“Hey look over there! It’s Clay Aiken!” is not even quite as funny as the camera getting a shot of said fan. Eddie understood crowd work so early in his career.
Obviously, a historically significant match but only in retrospect. These two don’t hate each other yet and Kingston’s still mostly just a young kid coming up through the east coast indies. This match is third on the card and it’s pretty good for what it is. It’s more scientific than this would be in later years, with a traditional feeling out process and chain wrestling to start, but hints of their future shine through here and there. It’s in those moments that it’s most thrilling–when Eddie busts out those big suplexes he’d be famous for later, when Hero starts stringing together elbows that don’t quite have the explosive crunch yet. The raw material is already there, and a good dose of hatred will light the fuse on it eventually.
Rating: ***
