SmackDown Live star Kevin Owens was the latest guest on Edge and Christian’s Pod of Awesomeness podcast, which has recently featured great interviews with John Cena and Randy Orton.

• John Cena Explains Why He Never Faced The Undertaker at WrestleMania
• Randy Orton Sick of Being a Babyface, Takes a Dig at Kevin Owens

Kevin Owens revealed to Edge and Christian that he wasn’t entirely satisfied with his role in the feud with AJ Styles. Owens stated that he ‘plateaued’ when facing AJ Styles and that he didn’t enjoy the matches as much as some of his other opponents. With AJ Styles considered one of the top performers in WWE and the the amazing programs he had with the likes of John Cena and Chris Jericho, you can understand why Owens is frustrated.

“You (Edge) say you enjoyed the series of matches with AJ and I’m glad you did and hopefully a lot of people did as well but I don’t know if I can say that I did, to be honest.”

Owens’ comment was supported as he explained that, retrospectively, he wasn’t performing as best as he could have at the time.  The former Face of America explained that the transition to working with Shane McMahon gave him a greater sense of purpose as it was much more of a big deal.

Owen’s then had this to say about working with Vince McMahon:

“You know not that many people get to do that with Vince, especially nowadays. If you look at the last five, six years there hasn’t been a whole lot of people who got to physically assault Vince in the way I did. So obviously I knew that was a big deal and I did think that maybe this is what I’ve been waiting for and so far it feels like that was it.”

KO finally said that he believes he has moved on to a new level since being able to physically assault Vince McMahon, and that he’s going to run with it as he moves forward.

Author’s Opinion:

Being able to reflect and evaluate performances is a good skill in any professional, and it is important to note that at no point does Kevin Owens mention or pass blame to AJ Styles for his thoughts and feelings about the feud or his own performance.  KO’s interview on the podcast does come across as a form of self-reflection rather than criticism.

Catch the Pod of Awesomeness episode with Kevin Owens here.

WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar successfully defended his title against Braun Strowman last month at No Mercy. As of this writing, Lesnar does not have a title defense scheduled for next weekend’s Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view.

It’s been rumored that Lesnar’s next opponent would be Finn Balor, but Dave Meltzer reports that WWE has another opponent in the works for Survivor Series on November 18th.

According to Meltzer, the current plan is for Lesnar to face WWE Champion Jinder Mahal in the main event of next month’s inter-brand PPV. Even though both men currently hold the two top titles on RAW and SmackDown, this Champion vs. Champion showdown would be a non-title match.

Author’s Opinion: 

If Lesnar vs. Mahal is the plan, it’s obvious that no other superstar will be getting the WWE Championship before Survivor Series on November 19th.  This actually extends itself to the beginning of December as Jinder will be defending his title against Kevin Owens on the tour of India.

The same can also be said for Brock Lesnar and the Universal Championship, however Lesnar has appeared a lot more secure in his title reign which is no surprise.

The Survivor Series main event plan can also shed light on WWE’s hopes for Jinder and his injury.  WWE must be pretty confident that Jinder Mahal can hold himself together with his injury to face Brock Lesnar, but it seems like a big risk with little reward.

The main question from this plan is, who would win?  On paper it seems like an easy win for Brock Lesnar, but how happy would the company be with the WWE champion being swept aside like trash in Suplex City?

The Ultimate Author’s Opinion:

Being brutally honest, it comes across as a match no one asked for.  It works with the theme of Survivor Series, but the names on the card are wrong.

RAW’s Women’s Champion, Alexa Bliss, recently spoke to Channel Magazine about the “Unleash Your Warrior” breast cancer campaign and why pink is her favourite colour.  The interview also included comments on her relationship with Nia Jax, working with Mickie James in the ring, and Asuka’s arrival to RAW. Here are some highlights:

How Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax first met:

“We have the talent help out with the tryouts to make sure everything goes smoothly or if someone who is doing the try out needs help. I remember during the talent lunch break, Nia comes up to me as I’m doing cardio on the treadmill. She just comes up to me and starts talking to me like she has never met a stranger in her life. We instantly clicked and have been best friends ever since.”

Working with Mickie James in the ring:

“Mickie is so amazing because she has so many ideas. She is a wealth of knowledge since she has been in the business for so long. She is super sweet and open to ideas. I’m looking forward to continuing our program. She always says, ‘Well, I’m six one way and half dozen the other.’ We always go that she makes scrambled eggs. That’s not a thing she taught us. If it doesn’t work out today, it will tomorrow. Six one way and half dozen the other. It happens. Things can work out tomorrow. She is very casual that way, which keeps it a stress-free environment. That is so nice to have.”

However, at the bottom of the article Bliss mentions the arrival of Asuka to RAW at TLC on October 22nd, stating that:

“I know after the Four Horsewomen, any women that comes up after has to be the evolution to the women’s revolution. I think Asuka is just the person to do that. We are all excited about being a part of everything happening.”

