Jump to content

Kofi Kingston: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
m Reverted edits by 80.186.206.225 to last revision by 85.73.42.251 (HG)
Kofi doesn't call his version of the Ranhei such.
Line 60: Line 60:
**[[Professional wrestling attacks#Backhand chop|Double backhand chop]]
**[[Professional wrestling attacks#Backhand chop|Double backhand chop]]
**Fake [[Professional wrestling aerial techniques#Suicide dive|suicide dive]], bouncing back into the ring from the top rope
**Fake [[Professional wrestling aerial techniques#Suicide dive|suicide dive]], bouncing back into the ring from the top rope
⚫
**[[Professional wrestling throws#Ranhei|Front flip gutwrench STO]]
**[[Professional wrestling attacks#Back elbow|High–angle back elbow strike]]
**[[Professional wrestling attacks#Back elbow|High–angle back elbow strike]]
**[[Professional wrestling attacks#Enzuigiri|Leg–feed enzuigiri]]
**[[Professional wrestling attacks#Enzuigiri|Leg–feed enzuigiri]]
Line 72: Line 73:
**[[Professional wrestling throws#Russian legsweep|Russian legsweep]]<ref name="observer1"/>
**[[Professional wrestling throws#Russian legsweep|Russian legsweep]]<ref name="observer1"/>
**Seated [[Professional wrestling attacks#Mounted punches|mounted punches]] after performing a high jump onto the top turnbuckle
**Seated [[Professional wrestling attacks#Mounted punches|mounted punches]] after performing a high jump onto the top turnbuckle
⚫
**[[Professional wrestling throws#Ranhei|Ranhei]]


*'''[[Manager (professional wrestling)|Managers]]'''
*'''[[Manager (professional wrestling)|Managers]]'''

Revision as of 19:59, 2 July 2009

Kofi Kingston
Born (1981-08-14) August 14, 1981 (age 42)[1]
Ghana[2]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Kofi Jamaica
Kofi Nahaje Kingston[3]
Kofi Kingston[3]
Billed height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Billed weight218 lb (99 kg)[4]
Billed fromJamaica[4]
Trained byChaotic Wrestling[3][2]
OVW staff[3][5]
DSW staff[3][5]
DebutJune 4, 2006[6]

Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah[3][5] (born on August 14, 1981) is a Ghanaian[2] professional wrestler, better known under his ring name, Kofi Kingston. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment working on the Raw brand where he is the reigning WWE United States Champion. Since competing for WWE, he has become a one time Intercontinental Champion, a one time World Tag Team Champion with CM Punk and a one time and the current United States Champion.[7]

Early life

Sarkodie-Mensah was born in Ghana; his family moved to the United States in 1982. Coming from a member of a family of intellectuals from near Kumasi in Ghana, he was expected to become a teacher like his grandfather.[8] A standout wrestler at Massachusetts' Winchester High School, he enrolled at Boston College.[9]

Career

Early career

After receiving a degree in communications,[2] he initially pursued a career in the corporate world. "My first day at work I sat in my cubicle and looked at the empty walls and it was very depressing," he recalls. Sarkodie-Mensah decided to drop his business pursuits and opt to go into professional wrestling. "The first day I walked into the wrestling school, I knew I was in the right place," he says.[8]

Sarkodie-Mensah began wrestling professionally in 2005, under the ring name of Kofi Nahaje Kingston.[3] Kingston's country of birth was billed as Jamaica rather than Ghana, because, according to Leslie Goffe of the BBC, "[People] would be more likely to embrace a person from the land of Bob Marley and reggae music" than someone from Ghana.[3][5][8] He made his official wrestling debut in 2006, when he faced PWF Mayhem Heavyweight Champion Evan Siks on June 4.[6] 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.[9][10]

World Wrestling Entertainment (2006–present)

Developmental territories (2006–2007)

In September 2006, he signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and was assigned to Deep South Wrestling (DSW), a Georgia based developmental territory.[3] He debuted in the new company, as Kofi Nahaje Kingston, in a dark match loss to Montel Vontavious Porter on September 21.[9][11] 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 placed into a tag team dubbed the "Commonwealth Connection" with Harry Smith.[12][13][14]

In 2007, Kingston had his first exposure to the main WWE roster, when he worked dark matches on March 5 and 26 before episodes of WWE Raw against Charlie Haas and Trevor Murdoch respectively. For these appearances he used the ring name "Kofi Jamaica".[15][16] When he returned to the developmental territories he shortened his original ring name to "Kofi Kingston" and continued to use both ring names throughout his duration there.[3] That May he also worked house shows, defeating Shelton Benjamin in Greenville, South Carolina on the 5,[17] and Val Venis in Roanoke, Virginia on the 6.[18]

When 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 Perez against Keith Walker and Ryklon Stephens in a losing effort.[19] Kingston worked there for most of the remainder of the year,[19][20] until he was called up to WWE's main roster.

