Kofi Kingston reflects on the career of Bryan Danielson and how Danielson fought for him to become the WWE Champion.
Bryan Danielson has had many top career moments as a babyface. However, one of his top moments as a heel was at WrestleMania 35 when he, wrestling as Daniel Bryan, lost the WWE Championship to Kofi Kingston, capping off "KofiMania." Danielson recently retired as a full-time wrestler.
Now, Kingston is giving Danielson his flowers.
"Daniel Bryan, I think, is one of the greatest. He's got to be top-five of all time for a lot of different reasons. His resiliency. He's a guy who broke his neck and came back when people said that he wasn't going to be able to do it, you have to admire someone that can do that," said Kofi to Baby Huey on In The Kliq. "On top of that, too, he's somebody who doesn't really seek any credit, you know what I'm saying? He does a lot of things. He had a lot to do with why I was even in that position. I know he had gone to bat for me to be in that position, because that's what the people wanted. So I know he was a very big advocate of that, and he'll never tell you that, he'll never brag about that, because that's not what his like purpose in doing that was. It was just about doing the right thing, and I'm always grateful for that."
Kofi Kingston also spoke about the storyline aspect of his rivalry with Danielson and how special it was to see Danielson go full circle and become the man stopping the fan-selected hero.
"On top of that, from a storyline perspective, the fact that he was in the same shoes that I was in a couple of years ago when the corporate mega heads were telling him that he wasn't good enough, that he wasn't he was a B-plus player, and now he's on the other side as a champion, saying all those naturally things to me. So from a storyline perspective, when you're able to complete a circle like that. When you're able to have continuity in that way and you see it unfold in front of your eyes in a WWE ring, it's just beautiful. That's what wrestling is all about, man. Those stories that continue through different generations. I know we're not different generations, per se, but different eras, the Daniel Bryan 'Yes!' era, the 'Yes!' Movement, to the KofiMania movement. It was like a seamless handoff. I couldn't have had a better opponent than him. He's amazing in the ring, super smooth, a high-class performer, stand-up guy. Like I said, very, very resilient, though, coming back from a neck injury and being able to, you know, go out there and still do it, and now getting to walk away, he's earned it."
Even though Bryan Danielson is retired, he has stated that he will be at AEW All In: Texas in some capacity. Learn more here.
At this link, you can read Kofi Kingston's thoughts on The New Day's legacy.
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