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| Photo by Scott Finkelstein |
This coming weekend marks my first live Chikara events in seven years. When Chikara announced their return to Internet Pay Per View would happen on June 2, I figured shows leading up to Chikarasaurus Rex 3 would lay the groundwork for a blow away show. Instead, both shows this weekend, on paper, have the potential to be show of the year candidates.
One of the highlights on the Chicago show is the Grand Championship match between Eddie Kingston and Kevin Steen. The match is the result of a confrontation between the two at Ring of Honor’s 10th Anniversary show. Kevin Steen is trying to destroy ROH from the inside and wanted Kingston to help destroy Chikara. Eddie turned Steen down and the two came to blows.
The match marks Steen’s first in-ring appearance in Chikara in six years. Since I’m an idiot and sold my Chikara DVD collection, I couldn’t go back and re-watch Steen’s matches from the 2005 and 2006 Tag World Grand Prix events. I don’t remember the matches so I can’t comment on them. I have read that during his last match in Chikara, Kevin Steen uttered the mother of all swear words and since Chikara is a family friendly company, he had been blacklisted from the company ever since. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I do know the current Kevin Steen character doesn’t fit into the PG Chikara environment.
At the same time, the current Grand Champion Eddie Kingston stretches the boundary of the PG barrier. Even though he may not be the poster child for the wackiness usually associated with Chikara, Kingston bleeds for Chikara. Seeing someone walk into Chikara with the intention of taking the top title and figuratively (and possibly literally) pissing on it would crush Kingston’s pride. Therefore I see the self-proclaimed “war horse” bringing more of a fighting spirit to this match.
While I can’t see Kevin Steen walking out of the Chicago Ridge Field House with the Chikara Grand Championship due to not being a Chikara regular, there could be a lot of interesting stories to be told if he were able to defeat Eddie Kingston. With Ring of Honor running a show after Chikara on Saturday night, will Kevin Steen’s newest ally Jimmy Jacobs be in the building? Jacobs hasn’t been in Chikara since 2005 and in his last match he was on the losing end of a 6-man tag match. On the winning team that night? Eddie Kingston. While any other promotion would normally not address anything over six months old, Chikara has the memory of an elephant. If this somehow comes into play I will bow down to the Chikara brain trust for paying attention to the smallest details.
Another interesting aspect to the match will be the reaction from the crowd. With the Chikara/ROH doubleheader it’s a very likely scenario there will be fans that are more diehard Ring of Honor fans than Chikara fans. Will they be respectful of Chikara’s family friendly atmosphere or will they try and get themselves over with more adult oriented chants?
Saturday will be a great day of wrestling action. If you’re near Chicago Ridge, I highly recommend you head to the Field House and see some of the best all around entertaining shows you will have the opportunity to see this month.
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Not trying to be a smartass... seriously wanna know: Kevin Steen looks like some doughy sack that hangs out at the local bar. Is he that amazing in the ring? Why is he so respected. I cause a promo of his on Ring of Honor but haven't seen much else. Really -- I want to know what makes him special. Not trying to be a prick... just really curious.
ReplyDeleteDon't let Steen's appearance fool you. He is a solid wrestler. I think he had a knee injury a couple years ago that hindered him a bit. I wouldn't expect a technical masterpiece from Steen and Kingston. I'd expect more of a all out brawl. I'd recommend trying to find footage of any of the Steen/El Generico matches to get an idea of what to expect on Saturday.
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