Kofi Kingston

At 42 years old, Kofi Kingston has this physical status:

Kofi Nahaje Sarkodie-Mensah (born August 14, 1981) is a Ghanai-American professional wrestler who appears on WWE under the ring name Kofi Kingston, where he appears on the SmackDown label.

As a member of The New Day, he is now in his fourth reign as the SmackDown Tag Team Champion. After graduating from Boston College, Sarkodie-Mensah decided to pursue a career in wrestling and began competing on the New England independent circuit as a Jamaican wrestler under the name of Kofi Nahaje Kingston.

Kofi Kingston shortened his ring name after signing a developmental contract with WWE in 2006.

Kingston debuted in WWE in 2008 employing the same Jamaican name as he did on the independent circuit.

He stopped being charged from Jamaica and dropped the accent, although he kept his ring name.

He was then billed from Ghana, Ghana's home country. Kingston spent much of his first few years in WWE on the midcard singles circuit, during which he became a four-time Intercontinental Champion and a three-time United States champion.

Big E and Xavier Woods of Kingston formed The New Day in 2014.

When they held the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship from August 2015 to December 2016, the trio maintained their titles under Freebird rule, smashing the previous record for the longest Tag Team Championship reign in WWE history.

Kingston defeated Daniel Bryan 35 to win the WWE Championship, his first world title, but he never headlined a WWE pay-per-view match during his 180-day reign. He is the first African-born world champion, as well as the 30th Triple Crown Champion and the 20th overall Grand Slam Champion (13th under new conditions).

In addition, Kingston himself holds the most days spent as a Tag Team Champion within WWE, as well as being known for inventing new ways of denying his exclusion from Royal Rumble and battle royal matches.

Kingston has been a hero throughout his WWE career, with the exception of a few months as a villain in 2015 with The New Day.

Early life

Kofi Nahaje Sarkodie-Mensah was born in Kumasi, Ashanti, on August 14, 1981, to Kwasi and Elizabeth Sarkodie-Mensah. Kwame (who is a Twitch streamer under the name of Temp0) and Nana Akua, his late sister. He and his family migrated to the United States and eventually settled in the greater Boston area, where he graduated from Winchester High School in Winchester, Massachusetts, and then Boston College.

Personal life

On September 11, 2010, Sarkodie-Mensah married Kori Campfield. Kai's son was born in 2013. On April 28, 2016, the family welcomed Orion Kingsley, Orion Kingsley, to their second son. Lotus Selene, their daughter's name, was born on November 23, 2021.

Shawn Michaels, who was Sarkodie-Mensah's favorite wrestler, was on the rise. He said in a June 2019 interview that Dolph Ziggler was "one of my favorite opponents of all time," if not my favorite. Our matches have always been off the track, not to toot my own horn or our horn. We have really good chemistry."

Sarkodie-Mensah has tattooed Ghanaian Adinkra symbols along his spine. His first name (Kofi) is the traditional name in Ghana for people born on a Friday.

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Professional wrestling career

Sarkodie-Mensah began training in late 2005 and made his official wrestling debut for Chaotic Wrestling in 2006, when he met Evan Siks on June 4 in a losing match. He competed mainly in the New England area, including stints in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), New England Championship Wrestling Federation (NECW), the Eastern Wrestling Alliance (EWA), and Chaotic Wrestling.

He signed a developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in September 2006 and was sent to Deep South Wrestling (DSW), a Georgia-based developmental federation. In a dark match loss to Montel Vontavious Porter on September 21, he debuted in the new company, as Kofi Nahaje Kingston. He appeared in DSW, as well as its Kentucky-based sister organization Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he was in a tag team named the Commonwealth Connection with Harry Smith for the remainder of 2006 and 2007.

