5 reasons why Kofi Kingston will win at WrestleMania

5. “People like you/us”

WWE and The New Day have hinted at the racial undertones in this storyline, throwing out the phrase “people like you/us,” in regards to the New Day’s African American lineage. It’s a phrase wrestling fans of a certain age are well familiar with. In the lead to their match at WrestleMania 19, one of the most controversial matches in ‘Mania history, Triple H said the following to Booker T:

"“Booker, I think you’re a little bit confused about your role in life, here. I think you’re a little bit confused. You see, Booker, you’re gonna get to go to WrestleMania, but you see, the fact is Booker, somebody like you doesn’t get to be a world champion. You see, people like you don’t deserve it. That’s reserved for people like me. You’re not here to be a competitor. You’re here to be an entertainer. That’s what you do. You entertain people. Hell, you entertain me all the time. Go ahead, Book, why don’t you entertain. Go ahead, do a little dance for me, Book. Go ahead give me one of those spinaroonies. C’mon Book, dance. That’s what you do. You’re here to make people like me laugh.”"

It’s one of the most abhorrent and vile promos in the history of the WWE and there’s no way it would fly today; it’s probably why the current storyline has only alluded to the racial aspect. And honestly, as deplorable as those words were and still are, Triple H was a villain and villains are intended to be awful people, so it would have been fine had moral order been restored and our hero, Booker T, won. However, as we know, that was not the case. Booker T was debased and humiliated with no payoff. Triple H threw out racial dog-whistles and disrespected Booker T without any retribution from our hero. It’s one of the biggest travesties in WWE history.

Unfortunately, it’s not all that uncommon. WWE has a long history of mishandling (to understate) performers who belong to non-hegemonic groups. Minority performers are often cast as dangerous others, or an entertaining act not to be taken seriously.

It’s been well documented, but not emphasized enough, that the WWE has only had one Black WWE Champion — The Rock. While Booker T and Mark Henry have been World Heavyweight Champions, both doing phenomenal work during their reigns, they were never the face of the company and always on the “B” show. Kofi Kingston has a chance to be the WWE Champion, and though he’ll be on SmackDown, the belt’s lineage remains, and with SmackDown moving to Fox the “B” show implication may be moving on as well.

Kingston could be the first Black WWE Champion since The Rock, and a chance to represent “people like him” as they should be, not a foreign villain, not a sideshow, but as capable as being a conquering hero as anyone else. At WrestleMania, he’ll do just that.