The Best Angle in Wrestling Right Now
Posted: May 11th, '11, 12:43
By far, the most intriguing angle in wrestling at the moment is that of Steve Corino's "road to recovery" in ROH.
At the end of 2009, Steve Corino convinced Kevin Steen to turn on his long-time tag team partner, El Generico, because he believed that teaming with Generico was holding Steen back. Generico could not face Steen for months, so mutual friends such as Colt Cabana and Human Tornado got involved, defending Generico, and getting him ready to fight.
Meanwhile, Corino was advising Steen to ignore Generico, and not to get bogged down with him. This, as you all know by now, didn't work. After Corino taunted Generico, Generico snapped and attacked him. This brought Steen out to defend Corino, but Generico still was not ready to face his former best friend. Eventually, Generico was ready, and the rest of that bloody, violent awesome feud, is history.
But there was another story being told there that we didn't realize at the time. We all noticed Steen becoming more wild and more crazy... but we didn't notice subtle signs that Corino was losing control of Steen. Steen and Generico faced off in a match at Final Battle 2010 where Generico's mask was on the line against Steen's ROH career. Steen lost.
At the next set of ROH shows, Corino came out and admitted that he had lost control of Steen... but more than that... he admitted that he realized that his influence eventually, if inadvertently, cost Steen his job... and possibly his sanity. Corino looked back on his life in wrestling. He reexamined himself and came to the following conclusion:
"My name is Steve Corino, and I am an evil person... but I am going to change that"
Find any of his promos from ROH video wires this year: A[/i]MAZING STUFF!
He has stopped cheating in matches, and is trying to prevent anyone else from going down the terrible path that he went down. "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett has made it his personal mission to make Corino fall off of the wagon. He beat Corino down, and taunted Corino that no one in the ROH lockerroom would come out to save him; even wrestlers who Corino had made the save for in recent weeks... or even that very night! He almost succeeded in March at Manhattan Mayhem IV, when he Corino enraged enough to use his "disappearing thumb trick."
On the advice of his sponsor, Corino decided to take the month of April off from ROH, so as to stop himself from reverting. Now, on May 21st, at Supercard of Honor VI, Corino will be taking on Bennett one more time... but for this match, Corino will be bringing his sponsor with him! Corino has told us that his sponsor is someone who has been down the same road as him before, and is also a recovering "addict" of bad ways, and someone who has been "banished" from ROH (although whether this is an official kayfabe banishment or not is unclear).
This has, of course, let to a lot of speculation as to who the "sponsor" could be, including Low Ki (who, I believe, is still kayfabe suspended, going back to February of 2006), and my personal mark out choice: Jimmy Jacobs.
One major theme in this feud has been trust, and Corino's desire to be trusted. He wants to be someone like a Christopher Daniels, who young wrestlers feel comfortable going to for advice... instead, he is someone who is avoided in the lockerroom, for fear of being led astray. We had to remember, though, that this is Steve Corino, and that reputation is well-earned. Is Corino sincere? Or is this just part of some plan? The wrestlers have no idea... and neither do we. And THAT is what I love about this angle. We get to see the wrestlers having the same kayfabe reactions as we are having non-kayfabe!
At the end of 2009, Steve Corino convinced Kevin Steen to turn on his long-time tag team partner, El Generico, because he believed that teaming with Generico was holding Steen back. Generico could not face Steen for months, so mutual friends such as Colt Cabana and Human Tornado got involved, defending Generico, and getting him ready to fight.
Meanwhile, Corino was advising Steen to ignore Generico, and not to get bogged down with him. This, as you all know by now, didn't work. After Corino taunted Generico, Generico snapped and attacked him. This brought Steen out to defend Corino, but Generico still was not ready to face his former best friend. Eventually, Generico was ready, and the rest of that bloody, violent awesome feud, is history.
But there was another story being told there that we didn't realize at the time. We all noticed Steen becoming more wild and more crazy... but we didn't notice subtle signs that Corino was losing control of Steen. Steen and Generico faced off in a match at Final Battle 2010 where Generico's mask was on the line against Steen's ROH career. Steen lost.
At the next set of ROH shows, Corino came out and admitted that he had lost control of Steen... but more than that... he admitted that he realized that his influence eventually, if inadvertently, cost Steen his job... and possibly his sanity. Corino looked back on his life in wrestling. He reexamined himself and came to the following conclusion:
"My name is Steve Corino, and I am an evil person... but I am going to change that"
Find any of his promos from ROH video wires this year: A[/i]MAZING STUFF!
He has stopped cheating in matches, and is trying to prevent anyone else from going down the terrible path that he went down. "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett has made it his personal mission to make Corino fall off of the wagon. He beat Corino down, and taunted Corino that no one in the ROH lockerroom would come out to save him; even wrestlers who Corino had made the save for in recent weeks... or even that very night! He almost succeeded in March at Manhattan Mayhem IV, when he Corino enraged enough to use his "disappearing thumb trick."
On the advice of his sponsor, Corino decided to take the month of April off from ROH, so as to stop himself from reverting. Now, on May 21st, at Supercard of Honor VI, Corino will be taking on Bennett one more time... but for this match, Corino will be bringing his sponsor with him! Corino has told us that his sponsor is someone who has been down the same road as him before, and is also a recovering "addict" of bad ways, and someone who has been "banished" from ROH (although whether this is an official kayfabe banishment or not is unclear).
This has, of course, let to a lot of speculation as to who the "sponsor" could be, including Low Ki (who, I believe, is still kayfabe suspended, going back to February of 2006), and my personal mark out choice: Jimmy Jacobs.
One major theme in this feud has been trust, and Corino's desire to be trusted. He wants to be someone like a Christopher Daniels, who young wrestlers feel comfortable going to for advice... instead, he is someone who is avoided in the lockerroom, for fear of being led astray. We had to remember, though, that this is Steve Corino, and that reputation is well-earned. Is Corino sincere? Or is this just part of some plan? The wrestlers have no idea... and neither do we. And THAT is what I love about this angle. We get to see the wrestlers having the same kayfabe reactions as we are having non-kayfabe!