The change may not have been his, but Kofi Kingston has been left feeling better after the WWE World Tag Team Championship changed hands.
The March 30 episode of WWE Raw saw Penta defend the Intercontinental Championship against Kofi Kingston, with the Lucha star retaining and declaring a ladder match for WrestleMania 42.
Elsewhere on the show, a Street Fight for the WWE Tag Team Championship would see The Vision (Austin Theory & Logan Paul) leave with the title thanks to a victory over The Usos.
Kofi Kingston would reflect on both matches, sharing a sleeping happily GIF, in a tweet that reads:
“Came up short tonight. Really thought I had that pendejo…damn…
“…but the Usos lost the tag titles. Which does make me feel a little better.”
Alongside Penta’s announcement (with WWE later announcing the field “thus far” for the ladder match), more matches were also confirmed for WrestleMania 42 on April 18 & 19.
The Championship Picture Going Into WWE WrestleMania 42
There’s an argument to be made that it felt like, in the Road to WrestleMania, the champions that fans can expect to see at the PLE are broadly the ones who have held the titles for months beforehand, maybe as far back as the Royal Rumble, if not before.
WrestleMania 42 has been a bit of an outlier in that regard, with Theory & Paul winning the titles under three weeks before the two-night Premium Live Event, or perhaps that’s just a rose-tinted view of the WWE landscape that makes it feel like title reigns in this season were lengthier.
Sami Zayn, who defends the WWE United States Championship against Trick Williams at Allegiant Stadium, started his second reign on March 27, and Cody Rhodes beat Drew McIntyre to become Undisputed WWE Champion earlier the same month as Penta defeated Dominik Mysterio for the aforementioned Intercontinental Championshipship, while AJ Lee bested Becky Lynch to become Women’s Intercontinental Champion at Elimination Chamber on February 28, the day after The Irrestitable Forces (Nia Jax & Lash Legend) overcame Rhiyo to become Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Other titles have been held longer in the run-up to WrestleMania 42, with CM Punk being World Heavyweight Champion since November, Stephanie Vaquer holding the Women’s World Championship since September.
Perhaps this was the plan all along, or maybe it just seems that there were longer reigning champions on the Road to WrestleMania, but past reports of ‘internal frustration‘ of Triple H and the plans ahead of this year’s two-night PLE can’t be overlooked.
No doubt WWE and its stars will pull out all the stops to deliver at WrestleMania 42, but it’ll certainly be interesting to see what the championship landscape looks like after the April 18 & 19 show.
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