Eddie Kingston Opens Up About Why He Got A “Bad Reputation”

On this week's Wrestling with Freddie podcast from iHeart Media's My Cultra Network, AEW wrestler Eddie Kingston joined Freddie Prinze Jr. to talk about his life in pro wrestling.

Eddie disclosed that before he arrived in All Elite Wrestling, his career was up and down and that he was his own worst enemy during that period of his life.

"My career before AEW was one step forward, four steps back," Kingston said. "Because I would just shoot myself in the foot because of my temper and my mental health issues where – there was a period in time I think in 2007-2008 where, you know, I was on a roll, I was at all these big indies like Ring of Honor, PWG.

"I was wrestling every weekend. Three times, four times a week, and then I would just get in my own head saying I don't deserve this. I was just drinking and sitting in the Humms in the Junk Tank missing flights. And then I would just come back again and everyone would go, 'we're so happy, you're back on track' and then I would go right off.

"Again, either someone pisses me off in the locker room and I'm screaming and yelling, or a promoter tells me to do something or a promoter doesn't pay me right and I'm going to the cashbox to take money from him. You know what I mean? Then you get a bad reputation. Also my body. I'm not gonna lie to you, I was almost 300 pounds at one point because I just didn't work out. So my career, it's just up and down and I'm my own worst enemy."

Eddie Kingston also shared a story about coming up in the business, where he and his friends got some money together to hire WWE Hall of Famer Ted Dibiase to train them.

"I kicked out of my first wrestling school," Eddie explained. "Me and my old partner and a bunch of other friends, we were so desperate to keep learning, that we got our money together, we rented a ring and paid for Ted Dibiase to come and teach us. Flight, a sh*tty hotel, all this stuff. And the best advice he ever gave us was, 'the fundamentals never change. You need them, no matter what.' For us, in the ring, it's not just the technique that's the fundamentals, it's also for the people to understand what's good, what's bad."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Wrestling with Freddie with an h/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.