Eddie Kingston gives hopeful return update amid year-long absence

Eddie Kingston has been absent from AEW television for more than a year after suffering a devastating injury. Now, he's provided an update that has fans hopeful for a return in the near future.

The Mad King was riding high in 2024 as the inaugural Continental Classic winner and a Triple Crown Champion. Unfortunately, he was pulled from last year's Double or Nothing pay-per-view due to a torn ACL, torn meniscus, and a tibial fracture. The company hoped to see him return by this year's DoN, but Kingston needed more time to recover and train for his comeback.

Kingston's recovery has been slow, but he's been working on his fitness and nutrition with Cezar Bononi, and now, he's officially back in a wrestling ring. The Mad King took to Instagram today to give fans a small update on his progress, which you can check out below:

"F***ing ring," he wrote.

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Eddie Kingston's post on Instagram Stories

Eddie Kingston struggled with weight issues during his recovery

Eddie Kingston is celebrated by fans as a "real" and down-to-earth wrestler in an industry filled with larger-than-life personas. However, he struggles with his body image sometimes.

His issues seemingly took a turn for the worse during his long recovery from injury. Speaking to Cezar Bononi in a recent training video, he revealed that he'd put on weight, and friends who visited him could tell something was wrong:

"So, I gained a bunch of weight on this injury 'cause, you know, I got down and out. It is what it is. You know what I mean? You got to work past it. But you could tell physically that I was down and out. Like, I could — people would visit and I'll be talking to them, and you could tell I sound happy because they're there. The beard, everything. They looked at me, and they knew just physically by how I looked, they were like, 'Oh, he's not [good],'" Kingston said.

Despite that, Kingston is a beloved figure in AEW, and his fans eagerly await his return. Whether he'll be able to regain his lost momentum after his comeback remains to be seen.

About the author

Jacob is an editor and AEW contributor at Sportskeeda Wrestling. He has edited and published over 14,000 articles for Sportskeeda Wrestling in under four years, and subsequently donned the hat of a contributor, demonstrating his commitment to continuous learning. His experience goes beyond wrestling, with five years as an editor for several independent publishing houses and three years as a captioning specialist.

Jacob's first memory of pro wrestling dates back to Sting vs. Ric Flair for the World Heavyweight Championship at Great American Bash 1990. He later began writing for a newsletter and blog at the University of North Texas, and his love of wrestling naturally led him to seek opportunities in the media.

His favorite wrestler is The Icon, as he feels Sting has evolved throughout his career on a parallel path with his own growth as a person. He was Jacob's childhood hero and teenage idol, and now he makes him less afraid of getting older.

Jacob ensures relevance and accuracy in his articles by working hard to maintain his ideals and objectivity without sacrificing his unique voice, inspiring other writers in the section to follow suit.

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Edited by Jacob Terrell