AEW star Eddie Kingston was the latest guest on the Talk Is Jericho to discuss all things pro-wrestling. Highlights are below.
On when he got called by AEW:
“The pandemic hit. I was in the U.K. doing a tour. When I got home, all my U.K. money was gone because I had to pay bills. I have a house in Florida and all that stuff. I finally got an indie show. I was going to the indie show and I was mad that I had to sell my gear to pay my mortgage. When the pandemic hit, I thought, wow, this is how my career ends. I had a chance to cut a promo on an indie show and I went off. I called out Zack Sabre Jr because I was supposed to wrestle him in England. Then I called out Nick Aldis because at the time I was working NWA. I thought for sh*ts and giggles, let me call out Cody because he was doing this open challenge. I went off and said, you talk about an open challenge but you’re not facing men. You’re facing signed talent that is not going to hurt you. I’m friends with the Bucks and Kenny so I said and oh, by the way, the guys that you run the company with like me better than you, just to joke around. People believed it. Out of nowhere, people were tweeting and hashtagging face Eddie or whatever it is. I’m not very good at Twitter. I’m thinking, what is this? I then got a phone call from Q.T. Marshall and he asked if I wanted to wrestle Cody and I said yes. I took it as another booking because I didn’t see it as oh, I’m going to go in there and they are going to be wowed by me and sign me. I went in thinking I will go in there, do my job, and go home.”
On turning down a job as a coach at the WWE Performance Center:
“I know almost everybody in this company. Christopher Daniels calls me up and says they want to bring me back. I come in. I got a call from the competition. To be honest to them, they were trying to get me to coach for years. My thing was, I told them I can’t collect a paycheck if I don’t earn it. My thing was I would go in there, coach, be bitter and mad about coaching and not getting a shot, and these guys that love wrestling now because they are at the Performance Center and getting paid, I would have been bitter and angry. I would not have done a good job. I would have been detrimental to those kids. I said, no, I’m good. Anyway, now we are talking about other things besides coaching. I had to weigh my options. I came here and I told a couple people, look, the competition hit me up. I’m just letting you know. I’m not begging for a job. It’s very hard for me to play this supposed wrestling game. Next thing you know, Christopher Daniels said here is a contract. I didn’t deal with the reaction until last week where in front of my lady friend, I broke down crying and then I was good. Now it’s time to go to work.”
Check out the full episode here. (H/T and transcribed by Wrestling News)