KINGSTON: How Not To Make A Star (or "The Kofi Kingston Story")

I had another article lined up for this spot but I was so aggravated after watching Raw that I had to write this one. -Mike

For those of you who don't know me, I write a wrestling-themed comic book called Headlocked. Jerry Lawler does the artwork for my covers. We go to a lot of comic/pop culture conventions together to promote it. Now while the above statements may seem like a cheap plug, the point I am trying to make here is that over the past two years, I've met A LOT of wrestling fans.

And believe me when I tell you, I've met all types...hardcore fans, casual fans, indy fans, internet fans, people who love HHH, people who want HHH dead, and people who think Ultimate Warrior really died and was replaced by The Renegade. 

One thing about wrestling fans....they LOVE to talk. You know how it is....you love wrestling but it ain't always the coolest thing to drop in conversation with your friends. Eventually your desire to not die a virgin outstrips your desire to talk about Ric Flair's ring psychology in mixed company. So when you find a kindred spirit who loves oiled up men and fake fighting, you can't shut up about it. 

So when it comes to the average wrestling fan, I'd like to think I have my finger on the pulse better than most. 

If I had to list the biggest complaint I've heard from wrestling fans over the past two years, it is far and away the lack of new blood in the main event scene. Even if your favorite wrestlers is one of these stale main eventers, you still want to see him matched up against someone new. Outside of CM Punk and Shaemus (and you can argue they aren't even full on headliners) there hasn't really been a serious effort to create new stars in a long, long time.

Case in point: Kofi Kingston

When Kofi Kingston got programmed with Randy Orton, it felt like they were giving him a shot at the top. After all, Randy has been the undisputed top heel in the company for quite a while now 

Well this feud has been going once since OCTOBER!!!!! And in that time, Kofi has exactly one pinfall victory over Randy Orton. One. And it was a fast count by Mark Cuban. And this week on Raw, Randy pinned Kofi again. And he pinned him the week before that too. 

The biggest myth in wrestling is that because its fake that wins and losses don't matter. And quite honestly, on the undercard, they probably don't. But if you want to create a main eventer, they need to decisively defeat another main eventer. Most likely more than once. I don't see how people can't figure this out. It's Ric Flair's catch phrase for crying out loud! 

I remember when Rock officially became a main eventer. After he pinned Undertaker cleanly in a tag match. Then you knew he had arrived because UT didn't do jobs all that often. 

I remember when Billy Gunn didn't become a main eventer. He won King of the RIng and then got beat cleanly by the Rock at Summerslam. The he descended back to the mid-card where he remained. 

Now let's talk positioning. Because while wins and losses are essential to cracking the main event picture, it's not the whole puzzle. As a main eventer, you need to be someone the fans wish they themselves could be. That's what heroes are. And when you get down to it, WWE is in the business of selling heroes. Hulk Hogan was a hero. Steve Austin was a hero. John Cena is a hero. Even Randy Orton is a hero to a certain segment of the population.  

This week we saw John Cena and Randy Orton demand a title shot from Mike Tyson. Both backed up their request with their recent wins. 

Then Kofi Kingston showed up.

Kofi admitted that he hadn't beaten anyone but felt that he should get a title match anyway. His reasoning? Cena and Orton had tons of title shots but he has yet to have one. 

Seriously? 

Is this what heroes do? If you can't beat them, beg the celebrity host to take pity on you and give you what you couldn't earn. Incidentally, you know who did the same thing? Chris Jericho...the biggest chickenshit heel on the roster

Amazingly, Tyson allows Kofi to be in the triple threat with Cena and Orton. And guess who got pinned? Yup. Kofi. By who? Orton. 

I'm not sure how this happens. How does this get proposed by a writer? How does it get by the rest of the writing team? Why would they not immediately ridicule that writer? But how does it get by the agents (all of whom were successful wrestlers at one time)? How does it get by the most successful wrestling promoter of all time? 

Maybe they've forgotten how to make stars. After all, its been a while. Did they lose the recipe? I have a hard time believing that the collection of wrestling knowledge and money drawing experience that is backstage at Raw could collectively be that incompetent. 

So it has to be intentional....right? 

Did they just give up on Kofi? Have they already decided that he's not main event material? That could be....I've seen them lose faith in people quicker...

Is it something more sinister? Insiders might have you believe that there are grand backstage machinations by the top guys to protect their spots. Is someone trying to sabotage Kofi?

Is it racism? After all, this week's angle almost felt like a play on affirmative action. And to be blunt, it ain't like WWE has the history of being very progressive racially. 

Is it just Vince trying to show loyalty to the guys who've made him the most money? Is he just bored without real competition like everyone claims? 

At this point, I don't necessarily care what the reason is anymore, I just know that WWE really sucks at making main eventers and its really lessening a lot of people's interest in their product. 

It gets compounded by the fact that Michaels is rumored to be retiring at Wrestlemania, Batista has talked about taking time off, Taker is on his last legs, Edge is less than durable, and Orton can't seem to stay out of trouble. HHH is really the only guy who you could really count on and he's probably the stalest of the bunch. Quite honestly, I consider this the second biggest problem with the entire company right now (I'll get to the biggest next week) And if they don't fix it, attendance, ratings, and PPV buys aren't going anywhere. 

Well, except down. 

Mike Kingston is the writer/creator of the wrestling comic book Headlocked. Follow him on Twitter at Headlockedcomic.