Featured image by The Ringside Perspective
Eddie Kingston’s last match in the 16 Carat Gold tournament cements him as the MVP of the whole thing. Here he takes on eventual winner Cara Noir. Now while I’ve been hot and cold on Noir in the past (especially cold on the Ilja Dragunov matches), he’s had a pretty good weekend here so far.
The match starts hot with Kingston again working as the much bigger heel bully. He’s incredibly motivated though and even busts out a great tope suicida to Noir on the outside. Awesome show of athleticism and incredibly smart of Kingston to save it for his final outing of the weekend.
Noir for his part plays an underdog quite well here. His main tactic is to go for his Blackout Sleeper which Kingston does his best to evade. Noir even works some great comeback spots and transition spots such as hitting successive Swan Woo dropkicks to knock Kingston down. Still, Kingston has the chance to show off here by being a brute with great chops and big suplexes. Noir takes some great bumps right on his neck and shoulders but Kingston repays him in kind by taking a sweet Sleeper style suplex late in the match. Great moment where Kingston sells the nerve damage in his hands after getting dropped on his neck.
This match builds on the narratives both men have been telling through the tournament. With Kingston, it comes in Noir kicking out of the knockout Backfist to the Future. For Noir, it’s getting yet another successful victory with the Blackout Sleeper that has been successful against a larger opponent against Jeff Cobb. All in all, another great and focused Eddie Kingston match to round out a weekend of excellent efforts from one of the all time greats on the independents.
