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| Photo Credit: WWE.com |
3. Kofi Kingston
Points: 1931
Ballots: 25
Highest Vote: 1st Place (Brandon Kay)
Last Year's Rank: 62nd Place
TH: Kingston has always garnered a reputation as being loose in the ring, and at times, they were warranted. I'm not sure one could blame him given he was primed to get where he was this year in 2009/2010 if not for a Randy Orton temper tantrum. Whatever that reputation might have been vanished in the aether, as few people were as focused and passionate in the ring as Kingston.
Joey O.: A fluke injury to Mustafa Ali let the veteran Kingston step up to the plate and knock it out of the park with his first true main event run. After a decade as an always reliable, always likable midcarder, Kofi had the biggest moment of his career with a great Mania title match against Daniel Bryan, then spent most of 2019 defending his title against just about anyone and everyone on the SmackDown roster. Unfortunately, he ran right into the brick wall that is the Fox network, err, Brock Lesnar. Kingston never has a bad match, solo, in a tag team or a trios match with his BFFs the New Day, but truly stepped up his game in 2019.
Nicholas Reed: Kofi Kingston managing to leverage a last minute insertion into a multi-man match into an extended world title win and run, all with the power of the crowd and history behind him (probably in spite of the original plans of the crazy 70 year old man in charge) more than proved what a legit SUPERstar he is. He's always been a steady hand, and continues to shine in the tag division. But no matter what happens now that's he been pushed back down a bit, he has shown what he can do when given the opportunity, and hopefully gets more chances in the near future.
Brandon Kay:
I fully admit to being completely burned out on pro wrestling last year. No matter what, it always seemed to let me down, or nothing just seemed to really reach me anymore. Except for one thing. One thing really made me believe in the power of pro wrestling again, and that was Kofi Kingston’s run for the WWE Championship. It was powerful enough to keep me watching WrestleMania, it was powerful enough to ignore that his win was spoiled by WWE.com, and it was powerful enough to get me to cheer against Bryan by god Danielson. For that, and for doing the best he could with what he got (months of defenses against Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler, the worst title loss in recent history), that’s what makes him my number one wrestler of 2019.
Rene Sanchez: (Rene didn't submit a ballot this year, but he wanted to say something about his prospective number one) Kofi Kingston: When the bell rang, I yelled in joy and started to notice some moisture forming in my eyes. When Xavier Woods unveiled the old/new WWE World Heavyweight Championship title belt while his chin trembled with emotion, that is when I started to bawl. I cried hard with a smile on my face as Kofi Kingston celebrated his latest achievement with his children, wife, and friends. I watched a choreographed match of physical talents between two men whom I do not know personally, with a result that was predetermined, and it moved me to tears.
After that match at WrestleMania (AKA KofiMania), I went to Twitter to see how others were reacting to what had just happened. That’s when I saw this. I remember when MVP discussed the lack of an African-American WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Now he, along with another former African-American “independent contractor” of WWE’s, were witnessing history and it brought tears to their eyes. Obviously, this is also an indictment on WWE and its shittiness, but more than that, this was a testament to the performance that Kofi had just culminated in the ring.
This transcendent moment wasn’t built in just one night, though. It took an incredible Gauntlet match, and a phenomenal Elimination Chamber match. Afterward, although the excitement waned, Kofi Kingston still put on great performances. He drew blood from a stone with a genuinely interesting storyline with Randy Orton. Kofi Kingston did things in the ring in 2019 that made me care deeper than I had since I was a child. I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that his victory at WrestleMania is one of the greatest moments in WWE’s history and that Kofi is now a surefire first ballot Hall Of Famer. I couldn’t be bothered to rank the rest of the wrestlers I watched in 2019 (Daniel Bryan would have been my #2, though), but I had to expound on Kofi as my #1 wrestler and make sure that he got his proper due. It’s about time.
Points: 1931
Ballots: 25
Highest Vote: 1st Place (Brandon Kay)
Last Year's Rank: 62nd Place
TH: Kingston has always garnered a reputation as being loose in the ring, and at times, they were warranted. I'm not sure one could blame him given he was primed to get where he was this year in 2009/2010 if not for a Randy Orton temper tantrum. Whatever that reputation might have been vanished in the aether, as few people were as focused and passionate in the ring as Kingston.
Joey O.: A fluke injury to Mustafa Ali let the veteran Kingston step up to the plate and knock it out of the park with his first true main event run. After a decade as an always reliable, always likable midcarder, Kofi had the biggest moment of his career with a great Mania title match against Daniel Bryan, then spent most of 2019 defending his title against just about anyone and everyone on the SmackDown roster. Unfortunately, he ran right into the brick wall that is the Fox network, err, Brock Lesnar. Kingston never has a bad match, solo, in a tag team or a trios match with his BFFs the New Day, but truly stepped up his game in 2019.
Nicholas Reed: Kofi Kingston managing to leverage a last minute insertion into a multi-man match into an extended world title win and run, all with the power of the crowd and history behind him (probably in spite of the original plans of the crazy 70 year old man in charge) more than proved what a legit SUPERstar he is. He's always been a steady hand, and continues to shine in the tag division. But no matter what happens now that's he been pushed back down a bit, he has shown what he can do when given the opportunity, and hopefully gets more chances in the near future.
Brandon Kay:
I fully admit to being completely burned out on pro wrestling last year. No matter what, it always seemed to let me down, or nothing just seemed to really reach me anymore. Except for one thing. One thing really made me believe in the power of pro wrestling again, and that was Kofi Kingston’s run for the WWE Championship. It was powerful enough to keep me watching WrestleMania, it was powerful enough to ignore that his win was spoiled by WWE.com, and it was powerful enough to get me to cheer against Bryan by god Danielson. For that, and for doing the best he could with what he got (months of defenses against Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler, the worst title loss in recent history), that’s what makes him my number one wrestler of 2019.
Rene Sanchez: (Rene didn't submit a ballot this year, but he wanted to say something about his prospective number one) Kofi Kingston: When the bell rang, I yelled in joy and started to notice some moisture forming in my eyes. When Xavier Woods unveiled the old/new WWE World Heavyweight Championship title belt while his chin trembled with emotion, that is when I started to bawl. I cried hard with a smile on my face as Kofi Kingston celebrated his latest achievement with his children, wife, and friends. I watched a choreographed match of physical talents between two men whom I do not know personally, with a result that was predetermined, and it moved me to tears.
After that match at WrestleMania (AKA KofiMania), I went to Twitter to see how others were reacting to what had just happened. That’s when I saw this. I remember when MVP discussed the lack of an African-American WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Now he, along with another former African-American “independent contractor” of WWE’s, were witnessing history and it brought tears to their eyes. Obviously, this is also an indictment on WWE and its shittiness, but more than that, this was a testament to the performance that Kofi had just culminated in the ring.
This transcendent moment wasn’t built in just one night, though. It took an incredible Gauntlet match, and a phenomenal Elimination Chamber match. Afterward, although the excitement waned, Kofi Kingston still put on great performances. He drew blood from a stone with a genuinely interesting storyline with Randy Orton. Kofi Kingston did things in the ring in 2019 that made me care deeper than I had since I was a child. I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that his victory at WrestleMania is one of the greatest moments in WWE’s history and that Kofi is now a surefire first ballot Hall Of Famer. I couldn’t be bothered to rank the rest of the wrestlers I watched in 2019 (Daniel Bryan would have been my #2, though), but I had to expound on Kofi as my #1 wrestler and make sure that he got his proper due. It’s about time.
