Kofi Kingston vs Kevin Owens for WWE Championship Set for Money in the Bank 2019

Kevin Owens' plan to infiltrate The New Day and get the first shot at Kofi Kingston's WWE championship has worked. 

Kofi challenged Owens to a title match at Money in the Bank on Tuesday's SmackDown, a deal Owens quickly accepted.

Owens, who made a surprising return as a face in February, attacked Kingston and Xavier Woods last week on SmackDown after briefly "replacing" Big E as the third member of New Day. The prizefighter power-bombed Kingston onto the ring apron in a vicious attack that made their match at the May pay-per-view inevitable.

While it was a bit of a disappointment to see Owens turn so quickly—his brief stint as "Big O" was enjoyable—this is also a natural full-circle opponent for Kofi's first defense.

Owens was the one who Vince McMahon originally brought back to replace Kingston as Daniel Bryan's opponent at Fastlane. The move seemed odd at the time since Owens was wrestling face against Bryan but works now in a macro long-term storytelling sense.

It's hard to see a scenario in which Kingston drops the championship in his first title defense. WWE needs to bide its time for at least the next month with Big E on the shelf with a knee injury, and Woods can play the best friend/tag team partner role for Kingston in his title feuds.

That said, Owens and Kingston could have the match of the night at MITB.