Brilliant Bobby Lashley, Kevin Owens Double-Turn Will Work Wonders For Both

On this week’s episode of WWE Raw, Bobby Lashley and Kevin Owens executed a picture-perfect double-turn that creates new intrigue in their characters and in Raw’s upper mid-card, with the main event focused on The Shield vs. Drew McIntyre/Braun Strowman/Dolph Ziggler.

Without Sami Zayn by his side, Kevin Owens had been somewhat lost on WWE Raw, but maybe we should have seen the bigger picture right in front of us. Zayn’s injury created real sympathy for Owens, who has always been a massively popular superstar among the WWE Universe ever since his electric main roster debut.

Owens’s became even more sympathetic over the summer during his feud with Braun Strowman. He was launched from on top of a ladder and a steel cage in this feud, but it all amounted to approximately nothing for the workhorse. KO had brilliant matches with the likes of Seth Rollins, but, once again, his efforts went unrewarded.

Fans began speculating that it might be time for Owens to turn babyface for the first time in his main roster career. Last year at this time, it would have seemed impossible. When he was on SmackDown Live, he engaged in brutal feuds with AJ Styles and Shane McMahon, getting Zayn to join his side.

On Raw this week, Owens officially turned babyface, and he did so at the same time a wrestler who needed a heel turn made an important character transition.

Bobby Lashley’s pops had been subdued for months, and his program with Zayn left a sour taste in most fans’ mouths. He didn’t even have a match at SummerSlam, as he failed to defeat Roman Reigns for a second time.

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Adding Lio Rush to Lashley’s act helped give his character new edge, and Rush has done an exceptional job as Lashley’s manager. He’s a loud-mouth who is willing to brag on behalf of his client, and he adds a layer to Lashley’s character that makes him far more compelling than he was, say, two months ago.

From the moment the match started, it was clear that WWE wanted to go the route of a double-turn. It worked brilliantly for them when The Usos turned babyface and Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable turned heel last year. Double-turns are rare, but when they work, they are exquisite.

It all started when Rush started chanting “Lashley!” like crazy during Lashley’s match against Owens. He kept yelling like crazy, antagonizing the crowd, as the Chicago fans were clearly in Owens’s corner. And since Chicago is a smart crowd that loves Owens, the table was set for an easy double-turn.

Rush does such a great job of generating heat by being incredibly annoying, and everything he said and did got under everybody’s skin. I mean, a manager talking during the match and interrupting the action? Super irritating. And when he started trying to convince us that Owens isn’t a real athlete…oh lord, there was only one way for Lashley to go.

For the the first time in months, there’s real excitement surrounding both of these characters, and it all happened after an entertaining 15-20 minutes of action in front of a packed Allstate Arena. The WWE Universe has been itching to get behind Owens, who has more than enough talent and crowd support to make a babyface run work. And when Zayn comes back from his shoulder surgery, we’ll be in for more greatness from these two.

Meanwhile, Lashley could be ready for a big-time feud against Finn Balor, seeing as how Rush rudely interrupted a Kayla Braxton interview with Finn Balor and Bayley (Mixed Match Challenge Season 2 tag partners). Rush even did a “Too Sweet” right in Balor’s face, and that pun couldn’t have gone over well with Finn, who is wiling to fight anyone at any cost.

Bobby Lashley is a dominant beast with a hellacious finisher, ridiculous athleticism, and a manager who plays the heel role to perfection by being a braggadocios suck-up. Rush and Lashley is a match made in heaven, and WWE sowed the seeds of a Lashley heel turn for months. Adding Rush to his act made that end goal more clear, and Lashley’s attack on Owens’s knee post-match finalized this new direction for “The Dominator”.

As for Owens, his upside as a babyface is even higher in terms of entertainment value. While Lashley has the better chance at going after Roman Reigns’s Universal Championship, Owens has the opportunity to become the everyman character he was always meant to be. His “stunner” on Lashley might have been more than just another example of him borrowing the move from “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. (Editor’s note: Interesting fact that KO borrowed the Stunner in a probable double turn in the same building in which the infamous Austin/Bret Hart double turn took place at WrestleMania 13.)

It may have been foreshadowing of what’s to come for babyface Kevin Owens.