My Mom's Basement - FRIDAY BONUS EPISODE 4 - KOFI KINGSTON

Episode Date: May 24, 2019

WWE Champion Kofi Kingston joins Robbie and Carrabis for a very special From The Top Rope interview about his WrestleMania moment, working with Kevin Owens, having to be in the ring during the Game of Thrones finale, and more!!!You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mymomsbasement

Hey My Mom's Basement listeners, you can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Can I just say one thing? Say one thing, Jared. One thing. Oh, you did it. I did it. So here, I have to say this, because it's very weird for me, when I interview baseball players, very calm, don't really give a shit. When I interview pro wrestlers i get

nervous still it's the kid in you i think comes out a little bit like i get like dry mouth like when i like i'm always like oh fuck oh fuck like now is my like whenever i'm whenever i'm listening to them give their answer and then i know that i'm the next person to ask the question yeah i get like very like dry mouth and i'm like fuck and fuck, and then I have to go. That never happens unless it's with a pro wrestler. It happens with me with pretty much everyone I interview, but pro wrestlers especially. And if you clicked on this episode, you know the pro wrestler we're talking about on the show today. It's the WWE champion. It's the champ.

Kofi Kingston. Kofi Kingston. The motherfucking champ. The champ. It's unbelievable that we got Kofi. We've been chasing him down for a while. Long time. WrestleMania week, we were trying real hard to get kofi we were rallying for it the week after wrestlemania we were rallying for it the wwe knows they actually hooked us up with this because

they know how long we've been trying to get kofi we got him we had a 15 minute time limit because he's at smackdown while we were recording but it really lived up to the hype it lives up to my expectations we talked a lot about wrestlemania i know everyone wants to know about wrestlemania while we were recording, but it really lived up to the hype. It lived up to my expectations. We talked a lot about WrestleMania. I know everyone wants to know about WrestleMania, about what Kofi thought of that moment. One of the greatest WrestleMania moments there ever was, we talked a lot about it.

We talked about that. We talked about Money in the Bank, Kevin Owens, Game of Thrones, Red Sox baseball. That is true. I mean, like, you know, you can't forget that connection that Kofi and I have. Yeah, I didn't even remember that until you brought it up during the interview i was like oh yeah he is a socks fan because i'm boston i don't know if he's he went to either bc or bu i know he has bu i know he has boston ties yeah and there was like i forget um i took I took one of like the new day intro, like intros when they're like being

town, like one of those. Oh yeah. And I just like dubbed it over. And like when they were the tag team champions, I replaced it with world series champions and I did like this whole thing. And then Kofi retweeted it. Oh wow. So you had a little connection coming into this.

Yeah. Yeah. I had never had prior contact to Kofi, but I think after this, the three of us are just pals now. We're best friends. We are. So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, the WWE champion, Kofi Kingston.

It's a new day! Yes, it is! What up? Kofi, you're on the line with Robbie and Jared from Barstool Sports. Robbie, Jared, you're on the line with WWE champion, Kofi, you're on the line with Robbie and Jared from Barstool Sports. Robbie, Jared, you're on the line with WWE Champion Kofi Kingston. Sir, it's an honor. It's an honor to have you. Thank you for joining the show. Thank you for making the time for us.

Of course, man. It's all good. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. You're coming fresh off a win at Money in the Bank over our boy Kevin Owens. He was our boy. You're our boy. It's tough to see your friends fight, but when it happens, it happens. You were victorious. How was that? How are you feeling coming fresh off that win? I feel good, man. You know, Kevin Owens, he's really good. You know, a lot of people don't like his attitude, and you know, I'm one of those people, but you can't take away from his in-ring talent, you know, his ability on the mic. You know, he's been doing this for a very long time, so to be able to get in there and actually mix it up with him, you know, one-on-one, it was really cool, man.

It was kind of like a first time that that's happened. So, yeah, it was good, man. I feel real good. I feel good. He is one of our boys, so we have to ask, how was it like actually working with him and collaborating with him creatively? Because we think he's one of the best in the world all around from talking, from being in the ring, everything. So how was that for you?

