Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan Closeout the Road to WrestleMania on SmackDown Live

Following this week's SmackDown Live, all of the television is in the books and the road to [...]

Following this week's SmackDown Live, all of the television is in the books and the road to WrestleMania is complete. Now all that remains is a few days until we get to the year's biggest show itself.

Tuesday night's SmackDown broadcast closed out with a contract signing between WWE Champion Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston. Kingston was flanked by his New Day partners, Xavier Woods and Big E, while Daniel Bryan was seconded by Erick Rowan. Michael Cole mediated the proceedings.

As Kingston looked on, Bryan spent the early part of the segment running down his WrestleMania opponent and getting in the last bit of trash talk that he could. He declared that he wouldn't try to talk Kingston out of the match, but he was here to teach everyone a life lesson. He said that nobody should ever be complacent the way that Kofi has been for the last 11 years.

He continued, saying nobody should ever be a bystander in their own life. He said Kofi just stood by as his teammates, Big E and Woods, pushed him to the top last week by winning the tag team gauntlet match that landed Kingston in the WrestleMania championship match.

Bryan's final lesson was to not get swallowed up by a fad. He talked about how the fans used to chant "Yes!" the way they chant Kofi's name now. He said instead focus on the reality of the situation: though the chants make you feel loved, wrestlers don't feed off the fans, they feed off of the wrestlers (calling them "parasites").

At this point, Kofi snatched the microphone away and said it was time to educate Bryan. He talked about the reality being that he has never received a title shot in 11 years despite watching Bryan win the title within his first two years in the company. He said he was okay with it all since it has lead to this moment.

Kofi said he sensed fear in Bryan and noted that he should be scared. He told Bryan that he knows what comes next because he has been here before: he is about to win the WWE Championship.

Kofi dropped the microphone and signed the contract with authority. He celebrated with his New Day partners, playing to the crowd, before closing the final television moment before WrestleMania by going face to face with Bryan in a stare down.

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