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| Will Hero be adding a second SotF crown to his resume? |
ROH's annual Survival of the Fittest tournament happens tonight in Dearborn, MI. The tournament is unique in set up in that there are qualifying matches that comprise the first round and the winners of those matches meet in a six-pack match in the main event. The winner gets a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship. None of the twelve men in the match have ever won the ROH World Title, although Steve Corino has won the ECW World Championship, and four men (El Generico, Kevin Steen, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli) have all held (or in Claudio's case, are holding) the PWG World Championship. Still, this tournament sets up well for injecting some new life into the ROH main event scene.
In addition to the established stalwarts, there are a number of young up-and-comers in the mix, including two new signees in Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly. At this time last year, the pair was wrestling each other in a dark match at the Open the Freedom Gate DGUSA event. Today, they're ROH's newest tag team and are getting a big chance to shine on the big stage. So, the folks in the Detroit/Michigan area are going to be treated to maybe the first stage of ROH's next era. Here's the full rundown of matches:
SotF Qualifiers
Chris Hero vs. Eddie Edwards
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Grizzly Redwood
El Generico vs. Kenny King
Colt Cabana vs. Rhett Titus
Kevin Steen vs. Kyle O'Reilly
Steve Corino vs. Adam Cole
The six winners will move into the elimination main event.
Also on the card, Homicide will wrestle Andy "Right Leg" Ridge in what will most likely be a brutal squash match, and in the sub-main event/co-main event, the House of Truth will team with Roderick Strong to take on Christopher Daniels and the Briscoe Brothers.
Back to the tournament though, it's kind of easy to see how things are going to shake out with the exception of the first match listed. Hero, who is bidding for his second SotF crown, vs. Edwards is being positioned as the marquee match-up of the first round, not only given that it's the only match featuring two high-profile upper midcard to main event wrestlers, but it's a feud match. The American Wolves recently split from manager Shane Hagadorn, who also represents the Kings of Wrestling. This puts Edwards squarely at odds with Hero. This is the toughest match to call, but I think Hero will pull it out, since I think he's a favorite to win the tournament and be crowned ROH World Champion in the near future. Hell, he may be the guy to defeat Roderick Strong given Daniels' age and Davey Richards' scheduling volatility (seeing as he's got strong overseas commitments, and he seems to be the type of guy who'd put his NJPW/puro bookings over his domestic ones).
As for the other matches, I'm not sure if they have upsets up their sleeves, but the only one that I think could go either way is Generico/King. While ROH has cooled on King since the springtime, he still remains a guy with considerable upside within the fed. I think Generico still takes the match, as Cabana, Corino and Steen all look to take their matches. Obviously, Claudio will defeat Grizzly Redwood, although it would have been nice to have seen the diminuative lumberjack wrestler in the fray at the end with five other of ROH's best.
So that leaves Corino, Cabana, Steen, Generico and both Kings of Wrestling in the final. Of those, I'm going to eliminate Corino, Cabana and Steen right away. I think if Steen wins, they tip their hat for the Final Battle match with Generico. If Steen loses, he's gotta skedattle from ROH, and I don't think they'd throw him in the title mix with that kind of decision pending. Corino and Cabana are more secondary characters/career upper-midcarder jobbers to the stars, and they're in the final match to enhance the tension between Generico and Steen. That leaves Claudio, Hero and Generico. Generico is an intriguing case given that he's sticking around in ROH regardless, but if he loses the Final Battle match, he loses his mask. Him winning might tip the cap at said match given that a maskless El Generico is not an over El Generico, at least right away it isn't, definitely not over enough to compete for the Championship. However, Hunter Johnson has taken some bold risks right away as head booker, doing all clean finishes at the TV tapings and booking younger talent to replenish those he's lost or has jettisoned for the time being. So I'd put Generico as the third favorite.
That means I think a King of Wrestling is going to win the tournament. Which one? I lean towards Chris Hero winning his second one for two reasons. One, he's a more accessible promo than Claudio is. While Claudio can cut a mean promo, his accent may get in his way of getting over as a heel to the fans. Two, Hero has gotten more of a build-up in the last two years. Claudio spent a lot of last year toiling in the Embassy, which is sort of the Phantom Zone for guys in ROH, regardless of how over they are. I say Hero walks out of this the winner and will be primary challenger to the ROH World Championship after Final Battle.
Now that I've made that prediction, it's almost academic that Eddie Edwards will win and we'll get that all-Wolves dream match sometime in the new year as Davey Richards will end up getting strapped at Final Battle. But hey, no one can say that I'm not aware at how terrible my prognostication skills are!
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography
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