Kofi Kingston's Epic Journey, What's Next for Asuka, More WWE SmackDown Fallout

KofiMania is running wild, and Tuesday night on SmackDown Live, Big E and Xavier Woods proved resiliency, hard work, dedication and a little help from their legendary rivals was enough to get teammate Kofi Kingston into the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 35.

The latest chapter in Kingston's story was the major takeaway from Tuesday's show, but a huge title change threw the women's division into disarray and left Asuka's path to The Show of Shows uncertain.

Throw in a significant stipulation added to The Miz vs. Shane McMahon, and you have a show that did a ton to hype up, add to and create excitement for WrestleMania 35 come April 7.

Respect Among Peers, Resiliency Within New Day Make KofiMania a Reality

There are other matches with bigger names and historical significance riding on them, but there are none with a better build than Kofi Kingston's journey to the WWE Championship and his date with Daniel Bryan on April 7.

Kingston has shown tremendous heart and resiliency on the Road to WrestleMania, shaking off disappointment after disappointment and never allowing the corrupt decisions of a megalomaniacal boss to get him down or shift his focus.

Tuesday night, though, there was nothing he could do in his quest for the WWE Championship.

For Kingston to finally get to WrestleMania and battle The Planet's Champion, he would have to rely on his New Day brethren, Xavier Woods and Big E. The former tag team champions would compete in a grueling Gauntlet match, very much like the one he did a week ago.

Together, they outlasted Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura and The Bar before coming face-to-face with The Usos. It was then, in that moment, that SmackDown Live wrote the greatest chapter of the story yet.

Jimmy and Jey, two fierce competitors and rivals of The New Day, forfeited the fall out of respect for Kingston and the belief that no one is more deserving of a WrestleMania title shot than him.

We had watched last week as the locker room gathered around a monitor to watch Kingston battle through match after match in his own Gauntlet match, with The Usos front and center.

To see them give up a win for the sake of sending a rival like Kingston to WrestleMania is a fantastic bit of writing and a moment that declares the New Day man not only the people's champion, but also the locker room's.

By the time Big E and Woods defeated Bryan and Erick Rowan in the final fall, fans and Superstars alike were ready to celebrate KofiMania, as the social media hashtag proved.

Falls Count Anywhere Stipulation Enhances The Miz vs. Shane McMahon

The development that The Miz and Shane McMahon's match at WrestleMania will be Falls Count Anywhere will do wonders to boost the overall quality of the bout.

Let's face it: Miz and McMahon are not having a five-star wrestling match. Miz, for as phenomenal a talker as he is and as engaging a personality as he might be, is not getting the quality of match out of the prodigal son that AJ Styles did two years ago.

Why expose McMahon's weaknesses and leave Miz to shoulder the burden of trying to carry him to something he simply will not be able to when they can slap a Falls Count Anywhere stipulation on the match that better suits its intensity and The A-Lister's thirst for vengeance anyway? 

McMahon was great Tuesday, pushing his opponent's buttons in an attempt to play mind games with his opponent. Miz responded appropriately and took the fight to a security team he had no real chance of battling through. 

After a sluggish start to the program, the performances of the Superstars involved has helped this become one of the more anticipated fights of WrestleMania 35, and the newly announced stipulation will only help ensure it lives up to the hype.

What Now for Asuka?

Asuka had her undefeated streak snapped at WrestleMania 34 by Charlotte Flair, and Tuesday night, her journey to this year's show was derailed by The Queen, who defeated her to capture the SmackDown Women's Championship.

Not only did Flair's win throw a monkey wrench into the main event of WrestleMania, creating questions about what it means for the Triple Threat match for the Raw Women's Championship between herself, Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey, it also leaves Asuka out of a high-profile title bout she appeared destined to have.

The Empress of Tomorrow spent the last year in creative purgatory, left to wallow in midcard mediocrity while the writing staff struggled to find anything even remotely interesting to do with her. When she defeated Lynch and Flair at TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs to win the women's title, it appeared as though she was in line for a creative renaissance of sorts.

Nope.

Asuka, despite her championship status, wandered aimlessly, waiting for a worthy challenger to step up to the plate. She never got it, and Tuesday night, her reign ended not with a bang but a whimper.

There will be some who champion the idea of her winning the proposed women's Battle Royal, but emerging victoriously from those matches, winning Royal Rumbles and having commentary talk up your previous 914-day win streak means nothing when when she is so wildly misused.