Bobby Lashley Beats Kofi Kingston, Retains WWE Title at 2021 Money in the Bank

Bobby Lashley comfortably defeated Kofi Kingston at Money in the Bank on Sunday night to retain the WWE Championship.

The champion was in control for most of the match and relished laying a beating on the challenger. Eventually he placed the New Day member in the Hurt Lock, and he tapped out.

After Lashley beat Drew McIntyre at Hell in a Cell and officially knocked him out of the title scene, a new challenger needed to step up, and it didn’t take long for Kingston to throw his hat into the ring.

On the Raw following Hell in a Cell, the New Day man confronted Lashley and challenged him to a WWE Championship match at Money in the Bank, which The All Mighty immediately accepted.

In order to flex his muscle and potentially put some fear into Kingston, Lashley challenged his New Day partner, Xavier Woods, to a Hell in a Cell match later that same night.

While Woods took the fight to Lashley at times, The All Mighty ultimately managed to turn the tide and beat him with the Hurt Lock. He then made Kingston watch as he further decimated his close friend inside the cage after the match had ended.

Woods got revenge on the go-home episode of Raw prior to Money in the Bank, though, with a shocking win over Lashley in a non-title match. That only served to enrage the champion, who ended the show by destroying MVP’s VIP Lounge set and vowing to do the same to Kingston.

Leading up to Hell in a Cell, it was nearly Kingston who challenged Lashley, when he competed in a match against McIntyre for the No. 1 contendership.

He got that opportunity after beating Lashley in a non-title match on Raw thanks in large part to interference from the Scot. While Kingston came close to becoming the No. 1 contender, he couldn’t quite get past McIntyre.

Even so, Kingston was given his chance after Hell in a Cell on the heels of MVP criticizing him in backstage segments and calling for him to ditch Woods.

While Kingston has largely been a tag team competitor in recent years as part of The New Day, he did beat Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35 and held it for six months before dropping it to Brock Lesnar in a matter of seconds.

Kingston never got a singles match for the WWE title after losing it to The Beast Incarnate, but his opportunity finally came Sunday.

Lashley’s run of dominance continued, though, and he is now primed to continue his reign into SummerSlam on August 21.

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