Kane or KANE may refer to:

Places[link]

• Kane, Illinois, village
• Kane County, Illinois
• Kane, Pennsylvania, founded by American Civil War general Thomas L. Kane
• Kane County, Utah
• Anoka County-Blaine Airport's ICAO airport code

Music[link]

• Kane (Dutch band), Dutch rock band.
• Kane (American band), American Southern rock band
• Big Daddy Kane, rapper

Fictional characters[link]

• Charles Foster Kane, lead character the film Citizen Kane
• Will Kane, lead character the film High Noon
• Kane (fantasy), fantasy character created by Karl Edward Wagner
• Kane (Command & Conquer), character in the Command & Conquer video game series
• Kane, a character in the Doctor Who story, Dragonfire
• Kane, a character in the Outlanders science fiction novel series
• Kane, one of the title characters in Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
• Killer Kane, a villain character in the Buck Rogers film serial
• Reverend Henry Kane, a fictional villain from the Poltergeist film series
• Lord Kane of Runefaust, from the video game Shining Force
• Kane Family, family in the Kane Chronicles book series by Rick Riordan

People with the surname[link]

see Kane (surname)

People with the given name[link]

• Kane Hodder, American actor and stuntman
• Kane Waselenchuk, Canadian racquetball player
• Kane Williamson, a New Zealand cricketer
• Chelsea Kane Staub, American actress, known professionally as Chelsea Kane

Other[link]

• Kane (musical instrument), Japanese bell
• Kane (video game), 1986 home computer game published by Mastertronic
• KANE (AM), radio station licensed to New Iberia, Louisiana, United States
• Kāne, major Hawaiian god
• Kāne Milohai, minor Hawaiian god
• Kane (wrestler), ring name of American professional wrestler Glenn Jacobs
• Kane The Undertaker, early version of American professional wrestler's ring name
• Lane Huffman (Stevie Ray), American professional wrestler formerly known as Kane

See also[link]

• Cane (disambiguation)
• Cain (disambiguation)
• Kain (disambiguation)
• Kaine, comic book character from Marvel, a clone of Spider-Man
• Danity Kane, American R&B and Pop group
• Citizen Kane, movie
• Kane & Abel by Jeffrey Archer, book

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Kofi Kingston
Ring name(s)	Kofi Nahaje Kingston[1] Kofi Kingston[1][2]
Billed height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[3]
Billed weight	212 lb (96 kg)[3]
Born	(1981-08-14) August 14, 1981 (age 30) Ghana
Resides	Tampa, Florida
Billed from	Ghana, West Africa Jamaica (during Jamaican gimmick)
Trained by	Chaotic Wrestling[1][4] Killer Kowalski[1][4] Ohio Valley Wrestling[1]
Debut	June 4, 2006

Kofi Nahaje Sarkodie-Mensah^[1] (born August 14, 1981), is a Ghanaian American professional wrestler signed to WWE and appearing on its Raw brand under the ring name, Kofi Kingston. He and R-Truth are the current WWE Tag Team Champions. Since debuting with WWE, he has won the Intercontinental Championship three times, the United States Championship twice, the World Tag Team Championship once with CM Punk and the WWE Tag Team Championship twice, once with Evan Bourne and once with R-Truth.

Professional wrestling career[link]

Early career[link]

He made his official wrestling debut in 2006, when he faced Tony Omega at Chaotic Wrestling on February 24th. He faced Evan Siks on June 4 for the PWF Mayhem Heavyweight Championship.^[5] He competed primarily in the New England area, including stints in National Wrestling Alliance – New England, Millennium Wrestling Federation, New England Championship Wrestling, the Eastern Wrestling Alliance, and Chaotic Wrestling.^[6]

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE[link]

Developmental territories (2006-2007)[link]

