Eddie Kingston looks to be on the road back to an AEW ring — and he’s wasting no time calling his shot. After over a year on the sidelines, Kingston confirmed via Instagram that he has officially signed a contract for his return, setting his sights on Big Bill.
The update came through a screencap Kingston shared on Threads, where he wrote:
“So got the phone call and the money is right and the contract is signed on my end. So Big Bill you dumb goofy bastard just send location.”
Fans were surprised when Big Bill publicly challenged Kingston during a recent episode of AEW Collision, given Kingston’s lengthy absence. The “Mad King” has been out of action since tearing both his ACL and meniscus in a hard-hitting match against NJPW’s Gabe Kidd at Resurgence. Though Kingston gave a positive rehab update last month, the timing wasn’t right for him to compete at Forbidden Door. Now, however, it looks like he’s ready to settle the score.
The ball is in Big Bill’s court when it comes to choosing the time and place. In the meantime, Bill has kept busy in AEW despite mentor Chris Jericho’s absence since dropping the ROH World Championship in April. Teaming with fellow “Learning Tree” member Bryan Keith, Bill competed in this summer’s AEW World Tag Title Eliminator Tournament, though the duo fell in the first round to Juice Robinson and Austin Gunn.
With Kingston freshly cleared and fired up, and Big Bill standing tall as one of AEW’s most imposing big men, fans could be in for a bruising return match that sets the tone for Kingston’s next chapter.
It’s been nearly a year since Eddie Kingston last stepped inside the squared circle, and while fans have been eagerly awaiting his return, it looks like “The Mad King” is still battling through the recovery process.
Kingston suffered a broken tibia and additional injuries during an NJPW STRONG match in May 2024, where he lost the NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship to Gabe Kidd in a brutal no-rope, last man standing match. Since then, he’s been on the road to recovery—but it hasn’t been easy.
According to a new update from PWInsider, Kingston is dealing with more than just his leg injury. Speaking candidly about his struggles, Kingston admitted:
“S** is hard and when it rains, it pours. I f**ed my stomach up from stress and I am waiting for results, then back to physical therapy. I got new insurance that cost an arm and leg.”
While the original expectation was for Kingston to return sometime in summer 2025, it’s unclear if his latest health setback will push that timeline even further.
Kingston Staying Inspired by ’90s Wrestling
Despite the challenges, Kingston is still keeping his love for wrestling alive. He revealed that throughout his rehabilitation, he’s been immersing himself in classic ’90s wrestling—particularly ECW, AJPW, and NJPW—and encouraged fans to do the same.
Meanwhile, the title Kingston lost to Kidd has remained in the spotlight, with Kidd holding onto the NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship ever since. His most recent defense came at NJPW Battle in the Valley, where he fought Tomohiro Ishii to a 30-minute draw.
What’s Next for The Mad King?
Kingston’s return to AEW and NJPW is still uncertain, but if there’s one thing fans know about him, it’s that he never stays down for long. Whether it’s this summer or later in 2025, expect Eddie Kingston to come back with a vengeance—and probably with a few more ‘90s wrestling tapes to recommend along the way.
Eddie Kingston took to Instagram today to announce that he underwent surgery for a torn ACL. It is said that Kingston is likely to be out of action for 9-12 months.
Eddie Kingston will require surgery for his leg injury that he suffered during his match with Gabe Kidd at the NJPW Resurgence event. Kingston suffered a tibular fracture during the bout.
Kingston confirmed to Pwinsider that he suffered tears to his ACL and meniscus and will need surgery. It is said that Kingston will be out for around nine months.
Kingston said, “This part of the game. Injuries happen. I will be back.”
This past weekend, Eddie Kingston lost his NJPW Strong Openweight Championship at NJPW Strong Resurgence in a No Ropes Last Man Standing Match against Gabe Kidd, which saw Kingston suplexed out of the ring, his leg colliding with the barricade. It was recently speculated that Kingston was dealing with a legitimate, significant injury and the worst seems to be confirmed.
On “AEW Dynamite,” AEW EVPs Matt and Nick Jackson explained that Kingston was too injured to compete in the upcoming Anarchy In The Arena Match at AEW Double or Nothing on May 26. Kingston was supposed to team with FTR and former rival Bryan Danielson to defend AEW’s honor against The New Elite’s Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, Kazuchika Okada, and Jack Perry. There is no word on how long Kingston will be out of action. While the barricade legitimately injured Kingston, The Young Bucks and Jack Perry added narrative salt in the wound by attacking the former ROH World Champion after his loss. The attack marked the Bucks’ first time back in an NJPW ring since before AEW was founded in 2019.
Kingston took to Instagram to share a photo of him, seated in a wheelchair, smoking a cigar, captioned with a quote from famed amateur wrestler Dan Gable.
Kingston will be replaced by former AEW TNT Champion Darby Allin, who returned from numerous injuries, including being hit by a bus, to help FTR and Danielson fight off the New Elite at the end of the episode. According to Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez, Allin said he is not 100% heading into the brutal match, as on top of his many injuries, a superplex during the show’s main event led to Allin getting hit in the head with a beam while he was hiding under the ring.
Darby notes he's not 100%, he's still got a limp and his nose was broken by a fucking bus, and he thinks a beam hit him in the head when Dax did that superplex, so he needs to go to the hospital or something. He vows to see us next time.
Eddie Kingston appeared at Sunday’s ROH TV tapings in Orlando, FL to provide an update on his injury.
