Eddie Kingston is back on AEW television, and he’s making sure the fans who stuck with him during his absence know exactly how much it meant.
Kingston returned to the win column on Saturday, defeating Jake Doyle in the main event of the August 8 episode of AEW Collision to advance to the quarterfinals of the inaugural Continental Challenge Cup tournament.
In an AEW digital exclusive released the following day, Kingston opened up about his time away from television, acknowledging that the hiatus was ultimately his own doing without getting into further specifics.
I’ve been away too long. Granted, my own doing. That’s for you guys to wonder and for me to know, okay? But I missed every single one of you fans. And I’m not saying that being the corny, ‘Hooray.’ Nah, man. I missed every single one of you because you guys give me energy. You guys give me energy to keep fighting when I don’t want to.
What Kingston did make clear was how much the fans carried him through it. He said missing the AEW audience wasn’t some hollow talking point — their support genuinely gave him the energy to keep fighting, even on days he didn’t feel like it.
Kingston recalled running into fans repeatedly while working the independent scene during his time off AEW programming, with many asking when he’d be back on TV. He told each of them they inspired him, admitting he wasn’t sure they believed him at the time.
All those people that I met when I was doing the independents, when I was off TV, coming up to me, ‘When are you getting back on, Eddie? Eddie, we need to see you back on.’ And I told each and every one of them, ‘You inspire me.’ They didn’t believe me. Well, this is for all of y’all that didn’t believe me.
Now, with his Continental Challenge Cup run underway, Kingston is dedicating the entire tournament to those fans specifically — the ones who told him across every promotion he worked that they couldn’t wait to see him back on television. According to Kingston, this run is for them, and he’s fighting in the tournament on their behalf.
This tournament, this cup, is for every single person that I met in all the promotions that I worked for who came up to me and said, ‘I can’t wait to see you back on TV again.’ This is all for you. I fight for you in this tournament, for you.
