Over the past few years, we’ve seen many people recognize just how fantastic of a professional wrestler that Eddie Kingston is. Kingston was ready to hang his boots up, when a chance to debut for All Elite Wrestling – where he challenged Cody Rhodes for the TNT Championship. Almost immediately, he would be signed to the company, and has been able to main event PPV’s. AEW has made dreams come true for Eddie Kingston, and that especially rings true as he faces AJPW legend Jun Akiyama next Friday.
AJPW Legend Jun Akiyama Set To Make His AEW Debut
Following last nights episode of AEW Rampage, we’d get a massive match announced for the next episode of AEW’s friday night show. Eddie Kingston & Ortiz will be taking on Jun Akiyama & Konosuke Takeshita in a tag team match. For many years now, Kingston has made it clear that he loves the Kings Road style popularised in AJPW during the 90’s, with his favourite being Jun Akiyama – with Akiyama being his top ‘dream match’.
While to some it seems like a throw away, putting them in a tag team match with no build on AEW Rampage – it might well be a set up for a bigger match, which could find it’s way onto AEW Full Gear the following day. Lately, Eddie Kingston has been snapping in matches – his anger getting the worst of him.
Eddie Kingston Might Find Himself One On One With An Angry Akiyama
This storyline started back at AEW Grand Slam in September, with him defeating Sammy Guevara using the Stretch Plum – and refusing to let the hold go, leading to the decision being reversed. Since then, Kingston’s anger has only gotten worse – with him being brutal against opponents on AEW Rampage, and his recent loss to Ethan Page hasn’t helped things.
Akiyama is a mentor to Konosuke Takeshita, having been one of the men to really influence his style. We’ve always seen Akiyama being protective over his proteges, which was seen at Cyber Festival 2022 – when Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Katsuhiko Nakajima would knock DDT Pro Wrestlings Tetsuya Endo out, causing the match to end prematurely. Akiyama was quickly in the face of Nakajima, who settled down quick.
AEW could well play off this incident, having Kingston go too far in an attack on Takeshita. This would allow them to set up a match for Full Gear – adding a major draw of a match to the Buy-In, where Kingston previously shone against New Japan Pro Wrestling star Tomohiro Ishii. Kingston vs. Akiyama is a massive match for a certain demographic of fans – which AEW needs to lure back in after some weak months.
Do you think this tag team match could lead to bigger and better things? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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