Kofi Kingston has had the odds stacked against him for a very long time. And, even after he earned an opportunity to face Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship at Fastlane, he had the rug pulled under him as Vince McMahon would simply replace him with a returning Kevin Owens.

On Tuesday night, though, he got himself another shot at the belt. But he's going to have to get through five stars to get that WrestleMania match we all suspected was on the cards after his removal ahead of Fastlane.

McMahon had a little chat with Kofi and his New Day buddies in the ring during Tuesday's SmackDown Live, the WWE CEO explaining his admiration and admitting that the livewire performer adds lots of value to the brand. However, he went on to say that he doesn't consider Kingston to be a top-level star, branding him a "b-plus player".

Kofi, in turn, let Vince know that he doesn't want any handouts and just needs to know what he has to do to get his title shot. Well, the boss had an answer in waiting, telling the New Day star he will have to emerge victorious in a gauntlet match against Randy Orton, Cesaro, Samoa Joe, Sheamus and Erick Rowan next week to get that match against Bryan.

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Following the promo, Kofi would meet up with cameras backstage to share his thoughts.

"This is definitely a big mountain to climb," he admitted.

"My entire career…I realized a long time ago that I was never gonna be the guy who, ‘oh you look so big, let’s put him in the main event scene! Oh this guy’s got the best physique ever let’s put him in the main event scene!’ For me, it was always gonna be the hard way, you know?

"It’s been hard getting here to this point, it’s been a battle, it’s been a struggle. I would expect it no other way to get to WrestleMania. If this is the path that I have to take to get to Wrestlemania to fight for the WWE Championship title, I’ll do it.

"They’ll say anything, right? They know damn well I’m not a B-plus player. They can call me whatever it is that they want to call me. Just give me that match and I’ll have to show you otherwise, you know? I’m not even thinking about that right now.

"I’m just happy that I have this opportunity. That’s the first step, that’s all that I’ve ever wanted. I told you last time, I just need a chance. And if it’s going to be through five different WWE Superstars, then so be it, you know? I’ve just got to make it happen.”

What This Means

It's admittedly quite hard to imagine Kofi Kingston as the WWE champion but he may very well be heading to WrestleMania to challenge Bryan and we will know for sure next week.

If anything, though, a gauntlet match featuring a performer like Kofi is sure to be entertaining.

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