Strike Fest '23 w/Murder Grampa and the Mad King

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Holy shit that was good! King walking straight out and not even bothering to pretend to want to do anything other than square up with Our Favorite Murder Grampa was great. Just gave us what we wanted and flat delivered!

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Eddie Kingston getting the shine he deserves makes me so happy. He's on the run of a lifetime and he deserves it

Absolute dream match for me that delivered, love how they showed respect afterwards with more chops and Kingston going insanely goblin mode all over the arena afterwards lmfao

[clifford]

It went exactly how I thought and hoped it would go, and that's a compliment. Enjoyed it immensely. These hard hitting sprints are Eddie's bread and butter.

[HMARK Center]

I know it was being discussed in the show thread, but it was just the kind of match you want from guys like this and tells a classic puro-style story.

There are times when it can be tough for fans from one part of the world to get into the psychology of wrestling from elsewhere; lucha often has this issue when done outside of Mexico, for example. But the classic puro strike-fest, while of course fundamentally working as a "the crowd is going to respond to us unleashing on one another" spot, kind of comes from that same shonen anime-style storytelling that often gets used in puro: in this case, it's the need the characters feel to prove themselves against the strongest and the best, to show they can take an opponent's biggest hits and withstand them, and ultimately weather the storm to achieve victory, or at least earn the respect of others in the attempt.

And from a "how does this help a guy win?" standpoint, it's straight up "I can take whatever you can dish out, you'll tire yourself out, and then I'll finish you" tied in with that need to stand against the toughest. Having it end with Suzuki getting back in the ring, him and Eddie exchanging one more chop each, then hugging, was awesome.