Yeah, it was great. It was great working with him, especially from a creative process because he does think a little bit differently than, than everybody else. So the matches, you know, in that respect end up being that much, you know, that just a little bit different than what you're going to see on the card. You know, I think we both have the same attitude that anytime we go out there, we want to steal the show.

So that's really the goal. And I think when you have two people to come together like that, and we do have pretty good chemistry too, we got a chance to work together all over the European tour. And, yeah, it was a great process all around, just from having the matches, we put the matches together, and then executing the most important part. So, yeah, it was good. I hope we can do some more stuff in the future, you know what I'm saying? I think we've really just kind of scratched the surface of what we can do.

Yeah, and something interesting about this match that maybe not everyone realized was that I'm a big Game of Thrones fan. You are a big Game of Thrones fan. This match went down during the series finale of Game of Thrones. Was it killing you, knowing that you were missing out while you were in the ring? Not necessarily, only because I, so I have not been able to watch

any Game of Thrones live because we always are working on Sundays, you know? So the plan is always to watch it as soon as we're done here. So the challenge, though, is trying to remain spoiler-free. Like, I have to go on radio silence, social media silence, because people want to get on there and just spoil things for whatever reason. We call it heathing, heath-splatering,. Heath Slater's a big, he's a big spoiler. He's always been a big spoiler, you know.

Oh, I'm just going to tell you this one part. You know, it's not going to ruin anything, but I don't want to hear anything about it. Oh, just this one part. And they'll just, you know, go on to tell you about the plot of the movie. So that's the challenge is going out there and trying to play dodgeball in terms of

dodging all these spoilers, you know what I mean? So, yeah, no, but we got to see it, though. We sure did. So, yeah, it was good. dodge ball in terms of uh dodging all these spoilers you know what i mean so um yeah no but we got to see it though we sure did so so yeah it was good so kofi robbie and i were at wrestlemania it was my second wrestlemania that i've been to live uh so i don't have a whole lot to go on in terms of like the fan experience i've been to tons of pay-per-views i've been to tons of raws and smackdown over the years um But describe to me what it felt like because I cover baseball. Shout out Red Sox.

You have some Boston ties there. World Series champs, no big deal. But I kind of compare it to when I ask guys that hit home runs, like if it's their first major league home run or if it's a walk-off home run, big moment in the World Series, and they always describe like,

hey, if I'm running around the bases, I don't remember anything from that. Like it was a walk-off home run, big moment in the World Series, and they always describe, like, hey, if I'm running around the bases, I don't remember anything from that. Like, it was a blur. Do you remember anything from being in the ring after your hand was raised as the new WWE champion? It was definitely a blur, and for a lot of reasons. Number one, because we don't really have a whole lot of time to, like, settle in. As soon as that match was over, I was already doing interviews

and had media the next morning. We had Raw the next night, SmackDown the night after that. So we never really have a chance to actually settle in. But Dana Warrior, she writes articles, and particularly involves WWE superstars. So she actually sent me about 20 questions a couple weeks ago that I've had a chance to like sit down and answer. And it really forced me to like take a look at how I really felt,

you know, sit down and like take it all in. And only because she sent that was I able to really kind of, you know, remember all the details. I still haven't watched the match back. But it was crazy, you know. It's one of these things where like you have a dream as a kid. We always tell kids not to try what we do at home, and we definitely don't encourage that. But when I was a kid and I was doing these things at home that I wasn't supposed to be doing,

