Eddie Kingston Comments on Passing of Mad Kurt, Says Mental Health Is Overlooked in Wrestling

In an interview with ESPR (via Post Wrestling), Eddie Kingston commented on the passing of his friend Kurtis ‘Mad Kurt’ Chapman, who he knew from his tours of the UK. Kingston noted that mental illness is something that gets overlooked often in the pro wrestling industry.

He said: “It’s overlooked in the world. Not just the wrestling world. It’s looked over in any sport (Kingston said about mental health). In any part of the world. Because you know, mental health, we still got people out there that look at mental health as something fake or something not real and then we also have people take advantage of mental health stuff so, people don’t know what’s real and what’s not real. But, I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it, I know other people have seen it. I’ve lost friends who didn’t talk about it. We just recently lost a friend in Britain named Mad Kurt. Rest in peace. None of us thought anything was wrong because he was such a funny dude, such a bringer of life in the locker room, you know what I mean? You don’t see the struggle or the war people are having inside and people usually think they can do it on their own, or they’re gonna be looked down upon if they speak on it. Nah man, get yourself better dawg. That’s the way I look at things. I don’t wanna see nobody who, A, I care about or, B, someone else cares about, take their own life because they didn’t talk or they were scared to talk. There’s no reason to be scared and to me, people who make fun of it or don’t accept it, they don’t get it and that’s fine. They don’t have to get it. There’s nothing wrong with them either. But there are people there who do get it and you’ll find those people, and they’ll be there with you.”

Meanwhile, Kingston was asked about a story independent wrestler Joe Black told about his generosity. Black said that Kingston gave him money out of his own pocket when Black wasn’t paid for a show. When Black tried to give the money back, Kingston said not to disrespect him.

Kingston added: “Ah, man I can’t believe Joe put that out there (the story of Kingston helping him). I didn’t want that out there because I didn’t want people — ah. Look, I like this kid Joe Black… I wish somebody would pick him up or he would get more burn or maybe it’s because I haven’t paid more attention to the independents and I feel horrible for that. But, he’s a good kid and I saw he didn’t get paid and you know, I understand how that is, how you drive hours and you don’t get paid and I was like, ‘Look man, here. Here’s some scraps.’ I didn’t want the kid to go hungry or, you know what I mean, whatever. He went in there, he had a match, he went balls to the wall so, I gave him money. I don’t know! I don’t know what to say! It felt like the right thing to do at the time and I wish he didn’t tell people. Because I’m offering it to you (is why I felt it was disrespectful for him to hand the money back). That’s the way I look at things. Don’t take my offer and disrespect it, you know what I mean?“