10 Wrestling Facts We Didn’t Know Last Week (Dec 6)
4. How Damian Marley Inspired Kofi Kingston's Character
You can thank Damian Marley's 'Welcome To Jamrock' track for Mike Adamle's timeless, "Jamaican me crazy, Kofi" commentary calls on ECW. They would never have happened had Kofi not turned on the radio one day when he was driving to promo class in FCW. His love of the reggae beat changed the course of his entire career.
By the time he arrived for class, Kingston was feeling inspired. On New Day's new WWE-produced podcast (one a bit more lively than 'After The Bell' has been lately), Kofi said he made a snap decision to start speaking in a Jamaican accent. Weirdly, he went from cutting standard promos to dropping insults on legends like Ric Flair for "stealing his Jamaican beef patty".
See, wrestling was weird in 2007 too.
Marley's tunes had kickstarted things, and Kofi was feeling even more motivated to play some Caribbean cool when Ricky Steamboat said he'd never come across a Jamaican gimmick before. That was music to Kingston's ears.