Line #46 Wrestling/EddieKingston


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eddie_kingston_scaled_2.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:The Mad King]]
3
4	Edward Moore (born December 12, 1981) is an American {{Professional Wrestl\|ing}}er from Yonkers, [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkState NY]] currently signed to Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, where he performs as Eddie Kingston.
5
6	He debuted in 2002 as a member of the second class to graduate from the Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} Wrestle Factory. He was introduced as one half of the [=Wildcards=] tag team with [=BlackJack=] Marciano. They feuded with [=UltraZERO=] (Wrestling/{{UltraMantis\|Black}} and Mr. ZERO) before going on to feud with F.I.S.T. (Icarus and Gran Akuma.) The team's run ended when Marciano retired in 2004. In 2005, Kingston started his feud with Wrestling/ChrisHero, which would cross over into Wrestling/{{CZW}} and IWA Mid-South.
7
8	Kingston has gone through a series of {{face}} and {{heel}} turns during his career. He has also competed for Wrestling/ProWrestlingGuerilla, Wrestling/{{WSU}} (when it was Wrestling Superstars Uncensored) and many other independent promotions. Along with being the CHIKARA Grand Champion, he has also been a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa/e/czw/czw-h.html CZW World Heavyweight Champion]], a 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa/e/czw/czw-t.html CZW World Tag Team Champion]] (1x w[=/=]Joker as [=BLK-OUT=] and 1x w[=/=]Drake Younger), a 1x holder of Wrestling/LarrySweeney's [[http://www.cagematch.net/?id=5&nr=416 ICW/ICWA Tex-Arkana Television Title]] and a 1x [[https://www.cagematch.net/?id=5&nr=4938 NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion]]. In 2020, he signed with AEW.
9
10	In 2023, after [[{{Kayfabe}} "leaving"]] AEW, he's currently competing for the new version of Wrestling/RingOfHonor. At the third annual ''AEW Dynamite Grand Slam'', Eddie defeated Wrestling/ClaudioCastagnoli to become ROH World Champion. In the inaugural AEW Continental Classic tournament, Eddie made it to the grand finals at ''AEW Worlds End'', defeating Wrestling/JonMoxley to become the inaugural AEW Continental Champion. This also made him the first holder of the American Triple Crown Championship, consisting of the three belts he held after ''Worlds End''. On March 20th 2024, Eddie Kingston lost his Contential Championship title to Wrestling/KazuchikaOkada.
11
12	He is in no way connected to Wrestling/KofiKingston.
13	----
14	!! "These Tropes are the Last of a Dying Breed":
15	* TheAlcoholic: In his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwBgW6IRth0 promo]] at ''Grit and Glory'', May 18, 2008, he talks about losing his sobriety and going "on an odyssey to find myself with a bottle of Bacardi."
16	* ArchEnemy:
17	** In CHIKARA it was initially Wrestling/LarrySweeney; with Sweeney's departure from the promotion it became Wrestling/ClaudioCastagnoli. He still doesn't like him over a decade later, renewing their blood feud in Wrestling/RingOfHonor.
18	** In Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, it's Wrestling/ChrisJericho, which is remarkable considering the number of friends Eddie has in the AEW locker room [[HatesEveryoneEqually can be counted on one hand]]. He also has no love for Wrestling/CMPunk thanks to heat they had fifteen years ago, back when Eddie was first starting out. Even after their short feud ended, they blatantly make it clear they still hate each other.
19	* AxCrazy: Kingston was utterly consumed by his hatred of Wrestling/ChrisJericho to the point that, during their "Anarchy in the Arena" match at ''Double or Nothing 2022'', he came to the ring, covered in blood carrying a gasoline can, doused Jericho with the contents and ''tried to set the man '''on fire'''''. And he did this while Wrestling/BryanDanielson, Eddie's teammate (who [[TeethClenchedTeamwork he doesn't like much]]), ''had Jericho in the [=LeBell=] Lock!''
20	* BackToBackBadasses: With former nemesis Larry Sweeney in the ring during the brawl between Team CHIKARA and Wrestling/DieBruderschaftDesKreuzes at the start of the Torneo Cibernetico match at ''CHIKARA The Dark Ciberknetico.''
