Kofi Kingston Says He Came Close to Quitting WWE Just Before The New Day Formed

For the first time in his 11-year WWE career, Kofi Kingston will get a one-on-one match for the [...]

By Connor Casey

For the first time in his 11-year WWE career, Kofi Kingston will get a one-on-one match for the WWE Championship on Sunday when he takes on Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35. Kingston's ascension to the world championship picture kicked off back in February when he managed to last a full hour in a gauntlet match on SmackDown Live, then made it all the way to the final two in a WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match. But with the exception of a 2009 feud with Orton and his time with The New Day, Kingston spent the majority of his WWE career stuck in the midcard.

He hauled in plenty of titles during that time, winning the Intercontinental Championship four times, the United States Championship three times and the tag titles with Evan Bourne, R-Truth and CM Punk, but his standing in the company never seemed to change. In a recent interview with Booker T on the Hall of Fame Podcast, Kingston admitted he came close to quitting right before Big E and Xavier Woods came to him with the idea of forming a trio in 2014.

"I remember my first WrestleMania, being in the Money in the Bank ladder match (WrestleMania XXV) and having a really good performance and doing things that had never been seen before," Kingston said. "I remember walking through gorilla after the match and everybody gives a standing ovation. At the afterparty, everyone is talking about the performance I had. And then, the next day, I wasn't booked on Raw. I thought things were gonna get going based on the performance I had and it didn't quite work out that way. Even the rivalry I had with Randy Orton, it was the same thing. You're knocking at the glass ceiling, you're about to break through, and then you don't. It's frustrating to give it your all and then not be given what you feel is your due. But, by the same token, this is my dream and I don't have it in me to quit."

"The closest time I've come (to quitting), I don't want to say it was the lowest point of my career, but before I joined the New Day, I was at a point when I would go out there and be the happy go lucky guy who was gonna have a great match and probably end up losing," he continued. "At a certain point, when you keep going out there and doing the same thing over and over again, it gets repetitive and boring. It was at that point, I didn't know how much longer I would be able to do that."

WrestleMania 35 will take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

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