Opinion: Samoa Joe should defeat Kofi Kingston at Extreme Rules to become the new WWE Champion.
A week from Sunday, at the annual Extreme Rules pay-per-view, Kofi Kingston will defend his WWE Championship against Samoa Joe. Joe is a spiteful beast who would do just about anything to win the title, whereas Kofi is the ever-resilient and tenacious champion who will not let go of his title easily.
Kofi and Joe have been at each other's throats for nearly two weeks now, but it is Joe who has gotten the upper hand in the prelude to their match at Extreme Rules. One week ago, Joe viciously attacked Kofi, who had just defeated Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens successively, and laid him out with a Uranage. Joe would then choke him out with the Coquina Clutch. This past week on Raw, Joe once again choked Kofi out in the middle of the ring in a six-man tag-team match. Needless to say, 'The Samoan Submission Machine' has gained considerable momentum, and thus, he poses a serious threat to Kofi's WWE title.
When the WWE Championship match at Extreme Rules is over, Samoa Joe must have his hand raised high and the WWE Championship should then belong to him. There are a couple of reasons why Joe should become the next WWE Champion at Extreme Rules.
Joe is a two-time United States Champion and former NXT Champion. Although he has held championship gold in WWE, he has never claimed a World Championship. He pursued the Universal title in 2017 but was unsuccessful against Brock Lesnar. Last year, he went after AJ Styles' WWE Championship. Unfortunately for Joe, Styles defeated him whenever they faced off for the WWE title. Many fans believe that Joe is 'World Championship material.' He has incredible in-ring skills, his promo skills are fantastic and he is one of WWE's best at both.
Joe is 40 years old now. He competes at a high level and has done so for nearly two decades now. He has been a great acquisition to whichever wrestling promotion he has worked for. For a star of his caliber who has dedicated half of his life to wrestling, he deserves a WWE Championship as a token of appreciation for all that he has done for the wrestling world. Ever since signing with the company about 4 years ago, he has been a loyal and hardworking employee who performs at his absolute best each and every night.
Think of how WWE's landscape would change after Joe wins the WWE title. Keep in mind, Joe is a Raw superstar. For now, he is appearing on SmackDown Live under the Wild Card Rule. If Joe becomes WWE Champion, it would make for interesting programming. Will the Universal Championship go to SmackDown Live? Will Joe defend the title on both shows like Kofi Kingston since WrestleMania? Who would step up to challenge Joe from Raw or SmackDown Live? In the event that Joe wins, all of these aforementioned questions will need to be addressed. Hence, Joe winning the WWE title could add intrigue and drama to WWE programming at a time when it is desperately needed.
Kofi's reign has been an awesome one, but Joe has the potential to be an excellent champion as well. A loss for Kofi does not necessarily mean the end of their rivalry; babyface wrestlers thrive on chasing titles. Meanwhile, Joe can rule as a dominant WWE Champion, putting the whole locker room on notice and establishing himself as the top heel in WWE, an area where other wrestlers are failing.
Joe deserves the WWE title and he needs the WWE title more than Kofi Kingston does at this time.