:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65664289/20191004_Smackdown_Lesnar_Kofi__76ae959352a8dcee1e756e6e7756bddb.0.jpg)
There hasn’t been much storyline follow-up to the sudden end of Kofi Kingston’s history-making WWE title reign.
The journey that saw its high point when Kingston became the first person of African descent to win the belt at WrestleMania 35 in April concluded when Brock Lesnar F5-ed Kofi on SmackDown’s Fox premiere last month. After that we got some teases for a follow-up match or perhaps a change in Kingston’s character, but especially with the injury to Xavier Woods meaning he was needed for New Day to continue as a tag team, it doesn’t seem likely it will lead to anything.
So what does Kofi think of how WWE decided to end his reign? TalkSPORT’s Alex McCarthy asked him about it in a recent interview. It seems the Power of Positivity is more than just a catchphrase for New Day’s old head:
“For me especially and anyone in this position as a WWE performer, I think we want to be the best and put on the best product we can and, yeah, it was a bit of a disappointment to go out there and have it go so quickly on the biggest night of SmackDown. You know, we’ve been talking about this deal with FOX and I’ve been lucky to have been at the forefront of it all since the beginning. So, to have it end like that was a little bit disheartening but it is what it is what it is, it’s not like I can really do anything about it!
You show up to work one day and it’s like ‘this is what’s going to happen and it’s like ‘OK’. This is our job. The thing about it though, they talk about Ric Flair being a 16-time champion, but you can’t be a 16-time world champion without losing it 15 times. I knew it wasn’t going to last forever. Hopefully there’s more reigns to come and for what the experience was, it was almost six months to the day and like you said, one of the longest reigns in recent history. So I’m just real fortunate to have done that and to have had so many great matches with such great competition, so I’m just glad to have experienced that.”
Check out McCarthy’s entire interview with the future Hall of Famer - which also includes Kofi addressing criticism he received throughout his run from guys like Jim Ross and Superstar Billy Graham, his relationship with Vince McMahon, and how great Daniel Bryan is - right here.