[2014-06-15-TNA-Slammiversary] Austin Aries vs Kenny King

[Superstar Sleeze]

Austin Aries vs Kenny King - Slammiversary 2014

Whatever happened to Kenny King? I thought he had tremendous upside, good look, charisma, trash talker and very athletic. King is aligned with MVP & Lashley. Looks like MVP was supposed to face World Champion Eric Young (I cant believe he won the title and am surprised he is their current champion as of this writing, though D'Amore is booking), but got injured so they set up Lashley vs Joe and now Aries vs King. Another fun shine to start. King disrespects Aries at the opening bell so Aries launches into a full steam ahead dropkick in the corner, which is normally the prelude to the Brainbuster, but King had it scouted & powders. I love a fast start. Aries crashes down on him on the outside. I love how Aries chops. He feigns the right hand knife edge and strikes with the overhand left, really cool and something people should point out more. 

The heat segment here is better than the one in the Lashley even if there is an over-reliance on restholds. King hit a brilliant Karate kick on Aries when he crotched on the top. That Corkscrew Plancha was killer. Good trash talk on the outside. Then he ran out of things to do. It is ok because Aries has a deep offensive arsenal. He boxes the ears and then is shot out of the canon for the best suicide dive in the biz. I love the intensity and crispness of Aries. Then we are off to the races for the finish. King gets a couple nice nearfalls, really nice kick and he hits his finish. Before he hit his finish Aries applied the Last Chancery which Taz thinks sapped some of King's energy, good kayfabe explanation. King is looking to set up the top rope version of his finish but Aries drills him with a Top Rope Brainbuster for the win. I enjoyed this and have really come to like Aries as a pro wrestler in all my TNA/ROH watching. ***1/4