"I got tired of being picked on" - Eddie Kingston on his family teaching him how to fight in school
AEW star Eddie Kingston has opened up about his upbringing and how he originally got into venting his anger and frustrations through fighting. The "Mad King" revealed that his uncles helped him learn to fight after he was picked on in school.
Kingston is half Puerto Rican and half Irish, and was raised in the Bronx area of New York City. He attended a prodominantly catholic school, where he experienced trouble fitting in due to his ethnicity.
Eddie Kingston (@MadKing1981) appreciation tweet.
He's the sole reason in wrestling that I have been public about my struggles with #MentalHealthMatters.
After I'm done training, I hope I see him down the road.
#AEW #AEWDynamite https://t.co/uoMKqvk1Nv
Kingston revealed when, where, and why he learned to fight, to Freddie Prinze Jr. on the "Wrestling with Freddie" podcast. Persistent name-calling and racial slurs led him to ask his uncles how to properly punch someone.
“I learnt how to use my hands about third or fourth grade because I asked my uncles because I got tired of being picked on. When I grew up, and I’ve already said my age but I’m not going to say the year, in elementary school around that time, being mixed was not the thing to be. So I’m in a catholic elementary school being called s***, and then I’m trying to hang out with the Puerto Rican kids and they’re like ‘get out of here you’re too white.’ And I was like ‘you know what, I’m angry now’ so someone teach me how to throw a punch because now I’m going to start swinging,” said Eddie Kingston. [21:05-21:43]
Those days are long gone for the Mad King, as he is not only one of the toughest men in All Elite Wrestling, but he is also well versed in Muay Thai fighting, where he has had two amateur fights.
Eddie Kingston has not been seen on AEW Dynamite since two weeks
Kingston's toughness and Muay Thai experience was no match for the newest faction in AEW, as on the March 9th edition of AEW Dynamite, the Jericho Appreciation Society, led by Chris Jericho, laid out the Mad King whom fans have not seen since.
EDDIE NO! #AEWDynamite #AEWonTBS https://t.co/UlnMocv1UK
Jericho's closest friend in the group, Jake Hager, powerbombed Kingston through a table. Eddie is yet to return to get his revenge. However, it is inevitable that AEW's newest faction will have a world coming to them when they next run into Eddie Kingston.
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Please credit "Wrestling with Freddie" with a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling when using quotes from this article.