Ranking Kofi Kingston’s most iconic WWE moments on 39th Birthday
The WWE star turns 39 today
Kofi Kingston is one of the exceptional in-ring talents in WWE with a monumental wrestling career. The former World Champion was born on August 14, 1981 at Kumasi, Ahti, Ghana, which means he is turning 42 today. To celebrate Kofi’s 42nd birthday, we recall some of the Iconic moments of Kofi in WWE.
Jamaican (Kayfabe)
Remember or not, Kofi made his WWE debut by billing himself as a Jamaican, where WWE promoted him as the first Jamaican Wrestler of WWE. But the truth is Kofi is not related to Jamaica anyway, as he is a Ghanaian born American Citizen. However he got exposed by Triple H during an episode of Raw, where Triple H caught Kofi starting to speak with an American accent instead of the Jamaican accent. He later admitted that he is not a Jamaican, but used the accent to give tribute to the Jamaican people.
First Championship in WWE for Kofi Kingston
Winning the first championship is always amazing, however Kofi’s first match in Raw was itself a championship match and became the champion right away. In 2008 Kofi was drafted from ECW to Raw and had his first match against Chris Jericho with the Intercontinental Championship on the line. When Kofi was about tk submit to the Y2J of Jericho, Shawn Michael (who had a big rivalry with Jericho) came to the ring side, which distracted Jericho. Kofi used the distraction and hit a “Trouble in Paradise” for the win, marking his first championship win in WWE.
New Day Rocks
In 2014, Big E and Kofi Kingston were inserted into a tag team match, where Xavier Wood aligned himself with them and formed The New Day. The established themselves as a heel after failing to capture the WWE Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 31, marking Kofi’s first heel turn in WWE. The New Day has then become the most successful trio in WWE, where they won twelve tag team championships including Raw Tag Team Championship four times, SmackDown Tag Team Championship seven times and NXT Tag Team Championship once.
Royal Rumble Saves
What’s more funnier than watching Kofi Kingston’s stunts in WWE. He is known for his creative saves at the Royal Rumble match.
In 2012, when The Miz tried to eliminate Kofi, he landed upside down and walked with his hands without his legs touching the floor. He landed his foot on the stairs and re-entered the ring.
In 2013, when Ziggler pushed Kofi out of the ring, he landed on Tensai’s back without his foot touching the ground. Tensai landed him on the commentary desk, where Kofi used the rolling chair to re-enter the rumble.
In 2014, CM Punk threw Kofi off the top rope, where Rusev caught him and kept him on the barricade. Kofi jumped from the barricade to the ring and re-entered the rumble.
In 2015, Rusev threw Kofi out of the ring, where The Rose Buds (who accompanied Adam Rose to the ring) caught Kofi on the air and carried him to re-enter the Rumble.
In 2016, when Kane threw Kofi through the top rope, Kofi landed himself on Big E’s shoulder and re-entered the rumble on the other side.
In 2017, When Kofi was on the top rope, Corbin tried to eliminate him, but he hung on the ring post and saved himself from the elimination.
In 2018, Jinder Mahal threw Kofi out of the ring, but Kofi landed one legged, by keeping another leg on Xavier Woods’ chest. He then kept his foot on the pancake. Big E and Woods then made their hand as a springboard and threw Kofi inside the ring over the top rope and above Mahal’s head.
Kofi-Mania
In 2018, Kofi got his first World Championship push after a decade of wrestling history with the company. Mustafa Ali was the first to get the push, but somehow his push was stopped and Kofi got the push instead. At Elimination Chamber, Kofi Kingston replaced Mustafa Ali and entered the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship. In which he came short of winning the title from Daniel Bryan. However his incredible performance caught the attention of many and fans gave him a huge support. But WWE management refused to give him a championship match at WrestleMania.
Vince tested Kofi’s abilities by putting himself in a Gauntlet match, where he defeated every superstar but lost to Daniel Bryan in the end. McMahon troubled their New Day Members by inserting them into the Gauntlet match, if Big E and Woods win, Kofi will be given the championship match against Bryan. In which The New Day won and sent Kofi to WrestleMania 35, where Kingston won the match by defeating Daniel Bryan to become the WWE Champion for the first time. The championship win made him the 20th Grand Slam Champion and the 30th Triple Crown Champion.
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