When he first appeared on the main WWE roster in 2007, he had his first glimpse at the main roster, as he appeared in dark matches against Charlie Haas and Trevor Murdoch respectively. When he returned to the developmental federations, he shortened his initial ring name to Kofi Kingston and continued to alternate between both ring names throughout his time there. He appeared on live broadcasts, including beating Shelton Benjamin on May 5 and Val Venis on May 6. Kingston was relocated to Florida when the Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) opened in June, where he teamed with Eric Pérez against Keith Walker and Rycklon Stephens in a losing bid. Kingston served in Kingston for the majority of the year.

Starting on December 6, 2007, a series of vignettes for Kingston's television debut began airing on the weekly ECW on Syfy television show. During this launch phase, his videos, the official website, and commentators announced that he would be the first Jamaican wrestler to compete for WWE, but that he does not have any Jamaican ancestry or any connection to Jamaica. He is, however, the first African-born performer to appear in WWE history. With a victory over local wrestler David Owen in Charlottesville, Virginia, he debuted on the January 22, 2008 ECW as a face. Kingston was involved in his first big match, a 24-man tournament royal, during the WrestleMania XXIV pre-show, with the winner receiving an ECW Championship match but Mark Henry disqualified him after wrestling sporadic matches. Kingston remained undefeated in singles competition in ECW for months, and Shelton Benjamin was thrust into a feud with Shelton Benjamin at the end of April 2008. Benjamin defeated Kingston on the May 20 ECW for the second straight losses, snapping his undefeated streak. Kingston defeated Benjamin in an Extreme Rules match on June 24 to bring an end to their feud.

Kingston was added to the WWE Supplemental Draft on June 25, 2008. After Shawn Michaels, whom Jericho was feuding with, defeated Lance Cade in his first match as a member of Raw and the first championship match in WWE, he defeated Chris Jericho in the Intercontinental Championship at Night of Champions. With his victory, he became the first African-born wrestler to win a championship in World Wrestling Entertainment. Kingston retained the championship until SummerSlam, where he and Women's Champion Mickie James lost their respective titles in an intergender "winner takes all" tag team match to Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix.

He appeared backstage at Unforgiven, assisting then-World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk, who had been criticized by Randy Orton, Manu, and the World Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase. Kingston and Punk were paired together more often, and the World Tag Team Championship was won by the pair on October 27. He was also involved in the traditional ten-men elimination tag team match on Team Batista, but Randy Orton disqualified him. At a live event on December 13, Kingston and Punk lost the World Tag Team Championship to John Morrison and The Miz. When Punk's reign was over, he said, "Punk took him under his wing when he didn't have to, and he was always grateful for the friendship." Kingston was supposed to participate in the World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber on February 15, 2009, but was unable to attend the game because he was blocked by Edge, who took Kingston's place and eventually won the match. Kingston defeated Chris Jericho on the 9th episode of Raw to earn a spot in the Bank ladder competition at WrestleMania 25, but CM Punk won the match.

Kingston defeated Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) on June 1 to win the United States Championship for the first time after winning a triple threat number one contender's match the week before. He continued to defend and keep the title at Extreme Rules, Night of Champions, Breaking Point, and Hell in a Cell, among other Raw shows, until losing the title to The Miz on October 5th, an eternity.

During a televised segment on October 19, Kingston spoke without a Jamaican accent, dropped the Jamaican accent, and began to be billed from his home country of Ghana. Kingston fought as part of Team Raw, which lost the match after Raw teammate Big Show threw them away by chokeslamming Kingston, allowing Chris Jericho to pin Kingston to victory for Team SmackDown. Orton and Kingston feuded, with a 5-man Survivor Series squad fighting each other, the sole survivor of Kingston's WWE Championship match, after Kingston interfered in a match between Randy Orton and John Cena for Cena's WWE Championship match, culminating in Orton's wrestling championship match. Tables, Ladders & Chairs, where Orton defeated Kingston, are a TLC. They also competed in a triple threat match that included John Cena to determine a challenger for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble, which was also pinned Kingston by Orton. He had a championship match at Elimination Chamber, but was disqualified by Sheamus. Kingston was disqualified in the Money in the Bank match, which was won by Jack Swagger, at WrestleMania XXVI.

