Kofi Kingston comments on the end of Big E’s run as WWE Champion.
Big E had the opportunity in the latter half of 2021 to be the WWE Champion. With that opportunity came a pay-per-view main event against Roman Reigns, and multiple opportunities to showcase why he should be one of, if not, the perennial face of the company.
His run came to an end at WWE Day 1 at the hands of Brock Lesnar. Somebody who knows a lot about their first championship run coming to an end at the hands of Brock Lesnar is Big E’s brother in The New Day, Kofi Kingston.
Kofi had the opportunity to express how proud he was of Big E in a new interview with Rick Ucchino of Bleav in Pro Wrestling. Kofi Kingston not only addressed the positives but also what E had to say about his own run during a recent interview with Sports Illustrated.
Kofi explains that he understood why E was so critical of himself and says that The New Day hold themselves to a higher standard.
“I thought he did great. We're always the biggest critics of ourselves. You go back to criticisms and everything online, or people giving us feedback on matches. We've always taken pride in holding ourselves to the highest standard. Nobody is going to hold us to a higher standard than we hold ourselves to. So we expect nothing but the best of ourselves, myself, Woods, and E, that's just the way that we roll. So I wasn't surprised to see some of the things that he had said about the way things went. He gave what he felt was an honest look at his time. It makes him that much more hungry to do it again, and now, you've gotten like that, that first shot out of the way, right?”
Kofi continued, “There's something about — when I won the title, people were like,’ Okay, so now that you won the title now what?’ I'm like, ‘Oh, how about another one?’ There are so many things that come with being a champion, there are so many labels and you take a lot of pride, at least you should, at being able to be the face of the company and put the whole company on your back, and go out there and not your, you always go out there and you want to have a great match. But to do it with a championship, you realize that like, this is the stamp of approval from everybody in the industry, right? Like you were put in this role, and you are trusted to be the face of the company.
"So again, it's no surprise that he was that hard on himself. But for me, in particular, I'm real proud of him in the way that he carried himself as champion, he was able to kind of switch things up, but also not change, and stay true to himself, which a lot of people can't say. I feel like when he was in the ring, and this has always been the case, but he's always had the support of the people, he's always able to go out there and entertain and do things that as a man that large should not physically be able to do. But he goes out there and showcases his athleticism every single time he touches the mic, he's able to move people and make people feel and that's so it's hard. It's a lot harder to do than you would think. So yeah, no, I'm super proud of him for being able to fulfill that role, and for him to be able to, again, put the company on his back and be the face of the company and to get that shot to chase that shot. That's what he deserved.”
Asked if he had any advice for him because of the similarities in how their runs ended, Kofi Kingston said he didn't really have any advice for Big E and in truth, he knows that there is a lot that they cannot control so he likes to stay focused on the positive and the things that he can control in between the ropes.
"I don't necessarily have any advice. I mean, I would never tell someone how to feel. You feel how you feel. It makes you grow if you feel a certain way. But for me, in particular, A lot of this ain't up to us. For me, if it was up to me, I wouldn't have made myself have to fight for 11 years to get one title shot, you know what I'm saying? So like, yeah, there's a lot that we can't control. I'm really big on controlling what I can control, I can go out there when I have a match, and I can knock it out of the park, and that's about it. As far as what happens the next week, or what happens afterward, completely out of my hands.
"It is what it is. Like, if you are the kind of person that's going to let something bad tear you down and hold you down for a long time, then you're probably not going to progress any further this business is so like, 'next man up,' so you have to be constantly on your grind, even after a huge loss. Yes, it stings. But again, when those things that stick in those things that hurt, make you better you fit you, you remember how that feels. Then you go out there and you have a certain level of just a different level of mentality going out there. It reflects reflected in your work. It's reflected in the physical things that you do out there, the way that you speak, the way that you feel, and your competence level. Your desire and passion, that all comes out, and that comes out because of the experience that you had. So I take everything as a growing experience, as an opportunity to get better. That's what these situations do. They make us stronger."
Big E has declared himself for this year's Royal Rumble. Kofi Kingston has yet to do so but Xavier Woods will not be declaring for this year's Royal Rumble match because he is injured with a torn Plantaris muscle. Learn more here.
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