Michael Elgin

The first portion of this compilation is an hour-long interview with Elgin. Among the topics discussed include:

-How he became a fan of professional wrestling.
-Training at various wrestling schools and Kizarny taking him under his wing.
-Traveling to the United States at age sixteen to gain experience in front of crowds.
-Working with Ian Rotten and IWA: Mid South.
-Watching All Japan tapes growing up and how it changed his perspective on the business.
-His initial appearances in Ring of Honor and eventually appearing on a main card.
-Transforming his appearance and in-ring style from 2008 to 2010.
-Performing at DGUSA and ROH camps in 2010 and the possibility of being involved with Dragon Gate.
-His role in the House of Truth as well as working with Roderick Strong and Truth Martini.
-The first big match against Christopher Daniels and subsequent showcase matches.
-Getting offered a contract and being able to have more input into matches.
-Winning Survival of the Fittest and showcasing himself in multi-man contests.
-The Showdown in the Sun match against Davey Richards and what it did for his career.
-Breaking into PWG and the Reseda crowd.
-Comparisons to Rhino throughout his career.
-Receiving the chance to work with Silas Young after having so many battles together previously.
-The Glory By Honor match against Kevin Steen.
-What goes through his mind during the hours before a major show.


Match #1: Michael Elgin vs. Christopher Daniels (World’s Greatest – 2/25/11)

Elgin immediately powers Daniels into the corner and lays in various strikes. Daniels low bridges him to the floor and connects with a baseball slide. Daniels lands an arabian press and follows with a missile dropkick back in the ring. He adds a northern lariat but a distraction from Truth Martini allows Elgin to hit a samoan drop. Elgin takes control, working over Daniels’ back. The action goes to the floor where Elgin drives Daniels back-first into the barricade. Elgin applies a boston crab on the outside as Martini reads aloud from the Book of Truth. He slams Daniels onto the floor and goes back to the boston crab. In the ring, Elgin maintains control until Daniels sends him into the middle turnbuckle. Daniels hits a corner bulldog and lands a flying crossbody. Elgin answers with a nice modified pumphandle slam and connects with a lariat. Daniels ducks a discus lariat but falls victim to a spinning uranagi. Daniels sneaks in a rollup out of nowhere for the win at 14:54. While this match was filled with smart wrestling, it never fully reached a second gear. I was expecting a somewhat exciting finishing stretch but the match just came to an end rather abruptly. You could tell that Elgin was looking to make the most out of his opportunity in Ring of Honor. **½


Match #2: Michael Elgin vs. Eddie Edwards (Defy or Deny – 3/18/11)

The idea here is that Roderick Strong wants Elgin to wear down Edwards before his title match tomorrow night. They trade strikes and Elgin finds success with a shoulder block. He hits a delayed vertical suplex but gets taken down by a hurricanrana. Edwards applies an STF but Elgin reaches the bottom rope. Edwards kicks Elgin off the apron and connects with a baseball slide. He throws Elgin into the barricade. In the ring, Elgin elevates Edwards into a samoan drop and takes control. Edwards fights back with a flying knee strike and a series of chops. Elgin responds with multiple lariats but Edwards goes back to the chops. Elgin hits two backbreakers and follows with a senton. Edwards dodges a kick and connects with a gamengiri. He adds a missile dropkick and takes out Elgin with a sliding dropkick. Edwards hits a sit-out gourdbuster and hurricanranas Elgin to the outside. Edwards tries a moonsault off the apron, but Elgin catches him and hits a powerslam on the floor. In the ring, Elgin connects with a big lariat but finds himself in an achilles lock. Truth Martini runs into the ring and Edwards gets both of them in a half crab. Elgin is able to reach the bottom rope. Edwards connects with a superkick but Elgin answers with a swinging uranagi. Edwards back drops Elgin off the top rope and connects with a flying double stomp. Edwards follows with a 2k1 bomb for the victory at 18:05. Strong sending Elgin to weaken Edwards the night before his title match makes perfect sense. However, for everyone not to look stupid, Elgin actually has to give Edwards a run for his money. Fortunately, everything worked out here as Elgin took the fight to Edwards for eighteen minutes. They worked well together and Elgin keeps impressing with his unique offense. The crowd was really behind Edwards, which was good news for the soon-to-be world champion. ***¼


