back in the day, ROH had events called Do or Die which were basically tryout shows for talent wanting to get into the promotion. On this particular one, alot of talent from Southern California/PWG came out including Super Dragon, Excalibur, and of course, Kevin Steen and B-Boy. This was every bit as solid of a match as I expected it to be. They told a basic story, hit some good spots, and packed some nice action into the 10 minutes or so they were given. I'd say this was a good tryout for Steen. The only thing that will surprise you here is who won.
Match rating - ***
2) Kevin Steen vs. El Generico - The Homecoming
This was Steen's official ROH debut although the match wasn't included on the actual DVD release of The Homecoming. I thought this was a pretty good match however it was just a taste of what the two men could do together. There were some really good exchanges though, particulary the finishing sequence where they repeatedly reverse each other's finishers then Generico picks up the win out of nowhere with a backslide. Nice little match that was very cool to look back on.
Match rating - **3/4
3) Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. The Briscoes - Fifth Year Festival: Philly
After two years away from Ring of Honor, Kevin Steen returned with El Generico at his side and boy did they make an impression. If this match didn't steal the show on this particular event then I certainly want to see what match did because this was awesome. The only match I'd seen prior to this between Steenerico & The Briscoes is their infamous Ladder War so I was intrigued to see how they'd work a regular tag and they certainly delivered just as well here. Awesome tag team match. After watching this, its easy to see why Steen & Generico would become a part of the roster from this point on.
Match rating - ****
4) Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, & Erick Stevens - Fighting Spirit
First off, this wasn't a handicap match. It was billed as Jay & Erick Stevens against Steen & Generico due to Mark being out because of a concussion. However, Erick got attacked about five minutes in by Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, & Rocky Romero thus leaving Jay to fight on his own. After being worked over by Steen & Generico for a while, Mark Briscoe comes through the crowd to save his brother. The final 8 or 9 minutes is Steenerico vs The Briscoes thus the way I wrote out the match title above. Because of all these aforementioned reasons, this is also an extremely tough match to rate, but the bottom line is that it was entertaining as hell. The crowd was hype for Mark running in and everything after. All the stuff prior was solid as well. Good stuff here that did alot in furthering the issue between The Briscoe Bros and Steenerico.
Match rating - ***1/2
The Brawl at Respect Is Earned II
The Briscoes are in the ring as Kevin Steen & El Generico emerge in the crowd asking for a title shot. This leads to them running to the ring and going after the champions. Security and other personnel run down to break it up. Jay & Mark are sent outside however Steen isn't done. He & Generico begin assaulting some staff. STEENALIZER IN THE CORNER! Whoever the guy was that agreed to take that was a brave man! After this, Generico flips off the top turnbuckle to the outside onto all the staff and The Briscoes. This segment was wild and hype from beginning to end. Glad it was included.
5) Kevin Steen vs. Mark Briscoe - The Fight at Roxbury
Awesome brawl here. I don't know if this was a No DQ match, but it sure felt like it. There were a ton of jaw dropping spots and action packed into the 10 minutes they had here. Steen throwing/powerbombing Mark over the railing into the crowd, Steen suplexing Mark on the bleachers, Mark throwing Steen overhead off the railing to the floor, Steen chunking Mark off the top rope through a table on the outside. Highly entertaining match that perfectly exemplified the hatred these two have for one another.
Match rating - ***1/4
6) Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw - Domination
As a CHIKARA fanatic, this was a dream match for me. Plus I've never seen any of Quack & Jig's work in ROH so I figured this would be a treat and therefore, it was. They went the route of having Steen & Generico work over Jigsaw which built up some good heat and made for a HUGE pop when Quack finally got the tag. From this point on we got a great ending sequence filled with fantastic action and several nearfalls. One thing I also have to mention here is Generico doing Jigsaw's signature move of a flipping coast to coast drop kick. The commentators didn't acknowledge it, but seeing Generico hit Jigsaw's own move on him was crazy. Super fun match.
Match rating - ***1/2
7) Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. The Briscoes - Street Fight - Death Before Dishonor V Night 1
After the brawl at Respect is Earned II and the utter fight between Steen & Mark Briscoe earlier in this set, it all culminated in this unsanctioned street fight. And it was just that - a fight. From the opening bell these two teams beat the living hell out of each other in a brawl that raged all over the arena. Tables, chairs, ladders - it was all used here and to great affect. I won't even begin to attempt to name all the various spots. Just know that this is something you should check out and you will without a doubt be entertained. Awesome match that truly took the rivalry between these two teams to an even higher level as it was intense from start to finish.
