Backstage news on Evan Bourne

[Mr. Book This Section]

Source: PWMania

- Evan Bourne will finally be making his return to the ring for WWE some time in the next 4-6 weeks. WWE officials expect Bourne back before the end of the year, at least working live events. No word yet if he will return to TV before the year is over.

I am actually looking forward to seeing Evan Bourne return, I remember his matches with Sheamus and Edge when he was hanging with Cena, he was pretty good their and I was also on the Air Boom bandwagon. I'd like to see Air Boom return to the TV as neither men will have great singles storylines to be honest.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I wouldn't mind seeing Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne as a tag team again. In my opinion, it's a good use for the two of them. WWE could use a couple of high flying tag teams, one such team that WWE officials have reportedly thought of putting together is Tyson Kidd & Justin Gabriel, and it's really all either have going for them.

Kofi Kingston has held all the mid-card titles multiple times and it's pretty obvious that WWE has no interest in elevating him. As a result, having him back in a mid-card title scene doesn't hold much appeal since you know it's not going to lead anywhere. Evan Bourne is probably not going to be trusted with a title run of any kind, especially a singles title, until/unless he's able to ultimately earn back the trust of WWE officials. So unless they intend to use both guys as jobbers, the tag team picture is really the only place I can see that they'd be of any relevant use.

 

[The Brain]

I've been wondering for a long time why Evan Bourne was still on the WWE payroll. When's the last time we saw him? It has to be two years. This guy is both injury prone and a wellness policy offender. He's really not worth the trouble. He's ok but I don't see anything too special in him. At this point I don't think Kofi is ever going to make it to the main event but he can do better than Evan Bourne's tag team partner. If they're going to keep Bourne around I say put him with Tyson Kidd. That seems like a better fit.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Air Boom was such an awesome team. If Bourne returns then that is what they should do with him. Kofi is clearly never going to reach the main event tier, so why not bring back the Air Boom team? They can be the focal point of the tag team division like they were supposed to be initially. Someone will have to fill that spot once The Shield inevitably move on to better things. Can Kofi do better? Sure, but he just can't seem to get the big push for some reason. Can Bourne do better? No. Air Boom was the most success he ever saw and that's how he should be brought back, a reunion of that team. It is a team that fans would be familiar with so they would likely get behind them in support of them winning the giant pennies again. Even if he's not brought back in the Air Boom team it will still be nice to see him return. He's good at getting the crowds excited.

 

[ASKane]

I would prefer RyBoom. Ryback and Bourne teaming together as it would have a great balance of speed and strength

 

[sanefan_har]

I would love to see Air Boom return. They can engage in feuds with other tag teams like the Ascension(when they're called up), Real Americans etc. and even participate in some tag team turmoils or triple threat tag matches and have some epic spots with the Usos. Atleast the Tag Team division is showing some life unlike 2 years ago. Bring in Air Strike and the tag title picture will look interesting for a while.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The reality is that we're likely looking at a Brian Pillman/Kerry Von Erich type situation here.

The reason he has been away so long is basically to relearn to wrestle a new style, has to be. His injury was a 4 break, 5 dislocation one. Kerry lost his foot altogther for less and Pillman's injury never allowed him remotely the same style again.

Now why has be been kept around? It could be as simple as that someone has seen something in him while he's been recovering, maybe if he does have a new style it's working well for him in his practice. Maybe they see reinvention potential in it if he's now a technical whiz or picked up strong mic skills for example? It happened with Bray Wyatt very recently and that alone could have convinced them to give it time.

The other key I think is that it was a legit accident, he wasn't high or at blame, it was bad luck and it went badly for him. The E is generally VERY patient with guys in those situations, injury prone or not because it's bad business to be seen to fire injured guys when it's not their fault. Vince in particular is know to be very good with guys who need help and has proved it with his treatment of guys like Davey Boy, Regal and Shawn. Bourne will get one more shot.

Of course his wellness past will be an issue if he comes back like Pillman did as he was on his last strike but I would be very interested to see what he can do in this new opportunity cos at his best he's a great guy to watch.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

I would prefer RyBoom. Ryback and Bourne teaming together as it would have a great balance of speed and strength

I found this pretty funny at first but actually rather interesting. First off RyBoom would be the team of Ryback & Kofi. Evan is the Air part of the AirBoom, as in Air Bourne, what he calls his Shooting Star Press finisher. Kofi is the Boom part, in reference to his Boom Drop & the "Boom! Boom! Boom!" claps he does. But when I stared thinking about it, I think soemthing fresh, new & kind of out of left field like teaming with Ryback is exactly what Evan Bourne needs if or when he returns.

Honestly I'm surprised anyone voted for AirBoom to reunite. They were simply a lame attempt at putting to singles stars together IMO & nothing more than flash in the pan tag champs. About as memorable as The Basham Brothers or The New Midnight Express. & Evan Bourne as a solo competitor is about as irrelevant as they come. Granted he still has value to the WWE, he has been out so long that unless he is instantly thrusted into a somewhat important fued or storyline that is relevant to todays audience & reinvents himself in someway, I see no reason why anyone would even care about him anymore. He hasn't really done anything significant since 2010 when he starting becoming popular thanks to Cena & was RKO'd in mid-flight by Orton. Bourne can't just return as the same exact Evan Bourne as before & start wrestling the same couple lower mid-card guys each week again, otherwise he will fall into obscurity.