In September 2006, he signed a developmental contract with WWE and was assigned to Deep South Wrestling (DSW), a Georgia based developmental federation.^[1] He debuted in the new company, as Kofi Nahaje Kingston, in a dark match loss to Montel Vontavious Porter on September 21.^[7] For the rest of 2006 and the beginning of 2007, he appeared in DSW, as well as its Kentucky based sister promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he was in a tag team dubbed the "Commonwealth Connection" with Harry Smith.^[8][9][10] In 2007, under the ring name "Kofi Nahaje Kingson", he had his first exposure to the main WWE roster, when he worked dark matches on March 5 and 26 before episodes of Raw against Charlie Haas and Trevor Murdoch, respectively.^[11][12] When he returned to the developmental federations, he shortened his original ring name to "Kofi Kingston" and continued to use both ring names throughout his duration there.^[1] He also worked live events, defeating Shelton Benjamin on May 5,^[13] and Val Venis on May 6.^[14]

When the Florida based developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, opened in June, Kingston was relocated there, appearing at their first show on June 26 teaming with Eric Pérez against Keith Walker and Rycklon Stephens in a losing effort.^[15] Kingston worked there for most of the remainder of the year.^[15]

ECW (2007–2008)[link]

A series of vignettes for Kingston's television debut began airing on the weekly ECW on Syfy television show starting on December 6, 2007.^[16]view During this introduction phase, his videos, the official website, and commentators all made note that he would be the first Jamaican-born person to wrestle for the company. He debuted on the January 22, 2008 episode of ECW as a face with a win over local wrestler David Owen in Charlottesville Virginia.^[17] After wrestling sporadic matches, Kingston was involved in his first major match, a 24-man battle royal during the WrestleMania XXIV pre-show with the winner receiving an ECW Championship match, but was eliminated by Mark Henry.^[18] Kingston remained undefeated in singles competition in ECW for months and was placed into a feud with Shelton Benjamin at the end of April 2008. After two straight losses, Benjamin got a win over Kingston on the May 20 episode of ECW, ending his undefeated streak.^[19] On the June 24 episode of ECW, Kingston defeated Benjamin in an Extreme Rules match to end their feud.^[20]

Championship Reigns (2008–2009)[link]

Kingston as United States Champion

As part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Kingston was drafted to the Raw brand.^[21] In his first match as a member of Raw roster, he defeated Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental Championship at Night of Champions.^[22] The win made him the first Ghanaian wrestler to hold a championship in World Wrestling Entertainment and it was also his first championship in his wrestling career.^[23] Kingston held the championship until SummerSlam, where he and Women's Champion Mickie James both lost their championships in an intergender "winner take all" tag team match to Beth Phoenix and Santino Marella.^[24]

At Unforgiven, he appeared backstage, coming to the aid of then-World Champion CM Punk, who had been attacked by Manu, Randy Orton, and the World Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase.^[25] Soon after coming to his rescue, Punk and Kingston were paired together more often, and on the October 27 episode Raw, the duo won the World Tag Team Championship.^[26] He was also involved at Survivor Series in the traditional ten-men elimination tag team match on the side of Team Batista, but was eliminated by Orton.^[27] Kingston and Punk lost the World Tag Team Championship to John Morrison and The Miz at a WWE live event on December 13.^[28]

At No Way Out in 2009, Kingston won a spot in the World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber by defeating Kane, but was unable to officially enter the match, as he was ambushed by Edge, who took Kingston's place and eventually won the match.^[29]

Kingston defeated Chris Jericho, after interference from Ric Flair, to earn a spot in the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXV, but the match was won by CM Punk.^[30][31] After winning a Triple Threat Number One Contender's match the week before, Kingston defeated Montel Vontavious Porter on the June 1 episode of Raw to win the United States Championship.^[32] For the next several months, he went on to defend and retain his title at PPVs such as Extreme Rules,^[33] Night of Champions,^[34] Breaking Point,^[35] and WWE Hell in a Cell,^[36] until losing the championship to The Miz on October 5 on Raw, ending his four month reign. On the October 12 episode of Raw, Kingston defeated Evan Bourne to qualify for Team Raw at WWE Bragging Rights.^[37] Team Raw lost the match, however, when the Big Show betrayed them by chokeslamming Kingston, allowing Chris Jericho to pick up the win for Team SmackDown.^[38]

Feud with Randy Orton (2009-2010)[link]

