Let's Talk About: Kofi Kingston

[Xero]

What do you think of Kofi? Do you think he should be higher up the card? Lower? Right place? Where do you see him a year, two years, etc down the line?

Discuss Kofi Kingston in general.

[CSL]

He's excellent. Not sure he's ever going to 'get there' however. Which is fine. Not everybody has to be a main eventer.

[Xero]

Personally, I'm not a fan. I have no idea what it is. He feels almost "too face" to me. Almost on a Cena level.

He's very charismatic and can have fun matches, no doubt, but - and I've said this in the past - I don't feel his style meshes well with the majority of WWE. He's way too much flash.

Also, I don't feel he has "the look" to be a world champion right now. He feels too cartoonish to me to take serious in the upper card. Again, don't know why, I just feel it wouldn't look right with him holding the belt in his current gimmick and especially attire.

That said, I do see him getting a HUGE push by mid-2012. I don't know if he'll get the title this year, but by June 2012 he'll have at least one world title under his belt.

[Anybody Thrilla]

Kofi tore it up on Smackdown in 2010. Almost all of his matches were awesome. McIntyre, Ziggler, Swagger...no matter who he's in there with, he makes it fun.

It's funny that Xero mentioned him being "too face". He's one of the few faces that I don't think comes off as overly corny. Yeah, he's super happy or whatever, but he's definitely shown a darker side when he gets pissed off.

I think he's basically the new Shelton Benjamin, though. He won't get to the top, but we can expect some quality years out of him.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Kofi is one of the only guys on the roster right now who got mad over as a face without having that heel transition first. Cena couldn't do that. Orton couldn't do that. But Kofi could. And I think that's pretty respectable on his part.

[PorkSoda]

I remember when I attended wrestling school back in the summer of 2005 (holy shit, it's been that long) in North Andover, Massachusetts. I was standing in line going to my first wrestling show a month before that the school put on. Two people in front of me was this dude with short hair, a little taller than me. I got up to the ticket counter where he said "I don't have to pay. I'm a student." I quickly said "You're a student?" And he looked at me and said "Yeah." Then I overheard him talking to a guard about how he started at the school, the guard saying "Oh yeah, I heard about you." Then I saw him sit down and watch the show in the stands. I started training a month later, locking up with this character and taking shoulder blocks from him, participating in a practice battle royal with him as he was developing his Jamaican gimmick. This guy turned out to be Kofi Kingston.

Oh yeah!

[Anybody Thrilla]

Really?

[Fox]

I like his in ring work but I'm not into his gimmick at all. Happy go lucky Jamaican guy? Yeah, that's not really that cool. If he had like a Bob Marley, stoned out all the time but delivers in the ring gimmick I might be more into it. His outfit also throws me off. And I don't like his flying cock to the face move he does in the turnbuckle.

[Fox]

On the subject of Kofi, funniest comment I ever heard in a bar while watching a WWE PPV:

(During a Kofi match, he does the running cock to the face move to someone.)

GUY NEXT TO ME: Wow. That guy really wants a blowjob.

[PorkSoda]

Really?

Yes. Really.

He was one of the nicest guys there. I remember having a practice tag team match at the school. I was wrestling with him and he clotheslined me in the corner, then put me in a fucking camel clutch!

[Anybody Thrilla]

I like his in ring work but I'm not into his gimmick at all. Happy go lucky Jamaican guy? Yeah, that's not really that cool. If he had like a Bob Marley, stoned out all the time but delivers in the ring gimmick I might be more into it. His outfit also throws me off. And I don't like his flying cock to the face move he does in the turnbuckle.

A couple of you have mentioned his attire now. What's wrong with it? I like it. It's pretty standard, and he switches it up fairly often.

Also, they don't even really mention the Jamaican thing anymore. Sure he has the same theme music and whatnot, but he doesn't even speak with the Jamaican accent. He's just a genuinely nice guy who is an incredible athlete, but it's been shown that he can have a mean streak when people try to screw him over. What's wrong with that?

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

I remember when I attended wrestling school back in the summer of 2005 (holy shit, it's been that long) in North Andover, Massachusetts. I was standing in line going to my first wrestling show a month before that the school put on. Two people in front of me was this dude with short hair, a little taller than me. I got up to the ticket counter where he said "I don't have to pay. I'm a student." I quickly said "You're a student?" And he looked at me and said "Yeah." Then I overheard him talking to a guard about how he started at the school, the guard saying "Oh yeah, I heard about you." Then I saw him sit down and watch the show in the stands. I started training a month later, locking up with this character and taking shoulder blocks from him, participating in a practice battle royal with him as he was developing his Jamaican gimmick. This guy turned out to be Kofi Kingston.

