5 things you should know about Kofi Kingston 

#2. New Day was not his idea

Kofi Kingston celebrates his WrestleMania 35 WWE Championship victory with The New Day

Ever the optimist, even Kofi Kingston was nearing the end of his rope in WWE in 2013. He floundered on the roster with no long-term plans and was struggling to stay on television. Not often frustrated, the climate was getting to him, but he still wasn't anywhere nearly as frustrated as Big E and Xavier Woods.

The duo would come to Kingston and urge him to team with them. Since none of the three had anything significant going on they all agreed and continually pitched their ideas to Vince McMahon. Nothing seemed to stick, but The New Day continued politicking for eight months just to get on television. Inevitably, the WWE CEO relented, but as is customary in WWE things had to be his way.

McMahon wanted The New Day to adopt a gimmick where the trio would be preachers of positivity. It was a tall order for Kingston, who doesn't even attend church, but the three men were willing to do anything, even if they knew it was destined for failure.

Within three weeks the WWE Universe turned on The New Day, but Kingston used it as motivation,

"It was awesome to invoke emotion from people, but at the same time we took it very personally because we worked so hard to get to that point. To have someone tell you that you suck is like, 'Wow, man.' People are supposed to react. That's what you're supposed to do, so I don't put it on the people, but it definitely lit a spark."

The trio inevitably embraced the fans' rejection, tweaked their gimmicks, turned heel, and became six-time World Tag Team Champions.