21	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: He made his singles debut for Pro Wrestling Syndicate at ''PWS Revelation'' on June 24, 2007. In his pre-match promo, he said that whoever his opponent was would be "getting put down." Wrestling/SamoaJoe answered. Kingston lost.
22	* BloodKnight: Despite describing Chris Hero as everything wrong with the wrestling business, and expressing murderous intentions toward him, Kingston admits to having fun fighting with Hero and looking forward to seeing him again in ROH. For Chikara fans, 2007 to 2010 are noted as his best showing of these tendencies.
23	* BrooklynRage: Well, like Tommy Dreamer (see below), Yonkers isn't part of New York City, but the rage is there.
24	* CallingYourAttacks: "Back fist!", "That's a headlock!"
25	* TheCameo: Once appeared in Leva Bates's closet with a shotgun, in what explicitly was not one of the "Lucha Family Films" videos.
26	* CanonName: His first name is this in TNA, where he is mainly billed as just Kingston.
27	* CassandraTruth: Spent all of 2009 insisting that Claudio Castagnoli was the bad guy, then was proven right when he turned on Quackenbush as part of the riot that marked the BDK's formation at the end of ''Three-Fisted Tales''.
28	* ClusterFBomb:
29	** In his [[LoserLeavesTown Loser Leaves CZW]] match with Chris Hero at ''CZW Out With The Old, In With The New'', April 7, 2007, as Kingston was repeatedly calling Hero a "motherfucker," saying, "I fucking dare you," etc.
30	** This got him in a little trouble when ROH was purchased by the very conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group, who were a little more serious about language than HD Net was.
31	* CombatCommentator: Served as one for CZW, IWA Mid-South and Absolute Intense Wrestling.
32	* CompanionCube: Rare PlayedForDrama example, since he would refer to the CHIKARA Grand Championship, and even ''the wrestling business itself'', as "she" or "her."
33	* ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike: The start to the 1-4-10 ''ROH On HD Net'' was delayed as the crew found Kingston laid out in a hallway of The Arena and was further delayed as Kingston refused help from anyone even though he couldn't even get up. When he finally did he insisted on continuing on with his, match, the first match of the show vs Wrestling/ClaudioCastagnoli...[[WorfHadTheFlu didn't go too well.]]
34	* {{Determinator}}: A major part of his CHIKARA tecnico gimmick since 2010 was been the fact that he ''will not give up''. Extended to real life as well, as he refuses to take time off to rehab some pretty serious knee injuries as long as he held the Grand Championship.
35	* EnemyMine: Briefly with Chris Hero for the sake of CZW's campaign against Ring of Honor. Once it was over though, they'd both wind up in Ring of Honor, against each other in [[GimmickMatches a fight without honor]].
36	* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: As if he didn't treat everything as incredibly serious ''already'', if he mentions his "beautiful mother's eyes" in his promo, then, as he said in his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1AGjIQKxNE promo]] before ''CHIKARA High Noon'', "get ready for a war."
37	* TheEveryman: A significant part of his appeal is that he walks, talks, and acts just like a normal guy. He doesn't have a ridiculous physique (he famously has a pronounced gut), he came from a poor background and isn't ashamed of it, and he's pissed off at the world. If he's working face he's striking back at the world for the average downtrodden Joe, if heel, he's just striking out at whatever's within reach.
38	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: During the LAX Civil War storyline, he was simply known as King. This is a shorthand to both his character surname Kingston and his various "King" {{Red Baron}}s such as Mad King or King of New York.
39	* {{Expy}}[=/=]{{Fanboy}}: Of/for Wrestling/TommyDreamer. At ''CHIKARA Aniversario Elf'', May 23, 2010, Kingston defeated Dreamer by DQ when evil BDK referee Derek Sabato disqualified Dreamer for grabbing his shirt. Then the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa/e/chikara/chikara-t.html CHIKARA Campeones de Parejas (Tag Team Champions)]] Claudio Castagnoli and Ares ran in to save Sabato from Dreamer piledriving him. This led to Dreamer and Kingston fighting together against the BDK. Afterwards, Dreamer acknowledged how Kingston used to come see him wrestle, and Kingston said that Dreamer was his inspiration to get out of Yonkers and become a wrestler. This led to Dreamer and Kingston teaming up, unsuccessfully, against Castagnoli and Ares at ''[=Chikarasaurus=] Rex: King of Show'' on July 25th. At ''High Noon'' on November 13, 2011, Dreamer was in Kingston's corner when he defeated Mike Quackenbush in the finals of the [[Wrestling/LarrySweeney 12 Large: Summit]] where Kingston became the inaugural CHIKARA Grand Champion.
