Kofi Kingston cements legacy with Gauntlet match performance

No one expected for Kofi Kingston to turn Mustafa Ali's misfortune into an amazing performance, but that's exactly what happened on this week's episode of SmackDown Live.

Following the news that Ali was injured and couldn't compete at Elimination Chamber, Kingston was chosen as Ali's replacement in the Elimination Chamber and tonight's gauntlet match.

The WWE veteran faced Daniel Bryan to start the gauntlet and was considered by many to be a candidate for an early elimination, but Kingston would defeat the WWE Champion and pick up victories over Jeff Hardy and Samoa Joe - two of WWE's biggest stars.

In an age where many fans equate successful careers to the number of world titles a Superstar has held, Kingston's versatility as a wrestler has continued to benefit WWE and has gotten them through a lot of rough patches.

The New Day's formation in 2014 put Kingston's singles career on the backburner, but has proven to be a vital piece to the development and survival of WWE's tag team divisions.

Whether teamed with CM Punk or R-Truth, Kingston always found a way to make the best out of his tag teams and took it to a new level when The New Day started wrestling for the gold.

From having one of the longest tag team title reigns in WWE history to keeping SmackDown afloat with their rivalry with The Usos, New Day have been helping carry the tag team division for so long, that many fans have forgotten how great of a singles competitor Kingston is.

His debut 11 years ago on ECW proved to be the beginning of a successful career even without ever holding a world championship.

Kingston's won the Intercontinental and United States Championship multiple times since 2008 and defeating superstars like Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre and The Miz in the process.

His incredible performances in the Money in the Bank and Royal Rumble matches have always helped turn good matches into great matches, but his performance tonight was a true return to form.

Kingston wrestled nearly an hour and defeated three men who've all been top guys in WWE, ROH and TNA at one point in their careers.

Despite not ending the night on top, the fans in attendance showered Kingston with the praise he deserved and reminded me why I love professional wrestling.

Three victories over SmackDown Live's top stars and a show-stealing performance was all it took for Kingston to remind fans of his talent and hopefully we can see a lot more from him going forward.