A massive six-man tag team match has been announced for the Sept. 20 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw.
On the Sept. 17 episode of SmackDown, newly-minted WWE Champion Big E made a surprise appearance. He and Finn Balor defeated WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos. Backstage after the match, The Usos attacked Big E.
As a result of what transpired on SmackDown, Big E will team with his New Day brethren Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods to take on WWE Universal Champion Reigns and The Usos. The official Twitter account of WWE made the announcement.
WWE superstars have so little communication with the management that they often find out what they are doing on the show through social media, according to Kofi Kingston. The former WWE champion recently had an interview with 106 KMWL. Among other things, he also talked about his match on this week’s Raw.
During the interview, Kofi explained how as performers, they are usually the last ones to find out what they are doing. He gave the example of his tag team match on this Monday’s episode of Raw:
“You would be surprised. Usually, as performers, we are the last one’s to find things out. This week and last week, I found out on Twitter what I was doing on Raw. It was announced I would be in an eight-man tag team match and I was like, ‘Oh, good to know. I gotta prepare.’
Same thing last week when we had the tag team turmoil, I had no idea until I looked on social media and I saw it.” said Kofi Kingston, “If I didn’t look on social media, I wouldn’t have known until I got to the building.”
The New Day member went on to say that oftentimes they have no idea what the show is going to entail. Even when they do know sometimes, it always gets changed. Though Kingston explained that it’s the bittersweet part of being a WWE star. According to him, it’s a good thing because it keeps everyone on their toes.
Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods teamed up with Mansoor and Mustafa Ali to face the team of AJ Styles, Omos, MACE and T-BAR on this week’s Raw in a losing effort.
Kofi Kingston was not on the road with WWE this weekend. He had originally been scheduled to join his New Day partner Xavier Woods in a segment at SummerSlam with John Morrison and the Miz. Woods was dressed up as Scott Hall and sprayed a water gun at the Miz and Morrison but Kofi ended up not being involved. The segment was a promotional spot for Pure Life Purified Water, one of SummerSlam’s sponsors.
According to a report from PW Insider, Kofi is not cleared to compete and that is why he was not used this weekend. The original plan was for him to dress up as another member of the NWO. WWE is currently marketing a New Day parody NWO t-shirt.
It is not clear why Kingston has not been cleared to perform. His last match was on the August 16th RAW. In a dark segment, New Day defeated Miz and Morrison on the show from San Antonio.
Yoooo! Thanks to everyone who took the time out of their day to wish me a happy birthday! ?? I love y’all! ?
New Day are 8-3 in televised tag-team matches in 2021. They are 1-2 in title matches as well. They won the RAW tag belts in March and then lost them to AJ Styles and Omos a WrestleMania.
Video of Xavier Woods, John Morrison, and The Miz from SummerSlam is below:
Kofi Kingston took part in an interview with Metro to hype up his match against Bobby Lashley tonight at Money in the Bank. During the conversation, the former WWE Champion said that the members of New Day have fantasized about turning heel but Vince McMahon won’t allow them to do it.
“To be honest, we fantasize about (being heels) all the time. I tell people that I had the most fun in my career when I was yelling at children, and threatening to ground children, and threatening children.”
Later in the discussion, Kofi noted that he doesn’t feel Vince McMahon will let the group turn heel.
“No, he’s not gonna let us do it! So, it’s a fantasy but I dunno… I don’t think it’ll ever happen again, unfortunately.”
Kofi Kingston has a long history of wanting to fight children…
Kingston continued to talk about how the faction likes to mess with people in the crowd.
“The New Day, what we do in particular, is we mess around with people in the crowd,” he continued. “Giving almost as much if not more to the people in the crowd than we are in the ring! It’s a big part of what we do.”
Kingston discussed the objections of some fans over the remarks during an interview with Daily Star. He said that the whole premise is really subjective and explained that the industry is about connecting with the crowd:
“The whole premise of ‘who is the best’ [is] really subjective, as far as Randy is concerned, I think he has the ability to do so many things so well. A lot of people think that because he doesn’t do a lot of moves, he’s not good, but that’s simply not true. The industry is not about the moves;
It is about being able to connect with the crowd and express what you’re thinking without saying things a lot – to make people watch you.”
Kofi Kingston On The Longevity Of Randy Orton
Kofi Kingston then praised Randy saying that every step he takes has a purpose. You can’t take your eyes off him, and being able to do so is an absolute talent.
Per the New Day member, this makes you great and not just good. He said that because of his longevity alone, you can’t have the conversation about the greatest without Randy Orton in it:
“To be able to last so long… he’s even more compelling now in a lot of different ways. So as a performer, you can’t have the conversation [about the greatest] without having Randy be in there, from the longevity alone. That doesn’t happen by accident.”
