Kevin Owens and Goldberg, WWE.com
As Kevin Owens gears up to defend the WWE Universal Title against Goldberg, we look at just a handful of ways this match can unfold.
This Sunday at Fastlane, live from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the WWE’s resident prizefighter will prepare to do battle against arguably his toughest adversary to date.
Kevin Owens walks into his WWE Universal Championship defense with a chip on his shoulder to prove that he can do what “The Beast Incarnate”, Brock Lesnar couldn’t; defeat Goldberg – and go on to WrestleMania 33 with his title reign still in tow.
The biggest difference between this and Owens’ previous title defenses isn’t the opponent, however, but rather the support that he’s had in his corner.
Up until now, Kevin Owens has relied quite heavily on Chris Jericho’s help to ensure that he emerges with the title every single time, but as of his bitter betrayal two weeks ago, Kevin Owens is back by himself for the first time in nearly a year, with a desire to prove that he doesn’t need anybody’s help in order to be the best.
If there’s anybody to do that against, it’s Goldberg, who has looked absolutely unstoppable since his WWE return late last year, and with seemingly no end in sight.
With the 33rd annual Showcase of the Immortals just around the corner, this match will determine just what the main event picture on the Raw brand’s side of things looks like when the WWE takes over Orlando, Florida in April.
As such, there are a number of ways this one can go to perfectly set up for a high stakes WWE Universal Championship match at WrestleMania, be that between Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho, or Brock Lesnar and Goldberg.
Let’s take a look at just a handful of the many ways this match can end at Fastlane.
Credit: WWE.com
5. Chris Jericho Costs Goldberg the WWE Universal Title
This is probably the least likely scenario, considering Chris Jericho will undoubtedly be booked as a babyface heading into his WrestleMania program with Kevin Owens, but it does make sense from a character perspective for him to ensure that “The Prizefighter” walks out of Fastlane with the WWE Universal Championship.
It’s not just because Jericho knows that he’s probably going to Owens’ next challenger either. Jericho blatantly told Kevin Owens two weeks ago that he’s going to walk out of Fastlane with the title because Chris is going to have his back.
Just because Owens didn’t appreciate it doesn’t mean Jericho won’t follow through.
How many times have we seen the age-old feud between two former friends after one turns on the other? Wrestler A is best friends with Wrestler B, and will go to the ends of the earth for him. Wrestler B attacks Wrestler A and ends the friendship. Wrestler A now hates Wrestler B and they become bitter rivals immediately.
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Wouldn’t it be an interesting twist to see Jericho still hold onto some hope, or even obligation to his friendship with Kevin Owens even after its demise?
The words from Y2J just prior to the attack felt so full of conviction and sincerity that you could really feel the love and respect he had for Kevin. To see Jericho go through a phase of denial that sees him continue to help his former best friend would add yet another layer of emotion to the feud before Jericho inevitably gives in.
To add to that point, throughout Owens’ championship reign, he has consistently referred to himself and Chris Jericho as the WWE Universal Champion, implying that their bond was so strong that they shared the title between one another.
In that sense, the title still somewhat belongs to Chris Jericho, and it makes sense for him to want to preserve that, even if Owens doesn’t see it that way anymore, or even if it’s just a way for Jericho to get his one-on-one match at WrestleMania.
It’s hard to picture Chris Jericho screwing Goldberg out of the title without any ramifications, but if it’s followed up with Jericho being overcome with grief and an ever-lasting obligation to Kevin Owens even after what happened, it could definitely be a spectacular starting point to their WrestleMania feud.
WWE.com
4. Brock Lesnar Costs Goldberg the WWE Universal Title
This finish would work better if Goldberg hadn’t already accepted the rematch with Brock Lesnar for WrestleMania, but it still makes a lot of sense.
Goldberg is moving on – he’s accepted the match, but right now Lesnar is the least of the icon’s concerns – and that is going to be eating away at “The Beast Incarnate”.
Brock Lesnar has been embarrassed by Goldberg twice in the last four months, and as Paul Heyman so eloquently put in his spectacular “yeah, but…” promo a few weeks ago, Lesnar is desperate to prove that he can get the job done.
