Kofi Kingston: Why I Want Mustafa Ali Battle In WWE
The pair inadvertently first crossed paths in 2019.
Kofi Kingston has revealed that a match with Mustafa Ali is high on his list.
The former WWE Champion recently spoke to Graham GSM Matthews of Bleacher Report, and detailed how he needs to settle things with Ali soon: “Honestly, I would like to face Ali at some point because as I mentioned before, we all know that I was the one who took his spot in the Elimination Chamber, sparking the greatest moment in my career,” said Kingston.
“He’s been pretty bitter about that, and I think there’s some potential there. I feel bad sometimes that I had to be the one to take his spot because nobody wants to get injured. No one wants to see that happen to anybody, and I know how he’s feeling. I would like to close that chapter.”
Ali has made no secret of his anger at being replaced by Kingston at Elimination Chamber 2019, sparking a sequence of events that gave rise to 'Kofimania', and Kingston’s historic WWE Title win over Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35.
Kingston compared this potential feud to that of his rivalry with Randy Orton, which WWE revisited in 2019, revealing that he is a fan of long-term storytelling in wrestling:
“I’m a big fan of things that seem like ancient history and bringing them back,” said Kingston. “For example, the rivalry between myself and Randy Orton. We all know what happened in 2009 or in 2010 when my trajectory was pretty good and I was doing all right. Randy and I had a match, some things happened in that match, he got very upset, and I had to grind for the next decade-plus to bring that storyline back after I finally became WWE champion.
“People remember that kind of stuff, so I think it’d be cool to touch back on that with Ali. He’s doing his thing with Retribution right now, but that’d be something I would love.”