Eddie Kingston confirms he's returning to AEW after 509 days; lays out challenge to ex-WWE star

Eddie Kingston has finally confirmed his AEW return after being gone for over 500 days. The Mad King is poised to do battle against former WWE superstar Big Bill.

Eddie Kingston has been missing from action since NJPW Resurgence last year, where he lost his NJPW Strong Openweight Championship to Gabe Kidd. The 43-year-old sustained severe injuries to his leg during the bout, which put him on the shelf for an extensive period of time. While Eddie has been focused on recovering and rehabilitation since then, fans have been clamoring for his return for quite some time now.

Last weekend on AEW Collision, Big Bill delivered a promo that concluded with the powerhouse unexpectedly calling Kingston out. The former Continental Champion has now responded to the fellow New Yorker on Threads, revealing that he had sorted out his contract negotiations with the Tony Khan-led company and inviting the erstwhile Big Cass to select a location for their showdown.

“So got the phone call and the money is right contract is signed on my end. So Big Bill you dumb goofy b*****d just send loctation," wrote Eddie.

Check out a screenshot of Eddie Kingston's message on Threads below:

Eddie Kingston answers Big Bill's challenge [Image Credits: Kingston's Threads account]

Kingston was last seen in action inside an AEW ring at Dynasty 2024, where he teamed with Adam Copeland and Mark Briscoe in an unsuccessful bid against The House of Black. It remains to be seen if the 2023 Continental Classic winner will be able to defeat The Redwood whenever they square off.

AEW's Eddie Kingston on the possibility of retirement

Eddie Kingston has been working with former WWE and All Elite name Cezar Bononi to prepare for his return to active competition. Speaking on the grueling nature of his recovery journey on Bononi's YouTube channel, the former ROH World Champion revealed that he had found himself considering retirement recently. Kingston stated:

“I took my Zoloft and all that. I knew I’d get out of it, but I didn’t want to. I think a lot of people get to that. Happened to me, spiralling. That’s why the thing came out about me thinking about retirement. I don’t want to f**king retire. I don’t, but during that four or five months during PT, once in a while, I just sat in my own sh*t thinking, ‘Yeah, f**k. I did the G1. I wanted to do more, but ah, f**k it.’ I’m making excuses for why it’s okay to quit," he said. [H/T - Fightful]

It remains to be seen if Kingston will make his return to AEW programming this coming week.