Match #3: Michael Elgin vs. El Generico (Honor Takes Center Stage Chapter 1 – 4/1/11)

Elgin asserts his power advantage early on. Generico connects with corner punches and lands a flying crossbody. Elgin reverses a tornado DDT attempt into a backbreaker. He takes control until Generico comes off the top with a hurricanrana and hits a blue thunder bomb. Generico follows with an exploder into the turnbuckles. Elgin blocks a corner yakuza kick and connects with a lariat. He hits a swinging side slam but Generico lures him to the floor. Elgin catches Generico on a dive attempt and tries to powerslam him into the barricade, but Generico is able to escape. Generico shoves Elgin into the barricade and hits a tornado DDT after diving in between the turnbuckles. In the ring, Generico tries a corner yakuza kick but a masked man grabs his feet. Elgin hits a powerbomb for the win at 9:12. Generico is the perfect opponent for Elgin and they proved once again that they have great chemistry together. The finish was unfortunate, as the match was just reaching a higher gear and the crowd was getting into the action. However, sometimes match quality is sacrificed for storyline advancement. **½


Match #4: Scramble Match: Michael Elgin vs. Rhett Titus vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Adam Cole vs. Grizzly Redwood vs. Andy Ridge (ROH Revolution: Canada – 5/7/11)

This is basically a six-way freestyle except you must score two pinfalls or submissions to win the match. A participant can only be eliminated by disqualification or countout. Grizzly and Ridge have a fast-paced exchange and find themselves at a stalemate. Ciampa takes them out with a double dropkick. Titus boots him in the face and hits a leaping bulldog. Elgin catches Titus with a powerslam but gets taken down by a hurricanrana from Cole. Ciampa stops Cole on a plancha attempt and rolls him up to score a pinfall. Elgin innovatively catches Titus with a german suplex. Ciampa works with him to isolate Titus. Ridge blind tags into the match and hits an ace crusher on Elgin. Titus lays out Ridge with a neckbreaker to earn a pinfall. Titus leaps to the top rope and catches Elgin with a facebuster. He also snaps off a satellite headscissors on Ciampa. Titus lands a dive to the floor onto Elgin and Ciampa. Cole connects with an enzuigiri on Grizzly. Cole gets elevated to the apron, where he plants Titus with a DDT. Grizzly lands a dive onto everyone on the outside. Elgin is left in the ring and follows out with a dive of his own. In the ring, Cole connects with a vicious superkick on Elgin. Ciampa dodges a superkick from Cole and hits Project Ciampa. Titus breaks up the pin attempt with a frog splash. Grizzly hits a springboard tornado DDT on Titus for a nearfall. Cole superkicks Elgin and hits the Panama Sunrise from the middle rope for a two count. Elgin dead-lifts Ridge and powerbombs him over the top rope. He hits a double alabama slam on Cole and Grizzly. Elgin pins both of them for the win at 14:40. While the action started out a bit disjointed, things picked up in a huge way down the stretch. Ciampa, Titus, Cole, and Elgin stood out at various points throughout the match, adding to the success of this new concept. The finish was also a great way to highlight the stipulation as it showed that anyone can win at any point in the contest. I think that ROH could definitely be onto something with this concept match and I would fully support seeing Double Danger Scrambles on various undercards every so often. ***¼


Match #5: Michael Elgin and Roderick Strong vs. Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards (Tag Team Turmoil – 7/8/11)

