Kevin Owens received a lot of praise in the wake of his promo from this week’s SmackDown Live. He would lambast Shane McMahon for taking up valuable TV time from Superstars deserving of the time to shine, saying:
“I would never call myself the best in the world, and there’s a hundred people back there who’ve got a legitimate claim. And you take up TV time from Apollo Crews, Buddy Murphy, Ali, Liv Morgan, Asuka, AOP, Kairi Sane.”
Turns out the reason behind Owens’ promo is to usher in a new storyline. This narrative will eventually phase Shane McMahon out of WWE’s weekly programming.
The trigger behind the alleged shoot promo stems from WWE’s awareness that Shane McMahon has featured far too prominently across RAW and SmackDown in recent months.
The growing negative reaction online to his increasing role became something that WWE couldn’t ignore.
Coupled with the promotion’s declining ratings, it’s been reported that Vince McMahon is more willing than ever before to listen to the negative feedback.
WWE will be leaning into the idea that Owens is a representative for the fans. He will act as a mouthpiece as he adopts a more anti-authoritative stance against Shane McMahon.
Despite his latest face turn and push against Shane, at the time of writing, Owens has yet to be booked for Extreme Rules.
