Eddie Kingston vs. EVIL

[3.0] "Honestly this wasn't good just so many shenanigans throughout the match with Dick togo and such and the ref and it just kept on going for fifteen long minutes probably one of the weakest eddie kingston matches ive seen which is a shame as he tried to carry this match"

[4.0] "This match wasn't great, as EVIL matches rarely are. It was far too long and had way too many shenanigans. Although, it was fun to see Eddie Kingston pull up with a Kendo stick and get some revenge with it mid-match, and I did pop hard for his "You motherfucker" to Dick Togo before the finish. But the finish itself was really lackluster. The amount of low-blow finishes I see nowadays drives me crazy. Anyways, this match was decent just because of Kingston. **"

[3.0] "EVIL and Eddie CRAWLED to get this match to 15 minutes. There was a lot of dull beatdown work, selling of meaningless moves like eye pokes, and the shenanigans didn't land here. A user below me echoed my thoughts on how House of Torture matches work. Tanahashi and Hiromu know how to work an EVIL match. They bring energy and emotion. I appreciate Eddie's approach, but it didn't make for interesting watch. EVIL is still to blame though. *1/2"

[4.0] "This wasn't very good for the vast majority of it. EVIL's formula of dominationg doesn't work well when the match goes this long and the babyface comeback isn't strong and exciting. The match was a slog to get through and was mostly EVIL doing a move and waiting for Eddie Kingston to sell it and roll around the ring. **"

[3.0] "The House of Torture cheating stuff is one issue. My biggest problem with it is that there need to be rules in place if you're going to be a rule-breaker and it doesn't feel like there are any rules in HoT matches. The bigger problem with this match though was that it was slow and boring. Eddie seemed to be going for a sympathetic beaten-down babyface thing here but it seems to me that the better HoT matches are against firey and aggressive faces like Tama Tonga, Hiromu, and Ishii, who also tend to make the pace feel a bit higher due to their energy."

[3.0] "insane way to follow up on eddie beating shingo, is by having him try to carry evil to anything remotely watchable. he didnt. this was very bad"

[7.0] "3.75 Stars. Eddie is doing well in putting himself over. I didnt find this match boring as others did, but I still enjoyed it."

[5.0] "It's fine for what it is, and it was fun seeing Eddie come prepared and attempt to smartly subvert EVIL's usual shenanigans, but as with many, I have become tired of said shenanigans, and they weigh down what could otherwise be a fun match per usual."

[4.0] "Eddie somewhat elevates the typical EVIL match to something almost worth watching. But it's still an EVIL match, and so it's bad. **1/4."

[1.0] "Eddie went from hero to zero unfortunately due to the 3 year long prototype of an Evil "match". At this point I just skip Evil's matches util the very end. If you enjoy Evil matches, tis is right up your alley,"

[4.0] "Even Eddie Kingston, with all passion for Pro-Wrestling, can't make a match with EVIL look interesting in 2023. Just a decent match."

[5.0] "I had no idea Eddie Kingston was trained in Lucha, until Kevin Kelly mentioned it, very cool. Slow paced but heavy hitting match, a usual showcase in an Eddie Kingston match. Wasn't a fan of the outside the ring stuff, match would have been better doing a classic Kobashi vs Misawa strike fest, since these two competitors are of equal weight. Kingston was harnessing Strong Style theatrics throughout the match which was meh. With the match being slow and around 15 minutes, we could tell this was more oriented as a Kings Road style match that had a flat finish, not one of the highlights matches from Day 4."

[8.0] "Easily one of the most well-structured EVIL matches in a very long time. Kingston came prepared, but EVIL still found a way to one-up and catch Kingston off-guard in critical moments, but when Kingston was on the offense he looked really good, which made the finish so deflating, in a 'YOU MOTHERFUCKER' way. ***1/2"

[3.0] "Incredibly too long, overbooked with Dick Togo (his name says it all every time), too many interruptions, ref bumps. Clearly House of Torture unwatchable crap. *1/2*"

[5.0] "Eddie does a great job selling his back (he looked damn near crippled), and his chops in this were MUCH better layed in and just looked better than usual overall. Hearing the Japanese ladies scream EDDIE! is always adorable. However, there is alot of selling of eye pokes and other dull nothingness to fill the very long 15 minutes. Some Dick Togo nonsense livens this up a bit."