Edwards and Elgin exchange forearms before Edwards runs into a hard shoulder tackle. Richards and Strong wrestle to a stalemate before Strong tags out. Elgin knocks Richards down with a forearm smash. Richards fights back with a dropkick but gets tripped up on the apron. Strong throws him into the barricade and the House of Truth isolate him. He back drops Strong and makes the tag. Edwards wins a chop battle against Strong but gets caught by a facewash kick from Elgin. Richards enters the match but runs into a powerslam from Elgin. The House of Truth once again work over Richards until he connects with a spin kick on Elgin and tags out. Edwards boots Elgin multiple times and lands a lionsault. Strong catches Edwards with a gamengiri and the House of Truth turn their attention towards him. He hits a nasty sit-out gourdbuster on Strong and makes the tag. Richards connects with a double missile dropkick and catches Elgin with a handspring enzuigiri. He lays in a series of forearms and hits an exploder. Richards hits a northern lights suplex on Strong and applies an ankle lock on Elgin. Elgin rolls through and hits a swinging side slam. Strong superkicks Richards and follows with a backbreaker and an olympic slam. The House of Truth lay out Richards with a gutbuster-lariat combination. Richards fights back with a lariat of his own and finally tags out. Edwards connects with a missile dropkick on Strong and comes off the top rope with a lungblower. He lands a dive to the floor onto Elgin and hits a backpack chinbreaker on Strong. The American Wolves hit their superkick-german suplex combination on Strong. Elgin and Richards slap each other while Strong and Edwards trade chops. Everyone starts connecting with strikes and hitting moves. All four men are down. Elgin hits a pumphandle suplex on Richards along with a sit-out powerbomb. He samoan drops Edwards while hitting a fallaway slam on Richards. The Wolves apply stereo submissions and Truth Martini enters the ring to save his team. He gets sent to the floor with stereo knockout kicks. The Wolves double stomp Elgin and Richards connects with a knockout kick for the win at 31:28. When it comes to ROH in 2011, this is a familiar situation. A show with a completely underwhelming undercard relies on the main event to make the save. To be honest, I think these two teams could have an excellent twenty-minute match with focused action and awesome exchanges. However, there was just no story in this match to hold it together and I can’t help but think that the decision was made to give this contest thirty minutes in order to salvage the show. While there were moments of terrific action here and there, those moments were too sporadic for a thirty-minute main event. ***¼


Match #6: Survival of the Fittest 2011 Finals: Michael Elgin vs. Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong (Survival of the Fittest 2011 – 11/18/11)

