8 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (Nov 9)
6. The Full Gear Eliminator Tournament Starts Strongly
Eddie Kingston Vs. Ethan Page was a good match with a bold result.
It won't please many, because it was thought bad enough that Chris Jericho defeated Kingston. Ethan Page, who would star in a promotion that hadn't signed main event-level talents in the double digits over the last 18 months, is not on Jericho's level. Nor is he on Kingston's.
The action was strong, particularly after the commercial break. Page is a willing and animated bumper, and because he's such a large man, Kingston looked spirited and tenacious for lifting him off his feet. The slug-fest was snug and well-paced, as you'd expect from a Kingston exchange, and Kingston was "protected" when Stokely Hathaway distracted Bryce Remsburg, who missed Page tapping out. It was cheap, and once again contradicted the "Paul Turner must tighten up the officiating" storyline, but they arrived at a far better and cleaner means of protecting Kingston at the finish: that avalanche Ego's Edge was a terrifying kill-shot.
Flawed, but good, and there's little to worry about as it pertains to Kingston: this was a continuation of an interesting new phase of his arc. His head isn't right. He's better than this, he just doesn't believe that presently.
The redemption is happening, and this has enabled the Page push in the meantime.