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Kofi Kingston did it again. If Tuesday night was one of the best performances and nights of his career, he seemingly topped it just five days later. How he managed to do it, no one can tell. But Kofi Kingston made more than just a statement.
After 11 years with the company, he proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would be a worthy world champion. Why it took many people this long to realize this is a wonder in itself, but with two back-to-back performances like this, how can he possibly be denied?
Kofi Kingston stole the show at Elimination Chamber, entering third (technically the first to exit the pods) and lasting until the very end. He would put on a show-stealer and get one of the most goosebump-inducing crowd reactions in recent memory. The crowd desperately wanted to see Kofi Kingston win, and he was extremely close to getting it done and winning the big one.
Unfortunately, he fell short in the biggest opportunity of his career. The show ended with him getting a standing ovation while his fellow New Day members were out helping him. Many felt that WWE should have pulled the trigger, and here are a few reasons why it didn't happen.
#5 Heat for Daniel Bryan
This is one of the most obvious and frustrating reasons. Not that it's necessarily wrong, but Daniel Bryan is thriving as a heel, and Kofi Kingston's babyface reactions only help. Who would have thought a year ago that Bryan would get heat like this?
Fans did not want to see him win at all, and they were desperate for Kofi to win. WWE knew that Kofi Kingston being the hottest superstar, would get Bryan heat if he were to be pinned by the WWE Champion.
And that's exactly what happened. Watch the reactions that Bryan gets this Tuesday.
#4 A WWE title match at WrestleMania
For all we know, Kofi Kingston may very well have secured a title match at WrestleMania. Granted, Daniel Bryan will most definitely have one more title defense at Fastlane, but if WWE decides to capitalize on Kofi Kingston's momentum, what better moment could he have than at The Grandest Stage Of Them All?
Think about this, for months even in 2018, we heard rumours of all sorts of matches for WrestleMania. We knew the plans for the RAW Women's title, the Universal title and even AJ Styles and Randy Orton (explains Styles being pinned by Orton twice in a row now) facing at WrestleMania.
But there were no such rumours for the WWE Championship match. It's very possible that based on the reactions he's getting, Kofi Kingston may be headed to face Bryan at WrestleMania. There really is no better match at the momentin WWE!
#3 The Mustafa Ali spot
Mustafa Ali was supposed to be the original competitor at the Elimination Chamber match, but an injury forced him to pull out of the match, and The New Day's Kofi Kingston replaced him in the process.
The rumour is that Ali was also supposed to have a similar performance at the gauntlet match, and there's no doubt that he would have stolen the show too. If he did replicate Ali's spot, then it probably means that Ali would have lasted till the very end at the Chamber as well.
This most definitely would mean that Ali wouldn't win. However, Kofi's story and the reason for crowd investment is very different. Ali is still the new kid on the block, while Kofi Kingston has been scratching and clawing for over a decade.
His big win is years in the making, and that's one reason why the crowd wanted him to win so bad.
#2 WWE is still hesitant to pull the trigger
Unfortunately, this might be the most likely reason why Kofi Kingston didn't win. Can you count the number of times that WWE didn't capitalize on a superstar that was red hot. You probably lost count.
Just going back to more recent years like 2016, we saw Dean Ambrose become the hottest superstar in the company. Fans wanted him to main event WrestleMania and win the WWE title, but WWE decided to push Roman Reigns anyway.
In 2018, something similar happened, but to Braun Strowman. Superstars not being capitalized during the hottest season of the year is not uncommon, and it's very likely that WWE is just continuing the trend with Kofi Kingston.
After all, they probably want a big name like Daniel Bryan walking into WrestleMania as WWE Champion and aren't sure how Kofi Kingston will draw with the WWE title.
#1 This was a litmus test for Kofi Kingston
More likely than not, this performance was a litmus test for Kofi Kingston. Plans change in WWE all the time, and after his performance on SmackDown Live, WWE felt that they could test Kingston and see the reactions he gets being put in this position.
ALSO READ: 4 Surprising decisions WWE made at Elimination Chamber 2019
Safe to say that if it was, in fact, a test, then he passed with more than just flying colours. He got one of the best reactions in recent memory and it's going to be an unforgettable performance. Xavier Woods and Big E always said that their goal was to make sure Kofi Kingston becomes WWE Champion, and he could be on the verge of getting his moment.
The New Day doesn't necessarily have to break up. Kofi can just focus on singles stardom while the other two continue as a tag team. This performance should be the official arrival of Kofi Kingston into the main event scene.
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