REVEALED: WWE's Original Plans For Kofi Kingston, Kevin Owens & Money In The Bank 2019
Kofi Kingston vs. Kevin Owens was NOT what WWE had in mind...
Kevin Owens will likely challenge for Kofi Kingston's WWE Championship at Money In The Bank 2019 (19 May), with the company setting the bout up through KO turning on 'The Deadlocked Dynamo' to close this week's SmackDown.
The bout, if booked, is a potential crowd-pleaser, but Owens wasn't WWE's first choice to face Kofi at the upcoming pay-per-view.
According to Dave Meltzer on a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, the company wanted Kingston to defend his title against Daniel Bryan in a rematch of their epic WrestleMania 35 encounter. This had to be scrapped when Bryan was injured at 'Mania, with the former champion's status still a closely-guarded secret.
WWE then considered Randy Orton and Rowan as potential Kofi opponents. Bringing Baron Corbin or Drew McIntyre over from Raw was also discussed, but they ultimately went with Owens, who was originally supposed to stay a full-on babyface after returning from injury earlier this year.
Those vignettes that put Owens over as an everyman were supposed to portray him as a "guy next door" like the average audience member, albeit one who could beat people up. A long babyface run was supposed to ensue, with WWE giving him the Stone Cold Stunner to help with that, but he was turned to feud with Kofi.