Major WWE RAW star responds to harsh criticism and heartwarming tribute

A longtime WWE partner is celebrating a veteran superstar on social media today. The multi-time champion has marked a major milestone and responded to one of his haters.

Today marks 16 years since Kofi Kingston debuted on WWE's ECW brand. He started out on the indies in late 2005 and signed a developmental contract in September 2006. After working the DSW and OVW territories, and main roster dark matches, a series of hype vignettes aired on ECW in late 2007. He debuted on January 22, 2008, defeating enhancement talent David Owen in just over two minutes. In less than six months, Mr. 24/7 won his feud with Shelton Benjamin and won the Intercontinental Championship from Chris Jericho.

The USA Network took to X today to celebrate 16 years of the 15-time tag team champion. They marked the milestone with photos from the debut and a nod to Kingston for his accomplishments, including the WWE Championship win over Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35.

"16 years ago, @TrueKofi debuted on the ECW brand! Since then, Kofi's achieved many accolades in @WWE, including winning the @WWE Championship at WrestleMania! #WWE," the network wrote.

The WWE Superstar formerly known as The Jamaican Sensation re-tweeted the post with a brief reply. The message includes a strong three words that show the New Day member was taking a trip down memory lane.

"Whoa, today’s the 22nd?! [laughing emoji] What a ride...," he wrote.

Kingston also responded to some harsh fan criticism. The user simply wrote "A failure" in response to the original USA Network tribute tweet. The Grand Slam Champion responded with a "laughing face" emoji and nothing else.

The New Day is expected to participate in the Men's Royal Rumble next Saturday. Kingston is known for his tremendous saves in Battle Royal matches so it will be interesting to see the stunt he comes up with this year, and if he can avoid another botch.

The New Day vs. Imperium continues on WWE RAW

Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods continued their feud with Ludwig Kaiser, Giovanni Vinci, and GUNTHER on tonight's Royal Rumble go-home edition of RAW.

After Kingston and Vinci were cleared to compete, The New Day and Imperium fought to a double count out. They continued brawling until The New Day blocked Vinci's double suplex, then sent both opponents off production cases into a pair of tables down below.

Fans chanted "holy s**t!" and it was censored, but the crowd popped big for the spot and cheered as all competitors were still down.

Kingston later appeared in a backstage segment and called out The Ring General. He will now face GUNTHER in hopes of becoming a five-time Intercontinental Champion on next week's Royal Rumble fallout RAW.

Next Monday's match will be the second singles bout between the two. The Bull from Vienna defeated Mr. 24/7 in their first match, which went just under 12 minutes, on SmackDown in December 2022. They've also worked 7 multi-man matches.

What is your bold prediction for the Imperium vs. New Day feud and are you enjoying it? Sound off in the comments section below.