Five months after failing to capture the title, Eddie Kingston finishes the story by winning the Ring of Honor World Championship at AEW Grand Slam.
AEW Grand Slam is not a good event for Claudio Castagnoli.
Claudio Castagnoli dropped the Ring of Honor World Championship at AEW’s Grand Slam Dynamite in Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York, a year ago. This year, history repeated itself as Castagnoli lost his ROH Title in the opening match of this year’s event.
After a back and forth contest that featured many nearfalls between the two, Kingston kicked out of Castagnoli’s Ricola Bomb. Later, Castagnoli successfully blocked Kingston’s Half/Half Suplex and surprised Castagnoli with a Spinning Back Fist before delivering a Powerbomb to secure the three count.
Earlier this week, Claudio Castagnoli spoke to Sports Illustrated about how excited he was to win the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship and defend it around the world. That, obviously, won’t be happening now.
I am very proud to be the Ring of Honor Champion. I learned a long time ago that you don’t need a belt to hold yourself like a champion. But when you do have one, you must hold yourself to a higher level.
Claudio Castagnoli, speaking to Sports Illustrated before the match
Winning his second championship opens a number of avenues for Kingston, though. Long viewed as ‘just a death match wrestler,’ Eddie Kingston now holds two of the most prestigious pure wrestling championships in the world. It will be interesting to see what the Mad King does with this opportunity and how long he can retain both titles going forward.
You can watch the moment in which Kingston captured the title on X (Twitter), here.
Are you happy Eddie Kingston won the ROH World Title? What’s next for the Mad King? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
