If Kofi is to be a main-eventer, this needs to happen

[d_henderson1810]

Over the last couple of days, fans have been raving about Kofi Kingston's performance at "Elimination Chamber" and him getting a WWE Title shot against Daniel Bryan at "Fast Lane".

Now, I know what you are thinking. Many of you are expecting for me to run down Kofi, and say how he isn't main-event worthy.

Actually, you're wrong. I CAN see Kofi as a main-eventer. He has been around for fifteen years, is a great worker, good on the mike, and has the fans on board.

However, one thing holds him back from being a legit main eventer-The New Day!

The New Day is a comedy act. It isn't like the Shield, where it is a faction where any member can automatically become a main-eventer overnight, and look suited to the role.

Kofi needs to be seperated from the rest of the New Day. Give him a new costume, a new entrance. He can still be a face, and even occassionally acknowledge the New Day.

But he needs to stop carrying pancakes, promoting "Booty-O's" cereal, and dancing to a silly trombone. Also, his "interview" character does him no favours.

No, this is Kofi's time. He had a chance to main event years ago, until Randy Orton politicked against him. He can be that main eventer again, but he needs to become a more "serious" character, who isn't carrying a WWE belt in one hand, and flinging pancakes into the crowd with the other.

The fact is, New Day is a tired act anyway, and it has been played out. I think Kofi can be one of the top guys, and even Big E has potential to be a top tough guy, in the vein of Samoa Joe, but the silliness needs to stop for them to be taken seriously, or if they do comedy, they need to do it like the Rock or Chris Jericho did it, while still remaining a legit threat.

I think Kofi has potential, but whether he makes it or not depends on if WWE get behind him, and for it to work, they need to break up the New Day (or have Big E and Xavier be a tag-team). Maybe have them be seperated via the draft lottery, and Kofi and Big E can go for titles, while Woods continues playing his trombone and hocking cereal.

 

[Greg]

Totally agree. I think this is the time for Big E and Woods to turn heel and get a new member for New Day. They can turn heel with the excuse that they never got the spot light but Kofi did. I think Woods can be great as a heel and stop playing that stupid trombone. Big E can be a heel and face a babyface Andrade for the US title.

 

[djk2019]

i dont see a point tho... i mean he is great but after Fastlane he is back to the end of the line. You will see a Returning act come back after the match at Fastlane attack Bryan and let that fued start.

Kofi will be back to the silliness come the end of fast lane

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

New Day should not break up, until Kofi is ready to retire or decides that he wants to call it quits in a year or two.
Breaking New Day up is not the answer for anything. I mean, the reason the three even started the group was because wwe did not have anything for them when guys like Ziggler, Ryback, and Sheamus were in the main event. Am I suppose to believe Vince and others are going to care enough to give them solo pushes with the amount of unused talent on the roster in 2019?
If New Day breaks up now, after a month or two, all three guys are going to be back in catering or jobbing, especially if the Dean Ambrose betrayal is any indication of how things will go.

Plus, who is going to believe a jealousy or "you held me down" betrayal with the New Day? Xavier and 'E have always been vocal about how one of their main goals for the group was for Kofi to become wwe champion, why would either all of a sudden feel jealous? Or why would Kofi feel like he has been held down when New Day rejuvenated his career and brought him plenty success and accomplishments like hosting Wrestlemania and several day time tv show appearances?

Yes, a more serious New Day booked as an actual faction is welcomed, but I honestly do not see anything wrong with the current version of New Day/Kofi getting a main event push. They have proven plenty of times (In their feuds with Cesaro/Kidd, the Usos, and the Bar) that they can joke around all day but when it comes to being serious and getting the job done that they can.

 

[pipebomber]

I'm kind of in the middle. He doesn't need to lose the new day immediately. But it can't last forever, unless they back off and are only semi-aligned for a while.

Here is my arm chair booking concept.

I, like most of you, don't expect a Kofi victory at fast lane. But that doesn't mean it isn't in the cards down the road. I would hold off until around SummerSlam. I personally don't care who the champion is at that point, have Kofi go over him and have the new day be proud of him and still with him. Come TLC/Royal rumble have big e starting to appear jealous of Kofi. Then around elimination chamber or fast lane have him go full on heel. Attack Kofi and claim that Kofi was treating them like staff and less like friends or something along those lines with Xavier torn between them. WrestleMania main event I set, Kofi Kingston vs Big E. Xavier woods would either be ringside in a neutral corner or serving as special referee. He would eventually turn on Kofi and align with Big E.

