5 Signs that Kofi Kingston is set to lose his WWE Championship

After an 11-year career in WWE, Kofi Kingston finally won the WWE Championship when he defeated Daniel Bryan in the biggest feel-good moment of WrestleMania 35.

Since then, the New Day member has defended his title against Bryan, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Dolph Ziggler, while he also put together an impressive streak of 21 televised victories in a row between April and June.

Unfortunately for Kingston, that winning run came to an end on the July 1 episode of Raw when he lost a six-man tag team match after passing out to a Coquina Clutch from Samoa Joe – the man who will challenge for the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules on July 14.

Before the recent rivalry with Joe began, it looked as though the WWE champion could go on to have a lengthy reign with his title. However, there have been multiple hints over the last couple of weeks that his days with WWE’s top prize could be numbered.

In this article, let’s take a look at five of the biggest signs that the WWE Championship is set to change hands.

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#5 Samoa Joe cannot afford to lose

In 2017, Samoa Joe established himself as one of the most believable characters on WWE television following his rivalries with Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn on Raw. As a result, he won a Fatal 5-Way match at Extreme Rules to set up a Universal Championship encounter with Brock Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire.

Although Joe lost the match, he produced a performance that was impressive enough that he was granted another opportunity at the title in a Fatal 4-Way match at SummerSlam. However, once again, he was unable to conquer “The Beast”.

Fast forward one year and Joe was given another shot at winning a world title when he was involved in a long-term rivalry with WWE champion AJ Styles. It looked at various stages as though “The Samoan Submission Machine” would win the title, but Styles ended up retaining in four consecutive one-on-one PPV matches.

Now, after two years of world title failures, Joe is in a position where he simply must win. If he loses yet another major rivalry for the third year in a row, he will never be taken seriously as a credible title holder ever again.

#4 The stop-gap title challenges are over

Following Kofi Kingston’s WrestleMania 35 victory over Daniel Bryan, his next two PPV opponents were Kevin Owens (Money In The Bank) and Dolph Ziggler (Super ShowDown and Stomping Grounds).

The general feeling amongst fans was that Ziggler had been brought back to WWE television as a stop-gap opponent for Kingston at Super ShowDown because Owens had refused to compete in Saudi Arabia.

However, “The Showoff” recently revealed in an out-of-character interview with the Sunday Night’s Main Event podcast that his rivalry with Kingston was pitched three months in advance, which suggests that WWE had a long-term plan for the New Day member to keep the WWE Championship at least until the Owens and Ziggler feuds were over.

Now, with respect to those opponents, neither looked likely to win the title from Kingston so soon after his WrestleMania triumph. Samoa Joe, in contrast, is the first post-Mania opponent who appears to be a legitimate threat to the WWE champion.

#3 Kofi Kingston’s winning streak has ended

Between his WrestleMania 35 victory over Daniel Bryan and his submission defeat to Samoa Joe in a six-man tag team match, Kofi Kingston won 21 matches in a row on Raw, SmackDown Live and PPV.

The run was made even more impressive due to the fact that recent title holders in WWE, notably The IIconics as Women’s Tag Team champions and almost every person who has been United States champion, often lose non-title matches on weekly television.

For the last three months, Kingston has been portrayed as an invincible champion who overcomes the odds in every match whenever he hits his trademark Trouble In Paradise kick to the head.

In recent weeks, however, his invincible run was damaged when he took a fall against Dolph Ziggler in a 2-out-of-3 Falls match on SmackDown Live, and then it finally came to an end when he passed out to the Coquina Clutch on Raw.

#2 Why else has Samoa Joe moved over from Raw?

Many WWE fans have complained recently about Alexa Bliss, a Raw Superstar, being allowed to challenge Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.

Due to the ‘Wild Card Rule’, which enables a select few Superstars to appear on an opposing brand on a week-to-week basis, Bliss is technically not breaking any rules by showing up on the blue brand, and nor is Raw’s Samoa Joe when he moves across to SmackDown Live to continue his rivalry with Kofi Kingston.

The difference between the two storylines is that Bliss vs. Bayley feels less about the SmackDown Women’s Championship and more about Bliss’ ongoing friendship with Nikki Cross, while Joe’s only focus is to win a title that is owned by a different brand.

Given that there are plenty of worthy Superstars on SmackDown Live who could have been next in line for a shot at Kingston’s WWE Championship (Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura etc), WWE’s surprising use of Joe in this storyline must mean that there is a long-term plan for him.

#1 Brock Lesnar can cash in on either world champion

Brock Lesnar produced one of the biggest WWE surprises of the year so far when he entered the men’s Money In The Bank ladder match at the last minute and unhooked the briefcase to emerge as the unlikely 2019 winner.

In previous years, the holder of the Money In The Bank briefcase has only been allowed to cash in their contract on the world champion who is assigned to their brand. For example, 2017 winners Baron Corbin and Carmella cashed in on SmackDown Live Superstars, while 2018 winners Braun Strowman and Alexa Bliss cashed in on Raw Superstars.

Going by those rules, as Lesnar is a Raw Superstar, he should only be allowed to cash in on Universal champion Seth Rollins, but “The Beast” has decided to take the unique approach of teasing cash-ins on both Rollins and WWE champion Kofi Kingston in recent weeks.

Given that this is something that has not been permitted in the past, the rule change seems to suggest that Raw's Lesnar will cash in on whoever is holding SmackDown Live's top title, which happens to be Kingston right now.