8 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Full Gear 2020

1. Kingston & Moxley Knuckle Up

Eddie Kingston is a beautiful tragedy.

18 years spent pouring his heart and soul into a business that didn't love him back had brought him to this point. Personal relationships, his body, and his humanity had all been sacrificed in the hope that one day, he'd be able to return to his mom's house in New York City with a World Championship to prove it was worth it. To prove the grind hadn't been in vain. To show that selling out everything he knew - everything he had - was justified.

And he failed. Brutally.

It felt like the entire world was behind Kingston last night. Signed in July, he worked his way to a pay-per-view main event through one of the grittiest, toughest, and most emotional storylines in recent memory, surmised by a perfect go-home angle in which he and Jon Moxley talked themselves to the brink of tears. The feud was as real, rugged, and tragic as Kingston himself, and the conclusion was absolutely heartbreaking.

This wasn't the night's best match if judged through star ratings, but nothing else was as raw. Kingston and Moxley killed each other because they had to. Eddie poured rubbing alcohol onto the wounds on Moxley's back and wrapped barbed wire around his fist to rip flesh from bone and it still wasn't enough. Mox's wire-assisted Bulldog Choke left him with no choice but to do the unthinkable: utter "I quit" and admit defeat.

His pride dented and his dream dead, Kingston rejected Moxley's olive branch afterwards, shambling to the back an even more broken, bitter man. That's the kind of thing that makes this feud, match, and wrestling in general so great.

And if you didn't feel every last drop of the Mad King's hurt in that moment, you might want to check for your heart.