The Elite Vs Eddie Kingston, PAC and PENTA
And a masterclass in presentation
Haven’t done a single match review on here in quite a while. Back in 2023 I’d try and use the single match reviews to highlight what I thought was the best match I’d see all week. This six man tag won’t touch my best of match roundup and wasn’t even the match of the night from Big Business, I think that award has to go to Jay White Vs Darby Allin and the chaotic energy that match had, but this tag left the bigger impression on me.
Going into this match there were a few stories knocking around that made this more than just a standard 6 man tag. There was the return of PAC after his long hiatus - how would he look in the ring? Would there be any fresh direction for him coming out of this match? There was the return of Eddie Kingston’s association with the Death Triangle and nodding back to AEW’s past. There’s all the history of The Bucks and the Death Triangle feuding over both tag and trios titles. Highest on the agenda was probably the new alliance between Okada and The Bucks and building to Okada challenging Kingston for the title(titles? who ever knows with this triple crown?). We also have this great nerdy wrinkle to the story where Eddie has worn his puro influences on his sleeves for years in this company and lived out dreams of wrestling Akiyama and meeting Kawada and being a triple crown champion of sorts - and now he’s gonna face the closest thing to this generations Misawa in his next title defence. Just when you think the Eddie Kingston career arc can’t get any higher, it does.
The decision to put Okada with The Bucks is sensational booking - the sort of stuff that makes so much sense that we should have seen it coming especially with their history. The Young Bucks had too much potential in their new heel EVP gimmicks and were on such a high from the Sting retirement main event that simply going back to the tag division would have felt like a step down for them. To use the heat they gained from that program as a platform to re-debut Okada as an entitled, arrogant, rich heel with two goons backing him up is a brilliant idea and it’s already working. I loved that brief segment where he made Alex Marvez sing happy birthday to Matt. It’s both a new but familiar character for Okada to play and quickly he doesn’t feel like a fish out of water on US television. Anyone that’s followed Okada’s career knows he’s at his best when he’s a cocky heel looking down his nose and wrestling like everyone’s beneath him. There were moments last year where we got to see that against Kiyomiya and Umino, but it never led to an actual program you could sink your teeth into. In AEW I feel more confident that we will get those types of programs and payoffs. Hell we already are because we know Okada looks down his nose at Eddie Kingston and he’s gonna take his title off him next week.
The match started off with standard stalling techniques to delay Okada’s involvement and Eddie crucially getting his hands on him. The Bucks and Death Triangle are so familiar with each other by this point that it’s no surprise to see them execute their routines smoothly. Ultimately PAC’s return did take a backseat to the bigger story of Kingston and Okada, but there was a minute or two where he got to showcase his stuff and announce ‘I’m back’, with the punctuation mark being the gorgeous springboard 450 splash. I do hope there some spot on the card he can carve out for himself as a singles wrestler in this latest run as teaming with Penta and Fenix would feel like covering old ground.
Just like the FTR/BCC six man last month, Eddie was still stuck in the role of the fall guy despite being a triple champion. The Elite worked him over in a face-in-peril segment that had a couple great moments in it, firstly the catch-exploder to Matt Jackson as he tried to breakaway for the tag, and then Okada being a prime dickhead by wiping out Eddie’s partners and then mockingly offering a tag to Eddie on the apron. When Eddie did get his shots in on Okada, they landed hard and loud and started to welt up Okada’s chest. In a straight fight, Kingston probably has the edge when slugging it out, but the new gimmick doesn’t suit straight fighting and after a low blow from Nick Jackson, Okada seized the opening with a rainmaker to down Kingston. Just like the squash match on collision, it only took one rainmaker to end the match and god it feels great to see that move protected again. I moved on a long time ago in being interested in 30+ minute Okada matches that had the same beats and always had the first rainmaker kicked out of, and #wristcontrol and weaker variations of the rainmaker that just set up another rainmaker because we’ve exhausted avenues on how to top his previous work. It’ll take some getting used to seeing Okada land a dropkick in the 3rd minute that usually would come 15 minutes deep into a match, but I think he was overdue freshening up his routine and I’m really interested to see how he approaches wrestling on American TV matches with tighter time limitations.
Everything about Okada’s presentation in AEW so far has me excited about a fresh, new chapter in his career both as a character and a worker. If we compare that to Will Ospreay who upon his full term start with AEW hasn’t changed a thing about his act and is just presented as the go-go-go, dream match machine who within 2 matches has already had his finishers kicked out of (against people much lower on the roster than him) then you see two very different approaches to how to book new talent. Ospreay is being presented as the best in the world and his matches are laid out to showcase that; It’s no doubt working for some fans, but I think there’s a danger that other fans will quickly tire of the MOTYC closing stretch in every match no matter who he’s facing or the story being told. If you already pull out all the tricks for your TV matches, it’s very hard to take things to the next level - How many hidden blades will the Danielson match have if Takeshita and Fletcher matches already featured hidden blade nearfalls? With Okada, they are still presenting the guy as a star, but there’s a sense of anticipation with him that I prefer and think will stand him in good stead long term in this company. So far we’ve only seen 10% of what he can do and I’m eager to see what comes next. Get the character work down, start a juicy program, and make me feel like your next match is one I can’t afford to miss. Right now I am definitely looking forward to the promise of Kingston Vs Okada more than I am Danielson Vs Ospreay.