Just last month, it was reported that Kingston has been dealing with a hernia injury and would likely need surgery. Kingston has now confirmed that he’ll be undergoing surgery on Tuesday, and he believes he’ll be able to return to action in around six weeks.
Kingston’s last match came at the ROH Supercard of Honor pay-per-view event on March 31st.
During a promo on Thursday’s Ring of Honor TV, Eddie Kingston Kingston revealed he wrestled against Claudio Castagnoli at the March 31 ROH Supercard of Honor with a hernia. Kingston said he likely will require surgery. He also noted that he has been dealing with the hernia since last September. He was unsuccessful in capturing the ROH World Championship.
He was originally scheduled to square off against Gabriel Kidd at this Sunday’s NJPW Collision PPV in Philadelphia, but was pulled off the event due to injury and replaced by Orange Cassidy. This match will now be for the AEW International Title, currently held by Cassidy.
Throughout his time with All Elite Wrestling, Eddie Kingston has still maintained a healthy schedule of independent shows on many weekends to complement his work on “AEW Dynamite” and “AEW Rampage.” While speaking to Marc Maron on a special wrestling-themed episode of “WTF,” Kingston discussed his reasons for continuing to work independent promotions, and shared that he usually makes a charitable donation with a significant portion of his earnings.
“I like doing the independents still,” Kingston said. “Because without the independents, I would’ve went nuts years ago. … A lot of times — well, they already announced it a couple times. I hate it when they do this. I usually will go there and do a show, but I’ll tell them, ‘Take half my money, and give it to a charity that’s local.’ And I tell them not to announce it, just do it. And they announced it anyways.” Kingston stated that he sees these donations as his way of giving back after working his way through the independents for most of his career.
Over the last year, Kingston has stayed busy working for promotions across the country such as House of Glory, Beyond Wrestling, DEFY, and Glory Pro. On top of his work with his home promotion and on the independents, the AEW star has competed for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, facing off against Tomohiro Ishii and even teaming with Kazuchika Okada to wrestle “Switchblade” Jay White and Juice Robinson of Bullet Club in October. After months of trash talk back and forth, Kingston will soon return to the promotion to face White in a singles match at NJPW Battle in the Valley on February 18.
Eddie Kingston was reportedly suspended recently for getting into a verbal dispute with Sammy Guevera.
According to Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer, Kingston “was secretly suspended from AEW” a few weeks ago after a backstage incident involving Guevera. However, Kingston has already finished serving the suspension imposed upon him by AEW President Tony Khan.
Fightful Select later confirmed Meltzer’s report, noting that the word backstage was that “Guevara made a comment about Kingston’s physique,” which prompted Kingston to take a swing at Guevera. “We’ve not confirmed that with anyone that witnessed it, and reached out to both parties,” the report noted.
Fightful added that due to Kingston’s absence from recent AEW tapings, at least one segment to build up to his once-planned All Out match against Guevera has been scrapped. It’s unknown if the match will be finalized during next week’s All Out go-home shows.
Kingston and Guevera have been feuding on AEW TV since the latter helped Chris Jericho defeat Kingston in a Barbed Wire Everywhere Match last month. Thereafter, on the August 3 episode of “AEW Dynamite,” Kingston interrupted a Guevera/Tay Melo video package to challenge Guevera to a match at All Out. When Guvera accepted the challenge at the August 10 “AEW Rampage” tapings, Kingston appeared via video screen and said he was going on a vacation. This was followed by Ruby Soho & Ortiz challenging Guevera & Tay to a future match.
Interestingly, the segment where Guevara accepted Kingston’s challenge never aired on the August 12 “AEW Rampage,” and no reference to the match has been made since. One can assume this was due to Kingston serving his suspension.
Guevara & Melo will defend their AAA Mixed Tag Team titles against Ortiz and Soho this week on “AEW Rampage.” If the Kingston vs. Guevera match is still planned for All Out, Kingston could potentially return soon. According to Fightful, it is unknown if the “situation has since been rectified, or the status of the match moving forward.”
Eddie Kingston and Malakai Black didn’t appear at this morning’s Big Event convention in New York City, according to PWInsider.
It was announced to fans they weren’t there due to injuries sustained at last night’s AEW Full Gear.
On last night’s show, Malakai Black teamed up with Andrade El Idolo against Cody Rhodes and PAC. Not the most cohesive tag match, but a physical bout from all of those involved. The end of the match saw PAC get the pin on Andrade
For Kingston, he was in less of a match, but rather a “fistfight” as described by AEW Announcer Jim Ross. Kingston battled CM Punk in hotly contested match that found more and more fans booing CM Punk by the end of the bout.
Despite his effort, Kingston got tagged with the GTS for the pinfall loss. Post-match, Punk attempted to shake his hand, but Eddie Kingston bailed out of the ring.
In the post-PPV media scrum, Bryan Danielson — who earned a future AEW World Title shot — gave his thoughts on Kingston.
“Eddie is a very inspirational person and human being,” Danielson said. “But when I look at Eddie and CM Punk looks at Eddie, and you could see that tonight when you look at him he’s freaking awesome. What would happen if he put in that extra effort right? He works his ass off when he’s out there but what one of the things right before we had our first match, after [wrestling in] Miami he goes out till 3 in the morning. After the show I’m in my hotel room stretching, getting ready so that my body is physically prepared for the next week.”
Bryan also mentioned in his comments that Kingston’s shoulder was “really banged up.”
Northeast Wrestling just posted that they were contacted by Kingston earlier today. He couldn’t appear due to “having his shoulder checked out and having a series of medical tests this morning.”
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