I thought champions were supposed to win...

[Evenflow DDT]

I have a question that has been bothering me for months. Why does Kofi Kingston get beat so much when he holds gold?

I just dont get it. He is the U.S Champ (remember when the US Title meant something... in WCW/NWA) but he just lost tonight to Dolph in a non-title match. Does anyone even know the last match he won on Raw? Even when he was on Smackdown and he was the IC Champ he was getting his ass handed to him by Del Rio on a weekly basis and even on ppv. At first I figured Del Rio was gonna take the belt into WM and try to win double gold but it never happened. Then i thought maybe Kofi had some heat on him but why would he get booked as a champ? I expect something like this from a heel champ but i've never seen a face champ booked to look so weak.


Thoughts???

 

[Thriller Ant]

Del Rio is/was a main eventer, and thus higher in the pecking order on SmackDown than Kofi. It's that simple.

As for tonight, it is simple/lazy booking. The champion loses in a non-title match, winner of that match becomes number 1 contender, they face off in a title match.

Neither one of these are damning of Kofi as a champion. Rather, they are basic booking tactics that have been used forever and will continue to be used for a long time.

 

[DethMetal]

Does anyone even know the last match he won on Raw?

I remember him beating McIntyre last week...........

Anyway, midcard champs always go through the, "I beat you, now I get a title shot" crap. As for him not winning matches, dude he won at Wretlemania, Extreme Rules, Swagger and McIntyre on RAW...have you even been watching the product?

I think a better title is, "Aren't champions supposed to lose sometimes?"

 

[RicSpade]

Honestly if you want the real story on Kofi losing its plain and simple, the guy who seems to have the most thunder gets depushed to not be a bigger star then their top star plain and simple, and I have 4 names that prove it. Jake Roberts, if you remember he was set to be the top heel and go against hogan, but the crowd popped huge for him, but you can't have Roberts be your top guy and being cheered over you money maker so he got depushed and never got his title shot, and later became heel against Randy Savage and Taker. CM Punk, remember his first WWE title win against Edge? afterward Punk seemingly lost every match except when the belt was on the line, but fans were behind him the first time, but the only way to get the belt off of him was to have Orton remove it off of him so it was basically vacated. RVD, it took years of being stuck mid card but being the most over wrestler in WWE since the Rock and Austin to finally hold WWE gold only to lose it by a stupid mistake, but plain and simple RVD who established himself as a main event player in ECW and was a focal point of the alliance feud only to be held down. Booker T. again like RVD while he was not over it took a stupid gimmick created by the WWE to give him a world title under the WWE umbrella. Kofi is under this same thing they gave him a gimmick that didn't work so he is a guy from Africa pretending he is from paradise island while losing his accent, loved for his high spots but depushed because Orton was the focal point and until they find something else marketable with Kofi he's going to be in Christian land held down and given an opportunity only to be taken away several days later.

 

[Mercer the Ruthless]

Let's just face facts, yet again WWE is just completely jumbled up in an annoying fashion, none of the titles have the same weight and importance they once had. It's a shame and this has nothing to do with the PG rating, obviously but the writers, bookers and to some extent the talent that holds them. Personally I feel that the WWE needs to get their priorities straight for the mid card titles and I believe that's when we will really see an improvement in the WWE promotion as a whole. I mean where was their other great talent? where were the Tag Champs? And speaking on Kofi specifically, he's doing pretty good and with that in mind, he has to put over the (pardon the expression) lesser talent. Dolph needs the thunder and the exposure.

 

[The Suplexer Perfecter]

Uhhh people are forgetting that when you pin a champion they are seen as "being in line for a title shot since they beat the champion".

This has happened HOW many times before? This is how Kelly Kelly got her Over the Limit title shot.

Kofi is Mr. Mid Card. He's had a combined 5 IC and US titles. He gets pinned by Ziggler, they have a few rematches possibly for the title.

Once again, this is nothing new.

 

[BenChiefin]

The reason the titles have no value is because there's too many of them!

Plain and simple. There's no weight to them. Back when we had World and IC titles only things were a lot better.

Simplicity.

