i was a highwayman/along the coach roads i did ride
with sword and pistol by my side
Hell of a match to talk about.
This match is not this match. Eddie Kingston and Arik Cannon have a great little sprint of a fight but this is about the entrance, and the tribute, and all of these other things.
Still though, great! Arik Cannon and Eddie Kingston are two great wrestlers and this is a sort of heavyweight slugfest that Kingston in particular excels at. Mechanically, it’s wonderful. They’re constantly hammering each other, and like their tremendous 2006 match, Kingston sells neck damage through selling of pain in the shoulder following a big landing on the floor, and it’s the best. He’s the best. Eddie wins with the Sliding D. That feels secondary, because there was absolutely no way Eddie was losing this match. What matters is how airtight this was and how good it felt.
Of course, the actual thing about this match though is that it’s happening at all. This was Eddie Kingston’s first match following the suicide of Larry Sweeney five days earlier, and everyone is feeling every type of way about it. We’re still feeling some type of way about it. Eddie comes out to “Highwayman”, one of Sweeney’s favorite songs so it’s said, and in an old Sweet & Sour shirt. Eddie turns on the game face when the bell rings, but the crowd is with him like they’re rarely with anyone. It’s a part of this match. It’s also the beginning of the greatest story CHIKARA’s ever told, and I do not say that lightly.
***
HANDWERK 