 

[OYDK]

There's no need. Kofi Kingston is never going to be as hot as he is right now, so if you're going to pull the trigger, now is the time. If he's not champ after Mania, his window will be pretty much closed. Besides, why would you change everything about Kofi that made the fans care about him in the first place? Why would you change his music and take away New Day and change his attire if that's what's getting him over right now?

Maybe you do all that if you're trying to position him as a top face going forward (which admittedly, is your point) but I just don't see Kingston becoming an entrenched main-eventer. This momentum seems like it's developed from a storm of circumstances coming together and when the storm passes, his fan support will go back to normal and Kofi will go back to his regular role.

I wouldn't be opposed to Kingston winning the title at Mania as a nod to everything he's done in the WWE, and than losing it back to Bryan a month or two later, but if it did happen, that would probably be the last time Kofi ever really sniffs the big belt.

 

[Aquaman6686]

No, this is Kofi's time. He had a chance to main event years ago, until Randy Orton politicked against him.

Ummm....what? How did Orton do anything to hurt Kofi? He repeatedly put him over during their feud. Orton only won one out of, what was it, five matches? I think you're confusing Kofi Kingston with Christian, THAT'S the guy that Orton buried.

 

[Razz]

Ummm....what? How did Orton do anything to hurt Kofi? He repeatedly put him over during their feud. Orton only won one out of, what was it, five matches? I think you're confusing Kofi Kingston with Christian, THAT'S the guy that Orton buried.

No Christian and Orton are tight and never had any incident. You can hear that clearly from when Orton was on the E&C podcast in the recent past. He really respects Christian and vice versa. It is quite well known Orton reportedly got angry over Kofi botching the ending of a match and some other stuff. You can even see hear Orton yelling stupid at him and Kofi doing a call back to it here all these years later:
Kelsey on Twitter

Orton even liked that tweet. Orton apparently complained about it backstage which derailed Kofi's momentum and push. Orton did that politicking cr8p a lot back then, apparently b*tched about Ken Anderson which also led to his downfall in WWE.

 

[SwanSong]

I could not disagree more with this.

Kofi's current push only works with him as a babyface and breaking up The New Day will only hurt him as well as Big E and Xavier's in the long run.

I don't see any reason why Kofi can't be the "singles guy" in The New Day while Xavier and Big E continue to work as a tag team. I really hate this idea that all tag teams eventually need to break up. Especially in this situation where there are three members of the team.

I also strongly disagree with you saying that The New Day is tired or stale. Maybe the pancake thing is played out but that is a very easy thing to fix. They are unquestionably still one of the most popular acts on Smackdown Live. They consistantly get one of the biggest crowd reactions week after week (especially at house shows where the audience's age tends to skew younger) and The New Day is still selling a TON of merchandise and has become one of the rare WWE performers to fully cross over into the mainstream.

In the long run breaking up The New Day will only hurt all three men's careers. And all three men have said that they want to trio to stay togerher until they retire and I see nothing wrong with that at all.

 

[Tenebrous]

If ever there was a time to put the title on Kofi, this is it! The WWE title will be in the background at Mania with Lynch/Flair/Rousey and Lesnar/Rollins being the focal points. It’s like Eddie winning the title in ‘04, granted that title change was storyline driven. Point is, a world title change at the last show before Mania wasn’t detrimental because the show wasn’t built around that title. I believe a Kofi win would inevitably lead to a Big E push to the top as well. Big E would be a believable champ once he took on a more serious character. They could even make Woods pick a side. Generally, the New Day has always deferred to Kofi to represent them in big matches i.e. Money in the Bank and most recently, the Elimination Chamber. The storyline doesn’t have to go Shield 2.0 but the jealousy/betrayal storyline nearly always works because it’s relatable.

