**MERGED** Evan Bourne Suspension Discussion- Keep it All in Here!!!

[akrassikauda]

From the news wire

There is heat on Evan Bourne after Triple H confronted him a few weeks ago, blaming him for the story getting out about R-Truth's suspension being for fake marijuana, as well as how they were smoking it together according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

It's said that Triple H is not a fan of Bourne but Stephanie McMahon thinks he brings something unique to the table that makes him worth keeping and building. Despite the support of Stephanie, there are still whispers within WWE that Bourne is about to be the next Paul London which translates into a guy with talent who is going to be broken mentally by the system.

There is also heat on Bourne because of the idea that you are not supposed to publicly show frustration with company and some feel that he has done that through Twitter at times.

A couple of Questions:
If all of this is true who's side are you on HHH or Stephanie?
Does the heat on Bourne jeopardize Kofi?

If true I'm going to go with HHH on this one. When you work with people they have to trust you. If you get busted by yourself you do the punishment by yourself. The last thing a working environment needs is a rat especially that sort of working environment were your traveling and sharing rooms together. It's bad for morale if someone gets in a jam and starts naming names.

As for Kofi as long as he is in a tag team with Bourne and Bourne continues to get heat he will suffer. Look at what happened when Bourne was suspended, Air Boom was hot then not while Bourne was serving his 30 days. Now they and the tag division is once again lost in the shuffle.

 

[joostschol]

If all of this is true who's side are you on HHH or Stephanie? I am on the side of Stephanie, Evan Bourne is a great talent, the kids love him, so he is kinda good for business.
Does the heat on Bourne jeopardize Kofi? I don't think so, Kofi doesn't do bad things, does he?

 

[newc868]

Kofi is fine out of this as long as he doesn't get dragged down by Bourne as well. Tbf, what's wrong with them smoking (fake) marijuana? I mean if they do it away from WWE and not to the point where it could possibly affect their in-ring performance, then there's no real harm being done is there?

Stephanie is right at the moment. Bourne is a unique talent within WWE and should be kept on but I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to find another talent like him out there if they wanted to. He's over with the crowd (at a mid-card level anyway) and seems happy to job to bigger stars. If he is the 'next Paul London' then it's a shame that they're willing to accept that but for Evan, I'm sure he'd be just fine, back in the Indys/ROH and enjoying himself rather than struggle to make it in the WWE.

 

[Nate DaMac]

First of all, Evan Bourne is not a unique talent. The indys are filled to capacity with spot monkeys who can do even crazier shit than he can. I like Evan, he's extremely fun to watch, but he's not unique.

As for the situation, obviously I'm with Hunter. You're an adult, fucking act like one. It reminds me of being in elementary school, honestly. "He did it too!!!" What a bitch.

I also don't understand this crusade against the synthetic marijuana. I'm not questioning whether or not there's a reason for it, I've just never heard anything about it that would make me take a stronger stance on it than real pot. I've smoked synthetic herb. The only issue I had with it was that it just wasn't as good as the real thing.

 

[ThinkinSmart]

Evan Bourn is not a spot monkey. Can we clear that up now? Theres a difference between only being able to hit a few high spots and WWE restricting your inring move set to just a few high spots. Any one who thinks Bourn is just another wrestler in the ring go check out old matchs of matt sydel. The guy is extremely talented.

In this situation I have to side with Stephanie. HHH is just not gunna go for a guy Bournes size. HHH loves the big muscular body builder type(like him self) and always has. The problem i have with the whole situation is that while Evan probably shouldn't have have made this issue public and embarrass the company I sort of feel he was right to do so. Because all of the WWE's wrestlers are free agents who get hired the WWE thinks they can just use or not use them based almost solely on the opinions of the people backstage; which is true, its their company and they can do what they want. But it's also really unfair to guys like Bourne. Bourne and Truth were both smoking together, they both failed, only one was suspended and it's only because the WWE thinks hes less of a valuable asset. Do you really think R Truth would have been suspended is Bourne didn't say any thing? Probably not seeing as he wasn't until word got out.

