Eddie Kingston Dedicates ROH World Title Win On AEW Dynamite To The Late Xavier

By Sai Mohan
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Eddie Kingston defeated his longtime rival Claudio Castagnoli to capture the ROH World Championship in the opening contest of last night's "AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam" at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York. After the match, an emotional Kingston dedicated his victory to late wrestler and Queens native Xavier, who became only the second ROH World Champion in history when he beat Low Ki for the title in September 2002.

Through a video released on AEW's social media channels, Kingston stressed that Xavier deserves more recognition for his contributions to the wrestling business.  

"This is dedicated to Xavier," Kingston said. "Rest in peace, bud. Thank you for everything you've done for this business. Thank you for being good to me in the locker room, but this one's for you, dawg. This one's for you because people should remember who you are, man. X marks spot, baby. Love you, X. Rest in peace."

Xavier held the ROH World Championship for 182 days between September 2002 and March 2003 before dropping the title to Samoa Joe. He would subsequently receive several tryouts for a job at WWE, making cameos as an enhancement talent on shows such as "WWE Jakked" and "WWE Velocity" and also appearing as an extra in backstage angles. He would eventually return to ROH in 2006 to start a brief feud with then-ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson before returning to the indies and later trying his hand out at MMA. 

In 2020, Xavier was due to return to ROH for the company's "Past vs. Present" event but those plans were halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He died in August 2020 due to undisclosed reasons. 

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