AEW’s Eddie Kingston has come a long way since his debut in the company and has a lot to be be proud about. He came into the company as a special guest to fight Cody Rhodes as a one-off during a dark period in his life, when he contemplated quitting wrestling for good. However, he impressed so much in that match that he earned himself an AEW contract and a stage to show the world who Eddie Kingston truly is.
Since then, he has continued to impress and become one of the most popular men on the roster. Chants of “Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!” ring around the arenas during his matches, even when facing ultra-babyfaces like CM Punk and Bryan Danielson. He has an innate quality to get the fans behind him and a relatability that is simply impossible to forge.
He has challenged for all the titles available to him, sans for the AEW Trios Championship which was only recently introduced. He and Jon Moxley challenged The Young Bucks for the AEW Tag Team titles, while they also collided twice for Moxley’s AEW Championship. His debut against Cody Rhodes was also a championship bout as part of The American Nightmare’s TNT Championship open challenge in 2020.
However, none of those things were singled out as Eddie Kingston’s proudest moment in AEW. Instead, that honor went to him teaming with two of his best friends on the world stage, completely a career-long road and achieving his dream, even if the ending was not as he wanted.
Eddie Kingston, Santana & Ortiz
In a recent interview with TV Insider, Eddie Kingston revealed Santana & Ortiz teaming with him make up his proudest moments so far in AEW. The former ROH wrestler heaped praise on the former tag team (who look to have split up recently) and revealed he has been so invested in their success that teaming together with them gave him his proudest moment in the company so far.
“Teaming up with Santana and Ortiz was also good. I remember the day they signed with AEW. They were at an independent show with me and told me. I hugged them and was so proud. I remember Santana saying, “One day all three of us”.
I told them don’t worry about that and to just do great. They did. Then when we were able to be together [in AEW] we set out a goal and did it. That is a proud moment.”
Eddie Kingston on teaming with Santana and Ortiz in AEW.
The trio formerly teamed together in TNA but wrestled on the biggest stage possible in AEW. They teamed together multiple times, including on Pay Per View, including inside the bloody and violent Blood & Guts match at the event of the same name.
Unfortunately, Santana and Ortiz, despite being one of the best tag teams in AEW, no longer talk to each other. Mexican legend and former WCW star Konnan revealed recently that the pair no longer communicate after a bust up backstage led to a fight between the pair. Santana now looks set to leave AEW once his contract is up whilst Ortiz has recently begun teaming with Eddie Kingston as a duo, rather than as a trio as they once were before.
Talking about Santana & Ortiz, Konnan said on Keepin’ It 100 with Konnan
“It breaks my heart because I spent a lot of time with them and I’ve said before that they’re like my sons. I heard it almost got physical with Santana and Kingston over this. It’s not a good look, bro. I really hate seeing that these two guys who could have gone to WWE and really fu**ing blown up, that they separated.”
“I can see Santana when his contract is up, leaving. Ortiz is very chill and laid back. Santana is more of a hot head. Ortiz’s was like, ‘Hey, they ain’t doing sh*t with us’, and Santana’s like, ‘They ain’t doing sh*t with us’, and he’s right. Ortiz is more like ‘We’re getting paid and are taken care of’, and he was comfortable in his role and Santana wants more.”
The issues between Santana, Ortiz and Eddie Kingston are not recent, however, as Santana has been out for some months with an injury. In the meantime, Kingston ended his feud with Chris Jericho and was suspended for a backstagE fight with Sammy Guevara, although they later quashed their beef.
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