Why Kevin Owens Must Beat Kofi Kingston at 2019 WWE Money in the Bank

Kofi Kingston retaining the WWE Championship in his first major title defense on pay-per-view at 2019 WWE Money in the Bank is a safe bet considering he's still early into his reign, but Kevin Owens going over instead would be a much more intriguing outcome.

The two made Sunday's match official on the April 30 edition of SmackDown Live. Although KO has been in hot pursuit of the prestigious prize since his return to television in February, it wasn't until he betrayed The New Day and turned heel that he finally felt like a threat to the title.

Owens has been out to prove Kingston's time at the top was always meant to be short-lived and he is a better fit for the spot. As great of a champion as the New Day member has been, The Prizefighter beating him would freshen up both characters and breathe new life into their ongoing rivalry.

To Kingston's credit, he has made the most of this opportunity and has exceeded expectations as WWE champion. It would have been easy for fans to write him off as a perennial midcarder after he spent so long fighting for secondary titles, but his strong booking in recent months has helped him tremendously.

He's already successfully defended the gold against AJ Styles, Sami Zayn and Daniel Bryan in various matches in May, but his upcoming outing against Owens will be his toughest to date.

It will also be difficult for him to put his personal animosity for KO aside, after the former universal champion ambushed Xavier Woods on several occasions.

A non-finish might be the most likely outcome for their clash, with Kingston inadvertently getting himself disqualified as a result of his anger getting the best of him, but in order for Owens to maintain momentum, he must take the title at Money in the Bank.

Credit: WWE.com

Owens has been struggling for over a year to get back to the elite level he was at in 2016-2017. At one point, he was the universal champion and mixing it up with the likes of Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns on a weekly basis. 

Unfortunately, his most recent run on Raw did nothing to boost his stock. He could have worked as a babyface had he not been brought back to SmackDown at such an inopportune time, but at least he's finally returned to his roots as a heel and is giving viewers a reason to watch the show again.

Following a loss at Fastlane and being left off the WrestleMania 35 card all together, KO is in desperate need of a big victory to get him back on track, and winning the WWE Championship would do just that.

Similar to Bray Wyatt, Kingston may never again come close to holding the WWE title once he eventually loses it. Fans would be frustrated over him dropping the strap so soon and not being given a real run with it, but he proved during the Road to WrestleMania he is much better in chase mode.

Besides, Owens is the perfect foil for Kingston and would be even more hated if he were to cut short his title reign. With their feud just getting started, there are many more directions they can take it in, including KO continuing to carve out a path of destruction on the blue brand.

Kingston straight-up defeating Owens at Money in the Bank would leave him with no more obstacles to overcome. No one else from SmackDown is ready to challenge for the championship at the moment, so WWE should be trying to keep the audience engaged in the program as long as possible.

Despite being separated in the Superstar Shake-up, Owens reunited with Sami Zayn on the latest installment of SmackDown to brutalize the WWE champion. Granted, they met their match in Kingston and Woods soon after, but we could be seeing more of them together in the not-so-distant future.

Anything is possible with the Wild Card Rule now in play in addition to a new Mr. Money in the Bank being determined on Sunday. Regardless of who is in possession of the briefcase after the event, The Prizefighter should be WWE champion at least through the summer to give SmackDown a heel it can build around.

It's been years since Owens was last taken seriously as a true main event player in WWE, which is why he has much more to gain from walking out of the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut, with the gold than Kingston.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is an Endicott College alumnus and aspiring journalist. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.