Eddie Kingston Clarifies He Doesn’t Want To Retire, Opens Up About Mental Struggles While Being Sidelined

Eddie Kingston has been out of action for over a year, suffering a leg injury against Gabe Kidd at NJPW STRONG Resurgence on May 11, 2024.

Kingston has posted on social media throughout his time away, questioning what he’s seen in AEW and wondering where he fits.

In a new training video with Cezar Bononi, Kingston gave more insight into the mental struggles he’s endured, specifically when he couldn’t go to physical therapy for an extended period of time due to insurance.

“I’m sitting in my own shit. I’m watching AEW, and I’m seeing all the great shit these guys are doing in the ring. Like an emotional bitch, sometimes it happens. I tweet out, ‘What the fuck am I going to do when I come back?’ I’m thinking to myself, how am I going to fight these dudes…people can say what they want about wrestling, but my mental is, ‘How am I going to fight people when they are this good and I wasn’t even that good to begin with, and now I’m coming back off ACL surgery.’ Every Dynamite, every pay-per-view, granted, I did it to myself. I didn’t blame chemical imbalance. I took my zoloft and all that. I knew I’d get out of it, but I didn’t want to. I think a lot of people get to that. Happened to me, spiralling. That’s why the thing came out about me thinking about retirement. I don’t want to fucking retire. I don’t, but during that four or five months during PT, once in a while, I just sat in my own shit thinking, ‘Yeah, fuck. I did the G1. I wanted to do more, but ah, fuck it.’ I’m making excuses for why it’s okay to quit. I think a lot of people get there. It’s not that they are mentally weak, I don’t like using that. It’s just they don’t know how to push. Years ago, I didn’t know how to push,” said Kingston.

Kingston said when he was younger, he didn’t know how to push through, but when you finally get past that mental hurdle and the doubt, things get better.

Kingston is back in the ring and training, but it is unknown when he will return to AEW TV.

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