Chris Jericho Gives His Honest Opinion Of Eddie Kingston
AEW star Chris Jericho joined FITE In Focus to hype up his upcoming match with Eddie Kingston at AEW Revolution Sunday, March 6.
First though, Jericho discussed the promo involving him and Kingston from last week's AEW Dynamite, particularly the part where Kingston jokingly asked Jericho what a babyface was.
"When you're a babyface, although Eddie Kingston doesn't know what a babyface is apparently," Jericho said. "He asked what a babyface was. A good guy, a fan favorite if you're reading a pro wrestling illustrated magazine. You have a little more restraints on you, but you still can do it. You just have to be completely confident and, what's the word I'm looking for? You've got to really be into it.
"If you can really commit to that, you can really get it over as well. So it all depends on the performer and it all depends on how much of a level of commitment you want to give to it. But you also have to realize sometimes you've got to cut bait. 'This probably not going to work, let's come up with something else.'"
As for Kingston himself, Chris Jericho said he always knew there'd be a confrontation with Kingston due to, as Jericho claimed, real animosity between the two. He also reiterated his points from Wednesday night about Kingston being afraid of success.
"I knew from the start that Eddie Kingston and I would be able to create something that's a little bit different from the norm, that's a little bit more intense because there is a little bit of dislike between us," Jericho said. "There has been since day one. Now we're both professionals and we work together, but I really don't like him.
"And I'm not saying that as a gimmick or a work, I just don't care for the guy as a person. I feel he's a bleeding heart with the smallest violin. 'You know, I had so many hardships.' Bulls—, we all had hardships. What I said in my promo about him, I really believed.
"I'm not saying he's a failure. He believes he's destined to be a failure because of his lineage. I said from the start that he had what it took to be a top guy and I was right. But I also said that he doesn't, he can't handle the pressure of being the top guy. He can't handle the pressure of going to the top of the mountain because if he ever made it, he would crumble and fall off the other side.
"I think he's got that achievemephobia, which is actually a word. I didn't just make it up. He's afraid of success. He fears success. I've never had that because I've been on top of the wrestling world in different countries since I was 22 years old on the cover of every Mexican wrestling magazine in 1993. Google it. I wasn't making that up, so I think there is some jealously there with Eddie Kingston."
As for what he expects from the match, Chris Jericho believes the match will be a show-stealer, but in a different way than most people would expect. He believes it will be more of a brawl than a technical or high-flying style match.
"I expect it to be very hard-hitting," Jerichos said. "I expect it to be very impactful because there is real-life animosity between us. So if you want to call that brawling, or you want to call that just a hard-hitting fight, or you want to call it a fisticuff or whatever you want to call it, I think it's going to be different from everything else on the show. I'm not a technically advanced wrestler like Bryan.
"We know that Eddie Kingston isn't. I'm not a high flyer like Fenix is and Eddie Kingston isn't either. But both of us know how to have a great match and both of us have had many great matches. Me more than him because I've done it at the highest of levels for so many years.
"I'm expecting it to be a show-stealer, but in a completely different way than someone who's rating matches by how many high spots there. I don't think that there's going to be a lot of high spots with Eddie Kingston and Chris Jericho. I think there's going to be a lot of animosity, a lot of hard-hitting, violence is cliche but I think it's going to be a fight everybody can feel while they're watching.
"And there's a difference between a match you can feel, and a match you can stand up and cheer for because it blows your mind from an athletic standpoint."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit FITE In Focus and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription