All TIme MOTY List Head to Head 2011: Kingston vs. Quakenbush Vs. Togo vs. Honda

Eddie Kingston vs. Mike Quackenbush Chikara 11/13/11 - EPIC

PAS: With Eddie Kingston about to have the biggest match of his life on Saturday, I wanted to revisit the previous match to hold that title for him. This was the first singles match, against his trainer Mike Quackenbush, to crown the first ever Chikara Grand Championship, in the finals of a tournament named after his best friend, who had died tragically of suicide. Kingston is a wrestler who is the best when he is fueled by emotion, and this was the most emotional US indy match of all time. I am a long time Chikara low voter, I honestly think 75% of their shtick is idiotic, but as a presentation and a story, this match was as good as anything wrestling can deliver full stop.

Before the match we see a video package of Quackenbush training for the match while he talks about forming Chikara and using it to wrestle his idols, how it is his, and how he is destined to be it's first champion. We then see Kingston deliver an all timer wrestling promo, where he talks about how he has let people down his entire life, and he sees the championship as his shot for redemption, how Larry Sweeney would have been the godfather to his children, and how he was dedicating this match to him. Kingston can speak from the soul the way few wrestlers ever have, and this was as raw and exposed as you will ever see anyone in public. He stripped himself like a live wire and sold this match as well as anyone can.

Kingston comes into the match with a partially torn MCL, and has a slight limp even coming to the ring. The ECW arena crowd is 100% behind Eddie, putting Quackenbush in the rare position of working heel. Quack always had strong Ben Shapiro energy, and he uses that self superior smarm really well here. His over mannered style can be a real determinant to his babyface work, but is a tremendous contrast to Kingston here as a heel. He wrestles the match like he is lowering himself to Eddie's level even to compete, and much of his fancy submission work comes off as vicious rather then performative. At one point he eats a shot or two and just kicks Eddie right in the side of the knee, later he slips in an eye poke. If Eddie is going to come into the match with a partial torn MCL, Quack is going to tear it fully. Eddie is the Daniel Day Lewis of injury selling, and he needs to fight through the pain to fulfill his destiny, and he is incredible firing himself up and fighting through. The one count after the Quackendriver is one of my favorite one counts ever. Quack hits it, puts his knee on his chest with a kind of celebratory pin and is just flabbergasted when he doesn't get the win. Quack goes for a double knees off the top, but lets the crowd rattle him and misses, now his knee is jacked and it gives Eddie an even playing field. The finish run of suplexes and backfists drops and wobbles Quackenbush and the final pin by Eddie is pure catharsis. 

The title is presented to Eddie by Sweeney's brother and a close friend while the entire locker room surrounds the ring, and it was the kind of emotional scene you usually can only get in lucha mask matches. What a big game performance this was from both guys, and if Eddie can do something even close at Full Gear this weekend he will cement himself as an all time great.

ER: This is one of those matches - and this doesn't happen often - where I watch the match, and immediately run it back to the beginning and watch it over again. For this one I even went all the way back to the video packages and Kingston promo, because this really is a complete match presentation. Quack's video is impressively self-aggrandizing and yet doesn't say a single thing that isn't true. He's a successful wrestler with earned pride in his career and the things he accomplished. Kingston's promo is straight and heartfelt and I would find it impossible for someone to not be immediately drawn into seeing this man with a torn MCL fight for a title to honor the man that would have been his Best Man and Godfather to his children. And they manage to work truly the perfect match for the crowd and the situation. 

This could have been an opportunity for Quack to play a more overt heel role, more of an over the top Chikara "villain" role, and instead he just works mercilessly and has no problem going after Kingston's knee. He does a ton of messed up stuff to that knee, like a diving block into it to drop King right on his stomach, to a running knee into the side of King's knee, a hard kick to the knee, stomping that knee slowly into the mat while he twists the foot in cruel ways. Kingston limps his way through it and the bad wheel makes him slow on strike exchanges, makes him telegraph the backlist a mile away (also doesn't help to yell "Backfist!" before doing one) and slows down his elbows. He does a great job demonstrating how much you need a strong base to throw strong strikes, and realizes his only chance of damage Quack is by overpowering him when they're in close and catching a few breaks. He makes some of the breaks happen, like knocking Quack's legs out from him on the top rope, or suckering him into throwing running palm strikes to set up an incredible lariat. It felt like he determined that the palm strikes were something he could absorb, something he could withstand, so he egged Quack into hitting a couple, luring him into running at him, and then just rudely upended him with a clothesline, Quack landing badly on the side of his neck. Quack really makes his landings seem completely out of his control, made it look like his body was at the mercy of Kingston's throws, and he takes some sick falls at the hands of Kingston. He makes Kingston look like Gary Albright on every suplex, flying onto his neck on a German, folding terribly on a tiger suplex, making King look like he was throwing with the power of two men. The fans pulled for Kingston in a big way, and it's exciting and powerful to experience any kind of large crowd that all wants the same thing and isn't sure they're going to get it. Kingston's big suplexes leading to a dead on his feet Quack unable to stop even the slowed down backfists, and our touching post match with Larry Sweeney's family giving Kingston the first ever Chikara Grand Championship. 

Honda vs. Togo review

Verdict: 

PAS: I adore Togo vs. Honda, and as a wrestling match it is a bit better, but as an entire presentation I think I have to give the duke to Eddie vs. Quack, what a special moment. 

ER: This was an extremely special presentation and a match I already want to watch a third time tonight. That's special, and as great a match as Togo/Honda is I will never be connected to or drawn into it the same way I bonded with this match. New champ!

ALL TIME MOTY MASTER LIST

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE EDDIE KINGSTON