This Claudio/Kingston feud goes back a long way

Eddie Kingston will have his chance to put hands on Claudio Castagnoli in sanctioned competition at Supercard of Honor on Friday, March 31. As an added bonus, the ROH World Championship will be on the line.

On the surface, this feud appears to be about Kingston running his mouth and calling shots like he is entitled to the match. This is actually the latest chapter in a book that dates back to the early 2000s.

Ian Riccaboni wrote on Twitter about the deeper history between Kingston and Claudio:

Just a *little* bit of history between @ClaudioCSRO and Eddie here:

Their time dates back to the early 2000s in IWA-MS, Chikara, CZW, and even ROH. Claudio made a decision involving life-changing money in 2011 & passed up on one final match with Eddie.

Their matches were based on Respect and Eddie and Claudio weren’t always foes. In fact, they *teamed together to try to end ROH* in Cage of Death as members of team CZW.

By 2009 they had faced each other in ROH and by 2011, Eddie wanted one final shot.

Eddie sees Claudio as a man who took the money and ran.

Claudio sees Eddie as one of wrestling’s great what-ifs.

Their admiration is only matched by their respective hate for and disappointment in the other.

Supercard can’t come soon enough!

According to records on Internet Wrestling Database, Claudio holds the edge 7-2 in one-on-one matches against Kingston. Claudio won the first singles encounter on July 8, 2006 in CZW. The rivalry picked up steam in 2009 with a series of matches in Chikara and ROH. Claudio won the blow-off in a bout for respect in Chikara. Kingston refused to fulfill the stipulation of showing respect to the victor. Even though their next singles battle wouldn’t come until 2011, Kingston and Claudio were still involved in beef through larger storylines. Claudio won the final showdown on March 13, 2011 with the help of heel stable shenanigans. Afterward, Claudio viciously whipped Kingston with a belt. A rematch was in the works, but Claudio exited to sign with WWE. This title bout in ROH will reignite the rivalry.

I recommend watching Joseph Montecillo’s video essay on this feud in Chikara.

Supercard of Honor has four official matches at this moment in time:

• ROH World Championship: Claudio Castagnoli (c) vs. Eddie Kingston
• ROH World Tag Team Championship in Reach for the Sky ladder match: Lucha Bros vs. Rush & Dralistico vs. The Kingdom vs. Top Flight vs. Aussie Open
• ROH World Television Championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Mark Briscoe
• AAA Mega Championship: Hijo del Vikingo (c) vs. Komander

Three more title bouts are unconfirmed, but the story directions strongly point to:

• ROH Women’s World Championship: Athena (c) vs. Yuka Sakazaki
• ROH Pure Championship: Wheeler Yuta (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata
• ROH World Six-Man Championship: Brian Cage, Kaun, & Toa Liona (c) vs. Metalik, Blake Christian, & AR Fox

Supercard of Honor airs at 7 pm ET on Friday, March 31 through Fite TV.

If those seven matches end up being the full lineup for Supercard of Honor, are you buying?