After a jaw dropping performance on SmackDown Live on Tuesday night that saw Kofi Kingston defeat Sheamus, Cesaro, Samoa Joe, Randy Orton and Erick Rowan in a gauntlet match to get a WWE Championship opportunity at WrestleMania 35 against WWE Champion Daniel Bryan, Vince McMahon threw a wrench into the celebrations by saying Kofi had to beat one more man to official enter the match – at that was Daniel Bryan himself. After another grueling 60 minutes plus performance, Kofi had to fight one last man. Unfortunately, the miracle failed to continue, and Bryan beat Kofi. Frustrated with the swerve, the New Day contemplated quitting the WWE over the constant barriers put up to Kingston.
On Wednesday morning, Big E too to Twitter to address Tuesday night’s situation, taking time to reflect on what had happened and collect his thoughts after calming down. And while his composure was more calm, his words took a more sincere and calculated direction. After talking in length about how they “check all the boxes” and do everything in your ability and power to get to the top of the mountain, that “people like us will only get so far” and that “people like us, historically, and moving forward clearly, can only go so far” and “clearly, we are never meant to be more than this.” Listen to the full promo below:
— Ettore “Big E” Ewen (@WWEBigE) March 20, 2019
In what is slowly being described as the Reality Era of the WWE, using social media and comments to blur the lines even further (such as Ronda Rousey‘s recent comments on wrestling being “fake”), it appears that Kofi’s constant roadblocks has lead to the WWE utilizing a longstanding concern from wrestling fans – and in particular, African-American fans – that the WWE has consistently held back African-American wrestlers when it comes to the main event and World Championship scene. While there have been African-American champions in the past, such as The Rock, Booker T and Mark Henry, the list is increasingly sparce in comparison to Caucasian wrestlers. With Big E’s comments on his Twitter promo drawing light to how “people like us” are kept from reaching the “peak of the mountain”, it appears that Kofi’s story is taking a reality slant of its own, as WWE is forcing itself to look in the mirror about its use of African-American wrestlers in the main event, and doing it as part of it’s story about Kofi Kingston.