The Briscoes work together to maintain control over Edwards. Elgin overpowers Mark and showcases his teamwork with Strong. Elgin hits a delayed vertical suplex on O’Reilly and tags in Edwards. O’Reilly and Edwards shake hands and have a back and forth exchange that ends in a stalemate. They tag in the Briscoes, who tease a confrontation before attacking everybody else. They take out O’Reilly with some double teaming as the House of Truth attack Edwards on the floor. The Briscoes hit stereo shoulder tackles on O’Reilly and isolate him. He hits a double dragon screw leg whip and tags out. The House of Truth storm the ring and start attacking Edwards again. Mark elevates O’Reilly into a neckbreaker from Jay. The Briscoes and the House of Truth come to blows. They brawl until Edwards and O’Reilly intervene with missile dropkicks. Edwards and O’Reilly trade kicks. Edwards lands a plancha onto Strong. Jay takes out Elgin with a dive. O’Reilly follows with a dive of his own. Strong drops O’Reilly back-first across the apron. Elgin lands a moonsault off the top rope onto everybody on the floor. In the ring, Elgin hits a backbreaker on O’Reilly. Everybody starts hitting moves on each other. Edwards and O’Reilly plaster Jay with superkicks. Edwards hits a 2k1 bomb on Jay to eliminate him at 18:21. Edwards applies a dragon sleeper on Mark to eliminate him as well at 18:37. The House of Truth now isolate Edwards until he’s able to fight them off. Truth Martini tries to get involved but Edwards boots him off the apron. All of that caused O’Reilly to fall off the top rope and through a table at ringside. Edwards sneaks in a rollup on Strong to eliminate him at 20:41. Elgin takes out Edwards with a lariat to eliminate him at 20:58. We’re down to Elgin and O’Reilly. O’Reilly slowly makes his way back into the ring after falling through a table. He tries a quick crucifix to no avail. Elgin finds himself in a guillotine but is able to power out. O’Reilly hits a tornado DDT and goes back to the guillotine. Davey Richards is at ringside to cheer on his protégé. Elgin hits a high-angle uranagi for a nearfall. O’Reilly finds life with a reverse hurricanrana and attempts a sunset flip for a two count. Elgin shrugs off a few kicks and they stare each other down. They exchange forearms and slaps. Elgin connects with a big lariat and hits a tombstone for a nearfall. They battle on the apron where Elgin gets back suplexed to the floor. O’Reilly leaps off the apron and connects with a dropkick. In the ring, Elgin hits a bucklebomb and his spinning powerbomb to win Survival of the Fittest 2011 at 32:01. All of the action leading up to the first elimination was solid and highlighted the Briscoes and the House of Truth’s teamwork. However, I was getting concerned that there wasn’t an elimination. Unfortunately, four eliminations happened in the span of three minutes. When you have thirty-two minutes to work with, I see no reason why eliminations need to happen that quickly as it doesn’t allow each elimination to stand out. This match’s rating is due to the tremendous twelve minutes that Elgin and O’Reilly delivered to end this contest. O’Reilly had the support of the entire crowd and it was fun watching him try to take down the much more powerful Elgin. They really came through and both men’s stock went up considerably as a result of this match. In the end, I think Elgin was the right choice and while this doesn’t rank up there with the best Survival of the Fittest finals, it’s certainly a worthy entry. ***½


Match #7: Michael Elgin vs. Chris Hero (The Homecoming 2012 – 1/20/12)

Hero dodges a shoulder block and goes old school with some celebrating. He slaps Elgin across the face, which is traditionally a huge mistake. Hero frustrates Elgin with his cockiness, luring him into a dropkick through the ropes. Elgin hits a delayed vertical suplex in the ring and takes control. Hero fires back with a mafia kick and a roaring elbow. Elgin blocks a charging forearm and hits an exploder. He follows with a pumphandle driver for a nearfall. Hero hits a saito suplex. They exchange strikes and Elgin connects with a big lariat. He dead-lifts Hero into a suplex as three minutes remain in the time limit. Hero elbows out of a powerbomb and hits a cravate suplex. Elgin answers with a saito suplex. They trade strikes once again and Hero lays in a roaring elbow for a two count. Hero connects with a roaring mafia kick for another nearfall. Elgin hits a bucklebomb followed by a spinning powerbomb for the win at 14:43. Watching Hero revert back to his old persona was very entertaining. This was a nice way to put over Elgin, as he withstood the best of Hero’s offense and kept bringing the fight. They had good chemistry together and I could see them putting on an even better match given more time. ***¼


Match #8: Michael Elgin and Roderick Strong vs. Davey Richards and Kyle O’Reilly (Underground – 1/21/12)

