Brock Lesnar will face Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship on the October 4, 2019 episode of SmackDown Live. This will be the first episode to air on FOX and it will be taking place at The Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA.
At tonight’s SmackDown Live in Atlanta, GA, the show started with a six-man tag-team match between The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods) and the team of Randy Orton and The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson). After The New Day won, and as they celebrated in the ring, Brock Lesnar’s music came on and Lesnar and Paul Heyman made their way to the ring.
Heyman challenged Kingston to defend his WWE Championship against Lesnar on the October 4 FOX debut of SmackDown.
Kingston said he was a fighting champion and accepted the challenge. After the challenge was accepted, Lesnar attacked Kingston and gave him the F-5.
.@BrockLesnar is BACK and wasted no time in challenging @truekofi to a BATTLE for the #WWEChampionship on the FIRST #FridayNightSmackDown on #FOX! #SDLive pic.twitter.com/lWTqLPsIP2
— WWE (@WWE) September 18, 2019
Brock Lesnar has not wrestled on SmackDown Live, or any WWE television program, since March 2, 2004, when he defeated Hardcore Holly on the 238th episode of SmackDown. The October 4 episode will be the 1050th episode of SmackDown.
Lesnar has only wrestled in Los Angeles on eight occasions in his career, most recently on November 18, 2018, at WWE’s Survivor Series pay-per-view when he defeated Daniel Bryan.
Kingston and Lesnar have met only once before in a singles match, on July 4, 2015, in Tokyo Japan. Brock Lesnar won that match in two minutes and thirty-eight seconds.
In addition to the title match between Brock Lesnar and Kofi Kingston, promotional material for the FOX debut of SmackDown lists Kurt Angle, Lita, Mick Foley, Booker T, Hulk Hogan, Trish Stratus, Goldberg, Jerry Lawler, Mark Henry, and Sting as appearing.
Tickets for the October 4 SmackDown Live at The Staples Center are on sale now at WWE.com.