It’s clear that talent is not missing from the Women’s division, on RAW or SmackDown Live, but Asuka appears to be setting the bar higher than ever before.  This is even more apparent as we see superstars fighting over who gets to be involved in Asuka’s first match at RAW’s next PPV: TLC

Opinion: As Alexa says in the interview, it’s a great time to be part of the women’s division on RAW.  “Evolution of the Women’s Revolution” sounds like a beautiful piece of marketing and this should be used to be prepare the WWE Universe for Asuka’s arrival and the step up that will come with it.

I think that Asuka vs Charlotte is the ultimate goal, but neither of them will be moving brand before Wrestlemania in April so we’ll have to wait to see all potential dream match ups.

During Shane McMahon’s match with Kevin Owens, it is highly likely that the commentary team will say something along the lines of:, “This man has no regard for his body/family!”

WWE viewers are used to seeing Shane McMahon put everything on the line.  Here is a key example from WrestleMania 32 against The Undertaker.

Sunday’s Hell in a Cell will be no exception as Shane takes on the former Face of America, Kevin Owens.  In an unusual move, the match has been given the added stipulation that falls count anywhere.  It is clear that something big is going to happen and it will be extremely shocking.

However Dave Meltzer has provided an explanation as to how and why Shane can pull off these risk maneuvers, giving him an unfair advantage over the full-time superstars like Kevin Owens.

Meltzer said that other wrestlers would often comment on how Shane could take a huge hit or bump and then have time off to rest and recover without making many appearances.  This contrasts with full-time superstars who would be contracted to appear and possibly perform the following night or week.

‘Well, Shane’s gonna do one or two matches a year, and he’s gonna do this big bump, and he can get hurt and rest up. And he shows us all up that are trying to do big bumps, and we gotta come back the next day.’

The manner in which Dave Metlzer presented this information in The Wrestlering Observer Newsletter suggests that full-time wrestlers were annoyed by the way Shane could get away with these jaw dropping moments that create instant memories for those watching.

Opinion: I don’t think any superstars would openly criticize or comment on Shane’s apparent preferential treatment, however it will be interesting to see how extreme the match becomes and where this takes the feud with Kevin Owens.  If Owens wins, SmackDown Live may need a new temporary commissioner to help Daniel Bryan run the show while Shane recovers.

WWE COO Triple H was in Mumbai, India last week to announce WWE’s upcoming live events from the country, scheduled for December.

While there, he stopped by Facebook’s office in Mumbai and took part in a Facebook Live interview. You can check out the full Q&A session here:

Among the most interesting topics discussed was Triple H’s interest in having another ‘WrestleMania moment’ with The Rock. Making no bones about it, Triple H declared,

“I’ll dance one more time with The Great One.”

While both men’s days as active competitors on the WWE roster have long passed, a WrestleMania moment with The Rock is something that would be too good for him to pass up. Triple H mentioned that the idea of one more match with The Rock stems from a backstage interaction they had on SmackDown back in 2014:

Opinion: I don’t think we’ll see Triple H in the ring with The Rock for the next WrestleMania, however I believe we should keep an eye on Kevin Owens…

Big Cass is set to feature in this year’s Ringside Fest along with Alexa Bliss, Braun Strowman, and Finn Balor.

#RingsideFest2017 LINE-UP ANNOUNCED! Meet #BraunStrowman #AlexaBliss #BigCass & #FinnBalor on Oct29 in NYC! TICKETS: https://t.co/WN8impCJZ2 pic.twitter.com/AI6WvFKJ2G

— Ringside Collectibles (@RingsideC) October 3, 2017

After he beat Enzo Amore, the 7 foot superstar was featured on RAW Talk and went on to state that he was coming after the Universal Title.  So what is the latest on the injury that is keeping Big Cass on the sidelines?

Unfortunately there isn’t anything of note to mention yet.  His official twitter account has been quiet, apart from an off topic comment about the world series, and other than an appearance on an episode of The Sam Roberts’ Wrestling Podcast, the 7 foot athlete has appeared off-grid!

This isn’t a surprise as Big Cass underwent surgery to repair is torn ACL in late August.  While the surgery was successful, a torn ACL is an extremely complex injury that requires a long time to recover correctly and is feared by any sports star.  The potential career ending injury is not to be taken lightly, so it is unlikely that we’ll see Big Cass making a shock return in the same manner that Braun Strowman did when he required elbow surgery.

The only positive that could be taken from this situation is the potential for a completely fresh start when he does return; the chance to cut away from Enzo and become a force to be reckoned with in the singles division.

Hopefully the Ringside event in New York will prompt a new update, however it looks like we won’t be seeing Big Cass before May 2018, after Wrestlemania.