Strong and O’Reilly trade control on the mat to start the match. Strong eventually resorts to punches and cheap shots O’Reilly with a kick. Richards catches Elgin with a dropkick but falls victim to a back suplex shortly after. Team Ambition spend some time working over Strong until Elgin interjects himself. Richards attempts a cross armbreaker on Elgin but gets lifted into a bucklebomb. The crowd starts chanting “this is wrestling” and we’re hardly five minutes into the match. Richards punts Elgin from the apron while O’Reilly takes out Strong with a dive. In the ring, Elgin plasters O’Reilly with an enzuigiri and the House of Truth isolate him. He fights off his opponents with various kicks and makes the tag. Richards connects with a double missile dropkick along with his handspring enzuigiri on Elgin, which Kevin Kelly calls the Alarm Clock. Sigh. Richards is able to get Elgin over with a german suplex. Elgin hits a samoan drop-fallaway slam combination on Team Ambition. Strong hits a saito suplex on Richards and they exchange strikes. Strong follows with a gutbuster and transitions into the Stronghold. Meanwhile, O’Reilly applies a guillotine choke on Elgin. Richards counters into an ankle lock on Strong. The House of Truth is able to escape their holds. Strong knocks out Richards’ mouthpiece with a knee strike. All four men are down after a series of strikes…and Richards’ mouthpiece is out. The crowd comes alive. O’Reilly hits rolling butterfly suplexes on Strong. He connects with a missile dropkick from the apron on Elgin. O’Reilly hits a shoulder-capture suplex on Strong for a two count. Elgin lays out O’Reilly with a swinging side slam. Strong adds a basement superkick but he won’t stay down. Truth Martini interjects himself but accidentally hits Strong. O’Reilly rolls up Strong for the victory at 29:24. Boy did that finish take the wind out of everyone’s sails. As it was, the match felt a bit too long and it seemed as though this was one of those shows where ROH didn’t have much faith in the undercard and needed the main event to feel epic. Fortunately, the crowd was with them and despite my hesitations with the length, there were still plenty of unique exchanges to be found throughout the match. ***½


Match #9: Michael Elgin vs. Kyle O’Reilly (Ring of Honor Wrestling TV – 3/10/12)

O’Reilly tries to lay in strikes while keeping his distance. Elgin eventually takes him down with a shoulder tackle. Elgin wins a forearm exchange. O’Reilly traps him in a cross armbreaker but Elgin is able to break free. Roderick Strong comes out and distracts O’Reilly, allowing Elgin to hit a german suplex. Davey Richards is livid on commentary. After a commercial break, Richards is still furious with Strong’s interference. This is unintentionally hilarious. O’Reilly comes back with a back superplex and follows with a suplex onto the floor. He connects with a missile dropkick from the apron. In the ring, Elgin dead-lifts him into a brainbuster position but O’Reilly fights out with a tornado DDT. O’Reilly applies a guillotine choke but Elgin counters into a uranagi. O’Reilly connects with a knockout kick and hits a regalplex. He synchs in a crossface. Elgin hits a bucklebomb after another distraction by Strong. Richards starts brawling with Strong. Elgin hits a sit-out powerbomb on O’Reilly for the win at 10:30. For whatever reason, Richards being on commentary for O’Reilly’s matches always takes me out of the match. It’s just a constant reminder that O’Reilly is simply Richards’ student. This was a solid match given the time but the involvement from Strong and Richards was unnecessary. **¾


Match #10: ROH World Title: Davey Richards © vs. Michael Elgin (Showdown in the Sun Day 2 – 3/31/12)

