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The ascension of Kofi Kingston from a mid-card performer to a main event Superstar, competing at The Grandest Stage of Them All and successfully defending his WWE Championship multiple times was nothing less than a fairytale. After an incredible performance at the Gauntlet Match in the Elimination Chamber, Kingston showed just why he always deserved to be a main event star. WWE booked Kofi Kingston very decisively as he defeated Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35 to become the WWE Champion for the time first time in his career.
Kingston had a spectacular run as the Champion and was brilliant throughout his reign. He picked up victories against Kevin Owens and a returning Dolph Ziggler. Kingston's story was of someone who never gave up, and despite every obstacle that came his way, he managed to break through and emerge as the Champion. He successfully defended his title against Samoa Joe and later went on to defeat the 13-time World Champion, Randy Orton.
Kofi Kingston was booked as a fighter. The New Day member survived an RKO, a stunner from Kevin Owens and a running knee from Daniel Bryan. Kingston also overcame the Samoan Submission Machine. And although he was going into the match against Brock Lesnar as the underdog, Kingston did have a lot of momentum on his side.
What followed was something that the WWE Universe wasn't expecting. Brock Lesnar squashed Kofi Kingston in under 10 seconds, ending his title reign at 180 days. After everything that went behind pushing Kofi Kingston to the top, WWE took it away in mere seconds and one F5.
Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar's feud comes at the cost of Kofi Kingston's reign and from what we saw on SmackDown last week, his main event status. It might be very long before we see Kofi Kingston in the WWE Championship picture.
It was after 12 years that WWE finally awarded Kofi Kingston for his relentless work inside the ring. And looking at how the 180-day reign came to an end, it looks highly unlikely that we will see Kofi Kingston at this sort of career-high again. Kingston did mention in the post-match interview that he isn't done with Lesnar although it seems unlikely that he will get a re-match, considering how WWE has already booked Velasquez vs Lesnar for the WWE Championship.
Brock Lesnar beating Kofi Kingston was almost inevitable, but nobody expected it to be a squash match with the Championship on the line. Seth Rollins defeated the Beast with an injury, Dolph Ziggler was able to superkick Goldberg. A hard-fought battle from Kofi Kingston would have at least cemented him as someone who could challenge other top card Superstars in the near future, but a loss like this takes all the work from the last 180 days away from the Superstar and the months preceding WrestleMania. If anything, the KofiMania deserved a better ending.
