Following Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods of the Latest Day being shockingly released from WWE, TNA star Matt Hardy has reflected on Kingston’s iconic world title victory over Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35 and the organic growth of KofiMania in 2019.
Speaking on “The Extreme Lifetime of Matt Hardy,” the 30-year veteran make clear the respect Kingston had backstage during his time with WWE and gave credit to the corporate for pulling the trigger on his world title win at WrestleMania after becoming one in all the most popular performers in the game that yr.
“I mean Kofi is a beloved figure. I’ve never heard anyone have a nasty word to say about Kofi, right? And considering he was a beloved figure, everybody was very comfortable for him,” he stated. “He was beginning to get hot and things were happening and things were changing and it just it a lot paralleled the Daniel Bryan, Bryan Danielson run since it wasn’t speculated to occur but he was so hot and the people were so behind him. I mean, they were just supercharged behind him. And the indisputable fact that Vince [McMahon] and the powers that be actually heard this and so they acknowledged it and so they rolled with it and so they allowed it to occur organically and so they followed through with it. I still commend them for doing that.”
Matt Hardy discusses the Latest Day’s importance in wrestling
Hardy continued to talk on the Latest Day’s impact on the WWE Universe, explaining that their success and relatability inspired a complete generation of young fans for years to come back.
“I feel in the event you’re a young black kid watching the Latest Day, you go, ‘Whoa, these are three guys, I really like that they are together and so they’re representing people like me’ … Big E ended up becoming the champion, Kofi ended up becoming the champion, which nobody would have ever guessed that when he was around especially to start with,” he explained. “It is very nice to have inspiring figures like that folks can relate to that appear like them and so they see them and go ‘Wow in the event that they can do it, then that provides me hope that I can do it too,’ and that is very necessary.”
Kingston and Woods were reportedly asked to take a big pay cut from WWE, however the decorated tag team declined the offer and decided to depart the corporate as a substitute. Moreover, news broke last week that other talent in WWE were also asked to just accept a reduced salary, but those that were approached were only stars that the promotion’s creative team did not have interest in utilizing going forward.
In the event you use any of the quotes in this text, please credit “The Extreme Lifetime of Matt Hardy” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.