40	* FaceFault: After taking Wrestling/{{Kamala}}'s corner splash during their match at ''PWS Firestorm II'', December 6, 2008.
41	* FatBastard: He's in good shape by average standards, but he's hardly ripped and does have a small gut in a world where most people have ripped abs. He regularly gets crap about it.
42	* {{Fingore}}: Helped Homicide break Kyle O'Reilly's fingers after ambushing him and Bobby Fish.
43	* FinishingMove: His most frequently used finisher is the Backfist to the Future (a.k.a. the Uraken, popularized by Wrestling/AjaKong). If it fails to put down his opponent long enough for a 3 count, either he uses a Northern Lights Bomb (innovated by Wrestling/AkiraHokuto), a Wrestling/ToshiakiKawada-style Powerbomb, or he'll try to win via submission instead by using a Stretch Plum (which is, contrary to popular belief, is actually innovated by Toshiaki Kawada instead of the late Plum Mariko).
44	* FriendlyEnemy: {{Subverted\|trope}}, Kingston likes Wrestling/KevinSteen but warned that if they were to fight he'd beat Steen like he didn't know him. He even tried to invite Steen to join him and Homicide in Outlaw Inc. at one point, but Steen, fresh off dealing with SCUM, declined the offer.
45	* GoodIsNotNice: Even as a heartfelt {{face}}, Kingston is not the friendliest guy on the block. He will resort to petty street crime and gratuitous violence to avenge wrongs just like his good friend Wrestling/JonMoxley, as Wrestling/TheYoungBucks and The Wrestling/JerichoAppreciationSociety can attest to, and unlike most faces who will either simply not work with each other or throw water under the bridge if they have an acrimonious past, he openly calls out Wrestling/RingOfHonor old-heads such as Wrestling/CMPunk and Wrestling/BryanDanielson for their harsh treatment and judgment of him when he was coming up early in his career.
46	* HiredGuns: {{Discussed\|Trope}} in October 2015 when Kingston was given the offer of being the first person to ever debut in the main event of a fairly prestigious promotion. He declined the offer, given it was to team with Portia Perez in Wrestling/{{SHIMMER}} Women Athletes.
47	* HoldingOutForAHero: On the CHIKARA show ''Three-Fisted Tales'' on November 22, 2009, he faced the then-tecnico Claudio Castagnoli while a rudo himself. After losing an I Respect You match, he refused to honor the stipulation and insisted he had no respect for Claudio or "his sleazy tag team partner." However at the end of the show Claudio backstabbed the promotion, founded the BDK with his former tag partner Ares and the stable beat down all the tecnicos. As the BDK lined up in the ring in formation and right before Ares instructed Carpenter Ant (Pinkie Sanchez) to unmask, some people in the crowd were chanting, "We want Kingston!," as if he was the only one who could solve this problem.
48	* HypocriticalHumor
49	** He was on commentary at ''CHIKARA Running in the Red'', November 13, 2005, which opened with an ''atomicos'' (8-man tag) match pitting Icarus[=/=][=UltraMantis=] Black[=/=]Hydra[=/=]Dr. Cheung vs. [=Lancelot=] (Lance Steel and [[MyFutureSelfAndMe Lance Steel]]), Angel de Fuego and the debuting Dragon Dragon.
50	-->'''Eddie Kingston''': "Dragon Dragon, and it's a huge dragon! Ladies and gentlemen, we have had a munk, a skunk, a bear, a lion I believe, [[Wrestling/SurvivalTobita a box]], a guy named Sabian, and now a Dragon Dragon."
51	** It qualifies as this because that same night King and Sabian teamed up to defeat Cheech and Cloudy.
