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Kofi Kingston, Charlotte Flair ready to lead SmackDown into Friday nights

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Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/tvpatrol/09/17/20190921-kofi.jpg"/><figcaption>WWE world heavyweight champion Kofi Kingston will defend his title against Brock Lesnar in the very first episode of &quot;Friday Night SmackDown.&quot; Richard Esguerra, ABS-CBN Sports</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA, Philippines—One of the WWE&#x27;s premier shows will be making a big move next month, when &quot;SmackDown Live&quot; transitions from USA Network to FOX, and from Tuesday nights to Friday nights.The first episode of &quot;Friday Night SmackDown on FOX&quot; airs on October 4, with the show being held at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles. Already, there is plenty of buzz for the premiere, especially after the events of last week&#x27;s episode.Brock Lesnar, the former Universal Champion, made a surprise appearance on SmackDown and through his personal advocate, Paul Heyman, issued an official challenge to Kofi Kingston for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship — with the match to be held during the show&#x27;s premiere episode on FOX.Kingston, who has held the belt since an emotional victory over Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35, was quick to accept.&quot;As far as Brock Lesnar is concerned, I look to it as another mountain,&quot; Kingston told ABS-CBN News on Friday, ahead of a WWE Live event at the Araneta Coliseum.&quot;I always say that at the top of a mountain is the bottom of another mountain. So, I&#x27;m just trying to climb, you know?&quot; he said.Kingston, 38, is well aware of what Lesnar is capable of. &quot;Big, strong, powerful, athletic freak. Guy who is just a future Hall-of-Famer, for sure,&quot; he said of the former UFC champion and the man known as the &quot;Beast Incarnate.&quot;&quot;I know what I&#x27;m up against, and it&#x27;s another mountain to climb. I look forward to it as a challenge,&quot; he said. &quot;I said from the very first day that I became WWE champion, it&#x27;s always been my goal to be the best possible WWE champion that I can possibly be. And the only way that I can do that is by going up against people who are the best.&quot;He has already climbed and conquered plenty of those mountains — from dethroning Bryan at WrestleMania to making successful title defenses against Dolph Ziggler, Samoa Joe, and Randy Orton.&quot;I&#x27;m looking forward to conquering just one more,&quot; Kingston said.That he will have a featured match on SmackDown&#x27;s first episode on FOX is not lost on Kingston, and indeed, it is something that fuels him further.&quot;It&#x27;s just huge,&quot; said Kingston of the move. &quot;The transition of going to FOX is something that we&#x27;re all looking forward to, we&#x27;re all really excited about, and it&#x27;s a very, very big deal.&quot;&quot;So to be the guy who&#x27;s having a WWE title match on the very first episode it&#x27;s awesome, you know,&quot; he added.Charlotte Flair, the 9-time women&#x27;s champion and a WrestleMania main-eventer this year, is looking forward to performing in front of what should be a much bigger audience.<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/tvpatrol/09/17/20190921-charlotte.jpg"/><figcaption>Nine-time women&#x27;s champion Charlotte Flair is in a high-profile feud with fellow Horsewoman Bayley for the SmackDown women&#x27;s title. Richard Esguerra, ABS-CBN Sport</figcaption></figure></div>&quot;I don&#x27;t think (there will be) any changes,&quot; she said. &quot;I just think it&#x27;s an opportunity for more people around the world to show what we can do, and it&#x27;ll just be moving to Friday nights.&quot;Much like Kingston, Flair is embroiled in a high-profile feud of her own, as she is challenging SmackDown women&#x27;s champion Bayley for the title. Their rivalry has involved the rest of WWE&#x27;s famed &quot;Four Horsewomen,&quot; with Sasha Banks battling RAW women&#x27;s champion Becky Lynch as well.The four of them recently shared the ring for the first time in years, in a well-received tag team match in an episode of RAW at the Madison Square Garden. Flair formed a reluctant tag team with Lynch, her best friend turned rival, and picked up the win by pinning Bayley.&quot;I think the four of us will forever be connected, because of our paths and how we started,&quot; Flair said of herself and the rest of the Horsewomen, who all got their start through NXT before moving to the main roster to kick the &quot;Women&#x27;s Revolution&quot; into another gear.&quot;But we&#x27;ll see where it goes,&quot; added Flair, daughter of 16-time champion and two-time Hall-of-Famer Ric Flair.&quot;It seems like two can&#x27;t get along, and the other two can,&quot; Flair also said, referring to how she and Lynch had one of the most heated feuds in the WWE in 2018, while Bayley and Banks formed a tag team known as the Boss&#x27;N&#x27;Hug Connection.What&#x27;s certain for Flair is that regardless of whether they are fighting or teaming up, the Four Horsewomen are guaranteed to steal the show — and they might just do so again in the first episode of &quot;Friday Night SmackDown,&quot; as Lynch has been hinted to appear in the episode.&quot;I do know that when we&#x27;re together and we&#x27;re in that ring, we make magic,&quot; said Flair. &quot;That&#x27;s what we&#x27;re known for.&quot;Flair and Kingston both performed in the WWE Live event at the Big Dome on Friday night. Flair lost to Bayley in a Street Fight with the women&#x27;s championship on the line, though she got her revenge by twice trying to put the champion through a table after the match.Kingston, meanwhile, pinned Bryan in the main event to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.Also appearing in the event were Roman Reigns, who defeated Sami Zayn; Shinsuke Nakamura, who outlasted Ali in a thrilling match for the Intercontinental Title, and fan favorite Kevin Owens, who beat Andrade in the first match of the night.<div>For more sports coverage, visit the <a href="http://sports.abs-cbn.com">ABS-CBN Sports website</a>.</div>

One of the WWE's premier shows will be making a big move next month, when "SmackDown Live" leaves USA Network for FOX, and from Tuesday nights to Friday nights.

One of the WWE's premier shows will be making a big move next month, when "SmackDown Live" leaves USA Network for FOX, and from Tuesday nights to Friday nights.

Kofi Kingston, Charlotte Flair ready to lead SmackDown into Friday nights

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Kofi Kingston, Charlotte Flair ready to lead SmackDown into Friday nights

Camille B. Naredo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Sep 21, 2019 05:22 PM PHT

Read More:

WWE

WWE SmackDown

Kofi Kingston

Charlotte Flair

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