One of Eddie Kingston's dream matches became a reality at AEW Full Gear 2022 when he squared off with Jun Akiyama.
Kingston and Akiyama were on opposite sides of the ring on AEW Rampage before Full Gear with Kingston teaming with Ortiz and Akiyama teaming with Konosuke Takeshita. Akiyama & Takeshita were victorious in the tag team bout and the singles dream match was made official shortly after.
Speaking to Dark Pouroresu Flowsion, Kingston reflected on the bout.
"After the match I felt blessed to fight Mr. Akiyama and still do. Mr. Akiyama gave me the gift of confidence that I will be the worlds champion. It came together because of me calling Mr. Akiyama out on twitter and of course, Mr. Akiyama accepted. But the ball on this match began to roll faster because of Mox [Jon Moxley] and what he said in his media scrum after his match against Hiroshi Tanahashi," he said.
Kingston has long shown his appreciation for the Kings Road style and the influence comes through in his matches.
Speaking about his top Kings Road matches, Kingston said, "WOW! There are so many so only 3 is rough and not fair to the other matches hahahaha. I have my three favorites but there are another 2 for people who just want to get into it. Ok but my favorites; 1) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (January 22nd, 1997) 2) Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Tau (6-9-95) 3) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (6-3-94) But two matches that are close into my top 3 is a match I tell anyone who just wants to watch a hard-hitting match and not worry about watching other matches to get the "easter eggs" and highly recommend Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada (June 12th 1998) Jun Akiyama vs Hiroshi Hase (May 1st 1998)"
Kingston most recently wrestled on the December 19 episode of AEW Dark: Elevation where he teamed with Ortiz to defeat Hagane Shinno & Steven Andrews.
Fans can find results from past AEW Dark: Elevation at Fightful's results section.
