10 AEW Wrestlers You Won’t Believe WWE Passed On

3. Eddie Kingston

It took years of grinding and hard work for Eddie Kingston to get noticed by a national wrestling organisation with AEW.

After 18 years clawing away in too many promotions to name, Kingston revealed he broke down crying when AEW finally offered him a contract. And with every opportunity AEW has given him, he’s knocked it out of the park. From his match with Cody on Dynamite for the AEW TNT Championship to his savage feud with Jon Moxley to regularly cutting raw and honest promos you wouldn’t hear from anyone else.

WWE had been interested at different points over the years in bringing Kingston in as a coach to help teach developmental talents. But he always rejected the opportunity, believing he would have resented the talent he was coaching who were getting the shot he so desperately wanted in the industry.

In 2016, Kingston actually got his shot to officially try out with WWE but it didn’t go as well as he would have liked, being slotted in with women trying out for the upcoming Mae Young Classic.

He told Renee Paquette on her Oral Sessions podcast:

"To me, that tryout was more for the Mae Young Classic because it was the biggest class for females. I just went in and had fun. I said a couple of things. I'll give you the one I like the most. They had someone filming and (referee) Drake Younger grabbed me out of nowhere and was like, 'King, tell them how hard this drill is.' It was some dumb drill. 'Yeah, it was hard. I've had people shoot at me, try to stab me with knives. I hate this drill more than that.' Put the camera down and everyone looks at me like I'm nuts because I said guns and knives. I was doing the promo class and I said, 'Where I come from, they believe in 2Pac more than Santa Claus.' I saw two writers have this confused look on their face. I was like, 'I'm done. Lemme have my match and I'll leave.'"