Kofi Kingston Talks Royal Rumble highlights, Big E update

On Friday, Kofi Kingston was on the “Bubba Show” on Audacy 100.7 Star in Philadelphia ahead of SmackDown. 

Kingston is well known as the human highlight reel for his Royal Rumble appearances. He feels no pressure “at all” to outdo himself in Rumble. The handstand against The Miz was his idea.

“So what actually happened was — the rule for those who don’t know, the Royal Rumble is a match where you have like, 40 people in the ring pretty much at the same time and if you get thrown over the top rope, you’re eliminated and the last man standing in the ring wins. So, the rule is that both of your feet can’t touch the ground. Once both of your feet hit the ground, you’re eliminated.”

Kofi Kingston on Creative Royal Rumble Spots

“The year before I did the first creative elimination spot like John Morrison was doing it. He’s incredibly athletic; ‘Mr. Parkour’. He hit off the apron and landed on the barricade and like Spider-Man his way back to the ring. Then, the year after that, he was no longer with the company. I was like, ‘well, looks like the role is open. I’ll take advantage of this position.’ So, I just started doing it and the first one was the handstand. The next year, someone was like, ‘what else are you going to do?’ and I was like, ‘uhh, I don’t know’, so I had to come up with something else. And then for like 10 years or so, I was the guy who was responsible for providing this entertaining situation in the Royal Rumble. So, it’s a blessing to be that person.”

“Last year, it wasn’t so good. I actually — so what I was trying to do was land on the barricade from the top rope. So from the outside of the ring all the way across. So, I didn’t quite make it. I was in the ring for like the shortest duration of all the people in the Royal Rumble. I think it was 20-something seconds if that. But, it is what it is. You know you do your best to provide memories for the people and that in and of itself ended up being quite a memory for people.”

“The rumble will be pretty sick this year. I was actually the first person to announce I’m going to be in the Royal Rumble coming up.” There’s a list of things he still wants to do before hanging up the boots and winning the Royal Rumble is one of them.

Update on Big E

While talking about being in WWE since 2006 and on TV since 2008, he talked about how New Day is like family. He also provided an update on Big E. “He’s good! Big E actually broke his neck earlier this year and he had what’s called a Jefferson fracture and C1, which is like multiple fractures in the vertebrae. And in the C6, he had a fracture. Yeah, he’s doing great. So, he didn’t need any surgery. I mean, it could’ve been a lot worse than it was. It was still very bad. He could’ve been paralyzed, he could’ve had a stroke, he could’ve died.”

“He hasn’t needed surgery and he’s recovering. They’re just waiting on the bone to ossify, which is regenerate; I know all these new medical terms. We’ve had the chance to get together on several occasions and he says oftentimes that he even forgets he got injured. I saw him on roller skates on Instagram and I was like ‘what?! Okay.’ (laughs) He’s doing alright.”

The Royal Rumble is on January 28 in San Antonio, Texas.