Kofi Kingston Breaks Down What Went Wrong With His Royal Rumble Spot
Kofi Kingston's long streak of incredible Royal Rumble highlights was broken this year when his attempt at avoiding elimination while springboarding off the top rope failed. The spot in question saw Kingston get tripped up by Kevin Owens, then attempt to jump to the barricade outside the ring and land without his feet hitting the floor. Unfortunately, both did and the referees alerted the former world champion that he was out of the match.
Kingston recently spoke with Jim Varsallone about what went wrong last month — "I feel like we all go out there to try and top ourselves. Whether we're talking about tag team matches with The Uso's or singles matches that we've had, myself and Dolph Ziggler. We've had a lot of classics. The goal has always been to go out and top yourself.
"Obviously when the Royal Rumble comes around, it's become something synonymous with something I'm going to do in the match. So, what happened was not supposed to happen," he continued. "I was trying to kind of land on the barricade. It was something — I walked through it a few times, but it was always going to hurt. It was gonna hurt no matter what, so I couldn't really practice it like full out. When I did, I think that I jumped too high which has never usually been a problem. I could've jumped like further out."
The former WWE Champion took to social media shortly after the show and said that not only was he undeterred by the botched spot, but that he'll keep trying new ideas in future Rumbles. He's currently tied for third in most career Rumble appearances with Randy Orton at 14.
"So in all fairness, many people had a lot of positive things to say," one of Kingston's Instagram posts read. "And I really appreciate that! Thank y'all! But I decided to share (like 2% of) the negative comments to make a point. And it isn't to put these people on blast, lol. I actually find these comments to be wildly entertaining (I'm not even joking). The point I wanted to make is this: We. Don't. Let. Negative. Comments. Stop. Us. From. Trying. To. Do. Epic. S—! Neither should you...."
"The past couple days on social media, I've gotten a lot of 'Why would you think that was even possible?' and 'Why would you even try that?' The answer to that question is quite easy: because of the potential reward. What if you were to succeed in overcoming what is deemed 'impossible'?" he wrote in the post's caption. "The sense of accomplishment felt when you beat the odds and brazenly defy the probabilities is purely ecstatic. Peoples questions then morph into 'How in the world did you do that?!' and 'I never thought that would be possible!' But alas, it was not to be...this time...
"However, even in failure there is also a reward; one that may be more valuable than success," he continued. "That reward is: Self-learning and growth. True strength. Failure forces you to take look within and learn about yourself. Do you mope around and sulk? Do you hide and feel sorry for yourself? Maybe for a little while. I think that's natural. But then you use those emotions as a catalyst to push yourself and to drive yourself to be better. The castles of success are built in part from keystones of failure...Anyway, this isn't a cry for sympathetic messages in the comments or anything lol. I just saw this as a great opportunity to encourage people out there who might be on the fence about trying something because it's too risky or because they are afraid. Push yourself to try, even when you know the risks. In my case, all the possible risks became a reality: physical injury, the emotional weight of letting people down by literally falling short of delivering on their expectations, the risk of being laughed at and ridiculed for deciding to try the impossible. And still if given another chance in choosing whether or not to make the attempt...I'd change nothing. No guts, no glory. No risk it, no biscuit. No pressure, no diamonds. You gotta bet it to get it. All the quotes... Many great rewards come to those who push the limits..."