Ever since he returned to AEW at All Out, fans have been wondering when Eddie Kingston would finally show up. His body was there, his cool t-shirts made appearances, and his music kept playing at shows, but the Eddie Kingston that everyone knew before he got injured was nowhere to be found. The person who showed up instead was someone who was a little bit like Eddie Kingston, but just didn’t have the same buzz about themselves, and while the lack of sharpness in the ring can be put down to not wrestling for a year-and-a-half, there was just something off about him.

Then on the Thanksgiving edition of “AEW Collision,” Kingston finally showed up as he caught a passionate promo to the live audience that had everyone going “EDDIE KINGSTON! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, PARTNER?” He was open, honest, and most importantly, determined. He knew that he had missed so much during his time away and needed to get right back into the mix, and what better way than to call out the AEW Men’s World Champion, and a man he had a lot of history with already, Samoa Joe.

That brought us to the opening of the December 3 episode of “AEW Dynamite,” where Joe and Eddie went face-to-face and word-for-word on the microphone. It baffles me that Kingston has been back in the company for nearly three month,s and it’s only now that Tony Khan has realized that the best way to sell a fight or a match, or a show is to give Eddie Kingston a microphone and let him talk.

Joe is already a great promo, but he was in the ring with the most believable guy in the business. Eddie had no time for Joe’s “you people are stupid” schtick that basically everyone does. He ran down Joe’s current persona of wanting to dress the part rather than play the part. He has no respect for this version of Joe who has turned into someone that, many years ago, Joe would have hated, but most importantly, Eddie kept Joe strong while also posing a threat of his own. Eddie has known Joe for so long that he has seen what he can do and what he’s capable of. Eddie knows that if the best possible version of Samoa Joe shows up next week, he might not win, but if the Joe we see now shows up, he’s toast.

This feud has realistically lasted for less than a week, and I’m already pumped up for this match, and so should you. Eddie Kingston can talk someone into a burning building, and next week, he will try and burn Samoa Joe’s title reign to the ground.

Written by Sam Palmer