Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston

[aboynameddirt]

Awhile back, there was a thread started about Triple H wanting to revamp the tag division in WWE. Somewhere in that thread, I gave my piece and noted that I thought it would be a decent idea to team Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston together. Mainly because they're both guys who have kind of been lost in the WWE lately and need something to do.

Tonight on RAW, we saw the pair successfully defeat the Tag Team Champions, David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty, in a non-title match. After the match we saw Bourne and Kingston saying something along the lines of them wanting a title shot. With that, the announce team was also talking about the two teaming together in the future.

The way it looks as of now, we're on the verge of seeing Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne as a legitimate tag team, at least for the time being.

I'd like to hear your thoughts...
Do you think this is the case?
If so, how far do you think it will go?
What do you think of the idea overall?

 

[FaceSuperstar]

I do think that Kofi Kingston and Even Bourne will become a legitimate tag team for now at least. If these two play there cards correctly as a team and work well together it could maybe last until TLC at least. Would you guys like to see them in a TLC or Ladder match at the TLC PPV for the WWE Tag Titles? I know I sure would. WWE knew what they were doing when the put these two together. With them both having great move sets. For example the way Kofi and Evan love to use in air moves this would create endless possibilities for them as a legitimate team.

 

[#hamler]

If it's keeping them even a little relevant on Raw, then I'm all for a tag team. Kofi Kingston and Evan Borune are both great performers but are definitely life long midcarders. To keep them relevant on Raw they need something to do and chasing the tag team championships would be a great way to stay relevant. I don't really see them as a long term tag team but a good reign with the tag championships would defnitely be a great way to get the tag titles on a PPV every now and then. They at least have more pesonality and charisma then Otunga and McGillicutty's boring ass.

 

[Nate DaMac]

I'm fine with it. Two guys that have absolutely nothing else going on get thrown together in a tag team. Some of the best tag teams in the business have come from this very situation. It doesn't hurt that both of them have some of the best vertical leaping ability I've ever seen, so the spotfests they put on could be very fun.

I just hope they don't get a shot next week, lose, and be done. I'd like to see an actual feud come out of this with the McSillyBuddies. That would be a way to start rebuilding the Tag Team Division.

 

[Theo Mays]

Kofi and Bourne both seem lost in the shuffle right now and with NOC around the corner it gives the tag titles some publicity. Kofi and Bourne are both over and gives Otunga and McGillicutty some much needed competition. Bourne (and more specifically) Kofi are over as singles stars so they should be taken as serious contenders. The two could even be a fun team to watch as they are both fast paced and absolutely fun to watch. As a short term team they could be a nice paper champions.

 

[Klown_Karnage]

I'd be all for this. Both of these guys are very exciting in the ring, work well together, and are believable in gaining victories as a tag team, much more so than gaining them in singles competition. I'm qualifying my last statement by saying this is the impression I get from others who say, quite frankly, that they're too small to be believable in gaining victories in singles action. The tag-team bit rather negates most of that, making them a force to be reckoned with.

My only suggestion is that they either brush up on their mic skills, be allowed to use what mic skills they have if they truly are up to snuff (we haven't seen much talking from these two at all) or get a manager who can do their talking for them. That's the one weak link between them.

I think that the name "Air Raid" would be very appropriate for a tag team featuring these two, wouldn't you say?

 

[Zanman720]

Yeah. They looked really good as Tag Team Partners tonight. And their Finishers (Trouble in Paradise; Shooting Star Press) really go together nicely as we saw.

As for Getting the Tag Team Division back on Track. Not only do we need more Credible teams, we need Tag Team Promos...just like in the Attitude Era (Sorry to bring it up, but that really had the full package when it came to equal entertainment from all divisions)....and Promos really help.

 

[Million Dollar Dream]

Just a throw together tag team for the time being before real tag teams start making their way into WWE... That's if Triple H is serious about wanting to make the tag team division relevant again and with THQ adding in Classic tag team wrestlers to their wwe 12 game this season such as Arn Anderson, Nash, Booker, Demolition and Road Warriors I can see Triple H's vision coming to life in quick time.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

i like these 2 as a tag team bourne and kofi made a good team and after they won i thought they should fued with the tag champs over the titles as long as the fued doesnt end in 1 team breaking up...plus it gives the tag champs something to do until KOW debut

 

[xoxo French Kiss xoxo]

Kofi Kingston can't feud with Ziggler any longer, due to them being in a feud for the past year with each other over a middle card title.

Evan Bourne can't continue to feud with Swagger until the end of time...

