Today, Kofi Kingston looks like he is destined to play out his WWE existence in the midcard, being called upon when necessary to deliver a solid match or Royal Rumble elimination tease. Recently, hes been relegated to being part of a lower-midcard stable, The New Day, competing on PPV pre-shows and rarely seen on Raw. Hes become more of an afterthought than a human highlight reel. But back in late 2009, Kingston was poised to become a major breakout star. He engaged in a heated feud with Randy Orton, delivering a huge Madison Square Garden moment that put him on the map and seemed to indicated that Kofi was on his way to the main event, hitting a Boom Drop out of the stands, driving Orton through a table. The chants and cheers for Kingston were deafening. A week later, Kingston would be the sole survivor in his Survivor Series match, last eliminating two world champions, CM Punk and Orton. That seemed to solidify his standing as an up-and-coming main eventer. But one incident would change all of that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-kxxFjiD6s Kingston apparently botched the ending to a January 2010 match against Orton, getting up when he was supposed to be in position for a punt to the head. Orton switched to an RKO and then had a mini-meltdown in the ring with the cameras rolling. Instead of Orton being punished for his public temper-tantrum, Kingston was de-pushed and has not reached anywhere close to that level on the card since.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
