Eddie Kingston on in-ring return: ‘I finally have a little peace in my life’
Being back in the ring has brought AEW star Eddie Kingston some peace in his life.
In 2024, Kingston suffered a broken leg and torn ACL that kept him away from the ring for more than a year. He returned in September 2025 but recently had to miss some shows last month due to severe migraines. Kingston is now back in action again and will be in Canada tonight for Ring of Honor & Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling’s Global Wars event.
Kingston spoke with The Takedown on SI ahead of the show and addressed what it’s been like to return after his leg injury caused such a long layoff.
“Oh I love it. I finally have a little peace in my life, believe it or not,” he said. “Being in the ring brings me peace and all that chaos in the ring and fighting in the ring brings me peace. It is what it is, you know what I mean.
“So having that in my life is great, but nah it’s normal, it’s the same old stuff. I don’t get paid to wrestle, I would wrestle for free. I get paid for everything else before the ring. But that’s all the same, that’s all the same, but I’m back where I’m meant to be in the ring.”
Tonight’s Global Wars show will see Kingston & Ortiz team up against Adam Priest & Tommy Billington. Along with their on-screen partnership, Kingston & Ortiz are planning to open a wrestling school. Kingston told The Takedown on SI that he has difficulty seeing himself as an inspiration to the younger generation. He does not view himself at the same level as his heroes like Terry Funk, Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, or Eddie Gilbert.
“I tell them, ‘Don’t look up to me. It took me 18 years, what are you nuts?’ Don’t do what I do, let me crash out, let me yell, let me scream, let me do all that, let me be a pain in the ass,” Kingston said about his advice for younger wrestlers. “You do the opposite of me and you’ll be okay.
“Look, you can do it my way, it’s just gonna be hard. And you’re gonna make it harder on yourself, but you’re gonna have your morals, you’re gonna take your stand and you’re gonna die on your hill or hills. I’m learning how to take that ‘s’ out of the equation and just have a hill. It’s like I wake up in the morning and say, ‘Which hill is it today?'”
Kingston said his remaining goals in wrestling include winning the AEW World Championship and Tag Team titles, along with wrestling at Budokan Hall in Japan.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.