YMMV / Kofi Kingston

• Angst? What Angst?: Aside from a backstage interview, Kofi doesn't shed much tears from losing the WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar in a squash match and subsequently returns to the tag team division and being his joyous New Day self.
• Base-Breaking Character: Most people will agree he's an amazing athlete, but prior to 2019, if you asked a group of people whether he deserves a shot at being a main-eventer, you'd get differing opinions. In the lead-up to Wrestlemania 35, voices became much more unanimous as he won over the fanbase with a series of fantastic matches, but after actually getting the WWE title, his tenure as champion is much more contentious. Popular takes include but are not limited to: that he was a good champion unjustly squashed by Brock Lesnar and ushered back into the midcard and tag division to please Saudi Arabian paymasters, that he was let down by poor booking from management that never really believed and underwhelming matches and feuds with lazy or past-their-prime workers which collectively didn't let him show off what he could do, or that he was an overpromoted mid-carder all along and his championship run as much his own failure as anyone else's.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Memories of "KofiMania" leave a rather bitter taste in the mouth after former WWE writer Dave Schilling revealed in 2020 that nobody with any sway in WWE ever had any confidence in Kofi as champion whatsoever, with the plan literally from the moment they decided to give him the belt being for Brock to squash him for it once he'd had his "WrestleMania Moment (TM)" and a token championship reign.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The fan campaigns to get WWE to hire Slyk Wagner Brown are. It was poorly kept secret that WWE wanted Jamaican wrestlers, which only fueled fans hopes.
• Never Live It Down: Not himself, but rather a storyline he participated in. While his 2009-2010 feud with Randy Orton gave everybody a lot to talk about his possible main event material, it is also bitterly remembered for the known fact that Orton resorted to his backstage connections to abort the feud because he did not believe Kingston was at his level as a worker (including one instance in which Orton can be clearly heard yelling "Stupid!" during one of their matches).
  • This was actually referenced and became a central plot point to their feud ten years later, after Kofi had won the WWE title and Orton challenged him for said title. In the end, Kofi beat Orton clean, which gave both (Kofi by winning after a competitive match, Orton by putting Kofi over in the biggest title defense of the latter's career) a chance to avert this trope after all. Unfortunately, the feud in question was widely seen as underwhelming.
• Ron the Death Eater: Sections of the IWC wondered what it would look like if WWE ever turned him heel. He did in 2015, as part of The New Day. It turned out surprisingly well. Too well, in fact, as the popularity of the stable's antics quickly yanked them back to face status within a year.
• Shocking Moments:
  • He's not a high flyer in the 'complicated lucha-libre style maneuver' sense (like Sin Cara, for instance), but he can jump halfway out of a stadium with his leaping ability. For example, in a match on the 10/15/12 RAW, Kofi goes a bit stiff with a Trouble in Paradise and, for poor Miz, almost brings a whole new meaning to "skull crushing finale."
  • Pretty much any time he's in a battle royal of the like he will find a way to avoid elimination. Doing it via hand walking at Royal Rumble 2012 was his first but by no means last instance.
  • He has another Royal Rumble moment in 2013 where he ends up on the announce desk. He asks for JBL's chair and uses it to bunny hop his way back to the ring. Granted, he got eliminated a couple of seconds later, but you have to give him credit for pulling off another incredible spot.
  • He out did himself at the 2014 Rumble with a running leap from the security barricade to the ring apron, a distance of over seven feet, from a very narrow base. Then he survives being tossed over by Jack Swagger by hanging onto the bottom rope by the tip of his toes.
  • At WrestleMania XXX's Andre the Giant Battle Royal, Cesaro hurls Kofi over a ringpost and he tumbles about ten feet—and his feet lands on the bottom rung of the steel steps and thus he avoids elimination.
  • At the 2018 Rumble, he's tossed over the top rope, one foot landing on the floor but the other on a fallen Woods. Big E then brings a plate of pancakes over to step on so technically, Kofi isn't eliminated. His New Day buddies then put their hands together for Kofi to rest a foot on and lit him over the top rope and back into the match.
  • February 12, 2019: Aka "The One where Kofi runs the Gauntlet". The six participants in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship at the namesake event were to compete in a Gauntlet match in the SmackDown go-home show to determine who would go last in the Elimination Chamber. Kofi was a last minute replacement in the Gauntlet (and thus the Elimination Chamber match) for one of the participants, Mustafa Ali, who came down with an injury. Kofi proceeded to pin practically every one before losing to AJ Styles. This means he had to fight for more than an hour against the likes of the WWE Champion Daniel Bryan, Jeff Hardy and Samoa Joe before AJ got to him and even then AJ was begging Kofi to stop as he had already proved himself (not helping any matters was that Samoa Joe turned out to be a sore loser and continued attacking Kofi after being eliminated). If this didn't clinch it then...
  • Elimination Chamber 2019, Kofi not only pins long-time rival Randy Orton but he goes toe to toe with Daniel Bryan and survives his Running Knee and YES! Lock. It has to be seen to be believed but let's just say that he earned the audience's total respect after that.
  • Wrestlemania 35: winning the WWE Championship to a roaring crowd. Enough said.
• Signature Scene
  • Royal Rumble 2012: The first time he shows off how he avoids elimination by walking backwards on his hands to the steel steps.
  • The Gauntlet match from February 12, 2019. More specifically, him staring down AJ Styles while screaming, "I've waited too long for this moment! It's been 11 years!"
  • His confrontation with Daniel Bryan at the Elimination Chamber 2019, hopping onto the top of the cage and staring Bryan down.
  • Him defeating Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania 35 to finally win the WWE Championship. The roaring crowd upon winning, as well as the post-match celebration certainly help.
• Signature Line:
  • "Looks like there's trouble in paradise!" (from his Jamaican gimmick)
  • February 12, 2019. Kofi Kingston (filling in for Mustafa Ali) has already gone through three other elite wrestlers (Daniel Bryan, Jeff Hardy and Samoa Joe), wrestling for around 50 minutes to this point in a gauntlet match to determine the final entrant in the WWE Championship match inside the Elimination Chamber. AJ Styles comes in as Kofi's fourth opponent (and to save Kofi from a beatdown by Samoa Joe) and is telling him to stop fighting. Kofi's response?
    "Hey man, c'mon! Ring the bell! I've waited too long for this moment! I've waited too long! It's been eleven years! Fight me!! FIGHT ME!! Buck up! C'mon! You don't tell me to go home! I've been doin' this too long!"

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