WWE: Kevin Owens Should Return As A Top Face On Raw

With Kevin Owens returning in about a month, WWE should take this opportunity to freshen up Raw’s stale upper mid-card scene.

About one month. It’s only about one month until one of the most entertaining superstars in WWE today, Kevin Owens, returns to TV.

Through a vignette that aired on the February 11th episode of WWE Raw, Owens revealed that timetable for his return along with the fact that he currently doesn’t know which brand he will be on:

Right now, it appears that Owens’ injury has made him a free agent on WWE TV, much in the same style as someone like John Cena. This leaves the door open for WWE to have Owens either bounce between brands, at the very least during his initial return, or to pick and choose whichever brand needs his talents the most.

Regardless of the potentially great rivalries Owens could have against the likes of stars such as ‘The New’ Daniel Bryan or Samoa Joe on SmackDown, it’s painfully clear that the brand that needs him the most is Raw.

Unfortunately, WWE Raw currently has one of the most stagnant upper mid-card scenes in recent memory.

Braun Strowman and Kurt Angle, in some form or another, have been fighting Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin for months now. I suppose that would be fine if there was some amount of intrigue or stakes in these rivalries, but they’re basically just time-filler feuds at best right now.

Additonally, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose are currently embroiled in an awkward and seemingly pointless angle that’s somehow now threatening to ruin the main roster debut of EC3. On top of that, rivalries like Bobby Lashley versus Finn Balor and The Revival versus Chad Gable and Bobby Roode are quickly running out of steam.

WWE should be practically screaming for someone like Kevin Owens to save Raw from this endless morass of mundane and overbooked feuds the brand is nearly stuck in.

Kevin Owens return would immediately freshen Monday nights by instilling some legitimate excitement and intrigue to any of Raw’s many fledgling feuds.

The most obvious of these angles for Ownes to return in, at least on the surface, is the Intercontinental Championship picture. The current titleholder, Bobby Lashley, was the one who put Owens out of commission in the storylines during his initial heel turn, hence it would only make sense then for a face Owens to return to get some retribution against Lashley.

Lashley is currently involved in his own aforementioned stagnant feud with Finn Balor.

In fact, these two have squared off so many times already that the only real intrigue in this storyline has come due to the fact that Balor will fight both Lashley and Lio Rush in a handicap match for the Intercontinental Championship at Elimination Chamber.

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No matter who he pins in that match, Balor could then walk out of the show as the new Intercontinental Champion. It’s a gimmick seemingly perfectly designed to keep Lashley looking strong by having Rush take the pin, so that Balor can win the title.

That would arguably indicate that there’s at least one more rematch between Lashley and Balor in the near future though, and that would certainly need some serious work to make exciting.

Inserting Owens into the Intercontinental Championship picture, potentially even along with a heel like Drew McIntyre, could instantly turn Balor and Lashley’s next interactions into something exciting to watch.

Owens’ storyline history with both Lashley and Balor would give that angle a perfect natural starting place, on top of the fact that we already know he’s capable of putting out great matches with both of these superstars.

Even if that potential Intercontinental Title development doesn’t happen however, Owens’ talents could still be easily used in a number of exciting ways on WWE Raw.

Owens could provide a great competitor for EC3 to banter with, if WWE ever lets him talk that is. He could also just as easily take on Dean Ambrose in order to propel himself into the future Universal Championship scene after WrestleMania.

Owens could even pair up again with Sami Zayn, who’s own return could be imminent if one of WWE’s recent vignettes is to be believed, to take on The Revival for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships. Now that would be a match that could really get people talking considering the incredible in-ring competitors involved.

No matter who Owens were to fight though, it’s clear that there’s multiple paths for him to return as one of Raw’s top faces to freshen up the currently stale weekly proceedings on the red brand.