Match rating - ****1/4
8) Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. The Briscoes - Steel Cage Match - Caged Rage
This one got off to an insane start with Steen throwing Mark into the crowd and moonsaulting off the side of the steel cage onto him. The action finally got into the ring and was balls to the wall from beginning to end. A match between Steenerico & The Briscoes never disappoints and this was no different. Just wild action the entire time with the big cage spot being Jay jumping from the top of the cage to hit the doomsday device on Generico. Good match, but certainly not the best in their series.
Match rating - ***1/2
9) Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. The Briscoes - Ladder War - Man Up!
This was my second time viewing this match and I enjoyed it just as much as the first go round. I'm sure you've already heard great things about this match so I'm not gonna be able to tell you anything that you probably haven't already. Awesome match, sick spots, an ROH classic, and a fitting finale to the brutal feud between the two best tag teams in the world at the time. Must see!
Match rating - ****1/2
10) Kevin Steen vs. Takeshi Morishima - ROH World Title Match - Honor Nation
This was Steen's first ever shot at the ROH World Title and he certainly gave it his best effort as he went to work on Morishima from the opening bell by targeting his leg. Morishima mounted a come back although Steen would gain the advantage back by using a crossbody from the top rope and also going back to the leg. As you can tell, it was a pretty back and forth match with both guys putting forth a solid effort. Good showing for Steen in his first big title match.
Match rating - ***1/4
Disc 2:
11) Kevin Steen vs. Necro Butcher - Street Fight - Proving Ground
The first disc mainly highlighted Steen & Generico's feud with The Briscoes and by the start of things, this disc looks to cover their feud with Age of The Fall as Steen goes to battle with Necro Butcher. This was your basic No DQ brawl with chairs used often throughout. There were a few cool spots and nearfalls here. Overall, an entertaining street fight. Much better than their PWG encounter from a year prior.
Match rating - ***
12) Kevin Steen vs. Bryan Danielson - Semi finals of the #1 Contender's Tournament - Eye of the Storm
This was the semi finals of a tournament to crown a #1 Contender to the ROH World Title and it honestly confused me from the start. Danielson was scheduled to face Nigel McGuinness the next night so why is he fighting to become the #1 Contender? That confusing occurence aside, this was a solid and very well put together match. The format was simple as Steen worked over Danielson's leg throughout and it ended up earning him the victory. Nothing special but solid none the less.
Match rating - **3/4
13) Kevin Steen vs. Go Shiozaki - Finals of the #1 Contender's Tournament - Eye of The Storm
I heard Steen say once on commentary in PWG that Shiozaki was one of the most stiff choppers around so there was a bit of intrigue going into this match. Needless to say, it didn't take long to realize why he said that. The two went to war with strikes from the opening bell before venturing to the apron for an early highspot with Shiozaki DDT'ing Steen on the apron. I liked the idea of hitting a spot right out of the gate then slowing things down as opposed to starting slow then building up. Was a nice change of pace. The closing sequence here is something worth mentioning as well. It's always great seeing two big guys go toe to toe so I marked for the suplexes they threw in the final moments. Good match.
Match rating - ***1/4
14) Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino - Dragon Gate Challenge II
OH BOY! This is gonna rule! AND.. it did! I've yet to see a bad Dragon Gate tag, just like I don't think I've ever seen a bad Steenerico tag. With that being said, it was no shock that this match kicked ass. Awesome double team moves, extremely close nearfalls, and a hot crowd that got more riled up as the match went on. We also saw Steen & Generico hit the package piledriver into the brainbuster combo for the first time on this set here. Fantastic tag team match.
Match rating - ****
15) Kevin Steen vs. Nigel McGuinness - ROH World Title Match - Injustice
After Steen's promo following his victory over Shiozaki, I was hyped for this. He proclaimed that gold will be around his waist soon and Steen is so good on the mic that you believe every word. I know alot of people talk most about the atmosphere of the Northern Navigation match between these two and although I haven't seen that match yet, I thought the atmosphere he was very good as well. It felt like the crowd really wanted a new champ and thought Steen could do it. Beyond that, Nigel was getting a good amount of heat too so that definitely added to it as well. Speaking of heat, the heel heat segment here was well done and Steen's comeback felt monumental. I didn't like him kicking out of the Tower of London on the floor as I thought it would be the perfect way to finish it, but then they went the route of Nigel using the ropes which in reality was the best way to do it. It keeps more heat on Nigel and sets up a future match between the two. This was a good pre-cursor to the next match on this set.
