WWE SummerSlam: 3 reasons why Kofi Kingston should retain

Kofi Kingston has been the WWE Champion since he defeated Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35. His reign has lasted over 4 months now. Kingston has shown that he is the right man to hold the WWE Championship.

Kofi Kingston will be defending the WWE Championship against Randy Orton at SummerSlam 2019. This is Kofi Kingston’s first defense at one of the WWE’s traditional “Big Four” PPVs.

Here are three  reasons why Kofi Kingston should remain WWE Champion after SummerSlam:

Finally avenging Randy Orton will help to solidify Kofi Kington as a WWE Champion

In order to have a great WWE Champion, you have to have a great opponent.

While an argument can be made that Randy Orton’s brightest days are in his rear view mirror, Orton is still a credible challenger to Kofi Kingston.

In an era where feuds are thrown together quickly and finished with no real conclusion, the feud between Randy Orton and Kofi Kingston feels personal and authentic, it is because it is.

WWE has done a masterful job weaving personal tension in a professional storyline.

Most die hard fans remember, what we thought would be the rise of Kofi Kingston in 2009. Kofi had an exciting rivalry with Randy Orton in which Kofi was poised to be the next breakout star. We may never truly know what halted Kingston’s ascension. WWE has done an excellent job leading fans to believe that Randy Orton used his backstage influence to negatively impact Kingston’s rise.

It is a personal issue that fans can relate to. Almost everyone watching has dealt with jealous behavior or politics from a coworker at their job.

Kofi Kingston winning this match against a credible opponent, like Randy Orton, will help to validate him as Champion because he defeated an opponent  that has equity with the fans. It also shows that Kofi can overcome the odds as a WWE Champion, which from a storyline standpoint is not the same as overcoming the odds to become WWE Champion.

Randy Orton is the right wrestler, in defeat, to help add layers and contribute to Kofi Kingston’s Championship reign.

WWE desperately needs a consistent Heavyweight Champion

Part time “attraction” WWE Champions are an incredibly polarizing topic in 2019. There is an argument to be made that Brock Lesnar should be an attraction as WWE Universal Champion.

If having an “attraction” WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion is the route WWE wants to go, that is at their discretion. The hard part is that fans still need a reason to come to the shows where there is not a Universal Champion on the card.

Kofi Kingston has been a consistent Heavyweight Champion in the past four months.

As fans we know that if we watch SmackDown, we are more than likely will get a Kofi Kingston appearance.

This is no knock on Orton, but his days as a full time Heavyweight Champion are a thing of the past.

Kofi Kingston has had solid matches against competitors like Dolph Ziggler, Samoa Joe, Kevin Owens, and more.

WWE, at its core, has always been a traveling circus.. The Heavyweight Champion has always been the workhorse of the company, with a few exceptions. Kofi  has shown to be the workhorse for the last 11 years.

With Kofi Kingston, you know that he will put on a great match on TV, he will be a great face of the company outside of the ring, and is a WWE Champion that fans believe in.

When Kofi Kingston loses the WWE Heavyweight Championship, the loss has to matter.

WWE has tried to force certain competitors down the fans throats since WrestleMania 30.

It can be debated if the WWE really listens to their fans, for every Kofi Kingston rise to the top of the card. There has seemingly been 5 WWE competitors that fans do not get behind yet week after week get thrust into top spots on the card.

The main event rise of Kofi Kingston has felt organic.

Kofi Kingston winning the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35 validated that winning the WWE Heavyweight Championship should still be the focal point of WWE programming.

This next assessment may seem elementary in its description, but sometimes the simple answer is the right one.

In order to Kofi Kingston to win the WWE Heavyweight Championship, someone had to lose the Championship, and that someone’s Championship reign had to matter for Kofi Kingston’s win to mean even more.

Randy Orton, the character, does not need the WWE Championship. Randy Orton has had his time as the full time WWE Champion where he was carrying to WWE flag.

There will be a time when Kofi Kingston does lose the WWE Championship. The winner of that match has to be someone who can gain, character wise, from winning the Championship.

WWE needs to start the SmackDown era on FOX off with a bang when it debuts in October. A great opportunity to have Kofi Kingston lose the WWE Championship would be on the debut episode of SmackDown.