WWE needs guys like Bourne, hes a great tallent who adds something different to the mix. He probably should have just kept his mouth shut and played by the WWE's rules, but I can understand a guy who is now sitting at home, not getting paid, getting extremely aggravated while watching the guy he was smoking with be pushed into the main event. Bottom line though is guys like Bourne deserve a top spot in a company as large as this, he's not just another Paul London and certainly not just any other high flyer.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

The company is against talent showing frustrations with the company? Uh, how about every damn interview Punk does where he just HAS to bury something about the product in order to suck the IWC's dick?

Bourne is anything but a spot monkey. Just because someone can pull off exciting moves that doesn't make them a spot monkey. Most of Bourne's matches tell a good story. His problem is having no charisma and mic skills.

Honestly, I hope they release him or he quits. WWE is not the place for the guy, I've been saying it since he debuted. He's made for the X-Division. Can't talk for shit but can have a great, fast paced match.

But in the end I see HHH's point and Stephanie's point.

 

[JAB025]

The company is against talent showing frustrations with the company? Uh, how about every damn interview Punk does where he just HAS to bury something about the product in order to suck the IWC's dick?

Uh..........you do realize that when he does that it is scripted right?

What Evan did was narc on someone else so he wasn't the only one to go down. I think they'll probably keep him around for now, but I wouldn't be shocked if they killed his "push" if that's what we're calling having the tag team belts. It will effect Kofi to an extent but I think he'll be fine back in his mid card singles status soon enough.

 

[LSN80]

I don't recall reading that he "narc'd" on R-Truth. The report didn't say that after he got busted, he told on others. It said that he was confronted by HHH as to him revealing WHY R-Truth was suspended, in that he and Bourne were busted for smoking it together. Far different from him getting busted and saying "Well, let me tell you about what R-Truth did!" The heat is for him leaking the story that they both were busted, and that they smoked together, as well as Bourne voicing displeasure.

So many times, Ive seen people voice their frustration with the company publicly, and it's not a unilateral situation. When a headliner has done it, he's gotten pushed. When a mid-card guy does, he receives backstage heat. Is it fair? No. But it's the way of the world, not just in WWE. People higher up on the perverbial totem pole in any company can and do get away with far more then those lower then them. It's life.

But I'm with Stephanie here. Bourne is a unique talent that I'd like to see more done with. Not as in being pushed past the tag team titles, but for he and Kofi to actually be featured on a weekly basis on Raw and help rebuild the tag team division. If Stephanie's idea is to make him more then that, I don't see it. But giving he and Kofi a long title reign, performing every week to help elevate the tag division? I'm all for that.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

I gotta agree with Hunter on this one.

Even though I disagree with him about Evan Bourne not bringing really anything to the table I can understand why he would think that. Bourne isn't a big guy, he is exciting and fast paced but he isn't the type of guy that is easily marketable, outside of his in ring work he doesn't have a great look and is just a generic face.

One thing I definitely agree with Hunter on though is his frustrations with Evan over some of his twitter comments. Whether or not you agree with the suspension or not the fact is Evan did smoke the spice and should have seen the suspension coming, whether or not a person agrees with it is irrelevant, its still against the rules of the WWE wellness policy and if you break the rules you get suspended. Where he really fucked up though is bitching about it on twitter where millions of people can see it. When your boss does something you don't like you don't go bitching to the media like Evan Bourne did, you suck it up, take your lumps like a man and keep your mouth shut. You don't have to agree with their decision but its Vince's company, Vince's rules and even if you don't agree with those rules at least respect those rules. If Vince's rules are too much to handle than quit. I don't care for myself always having to be on good behavior at work because of the atmosphere but I still do it, its their rules and I have to learn to accept them. You don't go into someone's house and disrespect their rules, you learn to live with them, or simply don't go there.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't think that either side is 100% right but both do have solid points.

In Bourne's case, I do think he stands out on the WWE roster. Yes he's small but as we've been seeing in WWE for the past few years, physical stature has definitely been taking more of a back seat to ability. If a guy has size then great, but not if that's all he brings to the table. Look at Mason Ryan for a good example of that. I wouldn't classify Bourne as a spot monkey because he can do more than just high spots. His matches do usually tell stories, especially if he's given time. He had a match a few years ago on Raw against Sheamus that went about 12 minutes and it was great. Great back & forth action and damn good storytelling. A spot monkey is someone that has nothing but high spots to bring to the table. They don't tell stories, they bring little to no in-ring psychology to their matches and tend to move from one spot to another with little to no selling of the moves. The indy scene is full of guys like that and Bourne has bettered himself in that sense since coming to WWE.