 

[Aquaman6686]

No Christian and Orton are tight and never had any incident. You can hear that clearly from when Orton was on the E&C podcast in the recent past. He really respects Christian and vice versa. It is quite well known Orton reportedly got angry over Kofi botching the ending of a match and some other stuff. You can even see hear Orton yelling stupid at him and Kofi doing a call back to it here all these years later:
Kelsey on Twitter

Orton even liked that tweet. Orton apparently complained about it backstage which derailed Kofi's momentum and push. Orton did that politicking cr8p a lot back then, apparently b*tched about Ken Anderson which also led to his downfall in WWE.

The point stands though. Kofi's career was helped by his feud with Orton, while Christian's was destroyed. Orton liking them personally or not is irrelevant, Kofi was still elevated and Christian was buried.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I've considered New Day's break up. How many Wyatt factions and Sheild reunions have we had since New Day got together? In other words, they have been together for a long time in wrestling. Then again, I'm trying to remember a faction where a single wrestler succeeds and there is genuine joy from the other members. New Day's positivity feels original in that way. It's nice, it's refreshing, it sets a good example for all of us. There is too much jealousy driving mental health in 2019 and New Day is a good reminder for all of us to appreciate the successes of those that you care about.

Regardless of what happens - I don't expect Kofi to win the title heading in to Mania - I hope Woods has a lot of creative input in to the direction the New Day. I'm guessing that he has been the driver for most of the entertaining work New Day has provided over the years. No way Vince came up with unicorns, trombones, and Booty-O's.

 

[John1122]

You are so delusional.

 

[Aquaman6686]

You are so delusional.

The facts prove otherwise, troll.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

Push Kofi yes, break up New Day, no. Maybe later you break them up, but for now Xavier and Big E should be hype men and managers for Kingston. They counterbalance Rowan and a potentially returning Harper. Not all acts need the break up angle in order to rise to the main event. Kofi is already getting a reaction, he doesn’t need more tension or enemies at this time.


It was a mistake to break up Enzo and Cass to push Cass. I don’t like using those guys as an example considering their personal lives, but in story Enzo gave Cass what he was missing and should have slid into a managerial role. Look at other teams that broke up and had members slide down the card. The mishandling of Dean Ambrose’s heel turn is a good example. It’s proven utterly meaningless. Similarly Christian also slid down the card when Edge rose up in 2001, why do this now when New Day is still moving merchandise?


Splitting up the New Day isn’t going to get anyone over at this stage. A heel Xavier and/or Big E will just get lost in the shuffle and wind up falling down the card. New Day could just be booked to be more serious through this angle. Shelve the pancakes and the Booty-O’s for now. Comedic characters have been champion in the past.


The Rock has done a ton of comedy, so has Kurt Angle. Stone Cold did a ton of comedy in 2001 during the backstage butt kisser portion of his ill conceived 2001 heel run. Maybe that’s a bad example? This all lead to the WWF title match at SummerSlam 2001.


Nothing says the WWE champion must be completely serious and can’t be a fun character. When the bell rings, yes the antics need to full stop, but why can’t the WWE champion be a bit comedic on the promo side?


If they were serving pancakes off the WWE title or rubbing their buttocks on it, yes it would be an absolute travesty. If they’re doing New Day rocks claps or Xavier saves the trombone for the victory celebration, what in of itself is wrong with that? They drop confetti and balloons for new champs, why not a man with a PHD and a penchant for horns trumpeting the victory?


Kofi and New Day should naturally transition into more serious characters. Repacking Kofi, putting him in all black gear or some generic rock theme is going to be jarring. Even bringing back the SOS theme is going to be left field. He hasn’t used that theme in about five years.


It would be good to see Kofi in wrestling in gear similar to what New Day wore in the early days, with less of the pancakes and breakfast cereal. Keep the bright colours and keep the New Day theme with Big E intro, it’s over and it’s part of who the character is.


I don’t want to see Kofi go over at Fastlane. If he’s winning the title it has be at WrestleMania. Yes, maybe they add someone like Cena to the match for the added star power, but Kofi should go over at Mania. I would rather see Kofi vs Bryan one on one. I think it would add drama with Kofi putting his career on the line in the match, though that might telegraph the finish too much.