 

[DDevine]

I was never really a fan of Bourne. But, if he can put on a good show, I'm all for him coming back. Not as a team with Kofi, but maybe as a heel, like mentioned above, teamed with Ryback, facing off against the team of, say, Kofi and Big E? He could be brought back, and be all mad at the world because he was gone all that time, and nobody seemed to care, everyone moved on, everyone forgot about him. Give him Heyman as a mouth piece, and we could get a push for him out of this. Not a huge one, mind you, but a push none the less.

 

[enviousdominous]

Whoa whoa, okay, time out.

The question is if I would like to see Evan Bourne come back so Air Boom could reunite.

My honest answer is "Who gives a fuck about Air Boom?". They were a tag team when the bookers had no faith in the tag team division, and if they reunited then they'd have to join the ranks of an already overcrowded face section of the tag team division.

This doesn't even seem like a thread that's in any way optimistic about Evan's prospects as a singles competitor, which is pretty damn near sighted. He wasn't over-exposed when he was around, and that's a damn good thing. I think that he obviously has potential and, with the right booking, can be one of those rare members of the cast that doesn't make me regret tuning in.

 

[Headman]

I would prefer RyBoom. Ryback and Bourne teaming together as it would have a great balance of speed and strength

Wouldn't that be "Airback" considering Kofi is the "boom" part of the team? Anyway, yes an Airboom reunion would be awesome. I even liked their theme song.

 

[MCMG]

I'm excited about the possibility of an Evan Bourne return. This guy has talent and the coolest finisher in the company - they need to start using him correctly. From a purely business sense - there is a target audience for someone like Evan Bourne and they will buy his t-shirts and whatnot because is a very likeable wrestler. Not every 8 year old's favourite wrestler has to be John Cena.

As for "Airboom", while I don't think it is a bad idea, I don't think it is necessary. Both can stay as singles stars and work great matches. The two mid-card champs have very little to do and Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne are perfect for a solid PPV match that can entertain us. Although, if Rollins/Reigns split and they let Cody free; having Airboom reunite would be a good move.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

Why don't they just future endeavor him already? Seriously? The IWC will lose their minds for one day but then everything will be hunky doory after that. Bourne sucks and looking at the roster, I really don't see anywhere he fits.

Evan Bourne, good luck in all your future endeavors.

 

[laodaron]

Oh great, the IWC loves another spot monkey, and thinks they deserve to be in WWE. No. Evan Bourne was overrated at best at the pinnacle of his career.

 

[Mustang Sally]

O Evan Bourne was overrated at best at the pinnacle of his career.

Possibly, although that statement presumes the guy even had a "pinnacle." Really, he got in his own way before he was able to scale any heights (no pun intended).

At the same time, I have to wonder why the company has stuck with him. It's one thing to have a strike because of a bad drug test; you can survive more than one.....but I would think the second one has to occur well after the first....or the third well after the second (Hi, Randy!). In Evan's case, didn't he get a strike, claim to be clean, and immediately get caught again? If so, why didn't they just future endeavor him? Surely, he wasn't deemed to have the kind of future that often causes organizations to make exceptions when a favored employee messes up.

Then again, maybe the company does hope he's going to amount to something significant. Why bother with him otherwise? It seemed Evan was still in the "dues paying" section his career; much like Big E Langston and Damien Sandow; guys who did plenty of losing early on, yet appear to feature as performers who will make it big after they've paid sufficient homage to the system.

No, I didn't figure Evan Bourne to be in their league. But why has the company put up with two successive "dirty" tests and waited all this time for Evan to recover from injury?

Must be something I'm not seeing.

Good luck, Evan. Maybe your time is coming yet.

 

[BaconBits]

Oh great, the IWC loves another spot monkey, and thinks they deserve to be in WWE. No.

I don't know that the "IWC" loves him. There are people that do, there are people that don't. And it doesn't matter if people think he "deserves" to be in the WWE, he is in the WWE, and if they haven't cut him yet, he isn't going to be cut any time soon. Unless, of course, he pisses hot again.

Evan Bourne was overrated at best at the pinnacle of his career

Exactly how was he overrated? He was never more than a low to midcard wrestler within the WWE. He garnered a decent reaction from the crowd when he performed. It's not like he was pushed to the moon and given high praise from wrestling media or anything. He was given a job, and he did that job well enough that the company feels like they should keep him around though an awful lot of issues. They've cut guys and gals for far less than what Evan has gone through.


I'm indifferent about him. If he shows up on my tv sometime soon, cool, if not, no big deal. But obviously somebody cares about him, and I suppose that's all that matters for him. I wish him luck going into the future.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I wouldn't mind seeing Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne as a tag team again. In my opinion, it's a good use for the two of them. WWE could use a couple of high flying tag teams, one such team that WWE officials have reportedly thought of putting together is Tyson Kidd & Justin Gabriel, and it's really all either have going for them.

Kofi Kingston has held all the mid-card titles multiple times and it's pretty obvious that WWE has no interest in elevating him. As a result, having him back in a mid-card title scene doesn't hold much appeal since you know it's not going to lead anywhere. Evan Bourne is probably not going to be trusted with a title run of any kind, especially a singles title, until/unless he's able to ultimately earn back the trust of WWE officials. So unless they intend to use both guys as jobbers, the tag team picture is really the only place I can see that they'd be of any relevant use.

I think Jack Hammer is spot on here. A high-flying face tag-team is always popular with the fans and Kingston/Bourne are 2 of the best high-flyers in the company who have proven to work well together in the past. Kingston is going to be a lifelong mid-carder unless he has a drastic gimmick change, so there is nothing wrong with him also wrestling as part of a team for a while. Bourne is a good talent but with his size and the lack of a Cruiserweight division in the WWE, I think the tag-team division is probably the best spot for him as he is returning from a serious injury.