I would pretend that I was in WrestleMania wrestling for the WWE title. So the fact that it actually happened, uh, the cliche dream come true is not cliche with me at all. It's like exactly what happened. So, um, it was, I mean, I don't know, I've never been in a Superbowl or a world series, so I don't know that feeling, but, uh, for me it is, it's, it's just, it's unimaginably huge. Just to be able to say that you accomplished a lifetime goal is crazy. And then the journey that I had to take to get here, being a legitimate 11-year, over 11-year struggle to try to climb the ranks. And even still, this only happened because somebody got hurt, and I filled in. If Ali doesn't get

hurt, I don't fill in at, um, at elimination chamber. And I don't even know if I'm on the card at WrestleMania, but, uh, the stars aligned and, um, and I was able to replace him and, um, you know, it just kind of took off from there. So, uh, to, to, to actually be in there and, and get my hand raised, it was like, uh, like, maximum climaxes in emotion, back to back to back. So, number one, like, getting that one, two, three, I was like, oh, my God, did this actually happen? Like, the world stopped, you know? And then before I could even take that in, Ian Woods are on me celebrating. I can't move, you know?

And it was an amazing moment then because we've worked so hard as a group to to get to this point like this has always been the goal you know to uh to to lift each other up to the highest possible point and the wwe championship is the highest possible point so i thought that was the most you know the the highest point that i could get to and then all of a sudden they bring the title into the ring and then they're hoisting me on their shoulders now i'm hoisting the title up in front of 85 000 people and then i thought that was like the best moment ever and then all of a sudden my kids were in there and i got to step back and watch them celebrate you know and then my son you know my oldest son gets the second rope and displays the

shirt like you know like like he knows we gotta sell merch you know what i mean he great balls it up and throws it out and now he's just like ecstatic and my other son is just ecstatic i'm looking out into the crowd my wife is there my dad is there for his first wrestlemania you know my little brother's there my brother-in-law like his girlfriend so then i thought that was the greatest moment of all time you know so it just kept getting better and better and better and better and it keeps getting better um and it's just uh it's an indescribable feeling you know um you you you try to imagine how you'll feel in that moment and this completely exceeded by a million you know uh the level of emotion that i that i thought that

i would feel it's it was just an emotional roller coaster and um you know i kind of get like choked up even talking about it because it's just something that I've wanted for so long. And it's finally happened and it's still happening. So I'm a kid in a candy store. You know, I'm on cloud nine for sure. Right. I mean, you obviously you talked about a couple of things there. You talked about being a kid dreaming of that moment from when you were a child. But then you also did compete at WrestleMania multiple times before this moment happened.

So, you know, you were on that stage. But then you also did compete at WrestleMania multiple times before this moment happened. So you were on that stage. So once you get put into this match and you know that this is a thing that's actually happening, your dreams of that moment coming to fruition as a child, talk about what you imagined as a kid and then what you imagined in just the days and hours and minutes before the match actually went on. And is there anything that didn't happen that you imagined? Or is there anything like how did those thoughts for you compare to the, to what actually happened? Well, I think so as a kid, you can't even put in the perspective what,

what it's going to feel like, because as a kid, you just, so for me, my goal as a child was like, I want to win every single championship in WWE. And that's like a real lofty goal. You know what I mean?

It's you get to a certain point as a WWE superstar and it's like, Oh, nobody wins all the championships. And then over the years, I win one and then I win another one and another one. And I'm like, OK, I'm like one or two away from actually achieving this goal. But I think also, too, like when you're when you're a kid or when I was a kid anyway, I just wanted to be in the ring and have matches. And being a WWE superstar, actually having it happen to me and, and, you know, achieving that goal. It's so much more like what we do in the ring is huge, but it's

really a small part of what we do. Uh, the emotion that we're allowed to, uh, make people feel is really, I mean, that, that to me is what it's all about, right? Like being able to look out in the crowd and have people cheering or booing or whatever, but you're connecting with so many people. And for me at WrestleMania, for me winning this championship, I didn't realize that like as many people, you know, that people wanted this to happen as badly as I did, you know? And that to me is like it just made me feel so good about the fact that I'm doing my job. Like I'm going out there and I'm connecting with people and allowing people to

come on this 11 year journey. It's not just me. It's all of us. Everybody who supported me, you know, everybody who's followed me through the years, all of us, we all achieved this, you know? And that, so it exceeded my expectations as a child. I don't think that there's anything that I, you know, I think it was like, honestly, it was picture perfect. Because like I said, I mean, I wish my mom could have been there. That might be the only thing that I wish would have happened. But everybody else was there. And, you know, I talked to my mom like right afterwards, too.

