Kofi Kingston: Difference between revisions

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====Raw brand====
====Raw brand====
As part of the [[2008 WWE Draft#Supplemental draft|2008 WWE Supplemental Draft]], Kingston was drafted to the [[WWE Raw|Raw]] brand.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/wwedraft2008/7505418/|title=Official 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft Results|publisher=[[World Wrestling Entertainment]]|accessdate=2008-06-25}}</ref> At [[Night of Champions (2008)|Night of Champions]] he defeated [[Chris Jericho]] to take the [[WWE Intercontinental Championship|Intercontinental Championship]] in his first match as a member of the Raw roster.<ref name="IC1"/> The win made him the first Ghanaian wrestler to hold a championship in World Wrestling Entertainment. On June 14,Kofi saved Mickie James from Paul and Katie Lea, to only to defeat Paul for his championship<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/nightofchampions08/|title=WWE Night of Champions 2008|accessdate=2008-07-05|publisher=Online World Of Wrestling}}</ref> <!-- DO NOT ADD WEEK BY WEEK EVENTS, RUMORS OR SPECULATION. THIS INCLUDES ANNOUNCED MATCHES THAT HAVE NOT YET OCCURRED. WIKIPEDIA IS NOT A NEWS SITE BUT AN ONLINE ENCYCLOPEDIA. Please see the articles "Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not" and "Wikipedia:Guide to writing better articles" for more information. -->
As part of the [[2008 WWE Draft#Supplemental draft|2008 WWE Supplemental Draft]], Kingston was drafted to the [[WWE Raw|Raw]] brand.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/wwedraft2008/7505418/|title=Official 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft Results|publisher=[[World Wrestling Entertainment]]|accessdate=2008-06-25}}</ref> At [[Night of Champions (2008)|Night of Champions]] he defeated [[Chris Jericho]] to take the [[WWE Intercontinental Championship|Intercontinental Championship]] in his first match as a member of the Raw roster.<ref name="IC1"/> The win made him the first Ghanaian wrestler to hold a championship in World Wrestling Entertainment. On June 14,Kofi saved Mickie James from Paul and Katie Lea, to only to defeat Paul for his championship.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/nightofchampions08/|title=WWE Night of Champions 2008|accessdate=2008-07-05|publisher=Online World Of Wrestling}}</ref> <!-- DO NOT ADD WEEK BY WEEK EVENTS, RUMORS OR SPECULATION. THIS INCLUDES ANNOUNCED MATCHES THAT HAVE NOT YET OCCURRED. WIKIPEDIA IS NOT A NEWS SITE BUT AN ONLINE ENCYCLOPEDIA. Please see the articles "Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not" and "Wikipedia:Guide to writing better articles" for more information. -->


==In wrestling==
==In wrestling==

Revision as of 00:54, 17 July 2008

Kofi Kingston
Born1982[1]
Ghana[2]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Kofi Jamaica
Kofi Nahaje Kingston[3]
Kofi Kingston[3]
Billed height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Billed weight225 lb (102 kg; 16.1 st)[4]
Billed fromKingston, Jamaica[4]
Trained byChaotic Wrestling[2][3]
OVW staff[3][5]
DSW staff[3][5]
Debut2005[3]

Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah[3][5] (born in 1982)[1] is a Ghanaian[2] professional wrestler, better known under his ring name, Kofi Kingston. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment, formerly working on the ECW Brand but was drafted to the Raw brand in the 2008 WWE Draft, where he is the reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion.[6]

Career

Early career

Born in Ghana to Ghanaian parents Elizabeth and Kwasi Sarkodie-Mensah, who is currently a lecturer at Boston College, his family moved to the United States in 1982. Coming from a member of a family of intellectuals from near Kumasi in Ghana, Sarkodie-Mensah was expected to become a teacher like his grandfather.[1] Sarkodie-Mensah has no connection to Jamaica, but has long claimed to be Jamaican. According to Leslie Goffe of the BBC, "[Wrestling] fans would be more likely to embrace a wrestler from the land of Bob Marley and reggae music" than someone from Ghana.[1]

A standout wrestler at Massachusetts' Winchester High School, Sarkodie-Mensah enrolled at Boston College. After completing a degree in communications,[2] he first went into the corporate world - and almost immediately regretted it. "My first day at work I sat in my cubicle and looked at the empty walls and it was very depressing," he recalls. Sarkodie-Mensah decided to drop his business pursuits and opt to go into professional wrestling. "The first day I walked into the wrestling school, I knew I was in the right place," he says.[1]

He made his professional debut in 2005.[5] He competed primarily in the New England area, including stints in the Millennium Wrestling Federation, New England Championship Wrestling, the Eastern Wrestling Alliance, and Chaotic Wrestling under the ring name Kofi Nahaje Kingston.[3][7]

