WWE Clash of Champions: Kofi Kingston Vanquishes Randy Orton to Retain the WWE Championship

Kofi Kingston finally picked up a definitive victory over Randy Orton on Sunday night when he defeated "The Viper" to retain his WWE Championship at Clash of Champions.

Orton looked to have the match won when he cut off Kingston's momentum with an RKO out of nowhere, but Kingston saved the match by putting his foot on the bottom rope. Orton then attempted to punt Kingston in the skull, but the champ jumped up to dodge the kick and nailed a Trouble in Paradise for the win.

The rivalry between Kingston and Orton stretches all the way back to 2009 when Kingston thwarted The Legacy's attempt to help Orton with a 60-minute Iron Man match against John Cena. The feud was initially seen as Kingston's rise from midcard status to becoming a top draw, but after a botched sequence during a match involving the two Orton reportedly used his backstage influence to knock Kingston back down the card. Kingston has stated in numerous interviews since that even though that backstage story has become apart of WWE television, he claimed it actually happened.

Once Kingston successfully retained the WWE Championship against both Dolph Ziggler and Samoa Joe at multiple pay-per-views, he challenged Orton to a match at SummerSlam. Orton went back to calling Kingston "stupid," saying that he wasn't ready when they fought in 2009 and he isn't ready now either. Their title match wound up ending in a doubel countout when Orton became too distracted by Kingston's family at ringside to realize the referee's count. Orton's threats sent Kingston into a rage, whihc ended with him brutalizing Orton with a kendo stick.

In the weeks that followed Oron claimed Kingston had "run away" during their first match, setting up a rematch at Clash of Champions. To add fuel to the fire, Orton recruited The Revival to help beat up Kingston and the rest of New Day in various surprise attacks.