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AEW's Eddie Kingston Rips CM Punk and Cesaro; Says He Doesn't Respect WWE Superstar
December 9, 2021
AEW star Eddie Kingston didn't hold back in expressing his dislike for AEW's CM Punk and WWE's Cesaro this week.
In an interview with News 12 in Bronx, New York (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Eric Mutter), Kingston explained why he doesn't have a fond view of Punk or Cesaro.
Regarding Punk and the recent on-screen rivalry he had with him in AEW, Kingston said:
"The thing with Punk, I guess you could say the 'promo,' it wasn't a promo. He doesn't like me, I don't like him. And we've had a lot of things to say to each other that we've never had the chance to say to each other. We've either said it to friends, mutual friends of each other, or we just decided to ignore each other or whatever. There's a lot of other things, I'm not going to get too inside baseball on it, there's a lot of stuff that went on behind the scenes that nobody really needs to know. But yeah, that wasn't a promo. That was something we've both wanted to say to each other for 15 years. That was 15 years of buildup for both of us."
Punk and Kingston cut heated, personal promos on each other several weeks ago ahead of their match at Full Gear last month.
Their match was a physical, hard-hitting affair that was won by Punk. Kingston said Tuesday that he and Punk "actually fought" in the match and didn't shake hands afterward.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Michael Perry of Ringside News) recently reported there is real-life heat between Punk and Kingston because of something that happened between them in IWA Mid-South in the early-to-mid 2000s.
Meltzer said an unnamed wrestler told him he was in the locker room when Punk called Kingston and his tag-team partner at the time, Blackjack Marciano, "fat, lazy and unsafe."
It is less obvious why Kingston has an issue with Cesaro, but he spoke out against the Swiss Superman this week as well, saying:
"There's certain people in wrestling I do not like. Punk is one. Cesaro is another one, the big Swiss idiot in WWE. I know him as Claudio [Castagnoli]. I don't like him, I don't respect him. If he ever comes here, we're going to have a problem. Or whenever his contract's up. I don't even pay attention to what he does. But guys like that, I just don't like, don't respect."
Back in May, Kingston called Cesaro a "scumbag" and said his dislike for Cesaro stems from Cesaro not putting him over in Chikara before he signed with WWE in 2011.
Kingston has also said he has issues with Chris Hero, who was Cesaro's longtime tag-team partner on the independent scene.
It doesn't seem likely Cesaro and Kingston will cross paths in AEW any time soon, as Cesaro reportedly re-signed with WWE earlier this year, and the seven-time WWE tag-team champion remains a regular contributor on SmackDown.
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