Kofi Kingston escaping Royal Rumble eliminations has become a staple of WWE programming over the last decade.
NXT Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston recently sat down with Graham Matthews of Bleacher Report to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked about his memorable Royal Rumble moments over the years, Kingston credited John Morrison for some of the crazy things he did in the match years prior, and he wanted to help carry on that tradition.
“I think it was either that day… I know it was less than a week that I had the idea to even do it,” Kofi Kingston said. “John Morrison was the guy who jumped off the apron and Spider-Man’d all the way to the barricade and jumped back to the ring. The next Rumble he was gone, he wasn’t with the company anymore. I thought, ‘Oh, who can fill that void? Let me slide up in there.’
“The handstand came about at that moment and at the time I hadn’t done a handstand in about a decade. If you notice, when most people do a handstand, they walk the other way. I couldn’t walk the other way. That was the only way I could do it. When people went nuts for it, I thought, ‘All right, let’s see what we can do the next year.'”
Kingston went on to admit that he thinks it’s pretty cool that the WWE Universe considers the things he does in the R0yal Rumble every year to be a staple in the company now.
“It’s pretty cool to be in that spotlight where people are looking to me to deliver something unique on a pay-per-view that’s been around for over 30 years,” Kofi Kingston said. “Any way you can be a staple in WWE for any reason is an impressive thing.”
The New Day have recently been pulling double duty working as the NXT World Tag Team Champions on WWE’s third brand. When asked how that all came about, Kingston said it was a special request from Shawn Michaels, making the decision a no-brainer for him.
“We were called into talent relations and they said, ‘Shawn [Michaels] has a special request. He needs you in NXT,'” Kofi Kingston said. “When Shawn calls, what do you say? It’s a great opportunity down there, but my childhood hero is asking me to be a part of this experience and of course I’m going to do it. For that reason and several others, it was a no-brainer. To feel that energy, it’s been a long time.”
READ MORE: Kofi Kingston Comments On 15 Years With WWE: I’m Grateful For All The Memories
What do you make of Kofi Kingston’s comments? Are you excited about how Kingston will try to escape a Royal Rumble elimination this weekend? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
