Eddie Kingston Reacts To Appearing In NJPW G1 Climax 2023

Eddie Kingston appeared on Tony Schiavone's "What Happened When" podcast this week to discuss a 1998 All Japan Pro Wrestling match between Kenta Kobashi and one of Kingston's heroes, Jun Akiyama. Inevitably, his participation in this year's NJPW G1 Climax came up, and Kingston was still processing the idea that he's in it to begin with. 

"That's real, and that's insane to me. "That's f*****g ... I'm not supposed to be here, dawg. This was not supposed to be my deal," he said. "I'm supposed to be back in New York, and I ain't working, I'm not supposed to be doing what I'm doing right now. So I'm shocked, I'm happy, I'm whatever, I'm nervous, all that. But I know I've got to do a job, so I'm gonna do my job."

This will be the second consecutive year AEW has had a wrestler in the famed NJPW tournament, following Lance Archer's participation last year. Kingston will be part of Block C of the tournament, competing against the likes of Shingo Takagi, Tomohiro Ishii, David Finlay, EVIL, Tama Tonga, Aaron Henare, and Mikey Nichols. Prior to that, Kingston will be in Japan on July 5, where he'll challenge KENTA for the NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "What Happened When" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription