By Jason Patrick
Earlier this week Ring of Honor (pre-maturely) announced on their website what many saw as inevitable, Kevin Steen would defend his ROH World Championship against his most heated rival El Generico in the main event of Final Battle 2012. The response from the faithful has been positive. For months now fans have chanted at the top of their lungs "Olé, Olé, Olé", their fandom for "The Generic Luchador" not fading for even a minute, until the moment Steen removed Generico's mask from a box at the conclusion of Glory By Honor XI and the anticipation began building.
For some this is the perfect story. It was four years ago when Kevin Steen turned on then tag team partner El Generico, striking him in the groin before bending a steel folding chair across the masked mans skull, an image which would symbolize the feud from then on. A year of brutal clashes and brawls ensued featuring some of the most violent matches Ring of Honor has ever seen, their rivalry culminating at Final Battle 2010 when Generico defeated Steen and banished him from Ring of Honor.
It's hard to keep a tough man down however and Steen would return, with the words "conquest is the best revenge" ringing in his ear and the line "F#ck Ring of Honor!" ringing in those of the faithful. After six months of confrontations, ambushes and threats Kevin Steen would defeat Steve Corino at Final Battle 2011 and by virtue was reinstated to the ROH roster, to the anger of officials Jim Cornette and Cary Silkin. Steen was on the loose and that night in Manhattan, Generico would be his first victim, receiving a Powerbomb through a table.
El Generico's last interaction with Steen came at March's Showdown in the Sun event during Wrestlemania weekend. Here Steen would defeat Generico in a Last Man Standing match, in reality Ring of Honor had failed to negotiate a proper contract with the independent sensation and he would take a hiatus to the bemusement of ROH fans. Kevin Steen's conquest for revenge progressed and eventually he would reign as ROH World Champion, defeating all comers and leaving a trail of broken bodies lying in his wake.
Ring of Honor both on-screen and off-screen are in a position where no viable contender is left to meet Steen for the ROH World Championship. Jay Lethal's recent rise in aggression has certainly gained a lot of interest with the former "Black Machismo" having won the Survival of the Fittest tournament early last month and promising at the recent tapings to meet the ROH World Champion at Final Battle 2012.
Whether Lethal will feature can only be told in-time, for now however we have a main event booked which has pumped life back into the ROH World Championship scene. "Wrestling's Worst Nightmare" hasn't been stopped since declaring his intention to become champion, since turning on Generico almost four years ago the only person to have halted "Mr. Wrestling" path of destruction is Generico himself and now all eyes turn to him.
Their rivalry in 2010 gained mass amounts of exposure and praise, Dave Meltzer awarded them the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Feud of the Year award, something which no independent or territorial company had received since 1995 - that's fifteen years. Not only was Final Battle 2010 the highest grossing Ring of Honor iPPV at the time but the match itself, especially its conclusion, which featured Generico ending it how Kevin started it the year before with a chair shot to the head told what some felt was the best story ever told in Ring of Honor.
Now two years later these two rivals will meet again, but not under just any setting. Hunter Johnston will receive instant praise for booking this under Ladder War rules, a match featured only three times in the promotions history. Steen and Generico featured as a team in the first two Ladder War matches and are synonymous with the stipulation. Not only does this add another element to the story but it makes their rivalry instantly fresh for viewers.
After almost one year away El Generico returns to dethrone and disarm the destructive ROH World Champion Kevin Steen. Hes done it once, can he do it again. Only one way to find out and that's to order ROH Final Battle 2012 and watch what could be the culmination to one of the best stories told in wrestling in recent memory.
