KEVIN OWENS IS THE CHAMP

[Messiah]

ALL HAIL K.O.

ALL HAIL THE GAME, TRIPLE HAITCH

[Str8Shooter]

Haha that match was nuts. Triple H showing up surprised me, then I thought he was going to attack Owens, leading to an Owens face turn, but Seth took the Pedigree instead.

Lots of questions now. How involved is Trips? Steph and Foley both looked shocked at his actions, where do they stand? Is Rollins now a de facto babyface? Will Rollins and Reigns have to try and get along? What happens with Jericho and Owens' team?

I guess it can be considered a good thing to have a bunch of questions for next week.

[Circled Square]

He's fat and his matches have thousands of rest holds but he's good on the mic and something different. I approve.

[Hanley!]

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE GAME!

... it really is all about the Game.

...... why is it all about the Game?




I think Owens felt like the right choice here. Rollins was a little too safe, Cass wasn't nearly ready, and Reigns still doesn't work as a top babyface. Owens was the best way to freshen things up. Though I did think it would help establish the prestige of the new title if an established main eventer held it first. But if they booked the champ very strong then it wouldn't matter.

Instead, it was the Triple H show for some goddamn reason. He eliminated two of the match's competitors and Owens did sweet fuck all to win the title. It wasn't a great way to start off his run.

Also, owners feuding with each other? Triple H and Stephanie feuding with each other? Jesus Christ, why? Are they trying to hurt me? This stuff has been going on for way too long.

The only other good thing coming out of this is maybe Seth is going face now. That's a good call at the moment, as the show lacks a top face. Reigns isn't working, Balor is gone, Cesaro lacks the credibility right now (their own damn fault though), Sami needs a slow build to the top. They really had to turn someone, and Rollins was the obvious choice.

I guess I'm curious to see where all this goes, but sadly I'm also kinda dreading it.

[Everlong]

I still haven't seen it, but based on what I've read it just doesn't seem like this was as big a deal as it should hae been. I've loved the little bit of Owens I've seen though. He seems to be a real classic kind of heel who works a great style. Seems perfect for the belt and to take up the mantle of next big wwe heel.

[Str8Shooter]

Twitter seemed to go nuts when it happened so the social media buzz seemed to be alright to me.

I think the smarks hesitance to embrace this too much is much to Hanley's point about Triple H being involved and it likely being a story point in the never ending McMahon story between Trips and Steph now. Much how Rollins was subservient to the Authority when he was champion. I'm hopeful that a stronger personality like Owens will be treated a little differently.

Part of it is that people's attention spans are less. Something big happens and it's quickly digested online for a day or two and then it's on to the next thing just as fast.

[Hanley!]

This might be the only time I've felt bad for a guy who just won his first world title. Owens is a life long wrestling fan. I hardly think this is how he imagined winning his first world championship. I know heels don't always get the big clean win, and that's as it should be, but he could at least have had some agency in his own win. He could have cheated. He could have schemed. He could have gotten the heat from his own title win.

It was abundantly clear on last week's Raw that it was not Kevin Owens' moment. It was Triple H's moment. Owens is never going to get that moment back. He can't have another first WWE world title win. This came across like the shittiest version of that moment that they could have given him, that they could have given us, and that they could have given this new world championship.

[Str8Shooter]

This might be the only time I've felt bad for a guy who just won his first world title. Owens is a life long wrestling fan. I hardly think this is how he imagined winning his first world championship. I know heels don't always get the big clean win, and that's as it should be, but he could at least have had some agency in his own win. He could have cheated. He could have schemed. He could have gotten the heat from his own title win.

It was abundantly clear on last week's Raw that it was not Kevin Owens' moment. It was Triple H's moment. Owens is never going to get that moment back. He can't have another first WWE world title win. This came across like the shittiest version of that moment that they could have given him, that they could have given us, and that they could have given this new world championship.

I'm not ready to go that far. Owens seemed pretty damn happy about winning it the way he did, they had a photo gallery of him and his kid on WWE's website for crying out loud, he can't be too upset. Lots of wrestlers have visions of where they'll be and they don't always turn out that way. I don't think Zack Ryder's dream was to wrestle in a low card tag team with Mojo Rawley. Things go the way they go in wrestling and you have to go with it.

I would have preferred Owens just win the match, but it's WWE, the McMahon drama is going to be a part of the main event scene most of the time, whether it's WWE that wants that, or USA Network as has been rumoured before, or both. Owens is a massively talented guy with loads of personality, and HHH legitimately likes him and brought him in, so his success makes Trips look good too. Those reasons are why I hold out hope that he gets a chance to shine in the spotlight as well.

[Hanley!]

I would have preferred Owens just win the match, but it's WWE, the McMahon drama is going to be a part of the main event scene most of the time, whether it's WWE that wants that, or USA Network as has been rumoured before, or both

Maybe, but that's no reason for me (or any of us) to like it.

For my money, the involvement of Shane, Vince, Triple H and especially Stephanie, is by far the worst part of the WWE product these days. They've fixed a lot, but they can't get the fuck over themselves. I'm beyond sick of seeing them feuding with each other. I think the fans should be sending a loud message that this shit doesn't work anymore, rather than just shrugging and accepting the fact that this aspect of the product sucks and will always suck.

[Str8Shooter]

I would have preferred Owens just win the match, but it's WWE, the McMahon drama is going to be a part of the main event scene most of the time, whether it's WWE that wants that, or USA Network as has been rumoured before, or both

Maybe, but that's no reason for me (or any of us) to like it.

For my money, the involvement of Shane, Vince, Triple H and especially Stephanie, is by far the worst part of the WWE product these days. They've fixed a lot, but they can't get the fuck over themselves. I'm beyond sick of seeing them feuding with each other. I think the fans should be sending a loud message that this shit doesn't work anymore, rather than just shrugging and accepting the fact that this aspect of the product sucks and will always suck.

In fairness, Triple H hasn't been seen on WWE TV in 5 months since Mania. Stephanie I thought was going to take more of a background role with Foley being GM but I guess not. Her emasculating of talent and always having to get the last word in is infuriating most of the time. And that's admitting that I believe she is a very good performer on television and one of the best heels there is.

Maybe the casuals like seeing the McMahon's on TV I dunno.

[Hanley!]

The McMahons get a nostalgia pop when they've been away from a while, and they're recognised by more of the casuals given they've been around for so long (they were on television before they scared everybody off). I'll never be convinced that their continuing contributions to the show do anything to help it though. I'm certain it's the opposite.

Stephanie is a pretty good performer. Not to the extent that some people claim, but she is a good promo. The problem is that she's not a wrestler, so there's really not 20 years worth of material in her as a character. There's only so much she can do and she's already done all of it a dozen times over. Also, her character should only be used as an accent to help get other people over, and that's the exact opposite of how they use her.

That segment between her and Heyman last week was historically bad.

[Str8Shooter]

One big problem with Stephanie now is they have no idea if she's a heel or a face. Sometimes it seems she's supposed to be a heel that's masquerading as a face for corporate purposes, but they really don't flesh that out. So it seems to vary on a week to week basis, babyface against Heyman, heel against Shane. Just wait til her book comes out, they'll probably want her as a face to trot out on TV everywhere.

Shane has actually been quite understated on Smackdown. Until this match with Brock happens though, then he'll probably be everywhere.