By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy

Thoughts From Raw:

- The Miz cut an awesome promo on Kofi Kingston during the “Miz TV” segment. I’ve been waiting for somebody to say that about Kofi in a program for awhile now. He’s one of WWE’s most marketable guys, but he’s never had the chance to be at the level of a Randy Orton or a Sheamus. The reason that’s the case is because he hasn’t been able to get the audience invested in him enough to really jump on his bandwagon. People seem to care about him, as evidenced by the “Kofi Kingston!” chants during the segment. But I don’t think people see him as a contender for a Heavyweight Title.

One of the reasons for that is his straight-laced nice guy character. The Miz said Kofi hasn’t given the audience any memorable moments in his career, but there are two Kofi Kingston moments I remember quite clearly: When he trashed Orton’s personalized race car, and when he gave Orton the Boom Drop through a table at Madison Square Garden. Bret Hart once said that the key to being a great good guy is being able to work with a great bad guy. In both those instances, that’s what was happening. Orton was the hottest heel in the company back then, and Kofi was the underdog who stood up to him. If Kofi is going to try and build some momentum again, he needs to work with another great bad guy. Whether you like the Miz or not (I do), he is a great bad guy. So whether he wins the Intercontinental Title or not, Kofi could benefit a great deal from this program.

But man…that kick Miz took at the end of their match tonight was stiff. Here’s hoping he’s okay…

- Putting Punk with Ryback at Hell in a Cell is the right choice, in my book. It’s a high pressure situation for someone as untested in the main event spotlight as the real-life Ryan Reeves. But the fans are more into him than many (including myself) expected. He’s not going to win, of course. So it’ll be interesting to see if WWE has Punk end his undefeated streak somehow. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see what Ryback brings to the table in his first pay per view main event.

Lately Sheamus has made a habit out of having some awesome televised matches with midcard talent, and last night was no exception. He and Wade Barrett had the best match on the show. His program with the Big Show is also surprisingly strong. I like the story of Sheamus picking on the grumpy giant, and then suddenly realizing he’s bitten off more than he can chew. The match may not be

-Don’t tear up a little kid’s sign, Daniel Bryan! Alberto Del Rio got in trouble for that. He shouldn’t have, as he was just doing his job as a heel. But oh well.

- I loved Punk’s delivery on the “Am I the devil?” line. Also, viewers might have been wondering what Cody Rhodes’ ring gear was doing in the background during the CM Punk/Paul Heyman backstage pre-tape. My response to that is…I don’t know.

- Indy wrestler Sugar Dunkerton sent this little gem after the Kane/Matt Striker segment: @sugardunkerton: “That hug went terribly wrong…..new guy in prison wrong….” Kane’s little interview bit after the match was a riot, too.

- Not really a fan of “Team CoBro,” a.k.a Zack Ryder and Santino Marella. Santino is usually good in tag teams where he’s the straight man, i.e. his work with Vladimir Kozlov. And as a Zack Ryder fan, I’d like to see him gain a little more ground as a singles star. Hopefully this is only a short term thing.

- That was a nice “Prime Time” Brian Lee costume Drew McIntyre was wearing. Saw a few fans on Twitter comparing the newly christened 3MB to 3 Count from WCW. That’s not exactly an unfounded comparison, is it?

- Michael Cole’s “Don’t call AJ the C-word” (crazy) line sounds like the kind of thing Vince McMahon would feed him through the headset, i.e. the “anal bleeding” line from last year.

Thoughts From Around The Wrestling World:

- A lot of “smarks” have reason to dislike Hulk Hogan. Over the years I’ve been one of those guys at various points. But in light of the news that Todd Clem, a.k.a. radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge, was the one who leaked the Hogan sex tape, I can’t help but feel some sympathy for the guy. Here’s a man who has truly paid the price for his fame. Here is a man who went through a terrible divorce, whose wife later wrote a scathing, libelous book about him. His son went to prison after a terrible car crash that left a teenager in a nursing home for the rest of his life. And now one of his best friends has leaked a tape of him having sex with, of all people, Clem’s wife. Has he brought some of this on himself? Yes, probably. But here’s hoping fate cuts this guy a break or two in the next few years…

- So Harley Race, a 69 year old man who, bless his heart, allegedly now uses a motorized,  scooter to get around, apparently punched Vader in the face at a convention last week. Supposedly Vader was being rude to fans. I think this is awesome, assuming Vader really was acting that way. Vader is more than a decade younger than Race, and twice his size. And yet Race, still an old school tough guy after all these years, knocked him in the mush. You just can’t keep a good man down.

Front page image and images 1, 2 and 3 from WWE.com. Image 4 from wzronline.com.