10 Genius Ways Wrestlers Outsmarted Their Opponents

9. Kofi Kingston – Stomping Grounds 2019

Kofi Kingston has always been considered an in-ring innovator. The way he avoids Royal Rumble eliminations being a particular highlight of him bewildering his opponents, from jumping off the barricade to the ring to handstand-ing his way back into the ring. In 2019 Kofi finally climbed the ranks to become WWE champion at WrestleMania 35 and continued showing the same kind of incredible athleticism in his run as champion.

Kofi began a feud with Dolph Ziggler in the middle of the year, winning a match between the pair at Super ShowDown with help from Xavier Woods. Ziggler was irked, claiming he would have won/been declared WWE Champion had it not been for Woods. So a steel cage for the title was booked for Stomping Grounds between Kofi and Ziggler, where no outside interference could occur.

There had already been steel cage matches in WWE that year, one involving Ziggler going up against Drew McIntyre on Raw, and a much-hyped one was scheduled for the week after Stomping Grounds where Io Shirai and Shayna Baszler would battle it out in the first-ever Women’s Steel Cage Match on NXT. With this in mind Kofi and Ziggler did everything they could to differentiate this match and make it special. They topped it off with a spectacular finish. Ziggler outfought Kofi with amateur wrestling, kicking him to the ground. Then Ziggler crawled to the cage door looking to emerge the victor but Kofi got a sudden burst of momentum and perfectly leapt over Ziggler and through the ropes to hit the ringside floor to retain his WWE Championship.