5 Possible WWE Championship challengers for Kofi Kingston after Extreme Rules

Kofi Kingston defeated Samoa Joe at WWE Extreme Rules to extend his WWE Championship reign to 99 days and counting.

The story of the match revolved around Kingston’s middle finger, which he used to insult his rival on SmackDown Live in the build-up to their title match. As payback, Joe targeted the WWE champion’s finger throughout their match at Extreme Rules before locking in his trusty Coquina Clutch submission.

In the end, Kingston delivered Trouble In Paradise – a move that has recently become the most devastating finisher in WWE – to pick up a hard-fought victory over “The Samoan Submission Machine”.

Moving forward, it is uncertain whether Joe will remain in the WWE Championship picture or whether a new name from Raw or SmackDown Live will step up and challenge Kingston ahead of the SummerSlam pay-per-view on August 11.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at five opponents who we could see the New Day member face next.

---

#5 Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe has lost all eight world title matches that he has competed in as a member of WWE’s main roster, failing to win the Universal Championship from Brock Lesnar (x2) and the WWE Championship from AJ Styles (x4), Daniel Bryan (x1) and Kofi Kingston (x1).

It is difficult to see where the former NXT champion goes from here in the coming months, especially as he also lost the United States Championship to Ricochet three weeks ago at Stomping Grounds.

Based on the record that he has in world title matches, there is no way that Joe deserves another opportunity against Kingston. However, based on the strong build-up to Sunday’s Extreme Rules encounter, it would not be all that surprising if WWE extended this rivalry by adding more Superstars to the storyline before SummerSlam.

#4 Shane McMahon

Following Kevin Owens’ actions over the last two weeks, it appears that WWE could be looking to book a match between the former Universal champion and Shane McMahon in the near future, possibly at SummerSlam.

However, despite KO’s recent outbursts, it is worth remembering that Shane still has all the power on SmackDown Live (and Raw, technically), as there has been no on-screen update to the storyline development from December 2018 that the McMahons and Triple H are in charge of WWE’s main-roster brands.

With that in mind, why would “The Best In The World” accept a match against Owens when he is yet to challenge Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship?

The former SmackDown Commissioner would be the biggest heel in the building on August 11 if he attempts to win WWE’s top title from the popular Kingston at SummerSlam, and Shane giving himself more television time in the build-up to the event would also play nicely into his storyline with Owens.

#3 Braun Strowman

Looking at the list of top Superstars who have momentum coming out of Extreme Rules, Braun Strowman stands out as somebody whose career would benefit the most from winning a world title.

In 2017 and 2018, “The Monster Among Men” was unable to claim the Universal Championship at five different pay-per-views, giving him an unwanted reputation as a Superstar who regularly fails to win the big one.

With Brock Lesnar now the Universal champion, Strowman cannot afford to lose yet again to “The Beast”, which is why he is much more likely to achieve success in the world title picture if he moves over to SmackDown Live and challenges Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship.

It is easy to forget that Kingston’s most recent challenger, Samoa Joe, is a Raw Superstar, so the ‘Wild Card Rule’ would presumably allow Strowman to switch to the blue brand in the same way that Joe did.

The only question is whether WWE would turn the former Wyatt Family member heel again if he were to feud with Kingston.

#2 Randy Orton

Depending on who you believe, Randy Orton has been absent from WWE television for the last month due to pre-arranged time off or due to a neck injury.

Either way, “The Viper” returned to action last week at live events, losing in consecutive nights against Aleister Black, and it looks as though his televised comeback is just around the corner.

There has been a familiar pattern with Orton’s career over the last seven years where he moves away from the WWE Championship/Heavyweight Championship picture for around 12-18 months after losing the title, then he is heavily involved in the world title scene again.

Now, however, it is almost two years since his 2017 rivalry with Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship ended, so it is about time that the 13-time world champion returned to the main-event spotlight and renewed his rivalry with old enemy Kofi Kingston.

#1 Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan & Rowan lost their SmackDown Tag Team titles to Big E & Xavier Woods in a Triple Threat match, which also involved Heavy Machinery, at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view.

Following the event, Bryan repeatedly mentioned in a backstage interview that he failed in his mission to headline WrestleMania as a tag champion and he gave a strong hint that he will soon return to being a singles competitor again.

"If I want to change the planet, if I want to save the planet, I have to... I have to admire. I have to admire. I have to go where Daniel Bryan has not gone before. I know exactly what I have to do..."

Although it is not clear what Bryan is referring to, there is only one thing worth chasing as a singles competitor on SmackDown Live, and that is the WWE Championship.

Bryan vs. Kingston was viewed as the best match of the night at WrestleMania 35, so why not allow them to face off for the second time on PPV at SummerSlam?