ROH Border Wars
Davey Richards vs Kevin Steen
This felt pretty big right from the entrances, and Steens entrance was awesome. The stare down at the start was really good and built up the tension. This was pretty full on right from the start, but never in the same way something like Davey/Eddie was with a bunch of random spots and moves. Davey started it off quick with the dive to the outside and was great at instantly playing up to the crowd and acting like a dick, that is the Davey Richards I want to see in ROH again. Davey hit an exploder on the apron quite early on after Steen had been dominating him on the outside for a bit, but it felt like an important spot because it gave Davey the advantage and control over Steen that he would get after a move that big, but instead of going straight for the cover, he was more interested in acting like a douche with the crowd and toying with Steen. It came off as him being really annoyed with the crowd for not cheering him which was good. Davey worked over Steens leg a bit, and Steen sold it really well in the long run and it did come back in to play later when Davey hit the dragon screw and started going for the ankle locks. There was still a bit of silly Davey psychology such as the two double foot stomps straight into an ankle lock, although one of them was done with Steens leg trapped in the ropes so it added pressure to the leg so it was slightly more acceptable. Despite that, Davey was fucking great here. The way he gradually got more and more desperate as the match went on and vissibly pissed off at the crowd and the fact he couldn't put Steen away was great, and he even busted out the DR Driver II that he hasn't used in years which is basically like the Jay Driller, but because of the size difference here, it looked fucking brutal. The finishing stretch was awesome with some great nearfalls, especially the second Sharpshooter attempt by Steen which the crowd was going bat shit for. Talking of the crowd, they were incredible, even beating out the Elgin match from SITS, and it really added a lot to the match. the actual finish was great too imo and Steen selling the leg almost all the way through while climbing the buckles or inbetween moves really helped the match imo. the repeated stuggles for the package piledriver were great too. I've read people saying it wasn't long enough, but it must have been about 20 minutes which is a great length, especially the type of match they wrestled, and any longer would have been overkill. I dunno, maybe people wanted another Davey/Eddie style match with tons of moves but this was so much fucking better. Really really great title match, that despite the full on nature, never came off as a spot fest or illogical in any way apart from the one spot I talked about earlier with the foot stomps. The way each guy became so desperate, and especially Davey with his facial expressions and actions was awesome to watch unfold I thought. I'm sure there will be some people who might find more flaws in the match than me but I'm not bothered really. I loved this, my US MOTY so far. ****1/4 +
Elgin/Cole was really good too, and Eddie/Rhino was very enjoyable. The show as a whole was really great.