Eddie Kingston Explains How ECW Brought Him Back Into Wrestling

Eddie Kingston found his love of wrestling again as a teenager thanks to ECW, as he noted in a new interview. Kingston appeared on Talk is Jericho in an episode recorded on the Rock & Wrestling Rager at Sea cruise and discussed how he had stopped watching wrestling as a teen until he found the Paul Heyman-run company.

“I fell out of love with wrestling because it was very kiddy,” Kingston said (per Wrestling Inc). “I just got tired of it … I was becoming a teenager and a friend of mine put on ECW, the first thing I see is New Jack and I go oh, I grew up with guys like that. I see Raven with his whole depression stuff and I go oh, I feel like that. I see [Tommy] Dreamer, he’s from Yonkers and I see Shane Douglas and I see blood and half-naked women.”

He continued, “ECW brought me back into pro wrestling where I found guys like Chris Jericho. ECW brought in Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko. A lot of the style that you see today, yes it’s an elevated version but it would never be on TV if it wasn’t for guys like Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Mr. Jericho himself. ECW gave them that platform.”

Kingston “quit” AEW following last night’s episode of Dynamite.