10 WWE Wrestlers Who Grabbed The Brass Ring In 2019
4. Kofi Kingston
Kofi Kingston, WWE Champion. It's something many of us (arguably Kofi included) never thought possible, and yet in his eleventh year on WWE TV he achieved his dream on The Grandest Stage Of Them All.
Out of all the names on this list, no-one has personified the struggle to grab the mythical WWE brass ring more than Kofi, so much so it seemed to play out on SmackDown Live in the months leading to WrestleMania.
After a phenomenal performance in the main event of Elimination Chamber which captured the hearts of fans and shifted public opinion that Kingston was a mid-carder at best, he seemed destined to challenge Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship.
Nevertheless, as with many fan favourites over the years, Vince McMahon stood in his way. No doubt mirroring his views behind the scenes, the boss wasn't sold on Kingston as a world champion and consistently placed barriers between him and a title shot.
Following numerous handicap and gauntlet matches with the odds continually stacked against him, it was down to his New Day brethren Xavier Woods & Big E to emerge victorious and earn Kingston the right to challenge for the WWE Championship at 'Mania.
At The Show Of Shows, Kingston became the first African-born WWE Champion in history, winning a thrilling encounter to rapturous fan reaction and finally ascending to his rightful level.
Kofi misses out on the top spot of this list due to the disappointing subsequent world title run, wherein he never main evented a pay-per-view and had lacklustre feuds with the likes of Dolph Ziggler and Randy Orton.
Despite dropping the title to Brock Lesnar in a matter of seconds in an enraging loss on SmackDown on Fox, Kofi has proven to midcarders and overlooked talents across WWE that nothing is impossible.