11 Things We Learned From WWE 24: Kofi Kingston
Kofi was lucky to last his first week in WWE.
At WrestleMania this past April, Kofi Kingston entered himself into the firmament of pro-wrestling folklore when he became the first African-born superstar to lift WWE's top championship. It was one of the feel-good moments of the decade, and for once, given how often they parrot the phrase, truly historic.
As part of the country's commemorative 'Year of Return' programme, the new WWE Champion packed his bags in early June and flew all the way across the Atlantic to his birth nation of Ghana for the first time in over 25 years. Whilst re-connecting with his roots, Kingston set about inspiring a whole generation of African youngsters to follow in his footsteps. He also did some weaving.
WWE's ever-intrepid documentarians trailed The New Day man as he recommuned on the Gulf of Guinea, capturing every leg of his tour - up to and including an audience with the King of Asante - all the whilst quizzing him on his life, his rise, and what has surely been the most memorable year of his career.
We learned a few cool new things along the way. Mostly that Kofi's just a super dude.
11. The Reason For His Return To Ghana
It might seem as though WWE cynically sent Kofi Kingston packing to Ghana the moment he won the top title, hoping to exploit the positive publicity that'd naturally follow from crowning their first ever African-born WWE champion. Not so: it was actually a happy coincidence.
Born in Kumasi, Asante in 1981, Kofi Kingston's parents emigrated to the United States when he was just two years old, settling in Boston, MA as they chased the American dream. The last time he had visited the country of his birth before his recent tour was way back in 1993, when he was just 12 years ago - meaning his trip as not just a WWE superstar, but their number one guy, was a pretty big deal.
Kofi was invited back to the country as part of the 'Year of Return' campaign, commemorating 400 years since the first enslaved African arrived in North America. The programme aims to make Ghana the focus of descendants of marginalised Africans by reconnecting them with their ancestral identity. That this event happened to coincide with Kingston claiming wrestling's biggest prize couldn't have created a more perfect context for his first return home in over quarter of a century.