So she's always with me in spirit and everything so um but everything else was picture perfect like you can't really write a better story than that you know for myself again like having uh the dream of being a wwe champion um having that come true but then also the fact that like daniel bryan was my perfect opponent you know if it if two years earlier he was in the same exact predicament that I was, where the powers that be were giving him a hard time and making his path to the top very difficult. And then, you know, the Yes Movement happened,

where the people embraced him and really demanded that he be thrust into that light and be thrust into the position to where he was able to win two matches, open WrestleMania and close WrestleMania, and have one of the most historic and memorable moments in WrestleMania history, becoming the WWE champion. And then now, you know, the irony of the fact that two years later, he's the one in the position of making my path difficult and the people are embracing me.

It was picture perfect. You couldn't write a better story than that. I couldn't have had a better opponent in Daniel Bryan, and not to mention he's one of the best on the planet at what he does, not to mention probably in history. So it was just awesome on so many levels. Everything happened the way that it needed to happen in terms of my career and my life, really, in order for this moment to mean as much as it did.

So I wouldn't change a thing thing except for flying my mom in and putting her in the front row with the rest of my family. But, um, other than that, everything was picture perfect. The stars definitely aligned. And as two people that were there for WrestleMania, that were there in the buildup, I know, you know this, but I could promise you that the people were behind you. Everyone wanted it just as much as you did. It was one of the greatest WrestleMania moments I've ever seen.

It truly was, and I think it'll be included in video packages for years to come. Forever. I mean, for decades. Literally forever. Yeah, like then, now, forever. This was a forever moment. Yes.

It was incredible. Kofi, every time we interview a wrestler, we ask them the same closing question. Can you recommend for our listeners an obscure match for them to go back and watch? You don't have to be in it. You could be in it. Just anything that you don't feel got the do it deserved. Okay, so I have two. Number one, I got to go in. Someone might have given you this one before, but Halloween Havoc, Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero. Oh, yeah. My favorite WCW match of all time, Kofi. It was amazing. And then also so as a performer, knowing. So I went and read one of the things he had talked about in there was the fact that like they had to fight to get to, you know, to try and steal the show. And being a WWE superstar and being somebody who has not been, like, pushed at the level of your quote-unquote top superstars,

I knew that exact struggle that they were going through and that point and statement that they were trying to make, you know? So it makes it that much more emotional to watch and realize, like, hey, man, like, you know, you go out there and you try to steal the show every single time you go out, no matter where you're put on the card, you just go out there and do it. And watching them do exactly that is awesome as a student of the game, you know. And then the second match, this is really, really obscure. I don't even know exactly when it was, but it was Mark Henry

and Chavo Guerrero on a smackdown and uh something where chavo started like you know kind of like bucking up to mark henry and i always remember mark henry just looking at him and just being like oh you're bucking up to me oh it's you a tough guy now and just like the so i think mark henry doesn't get enough due or enough credit as far as being somebody who is just naturally intimidating. And you know that him being the world's strongest man, I guess, and all that, you see that. But go and watch. If you can find that match and watch the things that he's able to do just with his facials and body languages and little things like him slowly clenching his fists like to me that is what makes a match and what makes a character what makes a storyline or a rivalry

or a feud are those little things that you're able to do that just convey emotion a lot of times non-verbally so uh it'll be a wild goose chase for you to go and find out because i'm sure they wrestled a lot but um you know that's that's one of them that always kind of, like, sticks out to me. I just looked it up. If you're out there, if you're looking for this, it appears to be somewhere around June 2006. It looks like that's when they were feuding. Thank you so much.

I couldn't agree with you more, by the way, about Mark Henry. That Hall of Pain run he had as the world heavyweight champion was frigging phenomenal. It was absolutely awesome. Kofi, thank you so much for joining us on the show. Word up, man. I appreciate you guys. Thank you.

All right. Go Sox, Kofi. Yes, sir.