Kofi Kingston's Rise Is Perfect WrestleMania Story...But Will There Be a Payoff?

Had you told anyone at the start of the year that Kofi Kingston would be the most-talked-about talent on WWE's Road to WrestleMania 35, you likely would have been mocked for making such a ridiculous claim.

Yet here we are, days away from the company's biggest show of the year, and the beloved New Day member finds himself on the cusp of finally fulfilling his destiny by becoming WWE champion on Sunday. All things considered, it truly is the perfect WrestleMania story.

While only an elite few Superstars can say they have experienced an equally abrupt rise in recent years, this has actually been over a decade in the making for Kingston. Whether WWE will pay off the exciting angle properly, however, is another question entirely.

Credit: WWE.com

Kingston debuted on WWE's main roster in 2008 and enjoyed a great deal of success in the midcard and tag team ranks. From winning the Intercontinental and United States Championships several times over to reigning as WWE Tag Team champion for a record-setting 483 days with The New Day, he has had quite the career for himself.

The closest Kingston came to achieving superstardom at the main event level was in late 2009 during his feud with Randy Orton. He had just evolved into a much more serious threat and showed real potential as a world championship-caliber competitor.

Of course, the rivalry didn't end in his favor, and following his failure in the Money in the Bank Ladder match at WrestleMania 26, a majority of fans had all but given up on the idea of Kingston ever winning a world title.

Kingston spent the next decade entertaining audiences with his aerial abilities and clinching countless championships, but it always appeared that WWE would never allow him to get beyond a certain level. Then again, he was never given a chance to be more than a midcard player.

WWE turned a negative into a positive by replacing the injured Ali in the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match with Kingston. It seemed like a strange decision at first, but Kingston took full advantage of the opportunity and turned heads with his unbelievable performance that saw him last over an hour.

At that point, officials had no choice but to recognize Kingston's surge in popularity and have him be the one to take on Daniel Bryan for the prestigious prize at WrestleMania 35.

To the company's credit, they were wise to run with Kingston in this spot, when they could have gone with virtually anyone else. Previously, Kevin Owens, Ali and even John Cena had all been pegged to be a part of the title picture heading into 'Mania, but it was Kingston who ultimately secured the spot.

The next step is Kingston walking out of WrestleMania as the new WWE champion, which is the only logical outcome. It's what the fans demand at the moment.

If there was ever a WrestleMania moment worth booking, it would be Kingston overcoming the odds to win the one title he's never held with everyone in the arena cheering him on. To pass up on that would be a massive mistake by WWE, to say the least.

For those under the impression that Kingston isn't WWE Championship material and shouldn't be the champ for more than a few weeks, there's nothing stopping WWE from taking the title off him soon after WrestleMania. Ideally, though, he should ride this wave of momentum for as long as possible and be positioned as the face of SmackDown Live for the foreseeable future.

Unfortunately, WWE's track record of doing the right thing isn't the greatest. They would rather swerve the audience than give them what they want to see or what makes the most sense.

WWE will sometimes never bother to pay off certain angles at all (such as Kingston exacting revenge on Orton 10 years ago), so there's no way of knowing for sure if the company plans to go all the way with Kingston until the event arrives.

What's interesting is that Kingston, Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch—three of the biggest babyfaces in WWE right now—are all currently favored to go over in their respective WrestleMania matches. It would be amazing for the three of them to leave New Jersey as champions, but it'd be almost too good to be true.

Therefore, it's possible Kingston will be the odd man out, resulting in a successful title defense for Bryan. Sure, Kingston could continue to chase the gold going forward, but it wouldn't have the same effect as it would at WrestleMania.

Of all the times to not strike while the iron is hot, Kingston coming up short in his quest of capturing the WWE Championship this Sunday should not be one of them. The story writes itself, but without a proper payoff, the past two months spent building it up will have been for naught.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is an Endicott College alumnus and aspiring journalist. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.