7 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Revolution 2024 (Results & Review)

3. Eddie Kingston Earns His Respect

Eddie Kingston Vs. Bryan Danielson was incredible. Much too incredible for the second match on the card.

In a superb story beat, Danielson tacitly respected Eddie before the ceremonial, stipulated post-match handshake. Recognising the threat of the Uraken, Danielson worked the right arm and destroyed it slowly. Because Danielson is a master, quite possibly the greatest of all-time, he cloaked this story with his nasty, arrogant demeanour.

Kingston was unbelievable in this match too - which was just as well, since the goal was to establish him as Danielson's equal. Do you know how good you have to be to portray yourself as that?

Deep in the match, Eddie threw an Uraken with his weakened right arm. His selling was great. He looked as if he'd used the very last bit of power in his arm to launch the shot. He then delighted the crowd by proving he had more in him when blocking the Busaiku knee and rocking Danielson with a Northern Lights bomb. The resulting near-fall was electrifying.

Eddie went for the Uraken again. This time, he had used it all. He collapsed in a heap, making an unforced error. He propped himself up with the arm, which Bryan pelted with a sick volley of a kick. In a superb touch, Danielson tried to pin Eddie with his own high stack; again, the thread of respect was sewn throughout the body of the match to make the stip truly mean something.

This led to an awesome series of fire-ups from a duelling series of suplexes and nothing short of one of the best strike exchanges you'll ever see. Kingston had to fight just with his left arm. The rhythm on this thing was unreal. It was deliberately ugly and nasty in the most attritional way imaginable. Ear shots, throat shots, shots you could barely decipher. It was the beautiful epitome of the pro wrestling struggle.

In the end, Eddie won with the powerbomb and high stack pin. Hilariously, Bryan threatened to renege on the stip before he shook Eddie's hand in a moment of true, earned warmth.