Opinion: Kevin Owens replacing Kofi Kingston at Fastlane will have a huge impact on the PPV
This past Tuesday night's Smackdown, Vince McMahon announced that Kevin Owens will be replacing Kofi Kingston to fight Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship. This was a shock because Kingston has been in the business longer than Owens thus surely deserves this title opportunity, right?
Kingston has been in the WWE for 11 years and has never had a World title before. Owens has held the Universal Championship previously and has had his share of the spotlight thus far. Why has this sudden change of match up been announced? Has Kingston offended McMahon behind the scenes thus causing Vince to change the schedule with only 10 days to go? I think Kofi should have been given his deserved title opportunity especially as it was announced publicly. As a professional wrestler, to headline an upcoming PPV event would be a major milestone in their career. To then learn that you have been replaced with no valid reason given would surely be demoralizing.
Kofi recently tweeted the following:
"My entire career, has been a series of ups and downs, starts and stops. I really shouldn't be surprised, but this one hurt. We came so close. And I say 'we' because this journey has been bigger than just me. It's Woods' journey, it's E's journey, it's every one of you who has followed and supported my career for the past 11 years.
To have it all stripped away so suddenly is painful, to put it mildly. I appreciate you all more than you know and I thank you all for your love and support. Mark my words: We will be back. The journey will not end here. "
It is heavily rumored that Kofi will face Bryan at WrestleMania 35 to challenge for the title. Is this a change of plan by Vince to invest in fan favorite Kofi during the much higher profile WrestleMania as opposed to FastLane? I think this is a complete injustice not only to Kofi Kingston but to all of his supporters as well. Vince has definitely made a mistake here and viewing figures will most likely reflect this. Had fan favourite Kofi starred at FastLane, many of his fans would have bought this PPV. Now he's not taking part, Just exactly how much revenue would the WWE be losing out on.
Surely the only way to rectify this would be for Kofi to star at WrestleMania and challenge for and possibly win the title.
What do you think about this? Sound off in the comments below!