Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah (born August 14, 1981), is a African-American professional wrestler of Ghanian descent, better known by his ring name, Kofi Kingston, currently signed to WWE, working on the Raw brand where he is the current WWE United States Champion. Since competing for WWE, he has won the Intercontinental Championship three times, the United States Championship twice, and the World Tag Team Championship once with CM Punk.
Developmental territories (2006–2007)
He made his official wrestling debut in 2006, when he faced Evan Siks on June 4.[3] He competed primarily in the New England area, including stints in National Wrestling Alliance – New England, Millennium Wrestling Federation, New England Championship Wrestling, the Eastern Wrestling Alliance, and Chaotic Wrestling.[6] In September 2006, he signed a developmental contract with WWE and was assigned to Deep South Wrestling (DSW), a Georgia based developmental federation.[1] He debuted in the new company, as Kofi Nahaje Kingston, in a dark match loss to Montel Vontavious Porter on September 21.[7] For the rest of 2006 and the beginning of 2007, he appeared in DSW, as well as its Kentucky based sister promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he was in a tag team dubbed the "Commonwealth Connection" with Harry Smith.[8][9][10] In 2005, under the ring name "Kofi Nahaje Kingson", he had his first exposure to the main WWE roster, when he worked dark matches on March 5 and 26 before episodes of Raw against Charlie Haas and Trevor Murdoch, respectively.[11][12] When he returned to the developmental federations, he shortened his original ring name to "Kofi Kingston" and continued to use both ring names throughout his duration there.[1] He also worked live events, defeating Shelton Benjamin on May 5,[13] and Val Venis on May 6.[14]
When the Florida based developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, opened in June, Kingston was relocated there, appearing at their first show on June 26 teaming with Eric Pérez against Keith Walker and Rycklon Stephens in a losing effort.[15] Kingston worked there for most of the remainder of the year
ECW (2007–2008)
A series of vignettes for Kingston's television debut began airing on the weekly ECW on Syfy television show starting on December 6, 2007.[16]view 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 face with a win over local wrestler David Owen.[17] 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.[18] Kingston remained undefeated in singles competition in ECW for months and was placed into 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.[19] On the June 24 edition of ECW, Kingston defeated Benjamin in an Extreme Rules match to end their feud
Raw, Intercontinental and United States Champion (2008–2010)
Kofi as United States Champion
As part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Kingston was drafted to the Raw brand.[21] In his first match as a member of Raw roster, he defeated Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental Championship at Night of Champions.[22] 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.[23] 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.[24]
At Unforgiven, he appeared backstage, coming to the aid of then-World Champion CM Punk, who had been attacked by Manu, Randy Orton, and the World Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase.[25] 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.[26] 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 Orton.[27] Kingston and Punk lost the World Tag Team Championship to John Morrison and The Miz at a WWE live event on December 13.[28]
Kingston wrestling William Regal on Raw.
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 the match, as he was ambushed by Edge, who took Kingston's place and eventually won the match.[29]
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.[30][31] After winning a Triple Threat Number One Contender's match the week before, Kingston defeated Montel Vontavious Porter on the June 1 episode of Raw to win the United States Championship.[32] For the next several months, he went on to defend and retain his title at PPVs such as Extreme Rules,[33] Night of Champions,[34] Breaking Point,[35] and WWE Hell in a Cell,[36] until losing the championship to The Miz on October 5 on Raw, ending his four month reign. On the October 12 edition of Raw, Kingston defeated Evan Bourne to qualify for Team Raw at WWE Bragging Rights.[37] Team Raw lost the match, however, when the Big Show betrayed them by chokeslamming Kingston, allowing Chris Jericho to pick up the win for Team SmackDown
Feuding with Randy Orton (2009–2010)
Kingston in a match against Jack Swagger and The Miz.