SOoooooooooooooooooooooo pairing the two up into a tag team frees them from those two feuds, gives them something to do, while pairing two faces up in a tag team to face two heels.

With Kozlov being released, and Santino off in the while blue yonder, outside of the tag champs, there are no other tag teams on Raw.

Also factor in that the Uso's are the only other tag team active on the roster right now. They need to do something asap because they really don't have a tag division

 

[Arcade]

I think that this is a good idea. I think in a way, Otunga and McGillicutty devauled the WWE Tag Team titles. Bourne and Kingston are much funner to watch and if KoW debuts as heels, that would be an intresting fued.

 

[xoxo French Kiss xoxo]

I think that this is a good idea. I think in a way, Otunga and McGillicutty devauled the WWE Tag Team titles. Bourne and Kingston are much funner to watch and if KoW debuts as heels, that would be an intresting fued.

THE WWE TAG TITLES DEVALUED? OMG REALLY SINCE WHEN? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

If you think Otunga and McGillicutty "devalued" the Tag Titles, then you haven't been watching WWE programing that long. The Tag Titles have been a joke since before they were held by the Wendy's spokes girl, and that white guy from Africa.

All stock in the Tag Titles left when they changed the design. The Last real team to hold those titles was the The Hart Dynasty in 2010.

 

[Arcade]

They weren't the only ones to devalue it, but this is probably the lowest the WWE Tag Team titles sunk to. Otunga a horrible wrestler, McGillicutty no personality at all. Bourne and Kingston needs to win the WWE Tag Team titles. I don't think WWE is that stupid to make them lose in a title match against Otunga and McGillicutty.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

I really don't understand why they don't give Otunga, a starfucker, and McGillicutty, third gen wrestler, more personality. That just has "dickface shitbags" written all over it. Otunga bragging about his red carpet encounters and his famous wife, McGilicutty bragging about being wrestling royalty, shit writes itself.

Bourne and Kofi, like I said elsewhere, wore similar colors tonight, which is a good sign that WWE is considering keeping them together.

They mesh well because they have similar styles BUT they also fit the tag team mold. Both have personality, Kofi has the gestures to really get the crowd into it from the beginning. Bourne is a good beat-down guy and Kofi with his high jumping clotheslines, leg lariats, and cross bodies is a great hot tag. They have a pretty nice little blueprint going for being a great babyface tag team.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

I hope they work as a tag team, because neither is going anywhere in singles competition.

I like Bourne, but he's just too small. And please, save the Mysterio shit - he's an exception to the rule. Bourne sells his ass off, but he's not believable. And then there's Kofi. Sorry, but that guys a complete clusterfuck in singles action. He can't tell a story to save his life, runs around like a chicken with his head cut off... it's bad.

This team could work, and hopefully, not look terribly random. I hate random tag teams. Keep them together for a good stretch, and please, put some REAL teams around them.

 

[SecondCitySaint]

I wouldn't mind seeing Kofi (I suck terribly bad) Kingston and Matt Bourne Sydal going up against Rey and Sin Cara, not that that will ever happen. But I can dare to dream. As for what we have now, Matt and Kofi will be plenty entertaining in the tag division...until the Claudio and Chris Hero arrive to reignite the tag division.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

I hope they work as a tag team, because neither is going anywhere in singles competition.

I like Bourne, but he's just too small. And please, save the Mysterio shit - he's an exception to the rule. Bourne sells his ass off, but he's not believable. And then there's Kofi. Sorry, but that guys a complete clusterfuck in singles action. He can't tell a story to save his life, runs around like a chicken with his head cut off... it's bad.

This team could work, and hopefully, not look terribly random. I hate random tag teams. Keep them together for a good stretch, and please, put some REAL teams around them.

Exactly right with the bourne stuff. Not only that, but it took 5 years of being the best high flyer on the planet (not just based on moves, but selling and charisma too, which Bourne doesnt' have the charisma), another 5 years of being a lightweight legend (against still with the selling and charisma more than cool moves) and his best friend and wrestling legend dying before Rey got to be a true main eventer. Not at al the same thing.

I agree with Kofi too. He's a lot like Morrison only less sloppy. When with a smart opponent, the crowd eats his shit up, when not led, it's awkward.

Tag matches basically take the guess-work out. Faces start out hot, hitting lots of fast stuff, tandem dropkicks and dives, etc. Heels cheat to get the advantage. You beat on the guy who draws the most sympathy (bourne), then milk the tag a few times (the equivelant of hope spots in a singles match), then finally make the hot tag (equivelant of the 5 moves of doom sequence), heels both bump and feed, sympathy guy come around and you hit your sig tandem shit and/or it's countered for the finishing stretch and go home.