Randy Orton signed with WWE in 2001. He became one of the marquee WWE stars when he joined Evolution in 2002. With 14 world titles and over half a dozen other accomplishments, Orton has never looked back since then.
What are your thoughts in the debate about Randy Orton’s place in the conversation about the greatest and Kofi Kingston’s comments about it? Let us know your views in the comment section below.
WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston recently spoke to Sports Illustrated. The former WWE Champion and member of The New Day discussed a number of topics during the interview; including his former tag team partner Big E.
Big E is of course now a Superstar on the SmackDown brand. Whilst Kofi appears to be back in the WWE Title picture; he said that he and Xavier Woods are just waiting for WWE to put Big E in the Universal Championship conversation.
“If E gets thrust into that role, going toe-to-toe with the universal champion, if that happens, [Xavier] Woods and me are going to lose our minds,” Kingston began, speaking to SI.
Kofi Kingston on Big E
“I’m not big on looking too far ahead, but if that were to happen, E will exceed every expectation” Kingston continued, praising the man who was Intercontinental Champion up until WrestleMania 37.
“He can talk, can make you laugh, he can gyrate his hips and he can beat you up” Kingston continued, praising his New Day brother. “I’m so happy to see his success with the Intercontinental championship, being able to continue the legacy of the workhorse title.”
“His way with words is unmatched, and his ability to connect with the crowd is very special. E is ready to be at the top of this industry” Kofi Kingston would conclude.
Big E is long overdue for a world title push. Many wonder if the upcoming Money In The Bank PPV could open the doors of a world title opportunity for him and Kofi Kingston recently commented on the possibility.
The former WWE champion recently spoke to Sports Illustrated where he talked about the ladder match and how his partner will do in such a scenario.
Kingston explained that E would be a great fit in a match such as Money In The Bank. He would bring a lot of things on the table which we haven’t seen before:
“E would be a great fit because he would bring a lot of things to the table you hadn’t seen before; there aren’t a lot of people that move like Big E that are built like him in a Money in the Bank match.”
Kofi mentioned how Big E is not only very strong but athletic as well. Discussing how a MITB win can lead to a main event push, Kingston revealed that one of his goals to join New Day was to help his teammates:
“One of my goals when I initially joined New Day, when Woods and E approached me about being in this group, I wanted to do something new—and I wanted to help Woods and E rise,
And do whatever I could do to help them achieve a level of stardom in this industry that they hadn’t before,” said Kofi Kingston, “So yes, E would be amazing in Money in the Bank.”
It’s believed that Money In The Bank will be held in July with fans in attendance. It will be a great opportunity for WWE to push Big E to the next level with a big win in the presence of fans.
WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan recently appeared on My Mom’s Basement. The former WWE Champion discussed a number of topics during the interview, including his favorite ever WWE match.
“My favorite match in my WWE career is my match with Kofi at WrestleMania 35,” Bryan stated on the podcast. “It’s so special and such a cool moment. One of the things that I love is it’s Kofi winning at the end.”
“WrestleMania 30, my shoulder is horrible, I hurt my neck, I have this horrible pain down my arm and I have to get up and do media the next morning” Bryan continued. “Everyone comes up to you and are like ‘congratulations.’ There’s a lot of responsibility.”
“When I wrestled Kofi, everyone goes to Kofi and says congratulations to him. I get to have my moment with him and be like ‘Hey man, thanks. That was awesome’” Bryan noted. “Then, I get to hug my wife and daughter and go home the next day. Kofi is the one who has to do media and deal with people congratulating him.”
Daniel Bryan on Brock Match
Bryan also brought up his match against Brock Lesnar from Survivor Series 2018, after he had just turned heel. “I love my match with Brock Lesnar. It’s cool because I just turned heel and I was like, ‘I finally get to wrestle Brock Lesnar and it’s as a bad guy.’”
“One of the things I’m very proud of is I went out to boos, got them to cheer me by the end, and when I left they still boo’d me. Wrestling Brock gave me a deep-seated appreciation for how great Brock is. The other stuff, it’s hard to narrow down” Bryan concluded.
Do you think that Daniel Bryan will be moving on to RAW or NXT following his ‘banishment’ from SmackDown? Let us know in the comments
The New Day were able to win tag team gold again on this week’s Monday Night Raw as they became 11-time tag team champions. They defeated the top tag team on the Raw brand — The Hurt Business’ Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin to become the new Raw Tag Team Champions. Fans weren’t too happy with this decision however, as the win was met with reactions like “Again?”, “Tired of seeing them as champs,” etc.
