History Awesome / KofiKingston

* ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 35'': After eleven years in Wrestling/{{WWE}}, Kofi Kingston, in his first ''[=WrestleMania=]'' singles match, ''finally'' wins his first ever WWE Championship. With this win, Kofi not only becomes the first ever African-born WWE Champion[[note]][[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] was technically the first, but he's half African-Canadian from his father's side. And while Wrestling/BookerT and Wrestling/MarkHenry did become World Champions, it's by winning WWE's Wrestling/BigGoldBelt instead of the promotion's original World Title[[/note]], but also the 30th Triple Crown and the 20th Wrestling/{{Grand Slam Champion}}. The supersonic pop from the audience, the image of all three members of the New Day practically sobbing with joy in the ring, and the fact that Kofi's tiny son came out to help his dad hoist the renewed WWE title in the air all combined to create one of the most truly indelible moments in the show's three-decade history.

* And then Kofi went two better by striking the blackest mark on his career by ''finally'' putting down Wrestling/RandyOrton and then promptly looking ''Wrestling/BrockLesnar'' dead in the eye and accepting a title challenge from perhaps the deadliest man in the entire company. While he ultimately lost, Kofi has packed a relatively lengthy single title reign (180 days, whch is longer than most champions have had for their multiple reigns combined) with more high-octane defenses than most champions see in an entire ''year.''

* ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 35'': After eleven years in Wrestling/{{WWE}}, Kofi Kingston, in his first ''[=WrestleMania=]'' singles match, ''finally'' wins his first ever WWE Championship. With this win, Kofi not only becomes the first ever African-Born WWE Champion[[note]][[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] was technically the first, but he's half African-Canadian from his father's side. And while Wrestling/BookerT and Wrestling/MarkHenry did become World Champions, it's by winning WWE's Wrestling/BigGoldBelt instead of the promotion's original World Title[[/note]], but also the 30th Triple Crown and the 20th Wrestling/{{Grand Slam Champion}}. The supersonic pop from the audience, the image of all three members of the New Day practically sobbing with joy in the ring, and the fact that Kofi's tiny son came out to help his dad hoist the renewed WWE title in the air all combined to create one of the most truly indelible moments in the show's three-decade history.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[EarnYourHappyEnding “No matter where you come from! No matter what you look like! If you believe, you can make it happen!”]]]]

* ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 35'': After eleven years in Wrestling/{{WWE}}, Kofi Kingston, in his first ''[=WrestleMania=]'' singles match, ''finally'' wins his first ever WWE Championship. With this win, Kofi not only becomes the first ever African-Born WWE Champion[[note]][[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] was technically the first, but he's half African-Canadian from his father's side. And while Wrestling/BookerT and Wrestling/MarkHenry did become World Champions, it's by winning WWE's Wrestling/BigGoldBelt instead of the promotion's original World Title[[/note]], but also the 30th Triple Crown and the 20th Wrestling/{{Grand Slam Champion}}. The supersonic pop from the audience, the image of all three members of the New Day practically sobbing with joy in the ring, and the fact that Kofi's tiny son came out to help his dad hoist the renewed WWE Title in the air all combined to create one of the most truly indelible moments in the show's three-decade history.

* For those afraid that Kofi would get his five minutes of glory and then drop the belt, his 12 successful title defenses have been against a who's who of brutal fighters, including triple threats and cage matches. His reign defined "fighting champion" more than anyone else in 2019, or even in most years, proving that if someone wanted the title from Kofi, they're gonna have to pry it from his ''[[{{Determinator}} cold, dead hands.]]'' His opponents included:

* '''Raw, Jan. 13, 2014:'''Kofi pulls out probably the biggest upset victory in his career by defeating then WWE World Heavyweight Champion Wrestling/RandyOrton, CLEANLY, in a non-title match. A victory like this normally earns him a title match.