Richards charges at the bell with a yakuza kick. He kicks Elgin off the apron and follows out with a dive. Elgin wears down Richards back in the ring with a series of clubbing strikes along with a delayed vertical suplex. Elgin hits a guillotine leg drop and counters the handspring enzuigiri into shock treatment. Richards withstands some punishment and connects with a missile dropkick to the side of the head. They exchange strikes and Richards hits an exploder. He follows with a superplex but Elgin shows some fighting spirit. Elgin shrugs off some boots and connects with an enzuigiri. Richards hits a german suplex and adds a lariat to keep him down. Elgin blocks a punt from the apron and hits a fisherman buster onto the floor. He powerbombs Richards into the barricade and lands a corkscrew senton in the ring. They battle on the middle rope. Elgin blocks a sunset bomb but Richards catches him with a tiger suplex from the top rope for a nearfall. Richards transitions into an ankle lock but Elgin reaches the bottom rope. Elgin hits chaos theory out of nowhere and connects with a basement superkick. He elevates Richards into an enzuigiri for a nearfall and applies a crossface. Richards somehow manages to reach the bottom rope. He connects with two consecutive flying double stomps for a nearfall. Elgin falls victim to an exploder but won’t stay down. Richards connects with a superkick but immediately gets caught by a discus lariat. He traps Elgin in another ankle lock. Richards charges but Elgin plasters him with a knee strike. Elgin hits a spinning powerbomb for a nearfall. He goes back to the crossface but Richards counters into an ankle lock. Richards connects with four consecutive knockout kicks to retain his title at 27:39. Part of the fun in watching Elgin wrestle is seeing what kind of strategy his opponents employ against him. Richards, despite a size disadvantage, elected to just take the fight to Elgin. Keep in mind this is pretty much the strategy that Richards always uses in his matches, but with a threat like Elgin, it made perfect sense here and put this match over the top. Compare how necessary the barrage of knockout kicks were here as opposed to Richards’ match against Eddie Edwards at Best in the World 2011. This was undoubtedly Elgin’s breakout match in Ring of Honor and certainly worth checking out if you haven’t done so already. ****½


Match #11: Michael Elgin vs. Adam Cole (Border Wars – 5/12/12)

Elgin showcases his power advantage early on. Cole comes off the middle rope with a missile dropkick and sends Elgin to the floor with a hurricanrana. Elgin catches him on a dive attempt and slams him onto the entrance ramp. He takes control in the ring until Cole comes back with a tornado DDT. Both men are down. Elgin retreats to the apron, where Cole catches him with a slingshot DDT. Cole lands a top-rope splash for a nearfall. Elgin hits chaos theory. He dead-lifts Cole into a suplex attempt but Cole counters with a small package for a two count. Cole connects with two shining wizards and a few superkicks. Elgin fires back with a huge lariat. Both men are down once again. Elgin suplexes Cole from the apron into the ring. Cole escapes a crossface but gets rocked with a discus forearm. He finds life with a brainbuster across his knee. Elgin blocks a flying crossbody attempt, hits a bucklebomb, and finishes with a spinning powerbomb for the victory at 13:54. This match would have been helped out tremendously with a hotter crowd. After just watching the Showdown in the Sun match against Richards, this was a good example of someone just taking the fight to Elgin and it not working nearly as well. Despite the crowd’s reservations, they kept the action interesting and this was a fine showcase for both competitors. ***


Match #12: Michael Elgin vs. Jay Lethal (The Nightmare Begins – 6/15/12)

Elgin showcases his power advantage early on. Lethal snaps off an armdrag and cartwheels into a dropkick. Truth Martini enters the ring and almost gets into a fight with Paul Turner. That was awkward. Elgin blocks the Lethal Injection with a northern lariat and takes control. Lethal finds an opening to sneak in a couple of pin attempts to no avail. He connects with a superkick but misses an enzuigiri. Elgin dead-lifts him into a german suplex. Lethal blocks a running knee strike, connects with an enzuigiri, and hits the Lethal Combination. Roderick Strong comes out to stop Lethal from hitting Hail to the King. Elgin begins yelling at Strong, allowing Lethal to hit the Lethal Injection for the win at 12:14. This was a fine preview of what these two could do together, although I think it was far from the best match that they could deliver. The constant interference from Martini didn’t help matters nor did the appearance of Strong near the finish. However, the slow burn of Elgin’s face turn was continued and sometimes match quality is sacrificed. **½


Match #13: Michael Elgin and Rhino vs. Jay and Mark Briscoe (LivE Strong – 6/30/12)

