One of the biggest, most welcome surprises in WWE on this Road to WrestleMania TM has been the #Kofimania angle. When Kingston replaced Ali in the Elimination Chamber, he immediately made everyone who had forgotten realize how great he is with an incredible gauntlet match performance on Smackdown. This inspiring moment turned into a storyline backed by a social media movement and an amazing run in the Elimination Chamber.
However, in a move that has been acknowledged onscreen to parallel what’s currently going on with Becky Lynch, the McMahons ended up yanking a Fastlane title shot away from Kingston almost as soon as they had granted it. Then at Fastlane, they took things a step further.
Since Xavier Woods and Big E were booked in a last-minute match on the PPV’s pre-show, Kingston was at Fastlane. He was approached backstage and told that the McMahons wanted to speak to him, then added to the WWE Championship match between Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens by Vince McMahon himself. But there was one stipulation – the rest of the New Day would be barred from ringside. Was this the sign of a swerve to come? It sure was!
He thought he would be competing in a #TripleThreatMatch for the #WWETitle. But instead, @TrueKofi is getting brutalized by The Bar in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match at #WWEFastlane. pic.twitter.com/XsaM6ntKRx
— WWE (@WWE) March 10, 2019
When Kingston got in the ring, an announcement was made that the WWE Championship match would not be taking place at that time, and he would instead be in a handicap match against the Bar. With the ol’ numbers game on their side, Sheamus and Cesaro beat up Kingston for so long a “This is boring” chant broke out. Woods and E ran out to help their friend but were attacked by Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura, who they had faced earlier. The match ended with the Bar defeating Kingston.
This is certainly a dramatic twist in the story of the road to #Kofimania, and it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out on this Tuesday’s Smackdown. What did you think of this development? Does it hurt or help the angle for you at this point? Let us know in the comments!
