Eddie Kingston explains what “force the hand” means.
During a recent appearance on Wilde On with Taylor Wilde, the reigning ROH World Champion and NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion took some time to discuss his current attitude toward handling business as a pro wrestler on TV.
“Now I look back at some things and I’m like, ‘Man, if I didn’t say it like this or didn’t say it like that, maybe I would’ve got across.’ But that was the street attitude,” Kingston said. “You gotta be the loudest when arguing and you gotta intimidate and you gotta throw your hands right away. It’s not like that in business. I know a lot of people want to treat professional wrestling different, but it’s a business like any other type of entertainment.
“It’s like actors, like any other athlete as well, still the same thing. It’s a business and people are not gonna wanna work with you if you’re a loud-mouth New Yorker who’s a mild content. It got me this far but I’ve also learned how to sit back and let things happen and that my job as a professional wrestler as well is to make everything work. It doesn’t matter what the promoter or booker wants. What they want is what they get. Whether I agree to it or not, I gotta make it work. The only thing I ever really ask is if I can do it my way.”
Keep yourself on
Kingston shared that he’s blessed to have Tony Khan as his boss who lets him do things his way as long as he hits the mark that Khan is looking for. And if he doesn’t make it work, then he doesn’t get TV time. Ultimately, Kingston respects that.
“I understand the frustration of everybody not being on TV or not doing whatever,” Kingston added. “I get that frustration, but I also tell them, ‘What have you done? Keep yourself on.’ You can’t always blame the promoter or the booker, whoever. ‘What did you do?’ It’s a lesson my father used to tell me and I used to hate it when I was younger, but it’s a fact. He used to say, ‘Everything starts and ends with you. What did you say or do or act to get yourself in this situation?’ I think a lot of times we gotta look at ourselves and not outside ourselves.”
“I used to tell guys when I was in a group when I first got there with Butcher, Blade, and Bunny, and my best friend Penta and Fenix, I used to tell them before we’d go out, ‘Force the hand.’ Some people asked me what that meant. That meant just be undeniable when you’re out there. It doesn’t matter if it’s just a talking segment, as they say, you make that the best talking segment of that week, of any show that’s on.
Be undeniable
Kingston believes he’s living proof of that philosophy because it took him 18 years (and a pandemic) to get somewhere. Before, he was blaming outside forces instead of looking within and that’s why he wasn’t getting anywhere.
“I’m not just talking about wrestling. You have the best talking segment on any drama, any sitcom, not just pro wrestling. You make it the best thing on TV if that’s what your job is for that day. If your job is to get beat up, then you’re going to get beat up the best. If your job is to beat somebody up, you’re going to beat the piss out of that person. You’re going to make it look good because then you become undeniable and then whoever’s in control will see that.”
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If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Wilde On with a h/t to WrestleZone for the transcription.