Kingston in a match against Jack Swagger and The Miz

During WWE Bragging Rights, Kingston and Raw teammate Cody Rhodes argued about Kingston taking the loss in their match. As a result, when Rhodes and Ted DiBiase were interfering on behalf of Randy Orton during his WWE Championship match, Kingston ran out with a chair and chased Rhodes and DiBiase out of the arena. Orton would eventually lose the match.^[39] On the October 26 episode of Raw, Kingston began a feud with Orton, as Orton believed Kingston cost him the WWE Championship. After Kingston defeated Chris Jericho, Orton came from behind and attacked Kingston, ending with Orton throwing Kingston onto the side of the entrance ramp. Later that night, Kingston destroyed Orton's car.^[40] On the November 16 episode of Raw, Kingston saved guest host "Rowdy" Roddy Piper from an assault by Orton and later performed a Boom Drop from a rail in the crowd onto Orton, sending Orton through a table.^[41] Kingston went on to lead his Survivor Series team to victory against Orton's team, where he was the sole survivor, last eliminating Orton.^[42] On the November 30 episode of Raw, Kingston was scheduled to face Orton in a one on one match, only to be assaulted from behind by Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase. Despite the assault, Kingston still wished to continue, and was quickly defeated by Orton.^[43] The following week, Kingston defeated Orton in a rematch where guest host Mark Cuban, who had a grudge against Orton since their encounter at Survivor Series in 2003 when Orton performed an RKO on him, gave Kingston a fast count. He then announced that with one victory apiece, the two would face off again at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs.^[44] Orton defeated Kingston at the event.^[45] On the December 28 episode of Raw, Orton interfered in Kingston's match for the United States Championship, resulting in their rivalry continuing.^[46] On the January 4 episode of Raw, Orton once again defeated Kingston.^[47] The following week on January 11, Kingston would compete against Orton and John Cena in a triple threat match with the winner facing Sheamus for the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble. Orton ultimately won the match by pinning Kingston.^[48] On the February 1 episode of Raw, Kingston won a qualifying match by defeating the Big Show via disqualification to advance to the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match at the inaugural Elimination Chamber event. Kingston, however, failed to win after being eliminated by Sheamus. On the March 22 episode of Raw, Kingston defeated Vladimir Kozlov to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXVI. At the event however, Kingston was unsuccessful as the match was won by Jack Swagger.^[49]

Intercontinental Champion (2010–2011)[link]

Kingston during his second reign as United States Champion

On April 26, as part of the 2010 WWE Draft, Kingston was drafted to the SmackDown brand. In his debut match for the brand, he defeated Chris Jericho.^[50] On the following episode of SmackDown, Kingston was entered into a four-man tournament for the vacant Intercontinental Championship after Drew McIntyre had been stripped of the title earlier in the show. He went on to defeat Dolph Ziggler in the first match of the tournament.^[51] Christian defeated Cody Rhodes in the second match. As a result, Kingston faced and defeated Christian in the finals of the tournament to seemingly win his second Intercontinental Championship on the May 14 episode of SmackDown. However, moments later, McIntyre came out with a letter, signed by Vince McMahon, saying that Theodore Long was irresponsible and abused his power. The letter also stated that McIntyre was reinstated to the active roster and that Kingston was stripped of the Intercontinental Championship, which returned to McIntyre.^[52]

It was later announced on WWE.com that Kingston would face McIntyre for the title at Over the Limit. At the event, Kingston defeated McIntyre to officially win his second Intercontinental Championship.^[53] On June 1, Kingston was announced to mentor Michael McGillicutty on the second season of WWE NXT.^[54] On the June 18 episode of SmackDown, it was announced that at Fatal 4 Way, Kofi would defend the Intercontinental Championship against Drew McIntyre. At the event, Kingston defeated McIntyre to retain the title.^[55] On July 18 at Money in the Bank, Kingston was unsuccessful as Kane grabbed the briefcase to win the SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match.^[56] The following SmackDown, Kingston lost to Dolph Ziggler in a non-title match.^[57]

