Eddie Kingston might be the most interesting wrestling story in 2020. He came on like a house on fire towards the end of the year and got a lot of attention for his feud with Jon Moxley. Considering both WWE and AEW wanted him, perhaps it shouldn't come as a total shock.
Before he made waves in AEW, Kingston had been wrestling on the independent scene for around 16 years. He'd struggled to make it to the main roster of any huge company and part of the reason might have been his unorthodox style and attitude towards the business. So, when he told Renee Paquette on her Podcast Oral Sessions why he ultimately went with AEW, the decision made sense.
Kingston had a tryout once with WWE. It was as the company was prepping for the first Mae Young Classic and he realized it was not likely to result in an offer since no one was even focused on the guys. He told himself to just go out and have fun and in doing so, he had a don't give a sh-t attitude during some of his promos. When he mentioned that he'd been attacked by guns and knives and that this was easier than the drill the Performance Center just put the recruits through, if caught some people off guard. When he said that where he comes from, his people believed in Tupac more than Santa Claus, the confused looks and stunned reactions told him he was not going to get selected.
WWE had likely written him off and it wasn't until AEW put him on television that WWE became keenly interested in bringing him in.
His Mother Was The Final Piece Of The Puzzle
Considering all the factors he could have used to weigh his decision, Kingston said it was his mother than steered him to AEW. He noted that she said, "You won't be happy over there." What she meant was, WWE wouldn't understand him and he'd lose his cool.
He said, "Who knows me better than my mother?" and then talked about how he felt AEW wrestlers had more heart and came from where he did, versus a lot of WWE stars that weren't wrestlers before being turned into household names. He and his mother felt AEW would just understand him better.