Kofi and Bourne should work. They make sense together.

 

[The Death Rattle]

The pairing could work out in the short term. The pairing could lead to a title match, presumably the next pay per view. The pairing could result in a title reign. I don't personally have an issue with those scenarios, even though it does nothing for me in terms of interest. I will freely admit I'm not a fan of either Bourne or Kingston.

My question is this, how does this revamp the Tag Team titles? A common complaint with Otunga and McGuillicutty is that they are just two random guys thrown together for lack of anything better to do with them. Isn't that the exact same situation with Bourne and Kingston? I can understand some will enjoy their style far more then the current champions. I couldn't argue that point. But what is the bond between Bourne and Kingston that would make them partner up in the first place? You could argue they want to win championship gold, but why would Kingston go to the tag ranks when he has won singles gold multiple times. You could argue they are doing it in the name of competition, but that in theory is why most wrestlers wrestle.

There just really isn't a story here, nothing to advance with outside of them chasing or winning the titles. Where do you go should they win the titles? They give Otunga/McGuillicutty their rematch, retain the titles, then...?

 

[Da Solo]

Honestly, at first I was against the idea, because I figured Kofi was too high up on the roster to be messing with the tag champs (considering he recently took a clean win over Del-Rio and was in the semi-finals of the championship tournament). But then I realized if he and Bourne wins, it could give the titles a little bit more recognition, kind of like the way Jeri-Show did a while back. And plus, it's better than having him float around with nothing to do. The only downside is I was hoping the Uso's would win the title off Otunga/Perfect Jr., but I don't mind Kofi and Bourne winning it either

 

[Sub-Xero]

As a rule, I generally hate 2 random guy tag-teams. Just because they're both heels or faces doesn't mean they're friends!! But since that's all we've got for now, I'm all for Air Jamaica. That's their name, Air Jamaica...Yeah, I know he's not Jamaican, his name is still Kingston though...Yes, I know he dropped the accent...No, they shouldn't pretend it never happened...I don't know, I don't write for them, they'll figure it out.

Where was I?

Oh, right. Kofi and Bourne would make a great team long term, if WWE had any long term tag team plans. KoW could be the start of a new era in tag wrestling, but until then, let's just throw 2 guys together who seem to have some chemistry, then break them up once they get really popular.

 

[Wrestlingfan100]

I'm a big mark for Evan Bourne inside and out of the ring. On a podcast with ColT Cabana he showed his humility and optimistic happy go lucky attitude/personality is not a gimmick and I'm a big fan of his technical skills and educated feet although they are overshadowed by his mix of
puro and lucha libre highflying and cruiserweight antics. I believe he is good on the microphone, he is just not "threatning", he hits every point
they teach you in FCW, facial expressions, volume control etc just like
Rey Mysterio but akin to Rey Mysterio is Sheamus going to be afraid of him, is Randy Orton going to eat his words while staring him down NO.
He does have a degree in marketing and business and he did promote WWE in Brazille this past year but I'm getting off topic onto Kofi.

Kofi's been in the biz 5 years opposed to Evan Bourne who's been doing
this 11 years since age 17. I seldom see Evan Bourne botch, it happens
once a year, but I've Kofi botch dangerously, look at his match at Summer Slam and the couple PPV's before he always botches the standing double foot stomp, now go find a video of Evan doing that exact move to Sin cara picture perfect. CM Punk carried Kofi and so
will Evan Bourne. It's not like they haven't tagged before, his debut match under the new ring name Evan Bourne, they've beaten Mike Knox/Shelton Benjamin, Legacy, Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler.

The only thing I worry about is the booking, I want the team to be booked to show their in ring skills to the fullest not just an "ooh-ah" spotfest, their movesets, their background, their experience does not
match up completely, they have a similar style which will make the average fan root for them. Overall in my honest opinion-
Evan/Matt will carry this team in ring wise
KOfi Kingston will carry the team charisma wise.

Evan Bourne's the Matt Hardy, Kofi Kingston is the Jeff Hardy of their team so to speak. They are friends in real life as played onscreen and
on twitter too. Kofi is taller, more charismatic and has captured the hearts of the current demographic in the WWE Universe, Evan Bourne is
a tenured young veteran with lots of people behind him{Cena, Jericho, Bret Hart, Triple H,stephanie} except one man Vince McMahon, Evan will NEVER be a main-eventer but I have no doubt he'll win a world title
on his way out of WWE then move to FCW and backstage training people or go back to his uncle's marketing + mailbox company business.

