During a recent interview with DAZN, WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston commented on losing the WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar in 2019, possibly facing Bobby Lashley for the title, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On losing the WWE title to Brock Lesnar in a short squash: “I told a lot of people that if it was up to me, I would have had that match be different in the way that it went down. But the thing is, that it’s not up to me. I think what we need to realize is that you control what you can control. That’s it. I don’t get mad over what I can’t control. I show up to work, and it’s like, ‘What we’re doing? Ok, maybe we can do it like this, but we’re going to do it like this’. Then once you have the outline of what’s going to happen, that’s the way that you proceed.”
On wishing the match happened differently: “I wish it would have gone down differently. I appreciate that a lot of people were so angry with the way that it went down. I’m always just trying to work towards what’s next. For me to come into work and be disgruntled about the way that things were handled, I’m the only one that’s going to be affected by that. But what I can control is going out and starting afresh, getting back on the horse and riding, and keeping that positive attitude. I would say that I was disappointed with the way that it went down. But again, I wasn’t so mad that I was going to come into work and just pout. I’m not going to come pout and be mad. That’s not my style. I’ve never been like that. It’s always been just a matter of just pushing forward no matter what. So that’s what I did. You just keep on marching until the wheels fall off.”
On what it would mean for him to face Bobby Lashley and two African Americans facing each other for the WWE World Heavyweight title: “It would mean the world because I say this all the time, to be somebody who motivates people to be the best version of themselves is a very empowering thing. At the end of the day, that is what I want to be above all else, above being a wrestler or a superstar or a champion, but being somebody who motivates somebody to go out and be the best version of themselves possible to believe in themselves to go out there and achieve their dreams. We always talk about seeing is believing. For a lot of African-American kids out there, it’s so important. Even adults, honestly, to see someone who looks like yourself doing incredible things. There’s a lot of people who are able to do incredible things without that vision. But at the same time, it’s so much more powerful when you say anything is possible because I see it happening right now. Kofi did it. I can do it. Bobby did it, so I can do it. So we can do it. It’s a very powerful thing. It would mean the world. It’d be a historical feat in the industry because, like you said, I don’t think that ever happened either if I’m not mistaken.
“With Sasha, and Bianca at WrestleMania, being in the main event was so powerful. The way they killed it was, I know that a lot of people are going to remember that match for a long time. It’s going to inspire people to do amazing things in this industry, outside of this industry. That is what it’s all about. So if Bobby and I were able to go head to head for the WWE title, the thought of winning the championship for a second time would be amazing. But even more amazing than that is the lives that we would touch and the lightbulbs that would go off and just the seeds that we would plant in terms of motivating people on so many different levels. There hasn’t been any talk of this. We’re all just kind of assuming what would happen. But based on what happened last week, a win over the WWE Champion is a win over the WWE Champion. Not to mention that nobody has pinned Bobby Lashley since he’s become WWE Champion, except this guy. I’m going to go ahead and celebrate that.”
On WWE returning to live touring: “I cannot wait. I really can’t. We always knew how important the crowd was to what we do, especially The New Day. All we do is mess around with the crowd sometimes more than we focus on the match. But to have it taken away from us because of the year that we’ve had with coronavirus and all that last year and then to have it taken away from us for a year. Now you actually really know the Thunderdome is cool. It’s awesome. People get to see themselves on TV. But for us coming out there, the energetic vibe of actual human beings in the crowd is obviously void. So now that we’re going to have that back, it’s going to be amazing, and we got that little taste of it at WrestleMania. The show started with all of us being out on stage. I remember walking through the curtain, and we walked out into the holding area, and I remember hearing the people just like starting to salivate that we were going to be there. I remember trying to push people out of the way and get out there. I hadn’t experienced that in so long. It was a feeling unlike anything else. So I’m excited to have actual fans in the crowd. I know that a lot of people are excited. We have wanted this for so long. Now that things are kind of normalizing and getting to a state where we can all go out and be around each other, I think that this is it’s going to be an amazing level of energy.”
