By Sean Radican, PWTorch columnist

When watching the Steve Corino-Kevin Steen match from ROH's "Final Battle" iPPV again, it looks like both Steen and Corino made attempts to get their hands up on the various chairshots to the head that were performed throughout the match. I want to make it clear that any weapon shots to the head make it uncomfortable to watch a match.

Even “protected” chairshots aren’t worth the risk and they aren’t entertaining or adding value to a match because a number of people find them uncomfortable to watch. Towards the end of the match, Steen swings a chair at Corino’s head while he is on his knees. Corino gets his arm up, but it appears that he still absorbs some of the impact on the back of his head when Steen follows through. Corino also tosses a chair at Steen’s head close to the finish of the match and Steen gets his hands up.

One of the things that bothered me most about Corino’s blog from Dec. 27 called “Watch Me Pull A Rabbit Out Of My Hat" was his commentary about the Briscoes match. The number of blows to the head during the Corino match from trashcans, trashcan lids, and chairs made it uncomfortable to watch. The sheer number of a combination of those shots to the head isn’t something that there’s any entertainment value in during this ear of professional wrestling.

In his blog, Corino writes, “As much as I, along with Steen and I'm sure the Briscoes, wanted to put on a great match and show our toughness, there was no way we were going to put ourselves in danger. Without exposing the whole process, adjustments were made to make things safer.” Watching the Briscoes vs. Haas & Benjamin match again, on some of the chairshots to the head it looks like Mark and Jay get their hands up. There is another on Jay that makes it hard to tell because of the camera angle as to whether or not he got his hand up. There is one chairshot where Jay doesn’t get his hands up at all and takes an unprotected chairshot straight to the top of the head.

I don’t think wrestlers should use protected or unprotected chairshots because of what studies have proven about concussions. Chairshots and blows to the head with weapons made it uncomfortable to watch the Steen-Corino and Briscoes-Haas & Benjamin matches. Although there’s much less risk when a wrestler can get their hands or forearm up to absorb the blow, it isn’t necessary to incorporate them in a match because they are uncomfortable to watch.

Watching the show live, many of the chairshots appeared to be unprotected, but watching the replay, it’s clear that Steen and Corino got their hands up during their match. It also appears Mark and Jay Briscoe got their hands up as well for some of the chairshots, but Jay definitely took one unprotected chairshot. The way the match was shot, there is another chairshot to the head on Jay where it’s hard to tell whether or not Jay got his hands up. The entire portion of the Briscoes-Haas & Benjamin match was simply uncomfortable to watch, especially with Nigel McGuiness on commentary telling Jay to get his hands up while taking an unprotected chairshot.

ROH doesn’t need to feature matches filled with dangerous bumps and chairshots directed towards the head to gain popularity. The company needs to get back to good storytelling. In the end, if the magic doesn’t impress or entertain people in a way that is going to grow ROH’s audience, it isn’t worth performing the trick.

Contact Sean at PWTorchSean@gmail.com

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