Kingston was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the WWE's draft on April 26. On the May 14 episode of SmackDown, he would win a tournament for the vacant Intercontinental Championship. However, when the title was returned to the previous champion Drew McIntyre, the championship was reversibly altered just moments later. Kingston would face McIntyre for the title at Over the Limitation and keep the fight in Fatal 4-Way. Kingston lost the SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match on July 18, when Kane grabbed the briefcase. On August 6, his Intercontinental reign would come to an end, where he lost it against Dolph Ziggler. At SummerSlam, Smackdown, and Night of Champions, Kingston will have three title rematches, but not win the tournament.

Kingston defeated Drew McIntyre on Team SmackDown at Bragging Rights on October 15 of SmackDown. Team SmackDown defeated Team Raw at Bragging Rights. Kingston defeated Jack Swagger to become the top contender for the Intercontinental Championship on December 3rd, but later lost the title after Swagger assaulted him during the match. Kingston, Tables, Ladders & Chairs, was competing in a triple threat ladder match for the Intercontinental Championships, which was won again by Ziggler. Kingston defeated Ziggler for a third time on January 7, 2011, becoming the Intercontinental Champion for the third time. Following the match, acting General Manager Vickie Guerrero ordered that Ziggler invoke his rematch clause right away, but Kingston pinned Ziggler on the track to keep his championship right away. Kingston devolved into a feud with Alberto Del Rio, which culminated in a non-title match in Elimination Chamber, which Kingston lost. Kingston defeated Wade Barrett in the Intercontinental Championships on March 25 of SmackDown. Kingston fought Wade Barrett by disqualification in a SmackDown rematch against Wade Barrett on April 1. Kingston was selected as Kozlov's replacement in an eight-man tag team match involving Kingston, Kane, Big Show, and Santino Marella versus The Correspondent, which Kingston's team won.

Kingston was drafted back to the Raw brand as part of the 2011 Supplemental Draft on April 26, 2011. Kingston won his second United States Championship under Extreme Rules after defeating Sheamus in a Tables match. Kingston successfully defended his title against Jack Swagger on the May 9 episode of Raw. Kingston lost the title to Dolph Ziggler at Capitol Punishment. On a two-out-of-3 falls match between Kingston and Ziggler on June 20, the two teams rematch for the championship, but Ziggler retained the trophy despite Ziggler being disqualified.

Kingston defeated David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty during the WWE Tag Team Championship on August 22, 1987. The pair were referred to as "Air Boom" on August 29 Raw, and they had their first good title defense after they defeated Otunga and McGillicutty in a rematch. After Miz attacked a WWE referee, Air Boom held their titles against The Miz and R-Truth by disqualification at Night of Champions. Air Boom maintained their titles twice against Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger at Hell in a Cell and Vengeance. Bourne was barred from working in the first breach of the company's Wellness Policy throughout November. The table at TLC is a chartet of the United States Air Boom. Against Primo & Epico, the Ladders & Chairs Air Boom retained their titles. At a house show on January 15, 2012, Air Boom lost the Tag Team titles to Primo and Epico. Raw, Air Boom had a rematch but didn't have a chance to regain the titles the following night. Bourne was banned for his second breach of WWE's Wellness Policy the next day.

Kingston participated in the Royal Rumble match, and although he didn't win, he had a standout moment when he saved himself from elimination by walking on his hands to reach the ring steps and re-enter the ring. Kingston failed to win the WWE Championship after being ruled third by Chris Jericho. Kingston later began working with R-Truth. In a Triple Threat Tag Team Match featuring Primo and Epico, Raw, Kingston, and Truth failed to capture the WWE Tag Team Championship from Primo and Epico on February 27. Ziggler and Swagger are also involved. Kingston and Truth defeated Primo and Epico to win the WWE Tag Team Championship on April 30 Raw, Kingston and Truth defeated Primo and Epico to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. Kingston and R-Truth successfully protected the titles against Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger, then again in a rematch on the May 28 Raw.

