Eddie Kingston interview

November is going to be a big month for Kingston, who's set to face Mike Quackenbush at CHIKARA Pro's "High Noon" event Nov. 13 from The Asylum in Philadelphia to determine the first Grand Champion in the history of the promotion. "High Noon" also will be the first iPPV event produced by CHIKARA.

Tommy Dreamer, Kingston's self-admitted hero, will be in Kingston's corner for the match. This interview covers their relationship and much more. Here's a full transcript of Gonzogeek's exclusive interview with The War King himself.

GG: This is Travis Dykes, interviewing Eddie Kingston, my new hero. The War King, God's Middle Child...

Kingston: All the other dumb nicknames.

GG: I wouldn't say dumb. The original Wild Card?

Kingston: There you go.

GG: Speaking of wild card, the first question I have to ask is, how's Rocky? (Editor's note: Rocky is BlackJack Marciano, who Kingston trained with when he first broke into the business.)

Kingston: He's doing all right. He's hanging out. I see him once in a while, he's doing good.

GG: That's good. That outfit you guys used to wear, the all--

Kingston: The all white? (Starts laughing)

GG: I love you, Eddie, but that...

Kingston: That was a bad look, man. That was definitely a bad look. It was definitely a bad look. (Laughs)

GG: You recently went to Japan, billed as CHIKARA's ace.

Kingston: Yeah, I don't know who did that, who put that in there.

GG: Went over to Japan with, two of the ants? Three?

Kingston: Yeah, Fire and Green Ant.

GG: I saw some of your matches, well, on the Internet. What was that like? I know that was your dream to go to Japan.

Kingston: Yeah, a dream come true and they treated us all like kings out there. Osaka Pro is one of the best promotions in Japan, if not the best. The guys treated us well. I was with the rudo group called JOKER and I had so much fun with them. Great guys, all of them, and they can all go. Great wrestling. If you like CHIKARA, you'll love Osaka Pro -- because that's where we got a lot of the, you know, we're basically their little brother.

GG: I can see the influence. Plus, they're in every King Of Trios.

Kingston: Yes.

GG: Your feud with Chris Hero, that you took all the way to Ring Of Honor, that was fantastic stuff.

Kingston: Thank you, thank you. I appreciate it.

GG: The animosity seemed so real.

Kingston: Cause it was.

GG: Yeah. I've heard, like, through the grapevine what happened. It was over BlackJack, was it not?

Kingston: Yes, yes it was. Yes it was. I just didn't like the way he treated him. Mike Quackenbush was our original trainer. And then Hero came in and started training us. I just didn't agree with it. He kinda took advantage of things. It just stemmed from that and got deeper and deeper. We didn't like each other. Still don't. So I don't really care what he does. And everyone's like, 'Shouldn't you be happy for him? He's doing this or that.' I was like, 'No. I don't.'

GG: The match at Final Battle, took the scary bump on the guardrail. Did that have any long-term effects? Because that looked pretty rough.

Kingston: Nah. I've had concussions before. Minor ones. Maybe I've had maybe three or fur serious concussions, and that was one of them. I just couldn't sleep that night. I remember, there was the blizzard in New York. We got stuck in the snow and all this crazy stuff, and I'm like half in the bag. All messed up. But no, no long-term effects now. Who knows? You never know. My brain's probably swollen anyway, from all these years.

GG: How long have you been wrestling?

Kingston: It'll be 10 years in October. Oh, it is October. So, October 12th. Is it October 12th yet?

GG: It's the eighth.

Kingston: Wow. So October 12th, it'll be 10 years of beating my body up.

GG: When did you start using the backfist, the Backfist to the Future? And where did you get it from?

Kingston: Oh, I stole it from Aja Kong.

GG: I stole it from you.

Kingston: We both stole it from somewhere. Aja Kong, I don't know, I got tired of using the lariat as a finish because a lot of people were using it. I was like, I want to do something different. I was always a fa of Aja Kong, and I said, 'You know what? No one's doing that.' I took it and it just clicked. It stuck.

GG: Some of those look pretty vicious. What's the hardest you've ever hit someone with that thing?

Kingston: Oh, every time I hit Hero. Every time.

GG: Yeah, that one. Man...

Kingston: He wasn't happy, but it happens.

GG: You guys, despite all your animosity, did great together.

Kingston: At the end of the day, whatever's good for business is good for business. But it don't mean--

GG: It don't mean you have to like each other.

Kingston: No. And I would never like him.

GG: What are your feelings about Claudio (Castagnoli, now signed with WWE and in their developmental program under the name Antonio Cesaro)?

Kingston: It is what it is with him, too.

GG: He seems more laidback.

Kingston: Nah. He's got a big ego. But again, that's personal stuff. He has a big ego and I don't care for him either. I don't like him either, to be honest. The people I get along with in wrestling are guys like Homicide and Low Ki, because we're all from New York. Monsta Mack. Those guys. Those are my guys. We all hang out and chill. Me and Jigsaw are close friends, because we were close before CHIKARA and stuff.

GG: Jolly Roger, I would imagine.

Kingston: Jolly Roger makes me laugh. He's a little kid. He's a baby, man. He makes me laugh.

GG: The new Blackout, I heard you were not happy with that.

Kingston: I'm an emotional person. I got mad like for an hour. Then I sat back and went, 'Ehh, forget it. It's all right.'

