By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

RADICAN’S ROH DVD REVIEW SERIES
“MICHAEL ELGIN: UNBREAKABLE”
BY SEAN RADICAN, TORCH COLUMNIST

“Michael Elgin: Unbreakable” is a new release from ROH featuring a 60 minute interview with Elgin as well as 17 matches from 2011-2012. The interview, which is hosted by Shane Hagadorn, is very good as Elgin seems comfortable talking to him and revealing a lot about his time in ROH, although it leaves you wanting to hear more from Elgin because he’s a really good interview.

Elgin was always a big wrestling fan growing up in Canada and with WWE the only thing on television, Elgin was a big fan of the company growing up. He talks about how he always knew he wanted to be a wrestler whereas his friends were more into sports.

Elgin talks about breaking into wrestling while still in high school. It’s interesting to hear Elgin discuss his influences in wrestling during this period. His school was visited by the likes of Rhino, Christian, and Edge, but it was Joe Legend and Kizarny that were the biggest influences on him.

One thing about the interview that is really fun to listen to is how one of Elgin’s friends was into tape trading and Elgin was exposed to All Japan and eventually ROH through his friend. The influence these products had on Elgin is evident today when you watch him wrestle in ROH, but it had a negative effect on him while he was still training in Ontario and emulating the All Japan style. Although he wasn’t hurting his opponents, his trainers thought he was killing them. Hearing Elgin talk about his in-ring influences brings about the question as to how easily he can adapt to a more mainstream in-ring style if he signs with WWE or TNA at some point.

Elgin discusses how he got a shot in ROH in 2007 with the help of Jimmy Rave. Footage is shown of Elgin wrestling on an ROH pre-show against Shane Hagadorn and he looks like a totally different person than he does now. Elgin continued to get more pre-show matches that year, but ended up hurting his knee. It’s interesting to hear Elgin discuss how sustaining a knee injury during this period helped him, as he feels if he had gotten onto the main ROH roster at a young age, he might have rubbed people the wrong way, which would have damaged his career.

Elgin continued to train and met a bodybuilder that was training to wrestle who gave him dieting and weight lifting tips. Elgin ended up transforming his physique after recovering from his knee injury and made his path back to ROH. Looking at Elgin’s physique during some of his early ROH matches, it is clear that he wasn’t ready for that level of wrestling.

Elgin eventually went to a ROH camp in 2010 and shortly after he got a spot in the House of Truth with Truth Martini and Roderick Strong. Elgin gives a lot of good insight into what he had to do to gain the trust of certain wrestlers in the locker room before they would do more with him in the ring.

Eventually Elgin began to get more high profile matches in 2011 as he gained the trust of the wrestlers and management in ROH. Many of Elgin’s stories are tied directly into the matches on this release from that period, so it’s interesting to hear what Elgin has to say about gaining the trust of wrestlers like Eddie Edwards and El Generico and then watch his singles matches with them.


Elgin said in his mind working against Edwards and Generico was his sink or swim opportunity. “It was almost me keeping my spot,” Elgin said. “Anytime something threatens anything in your life, you get your edge on. I think that’s what it helped with. I knew going into matches like that I’ve got to perform I might never be back.”

As Elgin’s stock rose in the eyes of ROH management, he ended up winning Survival of the Fittest 2011, which gave him a shot at the ROH World Title. Elgin’s stories about how he comes up ideas for matches while driving to ROH events give you an idea of how his mind for wrestling works. Elgin knew he was going to win Survival of the Fittest and he talks about how he thought of ideas for the final making the drive to the show, which is a theme that continues later in the interview when he talks about his breakout match against ROH World Champion Davey Richards at “Showdown in the Sun: Day 2” and his match against ROH World Champion Kevin Steen at “Glory By Honor XI.”

Elgin’s discussions on his matches with Richards and Steen are the best parts of the interview. He talks about coming up with ideas for those matches and what it was like working with Richards and Steen to put those matches together. Elgin’s matches against Richards at “Showdown in the Sun: Day 2” and Steen at “Glory by Honor XI” were among the best matches in the history of the company and hearing Elgin discuss what went into putting them together is well worth the price of admission.

Overall, this is a really good best of collection. ROH could have waited longer to conduct this interview with Elgin and put out a release like this, as he floundered at times due to the way he was booked in ROH in 2012 and is just getting started in terms of rising to the top of the company. If you don’t own Elgin’s matches against Richards from “Showdown in the Sun: Day 2” or Steen at “Glory by Honor XI” this release is a must buy.

You can purchase Michael Elgin: Unbreakable at ROHWrestling.com or by clickingHERE

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