Former WWE champion Kofi Kingston recently spoke with Fightful where The New Day member recalled a time that he fought Vince McMahon on an airplane. Kingston, who was 28-at the time, remembers McMahon initiating the playful encounter while they were on their way to a press conference.
It’s one of my vivid memories in sports because it’s the wild world of wrestling. You know what I mean?. We were on the way to a press conference. As we were getting off, Vince started trying me a little bit. He’s like, ‘You wanna fight an old man?’ I’m like, ‘Whoa, what is going on? What’s happening?’ I got kicked off the plane because I wouldn’t fight him. ‘Uhhhh, okay.’ Jericho did come down and he said I had to go back up there, because in this weird world of wrestling, this is how you had to get respect. I’m like, ‘Uhhh, okay, I guess I’ll go up there and try to fight my boss.’ We get up there and we start going back and forth. All of a sudden, I got double legged on the plane. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, we’re really fighting.’ This is crazy.
Kingston then goes into more detail.
I had the whizzer in. The ref probably wouldn’t have given him the two points. But you’ve got to keep in mind, the aisle in the plane was three or four feet long. All of a sudden, he started laughing, ‘Ah, if I’d have known that you want it.’ I’m thankful that Jericho told me to go back on there because who knows, in this weird world of wrestling, if I don’t go on there, all of a sudden, ‘he doesn’t have what it takes.’ I don’t know if I would have had the career that I would have had. A very different time, back then. It was a wild night, for sure. Anyone who is an amateur wrestling aficionado, if you have that whizzer in, they can’t award control. Who knows what would have happened. I’m pretty sure I might have been able to get my legs out and get a sprawl on. It didn’t have to go that far. I don’t think it was about the actual takedown. Who knows.
Check out the full interview below.