Eddie Kingston has opened up about his mental health struggles, especially after watching AEW Revolution.
Kingston has been out of action for nearly a year after suffering a broken leg and torn ACL while competing for New Japan. Providing regular updates, the former Continental Champion is scheduled to be back in summer 2025 with many fans looking forward to seeing The Mad King back on TV, especially due to his previous associations with current World Champion Jon Moxley. However, according to Kingston, a recent show left him with doubts.
AEW Revolution 2025 saw multiple high-quality matches take place such as MJF vs. Adam Page, Toni Storm vs. Mariah May, Will Ospreay vs. Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kenny Omega. While speaking with the Way of the Blade podcast, Kingston admitted he was questioning his own abilities when the show was over:
“This will probably get clipped or f*cking whatever. I don’t care… I haven’t really watched AEW. I watched the — not Dynasty. The pay-per-view before that, Revolution, and just, you know, I’m at a place right now where I’m trying to — my mind is like a minefield right now, with this injury and trying to get back, that I’m just trying to maneuver my way around these minefields, and watching that pay-per-view made me just go, ‘I can’t hang with these guys.’ Made me doubt myself.
So I’m more focused on breaking that doubt than somebody I can feud with… And here comes the egotistical side of me. No one can hang with me if they wanna feud. A lot of guys are pro wrestling-tough, are pro wrestling-crazy. I’ve done it outside. I’ve done sh*t that it’s real life. I’m not saying I’m from the ghetto and all that. No. I grew up in a good neighborhood but chose to be an asshole. I chose to go down a certain path, because I didn’t want people to f*ck with me. It’s a whole psychology thing. I didn’t want people to f*ck with me so I wanted to show everyone I was tough. Let me go hang out in the tough neighborhoods. That was my mental at eight, nine years old.
So I don’t think anyone — if they wanna go, I don’t think they can, to be honest. But… see, the yin and yang, the duality of Eddie is that I gotta first feel like I can hang with them and as of right now, as of today, Yankees lose, April 8th, 2025. Right now, my body is telling me I can’t hang with nobody right now. I need time. So I can’t even think about feuding with anybody right now. First, I gotta get myself physically and mentally ready… I’ll get there. Trust me, I’ll get there.”
Eddie Kingston Provides Recovery Update
Throughout his road to recovery, Kingston has regularly provided updates to the fans regarding his progress. An update in late 2024 provided an indication as to whether Eddie Kingston could make his return ahead of schedule.
H/t to POST Wrestling.