WWE SmackDown Truly Is The Kevin Owens Show
While feuding with the likes of AJ Styles and Shane McMahon, Kevin Owens has proven to be WWE SmackDown Live’s quarterback, shining in a plethora of roles and enhancing each and every storyline he’s a part of. Whose Show is it? It’s Kevin Owens’ Show.
When Jinder Mahal defeated Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at Backlash, the wrestling world let out a collective gasp.
Some were appalled that the former 3MB member could be placed in this position on such short notice. Others appreciated the plot twist, but still wondered what the end result would be.
WWE SmackDown Live may have created a new star with Mahal, but the decision was unquestionably risky and resulted in the demotion of the WWE Championship to the upper-midcard.
Enter AJ Styles and Kevin Owens.
Styles was the people’s champion, the near-consensus answer to the question “Who will carry SmackDown Live during the Jinder Mahal experiment?”
But in Vince McMahon’s new WWE, where fans are asked to do away with labels and choose their own rooting interests, Kevin Owens should be considered the show’s anchor, now and certainly into the foreseeable future.
KO is a rare and unique hybrid of a wrestler’s wrestler, admired for his in-ring believability and commitment to his craft. He is an old-school heel who uses classic bad guy tactics to shape his own narrative and ensure he’s still met with a chorus of boos.
Owens is a shape-shifter, successfully adapting to an endless list of characters and personalities: up-and-coming indy sensation, workhorse Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho “frenemy” and “New Face of America”.
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He was essentially a plot device in the Brock Lesnar-Goldberg saga, unceremoniously losing the Universal Title and being sent to SmackDown for his troubles.
Nevertheless, Owens always manages to shine in whatever spot he’s placed and is now playing perhaps the most vital role of his career: his show’s top antagonist.
The surest sign that Kevin Owens is currently SmackDown’s hottest commodity? On Tuesday, Vince MaMahon himself will be appearing on television in a storyline capacity for the first time since naming The Undertaker as his son Shane McMahon’s WrestleMania 32 opponent.
Mr. McMahon doesn’t descend from the top of his ivory Titan Tower for just anyone. Owens now joins Shane and Roman Reigns in the exclusive club of performers worthy of Vince’s time.
#SDLive General Manager @WWEDanielBryan informed @FightOwensFight that he is going to have a very special visitor next week... pic.twitter.com/p9ddfaptro
— WWE (@WWE) September 7, 2017
Owens’ run with AJ Styles seems to have come to an end (for now) and his blood feud with Shane is only beginning, but that shouldn’t stop fans from salivating over his potential future opponents.
He may be rekindling his rivalry with Sami Zayn in the near future.
How does Owens-Bobby Roode sound?
Next: Ranking The 10 Greatest No Mercy Matches In WWE History
What about a feud with Nakamura?
Regardless of how his grudge with Shane McMahon concludes and where he goes from there, KO is likely to be the blue brand’s most important performer for a long, long time.
SmackDown Live truly is “The Kevin Owens Show”.