They successfully defend the WWE Tag Team Championship against The Prime Time Players the following night (Titus O'Neil and Darren Young). The Prime Time Players were able to return the WWE Tag Team Championship to Kingston and Truth at SummerSlam, Kingston and Truth. Kingston and Truth lost the Tag Team Championship to Daniel Bryan and Kane's team at Night of Champions and then failed to regain the crowns from the new champions the following night on Raw. Both Kingston and Truth were defeated by The Prime Time Players in the first round of the Tag Team Tournament to determine the top contenders for the Tag Team Championships, causing both Kingston and Truth to disband as a team and each return to being single players.

Kingston defeated The Miz to win the Intercontinental Championship for the fourth time in his career on October 17 of Main Event. When the two teams were placed against opposing teams in the traditional five-on-five elimination tag team match on November 18, Kingston began feuding with Wade Barrett. Survivor Series is a cable television show. Kingston's crew, led by Mick Foley, was defeated by Barrett's squad, led by Dolph Ziggler, which had to be cut by Barrett. Kingston was defeated by Barrett in a non-title match the following night on Raw. Kingston, the Intercontinental Champion, had a shot at the United States Championship on December 3 against Barrett, R-Truth, and Carlos Cesaro, the champion, but it was unable to win after Cesaro pinned Kingston for victory. Kingston defended his title against Barrett at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. Kingston lost the Intercontinental Championship to Barrett on December 31 of Raw, snapping his reign at 74 days. Kingston was rematch on SmackDown four days later, but the match was postponed. Kingston defeated Tensai in the Royal Rumble match on January 27, 2013, but Kingston leapt on Tensai's back, landed on the announcer table, and used a commentary chair from John "Bradshaw" Layfield to apron before being barred by Cody Rhodes.

Kingston won his third United States Championship on April 15 on the episode of Raw, but Defiance Rules denied it to Dean Ambrose on May 19. Kingston was written out of television on May 31's episode of SmackDown as he was recovering elbow surgery and was expected to miss four to eight weeks. Kingston recovered from injury after beating Fandango on August 5 in Raw's August 5 episode. Kingston met Curtis Axel for the Intercontinental Championship at Night of Champions, but was disqualified. Bray Wyatt will start sending cryptic messages to Kingston after his matches, leading to a match between the two teams that Wyatt won. Kingston teamed with The Miz on the November 18 episode of Raw (Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger), but they lost after Miz turned on Kingston. Kingston was defeated by The Miz in a match at Survivor Series, which culminated in a match. The feud between the two teams in the coming weeks erupted and culminated in a no disqualification match between them both at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, which Kingston defeated.

Kingston participated in the Royal Rumble match on January 26, 2014, where he saved himself from being disqualified by crashing on the crowd barricade and making an 11-foot run to reclaim the ring but was later eliminated by Roman Reigns. Kingston was in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, where he would have a standout moment in the match, being kicked out of over the turnbuckles by Cesaro and to avoid elimination by leaving his toes on the steel steps. Kingston participated in the Battle Royal for the Intercontinental Championship, but did not win the match.

Kingston was put in a team with Big E and Xavier Woods as manager during the summer of 2014, with Xavier Woods usually as manager. With the stable now being branded as The New Day, WWE began airing vignettes for Kingston, Woods, and Big E in November. In a thrilling fight against Curtis Axel, Heath Slater, and Titus O'Neil, the New Day made their in-ring debut on the November 28 episode of SmackDown, defeating Curtis Axel, Heath Slater, and Titus O'Neil. Kingston and Big E started a brief feud with Gold and Stardust, which culminated in a brief clash between Gold and Stardust, which was tense. They failed to win the WWE Tag Team Championship in a thrilling four-way match on March 29, 2015, and they were banned from being disqualified by Big Show in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

