Kofi Kingston-Good and Bad

I usually want my posts to be evergreen, but this seems like a current events topic that is worth exploring. As it stands now, I think it should be Kofi Kingston versus Daniel Bryan as the Wrestlemania title match.

The good is that it is a great story and the fans are ready for it. I have thought for a while that WWE should tell the story of Kofi Kingston going for the WWE championship and because of circumstances they can tell the story during Wrestlemania season. There were concerns and/or speculation about who Daniel Bryan would defend his title against because no one seemed obvious and now there is someone obvious. This may seem contradictory-but that leads to the bad.

The thing about Smackdown is there are other contenders to face Daniel Bryan and they can be good stories. Rey Mysterio, John Cena, Kevin Owens and Bray Wyatt all have compelling cases to go against Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania. Are they better than Kofi? No, but today’s crowds (the 2/18/19 Raw aside) look for reasons to take over shows. In other words, one of the biggest reasons I think it should be Kofi is that it gives the WWE title match a chance to get over instead of having a potential (certainly WWE’s storytelling should not get the benefit of the doubt) strong WWE title match be the “victim” (for lack of a better term) of a hijacking.

I am a big proponent of fans doing whatever they want as long as it is not vile to the point of disruption. At the same time, I despise when crowds chant for wrestlers who are not present at the time. I know too much about what wrestlers go through to be okay with that kind of disrespect. I am fine with…I am actually very pleased with the support that Kofi Kingston is getting right now. I just don’t like what the WWE has become (and it is more their fault than the fans fault) in the sense that the only way to get WWE to do the right thing is for fans to disrupt the show. I didn’t like the “Rusev Day” stuff either (again-I am more than okay with it when he is in the presence of the fans-not okay with it when other people are trying to perform).

What I am saying is that it is not a good thing that the second biggest reason I want Kofi Kingston in the WM WWE title match is because I am worried about what is going to happen with the title match (and even other parts of the show) if he is not.

After This Weekend…

I love wrestling. I mentioned in another post that pro wrestling is my real best friend (outside of my brother) and (outside of my brother) if I had to choose between never talking to any of my friends again or never watching another wrestling show again, I would say goodbye to my friends without hesitation. That hypothetical decision is based on some other things besides my love for wrestling, but I have another blog to discuss that and I want to focus on wrestling here.

Here’s the thing (as Shannon Sharpe would say), I did not watch everything that I could have. The Impact Wrestling/Lucha Underground show was on Twitch for free and I did not watch that. I think the Evolve shows were available and I did not watch any of those. I did not watch the Hall of Fame either. I “only” watched NXT Takeover, Supercard of Honor, Wrestlemania, Raw and Smackdown. Those shows alone reaffirmed how much I love wrestling. I just remember watching one of the shows (I think it was Takeover) and smiling for no reason. I was just thinking how happy I was watching this. Something else to keep in mind is from my perspective, the only show that was excellent was Takeover. I enjoyed the shows, but I thought all of them were “good”…which is fine.

My point is that I do not need wrestling to be great or excellent. To be honest, I just need it to be there. I could easily point to wrestling as to why I am alive right now (but again that is another blog). As I have noted, I like sports and I watch television shows. I also am fascinated by people and how I fit in. With all of that said, nothing does it for me like wrestling does.

I also realized (or reaffirmed) that I don’t know anyone who can enjoy wrestling intensely and watch with a critical eye with the intensity I do. At least no one I listen to or read regularly. I bring the best of both proverbial worlds. At least, I think so…but I am biased.

 

Roman Reigns

I was thinking about whether or not someone else should just win the Elimination Chamber match because of the (well-documented) problems that Reigns has in getting positive reactions from the crowd. My ultimate opinion is that they should just go with Reigns. There is nothing they can do about the crowd reaction in general, maybe they can turn some people around before, during and after Wrestlemania, but as I said in general it is going to be what it is going to be for now. The issue is that there is no one else that has so much momentum that they would have to go away from what has been their plan for years and certainly for the last year.

I know Braun Strowman is very popular. I personally am a big fan of Strowman. There are several issues with Strowman though.

Issue number 1 is that I don’t think he is over enough for WWE to change their one year plans. If they were going to “go with Strowman”, he should have just won at No Mercy. He is borderline over enough. If management (meaning Vince) decided to go with Strowman over Reigns, I would not argue it…I just would not do it. I would like to see a little more in terms of some kind of metrics that show Strowman could be a draw with just one more push towards the top (meaning winning the Universal Title at WM).

Issue number 2 is that while Strowman is popular, I would contend that a great deal of his popularity is based on his destroying things and beating up Roman Reigns. Those are two easy ways to get over. I would think that there are diminishing returns to breaking things and lifting things every week. He also cannot beat up Roman Reigns every week either…I mean he could, but then it just becomes a meme. I would need to see a little more before I change my long-term plans one month before the end of those plans materialize.

Issue number 3 is related to issue number 2, Strowman is a limited performer. He is great at what he does and what he is asked to do. Moreover, he is charismatic. At the same time, in this era in order to avoid backlash, there probably has to be a bit more. It would be great if the day came where someone had so much charisma that he or she could be a big draw and become accepted by fans even with limitations. I am not sure that Strowman is that guy. I just think that there could be push back against a main event push for someone who by most standards is not a great worker nor a great promo. I believe he benefits a great deal from the fact that Roman Reigns is seen as the chosen one. I am not certain that Strowman’s popularity would survive that perception.

No one else in the chamber (including any of the four who may be added to it on Monday’s Raw) is even close to being an argument in juxtaposition to Reigns. Even if the idea was to turn Reigns heel (which is something that I want to get into another time), I would probably just do it at Wrestlemania at this point or the night after.

In short….screw it. Do Reigns versus Lesnar. You’ve come this far…time to see it through. See what happens with Reigns as a long-term champion.