Kofi Kingston, who was raised in Greater Boston, won the WWE Championship after he defeated Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35 on Sunday.

With his victory at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, Kingston, 37, is now the second black WWE champion in the organization’s history following Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — and the first-ever African-born WWE champion.

Born Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah in the West African nation of Ghana, his family moved to Massachusetts in search of a better life when he was 2 years old.

He was captain of the Winchester High School wrestling team before attending Boston College.

After graduating with a business degree in 2003, he took a job in catalog advertising at Staples in Framingham.

“As what happens to a lot of people, I stopped following my dreams,” Kingston told The Republican in a 2011 interview. “But in my heart, I wanted to be in the WWE.”

He decided to quit Staples and follow his dream of becoming a professional wrestler.

When he was signed by the WWE in 2006, the sports entertainment company baptized him Kofi Kingston — a smiling Jamaican wrestler, and his career took off. (A decade ago, his character’s storyline changed and the Jamaican heritage scrapped.)

WrestleMania 35 marked Kingston’s first one-on-one shot for a world championship in his WWE career.

Bryan dominated much of the match before a crowd of 70,000 fans. Then, Kingston went to his signature Trouble In Paradise finisher and pinned Bryan to take the title.