Eddie Kingston loves THIS BUSINESS.
Before Kingston became one of the top stars in AEW, he spent nearly two decades building his name on the independent scene and going from promotion to promotion. Like many coming up in his era, Kingston worked for the "hot dog and a handshake" and he believes that grind separates AEW from the competition.
"A lot [put their bodies on the line]. Some shorter than others, but we all did it and did it for the love of this sport. Not only just the entertainment part, but the sport part. We love it. If we did this for money, trust me, I would have been done a year and a half in. I had a good union job and was making $45-50 an hour. I would've just stayed there, but we love this. That's the difference between us and the competition. You can say I'm knocking them, but I'm speaking facts. They get people at the PC who have done other things prior to wrestling and they don't know anything about pro wrestling or the history. They're going to come into our business and our sport and tell someone who has been doing this almost 20 years that they're going to love pro wrestling. I'm like, 'fuck outta here.' Would you love pro wrestling if you're in the car for 18 hours to drive just to get ring time, get $15, and drive home? Then do it again the next day or next weekend? No, so don't tell me you love it. It's annoying. It's easy to love something when you're getting paid well to do it. Let's see what happens when you're not getting paid well and you're eating Ramen noodles and peanut butter, and you celebrate during the week when you get ground beef. That's why I love AEW because a lot of these guys, even the young guys, they struggled. You gotta struggle to go forward in life. Without struggle and sacrifice, there is no progress," he said on Busted Open Radio.
Kingston had tryouts at the WWE Performance Center, but was not hired by the company. He did have an offer after showing up on AEW Dynamite in July 2020.
Kingston is set to team with PAC and Penta El Zero M to take on The Young Bucks and Brandon Cutler this Friday on AEW Dynamite.
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