AEW Continental Crown Champion Eddie Kingston recently spoke with WrestlingNews.co’s Steve Fall on a number of topics including Terry Funk’s influence on pro wrestling and why Funk is such an influence on a lot of people.
Kingston said, “Oh, because of his passion for wrestling and he did it right. You never hear anyone say anything bad about Terry. To me when I noticed that about him, that’s a goal. I know people have bad things to say about me but I’m trying my best to not have them say back and I’m trying to be like Terry in that sense that someone who does good business and who was respected in our industry and I think that’s what Terry left behind. He left how to do it, you know what I mean? And how to be a pro and how to conduct yourself as such. So that’s why I think Terry influenced everybody because of what he did in the ring but also what he did outside of the ring. And you hear the stories about him not being selfish and about him being willing to help the younger generation of guys. ECW wouldn’t have popped off if it wasn’t for Terry Funk. People can say whatever they want, but Funk was there in 93, 94 really helping that company grow.”
Where he sees AEW in one year:
“I still see it growing. I know a lot of people said, “Oh AEW fell off’ or whatever they say on the internet. Look, as long as I’m around AEW is not falling off, we’ll be alright. As long as I’m able to wrestle and certain guys like Mox and other guys are still wrestling, AEW ain’t going nowhere. And it’s not going down nowhere. Like I remember hearing someone say, ‘Oh, we’re back. We’re back.’ AEW is back after scumbag Okada debut. And I was just like, I didn’t go anywhere. No one went anywhere. There’s no one back. We’ve been here. You know, I mean, it’s not our fault you weren’t watching. We’re busting our asses still everyday. To put out great matches and great professional wrestling. So just because you guys went away doesn’t mean that we’re back. We’ve been there. So no, I just see AEW growing and continuing to grow and as long as I’m alive and kicking and able to get in the ring, AEW is gonna keep rolling.”
How fans might not have been watching AEW as of late, but might tune in to watch Big Business:
“Why wouldn’t they? You have the world champion defending his championship against another big guy in Wardlow who’s different now. He’s not the same Wardlow that Joe face before, I can tell you that much. I see the way he walks around backstage. He’s a different Wardlow. Of course you got the six man. I’m going to try to bust Okada open. And I know PAC, I don’t get along with but Penta, my best friend, they’re going to try to beat the crap out of the Bucks because they don’t like the Bucks either. Anybody on that card is gonna bust their ass because they know its a big thing. and it’s a big deal. Every Dynamite’s a big deal. Every Rampage is a big deal. Every Collision is a big deal. Every pay-per-view is a big deal. Because that’s how we all treat it. Everybody on the roster treats every show, as if it’s the last one that we’re going to be able to do. So we try to put out everything we can when we’re in there.That’s what people can expect. It doesn’t matter who’s on the court or what the court is, whoever is on is gonna bust their asses for you. Because we love this. This is not just work. This is not just a business to a lot of us. This is our lives. And this is what we wanted to do since we were kids. And we get to live out our dreams. So we’re not going to make it a nightmare. You know what I mean? We’re going to try to make still a dream.”
If he is surprised that Penta El Zero Miedo is not AEW World Champion:
“I don’t find it surprising, because everybody is so competitive. And we have so many good wrestlers that, you know, it may take you a minute to get to where you want to get to. I’m the Triple Crown Champion now, but I want to be World Champion, because that’s the top of our industry is being the World Champion. And look, we have so much competition in our locker room that yeah, some of us will never reach that. But some of us will. It all depends on the moment. And if we can take advantage of it. I firmly believe that if you put Penta in there with anybody including me, he has a great chance of taking on any title he wants. He just needs the opportunity. And that comes down to competition because some guys just get there before others. It’s all about timing. That’s life.”
How the AEW fans can expect to see at least one surprise on Dynamite Big Business:
“They can expect at least one surprise. And they can also expect just hard hitting high flying. Like a buffet of wrestling. Something different for everybody. If you don’t like my style, you’ll like Penta. If you don’t like Penta’s style, you’ll like the EVPs..there’ll be something there for everyone.”
“See, I don’t know any of that. I just know there’s something going down because we don’t name a show unless something’s going down. All that other stuff is above my pay grade but again, we don’t name Dynamite shows just for sh*ts and giggles. There’s something that’s gonna go down.”
You can check out Kingston’s comments in the video below.
