WWE: Should Kofi Kingston Get a New Partner While Evan Bourne Is Suspended?

Evan Bourne has been suspended for 60 days for his second violation of the WWE Talent Wellness Program, and as unfortunate as that’s been for Bourne, it may be even worse for his tag-team partner, Kofi Kingston. 

While Bourne dug his own grave, Kingston did nothing wrong that we know of, but is still feeling the effects of Bourne’s suspension. 

Since Bourne was suspended for the first time three months ago, Kingston has taken a huge plummet down the card. He’s hardly gotten any time to team with Bourne, and he’s been either jobbing on Raw or relegated to matches on Superstars. 

Now comes news—courtesy of LordsofPain.net (via PWInsider.com)—that Bourne’s WWE future is in doubt: 

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While Bourne would be cleared to return to action in March, a report on PWinsider.com suggests that Bourne could be done with the company for good. 

No official decision has been made yet, but "a number of WWE sources" have indicated that Bourne will not be brought back. 

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It’s time to officially end Air Boom. 

With Bourne’s future with the company in the air, Kingston needs to end his partnership with him for good and move on to something else. It’s just not fair to keep the guy in limbo because of Bourne’s stupid mistakes. 

Bourne unwittingly screwed his tag-team partner over, and now that he and Kingston are no longer the faces of the WWE’s tag team division, Kingston has to find something else to do in order to prevent himself from becoming completely irrelevant. 

Realistically, there are only two options: Either Kingston turns heel, or he gets a new tag partner. 

While I’d love to see Kingston turn heel because he’s never been heel in the WWE before, the company is already heel heavy, and I have little to no faith in the creative team’s ability to push him as a bad guy. 

I think Kingston could pull it off and it would be a welcome change for his stale character, but given that WrestleMania is right around the corner, a possible Kingston heel turn likely won’t be given too much thought until April at the earliest. 

So, to make the best of a bad situation, the creative team must find him a new tag-team partner. 

While Kingston and Bourne were the perfect mix of high-flying excitement and I don’t see anyone being able to “recreate” the same energy that Air Boom had, I (and many others) have maintained that a certain SmackDown star is perfect to step into Bourne’s former spot as Kingston’s tag-team partner. 

I’m talking, of course, about Justin Gabriel. 

Gabriel isn’t doing much of note on SmackDown these days, so why not pair him up with Kingston as the WWE’s new top babyface tag team? 

There’s no risk in doing so and a potentially big reward in finding a suitable team to take over for Air Boom. 

The creative team probably will find some sort of problem with pairing Kingston and Gabriel together, but that’s OK as long as it gives Kingston someone to team with. 

Heck, I’d even take a powerhouse wrestler to complement Kingston if it means that we’d actually get another tag team besides the Usos and Epico and Primo, because quite simply, the WWE needs as many tag teams as possible to make the division at least somewhat formidable. 

While the tag-team rejuvenation should have started with Air Boom, it now should start with Kingston and someone else.

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