Kofi Kingston has detailed why he chose to debut in WWE under a Jamaican gimmick instead of leaning into his Ghanaian heritage. Prince Nana, now his ally in AEW, factored directly into that decision.
During an appearance on the TMZ Inside The Ring podcast, Kingston explained that he initially considered a character rooted in his Ghanaian background. Because Nana was already working a similar identity in ROH at the time, Kingston wanted to carve out something distinct, noting, “But one of the big reasons that I went away from a Ghanaian character was because Prince Nana was already doing it in ROH.”
Kingston, who made his official WWE debut on the January 22, 2008 episode of ECW, also acknowledged that the Jamaican gimmick drew criticism from both Jamaican and Ghanaian fans.
While Kingston mentioned during the interview that he did not recall sharing the story before, the explanation had surfaced previously. In 2019, on Lilian Garcia’s Chasing Glory podcast, he cited Nana as one of the reasons he steered away from a Ghanaian character early in his WWE run. When Kingston was developing his gimmick, Nana had already established The Embassy in ROH and leaned heavily into his Ghanaian identity as part of his presentation.
The two have since come full circle in AEW. At All In: London on August 30, Kingston and Austin Creed debuted as The New Level, teaming with Swerve Strickland to capture the AEW World Trios Championship. Nana also helped him avoid elimination during the match.