10 Backstage Stories About Eddie Kingston Fans Should Know About

Since starting up in 2019, All Elite Wrestling has exposed a number of independent wrestling veterans to a wider audience, including Eddie Kingston who first showed up on AEW television in 2020. He ended up sticking around, and fans have been treated to some classic promos and some hard-hitting matches from what was once indie wrestling’s most underrated talents.

It wasn’t an easy road for Eddie Kingston to become All Elite, and there are a number of notable backstage stories to prove it. Let’s take a look at 10 behind-the-scenes stories about Kingston, including not only the circumstances of his AEW debut, but also topics like his love for Japanese wrestling.

10 How A Promo Earned Him His AEW Debut Match

Eddie Kingston cuts a promo in ICW No Holds Barred

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted pretty much everything about pro wrestling, not to mention every under industry. In July of that year, Eddie Kingston wrestled an outdoor show for New Jersey’s ICW No Holds Barred and decided to cut a promo after his match, taking shots at several notable wrestlers. In particular, Kingston called out Cody Rhodes, who was doing his TNT Championship open challenges at the time. While it was something Kingston just did for the sake of doing it, he ended up getting a call from AEW and debuted nearly two weeks later.

9 Family Kept Him From Retiring In 2019

Having debuted in 2002, by 2019 Eddie Kingston was in his late 30s and in the pro wrestling business for about 17 years. Given that he was toiling on the indies and was seemingly unable to move on to the next level, Kingston began considering hanging up his boots, going as far as tweeting his intentions “unless something crazy happens.” However, it was his family that ended up talking him out of retiring. In particular, Kingston’s brother urged him to keep going so that his son — Eddie’s nephew — could see him wrestle and brag about it to his friends.

8 Homicide Helped Him Out Of A Tough Time

Longtime fans of Eddie Kingston may remember him appearing on NWA Powerrr in 2019, during which he teamed with fellow indie legend Homicide. During their time together in NWA, Kingston cut a promo not only singing the praises of Homicide, but also credited Homicide for keeping Eddie Kingston from killing himself.

As fans know about Kingston, the beloved wrestler has made no secret of his mental health struggles, and at one point was very seriously contemplating suicide. With perfect timing, Homicide happened to call Kingston up at just the right time, causing Eddie to thankfully think otherwise.

7 His Job In Ironworking

Eddie Kingston makes his way down to the ring.

Like many wrestlers who worked on the indie scene, Eddie Kingston had a side job in addition to his in-ring pursuits. After getting kicked out of high school for fighting, Kingston found employment thanks to his dad and his uncles, who all worked as iron workers. As a result, his family pulled some strings to get a young Eddie Kingston into the local union, after which he had regular work in ironworking. At the same time, Kingston pursued pro wrestling and not only trained, but also performed while also doing iron work.

6 Backstage Altercation With Sammy Guevara

It’s no secret to fans that Eddie Kingston can be a bit of a hothead, which has resulted in a number of encounters and altercations, even in AEW. In 2022, Sammy Guevara cut a promo trashing Kingston ahead of their planned bout at All Out during which he referred to Kingston as fat. Eddie took exception to this and the two got into it backstage, during which Kingston piefaced Guevara and the two had to be broken up. The incident not only resulted in the match being canceled, but also Kingston getting suspended and taking anger management courses, but Eddie also apologized for his actions, taking full responsibility.

5 His Love For Japanese Wrestling

Another aspect of Eddie Kingston that’s no secret to fans is his love for Japanese wrestling. Already a huge fan as a kid, in his middle school years a young Kingston discovered online wrestling communities and, through that, the pro wrestling tape-trading culture, where fans would trade VHS tapes of indie and international wrestling. It’s because of tape trading that Kingston got super into All Japan Pro Wrestling, with his favorite bout being the epic encounter between Toshiaki Kawada and Mitsuharu Misawa on 6/23/1994.

4 Cody Rhodes Encouraged His Debut Promo

Ahead of his match with Cody Rhodes, Eddie Kingston was no more enthused about his AEW debut than he was about any other match. Not expecting the bout to lead to anything else, Kingston turned down the idea of having entrance music, pitching that he should just run out and attack Cody. In response, Rhodes suggested that Kingston at least come out and cut a promo before their fight.

The suggestion paid off, as Kingston came out and cut the first of many memorable promos in AEW, saying to Rhodes “I will put you in the ground and smile.”

3 Publicly Fired From CZW

In April of 2007, fans of Combat Zone Wrestling were treated to an intense Loser Leaves CZW main event between Chris Hero and Eddie Kingston, with Kingston finally scoring an emotional victory over his rival. In the aftermath, however, CZW founder John Zandig came out and abruptly fired Kingston, much to everyone’s confusion. While it seemed like a storyline, it was a legitimate firing — Zandig was supposed to attack Kingston, who left the ring prematurely, claiming that he was ruining their moment, and Zandig decided to publicly fire Eddie Kingston in response.

2 Defending Japanese Wrestling

Shinya Hashimoto with a stiff kick to Toshiaki Kawada

As a devotee of Japanese wrestling, Eddie Kingston sought to incorporate the All Japan Pro-Wrestling King’s Road style into his in-ring repertoire. As fans today know, he was successful, but it wasn’t an easy path to doing so. In fact, in his early days, one of Kingston’s very first trainers actively discouraged his use of Japanese style wrestling, claiming that that style “stays in Japan.” Kingston was characteristically vocal about his disagreement with that sentiment, and soon enough Kingston moved on to learning from others.

1 Turning Down WWE

For years, fans wondered why Eddie Kingston — who was such a standout on the indies — never signed with WWE, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Kingston notably took part in a tryout at the WWE Performance Center in the fall of 2016, but nothing came of it. After his AEW debut, Kingston got calls from both WWE and AEW, with the latter offering him another match and the former offering him a job as a coach at the Performance Center. Kingston ultimately turned WWE down, knowing that he was going to be bitter about not being an in-ring performer.