10 Wrestlers Who Peaked In 2019

2. Kofi Kingston

Becky Lynch Fastlane
WWE.com

For Kofi Kingston, he will never be able to top his 2019. Well, the first ten months of the year, at least.

Up until October, this year was going spectacularly for Kofi. After spending a decade struggling to break past the midcard, it looked as if Kingston's chance to ever be a top singles act was long gone. But then, like magic, Kofi Kingston caught fire in a beautiful, natural way that showcased professional wrestling at its very best.

So much support did the Dreadlocked Dynamo amass in a natural fashion, WWE had no choice but to go with Kofi as the challenger for Daniel Bryan's WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35. Not just that, but Kingston would end up defeating D-Bry in one of the best WWE matches of the year - which was subsequently followed by an all-time great WrestleMania moment as Kofi celebrated with his New Day brothers and his family.

Of course, the Ghanaian-born grappler eventually ran into the ominous obstacle known as Brock Lesnar on SmackDown's FOX debut. That didn't work out all that well for Kofi, and since losing the title to Brock he's completely dropped out of the main event picture. In fact, there's barely been an on-air acknowledgement of Kingston's title loss.

It's scary to see just how much of an afterthought Kofi Kingston has become since losing the WWE Championship, and it seems impossible for him to ever match his exploits of 2019.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.