WWE: Kevin Owens’ Return Has Fizzled Since Fastlane

Since WWE Fastlane, Kevin Owens’ return has been a flop. He’s been rarely seen near the WWE Championship picture on SmackDown Live, bringing into question whether there’s any plans for ‘KO-Mania’ this year.

It was only a few weeks ago that we were all watching Kevin Owens take on Daniel Bryan and Mustafa Ali in a triple threat match at Fastlane for the WWE Championship.

It was the culmination of a surprise return that had breathed some fresh air into Owens’ character.

Having taken Kofi Kingston’s well-deserved title opportunity from him, Owens expressed a unique level of remorse combined with resolve to not squander or relinquish the opportunity that was given to him.

It’s a characterization that hits right in that shade of gray between face and heel that we know Owens’ can pull off so well when given the chance.

That match at Fastlane very much felt like the start of a world title push for the revitalized Owens, one that would likely culminate in a shared opportunity at the WWE Championship at WrestleMania along with Kingston.

Instead, Owens has virtually disappeared from the WWE Championship picture altogether. Gone without a trace.

In fact, aside from a tag team match with Mustafa Ali immediately following Fastlane, Owens has been absent from in-ring competition on SmackDown Live.

It’s a strange turn of events when there really wasn’t any reason for Owens’ push to end, at least from what I could see.

Of course, Kofi Kingston’s own push has been an important angle to feature, but it was also an angle which already heavily included Owens.

Considering Owens wasn’t actually pinned at Fastlane, it would have been incredibly easy for WWE to have Vince McMahon declare that Owens deserved a guaranteed one-on-one match with Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania without any outside influence from any “B-Plus Players”.

Then, the entire Kofi Kingston angle up until this point could have carried on without a hitch.

In fact, Owens could have been included in the gauntlet Kingston was forced to run. Owens then could have expressed some personal regret at having to fight Kingston, but ultimately would choose to so anyways so as to better his chances at WrestleMania. It would have perfectly continued his new characterization up until that point.

Unfortunately though, none of that happened. Well, all the parts of Kingston’s push have happened, as they should have, but they simply haven’t included the former Universal champ in any way.

Now, we’re just left wondering if there’s a way for Owens to sneak onto the WrestleMania card besides the severely flawed Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, as opposed to looking forward to seeing him in the spotlight where it seemed he belonged just a couple of short weeks ago.

Hopefully for Owens’ sake, even if there’s no extravagant ‘KO-Mania’ this year, WWE will find a more permanent storyline for him during and after the upcoming Superstar Shake-Up.