[2002-01-12-WWF-Metal] Christian vs Low Ki

[Beast]

Taped 1/7/02 from Madison Square Garden, New York

Random YouTube find, this was a nice surprise and a really good squash.

Christian is European champ and has his awesome operatic post-break up music. Low Ki is one month away from winning the 1st RoH main event. This Metal also had Crash Holly vs. Prince Nana and Saturn vs. Xavier so it's total WWF vs. 2002 RoH inter promotional war (held in MSG!). Those squashes are nothing special; Nana blows up big time against Crash and shows why he moved into managing and the Saturn/Xavier match is too long and doesn't really have a flow (although Xavier looks fine and Saturn doesn't eat him up).

This match is on another level and it's clear that both Christian and the announcers (Coachman/Kelly) have some semblance of respect for Low Ki. He's put over on commentary from the start as someone they've seen be impressive and by the end they are talking about this was no easy match for Christian. This is his 7th appearance on Jakked/Metal, facing Crash Holly twice, Essa Rios twice, Raven, and Malenko & Saturn (teaming with Alex Arion). This is the only one I've seen and it makes me want to hunt down some more.

Low Ki sells well, including a brutal looking bump from the apron to the barrier that makes Christian look like a beast. Christian works on the ribs and does an interesting corner submission bending Low Ki over the top turnbuckle as well as a nice gut buster. Low Ki gets a comeback with a bunch of his signature kicks and moves which look great. He goes for his Phoenix Splash, Christian moves, Low Ki lands on his feet and then gets hit with the Unprettier for Christian's victory.

Obviously Low Ki's size was a huge detriment (as it still was when he came in as Kaval) and he probably was happy as King of the Indie scene, but he looked great and made Christian look tremendous. Especially compared to the other RoH squashes on this same show, Low Ki came across as someone to keep an eye on. This was his last appearance as a WWE jobber which makes sense as with RoH & TNA starting, he wouldn't need the exposure. If anything, this was a cool reminder as to why Low Ki was getting so much buzz back then as he certainly stands out as something more than the average WWE enhancement guy.