New Day member and one half of the current SmackDown Tag Team Champions, Kofi Kingston, has spoken about his frustrations following his WWE Championship loss to Brock Lesnar. Kingston would drop the belt to Lesnar in seconds during the premiere episode of SmackDown on FOX.
“I was in the same boat as everybody else,” Kingston explained to The Sun. “You never know what is going to happen that day when you get to the building. I would have loved to have a longer match because I feel like the story that Brock and I could have told could have been a lot more compelling than it was. At the same time, you realize it is a business and what the boss wants at one point is what the boss wants. I let go of trying to control what I couldn’t control a long time ago. That’s not to say I didn’t try to fight for a longer match or a more compelling story, but that’s not the route they wanted to go.”
He continued, “That’s the nature of the business. You can be mad and complain and come to work miserable, but I had a six-month title reign, which is few and far between. I got to achieve my dream and I’m all about pushing forward, to strive to achieve great things rather than dwell in this dark space of negative energy. That’s not me. I want to maximize my time here to achieve as much as I can.”
At the time, WWE highlighted Kingston’s 11-year journey into the championship scene. He would win the title by defeating Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35—a matchup he credits Bryan for being instrumental in putting together.
