Featured image by Beyond Gorilla
This review was made possible by @ChrisDakkar who kindly donated to my Ko-fi page.
I wanted to like this match more than I actually did. LA Park doesn’t really show up to work here, working what’s essentially a touring house show match against Eddie Kingston. Outside of one big dive to the outside, Park doesn’t really bump here nor does he do anything really spectacular outside of a few sweet chops and belt strikes. There’s also a lot of comedy lucha tropes in here particularly when it comes to the referee. The second act of the match plays out like a slapstick routine involving the referee and while it does enough to entertain, it’s just not the drag out slobberknocker you expect from these two guys. It’s a good thing then that Eddie Kingston’s the kind of worker who can add substance to even simpler matches like this. Working an opponent either unable or unwilling to really get laid into with big offense or big strikes, Kingston goes into a character overdrive playing up the cocky New York rudo against the legend. He does it well too but where this choice really shines comes from Park’s comeback because Kingston is entirely willing to bump and absorb hard shots to make Park look good in the closing run of this match. All in all, this match is a hoot elevated by Kingston’s commitment to the premise of the match which in itself elevates Park’s lackluster performance.
