Llakor 0 Report post Posted September 26, 2007 When We Were Marks Kevin Steen vs. Takeshi Morishima … It Smells Like Victory! I got contacted on-line the other day by a ROH-bot who knew that I am a friend of Kevin Steen’s and he asked me this really weird question, “What cologne does Kevin Steen wear?” I broke out laughing… because to anyone who knows anything at all about the history of wrestling, especially the history of Quebec wrestling, the answer is obvious. It turned out that the question was merely a set-up for a long and not terribly funny put-down about how Kevin Steen would “stink of fear” in Boston on October 5th when Kevin gets a shot at the ROH title against the monster Takeshi Morishima. The argument being that Kevin Steen has never faced a monster like Morishima and has never been in a match with this much at stake. Naturally, I told him that he was an idiot. First of all, just to spotlight my inner geek, if Abin Sur were to crash land on Earth today, I am pretty sure that Kevin Steen would be wearing the ring and not Hal Jordan or John Stewart or Guy Gardner or Kyle Rayner. I am not entirely certain that Kevin Steen is smart enough to know fear. Which is not to say that Kevin is dumb, just that he has all the common sense of a bag of hammers. To stay on the geek theme, Kevin probably has an Intelligence score of 15 or 16, but his Wisdom score is about a three. He would make a lousy cleric. More to the point, not only has Kevin Steen fought AND BEATEN monsters like Morishima in the past, Kevin Steen has also fought for the ROH title before. In fact, before ever setting foot in ROH, Kevin Steen had already fought for the ROH title TWICE! Admittedly, the first time that Kevin Steen fought for the ROH title is a match not without some controversy, and there are many who do not recognize it as an official ROH title match. In July 2004, respected Montreal wrestler and trainer, Mark le Grizzly organized a spot show called Mid-Summer Madness. His special guest: then ROH champion Samoa Joe. There was a great deal of scepticism that Mark would be able to pull off this show, so Mark took the precaution of bringing in Samoa Joe early and then filming a video promo that was rushed on to the internet - showing Samoa Joe arriving to Montreal to the tune of “The Champ is Here!” and getting into a stare down with his scheduled opponent: IWS and EWR champion Kevin Steen. When the match started, Samoa Joe came to the ring with his belt and Kevin Steen came to the ring with his two belts. Kevin claimed the advantage because he had two belts to Samoa Joe’s one, but Joe retorted that his belt was worth more than both of Kevin’s combined. Conventional wisdom says that there is a game plan to beating a monster like Samoa Joe… or Morishima. Call it the “Life of Brian” strategy: run like hell and hope that the monster has a heart attack. Or that the monster gets frustrated and makes a mistake that you can capitalize on. Kevin Steen does not believe in conventional wisdom. I am not entirely certain that Kevin has a reverse gear and on July 2nd, 2004 he proved it - by walking up to Samoa Joe and spitting in the Samoan’s eye. I am not going to lie to you, on that night Kevin Steen paid dearly for his impudence. Samoa Joe beat Kevin Steen like a dog. Only, the thing of it is, he may have beat Steen physically, but he never broke Steen’s spirit and he never pinned Steen and he never made Steen tap. To break out the wrestling cliché, Samoa Joe was ahead on points, but every time he knocked Steen down, Kevin surprised him by getting back up and taking the fight right to the Samoan. In the end, Samoa Joe may have had the advantage, but he could not beat Kevin Steen and the two men fought to a twenty minute draw. (Franky the Mobster and Chase Ironside prevented a definitive conclusion to that match when they crashed the show complaining that Kevin Steen did not deserve to be facing Samoa Joe for the ROH title, that other more deserving Quebec wrestling veterans should get the chance first. Kevin Steen and Samoa Joe teamed up on the spot to face Franky and Chase, beating them as a team.) The point is that in that match, Kevin always had a puncher’s chance of winning. Need proof? More than a year later, on November 18th, 2005, Kevin Steen successfully defended his PWG title in California… against Samoa Joe. Samoa Joe is not the first man to underestimate Kevin Steen, nor the last to be surprised by Kevin Steen’s resilience and courage. The list of his conquests is distinguished: Pierre Carl Ouellet, Christopher Daniels, A. J. Styles, Alex Shelley, Petey Williams, Super Dragon, Roderick Strong, Chris Hero, Mike Quackenbush, Necro Butcher, Davey Richards, Chris Sabin, Matt Sydal… to name just a few. The second time that Kevin Steen fought for the ROH title was in another Marc le Grizzly show, January 22nd, 2005: New Year’s Madness. This time, the title defence was officially recognized by ROH. To earn the chance to face Austin Aries, all Kevin Steen had to do was beat Samoa Joe, and El Generico, and Kevin’s long time Quebec rival, perhaps the best pure wrestler in all of Canada: EXesS. Kevin fought his way past all three to get his shot at Austin Aries. He did not beat Austin Aries that night, the ROH champion having the advantage of only wrestling once on the show, but Kevin Steen pushed him to the very brink. Afterwards, as Austin Aries packed to go home, the rattled champion asked Samoa Joe, “Who the fuck is this Kevin Steen kid?” Samoa Joe chuckled and replied, “I told you that the son of a bitch could wrestle.” Austin Aries is not the first star to rescue a victory from the jaws of defeat against Kevin Steen and wonder afterwards what the hell just happened as their easy night got