Kofi Kingston

A series of vignettes for Kingston's television debut began airing on the weekly ECW on Sci Fi television show starting on December 6, 2007. During this introduction phase, his videos, the official website, and commentators all made note that he would be the first Jamaican-born person to wrestle for the company. He debuted on January 22, 2008 as a fan favorite with a win over local wrestler David Owen. After wrestling sporadic matches, Kingston was involved in his first major match; a 24-man battle royal during the WrestleMania XXIV pre-show with the winner receiving an ECW Championship match, but was eliminated by Mark Henry. Kingston remained undefeated in singles competition in ECW for months and was placed in to a feud with Shelton Benjamin at the end of April 2008. After two straight losses, Benjamin got a win over Kingston on the May 20 episode of ECW, ending his undefeated streak. On June 24 edition of ECW, Kingston defeated Benjamin in an Extreme Rules Match to end their feud.
As part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Kingston was drafted to the Raw brand. In his first match as a member of Raw roster, he defeated Chris Jericho for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Night of Champions. The win made him the first Ghanaian wrestler to hold a championship in World Wrestling Entertainment and it was also his first championship in his wrestling career. Kingston held the championship until SummerSlam, where he and Women's Champion Mickie James both lost their championships in an intergender "winner take all" tag team match to Beth Phoenix and Santino Marella.
At Unforgiven, he appeared backstage, coming to the aid of then-World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk, who had been attacked by Manu, Randy Orton, and the World Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase. Soon after coming to his rescue, Punk and Kingston were paired together more often, and on the October 27 episode Raw, the duo won the World Tag Team Championship. He was also involved at Survivor Series in the traditional ten-men elimination tag team match on the side of Team Batista, but was eliminated by Randy Orton. Kingston and Punk lost the World Tag Team Championship to John Morrison and The Miz at a WWE live event on December 13.
At No Way Out in 2009, Kingston won a spot in the World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber by defeating Kane, but was unable to officially enter in the match, as he was ambushed by Edge, who took Kingston's place and eventually won the match.
Kingston defeated Chris Jericho, after interference from Ric Flair, to earn a spot in the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXV, but the match was won by CM Punk. After winning a Triple Threat Number One Contender's match the week before, Kingston defeated Montel Vontavious Porter on the June 1st episode of Raw to win the WWE United States Championship. For the next several months, he went on to defend and retain his title at PPV's such as Extreme Rules, Night of Champions, Breaking Point, and WWE Hell in a Cell, until losing the championship to The Miz on October 5 on Raw, ending his four month reign. On the October 12 edition of Monday Night Raw Kofi beat Evan Bourne to qualify for the Smackdown vs. Raw tag team match at WWE Bragging Rights. Between qualifying for Team Raw and the match at Bragging Rights, Triple H made several reference to Kofi "losing" his Jamaican accent when Kofi spoke but Kofi had explained it was a homage to his heritage. Team Raw lost the match however when Raw's Big Show betrayed them by chokeslamming Kingston, allowing Chris Jericho to pick up the win for Team Smackdown. During the night, Kingston and Raw teammate Cody Rhodes had tension on-camera. This cultimated in Kingston running out during the WWE Championship match when Rhodes was interfering on behalf of Randy Orton. Kingston would chase Rhodes out of the arena while Randy Orton would eventually lose the match. On the October 26 edition of Monday Night RAW Kingston began a feud with Randy Orton, after Orton believed he cost him the WWE Championship. After Kingston defeated Chris Jericho, Randy Orton came from behind and attacked Kingston, ending with Orton throwing Kingston onto the side of the entrance ramp. Later that night, Kofi interrupted Orton's rematch clause with John Cena, saying that nobody cares what Orton says. All Orton could do was watch in rage as Kofi proceeded to destroy Orton's car, presumably as a test to see how "durable" NASCAR cars are. Kingston would pound on it with his fist, ramming a supply box onto the side, scraping the side of the car with the key, denting the hood repeatedly, and finally, dumping a bucket of paint all over the hood, saying that Orton "never looked better." This begins a start for the feud between Orton and Kingston.
Category:WWE
Category:Alumni