When Swerve Strickland shouted out Kofi Kingston during his AEW Dynasty media scrum, noting that KofiMania was a big influence on his professional wrestling career, it was a very nice moment.

Sure, Strickland worked hard to get where he wanted to be, forgoing opportunities at other belts for his shot at the AEW World Championship, but to acknowledge that he didn't do it all on his own, and instead stood on the backs of the giants who came before him was pretty remarkable, especially since Kingston heart it through the grapevine and actually commented on it in an interview with Battleground Podcast.

“I'm fortunate and happy that I could be at the center of that moment. But like I've said a lot of times in a lot of different interviews, a lot of people came together to make that moment happen. [Xavier] Woods, [Big] E, you know what I mean? My wife, my kids, the WWE Universe, you know what I'm saying? Even, like I said, the people that came before me. The Ron Simmons', the Booker Ts, the Mark Henrys, all the people that put that work in and recognition to stand out. Like, it all culminated at that KofiMania moment,” Kofi Kingston explained via F4W.

“So to see like, you know, Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes and Oba doing their thing, it really is a beautiful thing to see. I don't want to sit here and say, ‘Oh, because I did this now they're doing their thing.' They, I think, were going to be successful regardless. But it is a beautiful thing to see people of color out there doing their thing. Like you said, Swerve too, man. I've watched his career for a very, very long time. I've gotten to know him very well over the years. I'm really, really happy for his success too. So it is a beautiful thing, and we are keeping it going. I love it.

“I think it's something where the ultimate goal is to get to a point where we're not talking about like, ‘Oh my god, there's an African American champion. There's an Asian champion.' It's just gonna be a champion, and we're just gonna talk about people as they are, and that's the goal. But it takes time to make it normal, to make it a situation where you're not thinking about the race aspect of it all. But I think we are getting there. The more people that you see, the more used to it that you get, and hopefully you get to a point where you're not talking about that. You're just talking about the individuals and their accolades and their efforts and everything that they've done to get to the point where they're at. So yeah, it feels good to be a part of that journey.”

Is it cool to see an entire generation of young professional wrestlers like Strickland, Carmelo Hayes, and Trick Williams who all came up idolizing Kingston and the rest of New Day? Totally, while the faction didn't get as many opportunities back in the day as they would now if they started because of WWE's – read: Vince McMahon's – preferences for big singles stars over smaller tag teams, let alone a trio. Still, that legacy matters a ton and will only continue to grow as professional wrestling continues to diversify.

Recalling Swerve Strickland's Dynasty comments about Kofi Kingston.

Speaking of Swerve Strickland's comments after AEW Dynasty about Kofi Kingston, it's worth looking back on what he said now that one of his role models has returned the favor.

“Friends of mine. Seeing friends like Kofi. The last five years, that's probably one of the biggest inspirational things you've ever seen, not just Black history, but wrestling history, period. That's motivating. That's inspiring. That makes me be like, I want to do that for the next generation. I don't want to just do it once, I want to do it multiple times. The fact that I was able to somewhat recreate a feeling like that, in just a small amount of time, not 20 years later, not 15, 30, 40 years later, but that close in time, that's progress in my opinion, in my mind. It's not just me, it's a team. Nana is part of that. My people, my family, none of this happens without any of these guys together. All of this is pushing me and pulling something out of me that I didn't know I had,” Swerve Strickland told the media via Fightful.

“Tony believing in me, putting me in opportunities. He didn't give me anything. He gave me an opportunity to make something out of it. It was up to me to do the work. That should go for anybody, not just any black person, any person, period. I hate hearing on social media, ‘Oh, they weren't given a chance.' No, they were given chances, what did they do with those chances? You're given chances, whether big or small, but you have to make something out of that s**t.

“I was given small opportunities, company after company after company, time and promotion. It didn't matter, I found a way to make something out of it and I pushed forward and I made it uniquely me. It was Swerve doing it. It wasn't another wrestler doing it, it was Swerve doing it. That's the only way to progress in this game. If you listen to my podcast, my man Monteasy, we say this s**t every episode. We just had Adam Copeland on saying the same s**t we do every episode, every week.

“We put out that content because it's not just content of us talking, these are tools. We want to give tools to people of the next generation. It's not just us saying it, it's people who have been there and done it that are saying the same s**t I'm saying. If it's not coming from my mouth, maybe it's coming from our guest's mouth and maybe that's going to change someone else's life and get them to get up and be inspired to move forward and do something. Something that they were missing, something small, and they were missing that little nugget, and they go and listen to these people that have done it, been successful in all acts of entertainment and the world. They can go out there and find something, and it's a tool to go move and possibly do something like this.”

Did Strickland expect a response when he mentioned Kingston by name during the Dynasty media scrum? I mean, probably not, but in the end, he got it, and that has to feel pretty darn cool indeed.