[3.0] "Was hoping for more. Thought Eddie would get a good match out of Evil but felt like the outside stuff was generic and boring. Tired of Dick Togo too, I feel like let Evil do this annoying stuff sometimes cause that makes us hate him as a heel but let him show his wrestling skill sometimes too"

[7.0] "EVIL matches are what they are, but there are two ways to get the most out of them. One is to lean into the bullshit and overbook the match as much as possible, and the other is to have one of the greatest babyfaces of all time standing across the ring from him. Eddie Kingston just so happens to be one of those guys! His selling is not only great, it's perfectly done to garner maximum sympathy. Having a face so good makes EVIL shine even more when he does his thing and inevitably breaks hearts."

[5.0] "Eddie Kingston missed out on AEW's War Games, and a possible 5 Star Match award so he could deal with EVIL & Dick Togo's nonsense. What a great time to be Eddie Kingston. I'm so happy for him. Hold it down Eddie, we love ya."

[8.0] "I know I'm kinda weird but I like EVIL's matches. They aren't that boring and always entertaining, surely better then last BOSJ SHO's stuff. Best match of the first half of this Climax show. ***3/4"

[9.0] "Favorite EVIL match since his first title defense against Hiromu. Eddie is just the best babyface there is right now, and his brand of good guy lands in a way that actually makes HOT shenanigans palatable. It never felt like Eddie was letting them get one over on him. He was quickly responding to everything almost like, oh, idk, its happened a million times now and he actually expected it. Theres a moment where Togo hops on the apron and Eddie just immediately hoofs him before anything else can happen. Blink and youd miss it. If Eddie wouldve ended up winning it wouldve hit so hard and honestly this wouldve pushed all 5 for me. I get the low ratings with the HoT exhaustion, but in a vacuum this is a classic good guy vs bad guy story that really really worked."

"Same old Evil. He can do so much more but his matches are the same predictable drivel. Eddie brought his magic and saved this from being worse than it was. Still a snoozer but not the worst."

[3.0] "i literally fell asleep during this match LMAO. Evil and House of Torture are very hard to get into. eddie was great though"

[4.0] "Eddie at least made this somewhat compelling, but it's largely the same EVIL stuff we know and love. It occurred to me while watching this one that his matches can be even more frustrating as there are glimpses of what he can actually do scattered throughout, but they always give way to rote nonsense."

[3.0] "This match felt like it was going on for over 30 minutes. I was drowsy halfway through dear God, EVIL is the worst."

[5.0] "House of torture matches are hard to invest in or not see from 12 miles away. But eddie made it compelling enough for a passing grade **3/4"

[3.0] "This felt like an eternity. Poor Eddie Kingston, I think he tried to work with what he was given but it was just a standard EVIL match of endless ref bumps, low blows, Togo interference. I have no idea how this was only 15 mins, it felt like 45. *3/4"

[3.0] "If you ever want a match to help you fall asleep, this is the one. There was precious little action in this match. Instead, EVIL and Kingston spent most of their time lying around, selling eye-pokes, and knocking down the incompetent ref. It went on and on for 15 minutes. One fire-up sequence and a kendo stick spot in the middle were not enough to save this. HoT EVIL is as boring as ever. *1/2"

[8.0] "I thought it was a good and entertaining match overall with Eddie Kingston getting over pretty easily with the crowd. He was great at selling his back and is a good underdog babyface, a great way for EVIL to do his heel work. I like what EVIL brings to this block and this G1, it is entertaining and the cheating is in my opinion less annoying than it was at the start of his heel turn. I think his style and character mesh pretty well with Eddie's. I thought the ending of EVIL vs Tama Tonga was better but it was still a good enough way to end the match while protecting Eddie as he got his first loss of the G1 but not in a clean way. EVIL got that victory and his next match might be the most important of the whole tournament for him."