At the same time, I also understand Triple H's frustration. Bourne is paired with Kofi Kingston and the two start doing good things in the tag team picture. They become the first relevant tag champions, and the first champs that people have cared about in a while, and Bourne fails a drug test. He finally gets a push and is doing something meaningful and he screws up. Not only that but he, allegedly, dimes out R-Truth for doing the same thing.

I wouldn't be surprised if Bourne was eventually let go during WWE's annual "spring cleaning". At the same time, however, I'm surprised that Air Boom hasn't been striped of the tag titles upon Bourne's return. I'm wondering if Vince is looking at things from the perspective of something along the lines of: "Ok, the guy screwed up and got caught. At the same time, he's doing good work with Kofi Kingston and has people excited about our tag team situation. Maybe we'll let things slide if he continues to deliver as part of Air Boom." As I said, Bourne's general punishment hasn't met with past WWE standards of drug test failure, such as dropping a title and having his push killed.

Bourne is a young guy, he's still only 27 or 28 I think, but I don't look for him to rise much higher than he is in WWE. If he were to head to TNA, I think he'd be branded X Division for life as Hogan & Bischoff are not really fans of small guys.

 

[sTyLnK]

I never believe 99% of this crap. What sources exactly? Unless I hear it straight from Triple H's mouth, I don't believe this. And I'll continue to take these "sources" and "news" with a grain of salt. You know how this stuff is. It always gets blown out of proportion.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

One of the issues I have is he is getting heat for saying some negative things on Twitter. Its never good to publicly say negative things about your employer but he is using Twitter and getting his name out there and the past few months the WWE has had a Twitter obsession.

Evan Bourne is a small but talented guy now trending on Twitter.
Seriously how many times a night does Cole mention what is trending? Then if it isn't coming out of his mouth its popping up in the bottom corner of the screen.

As far as the synthetic pot being an issue I can see why. Not all states have done it but some have passed laws making the fake stuff just as illegal as the real thing. My own Indiana passed its law a few months back. Its made pointless by the fact that in 15 minutes you could be in Kentucky from where I live, where its still legal but thats beside the point. Aside from that I have smoked both. Yeah the real stuff will pop on a test and may make you forget where your keys are but the fake stuff can cause of crazy trippy hallucinations and really mess you up. It may make you forget where you work.

All that said I side more with Stephanie than Hunter but it isn't 100%. He did mess up, especially after they give him the strap but its his first violation of the wellness program and he is getting some solid pop when he is with Kofi so he deserves a 2nd chance. Especially with his talent

 

[Harthan]

I'm with Bourne and Stephanie almost entirely on this one. It shouldn't be any secret to forum members how I feel about marijuana, and I think it's absurd that WWE talent could easily get stone drunk on a night off, but if they smoke some synthetic marijuana, they're in for a suspension. It's ridiculous. Neither Bourne or R-Truth should have been suspended in the first place. Now, as far as leaking the story out, if he did indeed do that, then I can see fair criticism on Bourne about it. While there never ought to have been a story in the first place, going to the dirt sheets about it isn't a great idea, and if indeed true, says something about Bourne's professionalism, which Triple H could be understandably frustrated about.

At the same time, the viewpoint attributed to Stephanie here is very correct. There isn't really anyone in the WWE who brings to the table what Evan Bourne does. It's not just high flying, it's the total package of athleticism, charisma, and wrestling ability that Bourne brings to the table. With his high flying flair, it makes him a special talent that the WWE shouldn't pass over so easily if there are backstage problems. It behooves everyone in this situation to work it out and clear up issues going forward, rather than depushing Bourne or even releasing him. I don't know that Bourne can rise to the top of the WWE, as his promo ability isn't fantastic. But there's something to be said for perennial midcard fixtures. Having a guy who can always be trusted with a tag run or a midcard title run is a valuable thing. And there's always the possibility that he gets better on the stick, or gets paired with a manager. Bourne is definitely a talent that can be valuable to the WWE and really ought to be kept around for as long as they can hold onto him. He could definitely be a great talent for them in the long term.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

What did he do?

Did he rat Truth out leading to his suspension, or was Truth already suspended and he just let it be known why?

Either way, it's a scumbag move on Bourne's part, and I can absolutely understand why Triple H would be upset with him.

