AEW star Eddie Kingston, who is set to make his return to the ring this Saturday at All Out, is urging wrestling fans to abandon tribalism and not limit their enjoyment of the sport to just one promotion. In a recent interview with CBS Sports, Kingston addressed the competitive dynamic between AEW and WWE, explaining that while he may take shots at the rival company, there is no genuine hatred.
“We’re independent contractors, dog. Why would anybody want places to close? I don’t want a place to close. Am I going to talk s**t about WWE? Yes. Why? Because I’m not there and I’m with the other team right now. That’s it. There’s no hatred,” Kingston explained. “I got friends there, dog. And I don’t have a lot of friends, but the people who I do consider my friends — some of them are there. You think I want them out of a job? Hell no. Because then they’re going to come for me for money, and of course I’m a sucker for them, so I’m going to give them money and then I’m going to be broke. And I don’t want that. Like I tell people, man: leave taking shots to the boys. Let the boys do it, because it’s fun for us, you know what I mean? That’s it. It’s fun for us. But fan-wise? Don’t cut yourself off from enjoying wrestling.”
Kingston drew parallels to his own fandom in the 1990s, a period when multiple major promotions thrived. He noted that if he had restricted himself to only watching the WWE, he would have missed out on iconic moments like the nWo in WCW, the cruiserweight division, and the revolutionary style of ECW, which offered a completely different product from the two industry leaders.
Kingston’s return match against Big Bill is a featured part of the AEW All Out card, which is taking place on the same day as WWE’s Wrestlepalooza event. When asked what it meant to him that AEW views his return as a significant component of their show on such a competitive day, Kingston remained humble. “Humbly, it’s flattering that they think I matter that much, that I can help that much,” he said. “I’m very humbled that they believe I can help in whatever bulls**t war or bulls**t thing that’s going on. Because all it is, is bulls**t… It’s competition, and it’s one place wanting to monopolize. And there’s another place that doesn’t want to monopolize — for now. Because you know how once people get power, it changes… But, anyway, I’m very flattered about that. And at the end of the day, guess what? You know who wins? Who really wins in all of this? Pro wrestling fans.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit CBS Sports with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
