Christian Cage’s time in All Elite Wrestling is off to a strong start. From confronting Kenny Omega to having a renowned match with Frankie Kazarian, the former WWE star is quickly proving his doubters wrong.
As a 47-year old, Cage is surrounded by plenty of young, promising wrestlers in AEW, but he also thinks highly of a fellow veteran.
In a recent appearance on Talk Is Jericho, Cage complimented Eddie Kingston and specifically praised his passion and his drive to improve.
“You know what I love about a guy like Eddie Kingston [is], this is a guy that the business had basically, was done with,” said Cage. “And he forced his way back in. And god, I have so much respect for that. And the fact that he still has this thirst for wanting to learn, and he’s been in the business almost as long as us, I don’t know exactly how long, it’s been a long time, and he’s coming up to me like, ‘Hey did you see anything? What can I do? If you ever see anything, just let me know.’
“And he’s a guy that you legit know he means it, where it’s not just lip service like, ‘Oh I’ll go ask the [veteran for advice.]’ That guy’s passion, I just love that guy’s passion.”
Cage also explained how the plan for his debut match came about, and he stated that Kazarian was the first person AEW President Tony Khan suggested.
“I had Frankie [at the] forefront in my mind,” said Cage. “And when I called Tony, and we talked about it, I said, I’m talking about outworking everyone, [so] the work’s gotta start here pretty soon.’ And so we decided that we would do something to set the match up, and then we’d have the match, to gain a little interest in it.
“And the first person that he said was, ‘What do you think about Frankie Kazarian?’ And I was like, I was thinking that too. Obviously, we had batted a couple other names, and then it came back to Frankie. And then I let it marinate for a couple days, and then I text him, I said, ‘You’re right from the start. He’s the guy.'”
The AEW newcomer then shared the backstage reaction to his first match in the company and recalled his message to Khan after the match.
“I remember going [to the] back after the match, and just having these emotions,” said Cage. “People coming up , saying congratulating, and it was very cool to have everybody kind of say their piece after. And Tony was sitting there, and he was the first person that was waiting for me when I came back through the curtain. But then I doubled back to him. And I just kinda said to him quietly, I said, ‘Tony, like, you signed me basically sight unseen. You have no idea how much that means to me, and how hard I’ll work for you going forward, because of that, of the chance that you took on me.’
“And he got up, and he hugged me and that was it.”
The full episode is available here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/358RXr8BDYOljSQmMRqdo6?si=TKoJs8VoSwS_ywjF-lpiAg
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