ECW (2007–2008)

A series of vignettes for Kingston's television debut began airing on the weekly ECW television show starting on December 6, 2007.[21]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 with a win over local wrestler David Owen.[22][23] 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.[24] Kingston remained undefeated in singles competition in ECW for months and was placed in to 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.[25] On June 24 edition of ECW Kingston defeated Benjamin in an Extreme Rules Match thus ending their feud.[26]

Raw (2008–present)

Kingston as the Intercontinental Champion

As part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Kingston was drafted to the Raw brand.[27] In his first match as a member of Raw roster, he defeated Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental Championship at Night of Champions in Dallas, Texas on June 29.[7] 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.[28] Kingston held the championship until August's SummerSlam, where he and Women's Champion Mickie James both lost their championships in a intergender "winner take all" tag team match to Beth Phoenix and Santino Marella.[29]

Kingston wrestling William Regal on Raw

At Unforgiven, he appeared backstage, coming to the aid of then World Heavyweight Champion, CM Punk, who had been attacked by Manu, Randy Orton, and the World Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase. Soon after coming to his rescue Punk and Kingston were paired together more often, and on the October 27 episode Raw, the duo took the World Tag Team Titles. 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 Randy Orton. Kingston and Punk lost the World Tag Team Championship to John Morrison and The Miz at a WWE live event on December 13.[30]

At February's No Way Out event in 2009, Kingston won a spot in the World Heavyweight Elimination chamber by defeating Kane, but was unable to officially enter in the match, as he was ambushed by Edge, who took Kingston's place and eventually won the match.[31]

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. 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 WWE United States Championship. He then defended the title at Extreme Rules in a fatal four way match and successfully retained.

In wrestling

Kingston during a SmackDown! / ECW house show

Championships and accomplishments

Notes

  1. ^ "Kofi Kingston". Superstars. WWE Kids. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
  2. ^ a b c d e Chris Bergeron (2006-08-16). "Wrestle mania". The Milford Daily News. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "OWW: Kofi Kingston Profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-08.
  4. ^ a b "Kofi Kingston". Bios. World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
  5. ^ a b c d Michael Bluth (2007-12-07). "Kofi Kingston Debuts On WWE TV: News On Who He Is". Rajah.com. Retrieved 2007-12-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b Xamin, Mark (2008-08-28). "Kofi Kingston". SLAM! Wrestling Bios and Stories. SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  7. ^ a b c "History Of The Intercontinental Championship - Kofi Kingston". WWE. 2008-06-29. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  8. ^ a b c Goffe, Leslie (2008-07-02). "Wrestling's Jamaican Star - From Ghana". BBC. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
  9. ^ a b c Varsallone, Jim (2008-08-21). "Fast rise for high flying Kingston". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2008-08-27.[dead link]
  10. ^ "Kofi Nahaje Kingston". Chaotic Wrestling Profiles. Chaotic Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2007-12-09. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
  11. ^ "DSW results - 2006". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  12. ^ "OVW results - 2006". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  13. ^ "DSW results - 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  14. ^ "OVW results - 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  15. ^ "RAW results - March 5, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
  16. ^ "RAW results - March 26, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
  17. ^ Simpson, Thomas (2007-05-06). "WWE house show report 5-5 Greenville, SC". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
  18. ^ "WWE house show report 5-6 Roanoke". Wrestling Observer. 2007-05-06. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
  19. ^ a b "Florida Championship Wrestling results - 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  20. ^ Wojcik, Alan J. (2007-11-30). "Ring report, 11/30/2007". Miami Herald.[dead link]
  21. ^ Rote, Andrew (December 6, 2007). "ECW Results 12/06/2007". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  22. ^ "ECW on Sci Fi results - January 22, 2008". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
  23. ^ Medalis, Kara (2008-01-22). "Ain't no stoppin' him". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
  24. ^ "Big Red Champion". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2008-03-30. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
  25. ^ "ECW results - May 20, 2008". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
  26. ^ "Mark Henry makes a huge statement". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-18.
  27. ^ "Official 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  28. ^ "WWE Night of Champions 2008". Online World Of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
  29. ^ "SummerSlam 2008". Results. Online World of Wrestling. 2008-08-17. Retrieved 2008-10-30.
  30. ^ "History Of The World Tag Team Championship - The Miz & John Morrison". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2008-12-13. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
  31. ^ Tello, Craig. "Gold way out". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
  32. ^ a b c d Martin, Todd (2008-09-01). "Todd Martin's Labor Day Raw Report". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  33. ^ Kara A. Medalis (2008-06-03). "New, Extreme manager in town". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
  34. ^ Clark, Ryan (2008-09-18). "The Complete 'PWI 500' List For 2008". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. WrestlingInc.com. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
  35. ^ "Punk and Kingston's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kofi_Kingston&oldid=299946369"