The New Day turned heel on April 6, which would be Kingston's first heel turn in WWE since its debut in 2008. Kingston and Big E defeated Tyson Kidd and Cesaro to win the WWE Tag Team Championships at Extreme Rules. The New Day defeated Kidd and Cesaro to keep their positions at Payback. The New Day defeated Kidd and Cesaro, The Ascension, Los Matadores, and the Prime Time Players in the first ever tag team Elimination Chamber match; all three participants were allowed to compete in a pre-match stipulation. However, they lost the money in the Bank against The Prime Time Players. However, they would regain their positions at SummerSlam. The following night on Raw, The Dudley Boyz made their WWE comeback and assaulted the New Day with Woods being pushed through a table with the 3D. The Dudley Boyz were disqualified at Night of Champions due to disqualification, but the Tag team retained their tag team titles. They defeated the Dudley Boyz to keep their titles for the next month at Hell in a Cell. In a Triple threat tag team ladder match at TLC, The New Day retained the title against The Usos and The Lucha Dragons. The New Day retained the titles at Royal Rumble against The Usos.

The New Day in Fastlane brought The League of Nations into jeopardy, igniting a feud. They remained champions of Roadblock against The League of Nations. In a six-man tag team match at WrestleMania 32, The New Day were defeated by The League of Nations. On Raw, they successfully defended their title against The League of Nations, putting an end to their feud. They retained their titles against The Valiantvillains and at Money in the Bank against Gallows and Anderson in a Fatal 4-Way Tag Team match at WrestleMania, and against Money in the Bank against Gallows and Anderson.

Kingston and his fellow The New Day teammates were drafted to Raw on July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft. Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods, became the longest reigning WWE Tag Team Champions in history on July 22, smashing the previous record of 331 days set by Paul London and Brian Kendrick. The Raw Tag Team Championship was renamed after SmackDown's establishment of the SmackDown Tag Team Championship after the brand's demise of the brand. At SummerSlam and Clash of Champions, they will keep their titles against Gallows and Anderson. Their time at Roadblock: End of the Line, where they lost the title to Cesaro and Sheamus, effectively ending their record-breaking championship reign at 483 days.

Kingston took part in the Royal Rumble tournament in which he was standing on the top-rope when Baron Corbin threatened to force him backwards to ban him from the game. Rather, he fell directly behind the ring post, grabbed the top rope of it, and continued to keep on. The hosts of WrestleMania 33 have been named on the New Day. The night after WrestleMania on Raw, The New Day announced an open challenge to any team that had been accepted by The Revival, who were moved from NXT and lost to them. Revival attacked Kofi Kingston after the match. Kingston sustained an ankle injury as a result of the September 10 attack on Revival, which will require surgery.

As part of the Superstar Shake-up, the New Day brand was relocated to the SmackDown brand on April 11, 2017. On May 23, the New Day debuted on "Talking Smack," the post-show on SmackDown Live, but they did not compete or appear on SmackDown Live due to Kingston's injury. The New Day made their official debut on May 30 in SmackDown Live, announcing their goal to defy The Usos and capture the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. The two teams met at Money in the Bank, where Big E and Kingston were victorious when the Usos deliberately got their counted out, thus retaining their positions. A rematch took place at Battleground, where Kingston and Woods were able to win the titles, making Kingston the first wrestler to hold the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, Raw Tag Team Championship (both its previous and present incarnations), and the first World Tag Team Championship took place. However, The New Day (represented by Big E and Woods) dropped the titles back to The Usos, snapping their reign at 28 days. Sin City SmackDown, Kingston, and Big E were among the participants on the show on September 12 as New Day and defeat the Usos in their second appearance in a "Sin City Street Fight," but they were then defeated in a Cell by The Usos. The New Day and other members of SmackDown were booed in the Raw locker room on the October 23 episode of Raw. They appeared on Raw in the crowd on Monday, which led to Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose's distraction and costing them the tag titles. The Shield led an assault on Raw Superstars and vowed to enslave SmackDown, attacking everyone, including The New Day on November 14 of SmackDown Live. The New Day was thwarted by The Shield in The Survivor Series. In a Fatal-4-Way tag team match involving Rusev and Aiden English, as well as Shelton Benjamin, the New Day struggled to recover the titles from The Usos at Battle of Champions.