Another reason why New Day’s new title reign was met with bit of a negative reaction was because it put a halt to the momentum that The Hurt Business was enjoying going into WrestleMania 37 with Bobby Lashley as the WWE Champion. After their Raw match, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were interviewed backstage where they noted fans’ censure against their title win.
“We told a lot of people what was going to happen. A lot of people are upset — ‘Oh, we’re tired of seeing New Day as the champions!’ Don’t be mad at us, be mad at Cedric, be mad at Shelton for not being to keep the tag team championships,” Kofi Kingston hit back at the criticism. “Be mad at all your favorite tag teams for not being able to step up against your boys. Be mad at them, don’t be mad at us for doing our jobs. All we do is we go out there, we entertain, and we win championships. That’s it. Don’t be mad at us, be mad at your favorites.”
“This is our 11th time. When you’re a child you think, ‘I wanna be a WWE Superstar.’ You don’t even fathom the fact that you can possibly become 11-time WWE World Tag Team Champions and then it becomes your reality,” Xavier Woods said regarding his run as part of The New Day. “You feel that? Our dreams are sueños, have become our realidad. Don’t be mad at us. We are frothing at the mouth for more teams. Please believe it. We want to beat up new teams, we want to pin new teams, we want to make new teams tap out. So come to us, wherever you are.”
The New Day were also challenged to a match at WrestleMania 37 by AJ Styles and Omos who came out to the ring after New Day’s match. Styles said he has held all title in WWE except the tag team straps, and now he’s eyeing them. A match for the titles was later confirmed by WWE for WrestleMania.
Kofi Kingston hasn’t wrestled since the January 4th, 2021 edition of WWE RAW. He missed last week’s show due to a broken jaw. On the most recent edition of the New Day “Feel the Power” podcast, Kingston detailed when and how he suffered the injury.
“I got kneed in the face by Cedric Alexander like 3 weeks ago and a couple of my teeth chipped. It was all fine, it was cool and the point of impact was just real sore. I thought ‘okay it’s a bruise or whatever.’ The next week we actually had like a 6-man match and everything was fine, a little pain but not terrible”
The day after New Day lost the RAW tag-team titles to the Hurt Business at WWE TLC, Kingston Tweeted out the following:
Hats off to @Sheltyb803 and @CedricAlexander tonight. I’m still spiting out pieces of my teeth. You’ve officially earned my respect. Good battle! ?
Kingston would continue to say that his jaw just didn’t feel right in the weeks and matches that followed.
“Then the next week when we had our match — right before we went out, it just kept feeling like it was just loose,” Kingston continued.
“As soon as we get out there to the ring, I’m moving around and now I’m feeling it kind of like come out of place and just feel like it wasn’t set in. And I feel like if the fans were there, I wouldn’t have felt that. Like throughout the whole entire match, anytime something would happen, I would get hit or whatever, I’ll grab my jaw. And I’m like, the entire match thinking about it the whole time.”
Kingston also mentioned he’s not sure if he would have noticed the injury had there been fans in the arena.
“I’ve been not necessarily injured but been hurt in a match and you feel the adrenaline of a crowd and it makes you will your way through it. It changes the whole dynamic of how we do what we do and the approach.”
On the first edition of WWE Smackdown to air on Fox in 2019, Brock Lesnar defeated Kofi Kingston to win the WWE Championship in just 7 seconds. Many fans were disappointed with how Kofi’s title reign came to an end. Eric Bischoff was the Executive Director of Smackdown when the title change took place. He spent some time recently on the 83 Weeks Podcast talking about Lesnar’s quick victory over the former champion.
“Brock is Brock as a character, Brock’s character is Brock’s character. He eats people, he eats big people, he eats tough people,” Bischoff said on the show.
Bischoff continued to talk about the the size-difference between Brock and Kofi and how that played into what happened in their match.
“Kofi is my size, granted he’s in shape. But Kofi is maybe 200lbs, 210lbs, 220lbs-guy, whatever it is. Is there a story that would be remotely believable that would allow Kofi in this match to be in there and mix it up with a guy like Brock, in a believable way, that would have allowed him to maybe hold onto that underdog status?”
“What could Kofi have done in the body of that match that would have been believable and allow Kofi’s fans to hold onto some hope that he might find a way to overcome Brock Lesnar? I challenge people to think of it.”
Eric Bischoff on Brock Lesnar vs Kofi Kingston
Bischoff believes that WWE made the inevitable problem of ending a popular champion’s title reign worse by having it end in such a short match.
“People were hot that Brock ate Kofi in the manner in which he ate him and spit him out. They were hot, and I understand that. But what else could you do that would have been believable?”
“So I think it was destined to failure from the beginning to the end. It was a mistake. But I think that mistake was exacerbated by the fact that they did it so quickly.”
