Stuck in the Mid-card: Is Kofi Kingston the 'new' Shelton Benjamin?

For a while now I have been thinking that Kofi Kingston and Shelton Benjamin have got a lot in common. And this is not a black thing. Kofi's current predicament and booking is baffling to me. Of everyone I can think of in my time watching wrestling, I can't see anybody that compares as much to him as Benjamin does.

In this post, I'm going to attempt to show that Kofi seems to be stuck in the same 'mid-card obscurity' that Shelton found himself in, pretty much his whole WWE career.

Shelton Benjamin
Shelton 'graduated' from OVW in the same era as future World Champions Brock Lesnar (his former tag team partner in OVW), Randy Orton, Dave Batista and John Cena. He was first introduced to WWE fans at the end of 2002, forming a tag team with Charlie Haas, and aligning themselves with Kurt Angle to form Team Angle.

This would result in them having a high-profile first feud with main event stars Brock Lesnar, Chris Benoit and Edge - a hugely trusted first taste of WWE life. Benjamin and Haas would go into their first Wrestlemania (19) as Tag Team Champions, just a short three months after their television debut. They would successfully defend their titles - winning on the grandest stage of the year so early on must have meant that big things were expected of these young men.

After Wrestlemania XX, in 2004, Shelton was thrust into his first big test as a singles competitor - feuding with Triple H and Evolution. He would go onto defeat 'The Game' three times before feuding - unsuccessfully - with Randy Orton for the Intercontinental Championship. A huge step in the early career of Benjamin. This would be the start of something special, no?

Shelton's 1st IC Title win

Through the rest of 2004, Shelton would continue to chase the Intercontinental Title eventually winning it from Chris Jericho at Taboo Tuesday 2004 - his first singles title. This would lead to the longest IC Title reign of the decade; eventually losing it in mid-2005. During this time, and throughout 2006, Benjamin would have interactions with the likes of Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair in what could be seen as an attempt to push him towards the main event scene (this would also involve a time when 'Momma Benjamin' would be a prominent character in Benjamin's feuds).

Benjamin's finest hours have been at Wrestlemania during the Money in the Bank matches. He competed in the inaugural MITB ladder match at Wrestlemania 21 (won by Edge), and would go onto compete in a further four of this match type - failing to win the briefcase/contract on every occasion despite having the standout performance of the match.

From the end of 2007 until his release in April 2010, Shelton would either be used on Smackdown or in the lesser-ECW brand. It was during this time that things would go downhill for him - although he would go onto win the US Title; including a 243 day reign. He would 'put over' several up-and-comers in Sheamus and newbie Kofi Kingston (more on this later).

Since his release, Shelton has enjoyed success on the independent scene as well as another run with Haas in Ring of Honor. There has also been rumours of a return to the WWE.

Championships in WWE:

• 3 time Intercontinental Champion
• 1 time United States Champion
• 2 time WWE Tag Team Champion (w/ Haas)

Kofi Kingston
Kofi debuted on the ECW brand in January 2008 and would go on a winning streak before being drafted to Raw in April of the same year. Clearly, big things were in the future of Kofi if they were moving him to the A-Show.

In late 2008, Kofi would have his first taste of WWE gold when he beat Chris Jericho at Night of Champions for the Intercontinental Championship - repeating Shelton's accomplishment. He would also go onto win World Tag Team gold with CM Punk in October.

2009 would be an eventful year for Kofi, seeing him have some exposure at the top of the card. He would earn an Elimination Chamber spot (No Way Out) but did not compete due to Edge's attack. At Wrestlemania he would follow in Shelton's footsteps and compete in the Money in the Bank ladder match (along with Shelton) in a losing effort. A four month United States Championship reign would happen later in the year, before Kofi would get the best opportunity yet - a feud with a top star.

In late October, Kofi would start a feud with Randy Orton due to Orton feeling that Kofi cost him a WWE Championship opportunity. This would lead to a traditional Survivor Series match between the two and their teams. Kofi would be victorious in this contest - lastly pinning Orton to be the sole survivor. A great achievement in Kofi's short career. The future looked bright, right?

