The conclusion to Kevin Owens and Braun Strowman’s Steel Cage match at WWE Extreme Rules 2018 is the most fitting end to an overwhelmingly lopsided rivalry.
The past month of Braun Strowman’s attacks on Kevin Owens—beginning with Money in the Bank—can be agreeably summed up as attempted murder. This has earned plenty of confusion as the supposed “hero” of the story has made a habit of casually annihilating the supposed “villain” Kevin Owens with little to no provocation. Their encounter at WWE Extreme Rules 2018 was no exception.
On paper, it wouldn’t have been a bold prediction to declare Owens and Strowman in a Steel Cage an easy win for the latter. Strowman was fresh off of a Money in the Bank win and has long been the juggernaut of WWE while Owens had yet to win a match on pay-per-view in 2018. The match itself began with Owens attempting to evade Strowman at all costs. It took Strowman calling out the irony of Owens’ “Fight Anyone” mantra for KO to run at the monster head-on.
After being thrown around by Strowman for minutes, Owens landed two superkicks that subdued him long enough to be handcuffed to the top rope. Strowman—fueled by a “Suck It” taunt and a blown kiss—quickly broke free to not only prevent Owens from climbing over the cage but send him free falling through the announce table.
.@FightOwensFight sent CRASHING from the top of the #SteelCage, courtesy of @BraunStrowman!!#ExtremeRules #SteelCageMatch pic.twitter.com/xeseJIR8z0
— WWE (@WWE) July 16, 2018
The result itself accomplishes a few things. Strowman takes a loss that doesn’t diminish his credibility. Kevin Owens gets a much needed win after spending the last month being made to look like a chump and we get a potential OMG moment of the year candidate.
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From here, Strowman will likely move on to the Universal Championship picture. Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley are currently fighting over first dibs at Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship all while Strowman has a Money in the Bank briefcase that can make him the top contender at any time. Strowman can either challenge Lesnar straight up at Summerslam or cash in in the midst of his title defense against what will—barring some dramatic plot twist—end up being Roman or Lashley.
Kevin Owens has less of a defined path. With Roman, Lashley and Strowman in the mix, his chances of competing for the Universal Championship in the immediate future are slim. He could potentially miss Raw to sell the injury and come back to feud with Finn Balor given that his feud with Baron Corbin is complete. KO could mix it up with Bobby Roode, who hasn’t had a singles match on PPV since losing the United States Championship to Randy Orton at Fastlane. KO could even insert himself into the red-hot Intercontinental Championship picture.
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Owens’ craftiness ended up being a solid foil for Strowman’s sheer strength and for the match’s relatively short length, it did more for both men than the events of prior weeks. Contrary to wide belief, the match turned out better than expected for both parties even if Kevin Owens had to take a 20 foot fall to come out as a beneficiary.