AEW Superstar Eddie Kingston was recently interviewed by PWInsider and spoke about the Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega match from AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam which ended in a 30-minute time limit draw and is now being highly regarded as one of the best televised wrestling matches in recent memory. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
Eddie Kingston on his reaction to Kenny Omega vs. Bryan Danielson at AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam: “Well, usually I don’t watch anything that I’m not on because I don’t care, because I got to pay attention to what I do. But I watched Kenny and Bryan. And I watched Bryan because I respected Bryan for years on The Independents, The American Dragon. That man was part of the original Ring of Honor guys with Low Ki and Homicide and Samoa Joe, and CM Punk and everybody. And I always watched Bryan. Even when I watched Bryan win WrestleMania 30, when he won those two matches. Bryan has been an inspiration to so many of us. So to watch him back in the ring and go balls to the wall and wrestle, and pro wrestle, that’s where he belongs. He belongs in a pro-wrestling ring. If anyone was born for this it was Bryan. And then seeing Kenny, I have to watch Kenny. Kenny is the World Champion, the World Champion. He’s at the top spot in our sport, so of course I’m going to watch that. And of course I’m going to scout Kenny and Bryan a little bit because I need to get in the ring with those two if I want to be World Champion at some point.
“So that match I was fully focused on. And they went out there and they put on a professional wrestling match for 30 minutes on live TV. I don’t know, maybe I’m being too dramatic, but I don’t remember the last time we saw, on national television, a 30-minute straight wrestling match. And I hope there’s a kid up there watching last night and fell in love with wrestling, like I did when I saw Mitsuhara Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada, or like I did when I saw Bret Hart wrestle 1-2-3 Kid on Raw, or when I watched the Hollywood Blondes against Shane Douglas and Ricky Steamboat, or when I first tuned into ECW and saw all that madness. I just hope there was one kid, just one, that was out there and fell in love with pro-wrestling because of those two, because in my opinion, those two made the whole locker room fall back in love with pro wrestling.”
On CM Punk’s impact on AEW: “He’s a great addition to the locker room, man. I see him with the younger guys and he’s talking to the younger guys. And yeah, I can see it in his eyes, he’s happy, he’s hungry. He’s happy to be back in professional wrestling and he’s hungry to show that he still is that, quote, unquote, “The best in the world.” And that’s a beautiful thing when you have that hunger and that drive and you’re in there with younger guys, and you’re going to push yourself to that. For Punk, I don’t want to speak for him, but just by looking in his eyes, he definitely has something to prove to the world and I love it. And I love it. And knowing Punk, and seeing him on the Indies, seeing him in the WWE and now seeing him in the AEW, I know he’s going to prove it. And I know he’s going to help out the roster. And think about this man, seven years ago, eight years ago, none of us thought Punk will be back in pro-wrestling, none of us did. He, to me, again not putting words in anyone’s mouth, I’m just speaking for myself, to me it felt like he was done with pro-wrestling, that’s it, his passion was going. And now just seeing him back, and looking forward to his match on Rampage on TNT Friday, I just can’t wait. And I can’t wait for the people to see it.”