Kofi Kingston spoke to Bleacher Report to promote the Elimination Chamber this Sunday.
Kingston reflected on the 2019 show that began the organic rise of Kofi Mania as he replaced Mustafa Ali in the contest. He would go on to challenge and defeat Daniel Bryan for the WWE Title at WrestleMania 35.
He also talked about how different that rise would have been without fans:
“The crazy thing is that I feel like if the Elimination Chamber two years ago happened without fans in the crowd, I don’t know if I would have gotten the drive and the push that I got. It was 99 percent fan-driven. You got into the arena, and everyone would be chanting my name. You felt a certain kind of energy.
Honestly, I don’t think that anything will ever have the same level of energy as that first championship title run that I had Just the whole story going into it was something really special, really unique. Daniel Bryan, the perfect opponent, being in the same shoes a year or two earlier. You really couldn’t have written it any better than it happened, and the fact is that it was organic. The unfortunate thing is that it came at Ali’s expense because he ended up getting injured and if he doesn’t get injured, I’m not even in that spot at all. I’m still thankful that it all happened the way it did because, again, it was organic.”