Saptarshi Sinha on January 19, 2023
Kofi Kingston replaced Mustafa Ali in the 2019 WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match after Ali suffered an injury. Although Kingston lost the Elimination Chamber match against Daniel Bryan, his spectacular performance during a one-hour gauntlet match as well as the Elimination Chamber translated into huge support from the WWE Universe. Then Kofimania was born en route to WrestleMania 35.
At WrestleMania 35, Kofi Kingston defeated Daniel Bryan to win the WWE Championship for the first time in his career. The victory also cemented Kofi’s legacy as the first African-born WWE Champion in history. With the landmark title win, Kofi officially became WWE’s 30th Triple Crown and 20th Grand Slam champion.
On October 4th, 2019, at the 20th anniversary of WWE SmackDown, Brock Lesnar defeated Kofi Kingston in 8 seconds to win the WWE Championship. The Beast ended Kingston’s reign at 180 days.
On the latest “FTR with Dax Harwood” podcast, Dax recalled Kofi Kingston’s embarrassing WWE Title loss to Brock Lesnar in 2019. The FTR member consoled Kingston via text message for the shambolic booking on Vince McMahon’s part.
“I was very, very upse. I remember that I texted Kofi. Actually, it was a group text with the three of them, The New Day, and myself and Dan. I apologized to him and said, ‘I’m so sorry this happened to you, man. We’re so upset. I can’t believe this is for real’, not because of obviously anything with Brock, but how much he had worked and how hard he had worked to get to this point.
Dax Harwood further revealed that the entire locker room was upset and shocked about the booking. Nevertheless, it still went through as Vince McMahon booked.
“Dude, especially when we were working with him, with Randy, I saw him outside of Vince’s office or go into Vince’s office every single week to try to make things better, to try to make his championship run better. He worked so hard to be a great champion. I think a lot of people, you know, maybe they think ‘Oh, man, his championship run wasn’t successful’ because, you know, whatever. It wasn’t for lack of trying because I saw him every week, man, try his damnedest to make something of nothing and it broke all of our hearts, you know, the whole locker room. It broke all of our hearts that that’s where the championship was being taken because, not anything to do with Brock, but because Kofi had worked so hard, and seeing someone work so hard for so long, to get this opportunity taken away from him.”
Following the WWE Title loss, Kofi Kingston returned to tag team competition. He resumed teaming with Big E and Xavier Woods of The New Day. On the September 27, 2021, episode of Monday Night RAW, Big E defeated Bobby Lashley to win the WWE Championship, the very title that Kingston had dropped to Lesnar in 2019.
What’s your take on the story? Sound off in the comments!
January 19, 2023 10:18 pm
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