The Mad King is at it again. Eddie Kingston sat low on his throne to issue sharp criticism while patting himself on the back. The topic of conversation is toward other world champions.
For context, Kingston was fresh off a successful title defense of the ROH World Championship against Dalton Castle on ROH TV. The champ sat slumped on the floor in exhaustion as he delivered his promo to Lexy Nair.
Eddie Kingston: Nah, thank you, Lexy. I appreciate it. You all rushed me back here to talk. And I get it. It’s part of the business. It’s part of the deal. You know what I mean? Everybody back here is making their money. My man with the boom over here. Yeah, I get it.
I don’t want to do this, because I am legit tired. And I’m not just tired from defending this championship (ROH World Championship). I’m not just tired from defending the (NJPW) Strong Openweight Championship, which I have to do against Kojima coming up. I’m tired, because I see certain world champions not on shows or only doing one show, getting eight or nine segments taking up the show.
When you’re a world champion, right, you’re supposed to take whatever company you’re with and you become the tide. You’re no longer one of the boats, You are the tide that raises all the ships. That’s what I’m getting tired of.
I’m getting tired of other world champions not doing their job. I’m tired that people like me, Orange Cassidy, even Mox are the tide. And we have other world champions who are just selfish greedy. I want to curse. That’s why I’m holding the rosaries, but I won’t.
All I have to say to the Ring of Honor fans and all pro wrestling fans, I am a world champion that is true. No one else. Remember that.
Excuse me while I break out the tiny violin for the Sad King. For a character that is touchy about anyone butting into his business, he sure has no problem airing criticism of others. With all that bravado he bellows, you would think he wouldn’t take the cowardly way out by not naming names. And frankly, this whole promo is just weird.
However, the promo is a success. It gets people talking. Kingston needs to create attention while working his butt off with a busy schedule defending two titles in two promotions that often fly under the radar. ROH and NJPW Strong have their ardent fanbase, but it’s not nearly on the level of AEW and NJPW proper.
The problem is that the target of Kingston’s vitriol needs to be clearer. His reasons are sound, but he needs to be more direct. If his target is Roman Reigns in WWE, that is weak, because there is no pay-off. I was wondering if maybe Kingston was picking a fight with Sanada from NJPW to meet at the ROH Final Battle PPV on December 15, but Sanada doesn’t seem to fit that description. EC3 and Alex Shelley are working hard as world champs in NWA and Impact respectively. Heck, maybe it is a surprise call out of Gran Guerrero with the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship. That’s out of left field, but I would probably rather see that match than an ROH defense against Jay Lethal.
Let’s not kid ourselves though. There is one man in particular we are all thinking of. Maxwell Jacob Friedman.
Kingston was sure not to mention MJF when applauding the efforts of Orange Cassidy and Jon Moxley. There is truth to MJF’s light schedule, however, the timing of Kingston’s promo is poor. Six months ago? Cool. Have at it. Now? MJF is wrestling more frequently and even pulling double duty on PPVs. His storyline is also carrying the weekly shows even when not in action. In my opinion, MJF’s work qualifies as the tide raising all ships.
AEW fans would love to see a battle between Kingston and MJF. This promo isn’t the angle to take. Kingston needs to reset his talking points before coming at the true world champion.
What’s your reaction to the promo from Eddie Kingston?
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