World Wrestling Entertainment (2006-present)

Developmental territories

In September 2006, he signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and was assigned to Deep South Wrestling (DSW), a Georgia based developmental territory.[3] He debuted in the new company, using the same ring name, in a dark match loss to Montel Vontavious Porter on September 21.[8] For the rest of 2006 and the beginning of 2007 he appeared in DSW, as well as its Kentucky based sister promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he was placed into a tag team dubbed the Commonwealth Connection with Harry Smith.[9][10][11]

2007 was also his first exposure to the main WWE roster, when he worked dark matches on March 5 and 26 before episodes of WWE Raw against Charlie Haas and Trevor Murdoch respectively. For these appearances he used the ring name Kofi Jamaica.[12][13] When he returned to the developmental territories he shortened his original ring name to Kofi Kingston, and continued to use both ring names throughout his duration there.[3] That May he also worked house shows, defeating Shelton Benjamin in Greenville, South Carolina on the 5th,[14] and Val Venis in Roanoke, Virginia on the 6th.[15]

When Florida based developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling opened in June, Kingston was relocated there, appearing at their first show on June 26 teaming with Eric Perez against Keith Walker and Ryklon Stephens in a losing effort.[16] Kingston worked there for most of the remainder of the year,[16][17] until he was called up to the main WWE roster.

ECW brand

A series of vignettes for Kingston's television debut began airing on the weekly ECW television show starting on December 6 2007.[18] view During this introduction phase the videos, official WWE website, and the ECW commentators all made note that he would be the first Jamaican-born person to wrestle for the company. He debuted on January 22 2008 with a win over local wrestler David Owens.[19][20] After wrestling sporadic matches, Kingston was involved in his first major match; a 24-man battle royal during the Wrestlemania XXIV pre-show with the winner receiving an ECW Championship match, but was eliminated by Mark Henry.[21] Kingston remained undefeated in singles competition in ECW for months and was placed in to a feud with Shelton Benjamin at the end of April 2008. After two straight losses, Benjamin got a win over Kingston on the May 20 episode of ECW,[22] though their feud continued until Kingston was sent to the Raw brand in the WWE Draft lottery.

Raw brand

As part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Kingston was drafted to the Raw brand.[23] At Night of Champions he defeated Chris Jericho to take the Intercontinental Championship in his first match as a member of the Raw roster.[6] The win made him the first Ghanaian wrestler to hold a championship in World Wrestling Entertainment. On June 14,Kofi saved Mickie James from Paul and Katie Lea, to only to defeat Paul for his championship.[24]

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Goffe, Leslie (2008-07-02). "Wrestling Jamaican star - from Ghana". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Chris Bergeron (2006-08-16). "Wrestle mania". The Milford Daily News. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "OWW: Kofi Kingston Profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-08.
  4. ^ a b "Kofi Kingston's WWE Biography". WWE. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
  5. ^ a b c d Michael Bluth (2007-12-07). "Kofi Kingston Debuts On WWE TV: News On Who He Is". Rajah.com. Retrieved 2007-12-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b c "History Of The Intercontinental Championship - Kofi Kingston". WWE. 2008-06-29. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  7. ^ "Kofi Nahaje Kingston". Chaotic Wrestling Profiles. Chaotic Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
  8. ^ "DSW results - 2006". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  9. ^ "OVW results - 2006". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  10. ^ "DSW results - 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  11. ^ "OVW results - 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  12. ^ "RAW results - March 5, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
  13. ^ "RAW results - March 26, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
  14. ^ Simpson, Thomas (2007-05-06). "WWE house show report 5-5 Greenville, SC". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
  15. ^ "WWE house show report 5-6 Roanoke". Wrestling Observer. 2007-05-06. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
  16. ^ a b "Florida Championship Wrestling results - 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  17. ^ Wojcik, Alan J. (2007-11-30). "Ring report, 11/30/2007". Miami Herald.
  18. ^ Rote, Andrew (December 6 2007). "ECW Results 12/06/2007". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ "ECW on Sci Fi results - January 22, 2008". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
  20. ^ Medalis, Kara (2008-01-22). "Ain't no stoppin' him". WWE. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
  21. ^ "Big Red Champion". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2008-03-30. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
  22. ^ "ECW results - May 20, 2008". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
  23. ^ "Official 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  24. ^ "WWE Night of Champions 2008". Online World Of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
  25. ^ Kara A. Medalis (2008-06-03). "New, Extreme manager in town". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
  26. ^ "WWE The Music Volume 8". WWE. Retrieved 2008-02-18.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kofi_Kingston&oldid=226145518"