52	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: The crux of his character is that Eddie is an abrasive brawler with plenty of enemies and is not afraid to express that, but at his core is a strong moral compass and a desire to grow beyond his DarkAndTroubledPast into a better person.
53	* {{Jobber}}: Albeit, a high profile one given he was one of the CZW invaders but Kingston did not win a match in Ring of Honor for three years until he finally defeated Wrestling/SamiCallihan, at which point he finally felt like he belonged in the promotion.
54	* KillItWithFire: ''The'' image left in everyone's minds after Anarchy in the Arena was a blood-soaked Eddie stumbling to the ring with a can of gasoline, attempting to destroy Chris Jericho and not particularly caring if Wrestling/BryanDanielson was also in the way. Mox keeps Eddie from burning anyone alive, but it was dicey for a while there.
55	* LastNameBasis: TNA officially billed him only as Kingston.
56	* LoserLeavesTown:
57	** As noted above, he worked a "Loser Leaves Wrestling/{{CZW}}" match against Chris Hero in 2007.
58	** On February 18, 2023, he won a "Loser Leaves [[Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling NJPW]]" match against Wrestling/JayWhite at ''Battle in the Valley''.
59	* MoralityPet: [[Wrestling/RubyRiott Ruby Soho]], made very clear in his promo for his Barbed Wire Everywhere Match against Chris Jericho, where a big motivator was the JAS injuring Ruby's arm to get to Eddie.
60	-->'''Eddie''': Every drop of blood is a sin you have committed, Chris. And that last drop of blood before you pass out? That's for my Ruby.
61	* MythologyGag: His TNA nickname "The Wild Card" is a nod to his former tag team with [=BlackJack=] Marciano, which was ended when Marciano was forced into retirement by a knee injury in 2004.
62	* NonIronicClown: He and Homicide disguised themselves as clowns celebrating reDRagon's regaining of the ROH tag team title belts in order to ambush them. This became part of their regular outfit afterward.
63	* NotSoSimilar: At Ring Of Honor's 10th Anniversary, he was initially flattered when Wrestling/KevinSteen said they were cut out of the same cloth and offered to form a tag team with him, up until Steen talked about destroying the whole business, starting with Ring Of Honor and Chikara. Kingston would ultimately get a decisive victory against Kevin Steen while defending Chikara's grand title the next year, at a Chikara event no less.
64	* PowerTrio:
65	** The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen with Giant Tiger and Sexxxy Eddy.
66	** The Death Crew Council with Wrestling/JamesStorm and Bram.
67	* RedBaron: The Boricua Badass, The King of Diamonds, The Last of a Dying Breed, The War King, The Mad King, The Wild Card, The King of New York.
68	* RedOniBlueOni: The rage-and-pain fueled Red to Mike Quackenbush's blue.
69	* TheRival: Hallowicked, when King was attempting to prove that he, not Hallowicked, was the best student from their graduating class from the CHIKARA Wrestle Factory. Wrestling/TomohiroIshii in NJPW.
70	* [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor Rudo Tecnico Revolving Door]]: Started in CHIKARA as a Rudo, became a Tecnico in 2005, went back to being a Rudo in 2007, turned Tecnico in early 2010 to fight the Bruderschaft de Kreuzes, and started gradually turning rudo some time in late 2012, going full rudo while Chikara was closed from May 2013-May 2014.
71	* ShoutOut
72	** His [[SpectacularSpinning spinning backfist]] FinishingMove is called the [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture "Backfist to the Future"]].
73	** [=BLK-OUT=]'s T-shirt read "[=BLK-OUT=] 4:20," and was a combination of Music/RunDMC and [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin "Austin 3:16"]].
74	** The promo he cut in his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1q4ArXZ9Xk video package]] for his ''Full Gear 2021'' match against Wrestling/CMPunk contained multiple references to ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', including Eddie claiming to have had a dream about a snail crawling on the edge of a razor blade, and saying "I asked God for a mission, Punk, and for my sins he gave me you?"
75	* SignatureMove: Exploder Suplex and Machine Gun Chops. Eddie actually {{discussed\|Trope}} the SignatureMove trope during a 2023 [[https://youtu.be/pLv-IxSViqU?t=2845 appearance]] on Wrestling/TonySchiavone's "What Happened When" show while rewatching one of his favourite Wrestling/KentaKobashi vs Jun Akiyama matches and providing commentary, where he personally identified his own.