Match rating - ***1/2
16) Kevin Steen vs. Nigel McGuinness - ROH World Title Match - Northern Navigation
As you can probably already tell, I've been wanting to see this match for awhile. It was one of my main reason for buying this DVD and rightfully so because it was pretty freaking great. The atmosphere was hype as they were in Steen's backyard of Canada and Nigel was such a fantastic heel here. The first big moment of the match came when Nigel slammed Kevin off the railing onto the apron. It was super cringeworthy and set the stage for Nigel's gameplan during the rest of the match as he would target Steen's back and if he ever lost the advantage, he would stop Steen in his tracks simply by hitting some sort of manuever on that area of his body. The final 10 minutes or so of this match saw both guys just throw everything they had at each other with a barrage of nearfalls. This was an awesome bout although I'm not gonna go four and a half like some did. Might give it a rewatch and see if it notches up there. None the less, this is definitely one worth checking out. Best singles match on this DVD.
Match rating - ****1/4
17) Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley - Death Before Dishonor VI
These are probably two of my favorite tag teams in recent years and considering they don't team together anymore, I view this as a real gem. It had the basic slow start format with the guns playing the heels and doing so very well might I add. They did this same schtick at CHIKARA's King of Trios in 2007 and they seem to have perfected it here as they got even more heat. The audience was somewhat split in the beginning however by the middle portion of this match, they were all for team Steenerico. So as I was saying, you had a nice little heat segment with the guns taking cheap shots and spitting at Steen in the corner, he eventually got the big hot tag and things escalated from here with an action packed closing sequence. Great tag team contest.
Match rating - ***3/4
18) Kevin Steen vs. Jigsaw - Age of Insanity
I have no clue why this was included considering it was just the opening match of this event and it didn't go any longer than 6 or 7 minutes. However, there is some intrigue here because Jigsaw is unmasked which is something I've never seen before. Wonder what the backstory to him wrestling this bout without his mask is! Either way, he was still his same talented self although he didn't go to showcase himself much because Steen dominated most of this. Throw away match to be honest.
Match rating - **1/4
19) Kevin Steen vs. Kenny King - Night of the Butcher II
This took place the night after the Jigsaw match and was basically the same thing. So you can essentially see my review of the Jigsaw encounter and figure this one it. Not really your typical get the crowd hyped opening match although King did get a few more flurries than Jig did in the previous match. Regardless it's still nothing to talk about.
Match rating - **1/2
20) Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Tyler Black & Jimmy Jacobs - ROH World Tag Team Title Match - Driven
After two matches that seemed to have just been included to fill time as they barely cracked 15 minutes put together, we get back to the good stuff to close out this set. They showed a cool little video package beforehand to hype things up and once again reiterate Steen's proclamation of getting gold around his waist in 2008. That seems to be the story of this DVD and it came to wonderful close here with this amazing match that saw Steen & Generico FINALLY attain the ROH World Tag Team Titles. The crowd was 100% on the side of Steen & Generico which made this one even better. I loved all the counters they put together here with Age of the Fall breaking up or countering out of nearly every one of Steen & Generico's signature manuevers. It made for a very exciting contest with a different feel to the closing sequence as every time you thought it was about to be over, it wasn't. For instance, Black & Jacobs would block a combination from Steen & Generico only for them to recover. Generico goes for the helluva kick and you're like THIS IS IT! THEY'RE GONNA WIN! Generico runs towards the corner, lifts his leg, and JACOBS WITH THE GUILLOTINE CHOKE! Tons of fantastic stuff like that here. This was a phenomenal match to close this set with as it delivered in every aspect and really concluded the story of this entire dvd.
Match rating - ****1/2
Overall thoughts: This DVD could almost be more aptly titled, Steen's hunt for gold because that's essentially the story this set told and looking back on it, it was an awesome ride. I had already seen some of the big matches here like the Ladder War so the excitement wasn't as high for it like it would be for a first time viewer, but once I realized the story this whole DVD told, it's something I may go back and watch again in the future. That's not to take away from the matches as individuals though because there were some gems here that I'd never seen and loved. All the Steenerico tag matches are worth the price of this set alone. Those combined with the Northern Navigation bout with McGuinness make this a worthy investment. If you're a fan of Steen (or Generico's considering he's pretty widely featured here), I'd recommend picking this up, ESPECIALLY if you've never seen any of the matches on here.
Thanks for reading and be sure to follow me on Twitter @EthanPWT and this blog @ThePWTruth!
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