1. Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match: Colt Cabana vs. Rhett Titus
**1/2
We kick off the show with a decent opener that sees Cabana up to his usual tricks of really getting the crowd involved by way of comedy and Titus playing the aggrieved heel quite well. It's a short match with a fitting finish based on who went over. Nothing wrong here.
Backstage Grizzly Redwood tells us nobody's more ready than he is for SOTF. He's rudely interrupted by Claudio Castagnoli who squares up to him and literally overshadows him.
2. Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Grizzly Redwood
**1/2
Another short match that ultimately served its purpose. They got over the fact that Claudio's a huge monster and the offense that Grizz got in was smart and therefore didn't make Claudio look weak or stupid in anyway. These two seems to have a little bit of chemistry together and I'd be interested in seeing what they could do with 10-12 minutes.
3. Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match: Kevin Steen vs. Kyle O’Reilly
***1/2
These two met in a tag match Allied Forces and the chemistry they had carries over into this match. Steen’s right on form here and O'Reilly plays his role as the plucky youngster who refuses to stay down well. The arm work by O'Reilly all made sense however it didn't derail Steen from hitting a one armed package piledriver. The finish was also very fitting.
Post match Corino gets on the mic and Steen goes nuts at a guy ringside wearing an El Generico mask. Corino is gold on the mic and he really does a great job of reminding us how much Steen wants to destroy El Generico and that Final Battle is only one month away! And of course the promo leads us straight to...
4. Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match: Steve Corino vs. Adam Cole
***
Much like the previous match it seems these two carried over their previous chemistry from Allied Forces, only they had less time to play with. I feel Cole was kind of overshadowed in this match by the heel duo just because their antics were superb! When Corino's holding onto ref Todd Sinclair to avoid a sunset flip attempt and Sinclair pushes Corino away, Kevin Steen grabs the mic and, I quote, says "Todd if you ever lay your hands on Steve again I WILL RAPE YOU!". Classic! Then he proceeds to commentate on the rest of the match much like he was doing on HDNET. This was a nice touch, I like many others haven’t seen much of the HDNET product so for something to crossover like this it's pretty cool. The right guy totally went over here too in my opinion.
Post match El Generico returns! Clad in a plain black mask and long trench coat he attacks both Steen and Corino but gets derailed and then, in a sick moment, Steen Michinoku Drivers Generico off the apron through a table. Great, great visual there! Steen grabs the stick and in a really quiet and twisted sounding way sings ole' ole'. What an awesome little segment to add to an already classic feud!
5. Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match: Chris Hero vs. Eddie Edwards
***1/2
They certainly brought the pace of the card down a bit with this one which was a nice change. It's funny to think these guys put on a 12-15 minute match without really doing any of their signature moves. There's a very scary spot where Edwards does a tope suicida through the ropes, half over-shoots Hero with all his momentum and lands pretty awkwardly much like he did when he broke his elbow in 2009.
6. Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match: Kenny King vs. El Generico
**
This match was all about Generico fighting the odds after Steen’s assault earlier but for my liking there just wasn't enough from Generico here. I'm not sure if that was done to give the spotlight to Kenny King or just because they didn't get much time but either way I consider this to be a bit of a disappointment. The booking though does make total sense.
Outside, Homicide cuts a promo on his upcoming match against Andy "Right Leg" Ridge. He's mad that he's not getting his title shot tonight and I get the feeling poor old Right Leg is gunna get it bad!
7. Trial Series Match #3: Andy "Right Leg" Ridge vs. Homicide
**
Whilst not horrendous this seemed all too familiar with the match Ridge had against Reyes. Homicide just owned him throughout and Ridge didn't really get much chance to shine. What they did do in there was ok and more justified given Homicides push for the World Title however if the rest of the trial series is going to be like this Andy Ridge is not going to get over in ANY way what so ever.
Backstage Truth Martini talks in riddles about who comprise the House of Truth team for their upcoming match.
8. Christopher Daniels and Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. The House of Truth (ROH World Champion Roderick Strong, Michael Elgin & Zach Gowen w/ Truth Martini)
***1/4
They had two objectives in this match; Hype the following night World Title match between Strong and Daniels and get Michael Elgin over. They managed to accomplish both of these well enough although they could have played up Strong not wanting to get his hands dirty with Daniels a lot more than they did and I think their dynamic going into the next nights match could have benefitted from it. Kevin Kelly and Dave Prazak did a very good job of putting over Elgin as a monster and Elgin duly delivered there. The match is good but nothing blow away and I got the feeling when the faces made their comeback that the tide would change again and the match would therefore be longer.
9. Survival of the Fittest Elimination Match Finals: Features the winners of the six qualifying matches
**3/4
The first elimination made total sense and certainly gave the match an edge as it began. From there though, the match seemed to bomb. The crowd, who had been reasonably hot all night, were now completely silent for the second elimination. It could be due to two of the finalists teaming together and not really wowing the crowd with much. The third elimination is met with polite applause at best and although it's the same guy getting all the pinfalls which is surely building to something exciting, the crowd are just really not that fussed. When one of the remaining three competitors has to leave due to injury, the match picks up and so do the crowd. The fourth elimination happens due to the injured party returning (as we all knew he would) and from there we get the finishing stretch which has, traditionally been the highlight of any Survival of the Fittest match. However unlike the epic performances of Danielson & Aries and even Black & Strong from 2009, the final two get about 3 minutes one on one which just ends up being a big disappointment. A lacklustre main event to say the least.
Well this one isn't that difficult to rate; it's a straight up middle of the road and distinctly average ROH show that contains nothing horrific but nothing amazing or any noteworthy matches. However, this show is good in terms of consistent story telling for the ongoing feuds and issues in ROH. They added to Daniels and Strong, Steen and Generico whilst continued to push younger talent such as Cole & O'Reilly and Michael Elgin. The crowd were pretty good for the most part but that main event killed them off to an extent and I bet a fair amount of them were less than impressed when they left the show that night. The show also went by ridiculously quickly - 7 matches done in 90 minutes on a 9 match card, some of which could have really got better with more time. Nevermind! ROH did well to include a bonus disk of The Best of Nigel Mcguinness which of course turns this average, skippable show into at very least a recommendation.
It seems that once again Survival of the Fittest just doesn't produce a good show despite being an interesting idea. Maybe it's time ROH dropped it in favour of an annual Race To The Top Tournament.
6/10
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