2023 Ongoing MOTY List: Kingston vs. Danielson CC Semi

 

2. Eddie Kingston vs. Bryan Danielson AEW Dynamite 12/27/23

ER: A couple weeks ago I wrote about Bryan Danielson's match earlier in the Continental Classic against Daniel Garcia, a very good match that somehow left me a bit uninspired. We're so used to seeing Danielson have the same kind of good matches that even liking his wrestling can still leave me dry. It's the least exciting result of anything you consume: when you are forced to honestly break it down into uninspiring technicalities. "I think that movie deserves an Oscar but I can't see ever watching it again" or "That pizza was good but I doubt I'll ever go out of my way to have it again" are perhaps internal looks in the mirror that you are not appreciating life enough, or perhaps you are too bored with having it so good. 

Maybe you deserve to go without for a stretch, to re-center, to realign. To learn to be thankful again. In my review of that Danielson/Garcia match I was more negative than I typically am when writing about something I thought was good enough to recommend, but I suppose there is always room for humdrum within nirvana. I said that Danielson couldn't just will himself to have a match like 2013 Cena or 2018 Brock with a He's Good wrestler like Daniel Garcia. He elevates matches with lower guys to a certain level, but gets transcendent against Legends. Big Match Danielson is so much better than Great Match Danielson. And while Eddie Kingston, my boy, is not a legend in the same way John Cena or Brock Lesnar are, he has never been more a pro wrestling legend than coming into this match. Other than after this match. Because that's the kind of run Kingston has been on, making each match feel like his biggest battle. 

Kingston's AEW run has been such a necessary late career revelation, crossing over to the biggest crowds of his life with a charisma that makes every next match feel like one of the most important matches of his career. He has denied haters and spoken directly out into TV screens, the best years of his life happening in his 40s. He knows how to connect with people, and Danielson knows how to transcend with others who can connect to crowds. Kingston can make moments out of anything - I enjoy every era of Kingston's career, even Shabby Hair and Beard Pandemic Depression Kingston and TNA Flak Jacket Kingston - but this is a man who knows how to shine especially bright in Big Matches. Danielson transcends to Legends, Kingston is one of the all time great Everyman Legends. 

This was a semi final in the Continental Classic and had real tournament implications, as a Kingston win meant he would be the one fighting for 3-7 of the various belts that AEW gives everyone upon completing a one year probationary period. But the great thing about the best Kingston matches - and this is certainly one of those - is that you can strip away any of the match's implications and the Kingston performance stands alone. This would have played just as big had Kingston already beaten Danielson a couple of times, or if there was not a straight-faced Larry Sweeney amount of fake belts on the line, because Kingston has that power. 

It would easy to say that this was Danielson's WWF UWFi style vs. Kingston's Kings Road, because both of those elements were there in the match-long build, but this felt like the first time I've seen these two work an Ikeda/Ishikawa match, and it was like this beautiful Venn diagram of three of the greatest Big Match styles. Danielson took after Eddie with the kind of surly glee that comes with the best Ikeda matches. Danielson grinned so many times the way Ikeda would when he would collapse Ishikawa with a kick, and Eddie is one of the most sympathetic salesman since Ishikawa. Eddie knows how to weather damage the way Ishikawa could, Eddie just sets up his comebacks like Kings Road and not like a Fujiwara Follower. Kingston catches Danielson several times the way Ikeda would get caught, when he would start having too much fun with his sadism that he ends up losing balance and control. I love when Danielson similarly commits too hard to something, enjoying the punishment too much, tipping control back when he goes harder than needed. I'm so glad the ringside camera got such a perfect angle of Danielson missing that running corner dropkick that led to Kingston fucking him up with a clothesline. What a shot. Eddie endured an Ishikawa level of punishment in this, maybe his defining AEW match. As if the match needed it to make his win feel like a big deal. This was the best of modern wrestling, while loudly shouting out the days of tape trading. 45 years of combined experience both in the ring and on the brain. 

2023 MOTY MASTER LIST