At WrestleMania 35, Kofi Kingston achieved what many thought was impossible—he defeated Daniel Bryan to capture the WWE Championship, delivering one of the most emotional moments in the event’s storied history. After over a decade of grinding in WWE, Kingston finally got his shot at the top, and the fans were right there with him, rallying behind the movement that became known as “KofiMania.”
Speaking on the “In The Kliq” podcast, Kingston opened up about the unexpected road to WrestleMania and how the story came together.
“I don’t think I was even booked. I don’t think my plans were being talked about for WrestleMania,” Kingston recalled. “At that time we didn’t even really have anything going, we didn’t have a rivalry, we didn’t have a feud, we didn’t have a storyline, we didn’t really have much of anything going on. It was just the New Day being the New Day.”
Things changed in February 2019 after Kingston delivered a standout performance in a Gauntlet Match and later in the Elimination Chamber, where the crowd erupted with support for him.
“Originally, like our feud, me and Daniel Bryan was supposed to stop at Fastlane … whatever the pay-per-view was before Mania or in between Elimination Chamber and Mania,” Kingston remembered. “But being that it was such a huge crowd reaction and people were demanding that I’d be in that main event, that’s the direction that the company went, and I’m always grateful for that because that’s not always the case, you know?”
Kingston’s title reign ended abruptly later that year when he lost to Brock Lesnar in a controversial squash match on the debut episode of “SmackDown on FOX,” leaving many fans disenchanted with the creative ecosystem in WWE at that time.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit the “In The Kliq” podcast and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for transcription.