Ghanaian-American wrestler Kofi Kingston made history at WWE’s biggest annual calendar event Wrestlemania 35 which took place at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday.
Squaring off against Daniel Bryan in a very feisty, entertaining and roller-coaster encounter, the 11-year-old veteran came up tops after finishing off Bryan with his signature Trouble in Paradise move to clinch the highly coveted WWE Championship.
Born Kofi Nahaje Sarkodie-Mensah in Kumasi, Ghana, the 37-year-old’s victory makes him the second black man and the first native African to win the WWE Championship, according to CBS Sports.
Kingston was joined in the celebrations by his two sons and his fellow New Day teammates Big E and Xavier Woods who were ringside to support him during the fight.
“It’s so emotional. Like, you work so hard to get here and sometimes you work as hard as you can and things aren’t going your way, you know? And you don’t know if the hard work is going to pay off. It’s paying off right now. It just feels surreal. It feels like a legitimate dream – I feel like I’m in a dream, and I don’t want to wake up,” Kingston said about his win in a post-match interview.
Kingston’s historic win was also widely celebrated and hailed by Ghanaians on social media. Take a look at some of the reactions below:
That is so great, well done the great hero in wwe wrestling Mania @ Kofi Kingston ????? Ghanaians are so proud of You.
— Clark Kofi (@ClarkKofi) April 9, 2019