Kofi Kingston, Ghanaian-American wrestler
Kofi Nahaje Sarkodie-Mensah (born August 14, 1981) is a Ghanaian-American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name (Sir) Kofi Kingston.
After graduating from Boston College, he decided to pursue a professional wrestling career, and began performing on the New England independent circuit as a Jamaican wrestler by the name of Kofi Nahaje Kingston. After signing a developmental deal with WWE in 2006, he shortened his ring name to Kofi Kingston. Kingston debuted in WWE in 2008 using the same Jamaican character as he did on the independent circuit. In late 2009, he stopped being billed from Jamaica and dropped the accent, although he kept his ring name. He then started being billed from his home country of Ghana.
One of the most decorated superstars in WWE history, Kingston became a four-time Intercontinental Champion and a three-time United States Champion. In 2014, he formed The New Day with Big E and Xavier Woods. The trio went on to break the record for the longest Tag Team Championship reign in WWE history when they held the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship from August 2015 to December 2016, while defending the titles under the Freebird rule. All totaled, Kingston is a 14-time Tag Team Champion in WWE. In April 2019, Kingston defeated Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35 to win the WWE Championship, giving him 22 total championships in WWE.
He is the only African-born world champion in WWE history. His WWE Championship win also made him WWE's 30th Triple Crown Champion and 20th overall Grand Slam Champion (13th under the current format). In addition, Kingston himself holds the singular record for most days spent as a Tag Team Champion within WWE and is tied with Edge for having the most overall reigns as a Tag Team Champion in WWE history (excluding WCW as Booker T who is also tied) with 14. With the exception of a few months spent as a villain in 2015 with The New Day, Kingston has been a heroic character for almost the entirety of his WWE career. He is 10th on the list of most prolific pay-per view performers in WWE history.