Kofi Kingston Reveals Off-Script Moment With AJ Styles

It's hard to say when Kofi Kingston's tidal wave of goodwill began. But there was a moment in his epic gauntlet match performance a few weeks ago that appeared to ignite the SmackDown crowd. And according to Kingston, it was not part of WWE's script.

During a heated exchange with AJ Styles, Kingston summoned a new brand of intensity by screaming he had been waiting 11 years for a WWE Championship run. That moment instantly woke up the crowd and may have been the actual beginning of KofiMania. And in a recent interview with E&C's Pod of Awesomeness, Kingston explained what he was feeling as it happened.

"I didn't feel it until I was in there with AJ, because I think that is the point where it really just got real," he said. "I told him I'd literally been waiting eleven years for this moment and that was all real. That wasn't like character-based stuff. It was just real, and I think as soon as he told me to stay down, something about that just got to me because I feel like I've worked very, very hard over the past eleven years."

Kingston's resume is certainly impressive, but it is glaringly missing a turn with one of WWE's top titles.

"I can't say I haven't gotten a lot of opportunities because I've been really fortunate to experience a lot of cool things; having the feud with Randy, doing the Money In The Bank matches, Royal Rumbles obviously and even the past four/five years with New Day has been amazing but at the same time I haven't had a chance at all to really have a singles match for a major title," Kingston noted, "and I try not to complain about it and I do believe everything kind of happens for a reason and that hard work pays off, but at a certain point, you start to question like, 'Man, I'm working so hard. What am I not doing? What is it that I don't have? Why am I being the one that's being passed up while everyone else is getting opportunities?'"

Like so many other Superstars, Kingston's career has been a series of ups and downs. But now as the patriarch of the New Day, Kingston is enjoying a steady diet of relevance and has used that elevated platform to reach a new peak in popularity.

"So, in that match in the gauntlet when AJ comes over and kind of tells me to stay down, that was a very real -- like how could I ever walk away from… it wasn't an option," he said. "Regardless of how long I'd been in there… it's such a rare opportunity especially like I know it first hand, I know some people get more chances than others. I can literally count the amount of major title opportunities that I've had on one hand. Even still, so, it just wasn't an option but I think that was the point where I got up and started getting in his face and I could really feel the crowd just getting into it and you hear, 'Whoa' because they started feeling it too because a lot of the people who've been watching, they've been on this journey with me too."

At 37, Kingston still has several years left to handle WWE's demanding workload. However, he knows that time is limited, and right now may be his best chance to take WWE's throne.

"So, I think it was just a visceral and emotional moment, to where, I don't know how much longer I have doing this. You know what I mean? Like it could all end tomorrow and I've been doing it for a pretty long time -- longer than most," Kingston admitted. "So, to sit down, I would never do that. There's nothing on this planet that would make me walk away at a point like that so, I think that was the point when I started to feel that people were really getting emotionally invested into the match but I didn't know how big it was going to be."

Kingston is arguably WWE's hottest Superstar at the moment. At Elimination Chamber, he charmed the WWE Universe by giving a heroic performance that just fell short of being crowned WWE Champion. However, a few nights later he was named Daniel Bryan's Fastlane opponent. But just a week later, Vince McMahon personally replaced him with Kevin Owens. The outrage that followed was a testament to how deserving WWE's fans feel Kingston is of being champion. Per Kingston, this sentiment started after his gauntlet match.

"It wasn't until after the match and I started to try and go through all my Twitter feeds that… my social media feeds, I literally can't scroll to the bottom because things just keep popping off and it only allows you to go down a certain amount and I'm scrolling through literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of messages and tweets, and I usually pride myself on being able to read all the messages that come to me and I literally, I cannot do it, because people are so behind me," he said, "so it's a really, really great feeling, and it just helps with that momentum because I do feel it's not just me, it's the people."

Kingston is well aware that the fans are behind him, but also knows that this surge comes from the support of Xavier Woods and Big E.

"It's Woods, it's E. It's the people that make our gear. A lot of people have been with us on this journey so, yeah man. I'm just trying my hardest just to capitalize and knock it out of the park every single time I step in there," said Kingston.

[H/T Fightful]