Elgin catches Mark in mid-air for a powerslam. Mark hits a chinbreaker on Rhino and connects with a flying knee strike. Jay adds a lariat and boots Elgin to the floor. The Briscoes hit stereo shoulder tackles on Rhino. Mark connects with a dropkick through the ropes on Elgin and lands a rolling senton off the apron onto Rhino. In the ring, Jay falls victim to some double teaming by the House of Truth and they isolate him. Jay flatlines Elgin into the middle turnbuckle and makes the tag. Mark lands a flying crossbody onto Elgin and connects with a shotgun dropkick. Jay russian leg sweeps Elgin off the middle rope and Mark adds a flying elbow drop for a nearfall. Elgin responds with a double alabama slam. Rhino hits a belly to belly suplex on Mark. Mark dodges a Gore and tries a quick rollup to no avail. Jay superkicks Rhino but gets caught by a lariat from Elgin. Mark hits a death valley driver on Elgin. Rhino catches Mark with a Gore out of nowhere for the win at 12:23. This worked really well for the time given. The dissention between Elgin and the rest of the House of Truth has played a big part in many recent matches and I’m glad they took a break from that here. As long as Elgin is still apart of the House of Truth, I wouldn’t mind seeing him team with Rhino more often. ***


Match #14: Michael Elgin vs. Silas Young (Brew City Beatdown – 7/14/12)

Elgin sends Truth Martini to the back. They tease finishers early on and Young connects with a dropkick. Elgin hits a powerslam but gets caught by a hurricanrana. Young lands a dive to the floor and hits a neckbreaker back in the ring. He follows with a finlay roll but Elgin avoids the PeeGee Waja Plunge. Elgin hits a german suplex into the turnbuckles along with a guillotine leg drop. He takes over until Young hits a backbreaker-lariat combination. Young tries a victory roll to no avail and lands a lionsault. Elgin answers with a swinging side slam and suplexes Young from the apron into the ring. Young falls victim to a bucklebomb but recovers with angel’s wings for a nearfall. Elgin connects with multiple lariats. Young hits a finlay roll and follows with the PeeGee Waja Plunge for a two count. He comes off the middle rope but Elgin catches him with a lariat. Elgin hits a bucklebomb followed by a spinning powerbomb for the victory at 17:41. Young couldn’t have been given a better opponent for his return to Ring of Honor. These two have had highly-praised matches in AAW together and this was an abridged version of them to a certain extent. The crowd was obviously familiar with Young and although I’ve made this comment a lot in this review, ROH should be using Young on a regular basis without question. Young and Elgin made the most out of this opportunity and as lame as it sounds, this match made me feel good about Ring of Honor. ***½


Match #15: Michael Elgin vs. Mike Bennett (Killer Instinct – 10/6/12)

Bennett tries a cheap shot to no avail and gets rocked with a forearm. He takes some time to regroup. Elgin hits a powerslam after a shoulder block battle. Elgin follows with a delayed vertical suplex. Bennett attempts a plancha but Elgin merely walks away. Bennett hits a spinebuster into the apron and takes control. Elgin fights back with a military press and a spinning side slam. He adds an inverted DDT. Maria jumps onto the apron to provide a distraction. Bennett charges but gets low-bridged to the floor. Elgin thinks about a dive but can’t because Truth Martini is in the way. Bennett hits the Box Office Smash onto the floor. In the ring, Elgin connects with an enzuigiri but runs into a spinebuster. Elgin fires back with a backfist, hits a bucklebomb, and finishes with his spinning powerbomb for the win at 11:57. Despite some semblances of a story with Bennett working over Elgin’s back, most of this match consisted of them just throwing moves at each other. Still, this was a fine showcase for Elgin heading into his ROH World Title match at Glory By Honor. **½


Match #16: Michael Elgin vs. Rhino (Ring of Honor Wrestling TV – 10/20/12)

