M'Badu vs Eddie Kingston AEW Dark 10-06-2020
For a lot of us Eddie Kingston debuting in AEW felt like a win
When you follow independent wrestling at a consistent level, you develop a parasocial relationship with the wrestlers. There are few things that make you feel as cool, as discovering something before other people. It doesn't mean you necessarily have to be the first, but in general it's about getting on the bandwagon early. I've never been anyone who's ahead of the trends. I don't watch college sports. Most of my favorite musicians were either irrelevant or dead by the time I was born. I never start a TV show until I'm convinced it's not going to be cancelled. Wresting is the only place I ever felt I could do it. In 2004 I started following independent wrestling. I fell in love with it. I know everyone thinks their era of wrestling was the glory days, but I think that era truly was. I saw an absurd amount of WWE/AEW superstars in front of hundreds of people before they ever wrestled in front of thousands. Daniel Bryan, Kevin Steen, CM Punk, Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe, Cesaro, Roderick Strong, Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, the list goes on and on and on. When they debuted on television and achieved success, I got to feel like I was part of that journey. I got to feel like, man I was there when this didn't seem possible. You just develop a natural affinity for certain performers, and you get happy for their success. You want them to succeed
I don't know if I ever wanted anyone to succeed more than Eddie Kingston
I think Eddie Kingston is one of the best wrestlers of his generation. It's a strong take, but it's what I think. What I know in my heart of hearts is Eddie Kingston is a Mount Rushmore Hall of Fame Promo. I'm not wrong. It's my hill to die on. It's my Solsbury Hill but it's littered with bodies of the slain. I defy anyone to start watching Eddie promos on YouTube and not fall down the rabbit hole. I love Eddie Kingston, but sometimes it seems like the wrestling business didn't love him back. No major companies ever gave Eddie a genuine, real shot. Maybe it was his body, maybe it was his attitude, maybe it's because they were fucking stupid.
To quote Chris Kanyon " Da Third one".
I think Eddie is so interesting because it's hard to tell what's real with him. We live in a time period of social media and shoot interviews and Eddie has never really shied away from them. I'm not sure I've seen a performer so candid about his struggles. So willing to articulate his mistakes. You watch Eddie outside of the ring and you see someone who's funny and charming. Someone who seems like a good hang, despite the whole liking the New York Giants thing. But inside the promo room or ring, that's a different Eddie. That Eddie Kingston has you convinced that he would punch a hole in the sun if that sun looked at him sideways. He's just so real. So it's that dichotomy that makes him interesting. Who is the real Eddie? I know I've made fun of the lame adage wrestling veterans say to lie about how over they were " The people said all the other shit was fake, but me..I was real". Eddie Kingston is the only person that actually applies too.
So when he finally, finally got an actual break in AEW. I was so happy for him. So happy for someone I've never met, because I felt like I knew him. For years people had said, if you just give Eddie a shot he would hit a home run. They were right. Eddie showed up as a Cody Rhodes open challenger and within six months was in the world title program. Right now I think it could be argued he might be the most beloved babyface on the whole roster. I can't help but smile when I think about it. Now do you guys want to get really in depth on his complete independent wrestling run, or do you want to see Eddie hit a few dingers?
DINGERS!
It's a October 2020 edition of AEW Dark which means ZERO CROWDS. I do not miss this at all. Professional Wrestling without crowds sounded like a personal dream of mine. A chance to cut out the more annoying elements. But god, it sucked. I try to pretend it was just a gas leak year and it didn't happen. Everyone tried their best, but it was just not the best. There were bright spots along the way and a few people who definitely shined when things seemed it's darkest. To nobody's surprise, Eddie Kingston was on that list. I don't want say Eddie excelled in that environment, because nobody excelled in that environment, but Eddie was able to work within those constraints as good as anyone. Tonight Eddie will be taking on M'Badu, who I am not too familiar with. I believe he is a Florida indie worker who became part of the AEW Dark crew during the Jacksonville Gas Leak year. He is build like a brick shithouse and considerably bigger than Eddie so this should be interesting. Well right off the bat Eddie chops M'Badu in the chest, including one of them that echoes throughout the arena. I guess the only benefit of empty arenas is you can really hear when someone's laying it in. Eddie gets M'Badu in the corner and hits him with a Yazuka kick. M'Badu counters a Eddie Irish Whip and hits Eddie with a big splash. Very impressive for a man that thick. Eddie gouging the eyes now, because while I love Eddie Kingston as a human, as a wrestler he is a prick. I love that about him too. Eddie comes off the ropes but A BIIIIG POWRSLAM by M'Badu. Very impressive. M'Badu has the momentum and runs the ropes, but Eddie catches him with the kitchen sink knee and Eddie is pissed. One backfist later and it's done. Wait, not it isn't. Eddie pulls him up and locks in a kimura hold for the win, sending a message to Jon Moxley before their upcoming I Quit match. As a treat there's an Eddie Kingston promo after the match, but this is a squash match blog. You can read my review of Eddie's promo on my other blog, "Of Cabbages and Kingston's Promos". BEWARE THE JABBERWOCKEY PARTNER
Quick solid squash. Really just wanted an excuse to talk about how great Eddie Kingston is for a while. It'll be interesting as I add more and more AEW Dark stuff on the blog to see how Eddie squashes go in front of a live crowd. I can't imagine he doesn't suplex at least one person onto their head. It also is weird watching pandemic wrestling, knowing they filmed a lot of these at like 2 AM. I heard Eddie was warning everyone it was going to be chilly. After all
The world is cold, Bundle Up
TLDR Review
Eddie Kingston is on Mount Rushmore on Promos. Eddie Kingston is on Mount Rushmore of Wrestlers. Eddie Kingston is on Mount Rushmore of eyebrows.
If you're interested in more condensed version of my thoughts, You can check out my Twitter where I talk about wrestling or stress out during Boston Celtics games. Hell, I'll even take suggestions for matches you want to see reviewed. You can also check out my Youtube where I make weird videos where I put on wigs in front of a camera to mask my true identity.