During the night, Kingston and Raw teammate Cody Rhodes had tension on-camera. This culminated in Kingston running out during the WWE Championship match when Rhodes and Ted DiBiase were interfering on behalf of Randy Orton. Kingston would chase Rhodes and DiBiase out of the arena while Orton would eventually lose the match.[39] On the October 26 edition of Raw, Kingston began a feud with Orton, after Orton believed he cost him the WWE Championship. After Kingston defeated Chris Jericho, Orton came from behind and attacked Kingston, ending with Orton throwing Kingston onto the side of the entrance ramp. Later that night, Kingston interrupted Orton's rematch clause with John Cena.[40] On the November 16 edition of Raw, Kingston saved guest host "Rowdy" Roddy Piper from an assault by Orton and later performed a Boom Drop from a rail in the crowd onto an unconscious Orton through a table.[41] Kingston went on to lead his Survivor Series team to victory where he was the sole survivor, last eliminating Orton.[42] On the November 30 edition of Raw, Kingston was scheduled to face Orton in a one on one match, only to be assaulted from behind by DiBiase and Rhodes. After the assault, Kingston wished to continue, only to be hit with an RKO to be defeated by Orton.[43] The following week, Kingston defeated Orton in a rematch where guest host Mark Cuban, who had a grudge against Orton since their encounter at Survivor Series in 2003 when Orton performed an RKO on him, gave Kingston a fast count. He then announced that with one victory apiece, the two would face off again at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs.[44] Orton defeated Kingston at the event.[45] On the December 28 episode of Raw, Orton interfered in Kingston's match for the United States Championship, resulting in their rivalry continuing.[46] On the January 4 edition of Raw, Orton once again defeated Kingston.[47] The following week on January 11, Kingston would compete against Orton and John Cena in a triple threat match with the winner facing Sheamus for the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble. Orton ultimately won the match by pinning Kingston.[48] On the February 1 edition of Raw, Kingston won a qualifying match by defeating the Big Show via disqualification to advance to the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match at the inaugural Elimination Chamber event. Kingston, however, failed to win after being eliminated by Sheamus. On the March 22 edition of Raw, Kingston defeated Vladimir Kozlov to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXVI. At the event however, Kingston was unsuccessful as the match was won by Jack Swagger
SmackDown and Intercontinental Champion and Feud with Drew McIntyre (2010)
On April 26, as part of the 2010 WWE Draft, Kingston was drafted to the SmackDown brand. In his debut match for the brand, he defeated Chris Jericho.[50] On the following episode of SmackDown, Kingston was entered into a four-man tournament for the vacant Intercontinental Championship after Drew McIntyre had been stripped of the title earlier in the show. He went on to defeat Dolph Ziggler in the first match of the tournament.[51] Christian defeated Cody Rhodes in the second match. As a result, Kingston faced and defeated Christian in the finals of the tournament to seemingly win his second Intercontinental Championship on the May 14 episode of SmackDown. However, moments later, McIntyre came out with a letter, signed by Vince McMahon, saying that Theodore Long was irresponsible and abused his power. The letter also stated that McIntyre was reinstated to the active roster and that Kingston was stripped of the Intercontinental Championship, which returned to McIntyre.[52]
It was later announced on WWE.com that Kingston would face McIntyre for the title at Over the Limit. At the event, Kingston defeated McIntyre to officially win his second Intercontinental Championship.[53] On June 1, Kingston was announced to mentor Michael McGillicutty on the second season of WWE NXT.[54] On the June 18 episode of SmackDown, it was announced that at Fatal 4 Way, Kofi would defend the Intercontinental Championship against Drew McIntyre. At the event, Kingston defeated McIntyre to retain the title.[55] On July 18 at Money in the Bank, Kingston was unsuccessful as Kane grabbed the briefcase to win the SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match.[56] The following SmackDown, Kingston lost to Dolph Ziggler in a non-title match
Feud with Dolph Ziggler (2010-2011)
On the July 30 episode of SmackDown, Kingston faced Ziggler in a rematch but lost via disqualification, resulting in Ziggler earning a title match.[58] On August 6 episode of SmackDown, Ziggler defeated Kingston to win the Intercontinental Championship. Kingston got his rematch for the title August 15 at Summerslam, which ended in a no contest after The Nexus interfered. On the August 20 episode of Smackdown, Kingston faced Ziggler once again for the Intercontinental Championship defeating Ziggler by disqualification, but by rule, Ziggler retained his Intercontinental Championship.[59] The following week, Kingston faced Ziggler once again for the Intercontinental Championship with the pre-match stipulation that if Ziggler should be disqualified the title would change hands. Vickie Guerrero intervened during the match and got Ziggler counted out so the title did not change hands. At Night of Champions, Ziggler once again faced Kingston with the Intercontinental Championship on the line with the stipulation that if Dolph was either counted out or disqualified that Kofi would win the title. Dolph Ziggler ended up winning the match by pinfall and retained the title once again. On the October 15th edition of Smackdown, Kingston defeated Drew McIntyre to earn a spot in the Team Smackdown competing at Bragging Rights. At the pay-per-view, Team SmackDown emerged as the superior brand with Edge and Rey Mysterio being the final survivors. He still remains defeated against Alberto Del Rio.
On the December 3 edition of SmackDown, Kingston defeated Jack Swagger to become the number one contender for the Intercontinental Championship but failed to win back the title when Swagger attacked Kofi during the match. At the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Kingston was unsuccessful in claiming the Intercontinental title against Swagger and Ziggler in a ladder match as he and Swagger unhooked the belt but it dropped to the mat and Ziggler grabbed it and retained the title.
On the January 7, 2011 edition of SmackDown, Kingston defeated Dolph Ziggler to become the Intercontinental Champion for a third time. Immediately following the match, acting General Manager Vickie Guerrero ordered that Ziggler invoke his rematch clause straight away. After hitting Trouble In Paradise, Kingston defeated Ziggler again to retain his newly won championship.
