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It's all done and dusted. In the culmination of an incredible 11-year journey, Kofi Kingston has officially become WWE Champion. He defeated Daniel Bryan in one of the best WrestleMania matches in a long time. It was also an extremely emotional contest.
Kofi Kingston kicked out of the running knee for the second time, with the move itself being kicked out of all but three times or so. Ultimately, Daniel Bryan did an incredible job in the feud and an incredible job in putting Kofi Kingston over.
He hasn't really gotten the credit he deserves, because his heel run has been nothing short of incredible. The fact of the matter is that this match was never planned in the first place. It was the perfect payoff because this has been by far the best story all WrestleMania. While the match started off slow, it got much hotter.
Kofi Kingston is now WWE champion. Let that sink in. Here's why he won!
#5. The culmination of an epic storyline
As we mentioned, this has been the best storyline this WrestleMania. It all took place unexpectedly, but the crowd got behind Kofi Kingston pretty quickly and it showed when 80,000 people chanted for Kofi and The New Day.
Simply put, the storyline was too good not to have a payoff. We've seen the example of the wrong person going over multiple times, with Booker T and Triple H at WrestleMania XIX being the prime example of that.
That was the case of the wrong person going over and WWE knew that if they were to do that this time, it would have caused a lot of outrage. Moreover, the storyline would have felt completely pointless with no payoff.
At least, it's a good thing that WWE decided to keep the fans happy by having him win.
#4. He seized the opportunity that was given to him
Kofi Kingston was never supposed to be in the match. It was Ali who was in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship. Due to an injury, he was replaced by Kofi Kingston, who entered the Gauntlet match five days before the Chamber match.
Kingston absolutely stole the show, getting over in a record-setting performance. Since then, WWE knew what they had in the storyline. They allowed him to steal the show once again at Elimination Chamber, further getting the crowd behind him.
The fact of the matter is that while he was booked that way, it's not easy to pull off such show-stealing performances with so much time in hand. But Kofi Kingston is the exact example of taking the ball and running with it. He proved every bit deserving of the opportunity and he ended up getting the reward he deserved.
#3. He won Vince McMahon over
When Vince McMahon got involved in the storyline before Fastlane, it was a surefire sign that Kofi Kingston was going to win the WWE Championship. Remember, when Vince McMahon is feuding against another superstar or is holding them back, it's because he wants to put them over big time.
When Kofi Kingston won the crowd over, he also won over the one man whose opinion matters the most - Vince McMahon. Mick Foley once said that to be pushed in WWE, Vince McMahon needs to be a fan of you.
It's not that McMahon never liked Kingston. Even without the WWE title win, Kingston had a Hall of Fame career, winning the Intercontinental title, United States title and being a record-setting tag team champion.
However, in McMahon's eyes, Kingston was a mid-carder at best. This storyline proved that McMahon finally saw the light with the story.
#2. The crowd would have been drained out for the main event
Having the right people go over is very important in a show like WrestleMania, because if a major crowd favourite loses, then the entire air is sucked out of the stadium. Daniel Bryan winning would have absolutely flattened the crowd and they would not have reacted properly for the matches after that.
The main event of WrestleMania 35 is one of the most important in WWE history for more than just one reason. And WWE needed the crowd to be as hot as possible for that. While the placement of matches on the card were questionable, there's a reason why so many matches were placed in between the WWE Championship match on the main event.
WWE knew that there were a few matches in between that and the main event which the crowd would cool down for, so they had to prioritize. Having Kingston lose would risk the main event.
#1. It was do or die for Kofi Kingston
Daniel Bryan's WWE title reign was nothing short of incredible. He brought out a whole new side to himself, and this was not only longer than all his prior WWE title reigns put together, but it was also the best of all his world title runs, even including the World Heavyweight title reign in 2011-12.
Here's the thing. Daniel Bryan, health permitted, will likely win at least another two WWE championships. There is time for him to win the title back. For Kofi Kingston, that may not be the case.
This is the hottest that Kofi Kingston has ever been in 11 years and this was always the perfect time to strike the iron while it was hot. If they were to keep him chasing, then his momentum likely would have gone.
This was the only time WWE really had to capitalise on it and to their credit, they did a great job.
