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Kofi Kingston Says His Summerslam Match With Randy Orton Will Be A ‘Banger’

August 2, 2019 | Posted by Joseph Lee

In an interview with The Ottawa Sun, Kofi Kingston spoke about his upcoming match with Randy Orton at Summerslam, which he said will be a “banger” and “very intense.” Here are highlights:

On his match with Randy Orton at Summerslam: “For those who don’t know, 10 years ago — in 2009 — I was on my way to the main-event scene and I was wrestling a top-tier guy like Randy Orton. The direction it seemed to be going was I would get main events — it didn’t happen. I come to find out Randy Orton had a lot to do with holding me back, using his influence to make sure I never got to the main-event scene. I’ve had Intercontinental championship reigns, U.S. championship reigns, tag team titles, but I’d never had a WWE championship match — not one time in 10 years (until Wrestlemania). It’s going to be awesome. Here I am, the WWE champion against all odds and Randy Orton’s a bit upset about that. It’s a bit personal for me. It’s going to be a banger, it’s going to be an intense match and I can’t wait.”

On inspiring people as WWE Champion: “It’s awesome to be living out my dream, but what’s more important is to influence, inspire and motivate people to follow their dreams. This is the best feeling in the world — to wake up every day and have a job that doesn’t feel like work. Honestly, I don’t know if I would have come to Canada if it wasn’t for WWE. I’ve met some great people, had some great times in Canada. This job has allowed me to do some amazing things and have some life-changing moments. Anything I can do to inspire people to chase their dreams — have life-changing moments of their own — that’s absolutely what it’s all about for me. When I was a kid, I had a dream of being a WWE champion — I’m sure a lot of kids do. It was important for me to have a chance to be at the top. I tell people if you’re not trying to be the best, you should be doing something else. Nobody ever goes out and says, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to be mediocre.’ I always wanted a chance to be the best, what signifies you’re the best is by being the WWE champion. To get to this stage of my career, that was just one part of the journey, now we start all over — make this championship reign mean something, make it incredibly memorable.”

On working with Xavier Woods and Big E: “It’s always fun and laughs. Woods and E, without them I wouldn’t be here. When they approached me about being in the New Day, I didn’t even know if I wanted to keep wrestling because I was doing the same thing over and over — a guy that would come out and have a good match, I would do some cool moves and probably lose. It became monotonous. Woods and E approached me about getting in this group — guys who weren’t happy with their positions in the company. People told us we sucked, they rejected us. But it wasn’t long before they embraced us. Now, here we are, in a lot of people’s minds one of the greatest factions of all-time. Here we are, the WWE champion and the tag team champions — mission accomplished.”

article topics :

Kofi Kingston, Joseph Lee