Top 5 Kofi Kingston moments at the Royal Rumble

Kofi Kingston has built quite a successful career in the WWE due to his athletic prowess.Kofi Kingston has carved quite a niche for himself during his nearly decade-long run in the WWE. He’s held the Intercontinental, United States and tag team titles multiple times, and he’s currently part of an incredibly successful team in the New Day. But each January, the excitement surrounding Kofi goes up a notch. The Ghana native has developed quite a reputation for his antics during the Royal Rumble match, as his athleticism has allowed him to do things that others probably couldn’t pull off.Here are the top five such moments.

#5 Saved by a Rose

One might say Kofi was the life of the party for a few moments at the Royal Rumble in 2015.

At the most recent Royal Rumble in 2015, Kofi came in as the No. 17 entrant but almost immediately found himself in trouble at the hands of Rusev. In fact, Rusev appeared to have Kingston eliminated before the next man – Adam Rose – got into the ring.

But at the time, Rose was still traveling with his Rosebuds party group, and Kofi landed on top of the dozen or so costumed characters. The Rosebuds toted him around the ring and placed him safely back on the apron, only to be eliminated a few moments later by Rusev.

#4 A shoe-In

Kofi Kingston added to his Royal Rumble lore in 2014.

In 2014, Kofi came into the Royal Rumble match in the No. 8 and lasted just shy of 13 minutes. At one point, Kingston appeared to be in trouble with a much stronger Jack Swagger depositing him over the top rope.

To prevent elimination, Kofi held on to Swagger’s shoe as he fell to make sure he stayed off the ground. Once he had untied Swagger’s shoe and hit him with it, Kofi held the bottom rope with his toes until he could pull himself back in the ring.

But that wasn’t his only big moment that year.

#3 Another use for a chair

A desk chair became more than just something to sit on for Kofi Kingston.

The 2013 Royal Rumble saw Kofi Kingston enter fourth and stick around for a little more than 22 minutes before being eliminated by Cody Rhodes. He almost went out earlier than that, though.

After using a flip over the top rope to toss Tensai out of contention, Kofi found himself knocked off the ring apron. He luckily landed on Tensai’s back, but the surly big man didn’t necessarily enjoy that and gave him a quick beating on the announce table.

After Tensai left, Kofi briefly considered making the jump back to the ring but thought better of it. Instead, he borrowed JBL’s chair and bounced his way to the ring, as though he was on a pogo stick.

#2 The jump

Kofi made quite a leap from the barricade to the ring in 2014.

Kofi would never have made it to his shoelace spot with Jack Swagger without an even more impressive feat earlier in the match.

Kofi was dumped from the ring into the waiting arms of an angry Rusev, who had been eliminated but was yet to leave. Rusev then slammed Kingston onto the barricade and ringside and was escorted out of the arena by the refs.

That left Kofi still in the match but several feet away from the ring. Since his feet couldn’t touch the ground because he had gone over the top rope, Kofi proceeded to jump the several feet from the barricade to the ring apron, which brought the crowd to its feet.

#1 Handstand

Kofi Kingston made his hands to the work to avoid elimination in 2012.

Kofi entered the 2012 Royal Rumble as the No. 11 man out of the gate, and he lasted nearly 18 minutes. That run appeared to be in jeopardy at one point, though, as the Miz seemingly tossed Kofi out of the ring, and Kingston was falling head-first off the apron.

He made the best of a bad situation, though, and walked on his hands the entire way down the side of the ring to the stairs to avoid elimination. That also earned him the Slammy award for the top “Tell Me I Did Not Just See That” Moment of the Year.