Gonna start out with Eddie's first ROH appearance back in 2006, where he faces Austin Aries and has really bad hair. (I love you to death, sugar, but your hair was BAD.)
Of course he gets pwned by Aries, but manages to hold his own for nearly eight minutes. While there's nothing in this match that inherently screams "Future ROH world champ!" I think it's an excellent debut. Eddie, while not showing off any particularly unique moves, does a lot of other moves very nicely, like a perfectly lovely enziguiri at 2:45 in and a pretty epic missile dropkick off the top rope at 6:20.
In direct and almost startling contrast to his debut match, I bring to you a match from earlier this year. Eddie Edwards vs. Kotaro Suzuki in Pro-Wrestling NOAH, the joy and wonder that is Japanese wrestling.
The match itself doesn't even start until roughly four and a half minutes, but when it does, oh my goodness. Almost right out the gate, Eddie flies out with two huge, fabulous hip tosses, followed by an equally huge and fabulous dropkick. Suzuki manages to control the pace for a while until Eddie comes back in at 10:30 by bombing Suzuki on the apron and almost breaking the guy's shoulder.
16:20 has Suzuki busting out the craziest-looking submission move I've ever seen and has Eddie firmly held, at least until he stumbles over and falls onto the ropes. Hold on to your butts at 17:20, for another one of those "I don't even know what that was but HOLY CRAP that's AWESOME!" moments, when both dudes go BACKFLIPPING OVER THE ROPES ONTO THE FLOOR. And Suzuki almost breaks his shoulder. Again. Dude better watch out. Suzuki ends up on the other side of the barrier (and the fans are so respectful; they sedately move out of the way instead of groping on him like American fans would) so Eddie can BACKFLIP OFF THE ROPES ONTO HIM. Stay tuned for a huge missile dropkick, also from Eddie, and a beautiful kip-up at the twenty minute mark.
Suzuki makes a suicide dive between the ropes at 23:50 seem pretty tame, considering that roughly a minute later, Eddie turns what's about to be a facebuster on the apron into another one of those I-don't-even-know-what-that-was-but-holy-shit onto the floor. Where Suzuki almost breaks his shoulder, for a record-breaking third time in twenty minutes. 27:30 brings us something markedly similar in the "Holy shit, what did I just see?!" moveset, except from the top rope into the ring.
After a series of near-falls in a set of moves which, sorry to say, evoked quite a few giggles, all laughter was temporarily halted at 31:10 during which Eddie goes into a glorious, heart-stopping bridge/pin. Suzuki throws a series of forearms and elbows, ending in a giant powerbomb which sadly puts Eddie down for the count, so to speak, at just before 34 minutes even. If I could sum this match up in two words, which clearly I can't, those two words would be Holy. Shit. I know it looks like a huge video, 45 minutes long, but the match itself is only a half hour and I absolutely promise you it's worth your time.
The next match I bring you is the first part of three, Eddie Edwards vs KENTA, again from Pro-Wrestling NOAH. I include this match not because it is anything particularly special, though it is very good, but because Eddie is rocking an excellent pair of red trunks.
There goes my integrity.
Oh well. Eddie does start beasting out about three minutes in, so there's that. He brings out a damn good headscissors a minute and a half later followed a nice suicide dive. For more trunks Eddie being awesome, here are parts two and three. You're welcome, ladies.
Let's see if I can go find what's left of my integrity before I finish this up.
Here, American Wolves and Chris Hero vs. Kevin Steen, El Generico and KENTA. It took me a while to find a Wolves match that I didn't already use when I spotlighted Davey. I'm starting with part three, since Eddie is either sparingly tagged in or getting his ass beat when he is. Check out part one for Kevin Steen and Chris Hero, and part two for KENTA cleaning house.
Much better. Feel free to awe at El Generico's suicide flip off the rope onto Davey and Chris at ringside mere seconds in. Eddie finally gets his bearings in this match when KENTA's got him on his shoulders and he counters into a hurricanrana at :47 followed almost immediately by a jaw-dropping what-the-hell-was-that flying kick... thing. He tags Chris in at 1:00 to allow ourselves to get our breath back. After this, Eddie is seen mostly doing sneaky things at ringside, like throwing Kevin Steen into the barrier or breaking up a pin, at least until 7:45 when he is unceremoniously dropped on his face by El Generico. Ouch.
American Wolves vs. the MotorfuckingCity Machine Guns, care of Syracuse NY-based indie wrestling company 2CW. I almost saw this match live from the front row, though all things considered, if I had, I probably would have died.
But what a way to go.
Eddie and Shelley have a great spot right in the beginning, while Sabin and Davey have a great one to follow, including some lulz at 7:50 when they both have the other by the leg. Watch out for stereo plunges at 10:50 by the Guns, followed by some posing by Shelley at ringside. Eddie busts out yet another gorgeous backbend, this time as a submission on Shelley at 13 minutes in. Sabin starts cleaning house at 16:30, culminating in an equally gorgeous flying-over-the-ropes at 16:50 and a flying bodypress at 17:03, not to mention a really nice spinning DDT at 17:40. The Wolves bust out dual suicide dives at 18:15, but Sabin grabs our attention with a rare Sliced Bread (or it is in my opinion, since I recall seeing Shelley doing it most of the time) followed by an I don't even KNOW what that is, but it's AWESOME at 21:20.
I would like to say I got through this match with my integrity -- what was left of it, anyway -- intact.
One last video, a brief one, if you'll permit me.
Eddie winning the ROH title from Roddy Strong back in March, ensuing celebration, and hug from Davey. Needless to say, I cannot WAIT for their match tomorrow.
I hope you enjoyed this look at Eddie Edwards as much as I enjoyed looking at him making this post.
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