inexplicably hard… and stiff. Steve Corino, Ian Rotten and Jerry Lynn could all tell stories of facing someone whose name they barely knew and finishing the evening feeling lucky to have escaped with the win. I have been watching Kevin Steen for a long time and if there is a secret to his success it is this: Kevin Steen truly believes that he can beat anyone in the world. In fact, I am fairly confident that right now Kevin truly believes that it his not his job to prove that he can beat Takeshi Morishima and win the ROH title. Actually, I can confirm that that is exactly what he believes. He just hung up on me - he was cutting a promo on me over the phone, “Yeah, Morishima is a Japanese monster. Sure, he’s Godzilla. But you have to understand, I’m Kevin Steen, I’m King Fucking Kong. And maybe I never watched that dumb movie all the way to the end, but I know that King Kong beats Godzilla every single God-damn time!” As far as Kevin Steen is concerned, on October 5th, in Boston, it will be Morishima’s job to prove that he can beat Kevin Steen. Oh and that cologne that Kevin Steen will be wearing? It is the traditional cologne of Quebec wrestling champions, of course. Rick Martel may have brewed the initial batch, but today his successor is Kevin Steen. And Kevin Steen? Kevin Steen wears Arrogance. ****************************** Kevin Steen Career Highlights • February 6, 2004 - EWR: Kevin Steen defeated Excess 69 and Kevin Martel in a 3-WAY to become the first EWR Champion! • April 10, 2004 - EWR Revolution 1.0: Kevin Steen defeated The Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels. • May 18th, 2004 – CWE: Jerry Lynn beat Kevin Steen. • June 15, 2004 - IWS V: Kevin Steen defeated Excess 69 in a #1 Contenders match. • ~~~Later that night, Kevin Steen defeated El Generico to win the IWS Heavyweight title. • July 2, 2004 - Marc Le Grizzly's Mid Summer Madness: Kevin Steen fought Samoa Joe to a twenty minute draw. • ~~~Later that night, Samoa Joe & Kevin Steen beat Chase Ironside & Franky the Mobster. • August, 28, 2004 - IWS: Kevin Steen beat PCO to retain the IWS Heavyweight title. • October 30, 2004 - JAPW Halloween Hell: Kevin Steen defeated Roderick Strong to retain the IWS Heavyweight title. • November 6, 2004 - EWR Elite 8: Steve Corino defeated Kevin Steen. • January 22, 2005 - New Year's Madness 2: Kevin Steen defeated Excess & El Generico & Samoa Joe to earn a ROH Title shot. • ~~~Later that night, Austin Aries defeated Kevin Steen to retain the Ring of Honor title. • March 12, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen beat El Generico and Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles in a 4-WAY. • March 15, 2005 - Zero-One: Kevin Steen beat Takashi Sasaki • April 2, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Jonny Storm. • May 14, 2005 - CZW: Kevin Steen defeated Chris Hero • July 10, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Super Dragon. • August 6, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated AJ Styles to win the PWG Heavyweight title! • August 6, 2005 - CZW: Kevin Steen defeated Franky the Mobster to win the CZW Iron Man title! • September 2, 2005 - WAR: Kevin Steen defeated Davey Richards. • September 3, 2005--PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Super Dragon. • September 24, 2005 - IWA Mid South: Kevin Steen defeated Mike Quackenbush. • October 1, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Chris Bosh. • October 14, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen won a three-way over Chris Bosh and A.J. Styles. • October 28, 2005 - UWA: Kevin Steen beat Alex Shelley. • November 5, 2005 - EWR Elite 8: Kevin Steen defeated Petey Williams to win Elite 8 Tournament and the EWR title. • November 18, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Samoa Joe to retain the PWG Heavyweight title. • November 19, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Chris Bosh to retain the PWG Heavyweight title. • December 10, 2005 - CZW: Kevin Steen defeated Chris Sabin to retain the Iron Man title. • March 11, 2006 - CZW: Kevin Steen defeated Super Dragon to retain the Iron Man title. • April 1, 2006 - IWA Mid South: Ian Rotten defeated "Mr. Wrestling" Kevin Steen.. • September 1, 2006 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Matt Sydal. • April 7, 2007 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Jack Evans. • April 8, 2007 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Joey "Magnum" Ryan. • April 13, 2007 - ROH: Kevin Steen defeated Pelle Primeau. • April 14, 2007 - ROH: Kevin Steen & El Generico (Steenerico) defeated Jay Briscoe & Erick Stevens when El Generico pinned MARK Briscoe. • May 11, 2007 - ROH: Steenerico defeated Jason Blade & Eddie Edwards. • May 12, 2007 - ROH: Steenerico defeated Irish Airborne and Adam Pearce & Jimmy Rave and Pelle Primeau & Mitch Franklin. • May 20, 2007 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Ronin in Burbank, California. • June 8, 2007 - ROH: Kevin Steen defeated Mark Briscoe with a Package Piledriver. • June 9, 2007 - ROH: Steenerico defeated Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw. • June 22, 2007 - ROH: Steenerico defeated Irish Airborne (Dave & Jake Crist). • June 29, 2007 - PWG: Steenerico beat PAC & Roderick Strong to win the PWG Tag Team titles. • August 10, 2007 - ROH: Steenerico defeated The Briscoe Brothers in a Street Fight in a Non-title match.. • August 11, 2007 - ROH: Kevin Steen defeated Jay Briscoe in a Lights Out match • August 31, 2007 - PWG: Steenerico defeated Dragon Kid & Susumu Yokosuka. 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Jacques 0 Report post Posted September 27, 2007 Marks don't watch ROH. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