Bischoff’s comments can be heard in the player below:
WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston recently appeared on the Gorilla Position podcast. The former WWE Champion and RAW Superstar discussed a number of topics during his time on the show.
These included a potential return to bigger live audiences post COVID-19; Kingston would also discuss what it has been like in the company since the ‘break up’ of The New Day.
Kofi Kingston on The New Day
When discussing the New Day breakup, Kofi would say that he has mixed emotions about it. “A lot of mixed emotions for me” Kingston began on the podcast. “I’ll start with the negatives. [Xavier] Woods has been out, if you really think about it, for the past year? It has been for about a year. He had been out for a legitimately long time, so for a while it was just me and Big E.”
“So we’d already kind of gotten almost like a head start, you know?” Kofi Kingston would continue. “Like a preview. Kind of an easing into what this was. And then all of a sudden? The draft happened and it made it official.”
Big E
“The way that it’s affected me the most? Walking into the locker room and not seeing Big E, then knowing that I’m not going to see him for the whole day? We hadn’t been in the same room physically together since about January [before the Draft] when we shot an episode of the podcast, when Xavier was still injured.”
Kingston would then discuss the main positive of the New Day breaking up. “I’ve said this before in a lot of different interviews as far as like Big E having a legitimate singles run. It’s so necessary, because he has earned it, he deserves it. He would be an amazing face of the company. Big E is smart, talented. He’s also hilarious, but he can be serious if he wants to be, very intimidating if he wants to be.
“You look at him? He’s a physical specimen” Kingston continued. I think that from from an unselfish perspective? He deserves that chance. He deserves to have a legitimate run at a major singles championship.”
Do you agree with Kofi Kingston? Do you think that Big E could end up a major singles Champion? Let us know in the comments
Kofi Kingston and The New Day. Photo Credit: WWE.com
WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston recently appeared on the Gorilla Position podcast. The former WWE Champion and RAW Superstar discussed a number of topics during his time on the show.
These included a potential return to bigger live audiences post COVID-19; Kingston would also discuss what it has been like in the company since the ‘break up’ of The New Day.
“It’s tough to say” Kofi began on the show, saying how he has no idea what it’ll be like for WWE ‘live’ events following the pandemic. “This is obviously a situation that like…nobody would have ever dreamed that it was possible. That the entire world could shut down, essentially?”
Kofi Kingston on Live Events
“But I think, day by day? We’re kind of taking steps back towards normalcy” Kofi Kingston would continue. “Or? What the new normal may be. I don’t know if it’s gonna be quite like it was with all the travel, maybe it will maybe it won’t. I mean we get it, we can all speculate. But right now I think everybody in the entire world is just trying to take it one day at a time.”
Even though WWE recently furloughed and laid off the majority of the live events team, Kingston believes that they will be back on the road at some point in the future. “At some point in time I will be travelling more than just one day a week” Kingston stated. “I know for myself it’s definitely going to pick up at some point.”
Do you think that WWE will pick up live events once again after the pandemic? Do you think that Kofi Kingston will get another singles run in the company? Let us know in the comments.
Former WWE Champion Kofi Kingston has shared his thoughts on Roman Reigns’ recent heel turn. Speaking with ABC6 News, Kingston noted how he always considered Reigns to be “the guy who had all the tools.”
Kingston pointed to how Reigns is not only a movie star but also WWE’s ‘Big Dog.’ He added how Reigns is “the top dog in the entire yard.” With this success, however, Kingston can’t help but ask himself why Reigns has aligned with Paul Heyman, whom he referred to as a “parasite.”
The New Day member explained how he wanted to speak with Reigns about his recent decision. Kingston stressed how he personally believes Reigns didn’t need to “go that route” and partner with Heyman.
“With that said, it is still interesting to see because performers, over a period of time, develop a new sense of personality and a new persona that just draws you in,” Kingston said. “I never expected this from Roman, never thought he’d do this in a million years. But here we are.”
Kofi Kingston acknowledged, however, that Reigns’ new attitude will undeniably make people want to “tune in.”
New Day member Kofi Kingston has opened up about being away from in-ring competition as he heals from an injury during on appearance on WWE’s The Bump. He also acknowledged the singles run his stablemate, Big E, is currently enjoying.
Kingston revealed he feels good as he continues to recover at home. He shared how he has been working on his home gym, which has allowed him to get back into a fitness regime. He added how he isn’t pushing himself too hard right now, explaining how “number one because I don’t want to suffer a setback, you know, and be out for even longer. And number two, I’m spending a lot of quantity and quality time with my family, so I’m just trying to enjoy that.”
