2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Doom Patrol vs. Kingston/Homicide

95. Eddie Kingston/Homicide vs. Chris Dickinson/Jaka Beyond Wrestling 11/25 - GREAT

PAS: Really fun old school vs. new school NYC indie battle. I really liked the trash talking, with Dickinson calling Homicide grampa and daring Kingston to try his bullshit jujitsu. It felt a little good natured at first, but it started to get a little sharper, the way a pick up game can all of a sudden turn into a fist fight. This really did turn into that fist fight with Kingston tagging in and rag dolling Dickinson in a really disrespectful way. Those two especially brought it right to the edge in ways that I always love from both guys: a lot of chops to unsafe parts of the neck and sharp looking kicks. There is a great spot near the end of the match where Kingston is in the corner eating kicks, chops and punches from all angles by both guys while throwing his own shots back. It's one of the cooler strike exchanges I can remember seeing. We get a 2010s tag near fall run, which is what it is, but the big moves were appropriately big and it ended when it should. I am a big fan of all four of these guys and this really delivered. 

ER: I think we've had this sitting in drafts for over a couple years, waiting on me to force myself to watch some of my favorite guys. Obviously it's filled with things I love, and I knew that it would, but wrestling fans are weirdos and we can't always predict which direction our wrestling viewing hours will be spent. The match built well within the framework they established, veering into directions I didn't always like but always kept my interest. It starts with some cool dickhead kneebars from Dickinson with Homicide offering little defense, leading to Dickinson asking for Eddie Kingston's "fake jujitsu ass". Homicide having little ground answer for Dickinson and Dickinson being a loudmouth quickly leads to Homicide going after eyes and fighting the way we love to see Homicide fight. Dickinson and Jaka were great at getting Homicide away from Kingston and it felt like the whole match could have kept that formula, with Dickinson wrapping his arm around Homicide's neck from the apron while Jaka kicked and chopped away, and Eddie's insults grew less eloquent as his anger level rose. 

Jaka got a little too cute on an outside in suplex, choosing to do a ropes balance course with Homicide that is a bit too complicated, but it throws Homicide all the way across the ring, with Kingston tagging in as Homicide rolled to the floor. There was a little undercurrent of Kingston and Homicide disrespecting Jaka, and it was made a bit more obvious by Jaka looking a step behind skill-wise from the others. I was a big Jaka fan (weird to think he's only had like 10 matches since this one) and liked his commitment to using Islander strikes in Catch Point matches. Those strikes throw off the rhythm of this match a bit, with the best moments happening when King and Homicide throw bombs and chops. Jaka's strikes looked a little lighter, so when the OGs would hit him back it read as great old man disrespect. Homicide and Kingston even both SPIT at Jaka! Watching this three years later and that feels even more insulting, now that it's not just the biggest sign of disrespect but also potentially deadly. Kingston's flurries were the best, like dropping Dickinson with a mean Saito suplex and a stiff arm standing lariat. The ending got a bit bombastic and I think every single one of them got their own 1999 Kings Road fighting spirit moment. Pulling from 1999 All Japan is kind of like pulling live material from 1995 Grateful Dead shows, an era with less worthwhile stuff to steal from than the other 25+ years. Kingston takes one of the most scarily accurate backdrop drivers to that 1999 AJ style, and it's mostly glossed over to make way for both members of Doom Patrol to walk through backfists. It was a bit much, but it was in a match that also gave us Dickinson and Jaka teeing the absolute fuck off on Kingston in the corner while Kingston somehow screamed his way through it to chop them both in the neck, and it's the kind of high that many attempt but rarely make look this good. 

2018 MOTY MASTER LIST