Kingston participated in the Royal Rumble on January 28, 2018, but Andrade "Cien" Almas had to dismiss the match as the 16th entrant, but Andrade "Cien" Almas was disqualified. The New Day met the Usos for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships, but the result went to a no contest after Inference from The Bludgeon Brothers. The New Day will face The Usos and The Bludgeon Brothers in a Triple Threat tag team match for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships two weeks later. The New Day struggled to capture the WrestleMania titles, which were won by the Bludgeon Brothers. The New Day were defeated by The Usos in a match to determine which team will face The Bludgeon Brothers in the Greatest Royal Rumble event on April 11, episode of SmackDown Live. The New Day participated in a tag team tournament, defeating Sanity in the first round, while the Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) defeated The Usos. The New Day defeated The Bar on SmackDown Live the following week to win the opportunity to face the Bludgeon Brothers at SummerSlam, where the Bludgeon Brothers retained their titles. The New Day defeated the Bludgeon Brothers in a no disqualification match two days later on SmackDown Live, capturing the titles for the third time. The New Day of Hell in a Cell won and Rusev and Aiden English were able to keep their titles. The New Day retained their positions a few weeks later by defeating The Bar at a Super Show-Down event on October 6, just weeks later. The New Day lost their titles against The Bar at SmackDown 1000. At the Crown Jewel event, they would not be able to regain their titles.

In a 5-on-5 tag-team elimination match at Survivor Series, where they defeated Team Raw two weeks later, they became a member of Team SmackDown. The new Day, TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, lost the championship from The Bar in a triple-threat tag team competition, which also involved The Usos. Drew McIntyre had evicted Kingston Kingston at Royal Rumble.

After Ali sustained an injury, Kingston was chosen to replace Mustafa Ali in the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match at the namesake pay-per-view on February 12th. Although Kingston lost the Elimination Chamber match against Bryan, his good showing during a one-hour gauntlet match at SmackDown and the Elimination Chamber brought in a lot of public support. Kingston was involved in a storyline on the road to WrestleMania, also known as KofiMania, where he attempted to win the WWE Championship, but Mr. McMahon put obstacles in the way. Kingston was apparently offered a title match by McMahon, but it was instead a handicap match against The Bar that Kingston later lost. Mr. McMahon told Kingston that if he beat Sheamus, Cesaro, Rowan, Samoa Joe, and Randy Orton in another gauntlet match, he would face them in another gauntlet match, but after Kingston triumphed over the five men, McMahon inserted Daniel Bryan in the match who would face him. Big E and Xavier Woods, who were able to beat five other teams, including Bryan and Rowan, to make Kingston his championship match against Bryan at WrestleMania 35. Kingston won the WWE Championship for the first time in history, as well as WWE's 30th Triple Crown and 20th Grand Slam champion.

On the May 6 episode of Raw, Kingston then defended the title against Daniel Bryan, as well as at Money in the Bank against Kevin Owens. Kingston then dumped a feud with returning Dolph Ziggler, retaining the title at Super ShowDown in a singles match and in a steel cage match at Stomping Grounds. He retained the championship against Samoa Joe, while Big E and Woods won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship for the fourth time for New Day (and effectively made Kingston a double champion under WWE rule), while WWE determines the SmackDown Tag Team Championship reigns as individual reigns for all three members of the SmackDown campaign). In a triple threat match at Smackville, he successfully defended the title against Dolph Ziggler and Samoa Joe. At SummerSlam, Kingston defended his title against Randy Orton, where the match ended in a double count out. At Battle of Champions, the two teams met again, with Kingston victorious. Brock Lesnar of SmackDown Live confronted Kingston and challenged him to a championship match on the October 4 episode of SmackDown, which Kingston accepted. Lesnar won the championship in 8 seconds on October 4, putting an end to Kingston's reign at 180 days.

