It was a big deal when Kofi Kingston defeated Daniel Bryan for the WWE Title at WrestleMania 35 because it wasn’t part of the original plan. There was a Kofi Mania movement among the fans once Kingston entered as a last-minute replacement in the Elimination Chamber match and fell short of dethroning Bryan.
On the first episode of SmackDown on FOX back on October 4, 2019, Brock Lesnar defeated Kingston to win the WWE Championship in a contest that lasted just over ten seconds.
On the most recent episode of the “Oh You Didn’t Know” podcast, Road Dogg disclosed that he pitched for Big E to win the WWE Title instead of Kingston while he was the show’s lead writer for WWE SmackDown.
“I was just texting with Big E. He’s doing well,” Road Dogg said. “He was talking about how blessed he is. I hadn’t seen him in a while. I hadn’t heard from him. I was thinking about friends and family today for some reason and saw his number and thought, I’m gonna text Big E right now. He said he’s blessed and doing great.”
Road Dogg continued, “When I wrote Smackdown, I wanted him to be the champion. I wanted him to be the champion of Smackdown. I actually pitched, and I’ve said this before, I actually pitched Big E Mania, and Kofi got the nod because of his time and service for lack of a better word or phrase. Kofi had been there, and look, it worked, maybe better than it would have with Big E. Only time will tell if and when he comes back and they put the title on him because he can cut great promos. He’s a great guy. He’s always in great spirits. Just an honor to be able to call him my friend.”
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription