5. A babyface who stands for something
It’s always funny to me how wrestling fans lament there being a shortage of great babyfaces in WWE when Kofi Kingston was sitting in front of fans this whole freaking time. It’s been a rarity to see Kofi as a heel, and in a landscape where we’ve seen so many wrestlers in Kofi’s position, such as old feud partners Dolph and Cesaro, flip flop alignments frequently, Kofi’s ability to consistently get over as a face is incredible.
It’s one of the most difficult things to do in wrestling, right? Consistently cut it as a face. It helps that Kingston was with E and Woods in The New Day as part of an all-time likable stable , but even before their rise to popularity as a stable, Kingston was everyone’s favorite babyface as a singles competitor.
And it’s easy to see why. There’s something undeniably wholesome about Kingston. He’s all smiles, but in a genuine way. Nothing he says on the mic or does in the ring has ever felt forced. Kingston is soft-spoken, so when he cracks a joke or speaks passionately, as he did in the run-up to WrestleMania 35 when going face-to-face with the gatekeeping Daniel Bryan, his words carry 10 times the impact of everybody else’s.
Kingston is the kind of wrestler who transports you to a “happy place” when you watch him wrestle. He’s so effortlessly good at what he does that you don’t even notice his close attention to detail, creativity, and understanding of in-ring psychology. You know, the kind of understanding of the business that makes someone last for 10 years as a viable babyface in WWE.
If you aren’t sold on Kingston’s status as one of wrestling’s best babyfaces of this era (as in, his old matches don’t give you the same joyful nostalgia), again, I implore you to rewatch his Gauntlet Match performances and his promos before WrestleMania 35. I get chills just thinking about them. If his work in the first half of 2019 doesn’t give you goosebumps or invigorate your love for pro wrestling, then you may be Cruella de Vil. Because Kingston’s babyface work was of the highest possible quality.