AEW Five Fingers of Death 12/4 - 12/10 Part 2

AEW Collision 12/9/23

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Eddie Kingston

MD: Every rule has an exception. I'm loathe to admit it sometimes and certainly feel like in each and every one of those scenarios the exception does prove the rule, but that's what we're dealing with here. The finishing moments of this match were the ultimate cross-section of thinking and feeling. It was almost more thinking, or at least more overt and obvious thinking, than I want from an Eddie Kingston match. Let me put it this way. You don't want to come out of an Eddie Kingston match saying "Oh hey, that was clever." And I basically want to come out of every match imaginable thinking that. Eddie's the exception. He feels. He portrays feeling as well as anyone. I want to feel. But here, the finish was a mirror image from the ROH title match Claudio won earlier this year. Power bomb finisher reversed into a rana, rolled through for a heartbreaking pinfall. For Claudio, it was heartbreaking because it puts him in a far more difficult position in the tournament, because it signifies Eddie (of all people) beating him twice in a row, and yes, because even not everyone realized it in the moment, because Claudio, cerebral Renaissance Man that he is, absolutely knew that Eddie beat him at his own game with his own reversal. But that bit of cleverness isn't the exception.

Neither was the opening to the match, which was pretty much picture perfect. While we saw a sort of desperation out of Daniel Garcia, I felt like it was lacking in Jay Lethal's match last week. He was walking around strutting despite being 0-2. Here you had Eddie, his back against the wall, having gone all in, and facing Claudio of all people... there was no strutting. There was an absolute assault. He rushed in with the Uraken. He hit a dive! He nailed the Northern Lights Bomb. And then, he went from seeing success to seeing red. He couldn't resist. Claudio, Claudio! was right there, staggered, vulnerable. So instead of going for the power bomb, he did what Kawada probably would have done anyway; he punished the bastard in the corner with chops. That let Claudio recover and a desperate, effective burst of energy turned into a match, and a lopsided one at that, because Claudio is a wrestling machine. Anytime he wasn't able to hit one move, he cycled right to the next. Anytime Eddie started to come back, he was there to cut him off and lay in more punishment. But again, not the exception. 

So not the opening, not the finish, and not even the core of the middle with emotive perseverance as Eddie ate offense and never stopped trying to get an opening. No, what threatened to take me out of it was what always tends to take me out of it with these 2010s NJPW aped matches, when they start throwing fists and forearms without nearly enough consequence and when they start rolling through on suplexes to pop back up. I understand. I understand the concept of fighting spirit. I understand the narrative crutch that is the sudden burst of adrenaline to express toughness and keep the crowd breathless as they wait for the other shoe (and exhausted body) to finally drop. On some level, it's a me issue. On some level, though, it's a narrative issue. It's a shortcut. It short circuits the primary narrative tool in wrestling, selling and banks in on countless matches that follow a certain set of rules. You can break a rule to create an effect. You can only do it so much before the rule starts to mean less, before it's expected, before someone not breaking the rule is somehow seen as lesser, and suddenly, the supportive building blocks that hold up the entirety of wrestling as a narrative art become flimsier. Claudio eating another Uraken only to pop up and hit his European Uppercut lifter literally steals the breath from you. It's that exciting. It also comes at a cost both in the moment (after you remember to breathe again) and overall. 

It's a bit like hoarding currency though. This option is always on the table. It should be exceptional as an option in both senses, in that it should be rare and in that it should be special. At some point, you have to spend some money; otherwise, what's the point of having it, right? I'd argue that the last two Claudio vs Kingston matches didn't spend it nearly as much. Here, in this key moment for Eddie, presumably the moment where everything in the tournament starts to turn around, the moment where he, once again, like always does, like he always has to, starts to climb back up from yet a new lowest point... yeah, fine, spend your damn money here. Just don't spend it next match too, ok? Eddie vs Claudio is legendary. Eddie in this exact moment of his career is iconic. It's even in a place in time and on a card where it won't be all that disruptive. It's not going to take away from the emotional impact of selling in the main event. If anything it added weight and gravitas to Danielson's eye getting torn apart leading to him getting left laying. Despite all of his strength and focus and determination, he wasn't able to pop up for one last gasp attempt for victory. But then, he's Bryan Danielson; he can afford to be put in that situation in a way that, let's say, World Champion MJF can't. So this once, it's fine. It's fine. I mean it. Let's just not do it again for a while, ok?