76	* StrictlyFormula: His AEW debut match against [[Wrestling/CodyRhodes Cody]] for the TNT Championship and his longer feud against Wrestling/JonMoxley for the World Championship both follow very similar stories. Eddie Kingston, a man with a DarkAndTroubledPast and desperate for a big title win to prove his success as a wrestler, challenges someone who he sees as a milquetoast babyface undeserving of their belt. This culminates in a hardcore match (a no DQ match for Cody, an "I Quit" match for Moxley) where the face resorts to brutal measures that forces Eddie to submit, leaving him distraught that his title challenge was for nothing. The Moxley feud being similar to the Cody match is likely a consequence of it being thrown together as a replacement for a Lance Archer vs. Moxley feud which had to be scrapped after Lance contracted COVID-19. In this case, TropesAreTools, as the much slower pace of the Moxley feud and the fact that the two had a working past together years prior gave a lot of time to better explore character motivations and psychology that couldn't be fully explored during the length of a single match (it would win "Feud of the Year" in ''Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter'' Awards for 2020).
77	* SquashMatch: He flattened Sal Rinauro on the September 7, 2009 episode of ''ROH on [=HDNet=]'' in a mere '''10''' seconds.
78	* SuddenlyShouting: A characteristic of his promos.
79	* TagTeam
80	** The Wildcards, with Black Jack Marciano
81	** Toxic Trio, with Marciano and Jigsaw
82	** The Roughnecks, with [[Wrestling/LukeHarper Brodie Lee]] and Grizzly Redwood
83	** [[Letters2Numbers [=Un4given=]]], with [=B-Boy=]
84	** (in ROH): Outlaw Inc., with Homicide.
85	** The Street Kings, with Monsta Mack
86	** With Wrestling/JonMoxley and Ortiz at various points in AEW
87	* TeethClenchedTeamwork: With Claudio Castagnoli, an old enemy, in AEW. If Eddie wanted to fight the JAS at Blood and Guts, he had to put up with Claudio on the team (as Bryan Danielson was hurt).
88	* TokenEvilTeammate: His Tecnico turn in 2010 had more to do with wanting to fight Claudio Castagnoli and the BDK than actually ''being'' a [[{{Face}} tecnico]]. He did eventually turn tecnico for real, though. He also ended up affiliated with the tecnicos by default in the 2005 Cibernetico.
89	* WearingAFlagOnYourHead: And frequently on his pants as well - he's half-Irish half-Puerto Rican and his outfits often feature the Puerto Rican flag.
90	* WhiteMaskOfDoom: Wore one as part of the DCC, usually when they were in suits.
91	* WorkedShoot: Eddie once said that if he's talking about other people, he's working -- if he's talking about ''himself'', then he's shooting. For example, his feud with Wrestling/CMPunk was based on legitimate heat between Punk and himself from fifteen years ago, as indicated by several reports. However, Punk mentioned in an earlier interview that Eddie was one of the people who helped hyped him up for his debut, indicating that while they were working the audience by pretending the heat was still legitimate onscreen, in reality it was all water under the bridge for them.
92	* WorthyOpponent: Eddie will respect anyone who fights him hard but fair, particularly Japanese ''puroresu'' veterans such as Wrestling/SatoshiKojima or Jun Akiyama. Wrestling/TomohiroIshii in particular is one of Eddie's fiercest rivals, but in 2023 he had no qualms about recruiting the Stone Pitbull to join him and Wrestling/TheElite to take on the Wrestling/BlackpoolCombatClub in a 10-man tag match at ''Forbidden Door''.
93	* WouldHitAGirl: CHIKARA promoted intergender wrestling, and Eddie did ''not'' pull his punches against female wrestlers. During the Team CHIKARA vs BDK Torneo Cibernetico he eliminated Sara Del Rey and Daizee Haze back to back with Backfists to the Future. He'd also defeat [[Wrestling/KiaStevens Amazing Kong]] on a Chikara show.

Context Wrestling / EddieKingston