WWE star Kofi Kingston signs new five-year contract but reveals how wrestling has stopped him playing with his kids
KOFI KINGSTON, Xavier Woods and Big E have all shunned moves to AEW by signing new five-year contracts to remain with the WWE.
The three members of the New Day, who are the reigning SmacDown Tag Team Champions, negotiated their deals for the same pay and length in a show of solidarity.
Kofi, who is the longest active member of the WWE roster after signing his first professional contract in 2006, was the first to announce his intention to stay.
The 38-year-old revealed the news on the latest episode of the "Feel The Power" podcast alongside Woods, who is expected to be out of action for the next year after suffering a torn Achilles.
Kofi was discussing how beat up his body is when he admitted that the punishing wrestling schedule has had an impact on his playing with his children.
He said: "When I go to play with my kids, we go to like an indoor sports facility at home, and I can't run down the field to play.
"Like I can't run. In the ring it's cool, because it's... 16x16? Whatever it is. [Big E corrected him] 20x20, numbers aren't my thing.
"Whatever the number is, I can do that but as far as running down the field... my son will kick the ball and it's 10 yards away from me and I'm trying to like, to sprint to it, and I'm literally trying to put all my weight on one leg, and hobbling to try and get over there, and we're just kicking the ball around man, and I can't do it. I can't do it right now.
Who knows what my body is going to be like in that 5 years. I can't even get to a game of 7 in 2-on-2 on a basketball court, and I'm a professional athlete
Kofi Kingston
"And I'm not done, I just signed another 5-year contract. So, we got 5 years. So, who knows what my body is going to be like in that 5 years.
"My sons will be getting older and you talk about playing one-on-one basketball... we were at some gym and we [The New Day] played basketball with The Usos, it wasn't even a full-court game, it was half-court, 2 on 2, it took like 45 minutes to get to 7.
"We had to work that night and I'm just like, my hip, my lower back, I retired on the spot. I said that's the last game of basketball I'll ever play because I physically cannot do this.
"And it's scary, man, because there were days when I was younger and would play full-court basketball all day long, all summer long.
"And I would be fine. I can't even get to a game of 7 in 2-on-2 on a basketball court, and I'm a professional athlete, and I can't do it.
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"So, you gotta just be like more judicious with the movements and literally every step you take, every bump you take counts.
"It's just real scary, man, when you think about injuries like this.
"We're friends with a lot of people who are professional athletes, too, and when we tell them about our schedules, and we talk about how we'll get off a plane and have a show that same night.
"If you were to tell an NFL player to get off the plane, go play a game... 'I'm not doing that.' You know what I mean? It's unconscionable. Its unconscionable."