At WrestleMania 35, Kofi Kingston accomplished the impossible by defeating Daniel Bryan to win the WWE Championship for the first time in his career. But the glory did not last long. During an episode of Friday Night SmackDown shortly afterward, Brock Lesnar defeated Kofi Kingston in seven seconds to win the WWE Championship.
Kofi Kingston has been performing in WWE and winning hearts for the past fourteen years. In addition to his 12-tag team title wins, the New Day member also won the WWE championship. He was so over with the fans that ahead of WrestleMania 35, fans began the “KofiMania” movement, which led to his victory over Daniel Bryan for the WWE title.
Many fans thought the title win was well-deserved, and Kofi held the WWE Championship for a few months before losing it to Brock Lesnar on SmackDown in October 2019. After Brock Lesnar squashed Kofi to regain the belt, there was no follow-up to the loss as Kofi was removed immediately from the title picture.
Chris Dunn, a former WWE writer, recently spoke out against Brock Lesnar’s controversial win over Kofi Kingston. On the Public Enemies Podcast, Chris Dunn mentioned that Kofi Kingston was going to talk about the loss in a promo the following week on SmackDown, but the spot was cut from the program.
Dunn said, “I think the feeling was that Brock wasn’t going back to Kofi. He was scheduled to face Cain, and they wanted to hype the Cain match, and they thought his dominant performance would do it. “I believe it sucked.”
Later, on October 31, 2019, Lesnar defended his WWE Championship vs Cain Velasquez at Crown Jewel. The former UFC rivals fought only for 88 seconds, with Lesnar promptly submitting his opponent.
Road Dogg explains why Lesnar squashed Kofi Kingston
Brian James, aka Road Dogg, has explained why Brock Lesnar abruptly ended Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship reign. During his stint as a WWE writer, “Road Dogg” Brian James built up some of the most compelling stories in recent years. And, the one he is really proud of, is Kofi-Mania.
Road Dogg joined “Sportskeeda Wrestling” to discuss the scenario he helped build. He also revealed who came up with the idea to have Kingston squashed by Lesnar.
“I don’t think it ruined Kofi,” Dogg said. “I believe it was Fox, Brock Lesnar, and the cross-appeal. He’s a name, and Vince adores him, and Vince is always sketching with him. Let’s shock the world by sending him out there and killing [Kingston] in under a minute.”
“I can almost hear him say it now. It is what it is, but perhaps Big E would have provided a greater fight. Maybe there’s money in their future, maybe there’s money on the table.” Road Dogg added.
Since then Kofi has not been a part of the title picture and continues to compete in the tag-team division with his New-Day partner Xavier Woods. Recently the New Day defeated Pretty Deadly to win the NXT Tag Team Championship on December 10, 2022.
Discussion about this post