Kingston to defend WWE title against Orton at SummerSlam
The WWE Championship match has been confirmed for next month’s SummerSlam pay-per-view.
Kofi Kingston will defend his WWE Championship against Randy Orton at SummerSlam. The match was set up when Orton pinned Kingston in a six-man tag after giving him an RKO on last week’s SmackDown. Tonight, the SummerSlam title match was made official during a segment where Kingston challenged Orton.
Kingston cut a promo and showed footage of him defeating Orton on Raw at Madison Square Garden in 2009. Kingston claimed that Orton used his influence to hold him back. Orton responded by saying he was doing Kingston a favor — because Kingston wasn’t ready to be WWE Champion then and isn’t ready now.
Kingston defeated Samoa Joe by disqualification on SmackDown tonight, with Orton getting involved and trying to hit an RKO on Kingston. Kingston avoided it and they went face-to-face. Joe got up, Orton gave him an RKO, and Kingston laid out Orton with Trouble in Paradise.
Kingston will defend his title against Joe and Dolph Ziggler in a triple threat match at this Saturday’s Smackville WWE Network special.
The Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada is hosting SummerSlam on August 11. The updated lineup for the PPV is listed below:
- Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Seth Rollins
- WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defending against Randy Orton
- Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending against Natalya
- SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley defending against Ember Moon
- Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon
- “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor