WWE: Sami Zayn Must Be The Heel vs. Kevin Owens
By John Brown
It appears that Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn are on their way to ending their reunion. When their feud begins, it must be Zayn who is the heel, as he is using the motive of “doing the right thing” to drive his decision making. His manipulation of morality is something more evil than Kevin Owens has ever done, putting Zayn in the driver’s seat to be the feud’s heel, and Owens to be the respected tweener a la CM Punk.
This past week on SmackDown Live, Sami Zayn referred to his rationale always being based on “doing the right thing”, This is why he was a crusader of the just for his first few years in the WWE, this is why he was led astray to spin his wheels at the end of his tenure on Monday Night Raw, and that is why he decided to join forces with his nemesis, Kevin Owens.
On the surface, this rationale is, well, rational if not downright wholesome. However, this rationale utilized by the manipulated soul is pure evil. Sami Zayn’s struggle for merit in the WWE has led him to join forces with Owens, his first step into the abyss. His next step is to turn on Owens, making him a headlining heel and Owens the respected tweener.
I hope WWE sees the potential the character of Sami Zayn has as a heel. If one should listen to him on podcasts where one able to break kayfabe, he or she would find that Zayn is exceptionally intelligent and being highly introspective, sometimes to a fault.
After all, it would take deep introspection for Zayn to align himself with someone like Owens considering the blood feud he’s had with him in both Ring of Honor and WWE. Someone who is able to reflect that deeply to come to that conclusion should be considered capable of much worse. The WWE has been missing the plotting, manipulative main event heel, as it really hasn’t been seen since Triple H, and since Chris Jericho’s “No Country for Old Men” heel persona in 2008.
The difference between Sami Zayn and Trips and Jericho is that physically, the Sami Zayn character can’t do it on his own; that has been proven time and time again since his move to the main roster. Ala Lex Luthor and Jim Jones, he is going to need minions to drink his Kool-Aid and guide him to the top of the WWE mountain. His brain and blackened heart will fill the void of physical limitation, which should be a quality that frightens potential opponents worse than triceps and biceps.
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This also leaves Kevin Owens to fill the void left by the departure of CM Punk as the tweener so good in the ring and on the mic that you can’t help but to support him. Owens, however, has proven himself as a viable heavyweight champion, where Sami Zayn hasn’t. Zayn becoming the mastermind, introspective, plotting heel not only allows his feud with Owens to continue on to the next chapter, but allows both characters to explore new dimensions of their character. This is a move that is needed for Zayn if he is going to remain in contention for the WWE Championship.