AEW superstar Eddie Kingston recently joined the MackMania podcast, where the Mad King discussed his sometimes “unreachable” goals, and how he aims to make his career as great as Terry Funk or Kenta Kobashi. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
His desire to reach the levels of Terry Funk and Kenta Kobashi:
“I don’t feel like I reached where I wanna reach. I wanna be perfect. I know I’m never gonna get there. And to me, the perfect wrestlers are Terry Funk, Kenta Kobashi, those are my two perfect wrestlers. But I’m trying to get to their level. I know I may not, but I’m trying to get there. So that’s why when you say am I delivering, nah, I feel like I need to do more because I’m not there yet. I’m gonna get there, I’m gonna get close, I know I am. But I’m not there yet.”
Says whether he is getting cheered or booed, as long as fans are reacting he’s happy:
“Does it feel good when I go out there and the people are hoping crazy and they’re reacting, and they’re chanting, Eddie’? Yeah. But it would also feel good if they were booing. The reaction, that’s what I live for. That’s what drives me a lot of times in the ring. And I don’t care if the fans love me, I don’t care if the fans hate me. As long as they’re watching pro wrestling and as long as they’re reacting to what’s going on, I’m good. I’m good because my job as a pro wrestler is to go in the ring and fight. I can’t worry about what the people are doing. I would worry if there was no reaction. I would go, ‘Well, I’m screwed.”
Says his main goal as a wrestler is to evoke emotion from the crowd:
“And that’s why I always feel like when I go to a new building or a new city, no matter how many times I’ve been there, in my head, I’m like, ‘Okay, I gotta give these people something to react on. I gotta give these people an emotional ride. I gotta get these people to feel me, to understand me, to understand why I’m angry, why I’m this way.’ All this stuff goes through my head and then when the red light goes on, it’s blank. I tell a lot of people the most free I feel is in the pro wrestling ring. It’s in the ring. There’s a feeling of just, it’s euphoric almost. It’s almost out of body, almost, when I’m in there fighting or wrestling in the ring, it’s because I’m free. All the stresses of regular life are gone. It doesn’t matter what happened before that moment. And then once I walk lit that curtain, it’s all gone and I’m free. I almost feel like I’m floating getting into that ring.”
(H/T and transcribed by WrestleZone)