Mother a god what a wrestling match. Kingston might be - if you'll excuse the hilarious punnery for one second - the king of working 90s All Japan in American wrestling, really because he doesn't do all of the excessive shit that most of the wrestlers who grew up watching 90s All Japan tapes decided to incorporate into their matches years later. But fuck a commentary on 90s All Japan because this was way less like that and way more like WAR on crank. And if you're going to crib from 90s Japanese wrestling promotions and work some approximation of them in modern AEW then there are none I would want to see more than the Wrestle and Romance. They only did two promos in the lead up to this, one of them on youtube that I'd never have known about had I not stumbled upon it by accident. In those segments Danielson was almost condescending towards Kingston, complimenting him on being tough as nails and a brilliant wrestler, but doing it with the back of his hand by saying that Eddie could be so much more if he'd ever actually work for anything. Kingston was not about to listen to that shit and brought up how he's beaten addiction, fought depression and worked for everything he's ever had in life. We know it to be true as well, and between that and Eddie's general ability to garner sympathy and support just for being who he is, it felt like this crowd maybe wanted him to put Danielson in his place a little.
Danielson was great in this and it was a performance that might not have been as special 15 years ago. He could've worked it more or less the same, but in 2007 he was the king of ROH, whereas in 2021 he's a legitimate pro wrestling superstar. He's been everywhere by now and it felt like he almost let Kingston take the reins. He was a man who had nothing else he needed to prove and really the perfect foil. But Kingston was transcendent. He marched out to the ring focused and not once did he take his eyes off the prize. Every single thing he did felt like it had a purpose, whether it was going after Danielson's neck or blitzing him with strikes, he was relentless. He went to the backdrop suplex more than once and every time it felt like a game-changer, especially the one on the floor, though my favourite was the 1-2 where he suplexed him into the turnbuckle first, kept hold of him and followed up with a regular version. Some of the strikes were ungodly. He caught Danielson leaping off the apron by cracking him with a punch and it looked extra spectacular because there aren't very many prominent punchers in AEW. The chops left Danielson's chest looking like a chewed up hamburger, just a purple mess of exploded blood vessels, then there was the backfist that Danielson sold like it caved his entire face in. All of Danielson's strikes kept pace -- the forearms, the elbows, his own chops and of course the kicks to every part of Kingston's person, from kneecap to shoulder blade to cranium. There was one amazing bit where Danielson was lying crumpled in the corner and he flipped Eddie the bird, but Eddie's only acknowledgement of it was to slap the hand away and melt him with another chop. A man who's so often driven by emotion was all business, and if Danielson had gotten under his skin during the interviews he wasn't getting under his skin in the ring.
There were tonnes of brilliant little moments from them both and Kingston had some incredible bits of selling, like where he'd go dead-eyed after a head kick, sell a leg kick that might've grazed him yet was no less awkward (like an early kick that clipped his knee, which will hurt like a bastard in any situation), or how he'd bite his own fingers to distract from Danielson trying to rip his arm out. Then there's the amazing finish. Danielson trying to hook the taped up arm in the Fujiwara armbar had Kingston as flustered as he'd been all match, then the fade to black middle finger as the triangle dims his lights was perfection. Indignant to the end. Never ever question Eddie Kingston's heart.
Seventeen stars.
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