12 WWE Failures Who Became World Champion
8. Kofi Kingston
Randy Orton called Kofi Kingston "stupid" and WWE gave up on his push. That's pretty much the abridged version of how KofiMania 1.0 fizzled out in 2010. It also shows how one trusted worker's sway with the office can alter the entire trajectory of another's career. Post-Randy feud, Kingston was relegated back down the card and would flit between inconsequential midcard title runs and various tag-teams.
Then, New Day came along. On the surface, that was yet another tag run for Kofi, but it offered him peace of mind both in front of the cameras and behind the scenes. Kingston found best friends in Big E and Xavier Woods, and the trio would go on to shatter records together. Happenstance threw up an unpredictable main event reprise in 2019 as well, which was lovely to see.
Mustafa Ali's injuries forced WWE to change course. Uncharacteristically for Vince McMahon (especially during one of WWE's worst years ever), he decided to listen to the people and go with what they wanted. Thus, the deluxe edition of KofiMania was born, and he'd end up beating Daniel Bryan for the top prize in the game at WrestleMania 35.
That'll forever be remembered as one of the most organically happy WWE Title wins ever.
Kofi had flopped through no fault of his own a decade or so prior. Fast forward to 2019 and he was riding the crest of a wave as one of the most beloved babyfaces around. The less said about the way his WWE Title dreams ended courtesy of Brock Lesnar on SmackDown's FOX debut the better though, right?