I also fear that they may choose failure to capitalize as their avenue here, making Kofi’s Mania “moment” something lesser such as the US title or Andre Battle. They have a bad habit of killing the things that they didn’t choose to put over. Ryder, Sandown, Slater, Dillinger, English and Rusev have all gotten over huge in recent years even though they weren’t meant to.


The difference is those guys all barely had the accolades (except maybe Rusev) that Kingston does. Three US titles, four IC titles, eight tag team titles and a living Royal Rumble highlight reel. They’ve invested more in this guy than anyone else who connected with the audience when they weren’t really meant to. He’s their guy. He was in the indies for a hot minute but has been with WWE forever. He has the Killer Kowalski connection with Triple H. The writing is on the wall.


The two world title reality of a brand extension WWE makes this a unique opportunity to put the title on a workhorse who seemed meant for more than tag team specialist. It’s a feel good story and doesn’t have to lead to a long title reign.

 

[Click Bait]

Over the last couple of days, fans have been raving about Kofi Kingston's performance at "Elimination Chamber" and him getting a WWE Title shot against Daniel Bryan at "Fast Lane".


Now, I know what you are thinking. Many of you are expecting for me to run down Kofi, and say how he isn't main-event worthy.

Actually, you're wrong. I CAN see Kofi as a main-eventer. He has been around for fifteen years, is a great worker, good on the mike, and has the fans on board.

However, one thing holds him back from being a legit main eventer-The New Day!

The New Day is a comedy act. It isn't like the Shield, where it is a faction where any member can automatically become a main-eventer overnight, and look suited to the role.

Kofi needs to be seperated from the rest of the New Day. Give him a new costume, a new entrance. He can still be a face, and even occassionally acknowledge the New Day.

But he needs to stop carrying pancakes, promoting "Booty-O's" cereal, and dancing to a silly trombone. Also, his "interview" character does him no favours.

No, this is Kofi's time. He had a chance to main event years ago, until Randy Orton politicked against him. He can be that main eventer again, but he needs to become a more "serious" character, who isn't carrying a WWE belt in one hand, and flinging pancakes into the crowd with the other.

The fact is, New Day is a tired act anyway, and it has been played out. I think Kofi can be one of the top guys, and even Big E has potential to be a top tough guy, in the vein of Samoa Joe, but the silliness needs to stop for them to be taken seriously, or if they do comedy, they need to do it like the Rock or Chris Jericho did it, while still remaining a legit threat.

I think Kofi has potential, but whether he makes it or not depends on if WWE get behind him, and for it to work, they need to break up the New Day (or have Big E and Xavier be a tag-team). Maybe have them be seperated via the draft lottery, and Kofi and Big E can go for titles, while Woods continues playing his trombone and hocking cereal.

Here's my thing with Kofi at this stage its hard for me to take him or WWE seriously. Especially after promotions like ROH, NJPW, IMPACT and MLW already beat them to the punch. We all know Kofi can go but we've known this ages ago. WWE is 15 years too late for me.

 

[FromGlasgowScotland]

I like Kofi and his Royal Rumble appearance is always a highlight for me during that event, He seems to have a unique style and deffinently deserves a push, He should have been in a few high profile matches and feuds long before now but for only his size I can't buy him as a world champion, It just wouldn't look believable for him to have a competitive match against someone like Brock or Reigns.

 

[Aquaman6686]

I like Kofi and his Royal Rumble appearance is always a highlight for me during that event, He seems to have a unique style and deffinently deserves a push, He should have been in a few high profile matches and feuds long before now but for only his size I can't buy him as a world champion, It just wouldn't look believable for him to have a competitive match against someone like Brock or Reigns.

Reigns isn't believable beating 95% of the guys he does. What's your point?

 

[d_henderson1810]

I could not disagree more with this.

Kofi's current push only works with him as a babyface and breaking up The New Day will only hurt him as well as Big E and Xavier's in the long run.

I don't see any reason why Kofi can't be the "singles guy" in The New Day while Xavier and Big E continue to work as a tag team. I really hate this idea that all tag teams eventually need to break up. Especially in this situation where there are three members of the team.

