They call him “The Mad King” for a reason.
AEW star Eddie Kingston appeared as a guest on Close Up with Renee Paquette for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, the AEW and ROH star revealed just how mentally taxing his long recovery was, admitting that he came close to walking away from the company several times while sidelined.
Kingston suffered a broken leg and torn ACL in May 2024, which kept him out of action for more than a year.
Speaking with Paquette in a new interview released via AEW’s official YouTube channel on Wednesday, Kingston reflected on the emotional toll of his time away, explaining that his mental health struggles nearly caused him to quit.
“I am flawed,” he admitted. “Why the f**k should I be adored? I’m not perfect. I’m f**king flawed. I make f**king mistakes every day. Do you understand, I must have quit this company eight times when I was out because of my own mental sh*t.”
Kingston continued, “I am not a good employee. I’m not. I’m a pain in the f**king ass because I’m passionate about it.”
Since returning to AEW several weeks ago, Kingston has been featured regularly on AEW Collision and has already picked up key victories.
At his first pay-per-view back, Kingston defeated Big Bill, and most recently, he teamed with HOOK to beat The Frat House during the “AEW Saturday Tailgate Brawl” lead-in special for AEW WrestleDream.
(H/T to F4WOnline.com for transcribing the above quotes.)
