Kofi Kingston Denied WrestleMania Title Shot Following SmackDown Gauntlet Match Loss

Kofi Kingston nearly survived an hour-long gauntlet match Tuesday night on SmackDown to earn the [...]

By Ryan Droste

Kofi Kingston nearly survived an hour-long gauntlet match Tuesday night on SmackDown to earn the right to face WWE Champion Daniel Bryan for the title at WrestleMania 35. But it wasn't meant to be.

The match began just as the second hour of the show started, with Kingston's first opponent being Sheamus of The Bar. The announcers harped on how difficult it would be for Kingston to survive for an entire hour and earn his championship shot, and Kingston was forced to expend a ton of energy on his very first opponent with Sheamus giving him a run for his money. In the end, Kofi pinned him just prior to the 15 minute mark.

The second opponent was Cesaro, who attacked Kingston from behind with a running uppercut just as Kingston was celebrating his victory over Sheamus. Cesaro had been watching his tag team partner in the opening contest and used the opportunity to gain the advantage early on. However, just over five minutes later Kingston defeated him following the SOS.

Erick Rowan was the third challenger for Kofi to take care of. It followed the same pattern of Kofi opponent destroying him from the on-set and him having to climb a hill to get back into it. However, Rowan took Kingston to the outside and ended up getting disqualified after using a chair. However, that was the game plan as the announcers reinforced that Rowan was doing whatever he could to render Kingston unable to compete for the rest of the match so that he wouldn't get the title shot against his partner, Daniel Bryan, at WrestleMania. Rowan through him into the ring posts and then used the Iron Claw to send Kofi through an announce table.

Out next? None other than the U.S. Champion, Samoa Joe. Once again, Kofi's opponent dominated the match and then Kingston pulled out a surprise victory at the end. Following Kingston's unlikely victory over Joe, a dismayed Joe locked in the Coquina Clutch as officials had to pull him off of Kofi.

The next and final opponent was none other than Randy Orton. After once again just trying to hang on, Kingston got bits of offense in. He reversed an RKO into the Trouble in Paradise. In the end, he defeated Orton by rolling him up from behind for a pinfall. However, Orton ended up not being the final opponent after all.

Vince McMahon came out to congratulate him on the victory but said he'd be going to WrestleMania if he could beat one final opponent. McMahon banned Xavier Woods and Big E from ringside and out came Daniel Bryan.

After 55 minutes of action, Kingston tried to defeat the WWE Champion during the closing minutes of SmackDown. Bryan took advantage of an exhausted Kingston with the Yes Kicks in the corner and followed that up with a belly to back suplex off the top rope for a near fall.

Kingston escaped the LaBell Lock but then suffered some more Yes Kicks. Kofi reversed a punch into the SOS for a near fall on Bryan. After that, Bryan continued on offense and hit a running kick to the corner and then a second. On the third attempt, Kingston dodged it and rolled him up for another near fall. Kingston missed a move from the top rope and Bryan stomped on his downed opponent.

Bryan came with a running knee, hit it, and pinned Kingston as the crowd was left stunned as SmackDown went off the air.

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