Every great performer has that one wrestler that just has his number, and through all of the incredible feats that Brock Lesnar has pulled off over the last few years, the fact that he hasn’t been able to put away Goldberg is always going to cast a shadow over that. If Brock Lesnar beats Goldberg, he goes back to being the man-handling machine that we all know and love, but that doesn’t happen until WrestleMania.
As a result, Goldberg’s focus being on Owens should be weighing on Lesnar’s psyche.
He should be focusing on Lesnar and Lesnar alone during WrestleMania season, not the WWE Universal Championship, and there’s only one way to set that right – eliminate the title from the equation and cost Goldberg the match.
Heck, if WWE believes in continuity, this scenario could actually be quite poetic.
Thirteen years ago, Lesnar defended the WWE Championship against Eddie Guerrero in an epic David vs. Goliath tale, in which the odds lay heavily in Lesnar’s favor.
Guerrero’s heart and soul didn’t seem like enough to get through it, but with Goldberg hitting Lesnar with a vicious spear to avenge his elimination from the Royal Rumble, “Latino Heat” was able to capitalize and win the title in a monumental moment.
They don’t need to acknowledge the irony here, but if Kevin Owens gets beaten all around Milwaukee for the better part of the match, only for Lesnar to attack while the referee is incapacitated, it could be a tremendous callback – not to mention a tremendous way for Owens to retain the WWE Universal Championship.
Goldberg and Brock Lesnar don’t need the title to build up their final match, Lesnar’s desperation and Goldberg’s aggression over getting screwed at Fastlane will be more than enough to take this animosity to an all-time high.
WWE.com
3. Chris Jericho Costs Kevin Owens the WWE Universal Title
We haven’t seen Chris Jericho on WWE programming since the dreaded ‘Festival of Friendship’ that saw his kinship with Kevin Owens come to a bitter end.
In the meantime, Kevin Owens has remained pretty tight-lipped about his actions that night, opting only to address Goldberg and the upcoming Fastlane match – instead of Y2J and the events that transpired two weeks ago.
Sure, they interacted on WWE’s recent tour of Germany, with Jericho heavily selling his injuries, and Owens only serving to do more damage to his former friend – which probably confirms that we won’t be seeing Jericho on television until Fastlane or thereafter – but those particular interactions may not be acknowledged as part of the story considering they took place at non-televised live events.
Owens’ lack of a comment on the Jericho situation during his first promo since the attack, would imply that the man doesn’t see it as worthy of his time.
He certainly has bigger fish to fry in perhaps the biggest match of his career with Goldberg looming, but one would have expected Owens’ all-but confirmed WrestleMania 33 opponent to be worth a mention after such a bitter betrayal.
Somebody who probably won’t take too kindly to being denied an explanation is Jericho himself – and if there’s one way to get the champ’s attention, it’ll be to interrupt the match and aid Goldberg to victory at the expense of Kevin Owens.
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The obvious pitfall here is that what is virtually guaranteed to be a spectacular ‘Mania match between Owens and Jericho won’t be contested over the WWE Universal Championship – a title that this relationship has revolved around since last summer.
To see these men duke it out over the United States Championship, or even nothing at all, would be a serious disservice to the storyline that’s been brewing for so long.
They could, of course, spin the angle with Jericho going on to say that his friendship with Owens meant more than any title ever could, and that their WrestleMania match won’t need to be about anything other than revenge, but it’s undeniable that this would be a lot sweeter with the holy grail of Monday Night Raw on the line.
Source: WWE.com
2. Kevin Owens Beats Goldberg Clean
Kevin Owens has turned over a new leaf, adopting a fresh and exciting new attitude that finally makes him look like a credible champion – the kind of attitude he’s desperately going to need if he wants to overcome an opponent like Goldberg.
Owens has done away with the jokes and silly antics that accompanied the Jeri-KO dynamic, and it’s a scary thought that he might be dropping the title just now when things have gotten interesting. So why do it, if a win here can make Owens’ career?