The House of Truth explodes! Truth Martini tries to talk them out of the match to no avail. They trade punches and Elgin connects with a slingshot back elbow. They brawl around ringside as Roderick Strong comes out to watch. Back in, Elgin comes off the top with a shoulder tackle. Rhino misses an early Gore attempt but recovers with a spinebuster. He takes control until Elgin fights back with a swinging side slam. Elgin hits a german suplex but falls victim to a death valley driver. Martini runs into the ring and stops Rhino from hitting the Gore. Elgin hits a spear and follows with his spinning powerbomb for the win at 7:52. This was a fun little power matchup, as expected. I came to terms with the House of Truth interference before the match started, so I wasn’t too put off by the run-ins when they happened. **½


Match #17: ROH World Title: Kevin Steen © vs. Michael Elgin (Glory by Honor XI – 10/13/12)

Roderick Strong is watching this match from the front row. They trade forearms and neither man can win a shoulder block battle. Elgin hits a swinging side slam. The action goes to the floor, where Steen gets sent into the barricade. He returns the favor to Elgin. Back in, Elgin hits a powerslam and a delayed vertical suplex. He comes off the middle rope with a shoulder tackle. Steen hits a DDT in the ropes and powerbombs Elgin onto the apron. Steen lands a frog splash from the apron to the floor. He takes control in the ring until Elgin connects with an enzuigiri. Elgin follows with a stunner out of the corner and an air raid crash. Steen just throws him back-first across his knee and hits a corner cannonball. They battle up top and Steen gets knocked down to the canvas. He blocks a corkscrew senton with knees. Elgin low-bridges Steen to the floor and follows out with a dive. Elgin hip tosses Strong over the barricade and sends him to the back. Elgin powerbombs Steen into the ringpost and lands a senton in the ring. Steen locks in a sharpshooter. Elgin counters into a crossface but Steen gets his foot across the bottom rope. They battle on the apron and both go crashing through the ringside table. Back in, Steen elevates Elgin into a sit-out powerbomb. Elgin reverses the F-Cinq into a crossface. Steen turns the hold into a rollup for a nearfall. Elgin hits a dead-lift german suplex. He lays in repeated knee strikes to the head. Steen hits a codebreaker but walks into a lariat. Elgin hits a bucklebomb but Steen fires back with a lariat of his own. Both men are down. Steen hits the F-Cinq for a two count. Elgin traps him in another crossface but he reaches the bottom rope. Steen hits a sleeper suplex and the package piledriver for a nearfall. Fans threw streamers into the ring because they thought the match was over. Now that’s a good nearfall. Elgin sneaks in a rollup to no avail. He counters a corner cannonball into a powerbomb, hits a bucklebomb, and finishes with a spinning powerbomb for a nearfall. They battle up top and Steen hits the package piledriver from the middle rope to retain his title at 31:28. I see no reason why this match isn’t as good as people are saying. Elgin was faced with a very different opponent than we are used to seeing him against in Ring of Honor. Steen’s resiliency and sheer weight made Elgin incapable of making his offense last for thirty-one minutes. Elgin tried to compensate in various ways (relying on the crossface), but in the end, Steen was too much for him. I’d say this match was just as good as Elgin’s Showdown in the Sun bout against Davey Richards but they are two completely different contests. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence that Steen is able to have a thirty-one minute classic on the first show after Jim Cornette’s increased involvement, but this match should be considered in any serious match of the year talk for 2012. ****½


Overall
: When it comes to Elgin’s history thus far in Ring of Honor, there’s honestly not that much ground to cover. As a result, there’s some filler to be found on this compilation, although it’s helped by the background Elgin gives on the matches during his sit-down interview that’s also included. Obviously, if you don’t already own most of these matches and are a fan of Elgin, this is an easy recommendation. For everyone else, I would say if you don’t own either of Elgin’s ROH World Title matches (against Richards and Steen), this compilation is a nice way of getting them in one place. The sit-down interviews have really added to the releases that they’ve been on so far and I hope Ring of Honor continues to do them when they can.

You can purchase this DVD at Ring of Honor’s store right here.

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