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Eddie Kingston and CM Punk have never shared a ring together until now, but they have crossed paths before.
The two All Elite Wrestling stars have a history going back 15 years to their time on the independent scene where Kingston was a new face and Punk a fast-rising star. They have used their not-so-friendly feelings about each other during that time fuel a heated story going into their match at the Full Gear pay-per-view (8 p.m., Bleacher Report) on Saturday from Target Center.
Before squaring off with Punk for the first time ever, the Yonkers native Kingston took time for some Q&A with The Post Joseph Staszewski.
Edited for clarity and length
Q: You mentioned at one point that you idolized Punk. What made you idolize him early on?
A: Ring of Honor started and you had guys like Low Ki, Homicide, Christopher Daniels, Bryan Danielson and you had guys like CM Punk and Samoa Joe come in and just set the independents on fire when I was in the independents and these guys were top dogs. So, of course, I would look up to the top dogs. With Punk I just loved how he emotionally got to people (with his work) in the ring.
Q: Did you guys have any relationship back then? I know on Dynamite they mention you were really young starting out and carrying bags.
A: We had no relationship to be honest with you. What I said on Rampage was basically all true. He judged me while the other ones still tried to keep helping me. He judged me and gave up on me basically.
Q: How did that make you feel at the time when it was somebody you did idolize?
A: I wanted to rip his throat out and I still do. This hasn’t changed. There has been a lot of resentment for a lot of years. I kept my mouth shut because when he came to AEW he’s a big star. He’s the big money guy. You don’t want to hurt the guy who’s making the most money there. I don’t want to make Tony (Khan) mad by breaking Punk’s leg or arm or face. Now that I have the opportunity to, it’s their fault not mine.
Q: When you say he judged you or gave up on you. Was it, ‘why are we still using this guy’ kind of thing?
A: It was more, why should we care about this guy when other guys would talk with him about me or when other guys would tell him, hey talk to this promoter. Homicide, who is my mentor, would say, ‘hey you think you could talk to so and so for Eddie’ and he’d be like, ‘nah.’
Q: When you do the promo on Rampage, was any of that talked about or planned before with him?
A: No.
Q: So it was just you have a mic, I have a mic, we know what we need to know let’s just let the emotions take us there?
A: Yep, that’s all it was. We didn’t talk the whole day me and him. We still haven’t talked.
Q: Does that help make it even more real?
A: Everything that I say is real. It comes from a real place. So whether I talk to the guy or not about what I’m gonna say or do, it’s coming from a real place.
Q: I know you mentioned earlier this week you tried to use Punk’s promos with John Cena from (Money in the Bank) 2011 and weave that in. What were you hoping to accomplish with that?
A: When you are telling a story, you look at ‘Star Wars’ or something and everything mirrors each other. I just wanted to mirror what that was, how kind of funny it was that he’s in the Cena spot now in my eyes.
Q: This story came about very quickly the past couple weeks and it’s worked. But do you hope it’s more than just a one-off with him that this can be a bigger story told or something you come back to later on?
A: It’s gonna be one match. I’m gonna beat him up really good and he’s not gonna wanna … people think it’s a joke or I’m playing. No, I’m gonna beat him up and he’s gonna go to the back. He’s gonna tell Tony Khan, he’s gonna tell everyone I don’t want to step in the ring with Eddie ever again. And I’m fine with that.
Q: How unlikely did this opportunity seem, where a little over a year ago you don’t know what your wrestling feature is and he has been out of wrestling for seven years?
A: Let’s be honest about it. He quit for seven years. Let’s just not say he left. He quit for seven years. Make sure we put that in there.
Q: You had an article with the Players’ Tribune this week that hit home for a lot of people. Why did you want to reveal your journey and battle with depression in as much detail as you did there?
A: It’s very weird and I don’t like the attention. I did the article not to get attention, I did the article thinking maybe it will help one person. But the response has been pretty overwhelming. When I got very uncomfortable, thank God for my girlfriend for calming me down, because I was just screaming in my house like what is going on. Why are people hitting me up and telling me I did this and that and I inspired this and that. I didn’t get it. But I accept it and if it does help out one person that’s all I care about.
Q: Why is it so hard for you to accept praise and hear good things?
A: My mother and father would tell me it’s the Puerto Rican, Irish Catholic guilt. And people think that’s a joke man. Any Catholic out there can tell you we’re told from birth that we’re born with original sin and that’s it. We’re always on the makeup. That’s the thing that does stuff to you. I really believe it’s that. That Catholic guilt because I always just feel I’m not good enough and I’m always trying to be better.
