Fresh WrestleMania twist for Kofi

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Kofi Kingston was forced to face Daniel Bryan for a WrestleMania opportunity after already going through a gruelling gauntlet match

Kofi Kingston will not get a WrestleMania title shot despite winning his six-man gauntlet match on last night’s SmackDown.

Kingston defeated five WWE superstars in a row in a match lasting more than 55 minutes to secure a championship opportunity against Daniel Bryan at the show of shows on April 7.

Or so he thought. After beating Randy Orton at the end of a winning sequence which also included victories over both members of The Bar, Erick Rowan and United States champion Samoa Joe, Kingston and his New Day colleagues Big E and Xavier Woods were in celebratory mood.

But their joy was cut short by the appearance on the ramp of Vince McMahon, who declared that Kingston must overcome one more opponent to secure his road to WrestleMania – WWE champion Bryan himself.

A clearly exhausted Kingston had a couple of close moments where he almost pinned Bryan but ultimately succumbed to a fierce running knee strike and the champ got the three count to deny Kofi his WrestleMania moment.

The IIconics picked up a huge win over WWE tag-team champions Sasha Banks and Bayley in a non-title match on SmackDown

Huge win for IIconics

WWE women’s tag-team champions Bayley and Sasha Banks were in SmackDown just 24 hours after an appearance on Raw and their week of double duty ended in a shock defeat.

Australian duo The IIconics – who have been campaigning to face the Boss n Hug Connection for several weeks – finally got their wish and picked up a win which could have WrestleMania consequences.

Lacey Evans provided the distraction with another entrance which led nowhere, allowing Peyton Royce to roll up Banks for the pin while Billie Kay held her arm down to avoid the kick-out.

Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch once again came blows on SmackDown

Flair and Lynch come to blows again

Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch were absent from Raw this week but made an appearance on the relaunched Kevin Owens Show on SmackDown.

Owens did not have to do too much to inspire the two women to come to blows and they gave him and the crowd exactly what they wanted with a wild brawl around ringside.

Like with Ronda Rousey 24 hours previously, the security tried to intervene and, like with Rousey, several of them found themselves laid out by the women.