One the of the most highly anticipated matches at WrestleMania 35 was Kofi Kingston challenging Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship. Kingston, who’s been in the tag title scene as part of the New Day (along with Xavier Woods and Big E) for years, suddenly returned to the singles championship picture before this year’s Elimination Chamber PPV, in which he was a last-minute replacement for Mustafa Ali. Despite machinations by the champ and the McMahons, Kingston made it into a WrestleMania match against Bryan.
Having struggled against the odds on his path to the championship match, Kingston now had to beat Bryan. And after a hard-fought match during which he was cheered by the rest of the New Day from ringside, the WWE veteran did just that.
Kingston pinned Bryan after Trouble in Paradise and celebrated with Woods and E. Then his partners unveiled, on a podium beside Bryan’s “sustainable” WWE Championship, the classic version of the title belt, with which Kingston celebrated.
Byron Saxton summed up Kingston’s moving story as fireworks began to blast off from MetLife Stadium: “No matter where you come from, no matter what you look like, if you believe, you can make it happen.”
Kingston’s real-life children then entered the ring to celebrate with their dad and were prompted to open a wrapped box. The box contained new t-shirts celebrating Kingston’s win… which fans following certain Twitter accounts may have already noticed were available for sale in the WWE Shop at the beginning of the championship match.
As the heartwarming celebration started to wrap up, just before the broadcast cut to an ad, Woods exclaimed, “They said we couldn’t make it! We made it to the top! We made it to the top!”
After eleven years in WWE, as of WrestleMania 35, Kofi Kingston, with the support of the New Day, is finally on top.