On the July 30 episode of SmackDown, Kingston faced Ziggler in a rematch but lost via disqualification, resulting in Ziggler earning a title match.^[58] On August 6 episode of SmackDown, Ziggler defeated Kingston to win the Intercontinental Championship. Kingston got his rematch for the title August 15 at Summerslam, which ended in a no contest after The Nexus interfered. On the August 20 episode of Smackdown, Kingston faced Ziggler once again for the Intercontinental Championship defeating Ziggler by disqualification, but by rule, Ziggler retained his Intercontinental Championship.^[59] The following week, Kingston faced Ziggler once again for the Intercontinental Championship with the pre-match stipulation that if Ziggler should be disqualified the title would change hands. Vickie Guerrero intervened during the match and got Ziggler counted out so the title did not change hands. At Night of Champions, Ziggler once again faced Kingston with the Intercontinental Championship on the line with the stipulation that if Dolph was either counted out or disqualified that Kofi would win the title. Dolph Ziggler ended up winning the match by pinfall and retained the title once again. On the October 15th episode of Smackdown, Kingston defeated Drew McIntyre to earn a spot in the Team Smackdown competing at Bragging Rights. At the pay-per-view, Team SmackDown emerged as the superior brand with Edge and Rey Mysterio being the final survivors.

Kingston in December 2010

On the December 3 episode of SmackDown, Kingston defeated Jack Swagger to become the number one contender for the Intercontinental Championship but failed to win back the title when Swagger attacked Kofi during the match. At the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Kingston was unsuccessful in claiming the Intercontinental title against Swagger and Ziggler in a ladder match as he and Swagger unhooked the belt but it dropped to the mat and Ziggler grabbed it and retained the title.

On the January 7, 2011 episode of SmackDown, Kingston defeated Dolph Ziggler to become the Intercontinental Champion for a third time. Immediately following the match, acting General Manager Vickie Guerrero ordered that Ziggler invoke his rematch clause straight away, but Kingston quickly pinned Ziggler again to retain his championship.

After using the Trouble in Paradise on Alberto Del Rio to win the Tag Team match against Kane and Alberto Del Rio with Rey Mysterio on his side on the 28th January of episode on WWE Smackdown!, Kofi then started a feud with Alberto Del Rio after many attacks. Even Alberto Del Rio prevented Kofi Kingston from qualifying for the Elimination Chamber. On the 11th February episode of Smackdown!, Kofi Kingston faced Alberto Del Rio in a singles match but in the end Alberto Del Rio beat Kofi Kingston after being tapout with the Cross Arm Breaker. On the 19th February, Alberto Del Rio also interfered in Kofi Kingston's match against The Miz which The Miz won. They eventually faced each other again in a non-title bout at Elimination Chamber which was won by Del Rio.

On March 22 at the tapings of the March 25 episode of SmackDown, Kingston lost the Intercontinental Championship to Wade Barrett.^[60] On April 1 episode of Smackdown, Kingston won his rematch against Wade Barrett by disqualification. After Vladimir Kozlov was injured at the hands of the Corre, Kingston was chosen as Kozlov's replacement in an eight man tag team match involving Kofi, Kane, Big Show and Santino Marella versus the Corre at WrestleMania 27, which Kingston's team won.^[61]

United States and Tag Team Champion (2011–present)[link]

Kingston in the Raw Money in the Bank Ladder match.

On April 26, 2011, Kingston was drafted back to the Raw brand as part of the 2011 Supplemental Draft. ^[62] On May 1, Kingston defeated Sheamus in a Tables Match at Extreme Rules to win his second United States Championship, in the process returning the title to Raw.^[63] On the May 9 episode of Raw, Kingston successfully defended his championship against Jack Swagger.^[64] At WWE Capitol Punishment, Kingston lost the title to Dolph Ziggler.^[65] Kingston faced Ziggler in a rematch for the title on the June 20 episode of Raw in a 2-out-of-3 Falls match, but Ziggler retained the United States Championship as the match ended with Ziggler being disqualified.^[66]

On the August 22 episode of Raw, Kingston won the WWE Tag Team Championship with Evan Bourne when they defeated David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty.^[67] On the August 29 episode of Raw, the duo was called "Air Boom", and they had their first successful title defense when they defeated Otunga and McGillicutty in a rematch.^[68] At Night of Champions Air Boom retained their titles against The Miz & R-Truth by disqualification after Miz attacked a WWE referee.^[69] At Hell in a Cell and Vengeance, Air Boom retained their titles twice against Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger.^[70][71] Bourne was suspended throughout November for his first violation of the company’s Wellness policy.^[72] At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs Air Boom successfully retained their titles aganist Primo and Epico.^[73] On January 15, Air Boom lost the Tag Team titles to Primo and Epico at a house show.^[74] On the January 16 episode of Raw, Air Boom were awarded a rematch but failed to regain the titles.^[75] The following day, Evan Bourne was suspended again for his second violation of WWE's Wellness Policy.^[76]

