Brock Lesnar's Controversial Ending Of Kofi-Mania Was Decided On By WWE Almost Immediately

KofiMania is undoubtedly one of the most highly-regarded wrestling storylines of the past five years. In a match that Bryan Danielson himself considers his favorite of all time, Kofi Kingston defeated the reigning WWE Champion at WrestleMania 35 to win his first and only world championship in a feel-good moment still celebrated today. However, the end of Kingston's championship reign remains far more polarizing, as he got squashed by Brock Lesnar in seven seconds on "WWE SmackDown" later that year.

Kingston's championship loss has remained a hot topic in the years since, and a former WWE writer recently shed new light on how the title change came about. On Fightful's "In The Weeds," Dave Schilling spoke about his participation in crafting KofiMania as a writer. "I never felt that storyline was treated in a way where Kofi came off as a 'token champion.' That was a great storyline and I'm very proud of the small part I had to play in that." Schilling said. Schilling then revealed that the plan for Kingston's decisive loss to Lesnar was set in motion the same month he won the title

 "We can debate how it turned out in the end, when he lost to Brock Lesnar, which I found out about in April." While Schilling would go on to leave WWE soon after, he says the layout for Kingston's loss was set in stone from very early on. "[The writers] were talking about, 'the plan is first 'SmackDown' on Fox, Brock is going to come in and win the title and it's going to be a quick match,'" Schilling recalled, "That's exactly what happened after I left." In what has become a somewhat infamous stat among fans, Lesnar has actually defeated every Black WWE Champion for the title, ending reigns by The Rock, Kingston, Big E, and Bobby Lashley at various points.