He stressed that, when the time is right, he will be back in WWE. Kingston also spoke about how he’s now smarter with his body and won’t be rushing back before he’s ready. He noted that, until he’s back, “Big E’s holding it down.”
Kofi Kingston On Big E’s Singles Run
Kofi Kingston admitted it’s an “awesome thing” to watch his friend succeed and thrive. He confessed it’s weird to watch Big E’s run from home before sharing how it doesn’t feel odd to support and celebrate his friend’s success and growth. According to Kingston, “we’re always supportive of each other, even when like Woods has not been with us.”
He pointed to Big E’s focus and personal drive, stressing his friend has always had these characteristics. Kingston stated how “What we do for ourselves helps the entire group, and at the same time, we’re doing it for the entire group. So when we gave him our blessing, that was us just showing our full support because I think the whole WWE universe, along with us, we all believe that Big E deserves a shot.”
Booker T recently commented on his controversial loss to Triple H at WrestleMania 19. He made the comments on his Hall of Fame with Booker T and Brad Gilmore radio show and posted to his Reality of Wrestling YouTube channel.
Triple H defeated Booker T in a World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania 19. Many fans felt that due to the nature of the rivalry between the two, it would have made more sense for Booker to win, however.
“I would change the outcome in the WrestleMania match with Triple H, that’s about the only thing that I would do differently,” Booker said when asked about his career on the show.
The match result doesn’t appear to bother him too much, however.
“Even with the Triple H match, I’ve said this several times, I forgot all about that match after I got the check,” Booker continued. “When you get a check big enough where you can pay for your house, you don’t think about the title or the match or anything like that.”
“The thing is you can’t get the check if you ain’t championship quality. You got to be a guy that they are giving the ball to.”
Booker T on Kofi-Mania
Booker was then asked what impact it would have had on Kofi-Mania had Booker T been victorious at WrestleMania 19.
“I think the moment that we are in right now in society, I think that’s one of the really, really big reasons we needed Kofi to win that night. Just because of what’s going on in our culture right now.”
“The moment of Kofi winning was so much more important for him winning than it was for me,” Booker continued. “That moment pretty much solidified Kofi Kingston as being a guy that came through this business, a guy that won the World Championship. For me, I won so many world titles, it ain’t even funny. Big difference. I won all the titles except that one!”
Booker’s comments can be heard in the player below:
Triple H’s Promo, March 3rd 2003
On an episode of RAW leading up to WrestleMania 19, Triple H cut a promo that many fans perceived to have racist undertones to it.
“Booker, I think you’re a little bit confused in your role in life here,” Triple H said during the promo. “You see Booker, you’re going to get to go to WrestleMania but see the fact is Booker, somebody like you doesn’t get to be a World Champion. You see people like you don’t deserve it. That’s reserved for people like me.”
“See Book, that’s where the confusion is. Your confusion is… see you’re not here to be a competitor, you’re here to be an entertainer.”
Triple H would later say at a WrestleMania press conference that it was not his intent for the promo to be perceived as his character being racist to Booker. He said he only meant to refer to legal problems Booker encountered earlier in his life when he said “People like you.”
Bruce Prichard has since said that the whole angle was meant to portray Booker as the flag-bearer of WCW at the time.
“The way it was intended and the way it was written, and the way that the whole angle was laid out, was about Booker T being the standard-bearer of WCW. Because at that time, Booker was the biggest star to come out of WCW,” Prichard said on his podcast in regard to the angle.
WWE Superstar Naomi recently appeared on WWE’s The New Day: Feel The Power podcast. The tenured Superstar discussed a number of topics from her career with the company, from FCW, to Team Bad and her current run with her ‘Glow’ gimmick.
New Day member Kofi Kingston discussed the ‘glow’ styling that Naomi has in her entrance, saying how it is possibly the “best entrance in the company.”
“You embraced the whole ‘feel the glow thing’ and like reinvented yourself in that respect” Kofi Kingston began on the podcast. “And your entrance was/is amazing.”
Kofi would then reveal that the ‘Glow’ gimmick may have actually been his way back in 2010…if he took it. “Funny story about that” Kofi began. “That was, I think back in like 2010? I was with the merch team, they were trying to come up with like different shirts. They have all these terrible designs, and one of them was like this weird, like silhouette of me? There was like this weird body paint.”
Kofi Kingston as the ‘Black’ Jeff Hardy?
Kingston would elaborate further, saying “and the dude at merch was like pitching me this idea. And he’s like, ‘oh, you could maybe you come out and you have black light body paints on? You can kind of be like the Black version of Jeff Hardy?’ And I said ‘what are you talking about!? Coming out painting myself glowed in the dark!? THAT’S STUPID!? Why would anyone ever do that!?”
