Claudio Castagnoli
On the April 15 episode of "Raw", Kingston defeated Antonio Cesaro to win his third United States Championship but lost it on May 19 at Extreme Rules to Dean Ambrose. On the May 31 episode of "SmackDown", Kingston was written out of television, as he was undergoing elbow surgery and was expected to be out for four to eight weeks. Kingston returned from injury on the August 5 episode of "Raw", defeating Fandango. At Night of Champions, Kingston faced Curtis Axel for the Intercontinental Championship, but was defeated. In the following weeks, Bray Wyatt would start delivering cryptic messages to Kingston after his matches, leading to a match between the two at Battleground, which Wyatt won. On the November 18 episode of "Raw", Kingston teamed with The Miz to face The Real Americans (Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger), but they lost after Miz turned on Kingston. This led to a match at Survivor Series, where Kingston was defeated by The Miz. In the upcoming weeks, the feud continued and culminated in a no disqualification match between the two at , which Kingston won.