During a recent interview with Busted Open Radio, Eddie Kingston commented on learning from Taz and others, thinking he has the best promo in the wrestling business, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On believing he’s the best promo guy in pro wrestling: “There’s a sense of pride, but also the ego in me goes ‘Yeah, I know I’ve been the best for so long.’ When people hear that, they’re like ‘What an egomaniac.’ You need a little bit of an ego to be in this business. I’m not gonna sit here and tell you Jon [Moxley] is better than me, Kenny [Omega] is better than me, Hangman – no one is better than me. That’s the attitude I have to have. If I’m gonna survive and survive as long as I have in wrestling, I have to believe I’m the best. I have to believe I’m the best promo guy, I’m the best in the ring. The day I wake up and don’t believe I can kick someone’s ass is the day I don’t get up. My father taught me that as a young man – every man believes every man can get beat up. So, if I wake up one day and think I can’t kick someone’s ass, I’m just not gonna get up off my bed.”
On using Taz and other wrestling veterans as mentors in AEW: “First person is Taz. For those who don’t know – and Taz likes to call me this – I was a huge ECW mark. If it wasn’t for ECW, I wouldn’t be in pro wrestling right now. I was done with wrestling, I was over it – at the time, Bret Hart was a legit shooter, how could he lose to Shawn Michaels? I’m done. I was also becoming a teenager, so I didn’t want any of the cartoony stuff. Here comes ECW – half-naked women, guys bleeding everywhere and beating each other up. I said ‘Well, I’m into this.’ I loved the characters I can relate to. So, Taz is one of the first people I go to. Of course, you’ve got Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard there – how do you not go to them? How do you not sit down and say ‘Hey man, what do you think about this situation or that?’ You have Jake Roberts there – how do you not try to pick his brain for psychology reasons? There are so many veterans there. It’s ridiculous how blessed we really truly are.”
On the impact Tracy Smothers had on him: “Tracy Smothers was the first guy to believe in me and my old partner. He was the first veteran we met at the time that actually went out of his way and was so open and honest and wanted to help us. He just loved pro wrestling. It was insane to me how much Tracy loved pro wrestling, and he loved you if you were a wrestler until he got to know you, and if you were a scumbag, you were scumbag. But in the beginning, Tracy loves you because you were a pro wrestler. He helped so many people. That’s why it hurt so many people to hear about his passing, especially the younger guys. There are so many guys who I don’t even talk to anymore that were texting me asking if I was OK about Tracy. That’s how much he meant to people. That’s why I dedicated this match to him.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