 

[Evenflow DDT]

Well if memory serves me correctly at WM he won an 8-man tag match and he wasnt even IC champ. And to me it just doesnt look good when a face champ loses a non title match cleanly. And how can i take a champ seriously when they cant pick up a "W". I understand why Del Rio picked up 3+ wins over the IC Champ. He was heading into WM and needed to look strong.... oh wait he lost 3+ times to Christain who wasnt even in a WM match! Hell they could have even done the whole Edge distracts Del Rio and kofi gets the roll up. An oldie but a goodie.


And it just seems to happen to Kofi. I dont remember Morrison dropping matches when he was IC champ or Daniel Bryan dropping random singles matches until he actually dropped the belt.

And The Suplexer Perfecter makes a good point but how often does that happen to a face? I cant think of any time in history where a face champ lost a non-title match CLEANLY which is what Kofi did. Ziggler grabing the rope isnt cheating it was just a way to defend against the SOS.

 

[wushady]

The loss to Zigler was his first loss in a while. He did have a lot of losses when he was IC champion earlier this year. Which didn't make much sense to me. However he's been on a descent run since Wrestlemania. Like others have pointed out losing to Zigler. Is just a way to make him number one contender. It's been done several times in the past, and the champion rarely loses the title match. Which of course is the match that truly matters.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I remember him beating McIntyre last week.

Lots of folks presume that a "push" means victories. It's not always so; often it just means that a program has been created for a performer and he gets a lot of air time as a result. In Kofi's case, I was pleasantly surprised to see him given a title again; I didn't think that was in the cards for him. But even with the belt, he's not a headliner and probably never will be...... but I'll wager he's glad to be showing up on TV every week. Even in losing last night, he is better off than McIntyre, who wasn't on the show at all.

Further, some folks wrote last week that McIntyre's character was made to look weak in losing to Kofi last Monday..... but I say he looks even weaker when he doesn't get a spot on the show at all.

Kofi is in the midst of a push; whether he wins or loses doesn't negate that.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Kofi has won matches. He beat Sheamus at the Extreme Rules ppv to become the United States Champion for the 2nd time. He teamed with Rey Mysterio in a match on Raw in which he won. He successfully defended the title against Jack Swagger and he beat Drew McIntyre last week.

Having a champ lose a non-title match is a classic means of setting up a title feud. It's been done over and over again in wrestling and will continue to be done in wrestling. Why? Because it works. Besides that, Kofi & Ziggler had lots of matches last year. Ziggler won some and Kofi won some. Ziggler won some via cheating and won some cleanly. Ziggler beating Kofi last night didn't hurt Kofi, it just reinforced Ziggler's presence as someone that's always been able to give Kofi all he can handle & then some.

 

[ScruffDog]

I understand your frustration. I also hate it when a title holder losses a non-title match cleanly. I'm of the mind set that, if you got a title, and you're in a match, the belt should be on the line. I think this is just a lazy way to set up a rivalry.

Thank being said, I complete understand what the WWE is doing with Ziggler betting Kofi last night. Like people have said before, this is done all the time in the WWE to set up a story line, I think it's lazy and uncreative, but I understand.

I also agree with Hammer when he says

Ziggler beating Kofi last night didn't hurt Kofi, it just reinforced Ziggler's presence as someone that's always been able to give Kofi all he can handle & then some

which is why I'm excited to see this rivalry continue, because they always have great matches together,

 

[GrandSword]

Kofi sure is a real interesting one.

In years to come I wonder how he will be looked upon. He seems to be one of those guys who when creative have nothing for him, give him a mid card title. He delivers bell to bell, but management seem very reluctant to elevate him to the next level.

He defeated Sheamus to win the US belt, I'm not sure if that was truly celebrated as much as it could have been. I mean he is a face and he brought the title back to Raw after the Draft and did it over one of the most dominant forces in the WWE the Celtic Warrior. With Morrison out of action and R-Truth turned heel I would have thought he could have been pushed as the #2 face under Cena (Rey Mysterio is more of a featured attraction like Taker and doesn't really need an angle surrounding the top belt etc. anymore)

Is Kofi the real deal? Ziggler was a main event level player on SD and has Vickie with him that puts him upper mid card, so a feud with him is a possible good choice. Hopefully after this he'll transition and work against the Miz, therwise he might be just caught in a loop.

Like I said time will tell what Kofi will mean to the industry. At the moment I kind of look at him as the same sort of role Steamboat was to the WWF in the 80s...