On the February 12 episode of SmackDown Live, one member of The New Day was scheduled to replace Mustafa Ali in the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match at the namesake pay–per–view after Ali suffered an injury, and Kingston was selected as his replacement. On that night, Kingston participated in a Gauntlet match to determine the last entrant in the Elimination Chamber match, where he started off with WWE Champion Daniel Bryan, and lasted over an hour all while eliminating Bryan, Jeff Hardy, and Samoa Joe, before being eliminated by AJ Styles. At the event, Kingston entered the match as the third entrant, and managed to eliminate Randy Orton, and lasted until the final two, before being eliminated by Daniel Bryan. After pinning Bryan in a six–man tag-team match, Kingston was granted a WWE Championship match at Fastlane, but was replaced during his contract-signing by a returning Kevin Owens per the order of Mr. McMahon. On March 10 at Fastlane, Kingston was apparently added into the title match by McMahon, but after entering the ring, it was instead announced that he would face The Bar in a handicap match, which Kingston subsequently lost. After Fastlane, Mr. McMahon told Kingston he would earn a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania if he beat Sheamus, Cesaro, Rowan, Samoa Joe, and Randy Orton in another gauntlet match. After Kingston succeeded in beating the five men, McMahon inserted Daniel Bryan in the match who would defeat him. In what was the last chance for Kingston, McMahon announced a gauntlet match for Big E and Xavier Woods, who were able to defeat five other teams, including Bryan and Rowan to give Kingston his championship match against Bryan at WrestleMania 35. At WrestleMania, Kingston defeated Bryan and won the WWE Championship for the first time, becoming the first African-born WWE Champion in history, as well as WWE's 30th Triple Crown and 20th Grand Slam champion.
Kofi Kingston Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family
|
