WWE Champion Kofi Kingston sat down with ComicBook.com during San Diego Comic Con this past weekend to discuss a wide variety of topics.
Videos by ComicBook.com
This year marked Kingston third appearance at SDCC, and he noticed that interacting with fans felt different this time around given how he had the WWE’s top prize draped over his shoulder.
“A lot of times people share their moments, just like you did with me,” Kingston said. “That is probably the biggest change. You can see a genuine smile and happiness. Because there’s a very strong sense of it wasn’t just me that did this, I always say we are the champion, we did this. Because without the fans demanding that I be put in WrestleMania, it doesn’t happen. It’s one of the times that WWE actually listened to what the fans wanted. That’s probably been the biggest difference is seeing the genuine happiness and smiles on people’s faces that I’m the champ.”
Kingston has a busy schedule ahead of him as WWE enters the dog days of summer. Not only will he defend the WWE Championship in a triple threat match against Dolph Ziggler and Samoa Joe at the Smackville WWE Network event on Saturday in Nashville, but he’ll likely play a role in this week’s special edition of Monday Night Raw, dubbed the Raw Reunion.
“You guys probably know more than I do at this point, but there’s so many people [announced],” Kingston said. “Shawn Michaels I believe is going to be there, Psycho Sid is going to be there, that was just announced. A lot of people. So many people all in the same building.”
Kingston was also asked about his plans for SummerSlam. After suffering a rare pinfall defeat in a six-man tag match on SmackDown Live last week at the hands of Randy Orton, many fans assume the champ will take on The Viper at the next pay-per-view. However Kingston said he’s not sure what’s happening yet.
“I have no idea,” Kingston said. “And that’s the thing about being in WWE is you have no idea. For example, I was in a rivalry with Kevin Owens, and then all of a sudden I was in a rivalry with Dolph Ziggler. And then it seemed like it was going to be me, Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler and it was Samoa Joe. So you just have no idea.”
He did add that he’s excited to be competing in front of the ravenous fanbase in Toronto, Canada. Kingston also showed off his special Foot Locker x WWE x Converse crossover shoes that will be available only at Foot Lockers in Toronto during the SummerSlam weekend.
Kingston was then asked about some wrestlers he’d be most excited about competing against given their unique styles.
“Aleister Black, off the top of my head, he’s awesome,” he said. “Cesaro, they just had an amazing match, but Cesrao is always great. Ricochet is awesome, I’d love to be able to test my athleticism versus his. I’m sure he’d probably win in that sense, he’s crazy athletic. There’s a lot of new talent that’s coming up. Even like Heavy Machinery, seeing [Xavier] Woods and [Big] E with Daniel Bryan was cool because you see two guys that like to have fun up there. But their style, they’re legitimate nationally-ranked amateur wrestlers. These guys are really, really good. These guys come out and they dance and everything, but they’re legit.”
The champ then wrapped things up by talking about one of the biggest backstage stories in WWE at the moment — Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff taking over as the executive directors for Raw and Smackdown, respectively.
“It is very intriguing because those guys are some of the best minds in the wrestling business, in the history of the wrestling business,” Kingston said. “It’s always good to be always switching things up, and those are guys who not only think outside the box but they live outside the box. To have them behind the creative of Raw and SmackDown is very intriguing. I’m really looking forward to working with Eric Bischoff. He’s actually one guy that I have not met. …Hopefully we get to work closely as time through.”
WWE’ Raw Revial kicks off at 8 p.m. ET on Monday night on the USA Network.