GG: Do you think Ruckus should be more exposed? Because he's a really good wrestler.

Kingston: No kidding, he's one of the best in the world. So is Sabian. So is Joker. I can't believe I forgot to mention them, but they're my close friends too, you know? They, definitely, they should be all over the world in my opinion. But situations happen.

GG: Speaking of situations, you had a beef with Zandig.

Kingston: Oh yeah, I did. It wasn't really beef. We just had different views. But the thing was that we respected each other. And he never screwed me over on money or anything like that. He's good like that. We just yelled and screamed at each other a couple of times over ideas. But I respect Zandig, to be honest.

GG: That happens with promoters.

Kingston: Yup. Mmhm.

GG: I've watched some of your King of the Deathmatch Tournament stuff--

Kingston: Oh lord.

GG: You ever going to do anything like that again? Because that, it was awesome but kind of not your thing.

Kingston: No, it's not my thing. I'm not planning on doing it but you never know. If the money's right, the situation's right, who knows? I'll never do light tubes again, I'll tell you that much.

GG: Any particular reason?

Kingston: It cut my back up. I had like 20 stitches in my back, five in my wrist from it. I just don't like it. Barbed wire, it hurts. But it's not as bad as that.

GG: It's not glass.

Kingston: It's not glass. Yeah.

GG: You're probably the best promo on the indies. I don't mean to be blowing you this whole interview.

Kingston: (Laughs) Thank you.

GG: Do you see these guys in the big companies, with all their bland, vanilla, horseshit promos and kinda ...

Kingston: I can't say. Because I'm not there. I don't know what they're doing. Punk's doing his thing. But they've got writers up there, which we've got to remember. They're being told what to say, you know? And that's hard. That's hard to be told what to say and then relate it to yourself and have it come out like you wanted to say it. A lot of them are still pretty good. Punk's definitely one of them. Cena can cut a promo. He knows how to get the people, you know? Albert Del Rio, same thing. He knows how to do his thing in there, too. There's a lot of good guys up there. But, they have writers. You've got to let these guys go. Let them be them.

GG: I love the Puerto Rican flag pants. What made you switch over to what you wear now?

Kingston: I'm half Irish, half Puerto Rican. In other words, I'm all messed up.

GG: That explains the temper.

Kingston: Yeah. When I joined Blackout, they're like 'You're not black.' I was like, 'Yeah, I know.'

GG: You're kidding me, right?

Kingston: I was like, since when? I've been friends with them for years and then, you know, they wanted me in the group. They asked me, 'What are you?' I said I was half Puerto Rican and they said, do something with that. What made me switch was, I was always a fan of Kawada and Tenryu and Shane Douglas and loved those colors. Black and yellow. I loved them before that song. I decided just to go with those colors.

GG: You a Steelers fan by any chance?

Kingston: Nah, Giants.

GG: I figured as much.

Kingston: No, Giants. And the Jets suck.

GG: You're not wrong. I had one more question, about Lince (Dorado). You backfisted him eight or nine times in a row. And then, he's part of the BDK and he disappeared.

Kingston: Yeah, he disappeared.

GG: Now, as much as I'd like to say you backfisted him out of CHIKARA, I know that's not what happened.

Kingston: No. To be honest with you, I don't mess with any of the inside dealings of CHIKARA. To me, this is my job. I do my job, maybe sit down and talk to certain people -- not a lot -- go to work, and then leave. I appreciate the fans and I appreciate, even the fans who hate me. I appreciate that they're at shows. That's good. But I'm not a sociable person. I never was. So I don't try to hang out with everybody. The whole Lince thing, I can't say I'm sad that he's gone. Actually, I don't care. In a way, I think it's good for the locker room that he's gone, but I don't really talk to anybody about that situation. Whatever is business, is business. That's the way I look at it.

GG: I know I said one more question, but I thought of one more.

Kingston: No, it's all right.

GG: Tommy Dreamer.

Kingston: Yes.

GG: You're a huge fan of Tommy Dreamer, as am I.

Kingston: My hero. He's from Yonkers which is the same spot I'm from.

GG: You got to team with him.

Kingston: Yup. Wrestled him, teamed with him. It was great.

GG: Then the BDK came and ruined everything.

Kingston: As always.

GG: Of course. How did it feel to team with your childhood hero?

Kingston: Surreal. I couldn't believe it. Like, I stood there and he's next to me and I was like, 'This is kind of weird.' I told him that and he started laughing. Me and him actually have became friends. I talked to him the other day on the phone. It's weird. It's an honor, but it's weird. You never think that, that something like that would happen.

GG: (John Moorehouse interjects) I have a question. Our website is called Gonzogeek.com, and our catch phrase is that everyone's a geek about something. So, we try to ask that with every interview. I'm sure you geek out about something. So, what is your thing?

Kingston: I am a geek for Japanese anime. I love, only two really right now but I'll sit down and watch a lot of them. Just because it's anime. I'm also a geek with comic books too. Deathnode and Cowboy Bebop are my two favorites. Comic book-wise, it's Batman, Garedevil, Gambit from X-Men. Things like that.

GG: (Travis asking) You a fan of the Punisher?

Kingston: Oh yeah. Of course. I can't leave him out.

GG: OK, good. Thank you very much, Eddie Kingston.

Kingston: I had a blast down here in Tennessee, man. Thank you guys.