I also strongly disagree with you saying that The New Day is tired or stale. Maybe the pancake thing is played out but that is a very easy thing to fix. They are unquestionably still one of the most popular acts on Smackdown Live. They consistantly get one of the biggest crowd reactions week after week (especially at house shows where the audience's age tends to skew younger) and The New Day is still selling a TON of merchandise and has become one of the rare WWE performers to fully cross over into the mainstream.

In the long run breaking up The New Day will only hurt all three men's careers. And all three men have said that they want to trio to stay togerher until they retire and I see nothing wrong with that at all.

Maybe you don't need anyone turning on anyone to break them up.

In fact, the way I would break them up is have either Kofi, or the other members of New Day, move to RAW via the Draft Lottery.

It is silly that when they move in the draft, they move as a unit, whereas the first time they did the brand extension, tag-teams were seperated by the draft lottery.

If each man can't stand on their own two feet, then that says something about them as a performer. Personally, I can see both Kofi and Big E making it as singles competitors, Xavier not so much.

I remember people saying that they shouldn't break up the Shield, but each member was able to perform as a singles competitor, with varying levels of success.

I am sick of the pancakes, the trombone, the Booty O's, the unicorns, the corniness from them. Kofi has shown that he can stand as a singles competitor before, so why couldn't he now.

In fact, I would say staying in New Day is HINDERING Kofi as a performer. He can bring much more to the table, but he has to go along with the goofiness.

 

[Spencesc11]

I think the one thing that will or won't allow Kingston to rise on the card is Vince. They need to allow the crowd to have a say and let's face it the New Day has been underused since it went to Smackdown. I think putting the WWE Title on Kingston now maybe premature. So what I would do is have him lose at Fastlane due to interference and have him win the US Title at Mania. Give him a long singles run as US Champ and see how it goes. Could build to a great match at possibly Summerslam with Daniel Bryan or whomever is champion. You don't break up New Day though. Way to over as a Face in an Era where it's hard for faces to get over sometimes.

 

[FromGlasgowScotland]

Reigns isn't believable beating 95% of the guys he does. What's your point?

Maybe Reigns wasn't the best example I could have used but growing up as a fan in the 80's/90's most of the wrestlers seemed almost superhuman and unbeatable and were large and muscular, A fault for me with wrestlers today is they look too small and skinny and look like they could be beaten by most adult males in a real fight which isn't in my view a good look for the world champion. I'm not trying to knock Kofi as I think he's one of the better wrestlers on the roster but to me someone like Brock, Reigns, Strowman etc look more believable as champion with their height, weight, strength advantage. Kofi has better matches as did the Dynamite Kid during the 80's but it wouldn't have looked believable for him to have been champion at that time either.

 

[SwanSong]

The facts prove otherwise, troll.

I don't think you understand what the word "fact" means. You are presenting something called an "opinion"... just like everybody else in this conversation.

Here is an example of an opinion: "Kofi Kingston would be a bigger star without The New Day."

Here is an example of a fact: "Kofi Kingston is a former WWE Tag Team Champion as a member of The New Day."

 

[SwanSong]

Reigns isn't believable beating 95% of the guys he does. What's your point?

It's really ironic that you accused somebody earlier of being a troll and then you come out with one of the biggest troll statements ever.

How is Roman Reigns beating guys like Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, or Finn Balor not "believeable".

Just because YOU don't like somebody doesn't mean that they arn't "believeable".

 

[Aquaman6686]

I don't think you understand what the word "fact" means. You are presenting something called an "opinion"... just like everybody else in this conversation.

Here is an example of an opinion: "Kofi Kingston would be a bigger star without The New Day."

Here is an example of a fact: "Kofi Kingston is a former WWE Tag Team Champion as a member of The New Day."

Kofi being elevated by his feud with Orton and Christian being damaged by his, are not opinions. They are FACTS, supported by evidence.

 

[Aquaman6686]

It's really ironic that you accused somebody earlier of being a troll and then you come out with one of the biggest troll statements ever.

How is Roman Reigns beating guys like Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, or Finn Balor not "believeable".

Just because YOU don't like somebody doesn't mean that they arn't "believeable".

It's not believable because Roman Reigns CANNOT WRESTLE. He doesn't know how to work a match, and it's therefore not believable that he regularly beats individuals that he wouldn't be able to touch in real life.