In May, Eddie Kingston revealed he would be taking time off to have hernia surgery. The injury had bugged him since September 2022, but he pushed through and challenged Claudio Castagnoli for the ROH World Title at ROH Supercard of Honor.
Kingston returned to television on the June 14 episode of AEW Dynamite and competed in his first match since ROH Supercard of Honor at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.
Speaking to Joseph Staszewski of the New York Post ahead of the bout, Kingston discussed his recovery from hernia surgery.
"I’ve been dealing with the injury since September and I did the typical stupid wrestler thing, which is work through it and then I couldn’t work through it anymore. I feel a thousand times better. They told be six weeks. So I took all six weeks, took advantage of it. As I said on TV the other day, ‘Please forgive me for the way I look. I had been eating a lot of ice cream during my time off.’ I’ve just been able to get back to working out. I’m getting back to a better version of me," he said.
Asked when it got too painful, Kingston replied, "The way I judge pain is if I can sleep. That last match I had with Claudio at Ring of Honor (on March 31), I was icing my groin area and I couldn’t sleep at all that night, and when I saw that I knew something was wrong. And I still tried to go to work that Wednesday. I got up that Tuesday to go to the airport and I’m out the door and I looked at my girlfriend and said, ‘I can’t get on that plane.’ That’s how much pain I was in. I was like, ‘Yea, it’s time to go.’"
Kingston teamed with Tomohiro Ishii, The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson), & Hangman Page to defeat Konosuke Takeshita, Shota Umino & Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta & Claudio Castagnoli) at Forbidden Door.
Fans can find Fightful's coverage of AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door by clicking here. Check out the post-show podcast for a full review of the action by clicking here.
