Kofi Kingston talks about his relationship with CM Punk and more

Kofi Kingston spends so much time airborne, the acrobatic WWE Superstar oughta have wings — or even a pilot’s license. Whenever the 28-year-old professional wrestler graces the squared circle on episodes of WWE’s Raw or Smackdown programs, his feet seem to spend more time in the air instead of planted firmly on the canvas.

Kingston’s repertoire contains a slew of spectacular-looking leaps, dives, and flips, which the 6-foot, 212-pound wrestler unleashes upon his opponents. That includes such signature maneuvers as the “SOS” and “Boom Drop,” as well as his finishing move (a conceit of every grappler) known as “Trouble in Paradise.”

Here are some highlights from a recent interview with Kofi:

You’ve become famous in recent years for your impossible escapes during the Royal Rumble match. Do you try to one-up yourself every year?
Well, I mean, honestly I challenge myself every day to come up with new and innovating things that the WWE Universe hasn’t seen. But in terms of the Rumble, to be honest, I don’t think of stuff to do all year up until like 24 hours beforehand. I definitely like the pressure and the challenge of just being able to come up with new and innovating things. Because, as time goes by, it becomes harder and harder to do that with all the exceptional athletes that we have in WWE.

First, you did the handstand in 2012, the thing with the office chair last year, and then that huge jump from the railing this year. If nothing else, you’re running out of places around the ring.
We got about 363 days to think about it. So, I’m sure it will work itself out.

There’s a video of CM Punk a few years ago where he called you his “road wife.” Before his recent departure, was that still true? 
Yeah, we were each other’s road wives. With Punk, I consider him to be like a brother to me. He’s one of the guys who took me under his wing when I first came. So we’ve been able to maintain a good relationship. And there are very few people in the business that you can call true friends, so I consider Punk to be that and more. So yes, “road wife” is the term we used to sum that all up.

You went bowling with CM Punk, AJ Lee, and Fandango against Chris Hardwick from The Talking Dead not too long ago for an episode of the Nerdist, right?
Yeah, it was me, him, Fandango and AJ, and we took on the Nerdist guys, and honestly, we had the match in the bag the entire time. It wasn’t up until the last two frames that they ended up coming out on top. But it was a great experience and there was a lot of good food, including good nachos, involved. We had a good time and that’s what it’s all about.

Speaking of streaming media and such, what’s your take on the new WWE Network that launches this month?
Well, it’s definitly a huge, huge deal for us. We’ve been trying to get this network off the ground, it’s finally going to happen. There’s going to be a lot of content, I can tell you that straight up — high flyers, the Attitude Era and just the history of the business and the future. They have so many ideas and so many different concepts that I think a lot of people are going to look forward to getting to see — just a different side of WWE superstars and the WWE in general and how it’s presented. And it’s really inexpensive, like $10 a month, and you get so much material, including pay-per-views, for that amount.

So do WWE Superstars like yourself get the network for free or will you have to buy a membership?
I hope that maybe we can swing something, maybe get some sort of corporate discount. [laughs] I got to find the right people to talk to. Even then, like I said, it’s pretty inexpensive.