12 Wrestlers Whose Ring Names Outlasted Their Gimmicks

Kofi Kingston was so Jamaican that he not only spoke with a Jamaican accent and wore the Jamaican flag, he even used the Jamaican capital city as his Christian name. His theme song was reggae, he wore dreadlocks… how much more Jamaican could one Jamaican get?

Leslie Goffe of the BBC wasn’t convinced, ringing up Kofi Nahaje Sarkodie-Mensah’s mom, who spilled the beans that her baby boy was born in Ghana and spent almost his entire life in the States. Goffe then wrote a serious, scathing article accusing Kofi of denying his African roots to get ahead in the wrestling world.

The following year, Kofi abruptly dropped his accent, mon, started being billed from “Ghana, West Africa” (though he grew up in United States, North America), and later took the Jamaican flag off his ring gear. Finally, as part of the New Day, he ditched the reggae theme song. Save for his last name, Mr. Kingston is now one haircut away from having nothing to do with the Caribbean nation he once called home (falsely, of course, but he called it home nonetheless).