During a recent appearance on The Swerve City Podcast, WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston commented on being a locker room leader, the WWE 205 Live show, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On 205 Live: “So 205 Live is the best kept secret, you know what I’m saying? Y’all are so talented. And every match is so crisp and people are doing things like, man, I’m glad I didn’t come in right now because I can’t do any of that. You know wha t I’m saying? But it’s crazy man. It’s exciting though. It really is exciting. I try to — so I remember back in my day, y’know what I mean? A lot of times like the higher-ups would get mad if you didn’t come to them and ask for advice about your match. It’d be like you’re mad about it, you know. And for me, it’s like, I don’t mind if you want my advice or not. Like it’s cool because everyone’s entitled to having their own journey and making their own mistakes. That’s how you learn. That’s how you get better. If you go out and you do what I want you to do, you’re not getting better. You’re a puppeteer. You know what I’m saying? A puppet. I’m just the one pulling the strings. You know what I mean? So, I’m always there for people to come to me and ask for my advice and my experience, and I’m happy to give it. You know what I’m saying? But a lot of people these days have a lot more experience, whether it’s being on the independents or wherever or other places not to be named.”
On talents having experience before they get to WWE: “People are very well traveled, and you have a lot of experience before you even step into a WWE ring. Now granted, WWE is different than anything else, and a lot of times, the experience level kind of resets as you have to re-learn the style or just the system. And it’s different from person to person. You know what I’m saying? Like there are people who come in, and you get the rocket. And it’s like, ‘We want you to do this.’ There are other people who come in and have to grind, and grind, and grind, and grind away. You know, door is closed, and they have to find a way to get into the window, but the window is locked. So, they try to climb through the chimney and come down, and they have to try to dig a hole underneath the foundation and come through. You have to find a way you know.”
On if he feels fulfilled seeing someone who has come up the ranks: “Yeah, so funny story. Xavier [Woods] before — We were in Deep South, developmental, you know what I’m saying? I think I was actually in the ring. The door swings open. Everyone stops. Crickets. Who came in this — who dares to come in this house?! Xavier Woods, eyes wide open, dressed in a suit, has his resume. What’s this guy doing here with a resume? But if you’re going to a job, you’re supposed to have your resume, you know what I’m saying? So that’s like the backwards culture. But he comes in, hands his resume in, has like a wrestling tape. The next day, Deep South closes down. Literally, the next day, Deep South closes down. We opened back up in Tampa a couple months later. And you know, a few weeks after that, door swings open again. Stops. Comes through Xavier Woods. Like wow, this dude. He’s got a suit on again. Resume, again, you know. So, comes in grinding. You talk about making these drives all the way from Atlanta, you know what I’m saying? So, it was awesome when I saw that he finally got hired because granted, I wasn’t a huge part of his journey, but I was there when he came in. Like I saw the grind, you know. And then now, just seeing how like an amazing mind he has for the business, very underrated, incredibly underrated. For a long time, people just thought, ‘Oh, he’s just the guy who plays on the trombone on the outside.’ No, like, No. 1, he’s been around the way. And actually, me and [Big] E joke about it, Woods is kind of the veteran of our team because he’s been wrestling longest. So, everyone thinks it’s me because I’ve been on TV for a little bit longer or with us, but no, Woods has been grinding for a very, very long time. So yeah, a lot of people, when you see that determination, you know, you can’t help but become fired up. You know what I’m saying?”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
