WWE Smackdown Live: The 10 for February 12, 2019

5. Gauntlet, part the first

WWE Champion (The New) Daniel Brian was the first entrant into the gauntlet match, a match that took all of SmackDown‘s second hour and earned every minute. His opponent was Kofi Kingston, The New Day’s internal choice and replacement for Mustafa Ali.

Initially it seemed like Kingston would be easy pickings for Bryan. After all, Kingston was just inserted into this match on the fly, with no preparation, and Bryan is the champion. But as the two kept going and time kept ticking away, it started to feel like something unexpected and maybe a little special was about to happen.

Also muddying the waters was the presence of Kingston’s New Day teammates, Big E and Xavier Woods, along with Bryan’s giant second-in-command, Rowan. But with the referee eventually sending all three men to the back, barred from ringside (but not The New Day’s tube of ground meat or trombone, apparently), the even playing field illustrated that while Bryan may have the title and the singles wrestling prestige, Kingston is the true WWE veteran and can hang with anyone.

The pair had about 30 minutes with each other until Kingston hit Trouble in Paradise and pinned the champion.