Q: How would you describe what a good day for you is and what a not so god or a bad day might be dealing with your depression?
A: A good day is me being at home hanging out and just being meditative, hint, hint, wink, wink, and playing video games and having my girl with me and studying wrestling. That’s the perfect day. Bad days, man, are when you wake up and you just don’t want to do anything. And it’s not out of laziness. It’s just your mentally in your own head and you start beating yourself up before you even take the first step out of bed. It’s one of the weirdest feelings I can describe to people.
You wake up and you’re like, ugh. When everything is going great you kind of beat yourself down, but you got to kick yourself out of it. I know it’s easier said than done. I just want to be a prime example for people. Yeah, we all got problems, everybody does. What helps me is just saying in my head move forward, move forward because if I decide to hurt myself in any way I’m not just hurting myself. I’m hurting my family because they have to deal with the repercussions, not just me.
Q: What did the moment at Arthur Ashe Stadium mean for you, to close the Grand Slam show, to have Jon Moxley there, to have Homicide there for that moment?
A: It was very surreal because I never thought it would happen. Having Homicide, someone I look up to and someone I still look up to for advice every day. Having him there, seeing the smile on his face just gave me this warm funny feeling in my chest which I wasn’t used to. And then also looking at Jonny and Jon singing “New York, New York” with us. I had a big smile on my face. And then getting the love from the fans. Like I told you before, I’m working on it. Accepting love is very hard. Giving out love is easy.
Q: Was including Homicide in Grand Slam your idea, Tony’s idea? How did that come about?
A: It was Mox’s idea because Homicide came to visit and hang out and see me. Then we were like, we got to get him on.
Q: So the day of the show, originally, he wasn’t on?
A: No. He just came in to say hello and Mox was like I’m gonna go talk to Tony, we have to do something. We surprised him (Homicide) and it meant a lot to him. He’s not a real emotional dude, He was very grateful.
Q: Speaking of Jon, you’ve had your struggles and he’s going through his own things in alcohol rehab for right now. How have you tried to be there for him?
A: Leading up to everything before he went I just told straight up, ‘dog I’m here for you. I’m not going nowhere.’ That’s all I texted him. I’m here for you. I’m not going nowhere, I got you. I believe that’s all what some people need. They need to know they’re gonna be supported no matter what.
Q: Tony Khan said on the Full Gear media call that when you came in you didn’t know each other that well, but you’ve developed a really good friendship. What made you click on a personal level?
A: We like the same wrestling. One of our first conversations was about Mid-South Wrestling, me telling him how much I like It. He told me how much he loves Buddy Landel. We agreed on how great Buddy Landel is. I was talking about Eddie Gilbert and we just went from there.
He tried to talk to me about AEW and I was like I don’t want to talk about work. I would like to think he appreciated my honesty. He knows when I’m hanging out with him, when we’re talking I’m not doing it for any other reason, just to do it. Just to chill out and talk wrestling and hang out. I’m not there because he’s the boss. I could care less. If he was an asshole, I’d say he was an asshole.
Q: Bryan Danielson mentioned this week he likes getting chopped in the ring, it wakes him up. Do you think that means he really enjoyed your match with him two weeks ago?
A: He’s nuts. I just want to put that out there. I’ve known Bryan for a minute and I can’t tell you why he likes it or why it wakes him up or why he loves to fight. I just love the fact he loves to fight and I love to fight too and we like the physical style. Speaking on the match, I had a blast. I had a blast beating him up and I had a blast (with) him beating me up.
Q: You haven’t wrestled Bryan since 2006. What was it like just getting in the ring with him, someone who is thought of as one of the best wrestlers of his generation?
A: I think at the end of Bryan’s career he’s gonna go down as the best professional wrestler of all time, so that’s why I want to beat him so I can sit there and say I beat the greatest professional wrestler of all time. Bryan’s an inspiration. When he won, I was drinking my brains out around WrestleMania 30. I was down and out. I was depressed. And I watch WrestleMania 30 and I watched Bryan do what Bret Hart did beating three men in one night, being the underdog that did it. I just remember sitting there crying, tearing up, going good for Bryan. He inspired me to keep going. Granted I had more problems after that, but without struggle there is no progress. Bryan is an inspiration.
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