AEW: Eddie Kingston on Mental Health & Alcohol Issues, Tony Khan on WWE Releases, Events Schedule Update

Eddie Kingston Comments on Mental Health & Alcohol Abuse Issues

In a recent open letter post on The Players Tribune, Eddie Kingston discussed his wrestling career and revealed his struggles with mental health and alcohol abuse issues throughout his life.

In regards to his alcoholism and mental health issues, Kingston stated:

I was sick. I hated myself. I would sit at home drinking whiskey, watching guys who I’d come up with in the indies wrestling on national TV in the big promotions, and I’d just sit and stew until I blew up. I’d punch holes in the walls. I’d smash bottles. I was a danger to myself and others. One week, I ended up going on a bender that was so bad that I just kind of disappeared. I was supposed to be doing shows and I just didn’t show up. I smashed my cell phone and no one could get ahold of me. People were scared that I was dead. I woke up one afternoon and there were just beer bottles smashed everywhere in my apartment. For some reason, I checked my mailbox, probably looking for a miracle check or something, and I had a letter. I’m like, “A letter? The last person that ever wrote me a letter was my grandma.”

I opened this letter, and it was from my friend Alex Whybrow, aka Larry Sweeney. Longtime indie wrestler, amazing dude. He wrote me a letter as a last resort. He said everyone was really worried about me and he begged me to reach out. And I’ll never forget, this one line at the end, it said….

“I feel like I’ve lost my best friend. Please call me.”

For some reason, that woke me up. I called Alex and I crawled up out of my hole. I just always felt like nobody ever cared about me. I felt like a failure, a loser, a bad friend. It’s something that’s been with me since I was a kid. If Alex hadn’t sent me that letter, I don’t think I would be here today. I probably would have drank myself to death. He saved my life.

And the saddest part about it is that those words that he said to me must have come from a very deep place within himself … because he ended up taking his own life just a few years later. I think he knew the pain that I was going through. He knew that darkness.

And that’s why I’m telling this story, and I’m not pulling any punches, and all the old-school guys who don’t want to hear this stuff, and think that we shouldn’t talk about it, those guys can respectfully kiss my ass. If I wasn’t on Zoloft, if I wasn’t getting help for my mental health, if I was too afraid to talk about this stuff, I’d end up killing myself. Period. I’ve lost too many friends in this business to shut my mouth and bury all of these emotions with pills and booze.

Kingston also revealed that he almost suffered a panic attack following his match against Miro for the TNT Championship at AEW’s All Out 2021 event this past September due to the overwhelming praise he received for his performance.

I still have my struggles.

I still have a hard time accepting all this love and attention.

I still have to take my Zoloft.

I still have panic attacks

As a matter of fact, I had one right after I fought Miro at the All Out PPV. My phone started blowing up with all these people telling me great job, just showing me love, and I just couldn’t handle it. I got overwhelmed. My chest got tight. The walls started closing in. I started to go numb. It felt like I was breathing through a straw. But I was able to calm myself down and slow my breathing, because I’d been strong enough to reach out and get professional help, and I know what to do now. I know how to live with my anxiety and depression. And I’m not afraid to talk about it. I don’t care what the old-school guys in the business have to say about it. It ain’t 1987 no more.

I know that I am not fixed. I am not perfect. I still have some really dark days, to be honest with you. But when I wake up in the morning, no matter how bad I feel, I know one thing for sure, and I’m damned proud of it….

I know that no matter how this all turns out from here, I can always look my nephew in the eye and tell him that his old, broken, beaten-up Uncle Eddie never quit.

And when he grows up a little more and he gets to the first grade and some punk kid tells him, “Your uncle’s not a wrestler. You’re lying,” he can whip out his phone and show him a video of his Uncle Eddie walking out through the curtain in front of 20,000 screaming fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens — right down the block from where he used to trade Japanese wrestling tapes and get into street fights and run from the cops.

My nephew can look that little punk dead in his eyes and say, “See?”

His uncle ain’t a New York Yankee.

He ain’t a doctor or a lawyer.

He ain’t a f*cking astronaut.

He’s a wrestler.

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Tony Khan Comments on Interest in Signing Talent from WWE’s Recent Releases

PWTorch held a recent interview with AEW CEO Tony Khan. One of the topics discussed included his interest in signing some of the talent that were among the recent batch of releases by WWE.

“Every time they cut 20 people, let’s just say, it’s terrible because every time someone loses a job, it’s affecting them and the people around them. Some of these people might have wanted to leave, but in general, most probably did not. It’s terrible when anyone loses their work and I feel for them. Each and everyone counts. I’m going to take a ballpark number, and I’m not trying to make light of everything, but everyone counts and this probably not the exact amount, but everytime they let, lets say in the ballpark of 20 people go, I think there have been in general one, two or three people in there that I am interested in and snatch up. They keep doing these mass layoffs and each time, I find a few people and the company gets a little stronger and stronger. I do see a few in this wave. I don’t want to say who or when I would be interested in them, but there are a few interesting people they let go and same goes with the last wave and the wave before that and before that. Each wave, there are a few interesting ones and this was no exception.”

Khan also stated that he believes AEW will have no shortage of surprise debuts at the rate WWE has been letting go of their notable big name stars.

“At the rate they [WWE] are letting big stars go and firing people, I will not have a shortage of people to debut in the months ahead.”

In regards to the rumors and reports of several WWE talent being released partially due to them not being vaccinated for the coronavirus, Khan revealed that most of AEW’s roster has been vaccinated including himself.

“Most of the roster in AEW is vaccinated. And, for example, there have been some places we went where everybody had to be vaccinated… I think when the company starts doing international travel, we’ll see that for say, Canada, for England, places like that, it’ll be very difficult for wrestlers to travel without it …

Yeah. That’s the first time somebody has ever asked me that on the record. But, yeah. I mean, I’m in the NFL. I mean, our access is very different if you’re not. So I mean, it’s different with players and ownership, yes, but all of us are under the same mandates and there’s mask mandates in the locker room, and really it’s a very different set of rules for the unvaccinated people in the NFL.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1& 2, PostWrestling.com

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AEW Announces First Dynamite Taping for TBS & More Shows Announced

AEW CEO Tony Khan recently announced that the company will be returning to Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida on December 29th for AEW Dynamite and Rampage television tapings. Khan announced that the December 29th episode of Dynamite will be airing live and will be taping the December 31st episode of Rampage on that night.

AEW announced that they will be holding a set of AEW Dynamite and AEW Rampage tapings on December 22nd in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was announced that tickets for this upcoming tapings will officially go on sale starting on November 12th.

AEW also announced that their first television tapings for AEW Dyamite’s move to TBS will be taking place on January 5, 2022 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

The company also announced that they will be holding a set of AEW Dynamite and AEW Rampage tapings on January 12, 2022 at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was announced that tickets for this upcoming tapings will officially go on sale starting on November 19th.

The company also announced that due to a recent scheduling conflict, the previously scheduled January 12, 2022, episode of AEW Dynamite at the UNO Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana has been rescheduled to a new date of April 13, 2022. It was announced that those who purchased tickets for the original date will have their tickets honored for the rescheduled show.