Kofi Kingston Announces His Next Challenger for WWE SummerSlam

It’s finally happening!

A matchup nearly a decade in the making will finally come to a head at this year’s SummerSlam pay-per-view, when Kofi Kingston defends his WWE Championship against Randy Orton.

This rivalry goes back more than a decade to the 2009 Bragging Rights pay-per-view, when Orton lost his WWE Championship to John Cena in a 60-minute Anything Goes Iron Man match. He blamed Kingston for the loss, after he attempted to even the odds following interference from the Viper’s allies Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase.

This small incident sparked a fierce, albeit brief program between the two that even saw them captain opposite Survivor Series teams, which Kingston won, and a big singles match at the annual TLC pay-per-view, which Orton won.

Many believed this intense rivalry would be the thing to catapult the rising Kingston into legitimate main event status, but the action was brought to a screeching halt before they could even get off the ground. It would take almost 10 years for him to finally find his way to a world title match at WrestleMania.

Last week on Smackdown Live, The Viper scored a big victory over the champion himself, pinning Kofi in a six-man tag team match against The New Day. It was quickly announced that Kingston would be allowed to issue his own challenge for a title match at SummerSlam, and wasted very little time this Tuesday night in offering the opportunity to the 20-year veteran.

Check out footage from this week’s Smackdown above.