6 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite: New Year's Smash (Dec 27 - Results & Review)

2. Eddie Fights For His Life!

Eddie Kingston
AEW

"...and had stakes to boot".

Eddie Kingston created a problem for himself right at the beginning of the Continental Classic by putting his ROH and New Japan titles up for grabs. A miserable 0-2 start suggested Eddie was out of the running, but AEW told a fab story by having Kingston scratch, bite and claw (and chop) his way back into contention.

On Dynamite, Bryan Danielson went out of his way to elevate Eddie further. Both men told a wonderful story of arrogance (from the much more technical Bryan) and scrappy heart (from Kingston, who refused to let his dreams die). Eddie fought from underneath for most of the match, and the Orlando crowd was with him every step of the way.

There was a majestic moment near the end when Danielson kicked out of the move Kingston had used to beat Andrade El Idolo in the tourney. That sold how much harder the CC gets the deeper you go, which is really smart storytelling and should come in handy for future versions when announcers claim every match matters.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.