Kofi Kingston lost the WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar in a matter of seconds during the inaugural episode of Friday Night SmackDown on Fox. Despite the sudden nature of his loss, the New Day member has been acting like it never happened on subsequent episodes of the show. However, a new Sportskeeda report has revealed that WWE had other ideas in mind for Kingston in the weeks that followed.
“The plan was for Kofi to be the weak link in New Day. He’d lose matches and he’d do a lot of stuff to make you realize he’s not actually okay. We’re not talking heel turn or anything like that. He’d still be Kofi. He’d just be angry and out for revenge.”
According to the report, Big E and Xavier Woods would have been given a successful run with the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, while Kingston would have ventured off on his own to find his form again. Kingston would also have displayed some twisted behavior, such as laughing when the New Day’s pancakes got crushed.
However, the plans had to be scrapped after Woods suffered an injury that will keep him out of action for the foreseeable future. The injury resulted in Kingston being paired with Big E for the New Day’s current title reign, and the duo have been successful ever since.
WHAT?!?!?! In SECONDS!
We’ve got a new champion! #SmackDown @BrockLesnar pic.twitter.com/o3nAcqQ3xL
— WWE (@WWE) October 5, 2019
Of course, the original storyline idea for Kingston sounds more interesting, as it would have shown that he cared about his loss to Lesnar. Shortly after winning the title, Lesnar moved to the Monday Night Raw brand to feud with Rey Mysterio, and Kingston’s inability to get revenge on “The Beast” could have resulted in some compelling character development.
The good news is that WWE has continued to book Kingston strongly since his loss. Should he ever receive another World Championship match, he’ll at least be presented as a credible contender for the title.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, Kingston opened up about his title loss in an interview. While he understood WWE’s decision to put the championship on Lesnar, he revealed that the manner in which he lost the match was disheartening.
Lesnar is one of the company’s biggest draws, but he has been criticized for being a lazy performer. He’s a part-time wrestler whose matches tend to only last a few minutes, which ends up making his opponents look weak. Kingston was a casualty of this type of booking, and as a firm fan favorite, the WWE Universe didn’t want to see him lose at all.