Can Kofi Kingston step up in John Cena’s absence?

I’ve not posted much this week, which means one of two things: either I’m lazy or heartbroken by John Cena’s injury. I’ll leave you to decide which one that is! Talking of Cena’s injury (see what I did there!), it leaves a gap (even though it’s temporary) at the top of the card for a babyface to step in. The most obvious choice to fill it is with Randy Orton, but he’s busy with the official #mancrush of SLTD Wrestling, Dolph Ziggler, and to be honest, there aren’t many others to choose from, so why not give Kofi Kingston a chance? Just think about it for a minute.

Kofi’s had his chance at the upper mid-card before, back in late 2009/early 2010, but it never really worked out. After Kofi missed a spot for an RKO during a match on Raw, Orton threw a massive bitch-fit on camera before heading backstage and hey presto! Kofi’s push was over. At a time when WWE were struggling for established main-eventers to relieve the pressure on the likes of Orton, Cena and Edge, Orton screwed Kofi over and robbed him of the sustained push that he deserved.

At that time, Kofi was on fire. Jeff Hardy had just left the WWE when Kofi started to get a push higher up the card. It seemed to me like they were looking for someone for Jeff’s fans to latch on to and it was working with Kofi. Remember the time at Madison Square Garden where Kofi “boom-dropped” onto Orton from a doorway? The crowd went ABSOLUTELY bat-s**t crazy and Kofi got a huge pop from the crowd! It wasn’t just because of the move, it was because the crowd were getting behind Kofi and invested in him.

Then, as I’ve said above, Orton stepped in and screwed the whole thing up. While I understand that the WWE have to take action if these guys do something wrong (like a Wellness Policy violation or a behind-the-scenes issue), mis-timing where you take a move surely can’t be so serious that Kofi’s been in the mid-card wilderness for almost the last three years?

He’s one of the most entertaining performers on the roster and criminally under-rated. Look at the quality of each match that Kofi Kingston has as a singles wrestler. You’ll struggle to find a bad one. Why do you think that WWE turns to Kofi when they want a good mid-card wrestler to put over one of their top heels? Apart from Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston is the only one that was pinned by Chris Jericho in singles action during his 8-month run this year. It’s almost as if WWE know they can trust Kofi to put on a good match, but they just can’t be bothered giving him a decent push or any promo time.

The current WWE Champion is CM Punk. Punk’s referred to Kofi as his “road wife” on more than one occasion and I think it’d be something fresh to watch. If Punk really has as much influence backstage as we’re led to believe, then why can’t Kofi step up for a couple of weeks? If he takes off, then keep pushing him as an upper mid-card babyface.Kofi and Punk would have a lot of fun working together and I reckon it’s about time Kofi got another shot.

He lost the tag-team championships at Night of Champions to Kryan, as well as the rematch the following night on Raw, so Kofi’s at a loose-end right now? With Cena unable to compete in the ring for the next few weeks at least, why not put Kofi in there, even with Cena if that’s the way WWE want to go? I’d be fine with it. Because then, Kofi would be getting what he deserves: his moment to shine at the top of the card with the best wrestler in the world, CM Punk.