Kofi Kingston will continue to be a decorated and slightly over pushed
midcard champion. As a tag team, I would want them to win the titles
just so Evan has something other than two slammies{finisher, attire}
in his WWE career. He spent 8 years getting to WWE, in 3 years he's bounced from midcarder to upper midcarder. He's an amazing performer
and a humble nice guy{I've read interviews, his podcast with colt cabana, videos on youtube at autograph signings, his tweets} and Kofi
I may dislike him for the same reasons I dislike John Morrison. Kofi is a good
partner for him, I hope they win tag gold.

 

[TheAwesome_RedX]

I really liked the match and their styles go hand and hand their tag team moves where tight but i dont want them to be a for now tag team i want them 2 stay together win the titles at Night of champions defend them against everybody then have evan go to smackdown via the draft win the i c title and hit the whc picture (doubt it will happen bt hey) and have kofi enter da wwe picture and let the usos win the titles in what would be Kofi and evan last tag match

 

[remyx]

On Raw we saw Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne team up... now I don't know if this is going to continue or not, but i've had an idea about this for some time. With all the talk of HHH wanting to push the tag division and hiring new teams to get it rolling they could be pairing these two (who have nothing to do) up.

What also with everything in the WWE pushing between whats real and what isn't, the so called reality era as such, they could put Kofi in a position to show some of that fire he had back when he feuded with Randy Orton.

I'm not just saying have Kofi & Evan team up and be a classic tag team, but have them join forces with maybe one or two others to start a little faction. Kofi could express his anger towards his constant stop/start pushes, and that despite winning & losing the IC & US titles respectively, that none of his reigns meant anything and that he was just being put in place to hold the championships for other people while they realised what to do with them. He could say he's been treading water, conveniently for the WWE for too long and that the only way he's getting anywhere is by his own means.

This could go the same for Evan, he's just used to fill the roll of a high spot now and then and also whenever a high stakes match comes along, he fills the roll as crash test dummy, taking one for the team for a quick buck. Jack Swagger could even join up... he's feuded with them both non stop for two years and for what? None of it meant anything, was really for anything and that despite hating both of them, he hates the system more. He could cite how bad he was built up before his World title reign and how worse it got once he won the title.. How his career highlight since losing his title to Rey in a 2 week build feud, was being Michael Cole's bitch boy.

They could add one more person... maybe some cannon fodder like trent barrette (who is actually quite awesome in his own right), he could complain that atleast the other guys get TV time while he has to settle for internet streams. He's good in the ring. Could work in a tag team with either Bourne or Swagger, as a classic high flying OR big man/small man group.

They could feud over the tag titles, fight their own cause against the new COO, go for midcard or even have Swagger or Kofi pushing to break the glass ceiling.

Anybody got any ideas?

 

[The_Sharpshooter]

I was thinking along the same lines as Remyx, until he started talking about all that complaining. Don't you remember that those guys barely talk? Its for a reason: THEY CANT!

But I've always wondered why bigger faces didnt "associate" with lesser faces to get them more over. For example, if Kofi & Bourne were to tag again next week, Cena comes to their locker room to congratulate them on last week & hopes to see more of the same in the future. He sets up some kiddie line & let Bourne knock it out the park, PG style. Evingston(yup, I did that) are characters that appeal more to children anyway. Why not put them next to Captain Kiddo for awhile.

But this will be an interesting team. I bet if they last awhile, one of their routine spots will be them both jumping on their opponents at the same time from the ropes to the floor. Or maybe dual suicide dives. I think I've seen them do that before. But I think the best thing they can do for the short term of this tag team division is give McTungacutty some run with experienced wrestlers. I hope they keep the heels with the belts, doing dirty things to keep their only way of relevance. While Kofi & Bourne take weeks, maybe months to claim their prize

 

[Mustang Sally]

If it's keeping them even a little relevant on Raw, then I'm all for a tag team. Kofi Kingston and Evan Borune are both great performers but are definitely life long midcarders..

That's the point. Neither of these guys is going to be in the world title picture; they just don't have the star power needed to be featured as champion. Regardless, both are entertaining to watch and a partnership could only benefit them. And, since Triple H apparently wants to feature tag teams, what better way to stimulate interest in two guys whose sum will be greater than the individual parts?

If all that isn't enough, consider that rebuilding the tag team division would be better accomplished by forging alliances between guys who can create a distinct identity, rather than just throwing two people together and telling them to function as a team. In this case, you've got two high-fliers who can complement each other with timing, athleticism and technical prowess.

I hope they stay together; they'll do better together than they did individually. Plus, they'll be fun to watch.