Kofi Kingston would then reveal that he might’ve made a mistake when he saw how great Naomi’s entrance actually was. “I’m like ‘this could be the best entrance on the roster’ right? I look back at it now and I think like maybe I should have embraced it! What you (Naomi) are doing is probably what they were talking about.”
“But if they described it to me in a better way than being the ‘black version of Jeff Hardy?’ I might have like got into it!” Kofi would finish.
New Day member Kofi Kingston has claimed The Big Show is responsible for forever changing his chest. The former WWE Champion made his claims on a recent episode of the stables podcast, The New Day: Feel The Power. Big Show was a guest on the show.
When their conversation turned to Big Show’s famous chops, Kingston mentioned how Big Show delivered hard chops to Superstars based on their attitude. He added how he wished Big Show had let him know about that back in 2009. Kingston joked how he used to have a full chest before competing against Big Show.
“I wished that you would have told me that back in 2009 because I came out, I debuted in 2008, and you’ll remember, I had a nice, full chest. My chest was popping. Do you know what I mean?” Kingston said. “I go to do a pushup and my chest hits the ground. Do you know what I mean? I had a real, life chest. And then, [Show] and I ended up having a match, and I got chopped so hard in the chest, and my chest has never been the same since.”
Kofi Kingston’s Receipt
The Big Show opened up about how the hard chops were a receipt to Kofi Kingston. He explained how Kingston had delivered a stiff shot to him with a spinning back kick. That kick connected hard with his chin. Big Show added how he’s only been kicked hard on the chin by two people: Kofi Kingston and RVD.
According to Big Show, Kofi Kingston came into their match wanting to show off his “fighting spirit, which was making me crazy.”
He explained how he was in the corner when Kingston nailed a hard kick. Big Show noted how appreciated the effort as he likes it when sequences are “snug.” He then explained how there’s something in the business called a receipt.
Big Show shared how Kingston delivered that kick, so he was happy to deliver the receipt with the chop that supposedly forever changed Kingston’s chest.
WWE Superstar and SmackDown Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston recently discussed his favorite ever pro wrestling match on The New Day: Feel The Power podcast. The trio were discussing the recent match between Randy Orton and Edge, which was billed beforehand as ‘The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever.’
“This was really, so this is hard, because so many matches are great for so many reasons” Kofi Kingston began on the podcast. !Man, and then you talk about like having a match that’s like perfect from A to Z? In terms of nothing went wrong, but did the crowd like it, you know?”
Kofi Kingston on Eddie vs Rey
Kingston would then reveal that his favorite match was a WCW Cruiserweight classic from the mid 90’s. “I gotta go with the, this is probably not a popular one, but, Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero at Halloween Havoc 1997. This is the one where Rey wore the The Phantom [costume]? I love that match, and especially after reading Eddie Guerrero’s book.”
Kofi Kingston would then talk about his own experiences being put lower on the card. “So there’s a lot of times where we’re, put on a certain spot in the card, right? You feel like you should be somewhere else, you should feel like you should be higher up on the card. You feel like you should be in the main event, and you think you should be at the top because you’re at the top of your game.”
Kingston elaborated further, saying Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero were at the top of their games. I mean God, they’ve always been so so great, but they had such great chemistry in WCW.”
Is Rey Mysterio vs Eddie Guerrero from Halloween Havoc 1997 your favorite bout between the two? Let us know in the comments
Big E, Xavier Woods, and Kofi Kingston spoke about racial injustice this week on The New Day: Feel The Power podcast. During the discussion, all 3 members of the group noted the emotional impact current events have had on them.
“I haven’t been able to get this out of my mind and it’s really weighed heavy on me,” Big E said on the show. “I think it’s been a hard few months for so many of us. When Shad passed, when Hana Kimura passed, I kept imagining myself in the water. For some reason, I just kept putting myself in Shad’s position. I don’t know if he knew his son got to safety, I don’t know what his last thoughts were when he died. With Hana, the stuff that was going through her mind when she took her life.”
Big E Talks Racial Injustice
Big E continued to talk about the empathy he has been feeling for others during what has been a very difficult time both in wrestling and the world at large.
“I just keep putting myself in George Floyd’s position when I saw him be murdered like that,” he continued. “To have a man put his knee on his neck like that, man, I don’t know how you don’t feel empathy for a man like that who was accused of passing a counterfeit $20 bill. He didn’t deserve to die like that and we cannot be okay with murdering us, you just can’t be okay with it because it’s not the first time and it’s not the second time. I’ve seen and heard these stories from my parents and their parents and their parents before them. I cannot accept living in a country where this is acceptable.”
