About… Eddie Kingston vs Jay White
NJPW Battle in the Valley. San Jose Civic Center, San Jose. California. 2,155 Tickets Sold. February 18th 2023.
To be honest I didn´t watch this match until now because I wasn´t able to see my favorite NJPW wrestler in a match where he would leave the promotion (The last time one of my favorites was in a match with this stakes was Jeff Hardy in the Steel Cage match vs CM Punk in SmackDown) so now knowing I would continue to see him in one of the promotions I follow I decided to finally see it and it was incredible.
This feud was 100% dependant on the ability of the performers, the NJPW tapings in the US schedule are months between each other and they could have coasted it easily but here we are talking about two of the greatest wrestlers going today where they can heat up a match in minutes where others would take them months.
The story here is simple Jay doesn´t have any respect on Eddie Kingston, as well of other succesful wrestlers when they face Kingston, White sees Eddie like a failure and why he wouldn´t think that? Jay since he finished his excursion has been a top of the card act and at 30 has main evented in MSG as well as the Tokyo Dome, he has beaten legends like Kenny Omega, Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada. For Eddie the recognition came when he was nearing 40, they are polar opposites and by the looks of it, born to feud with each other at the top of any card.
The Chop is the Truth
I didn´t expect Jay to be this owned by Eddie so fast and it was because of the chop, Kingston is a warrior and he won´t cheat if you don´t cheat and since the beginning his chops made the difference, White´s expressions told you all, they went straight to the point, White was too confident that he didn´t follow any plan, he wanted to owned Eddie after treat him as an inferior. He went to Kingston territory and paid in a way only Okada was capable of.
Kingston was READY for White, he knew he had him since the Bullet Club was banned from ringside and saw how White talk to him during that phone call in the Wrestling Observer. Eddie had an answer for all, an most importantly, what to do if you receive a Blade Runner.
Kingston knows his shit, he eventhough was disrespected by White didn´t celebrate anything, he inmediately leave the ring to give White the focus to say goodbye to NJPW.
My Rating of the Match: 4.25
Final Thoughts
Jay White and Eddie Kingston in a very creative way were able to get their match some great heat, now that Jay White has arrived in AEW makes you think about a feud between them but now with more time to build it even better not only because they have this match but because Kingston took NJPW from White, remembering that White days before mentioned that NJPW is his home. Jay has enough reasons to have beef with Eddie and as a fan that would be must TV shit. Hopefully they do it.