Kingston returned to action in tag team competitions, where he teaming up with Big E and Woods defeated The O.C. On SmackDown, AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson were all present. In a tag team competition for the WWE Tag Team World Cup, Kingston and Big E competed, but they failed to win the match. Kingston and Big E defeated The Revival to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, their fourth-time champions as a team and their fifth visit to The New Day as a stable on November 8. The Revival took the titles against The Revival in a ladder match, with Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Kingston and Big E successfully defended the titles against The Revival. Kingston took part in the Royal Rumble match on January 26, 2020, but Brock Lesnar was disqualified. Kingston and Big E lost the championships to John Morrison and The Miz, who failed to recover the titles at Elimination Chamber.

At WrestleMania 36, Kingston, the New Day's representative, was unable to win the titles back from Morrison, who portrayed himself and Miz in a triple threat ladder competition, also involving Jimmy Uso, who represented The Usos. Big E, who represented himself and Morrison, received the titles back from Miz, who defended himself and Morrison in a triple threat match involving Jey Uso, who represented The Usos, in a triple threat match on April 17, which makes The New Day the six-time SmackDown Tag Team Champions. After being powerbombed through two tables, Kingston and Big E lost their titles to Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura in a table match on July 19. Although Kingston will suffer a legitimate back injury, it will be out for nearly three months.

Both Kingston and Woods recovered from injury and defeated Cesaro and Nakamura, winning their seventh SmackDown Tag Team Championship on October 9th episode of SmackDown. Kingston and Woods were drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2020 Draft, splitting them from Big E, who remained on the SmackDown brand, splitting them from Big E. Raw Tag Team Championship holders The Street Profits, who were drafted to SmackDown, will trade tag team titles with Raw Tag Team Championship holders The Street Profits, who were drafted to SmackDown, will be drafted to SmackDown on October 12th. This will be Kingston and Woods' third time as a team, (fifth for Kingston individually), New Day's 10th tag team championship appearance in WWE, and Kingston's 13th individual title reigns, as a team. TLC, Kingston and Woods lost the Raw Tag Team Championship to The Hurt Company on December 20, as well as TLC, Kingston and Woods. (Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin). Kingston revealed in January 2021 that he was hospitalized due to a jaw injury. On February 8, Kingston returned to the ring, fighting Retribution with Woods, and Mace defeated Retribution (T-Bar and Mace). Kingston was in the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match, excluding Randy Orton, before being defeated by Sheamus. Kingston and Woods will face Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin in the Raw Tag Team Championship for the 11th time and Kingston's 14th individual title, as well as Kingston's 14th. They will keep the tournament until WrestleMania 37, where they lost the titles to AJ Styles and Omos.

Kingston defeated Randy Orton and then WWE Champion Bobby Lashley on the same night on May 17 episode of Raw. Drew McIntyre of Raw defeated Drew McIntyre in a singles match on Sunday, where the winner will meet Lashley for the WWE Championship in a Cell in a stipulation, and the match came in as a no contest. On Raw next week, a rematch between him and McIntyre was supposed with the same stakes, where Kingston will lose. On the 21th episode of Raw, Kingston stunned Lashley and challenged him for the title, but Lashley accepted and the game was scheduled for Money in the Bank. He lost the match at the tournament.

Kingston and Woods were drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2021 Draft. Kingston competed in the King of the Ring tournament in October, where he lost to Jinder Mahal in the first round. Woods, on the other hand, went on to win the King of the Ring tournament. Woods, in turn, renamed his ring name to "King Woods," and the King's Hand was crowned upon Kingston as "Sir Kofi Kingston."

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