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Ali and Elias have both advanced in the 2019 King of the Ring Tournament over the last two weeks, albeit in completely different fashions. The Drifter capitalized on interference from Shane McMahon in order to defeat Kevin Owens while Ali battled Buddy Murphy in a fantastic showcase for both men.
Since the two will square off with a chance at the semifinals on the line, Elias talked to CBSSports about the match. He thought that due to the contrast in styles, people might be surprised by the match. 411mania.com carried transcripts of the interview.
A Big Opportunity
Ali was supposed to appear in the Elimination Chamber match but an injury forced him to miss out. He was replaced by Kofi Kingston and the rest is history. Kingston is currently still the WWE Champion.
While he has not appeared regularly on TV, Ali has cut passionate promos about writing his own story and being the one to forge his destiny rather than having it fall into someone else's hands.
Elias has been aligned with Shane McMahon since before WrestleMania 35 and it has helped him win the 24/7 Championship on a few occasions. With McMahon not present last week on SmackDown, Kevin Owens took advantage and attacked The Drifter. It allowed Drake Maverick to pick up his fifth 24/7 title. Elias is now focused on his bout with Ali.
“You know what? I think the style is actually going to really come together well, because I’m a brawler and more of a power guy. He’s a littler guy, high-flyer. I think it’s going to mix up nice. Now we’ve never been in the ring together, we’ve never touched anything like that. Hey, who knows I was going to go down once it’s time. But yeah, I think myself versus Ali is going to… It might surprise a few people.”
The Near Future
The winner of tonight's match will move on to face the winner of the Chad Gable/Andrade match in the default finals of the SmackDown side of the bracket. At Clash of Champions, the winners from both brands will face off for the right to become the 2019 King of the Ring.
On this week's RAW, Baron Corbin defeated Cedric Alexander to advance to the semifinals. But due to a double-pin in the match between Ricochet and Samoa Joe, Corbin will next be in a triple threat match with those two men next week.
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