Kofi Kingston Can Set New WWE Record With Gauntlet Match Win on SmackDown Live

Kofi Kingston will have to overcome nearly-impossible odds on SmackDown Live this week in order to [...]

Kofi Kingston will have to overcome nearly-impossible odds on SmackDown Live this week in order to get a WWE Championship match against Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35. The New Day member will have to face Randy Orton, Samoa Joe, Cesaro, Sheamus and Rowan in a five-man gauntlet match in order to get his title shot after asking Vince McMahon who he needed to beat in order to finally get an opportunity. Kingston originally had a one-on-one match with Bryan booked for Fastlane, but McMahon took the title shot away from him and gave it to Kevin Owens, claiming Kingston wasn't a big enough draw at the box office.

According to WWE's official stats Twitter account, Kingston will set a new WWE record if he manages to pull off the miraculous win. The account tweeted out last week that no wrestler has ever won a gauntlet match that required them to beat more than four opponents.

"No WWE Superstar has ever won a Gauntlet Match in which they were responsible for eliminating more than 4 opponents in a row all by his/herself," the account wrote.

As the account pointed out, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin came incredibly close to breaking that record back in 1999. On the final episode of Monday Night Raw before the St. Valentine's Day Massacre cage match between Austin and Vince McMahon, "The Texas Rattlesnake" was booked in a gauntlet match against six members of The Corporation, though the stipulation was that Austin only had to pin one wrestler in order to end the match. Five of the Corporation members — Ken Shamrock, Test, Kane, Chyna and Big Boss Man — were all eliminated from the match one-by-one via disqualification when the next wrestler ran into the ring to stop Austin's attempt at scoring a pin. McMahon himself was the final entrant, and he picked up the victory thanks to some heavy interference from the rest of the group.

Kingston's jump to the world championship title picture came back in mid-February when he was announced as the replacement for an injured Mustafa Ali in the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match. Days before the event itself, Kingston managed to last a full hour in a gauntlet match against his fellow Chamber competitors, defeating Bryan, Jeff Hardy and Joe consecutively before finally losing to AJ Styles.

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