Elimination Chamber 2019: 3 reasons why Kofi Kingston could become the next WWE Champion 

These are exciting times for the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), especially for SmackDown Live. The biggest event of the year, Wrestlemania 35, is just around the corner and the race for marquee championship of the show has gotten extremely intriguing right at the brink of Elimination Chamber 2019.

At Elimination Chamber 2019, the WWE Championship is on the line, with the 'New' Daniel Bryan scheduled defend his precious possession against AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe, Randy Orton, and Mustafa Ali.

However, in a sudden turn of events that may evoke mixed feelings in the WWE Universe, Mustafa Ali was ruled out of the match due to a concussion. Mustafa was replaced by Kofi Kingston.

In the go-home episode of SmackDown Live, a gauntlet match took place involving all the competitors for the Elimination Chamber match. Kofi Kingston, against all expectations and odds, delivered a performance of a lifetime. He survived for 1 hour and 12 minutes and pinned the current WWE Champion, the "New" Daniel Bryan, along with Jeff Hardy, and Samoa Joe.

This performance by Kofi is equivalent to what Seth Rollins achieved in the gauntlet match that took place in the Monday Night Raw episode of 19 February 2018. After that performance, Seth cemented his reputation as a main-event performer, and now he is scheduled to face Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 35.

Kofi Kingston may not be a big enough star attraction to main event WrestleMania, at least not at the moment. However, it would not be too outrageous to see him walk out of the Elimination Chamber as the new WWE Champion. Let's look at the reasons why WWE might actually pull the trigger.

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#1 Rewarding Kofi Kingston for his loyalty to the WWE, and his achievements over the years

Kofi Kingston has won a total of 15 championships since debuting in 2008

11 years and 15 championships. These are statistics of one of the most underrated wrestlers in the WWE, Kofi Kingston. Since debuting on January 22, 2008, Kofi has won the Intercontinental Championship on 4 occasions, the United States Championship on 3 occasions, and Tag Team Championships on 8 occasions.

Despite the 11 years of sheer dedication and commitment towards WWE, Kofi has never been seen as someone who can win the "big one".

With the WrestleMania 35 just around the corner, Kofi would be a transitional WWE Champion at best. However, Kofi finally winning the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber would mean rewarding him for all the hard work he has done over the years. It would be the perfect underdog story which the WWE Universe so dearly loves to witness.

#2 Building up the end of The New Day

The New Day

The New Day is one of the most endearing stables in the history of WWE. It has been also one of the most illustrious stables in the WWE with 5 tag team championship reigns, one of which was the longest title reign for a team at 483 days.

Being part of The New Day has been beneficial for each of its members, Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods, as the group has enjoyed immense popularity in the WWE Universe.

However, it is a general consensus that each of the performers deserves a singles push. It has been highly speculated from time to time that Big E would eventually get that. This has never come to fruition, but Kofi's possible push to the WWE Championship gives the best opportunity to end this run of the stable and provide an opportunity for a singles push to all three.

In a piece of fantasy booking, Kofi winning the WWE Championship could create a rift in The New Day. At Fastlane, the last pay-per-view before WrestleMania, as Kofi defends his WWE Championship against the "New" Daniel Bryan, Big E may interfere in the match to cost Kofi the championship.

This could then lead to the culmination of the entire story at WrestleMania, with the following match: Kofi Kingston v/s Big E, with Xavier Woods as the special guest referee. Xavier could then add much more intrigue to the dynamics, as he would be forced to choose between his two buddies.

#3 Adding new dynamics to the heelish persona of the "New" Daniel Bryan

The "New" Daniel Bryan

The heel turn of Daniel Bryan has given his career a fresh lease of life, which seemed to be tapering off after his much-celebrated return from retirement.

The "New" Daniel Bryan has shown his heelish acts only as the WWE Champion. Giving the WWE Championship to Kofi Kingston would add new dimensions to SmackDown Live and would give new opportunities for Daniel Bryan to showcase his prowess as a heel, as he would try desperately to topple Kofi off the top of the mountain through his promos on SmackDown Live.

A possible WWE Championship feud between Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston would be another reason for celebration in the WWE Universe, as two stalwarts of the WWE would square off in a battle of two polarizing wrestling styles.

The alliance of Eric Rowan with Daniel Bryan has added another level of intrigue to the entire equation and could be used to further build Bryan as the biggest villain in the WWE.