Kofi Kingston confirms KofiMania was never supposed to happen; Brock Lesnar beating him in 8 seconds was not the original plan
Former WWE Champion Kofi Kingston shared that KofiMania was not part of the original plans for WrestleMania 35. The revelation could have led to a different outcome later on during his reign, which was ended by Brock Lesnar in eight seconds.
Speaking on the In The Kliq podcast, Kingston was asked about KofiMania and how it came about. The New Day member explained that WWE didn't even have plans for his stable leading to WrestleMania 35 due to their versatility as wrestlers, hosts, and entertainers.
His program with Daniel Bryan was an accident, and it would have ended at Fastlane. However, Kofi Kingston's popularity at the time forced the company's hand to change plans and have him win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania.
"I don't think I was even booked. I don't think my plans are being talked about for Wrestlemania... We didn't even really have anything going. We didn't have a rivalry. We didn't have a feud. We didn't have a storyline. We didn't really have much of anything going on. It was just The New Day being The New Day," Kingston said. [From 07:40 to 08:06]
The former WWE Champion added:
"I think originally, our feud, me and Daniel Bryan, was supposed to stop at Fastlane, was right before 'Mania... I think that was supposed to be the culmination of whatever, but being that it was such a huge crowd reaction and people were like demanding that I'd be in that main event. That's what the direction that the company went." [From 08:45 to 09:14]
Check out the video below:
It was a well-deserved push for Kofi Kingston, who was only missing the WWE Championship on his resume. If the company ended KofiMania prematurely, Daniel Bryan would have had a different opponent at WrestleMania 35 and Brock Lesnar squashing Kingston on the 20th anniversary of SmackDown would have never happened.
Kofi Kingston praises former WWE Champion Daniel Bryan
Speaking in the same interview mentioned above, Kofi Kingston had nothing but praise for Daniel Bryan for putting him over at WrestleMania 35. Kingston even said that the current AEW star might be in his top five of the greatest professional wrestlers ever.
"Daniel Bryan, I think, is one of the greatest. He's got to be like in the top five of all time for a lot of different reasons. I mean just his resiliency, he's a guy who broke his neck and came back when nobody told him," Kingston said. [From 10:14 to 10:29]
Bryan is currently on hiatus from AEW and will likely need neck surgery. He's expected to return but on a part-time basis.
Please credit the In The Kliq podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling while using quotes from the article.