“I can’t stop imagining myself in their shoes, in that position. This man had a daughter, he had people who loved him, he had people who cared about him. Same thing with Ahmaud Arbery,” Big E continued.
Kofi Kingston On Racial Injustice
“That’s the scariest thing about all these situations is that it could very well have been any of us,” Kofi said. “Seeing the video of Ahmaud Arbery, he was just going for a run in his neighborhood. I’ve recently just started running around in my neighborhood.”
“No one should have to live like that,” he continued. “Constantly looking over their shoulder in fear or worrying that harm may come but the reality of the world that we live in today is that it is possible.”
“It’s very refreshing in a sense to see that so many people who are not African-American coming to the aid and really wanting to know what they can do,” Kofi continued. “White America wants to know what they can do because I feel like these images specifically, watching this, seeing this with your own eyes and knowing that it’s real and that it’s actually happening and it’s not hearsay.”
“Seeing that makes it very real and it’s not just for us, it’s for anybody that witnesses it.”
“I feel like this situation is just hitting a little bit differently. I feel like we are hopefully on the cusp of something turning around because we are not the only ones who have had enough. It feels good to have White America listening, you know what I’m saying? As opposed to talking about the semantics of Kaepernick protesting and talking about it being about the flag.”
Kofi Kingston was one of the stars who attended the beach memorial service held for the former WWE star Shad Gaspard after his passing earlier this month.
The New Day member was the recent guest on WWE Backstage where he talked about a number of things and discussed the impact of Shad Gaspard on the people around him.
Kingston dubbed Shad as a ‘gentle giant’ who enjoyed the presence of other people. He continued by saying that his impact on people’s lives was emphasized by the number of persons who attended his memorial:
“On the inside, he was kind of a gentle giant who really enjoyed the presence of other people, and it was shown by being there on that beach with all of those people, I looked around several times saying, ‘man, Shad really had an impact.’
“It’s really unfortunate for his wife [and] his son, but with a glass half full mentality, it really emphasizes how important it is to live your life, with enthusiasm, with passion and kindness.” said Kofi Kingston. “So that way, when the day comes, when you do get called to a different place, you have left an impact, and Shad, 100 percent, left an impact.”
Shad Gaspard passed away after being caught up in a riptide at Venice Beach, California earlier this month. Lifeguards had reached out to the former wrestler but he asked them to help his 10-year-old son first.
Gaspard unfortunately got crushed by another large wave before rescuers can reach back to him. People from around the world including present and past wrestlers like Kofi Kingston and The Rock have since paid their tribute to the former WWE star.
WWE Superstar and host of UpUpDownDown Xavier Woods recently appeared on the Gorilla Position podcast.
During the interview with James Delow, Xavier Woods would discuss a number of topics during his time with WWE. These included his New Day run, the creation of UpUpDownDown and his eventual return from injury.
One of the points raised during the interview was Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship win at WrestleMania 35. Woods would discuss how emotional the moment was for him, Big E and Kingston when Kofi beat Daniel Bryan to win the Championship.
A Lot of Emotions
“It’s a lot of emotions and I…it always comes up when we’re talking about this, that picture of Big E and me holding Kofi and I’m bawling uncontrollably” Woods would begin. “Because it’s super meaningful for a lot of reasons.”
Xavier Woods would then talk about the importance of Kofi becoming the first ever African-born WWE Champion. Woods would also discuss representation in pro wrestling, saying how previously he felt there wasn’t someone who represented him as a young black man watching the product. “As a kid growing up? There wasn’t always someone in the limelight that represented me and the way that I look.”
Xavier Woods on the Angle
Woods elaborated further, saying “to be able to be a part of this angle? Of the story? Where I am able to help prop up the person who is able to be that for this next generation of kids? I have not done anything in my career that has meant more than that. And I will most likely not do anything in my career that will mean more than that moment.”
The creator of UpUpDownDown would then describe the moment with Kofi as “perfect.” Using the analogy of blackjack and saying that they hit 21 with the angle. “There’s not many moments in wrestling that I would say are perfect. That was perfect. When I tell people that wrestling is incredible? Like, that’s what I’m trying to say like, no, you’re not always gonna land on 21 when you’re playing blackjack. But, you know, as long as you can stay around like 17/19? You’re okay. But that was 21, that was the best that could possibly have been done.”
Woods would finish by saying how to him it’s the greatest moment in pro wrestling. “And so that’s the greatest moment in wrestling, to me, just for the personal reasons. But then, also being able to be in in wrestling in that time where so many things had to come together for that most perfect moment.”
It’s importance of Kofi’s win at WrestleMania 35 is undeniable. Even with the way in which Brock Lesnar would defeat Kingston to take the title? There’s no doubt that the moment will live on in history and the match itself between Bryan and Kofi was fantastic to boot.
