"It feels real familiar" - WWE's Kofi Kingston on being a last-minute replacement in the Elimination Chamber
Last Monday on WWE RAW, Kofi Kingston replaced The Miz in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship.The WWE Universe has seen this situation once before. Kingston's journey to a WWE Championship win started with a memorable showing in the Elimination Chamber. He recently addressed this similarity.
The former WWE Champion is a veteran with the company. He has been featured with the New Day, and he is a 11-time tag team champion on the main roster. Kingston is also a Grand Slam Champion.
Kofi Kingston was recently a guest on Instinct Culture by Denise Salcedo, and he talked about all things WWE. Kingston described how his road to a WWE Championship win at WrestleMania is similar to the path that's unfolding right now.
"It feels real familiar. I'll tell you that it feels real familiar. When Adam Pearce, Mr. Pearce, you know as I like to call him, said that there's going to be an Elimination Chamber full of former WWE Champions, I was sitting there waiting for my call. You know, and it never happened, you know, but here we are, you know somehow fate has a funny way of kind of correcting things and making things right, so I'm just happy to be in one of the pods this year, and, you know, I think it's gonna be fun. It's it's probably one of the most like I guess like high caliber in terms of like the clout you have in there all these former WWE Champions everybody in there like deserves to be there, everybody in there has proven themselves because they've been at the top of the industry, so I mean to be in there and mixed up with those guys. That's the kind of match that you want you know as a performer, you want to be in there with all the best, you know, so there's going to be one that I'd have to earn for sure anybody that's gonna have to earn it. So I think it's gonna be a fun one."
Many Kingston fans are hopeful that he will repeat his incredible "KofiMania" run, starting with an unforgettable performance on Sunday. In a match with five main event stars, he'll have the chance to do so.
"It's pretty painful" - Former WWE Champion Kofi Kingston on what it's like to perform inside the Elimination Chamber
Salcedo asked Kingston what it's like to enter WWE's most imposing structure. Despite its design change, the former WWE Champion made it very clear how painful the steel structure can be.
"You know that you're gonna leave in pain because everything in there there's no give like chains out there are like they're pulled like real tight. There's no give whatsoever. So I was saying like a cage match is a little bit different because the, I feel like there's a little bit of give with the ring and the weight of the opponent's you know hitting the cage there's always like a little bit of give it's pretty painful, but the Elimination Chamber there's no give whatsoever like every time that you hit the ground, it hurts, but your adrenaline is what kind of like keeps you through now it'll be different because we don't have like the energy of the live crowd there, but we do have the Thunderdome, we have we can see people on the screens which really does help, and I'm sure everyone loves to get to see a live show, so I'm looking forward to it. I think it's gonna be a really, really fun one. Like I said, just top tier talent in every single pod, so it's gonna be intense, the entire time though, so it's gonna be really fun."
Many WWE stars have echoed Kingston's views that the Elimination Chamber is quite brutal, and this violence often makes the match appointment viewing.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Instinct Culture by Denise Salcedo with a H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcription.