10 Most Unexpected WWE Burials Ever

When Kofi Kingston lifted the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35, it felt like his victory was our victory, too. 

Watching Kofi beat Daniel Bryan in an emotionally draining classic, his victory felt like one of the only genuine WrestleMania Moments of the 2010s. WWE's booking has meant that black performers have always struggled to break through the company's circumstantial glass ceiling, and after being brilliant inside the ring and as a character for years, Kingston winning his first World Championship, while surrounded by The New Day, felt so much more than the usual title win.

This all contributes to why Brock Lesnar taking Kofi's title by beating him in seven seconds remains one of the most infuriating pieces of booking in the entire history of WWE. It crossed the line of shocking and into the realm of insulting. To do this to Kingston after all of the love that fans had shown towards him, at a time when WWE was struggling to generate any goodwill at all, was maddening.

What made this so shocking was how tone deaf this was, even by Vince McMahon's standards. Brock is a monster, and we all know this, but to have Kofi Kingston lose the title in a squash match cheapened the entire KofiMania movement. The point of this fan-led campaign was to establish Kofi as being more than just a mid-tier talent and for those behind the scenes to acknowledge his greatness. Lesnar slaughtering him as if he were some nobody, dragged in from the local bingo hall, destroyed that image, arguably for good.