Eddie Kingston on WWE vs. AEW tribalism: ‘Don’t cut yourself off from enjoying wrestling’

Eddie Kingston is urging fans to avoid tribalism and not cut themselves off from watching wrestling they might enjoy.

While speaking with CBS Sports, Kingston said that — while he might take shots at WWE from time to time — there is no actual hatred there. He’s just a member of the other team right now. He hopes fans don’t get caught up in that tribalistic mindset.

“We’re independent contractors, dog. Why would anybody want places to close? I don’t want a place to close. Am I going to talk sh*t about WWE? Yes. Why? Because I’m not there and I’m with the other team right now. That’s it. There’s no hatred. I got friends there, dog. And I don’t have a lot of friends, but the people who I do consider my friends — some of them are there. You think I want them out of a job? Hell no. Because then they’re going to come for me for money, and of course I’m a sucker for them, so I’m going to give them money and then I’m going to be broke. And I don’t want that,” Kingston said.

“Like I tell people, man: leave taking shots to the boys. Let the boys do it, because it’s fun for us, you know what I mean? That’s it, you know what I’m saying? It’s fun for us. But fan-wise? Don’t cut yourself off from enjoying wrestling.”

Kingston said that, when he was a WWF fan in the 1990s, he would have missed so much great wrestling if he only stuck to one company. Instead, he got to watch the nWo in WCW and see some incredible cruiserweights. And he was also able to see ECW revolutionize the business by offering something different than the two main companies.

After being sidelined for more than a year due to injury, Kingston will make his return at AEW All Out this Saturday. He’s facing Big Bill at the pay-per-view, which has a 3 p.m. Eastern start time after the show was moved to the afternoon to avoid WWE’s counter-programming efforts.

CBS Sports asked Kingston what it means to him that AEW considers his return a significant part of the All Out card (with the show happening on the same day as WWE Wrestlepalooza).

“Humbly, it’s flattering that they think I matter that much, that I can help that much,” Kingston said. “I don’t think too highly of myself. Not because it’s a beat yourself up thing. I was taught that the meek shall inherit the Earth. So you gotta be humble. So I’m very humbled that they believe I can help in whatever bullsh*t war or bullsh*t thing that’s going on. Because all it is, is bullsh*t, you know what I mean? It’s competition, and it’s one place wanting to monopolize. And there’s another place that doesn’t want to monopolize — for now. Because you know how once people get power, it changes. So let’s not get it twisted. I’d like to think if the shoe was on the other foot, things wouldn’t go down like that, you know, the way it is. But power corrupts, man.

“But, anyway, I’m very flattered about that. And at the end of the day, guess what? You know who wins? Who really wins in all of this? Pro wrestling fans.”