There have been mixed feelings among the WWE roster about the company’s decision to run shows amid the coronavirus outbreak but it appears that at least Kofi Kingston is in support of the decision.
The former WWE Champion recently had an interview with WrestlingInc where he talked about things like spending time with his family in quarantine and more.
Talking about the company’s decision to run the shows, Kingston claimed that he takes a lot of pride in providing the escapism for people in these trying times:
“We do take a lot of pride in providing this escapism for people because I do think it’s important to allow people to think about something else besides what is going on, we want to provide a sense of normalcy, provide something that puts smiles on people’s faces.
We need that. If we’re on just news lines all day, there is so much negativity out there.” said Kofi Kingston. “Maybe rightfully so because of all the uncertainty, and we don’t’ really know what’s going on.”
The New Day member went on to say that there should be some positive stuff out there and he takes a lot of pride in being part of the positivity.
Kofi Kingston and Big E successfully defended their SmackDown Tag Team Championships at the Money In The Bank PPV. We should get an idea about what’s next for them on this week’s episode of the Blue Branded Show.
Kofi Kingston’s surprising loss to Brock Lesnar during the SmackDown 20th Anniversary episode infuriated a lot of people and fans were not happy with him losing the WWE title match without any offense.
However, the former WWE Champion did get a moment of retribution at Royal Rumble earlier this year when he, Rey Mysterio, and Big E teamed together to try to topple the Beast during the Battle Royal.
During a recent interview with Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT, Kingston confirmed that the angle was put together by Lesnar himself and he said that people wouldn’t have gotten up for it as much as they did if it wasn’t for his SmackDown loss:
“If Brock and I had more of a match at the debut of Smackdown on FOX, then the moment at the Rumble, people wouldn’t have gotten up as much as they did for it. It was great. It was a really big piece of a story having myself in there trying to fight.
It was a lot of great storytelling coming together.” said Kofi Kingston. “Everything is important as minuscule as it may be. It’s definitely a big part of the Rumble seeing me, Rey and E, all of us on the outside banding together and going in there doing what we did.”
.@TrueKofi confirms Brock Lesnar put together their moment at the 2020 Royal Rumble and explains why Brock was such a genius in making @DMcIntyreWWE, too.
"He has an awesome mind for the business and I feel he'll never get the credit he deserves for that." pic.twitter.com/0RWXlMjBwV
The New Day member then mentioned how on the top of their moment, the whole first half of the Royal Rumble match was Brock Lesnar throwing everybody out only for Drew McIntyre to throw him out at the end.
Per Kofi, The Beast Incarnate did this to elevate the Scottish star and build his credibility as a champion for when he finally beat Brock for the WWE title at WrestleMania 36.
When Kofi Kingston first debuted for WWE in 2006, his character wore Jamaican colors and spoke with a Jamaican accent. Speaking with Muscle & Fitness’ Reps Podcast, the New Day member reflected on how happy he was to be able to drop the accent. He also revealed Vince McMahon’s reaction to an interview that revealed Kingston wasn’t actually Jamaican.
Kingston shared how Vince McMahon instructed him to do all of his interviews with the Jamaican accent. Any time he was on screen or being interviewed, he had to reply with the accent. He explained how WWE Magazine would calm him from a regular number. Kingston would answer with his regular voice, only to be asked if Kofi was around to take a call. “I would say ‘Oh hold on’ and then answer in Jamaican.”
Keeping up the accent was, admittedly, “really annoying.” Kingston reflected on how the only other Superstar who could relate was Santino Marella.
Kofi Kingston On Being Revealed
The Superstar then spoke about how a BBC interview pressed him for an answer regarding his name and accent. Kofi Kingston revealed how they confronted him over Kofi not being a Jamaican name. They asked him why he was playing a Jamaican character, forcing him to come up with a variety of answers.
“So finally I get off the phone and I’m sweating and I’m like it’s over. Then all of a sudden maybe an hour later my mom calls me up and says ‘Somebody from the BBC just called and they asked me about your Jamaican heritage and I told them you were from Ghana and this,’ and I was like ‘No! Mom, kayfabe, kayfabe!’ Eventually, I told Vince about it and he said not as many people are going to read that article as you think, and then in a year I ended up being able to drop it.”
Kofi Kingston admitted that dropping the accent was a relief. Kingston believed that playing that character was only going to allow him to reach a certain level. He thinks that those who can get to the top of the business are playing a version of themselves “just turned way up.” Although he liked certain characteristics of that version of Kofi, he was grateful to “have that lid popped up” so he could continue climbing the ladder in WWE.
