Kofi Kingston stressed the importance of KofiMania to so many fans around the world.
At WrestleMania 35, Kofi Kingston achieved a lifelong dream of winning the WWE Championship. He pinned Daniel Bryan to win his first world title after 12 years in the WWE. This made him the first African-born wrestler to hold the WWE Championship, and only the second black champion (after The Rock).
Kofi Kingston reflected on this win while talking to the No-Contest Wrestling Podcast. He said that it was important for people to see somebody like him become a champion, as he defies the stereotype of what a champion looks like.
“When you have the cliché term of, like, ‘Hey, my dream came true,’ a lot of people just say that and don’t mean it.” Kofi Kingston said. “But this was my actual dream. So, all the stuff that we went through, you know, as a team to get to that point, all the sacrifices we made. Whether it was from our families or for our families. Having my wife, my kids in the front row, and then having them in the ring to share the fruit of the labor. You know what I mean? All the birthdays I missed just to be here. They got to be there for the greatest moment.”
“All the people who never thought they’d see an African-born champion. I’m talking about some real stuff, no doubt. It’s like, anything is possible. In theory, you can say you can do whatever you want to do. You can be whatever you want to be. But when you see it happening on TV, it becomes an actual reality. It is possible because I saw him do it. It’s tangible. I saw him do it, so I know I can do it. If he can do it, I can do it.”
Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship Win Inspired People To Do The Impossible
Kingston continued, “This man is 5’11” and a half—I give myself the run up to six feet, you know what I’m saying?” Kofi Kingston joked. “He’s got real skinny chicken legs, a weird-looking chest with a callous bump, no interior pecs, reflexes that look really weird. If I shaved my head, I’d have a really oddly shaped head. You know what I’m saying? I shouldn’t be on TV. I shouldn’t be in front of a camera because it should be scary for people to look at. But yet, despite all of that, I was able to make it here. I had people who had my back to help me get here, and because we all believed in ourselves, this moment happened.”
“So when people see that, and they see the story, they know that you have to understand—yes, it’s going to be hard. What you want to do is difficult. It might seem impossible, but it’s not impossible. It can be done because I saw it happening.”
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