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.
#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.