Eddie Kingston has heard comments about his weight his entire career as he doesn't "look" like what many feel a pro wrestler should look like.
In recent days, Adam Cole's appearance has dominated the social media conversation after Booker T said "we gotta get some muscles on this kid" on his podcast, referencing Cole's frame as the reason behind injuries. Booker would later clarify that he likes Adam Cole and was trying to advocate for how to make Cole look better.
Appearing on the MackMania podcast, Kingston addressed any body shamer out there.
"My contract -- to all those who tell me to hit the gym -- I don't need to go to the gym, my contract pays me enough to where I've got my own gym in my garage," Kingston stated to start. "My whole career, I've been hearing it. You have to workout. To be a pro wrestler, cardio is the main thing. You hear your whole life 'you have to look the part.' There was a shift where, you had to be a muscle guy. When you have that so much, people get sick of it and you have to do a different thing. I grew up on guys that looked tough. There were some muscle guys, but there were also guys like Dick Murdoch and Dusty Rhodes. Those guys, if you want to body shame and knock anyone, would you knock them? Guys like that who look like dudes who would fight you. Then it became the body building era and a lot of those body builders couldn't fight their way out of a paperbag, let's be honest. You do have to be an athlete to be in this and you do need to do cardio and work out. Body shaming stuff, here's my thing, if you don't like it, don't watch. If you want to rip on someone and knock on someone then I feel bad for you because if that's what gets your rocks off, you're an evil and disgusting human being. I hope you never have someone rip on you like that. You're a weak person and you'll probably break down. That's me taking shots. I get it, but I grew up in an era where we had hillbillies and Texans, the body guys. No one looks the same. If you start looking the same, it gets real boring. Me, I got a little bit of a belly. I like to eat ice cream, I like Five Guys, I like pizza. I also like to lift weights and do cardio and I like to fight, punch people in the face, and chop people. I'm just me. I know this is an old thing to so, but a lot of people who body shame or say negative stuff, besides being disgusting human beings because that's what gets their rocks off, none of them would ever step in the ring. Not to fight, just to run the ropes, or even step in there. They're like, 'That's not my job.' Well, my man, you don't see me bothering you at your job, telling you how to clean the floor."
Kingston joked how he wanted to reference a different job, but 2022 Eddie Kingston was able to hold back and reference a janitorial job instead.
On the subject of Cole, Kingston believes much of it boils down to jealousy.
"When it comes to Adam Cole, none of y'all are as athletic as him. Also, y'all are jealous. My man is living a good life. He gets to do what he wants to do, he gets paid to play video games, and he's got DMD [Britt Baker], which a lot of these dudes on Twitter would kill, give up anything for, for a minute with her. Big facts on that. He's living his good life. Y'all can keep up and be hateful and spiteful and let it eat at you because you're a disgusting person, he's living his good life," he said.
Kingston closed the conversation on body shamers by saying, "When they body shame me or whatever they say about me, I just kind of laugh because I've heard this my whole life, my whole career. I'm good with it. All these people who say this stuff will never say it to my face. If they do, we'll see what's up. It's not that deep."
Kingston is set to be part of AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door on Sunday as he teams with Wheeler Yuta & Shota Umino to battle Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki & Sammy Guevara.
Fans can check out the lineup for the show by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.