As fun as his chemistry with Jericho was, the championship has definitely suffered as a result of Owens’ constant inability to defend the gold without help.
After all, with its inaugural winner getting injured and the follow-up champ being booked as relatively incompetent, it’s not exactly creating a legendary alumni.
The WWE’s go-to method of rectifying that would be giving the title to a legend like Goldberg or Lesnar, just to boost the prestige, but they may not realize that transforming Kevin Owens into a much more reliable champion might do more good – and the pieces of the puzzle are falling nicely into place for that to happen.
Related Story: Goldberg doesn't need the WWE Universal Championship
We spoke before about Paul Heyman’s “yeah, but…” promo where he talked about every great athlete having that one opponent that just has their number. For Brock Lesnar, that man is Goldberg. For Goldberg, who’s to say that can’t be Kevin Owens? We’re not talking about a one-sided beat-down here on Owens’ behalf, just an evenly matched battle in which Kevin Owens walks out the victor.
There are concerns about Goldberg being unable to wrestle a full match, but why should that mean Owens has to suffer, especially when he has the potential to make his upcoming WrestleMania clash against Chris Jericho a showstopper?
A clean loss for Goldberg might actually give more meaning to his rematch with Lesnar too. As it stands, there isn’t a whole lot of reason why Goldberg would even need to face Lesnar again, but a loss to Kevin Owens might make him feel he needs to retrace his steps and conquer an old foe once more.
Should Kevin Owens not only stand toe-to-toe with Goldberg at Fastlane, but actually defeat him, it would do more for his career than any championship victory ever could – and officially cement his new demeanor as one to be reckoned with in the WWE.
WWE.com
1. Goldberg Squashes Kevin Owens in Less Than 1:26
As much as we’d love to see Kevin Owens give Goldberg hell, you should probably consider this the most likely outcome so you don’t end up disappointed.
Sure, a squash match loss for the WWE Universal Champion would be detrimental to his future as a main eventer, but if they can find a way to justify it, they absolutely will. Unfortunately, there are – in fact – plenty of ways to justify Kevin Owens getting the same whitewash treatment that rocked Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series.
First, and most simply, if Goldberg can absolutely destroy one of the most physically dominant athletes in recent memory, in less than two minutes to boot, who’s to say he can’t do the same to anybody else? As talented as Kevin Owens may be, his consistent booking as someone who relies on Chris Jericho’s help to retain the championship hasn’t exactly given him Brock Lesnar-tier invincibility.
“The Beast” had laid waste to everyone who’s stood in his path since returning in 2012, and Kevin Owens as a character just isn’t on that same level – so the chances of Goldberg running through the man are extremely high from a kayfabe perspective.
Secondly, WWE has never shied away from the opportunity to add extra buzz to a big-time WrestleMania contest by giving it the top title of the brand.
The Rock ended a record-making CM Punk WWE Championship run in 2013 because they wanted to expand on their huge WrestleMania 29 main event by giving Rock and John Cena something to fight over in comparison to the previous year’s spectacle.
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We have seen Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar one-on-one twice now, not including the Royal Rumble, and one of those came in a lacklustre encounter at WrestleMania.
Admittedly, it would make a little sense to throw the WWE Universal Championship into this one to sweeten the pot, and maybe increase the hype for those that may be skeptical going in – considering the last time Lesnar and Goldberg worked a match that lasted longer than 90 seconds, they completely sucked the life out of the arena.
Finally, and to provide an alternative to our previous scenario of Owens actually holding his own against Goldberg to prove himself as a solo athlete, this could be an interesting way to kick-start Owens’ WrestleMania rivalry with Chris Jericho.
Owens has consistently been looked down upon as a champion because of his over-reliance on Y2J and other underhanded tactics to ensure his successful title retention.
Jericho said “you’re going to beat Goldberg at Fastlane because I’ve got your back”, and although that may rub Owens the wrong way, he might have been right.
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Owens could be in for a rude awakening when he finds himself up a proverbial creek without a paddle at Fastlane, and it’ll really ignite his desire to defeat Chris Jericho in April if he finds out his former best friend was right all along.