I don't care if anyone thinks their shouldn't be a rule against marijuana or synthetic marijuana. The simple fact is, there is so regardless of who he was doing it with, Bourne knew what he was doing was against his companies rules. He got busted. He should have taken his punishment like a man, and he definitely shouldn't have sold anyone out because he was the one who got busted.

One of the biggest things in wrestling is trust. Who would trust Bourne after selling out Truth? I know if I was there, I wouldn't want to spend time with him in the back, and more importantly, I wouldn't want to work with him, because now it would be in the back of my head that I couldn't trust him inside the ring.

 

[H33LTurn]

When you're a member of a company you're supposed to represent that company. If you're frustrated you can always ask for a release, I think the product wouldnt suffer that much without Bourne. Then he has to drag down another top star with him as well. Evan's never going to accomplish anything in the WWE, lets face it. Get rid of him and make it clear to the boys in the back why he got released. That should get some people to close their damn mouths for a while.

 

[Champ1432]

Bourne is deifinitely more than a spot monkey, I think he does bring a lot to the ring and WWE in general. Yeah, his mic work is subpar, but that doesn't completely destroy his value. So I'm definitely with Stephanie on that one.

As for the issue of the suspension, from what I understand, it doesn't seem like R-Truth was suspended strictly because of what Bourne said. If I'm wrong about that, then I apologize. But I'm not sure Bourne deserves all the heat he's getting. Either way, I think he deserves another chance, he hasn't had substance abuse problems before.

Could Kofi be affected? Not directly, but if they decide to eliminate Air Boom's push completely or take the titles off them, obviously he'll be affected in that regard. Even if that happens, I think he'll recover eventually. I hope it doesn't come to that though. I would love for the WWE to keep pushing Air Boom as a tag team and maybe get some interest going in the division again with some good competition or rivalries for them. Wishful thinking, perhaps. But a man can dream.

 

[Rampage Bentley]

I actually am going to go against the majority on this one...

I think Triple H (or anyone backstage) has got quite a set to be mad at Bourne on this one. He smoked synthetic marijuana, whether or not you think it should be legal, he did something the company forbids and deserves punishment.... but so does R-Truth.

Just because a guy is being pushed more doesn't mean he should be given special treatment. If they're willing to overlook R-Truth's smoking, what else are the overlooking for even more over guys? Would they bust Cena for steroids? Or Orton for Somas? That COMPLETELY undermines the point of even having a wellness policy, and makes me question the validity of it.

And as far as him gushing about it on Twitter, if anybody here is going to throw stones for Bourne venting his frustrations on the internet, that makes you a hypocrite. Maybe it wouldn't be such an offense if WWE didn't shove Twitter down our throats every thirty seconds.

Bourne violated the wellness policy and accepted the consequences, WWE brass tried to circumvent it, time to accept the consequences.

 

[David]

Its a tough situation to really put your mind across, personally I think he deserves the heat for making sure everybody knew r-truth was smoking with him, usually that wouldn't go over well with his peers so I do believe he brought that on himself
As for bashing the company, he really hasn't bashed that much, he's made fun of the over use of twitter that the wwe has been using but cm punk and john cena have made light of it as well, which could tie all back to make wwe look like hypocrites because bourne at first was suspended and truth wasn't because he's a main event guy, and punk and cena aren't gonna get in trouble for bashing the twitter because they're 2 of the top 3 guys in the company, kinda interesting to think about it, but i do believe its sort of kicking evan bourne while he's down and I don't think he should be released

If all of this is true who's side are you on HHH or Stephanie?- you could make the argument that triple h doesn't like him because he's not 6 foot 3 and 230 but really your opinion of bournes ability is the only way to answer this question

Does the heat on Bourne jeopardize Kofi?- not in the slightest, I've read that kofis one of the most liked guys in the locker room, so as far as backstage politics go kofi will be fine, its creatively that he might struggle because theres really nothing else for him to do

 

[The12thMan]

Look the bottom line here is that Bourne has his job..for now. Guys like him don't draw media attention. Nobody cares about how fast he is, how high he can fly etc. Those guys don't matter in WWE..and quite frankly never will.

Guys like Cena, Orton, HHH, Taker and more are the true stars of the company. Once you go mainstream your a star. Hell even look at Rey Mysterio. Rey can't draw fans on MTV, ESPN or anything like that and thats what WWE is.

