I always say Kofi Kingston deserves to be raised up to better pushes. But how would I actually grade him? As a wrestler, Kofi Kingston is definitely fun to watch. What stunt Kofi Kingston will pull off at the Royal Rumble is something I see some fans speculating on every year now. But he's not just good for a few good spots. He can put on great matches. His mic skills? He doesn't exactly get much of a chance to talk. His feud with Randy Orton allowed him to show an impressive side. He definitely has potential. But how high can you really grade him? The common criticism I see fans bring up for Kofi Kingston is his overall character. He is a generic face midcarder. That isn't his fault, but it's hard to say he is demonstrating A+ talent. I honestly believe he has the potential to do a lot better. A+ potential? I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't even say he has shown enough to be a regular main-eventer and be pushed as an A player. I would give him a B+.
How is he doing in terms of overness? Kofi Kingston is a likeable guy. He has definitely impressed a lot of wrestling fans. He has a fun character that kids can like. He can get a reaction and get fans going in his matches. All that being said, he isn't exactly bringing the results Daniel Bryan brings. Although people like him, how strongly do they feel about him? The WWE constantly depushes Kofi Kingston. I don't see fans chanting for Kofi when he isn't even in the ring. I can imagine Kofi Kingston eventually being let go quietly, fans being a little surprised they didn't re-sign him, but no huge plans for riots and protests starting. Definitely can't say he has an A+ connection with the fans. At the same time, he has not failed to make a positive connection with the fans. I would say he is getting a respectable face reaction. He is getting the kind of reaction from those fans that you would want a midcard face to get. He is not really going above the call of duty. I believe he has the potential to, but he doesn't have the connection with the fans that would help to argue for him getting pushed as an upper-midcarder.
Let me switch to the diva division for a moment. I sometimes might make it sound like credible jobbers never get over at all. That is a generalization some fans make about this wrestler or that wrestler all the time. Alberto Del Rio is not over. The Bellas are not over. Nobody likes Miz. He's not over with wrestling fans. He's not over with casual fans. He's not over with his hometown fans. He's not over with his family. His goldfish hate him. He may not be very over, but is it fair to say no one likes him at all? That is why I like grading the overness these wrestlers have like I have been doing recently. You are not stuck with either saying they are over or they are not over. A+ overness? F? Somewhere in between? The thing with credible jobbers, they can definitely connect with actual wrestling fans easily. A lot of times, they can get that respectable face reaction that I mentioned before with Kofi Kingston. I have seen some of these women get that level of a reaction as faces, like Ivory and Natalya. Do these women become the most over diva on the roster? Well, they are not supposed to. Mickie James did. I will talk more about the diva division when I grade AJ Lee next week.
I am going to end it with one more example of what I mean about saying that someone is not over not meaning no one likes them. And it is an extreme example. Back when he first debuted, Cody Rhodes was pretty generic and dull. Not a lot of people cared too much about him. He wasn't too over. Here is a classic gif of his entrance.
One fan cared. Is it fair to say no one cared about Cody Rhodes at all? He had a fan. Would that fan be enough to drown out the fan support Daniel Bryan gets today? No. Cody has obviously become more over since then, as you would expect that he would. Obviously, this was an exaggerated example. Point is, just because someone is not bringing A-level results, or even B-level results, that doesn't automatically mean they have failed to connect with any fans to some degree. It takes time for some wrestlers to grow on the fans. And there are different types of fans with different types of tastes. Those fans may not always make as much of an impact as the majority or a vocal minority, but they still count. Don't get me wrong, I would definitely give Cody Rhodes a D or an F back then, but that is because he had not connected with enough fans in a strong manner, not because he failed to connect with anybody. Getting one question right out of a hundred on a test does not mean you passed.
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