Kofi Kingston captured the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35 by defeating Daniel Bryan, now known in All Elite Wrestling as Bryan Danielson.
Kingston hit Bryan with the Trouble in Paradise for the pinfall victory. The veteran celebrated with the New Day in the ring as the crowd erupted. A video went viral featuring MVP and the tragically passed Shad Gaspard getting emotional following Kingston’s victory.
Speaking with Steve Fall of NBC Ten Count, a question was sent in by students for Kofi Kingston. He was asked if he felt his WWE character has impacted young African-American children and if he finds it a responsibility of his every time he’s in front of the camera. Kingston responded with
Absolutely. Being the first African-born WWE Champion impacted a lot of African-American children in ways, and really all children, but particularly African-American children because you didn’t really see African-born Superstars in championship roles.
And I mean main championship roles. It is something you didn’t see, and it is one thing to say like anything is possible because, in theory, anything is possible.
If you believe in yourself, you can be the one who breaks the ground and you can be the first person to do something.
But it is a whole other thing to say that anything is possible because it actually happened.
– Kofi Kingston
Kingston said that he was blown away by all the videos of him on social media after winning the WWE Championship. He still gets messages about it to this day.
“So we were in New Orleans, like me and my son walking in, and one of the security guards stopped me and talked to me about how impactful that moment was to him watching it as an adult.
You have all these videos of people watching it with their kids and it just really establishes a sense of hope, and belief that you can do whatever you want to do.”
Not the Typical WWE Champion
“By all standards, I shouldn’t be here. I’m not 6’8”, I’m not 300 pounds, and I don’t have a strapping chest.
As a matter of fact, I have pretty much all sternum. No muscle here. My legs are very skinny, I’m not as big as the other people on the roster.
When I was a kid and I told people that I wanted to be a WWE Superstar they laughed at me because I didn’t look the part.
Now, you fast forward all these years later, I’ve been able to have so many incredible accolades, so many awesome moments, I’ve had 22 different title reigns. This is all from a guy that wasn’t supposed to be here.”
Watch Kofi Kingston WWE Championship Celebration:
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit NBC Ten Count with a H/T to SEScoops for the transcription.
