ROH 08/11/2012

Anything Goes Match 

Kevin Steen def. Eddie Kingston in 18:47

We’re over thirteen years past when this match took place, so it is entering old-school territory. Kingston started the match by beating the hell out of Jimmy Jacobs and Steve Corino on the outside, then dragging both to the back and taking them out of most of the match. They broke a couple of tables early, then had the big spot in the match be Owens powerbombing Homicide through a table turned upside down, thus exposing the metal. I get that the metal was supposed to make the move more deadly than the others, but the crowd really didn’t sell it that way. Perhaps if they heard the announcers putting it over, but the additional table spots didn’t help. They played it like Homicide was genuinely hurt and brought out a stretcher. It probably didn’t help that Owens took the mic and started zinging the crowd. That doesn’t seem like a legit response to someone being seriously hurt. It took a while for the crack Indy medical team to get Kingston near the back when Owens brought up the recently deceased Larry Sweeney, reminding Kingston that Eddie dedicated the match to him. There wasn’t a “oh no he didn’t” type response from the crowd, but they did get back into the match. They weren’t into Kingston as a sympathetic babyface like you’d think, and it may have been Kingston selling more like the powerbomb was real, instead of traditional, dramatic pro wrestling selling. Kingston got a couple of believable nearfalls, but Owens won out. First, he came close with his version of the F5, but he finished the job when he gave Kingston another across two chairs. This was a good match, but there was a level of drama it aspired for that it never reached. ***1/4