Kingston followed dream to WWE Founding member of New Day left behind corporate life to become superstar
After he graduated from Boston College, Kofi Kingston was living the cubicle life that so many of us know so well.
He was proofreading catalogs at Staples’ corporate headquarters near Boston, surrounded by bare walls and an iMac computer. The year was 2005 — and he decided to try something new.
An hour away, the Chaotic Wrestling training facility beckoned.
“As soon as I walked in, I looked at those two rings right there and I knew this was where I was supposed to be,” Kingston said Tuesday. “That gym has a very particular essence, and I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it right now. …It was an epiphany moment. I knew I was going to give it my all and I knew it was going to work out.”
Thirteen years later and 14 WWE championship belts later, it’s safe to say Kingston was right. The founding member of the New Day tag team, along with Big E and Xavier Woods, will be in Orlando tonight for WWE’s SmackDown Live at Amway Center.
Bell time is 7:45 p.m.; tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com or catch all the action on the USA Network beginning at 8.
Kingston said he had his doubters among family and friends when he first trained to become a wrestler, but his success silenced the critics: Within a year of his debut, he was signed to a WWE developmental contract. Two years after that, he had his first championship, beating Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental title.
Today, Kingston uses his own story to remind his own young fans to expand their horizons and don’t be afraid to fail.
“When you’re a kid, people always tell you you can be whatever you want to be,” Kingston said. “When you get to be an adult, you want to do something that’s out of the box like being a WWE superstar, everybody either laughs at you or looks at you funny. … I always tell people, if you have a dream, you owe it to yourself to at least try it. If it happens, it’s the best thing in the world and nothing can replace it. And if it doesn’t, you can go back to whatever you were doing before.
“But I ended up with the greatest job in the world.”
It’s clear after just a few minutes talking with him that Kingston takes responsibility for being a role model. With outlandish costumes and a penchant for pancakes and breakfast cereal, the New Day is among the most kidfriendly acts on the WWE roster. And Kingston exudes one of his team’s mantras, the power of positivity.
As a father of two himself, it’s clear Kingston knows what that power can mean.
“I’m just a guy,” Kingston said. “I happen to be on TV, which causes a lot of kids and even some adults to look up to me. … To see a child smiling because he met me is awesome, because who knows what it might inspire? It might inspire him to do something he didn’t think he was going to do, to become a wrestler or become a doctor or whatever he wants.
“To be able to put a smile on somebody’s face or bring joy to somebody’s life is probably the best part of being a WWE superstar to me.”
Kingston and the New Day — the longest-reigning tag-team champions in WWE history, and best-selling authors of “The Book of Booty” — have numerous ties to Florida. Kingston, who now lives in Austin, Texas, spent 10 years living in Tampa with his family. Both Woods and Big E came up through Orlando’s WWE Performance Center and the NXT brand.
And as Kingston points out, the New Day itself traces its beginnings to one hot Miami night in the summer of 2014. Kingston and Big E teamed up during Monday Night Raw at American Airlines Arena, but lost to Ryback and Curtis Axel. Woods, who was not affiliated with the others at the time, gave them an in-ring pep talk after the match, then all three left together. They were off television for the next several months before returning as a unit with a new name and a new attitude in the fall.
“We always consider that — myself, Woods and E — we consider it to be the birth, the nucleus of the New Day,” Kingston said. “It’s where it all started. We started traveling together every single week and here we are. It will be good to be back. Even though I love in Texas now, Florida still feels like home.”