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Veteran independent wrestler Eddie Kingston recently inked a deal with All Elite Wrestling.
During an interview with Chris Jericho on the latest episode of Talk Is Jericho, Kingston revealed that he received two calls after facing Cody Rhodes for the TNT Championship on AEW Dynamite. One call came from Christopher Daniels, offering another AEW booking, and the other was from “the competition”.
Kingston revealed WWE has been trying to get him to become a coach at the WWE Performance Center for years, but has always turned them down. After his appearance on AEW Dynamite, WWE called him to offer him something “other than coaching”.
He accepted the additional booking from AEW, and explained to them that he was begging for a job, but did reveal he was contacted by WWE.
EDDIE KINGSTON: But my thing was, and I told them, I can’t collect a paycheck if I didn’t earn it. They were like, ‘What do you mean?’ And my thing was, I was gonna go in there, coach, be bitter and angry about coaching, not getting a shot. And these guys who don’t, they love wrestling now cause they’re at the Performance Center, no offense to them …
CHRIS JERICHO: No. Getting paid.
EDDIE KINGSTON: Yeah.
CHRIS JERICHO: It’s great when you’re under contract in your first year.
EDDIE KINGSTON: But when you’re on the road getting paid hot dogs and soda …. But I would’ve been so bitter and angry. I wouldn’t have done a good job. I would have been detrimental to those kids. So I was like, “Naw, I’m good.”
His career spans back to 2002, working for various independent and national promotions including CZW, PWG, NWA, Ring Of Honor, Impact Wrestling, and Jersey All Pro Wrestling. Eddie Kingston received a WWE tryout in 2016.
Eddie Kingston signed a deal with All Elite Wrestling at the end of July.
Check out the full interview below
Special thanks to Pro Wrestling Sheet for the transcription.