I briefly touched on this in Evening Reading on Friday, because there wasn't a lot of time to. By the time that post went up, AEW Rampage had just wrapped up and only an hour had passed since CM Punk and Eddie Kingston reminded me of why the wonderful pseudo sport of professional wrestling still gets me at 38 years old. But let's rave about that segment a little more, shall we?
If you haven't been watching, the setup is actually... quite dumb when you really think about it. On the surface, Eddie Kingston lost in the world title tournament, threw a fit backstage, interrupted CM Punk's interview time, and... that's why Punk is so mad. Don't take the man's interview time, I guess.
But once they started to tear through the layers of their real conflict, this got so much better. So for those who haven't followed Eddie Kingston... hey, why don't you read this article about who Eddie Kingston is, written by one Eddie Kingston? He'll tell you all about how he's never wanted to be anything other than a professional wrestler and has spent 15 years trying to get to this level.
So yes, Eddie Kingston has scratched and clawed to make it to this level. He sees CM Punk as somebody who's politicked and backstabbed his way to the top, leaving behind anybody who's ever helped him. If there's one thing Eddie can't stand, as we learned in his feud with Jon Moxley last year, it's those damn SPORTS ENTERTAINERS! CM Punk, on the other hand, sees Eddie as a batch of wasted potential, somebody for who the sky was the limit and who squandered his talent and blames everybody for his shortcomings but himself.
You don't see a lot of wrestling feuds like this, where there's reasonable cause to root for and against either guy. Yes, you can see Punk as somebody who has to deal with this whiner who threw a tantrum at him and is blaming him for HIS loss. You can also see Punk as an arrogant prick who looks down on somebody like Eddie Kingston and doesn't appreciate the work he's put into making it this far. Likewise, you can see Eddie as a scrapper who's finally reaching the peak of his career. Or, you can see him as a whiny prick who can't accept losing. All of that is acceptable and you just don't see storytelling like that in wrestling these days. Not in American wrestling, anyway.
So yes, Full Gear is this Saturday. If you're going to order it for anything, other than "Hangman" Adam Page's presumed coronation, it should absolutely be for this match. Catch it at your local movie theater and enjoy!
