AEW has a superstar in Eddie Kingston
AEW is someone special in Eddie Kingston. From the moment he walked through the tunnel to challenge Cody Rhodes for the TNT Championship, fans have hung on nearly every word from the Yonkers, New York native. Kingston may have taken the loss at AEW Full Gear, but the promotion has a special opportunity to create a huge star for the company.
If you need any further idea of how big a star Kingston can be for AEW, just look to his recent piece in The Players’ Tribune. Paragraph after paragraph, Kingston dives into his life and struggles that pushed him into many dark places before landing with AEW during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dark places that still haunt him today.
Even before Kingston’s debut in AEW his delivery and presence resonated with wrestling fans because they know and love people just like him. Eddie Kingston is believable. Yes, many fans want to look or be like their favorite wrestling stars; six-feet tall, sculpted from stone, athletic, beautiful to the beholder. But they aren’t. And it is that fact that often helps some of the stars that are more believable get over with wrestling fans. Kingston embodies all those ideas.
The CM Punk versus Eddie Kingston match was one of the most-anticipated contests on the card. And it delivered. Kingston and Punk tore into each other. Punk showing flashes of the heelish character that led to his rise in WWE, while Kingston was beating up a man that he felt looked down upon him for years. It was a battle that many wrestling fans could relate to. Of course Kingston lost because Punk is still the returning darling, building toward his own big moment in AEW after being away from wrestling for seven years. But Kingston shouldn’t be forgotten about in this moment at all.
The angle of Kingston consistently losing big matches is the opportunity to push him to the forefront. The same way fans got behind Bryan Danielson when he was just a “B+ Player,” or the rise of KofiMania, fans are ready to get behind Kingston for his own breakthrough moment. It doesn’t have to come immediately, but it should come and it should come at a time when Kingston, in many ways represents everything about AEW.
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Eddie Kingston could be a believable AEW champion. Many fans want to see it. It’s almost unbelievable that the idea is growing steam, but it is. Professional wrestling is all about creating moments. Imagine the reaction to Kingston getting a three count and holding the AEW World Heavyweight Title over his head. The mere idea is tear-inducing and that alone is the proof needed that AEW has a big star that was once sitting on steel beams high in New York City.