None of the IWC gets it. FOLKS EVAN BOURNE IS A WRESTLER...HE'S LUCKY TO BE IN WWE RIGHT NOW. WWE IS A PLACE FOR STARS...NOT WRESTLERS. IF YOU WANT TO WRESTLE GO TO RING OF HONOR AND MAKE NO MONEY.

BUT IF YOU WANT TO BE ON PRIME TIME TV EVERY WEEK, HANG WITH THE STARS, MAKE MOVIES, CREATE CD'S, AND MAKE LOTS OF MONEY THEN WWE IS THE PLACE TO BE. WWE IS NOT A WRESTLING COMPANY FOLKS...ITS AN ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY AND AT ITS FINEST.....

Bourne should be gone...

 

[Diet Soda]

Put it this way: Bourne got suspended for 30 days and Air Boom didn't lose the straps. Someone high up must have faith in them.

 

[Klown_Karnage]

Triple H is not a fan of Evan Bourne's work.

This statement should say it all. Get a shovel and carve a tombstone, Bourne's gonna get buried one way or another. Don't give me that about Bourne still having the tag-team championship with Kofi. That was a bone to throw the fans that Bourne has despite Trips' attempts to destroy his credibility with loss after loss. So far as I can tell, it's the "court of public opinion" through the fan reaction that Bourne gets that's keeping him in his job. So, if Trips wants to get rid of him, he's got to destroy that, he's gotta find some way to destroy his credibility with the fans. Drug suspension will do that.

I may be way out of line saying this, but I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing was a set-up. Given that, at least at first, it looked as if they were trying to sweep R-Truth's involvement under the rug, it wouldn't surprise me if Truth was both in the know and involved in the set-up. Bourne's speaking out about it kept them from giving Truth a pass. Again, total speculation on my part, but sometimes you gotta wonder.

That being said, I'm on the side of Steph and Bourne on this one. Trips, I think, seems to be leaning towards Vince's prejudice against smaller wrestlers. The fact is that if Vince and Trips got their way, we'd be treated to two hours of solid boredom. Like it or not, the smaller wrestlers add a needed variety to the type of wrestling featured. Bourne is one of the best they've got in this category.

Unfortunately, I think that this won't ultimately matter. Trips knows how to politic and I think he'll win this one. Bourne may be exciting in the ring, but allowing himself to be trapped into this marginal offense was a little dumb. He should know that, until you have major (and we're talking major) locker room clout, you can't allow yourself to make a single mistake. At all. Especially if you're a cruserweight.

 

[Defekt]

If all of this is true who's side are you on HHH or Stephanie?

If Borne is tattle-taling about other talent, I wouldn't blame management giving him the axe. I don't know if R-Truth smoked fake weed or not, but let's be honest, his sin isn't murder. Discretions of that sort should be kept between the boys, and not spilled to the media. As you said, you have to trust someone to work with them.


Does the heat on Bourne jeopardize Kofi?

On a personal level (with management) I think not, but they still have to find something to do with Kofi. He's a good worker, and can fill a middle card spot on RAW every week, but I'm not sure that will benefit him anymore than it did Shelton Benjamin.

 

[JarredDClements]

He screwed himself further when he ranted on Twitter. Saying something about Vince McMahon and how he wonders if WWE '13 will have a "WWE Universal Remote" to play with.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Does the heat on Bourne jeopardize Kofi?

It seemed odd last night on Smackdown when the two were standing at the top of the ramp before the match and Evan offered a high-five that Kofi ignored, leaving Evan's hand dangling in the air. Strange.

Maybe it wasn't what it seemed, but if Air Boom suddenly starts losing matches they would have won before, it certainly would work to the detriment of Kofi, right? If it happens because of the heat on Bourne, then yes, Kofi is jeopardized because of what happened to Evan.

One of the pitfalls of operating in a tag team, I suppose.

 

[ringjobber1]

I agree with steph on this one evan bourne is incredible in the ring check out his matches on the indepeendent circuts and you know what i mean. And for a little guy he can lift certain people but i guess wwe doesnt let him because of safety reasons.
But i think that this will all come to pass because evan bourne is still pretty young.
And as for Kofi getting pulled down i doubt it if they wanna burrie Evan their gonna make airboom break up and lose the titles (which i hope dnt happen)