At the 2012 Royal Rumble event, Kingston participated in the Royal Rumble match and although he did not win, he had a stand-out moment when he saved himself from elimination by walking on his hands to reach the ring steps and re-enter the ring.^[77] At Elimination Chamber, Kingston failed to capture the WWE Championship after being eliminated third by Chris Jericho.^[78][79] Kingston then began teaming with R-Truth, facing the likes of Primo and Epico and Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger which they both won and lost, respectively.^[80][81] On the February 27 edition of Raw, Kingston and Truth failed to capture the WWE Tag Team Championship from Primo and Epico in a Triple Threat Tag Team Match, also involving Ziggler and Swagger.^[82] On the April 30 edition of Raw, Kingston and Truth defeated Primo and Epico to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.^[83] At Over the Limit, Kingston and Truth successfully defended their titles against Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger.^[84]

Personal life[link]

After receiving a university degree at Boston College, he initially pursued a career in the corporate world. Sarkodie-Mensah decided to drop his business pursuits and opt to go into professional wrestling. After very hard consideration and persuasion from his brother Kisean, Kofi accepted a developmental contract to join WWE and was transported to Deep South Wrestling (DSW) while Kisean stayed home and practiced music. Kofi has also mentioned watching Shawn Michaels wrestle in 1996 as an inspiration for his wrestling career.^[85]

Sarkodie-Mensah began wrestling professionally in 2005, under the ring name of Kofi Nahaje Kingston.^[1] Kingston's country of birth was billed as Jamaica because, according to Leslie Goffe of the BBC, "[People] would be more likely to embrace a person from the land of Bob Marley and reggae music" than someone from Ghana.^[1][85][86] In late 2009, this was retconned when his character became more serious. The on-screen explanation was that his smiling Jamaican gimmick paid tribute to Jamaican culture.

In wrestling[link]

Kingston performing the Boom Drop on Shelton Benjamin

Kingston performing a dropkick on Kevin Nash

• Finishing moves
  • SOS (Ranhei)^[1] - 2010; used as a signature move thereafter
  • Trouble in Paradise (Jumping corkscrew roundhouse kick)^[1] - 2008-present

• Signature moves
  • Boom Drop (Jumping high-angle double leg drop, with theatrics)^[87]
  • Crucifix pin^[1]
  • Diving Crossbody,^[1] sometimes preceded by a double jump^[88]
  • Double foot stomp^[89]
  • Dropkick^[1][87]
  • Flapjack dropped into a European uppercut^[90]
  • Float-over DDT^[91][92]
  • Flying forearm smash^[1][87]
  • Jumping clothesline^[93] or springboard clothesline^[1]
  • Jumping back elbow^[93]
  • Koronco buster^[94][95]
  • Monkey flip^[1]
  • Pendulum kick from out of the corner, as a counter to an oncoming opponent^[96]
  • Russian legsweep^[1][87]
  • Suicide dive^[1]
  • Tornado DDT, sometimes while springboarding^[91]
  • Two-handed chop^[97]

• Managers
  • Luscious^[98]

• Nicknames
  • "The Dreadlocked Dynamo"^[99]

• Entrance themes
  • "Confrontation" by Damian Marley^[4] (CTC / DSW)
  • "S.O.S." by Jim Johnston and Collie Buddz^[100] (WWE; January 22, 2008–present)
  • "Born to SOS" by Mutiny Within and Collie Buddz^[101] (WWE; September 5, 2011–October 3; Used as part of Air Boom)
  • "Boom" by Jim Johnston (October 7 2011- January 16, 2012; Used while a part of Air Boom)

Championships and accomplishments[link]

Kingston as Intercontinental Champion

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #26 of the best 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010^[102]

• World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE
  • World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with CM Punk^[103]
  • WWE Intercontinental Championship (3 times)^[22]
  • WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times, current) – with Evan Bourne (1) and R-Truth (1, current)^[104]
  • WWE United States Championship (2 times)^[105]

Notes[link]