Eddie Kingston has turned on one of his closest friends.
In recent weeks, Kingston and Ortiz have been feuding with the House of Black (Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews, Brody King & Julia Hart). As part of this feud, the faction has been trying to drive a wedge between the longtime friends by planting seeds of mistrust. Black and Matthews then defeated Kingston and Ortiz on the January 13 episode of AEW Dynamite, as the turmoil boiled over. Kingston was seemingly about to hit Hart with a chair, and Ortiz stopped him. As they argued, Black capitalized and drilled Kingston with the Black Mass for the win.
The following week, Ortiz addressed the situation on the January 20 episode of AEW Rampage. Ortiz called Kingson out and stated that Kingston crossed a line. He said he knows Kingston was raised better than that. Ortiz then brought up their trainer, Homicide, and noted that the veteran would have said that Kingston is a fake tough guy. Kingston, who came to the ring with a chair, responded by hitting Ortiz with a cheap shot. He blasted Ortiz with the chair and walked away by himself.
The #HouseOfBlack has successfully driven a wedge between #EddieKingston and @Ortiz_Powerful
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) January 21, 2023
Watch #AEWRampage on TNT right now! pic.twitter.com/fpQcShgEXp
Kingston and Ortiz have been paired together for the past several months. They initially aligned on-screen as part of Kingston's feud with Chris Jericho ahead of AEW Revolution 2022. Together, they fought the Jericho Appreciation Society in both the Anarchy at the Arena Match and the Blood and Guts Match.
Catch up on our coverage of AEW Rampage here. For a full review, check out our post-show podcast on our YouTube channel.
