Background: Ring of Honor made its debut in Charleston, West Virginia with the promise of Kevin Steen defending his ROH World title for the first time against a man determined to become the second two-time ROH World champion in history, Eddie Edwards.
The Nightmare Begins
June 12, 2012
Charleston, WV
Kevin Steen vs. Eddie Edwards
The champion and challenger were going forearm to forearm at the sound of the bell. Eddie was not only fighting off Steen, but also Jacobs; and did a great job at taking the fight to them inside and eventually outside of the ring. Eddie tossed Steen into the barricades, kicking him headfirst against the steel. Steen created a great amount of distance, looking to power bomb Edwards across the ring’s edge. Eddie countered the sickening attack with a hurricarana. Sadly for the challenger, Steen caught an incoming Eddie, fall away slamming him back first against the barricades. Steen was whipping Eddie from one end of the aisle to the other while blowing kisses at the Hooters girls in the front row. “Mr. Wrestling” was fish hooking and biting Eddie in front of Jim Cornette until the action finally reentered the ring. To show his stroke, Steen asked for a commercial break knowing this would eventually air on ROH TV. As someone who reviewed that episode, I can say that yes, they went to a commercial after Steen’s request.
To show his wrestling skills to Cornette, Steen opted to rear chin lock Eddie instead of continuing to throw hands. The challenger elbowed his way out of the hold, belly-to-belly suplexing Steen into the turnbuckles. Missile dropkick by Eddie almost gained him the three count. Countering an Irish whip, the champ executed the Steenalizer … for another two count!
Using his quickness, “Die Hard” sidestepped and sent Steen to the floor for two dives that took out Steen and Jacobs. Though Edwards was almost turned inside out by a clothesline from Steen following the Jacobs takedown, Eddie recovered, almost pinning the champ off the Boston knee party-belly to back face buster combo. Edwards made a critical mistake seconds later, going for the double stomp only to miss and be power bombed into a Sharpshooter. The challenger showed his tenacity, making it to the ropes to force a break. Steen topped his submission with a hanging DDT. Somehow, Edwards not only survived, he thrived by avoiding the cannonball prior to executing that double stomp to Steen’s prone chest … for another near fall!
Steen rolled onto the apron, only for Eddie to climb the ropes. “Mr. Wrestling” avoided Edwards’ attempt at a double stomp on the apron to the champ, power bombing Eddie through the timekeeper’s table immediately after yanking Edwards off the apron. Steen hastily went for the pin following the attack, but Edwards somehow kicked out! They were trading super kicks when “Die Hard” regained his bearings, and the challenger was winning. Steen slipped out of Eddie’s follow up backpack chin breaker, using a sleeper suplex to drop Edwards on his head. Out on feet, Edwards was prone for the F-Cinq to give the champion his first successful title defense.
Winner: Kevin Steen (16:19)
Is It A Classic: A great way to start off the future Kevin Owens’ first and only ROH World Championship reign. It’s hard to find a bad Eddie Edwards match, especially on featuring “Die Hard” fighting someone he has incredible chemistry with like Steen. ROH has the bout on its Youtube channel (Ring of Honor Wrestling Ep 42) – so there’s no reason not to check out this great match.