Oh yeah!

I met Ariel from ROH when I visited a training place in New Bedford, Massachusetts a few times around 2002-2003. Was trying to be a manager but couldn't handle it and school at the same time.

Kofi can pull off some good matches when given the right opponents. He had some great ones with the Miz, Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger. I'd like to see how he would handle being a heel. I enjoyed it when he went crazy a few time and beat the shit out of Dolph Ziggler. Maybe they need to drop the don't worry be happy Kofi and make him a face with a crazy mean streak.

Also, he has to stay around so I can make the "Are you Shelton", "Are you the brian" and "moo" comments at the start of his great theme song in chat.

[Nicky Fives]

He is exactly where he should be........ The guy is great in the ring, but isn't all that great on the mic and I do not see him in the main event scene.....

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Yes guys everyone would be great with the Stone Cold gimmick. We get it.

[Lock Jaw]

Should have made him King Kofi Kingston.

[dronepool]

Should have made him King Kofi Kingston.

:lol:

I like his in ring work, don't mind his gimmick and dislike his theme music. He's good in the IC/Tag divisions for now IMO.

[Lara Emily]

Last time I care about him, he was feuding with Randy Orton

[thedamndest]

He is from Ghana, West Africa now, guys.

He's probably the most versatile mid-card guy they have. He can put someone over without losing anything and he can go on a solid winning streak and it doesn't get boring. That said, he was much more interesting when he showed his edge.

[Shadrick]

I'm a Kofi mark as anyone who pays attention to me would know.

Pretty good on the mic, give him more time to cut promos and he'll get better. Unorthodox unique style in the ring. Distinguishable theme song. Mean streak when he's pissed but still a face. When he won the IC title from Dolph recently, he was super fucking over as he's been for as long as I can remember.

He's definitely not comparable to Shelton Benjamin, two completely different guys aside from both being black. He carried his matches with Drew, him and Ziggler had a great program and him and Orton has a great program as well, which helped his character evolve tremendously.

Big company guy and Triple H is super high on him. Kofi will win a World Title in his career at least once, watch.

[Skippord]

I love Kofi, would really like to see him get more mic time.

[XCaliber]

Could see him as WWE Championship material but in order for him to make the transiton I think that his character will need to evolve somewhat he still seems a little 2-dimensonial.

[Rammsteinmad]

I like him, and I like his position in the company right now. Should he be higher up the card? Maybe some day, but right now he's good where it is. Plus, he has a HUGE boost with the Randy Orton feud which then fizzled out into nothing, but he has recovered nicely from that.

Only complaint I have is that Kofi has a very weird chest.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I do love Kofi Kingston. I don't think he needs to be World Champion tomorrow, or anything, but the guy can talk, he can wrestle, and he's quite over for a guy who has never been given the world on a red carpet. I personally think he is one of those guys who could be built up for that huge face moment.

His mean streak came out in his feud with Randy Orton, and it worked. Really well. We've also seen it with Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero. While I enjoy his series of matches with Jack Swagger, I almost think they are wrestling too much, and it'd be good to see Kofi move onto a feud with another guy. I wouldn't mind seeing a face vs. face program with Rey Mysterio.

If/when Kofi does get his run with the World Title, when he loses it -- I think Kofi should snap and turn heel almost immediately. We don't see that too often, and I think it would suit Kofi's character. He's an inspiration, and worked so hard to get to where he is -- and when that crumbles, he gets pretty pissed off and desperate.

[GD]

I didn't like Kofi KIngston when he started off in ECW and my dislike for him grew when he won the Intercontinental strap from Chris Jericho at the Night of Champions.

I became a "Kofi Kingston fan" when he defeated MVP for the United-States Championship on a random episode of RAW and when he stopped pretending to be a Jamaican. He kept on growing on me with his recent bouts on Smackdown and I can now accept him as an upper mid carder.

[MoFo]

Dont rly like.

Get massive bouts of deja vu watching his matches, all the same moves in the same order. Sort of like RVD's WWE run, without the mark out moments. He is a solid mid carder at best, I guess.

[The Naitch]

I watched a Koko B. Ware match and immediately I thought of Kofi Kingston. Not cuz they're both black, but the way they move in the ring is similar

[Providence Peep]

He had a good program with Orton, his matches with Zigger, McIntyre, and Dusty Rhodes on Smackdown have been strong, and he's pretty good on the mic, especially compared to some other people. It'll be interesting to see where he goes from here, because I think he's capable of main eventing eventually.