Claudio Castagnoli vs. Eddie Kingston, CHIKARA Three Fisted Tales (11/22/2009)

In an attempt to end the feud, this is a Respect Match, in which the loser must publicly state their respect for the winner.

Like the previous two matches, a pretaped backstage promo gets us where we need to go. Eddie Kingston says no matter what the result is, he knows now who Claudio really is, even if nobody else does. He was right last time he got personal (Chris Hero) and he’ll be right again. Eddie Kingston began the feud six months prior mad about the perceived lack of respect from Castagnoli. It seemed like an overreaction at the time but the first match showed there was something there, and the second match confirmed it. Claudio began the feud without an issue with Eddie before it became about solidifying his superiority over CHIKARA when Eddie called it into doubt. To say they respect the other man is more of a loss for Claudio than it will be for Kingston, based on where they began, but it’d absolutely kill Eddie too, as he’s seen his respect for Claudio disintegrate since that first match.

There’s no longer any pretense to this. They begin by rushing each other. Claudio starts off with the Ricola Bomb, following a match opening Bicycle Kick. He’d never hit it before on Kingston, and while it obviously doesn’t end the match, it’s as good of a show of force as anything. The match starts off disrespectful and only breaks down from there. Claudio gets more and more disrespectful, more than he’s ever been. He’s never been a guy who throws slaps, but he throws a lot of slaps at Eddie, and it’s a slight not unnoticed by a guy in Eddie Kingston who already imagines enough of them as it is.

It’s not just a nasty match because of the hard shots and mean offense, but it’s uncooperative in the best way. They choke each other in transition and constantly shove each other’s arms out of the way when they try and cover up. There’s rarely a piece of offense here that isn’t fought for. Moves are blocked and/or countered, but in ways that aren’t pretty at all. Kingston swatting Claudio down out of the air by the side of the neck when he tries his turning European Uppercut. They both catch chops or punches and muscle each other into throws. It’s one of the most purely hateful matches I can remember seeing recently.

Claudio again dominates because of his physical advantage. It taked Eddie at least twice the work to get where Claudio can get. Eddie busts his ass and tries his best, but all Claudio really needs is an opening to shut him down. Eddie wants it too bad, and breaks out the big guns. Claudio finally shows the true colors Eddie’s been talking about when eh cuts off a rally on the outside by throwing a CHIKARA student doing ring crew work at Eddie to open him up for a kick outside and the Alpamare Waterslide on the apron. Eddie doesn’t land another offensive move after that, but he keeps kicking out. I’m not a guy who typically gets big into kickouts and nearfalls and runs like this, but they got me. They had me pumping my fist when Eddie kicked out of the first Ricola Bomb after he made it back inside, and after big move after big move. It’s something that could venture into ridiculousness, but it never does, because Eddie never portrays it as anything more than the most stubborn man in the world refusing to stay down until he physically can’t get up in time. Claudio gets insulting with it at a point too, using Eddie’s own short range Lariat, but it’s that bicycle knee again and a disgusting Rolling European Uppercut that finally just knocks the breath out of Kingston long enough for a three count.

Beautiful match and a testament to what you can do when you actually tell stories from match to match. Over three matches, we saw a relationship completely break down, and a double turn essentially take place. Eddie brought something mean and ugly out of Claudio after the upset victory, but it’s here that he’s ultimately right. He’s right, and he loses. Claudio was confronted with the idea that maybe he actually can’t beat this guy anymore, and took a shortcut. It didn’t give him the win immediately, but it cut off Eddie’s rally and is clearly responsible for the result. Even moreso than the Chris Hero matches (the best of which are just as good as this), this is the ultimate Eddie Kingston character match. He’s right, he earns the respect of everyone but the guy he, at one point, wanted it from, he gets the big moral victory, but he loses. In the entire history of professional wrestling, only Toshiaki Kawada may be a better loser than Eddie Kingston.

****

The best thing I can say about this series is that it completely defines who they are. Every aspect of Claudio Castagnoli and Eddie Kingston is on display in these three matches. Throughout his career, Claudio (and later Cesaro) had every physical gift, but never had the heart of some of his contemporaries, and always wound up taking the easy way out. It’s helped him at times just as much as it’s hurt him, but there’s a throughline. He’s repeatedly struggled when pushed and eventually he’s either reverted to these shortcuts, or he’s fallen short. Kingston has always been rough and mean and gotten in his own way. At the same time, there’s very few people in wrestling I associate with the idea of a moral victory than Eddie Kingston.

To put a cap on this, Eddie gets the microphone and says he doesn’t respect him. Eddie says he’s fooled all these people, but he hasn’t fooled him. Eddie says just like Claudio’s former partner, he’s shady and dirty, and he’ll never have his respect. Eddie hits him with the Backfist to the Future and leaves. As he leaves, Eddie is picked up by the camera saying he knows who Claudio really is.

Later that night, Claudio Castagnoli formed the BDK, CHIKARA’s biggest and perhaps most famous heel stable. It was the culmination of years of booking, in one of those hyper intricate CHIKARA things that completely paid off. It carried the company through 2010 and some of 2011, with a significant portion of the story being Eddie Kingston trying to chase down Claudio Castagnoli again, but being avoided, distracted, or stopped short of the match for a long time. They had another singles match eventually, and Eddie didn’t win.

This isn’t a story where he gets to win, not against Claudio. It’s ultimately a set up for one of the most fulfilling and reaffirming moments in wrestling history, where he finally does make good. I can’t imagine writing this blog and not getting there at some point, but this isn’t that story. The point is that within an hour, Eddie Kingston was right. He was right at the time, but by the end of the night, everyone came to knew what he knew.

Eddie was right all along, and it absolutely didn’t matter.

Arguably CHIKARA’s finest hour.