Unfortunately, an opportunity was missed as Orton would end this feud with a victory at the TLC pay-per-view in Decemeber. Kofi would then get a number one contendership match (vs Orton vs John Cena) in January 2010, in which Orton scored the pinfall on him. Just when things were looking up, Kofi's momentum was lost.

After this taster of the main event, the Intercontinental Championship was the trophy that Kofi, once again, would compete for. This would be the case throughout 2010, 2011 and 2012 - with United States and Tag Team success along the way. Kofi could never seem to shake the 'mid-card' tag off.

As of late, Kofi hasn't been spectacular. In the last few months of last year, he was engaged in a feud over the IC Title with The Miz. This was prematurely ended when The Miz began a face run. Kofi's next challenger was Wade Barrett - another guy who was, and is, in desperate need of a main event push. This resulted in Barrett winning the IC Title from Kofi; Barrett has not looked back since. Unlike Kofi, Barrett has, for the most, been a strong Champion.

Unfortunately since this loss, Kofi has gone back to being a nothing; a jobber to those that need it - he's become 'that guy' who it looks good when you beat them. This is not good for Kofi though. Everytime he gets a good run; becomes worth something; he is then knocked back to square one.

As Champion, he looked weak - losing constantly and decisively to Barrett and even losing to Antonio Cesaro (current US Champion) several times whilst being IC Champion. Kofi, along with the belt, took a knock there. In recent weeks, Kofi has either not been on TV or has jobbed to the likes of Big Show and a returning Jack Swagger in squash matches (losing in under a minute to Big Show a few weeks ago).

Championships in WWE:

• 4 time Intercontinental Champion
• 2 time United States Champion
• 1 time World Tag Team Champion (w/ CM Punk)
• 2 time WWE Tag Team Champion (w/ Evan Bourne; R-Truth)

Crossing Paths...
From these profiles, you can see that there was an overlap in their WWE careers (2008-2010). Looking into this further, I found that there seems to be a passing of the torch along the way.

When Kofi debuted in ECW in 2008, his first major feud was against Benjamin. They traded wins (resulting in the end of Kofi's undefeated streak) before Kofi would end the feud with a win in an Extreme Rules match on ECW in June 2008.

They have also competed in two Money in the Bank matches at Wrestlemanias 25 and 26 (won by CM Punk and Jack Swagger). They have both failed in their pursuits of the briefcase/contract that comes with winning that match.

Verdict
It almost feels as though Benjamin has passed on the bad luck/inability to get to the main event scene when the two faced off in Kofi's first major feud. After Shelton's downfall and release, it seems as though Kofi has taken over the job of propping up the mid-card and putting over the up-and-comers in the process.

It's been said that they are both unable to work competently on the mic. This is somewhat true; neither were/are dazzling on the mic; but this shouldn't solely hinder their attack of the main event scene - Jeff Hardy is awful on the mic (in my opinion) and he's been a multiple time World Champion. Each man's ability in the ring is good enough to feature in main event matches. I just can't put my finger on why neither man - Shelton before; Kofi now - can't make that step up.

Both men have been given the opportunities; whether it be against future Hall of Famers Triple H and Randy Orton, or in Money in the Bank ladder matches. For me, the MITB match is the ideal chance to give them the push into the main event - this has been the case with Jack Swagger and The Miz; two such superstars that have since been brought back down to earth after somewhat unsuccessful World Title runs. This test could be placed upon Kofi Kingston and, with the amount of MITB matches to his name; Shelton Benjamin, too.

Could a World Championship be in Kofi's future?

With his release in 2010, it seems that Shelton's opportunity has passed. Kofi, on the other hand, is still fairly young and, with the right direction, could still get himself to the top of the pile - this is if the WWE have enough faith in him to move away from putting people over at the mid-card stage of the card, and give him the strong push that his talents deserve.