** When Kofi feuded with Randy Orton again for the first time in nearly 10 years, Kofi reenacted his infamous stunt from 2009 at Madison Square Garden; performing a Diving Boom Drop onto Orton on a table from an elevated position from the audience. He also returned the favor for Orton's infamous "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" moment that killed that initial push for him, as well as called out Orton and got him to admit that he intentionally had him held back, before finally avenging all of this by beating Orton clean in the middle of the ring despite [[Wrestling/TheRevival FTRKO]]'s best efforts to needle Kofi and Wrestling/TheNewDay the whole time.

* Daniel Bryan: Former world champion in - WWE, ROH, PWG
* Kevin Owens: Former world champion in - WWE, NXT, ROH, PWG
* Sami Zayn: Former world champion in - NXT, PWG
* AJ Styles: Former world champion in - WWE, NJPW, ROH, TNA, PWG
* Samoa Joe: Former world champion in - NXT, ROH, TNA
* Dolph Ziggler: Former world champion in - WWE
* Randy Orton: Former world champion in - WWE

[[caption-width-right:350:[[EarnYourHappyEnding "KOFI DID IT! KOFI DID IT! KOFI DID IT!"]]]]

** And for those afraid that Kofi would get his five minutes of glory and then drop the belt, his title defenses have been a who's who of brutal fighters. Wrestling/KevinOwens. Wrestling/DolphZiggler. Wrestling/SamoaJoe. Dolph Ziggler and Samoa Joe ''at the same time!'' If someone wants the title from Kofi, they're gonna have to pry it from his ''[[{{Determinator}} cold, dead hands.]]''
*** And then Kofi went two better by striking the blackest mark on his career by ''finally'' putting down Wrestling/RandyOrton and then promptly looking ''Wrestling/BrockLesnar'' dead in the eye and accepting a title challenge from perhaps the deadliest man in the entire company. While he ulimately lost to Brock (in a match that lasted for 9 seconds), Kofi has packed a title reign of relatively modest length with more high-octane defenses than most champions see in an entire ''year.''
* When Kofi feuded with Randy Orton again for the first time in nearly 10 years, Kofi reenacted his infamous stunt from 2009 at Madison Square Garden; performing a Diving Boom Drop onto Orton on a table from an elevated position from the audience. He also returned the favor for Orton's infamous "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" moment that killed that initial push for him, as well as called out Orton and got him to admit that he intentionally had him held back, before finally avenging all of this by beating Orton clean in the middle of the ring despite [[Wrestling/TheRevival FTRKO]]'s best efforts to needle Kofi and Wrestling/TheNewDay the whole time.
* Funnily enough, Kofi tops the [[https://twitter.com/Wrestlepedia2/status/1212108941100011523 list]] of most [[https://comicbook.com/wwe/2019/12/31/wwe-kofi-kingston-miz-tie-most-wwe-championship-wins-2010s-decade/ WWE title wins]] of the decade (2010-2019) in a tie with Wrestling/TheMiz at 14, beating luminaries like Wrestling/JohnCena, Wrestling/SethRollins, and Wrestling/DolphZiggler.

* When Kofi feuded with Randy Orton again for the first time in nearly 10 years, Kofi reenact his infamous stunt from 2009 at Madison Square Garden; performing a Diving Boom Drop onto Orton on a table from an elevated position from the audience.

** Keep in mind that, if you go back to the start of this story two entries up, this all began with Kofi being picked as a substitute for the injured Wrestling/MustafaAli. Before Ali was injured there were ''no'' plans for Kofi to even get ''near'' the WWE Championship, and it's not likely he simply picked up the story that was originally planned for Ali either.[[labelnote:*]]While Ali was over, he was still too new to be a serious championship contender; The initial gauntlet match may have been initially planned to build Ali up as a plausible contestant in the match, but nothing can be assumed beyond that. In fact, given Kingston's history as a consistent popular midcarder, his long-earned equity with the fans likely contributed as much to the rocket fuel reception he was given as his performance in the gauntlet match itself, meaning an Ali equivalent to Kofi Mania would likely not have even come close.[[/labelnote]] No, brought in as a substitute, Kofi was offered one more chance (after over a decade in the company) to step up and prove if he really had what it took to be champion- and he didn't just ''leap'' at it, he ''flew!''