Kevin Owens is well-known for his talent on the mic. In recent months, he has been frequently able to showcase his promo abilities.
Speaking with SI.com, however, Owens was quick to dismiss that he delivered the best promos. Instead, he named current New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) star Juice Robinson as being on “another level” when it comes to promo skills.
“I think I’m pretty good at talking and getting my point across, but nobody makes me feel what they’re saying the way Juice does,” Owens admitted. “Yes, he’s my friend and I love that dude, so it might seem like I’m biased, but I’m not. I’m friends with a lot of people and some of them suck at talking, and I’m happy to tell them.”
He continued, “I don’t think saying ‘no’ is me being humble, although I think that is a quality everybody should have—and a quality a lot of people within our industry don’t have, and I find that a bit appalling, to be honest—but I don’t think it’s humility. I think it’s foolishness to consider yourself the best at anything. But Juice is just on another level. He just comes and talks. I used to see it in the Performance Center. We would have these promo classes with Dusty Rhodes. The way he talks comes from a real place, and he’s genuine. He is the best.”
Juice Robinson will compete in a rematch for the IWGP United States Championship against Jon Moxley at NJPW’s King of Pro Wrestling show in October.
Kevin Owens has been using his version of the Stunner in recent months to finish matches in explosive fashion. Before adopting the Stunner, he used to use a Pop-Up Powerbomb to great effect.
Speaking with SI.com, Owens has explained why he decided to introduce the Stunner into his arsenal as his new finishing move.
“I felt like everybody was doing powerbombs left and right, and I wanted to try something else,” Owens said. “And one day it occurred to me that no one does the Stunner as a finishing move, but to me, it’s always been the best move. So I just went to Steve [Austin] one day when he was here, and I asked him, and he said, ‘I can’t believe nobody’s asked me this before, but of course you can use it. Do whatever you want with it.’”
Owens wanted to ensure that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was happy with him using the move that Austin made famous. For him, it was all about respect.
“I did that out of respect for the people who’ve come before me. I would never want to do that without his approval. He gave me the approval, and it’s working for me, so I have no intention of stopping and no intention of renaming it, either. It’s the Stunner, and it always will be the Stunner.”
Kevin Owens has been involved in a long-running feud with Shane McMahon. At the time of writing, he does not have a matchup set for WWE’s upcoming pay-per-view Clash of Champions.
During the interview, he addressed his previous comments about his run as the WWE Universal Champion that ended in 2017 at the Fastlane pay-per-view event to Goldberg.
Owens’ comments came during an appearance on Lilian Garcia’s podcast, Chasing Glory. This is where he noted that he thinks it sucks that he doesn’t remember enjoying the run.
In this interview with SI.com, Owens clarified his comments.
“I think people misquoted me on that Universal champion thing,” said Owens. “I did enjoy the run and being the champion, I was just always worried about what would happen next. I wasn’t enjoying the moments enough, and now looking back, I wish I concentrated more on savoring the moment.”
Owens brought up how he’s still always worried about what’s next and how Jimmy Jacobs used to tell him that he has a gift and a curse of always wanting more. He noted that he’s learned to be better at enjoying the moment.
He recalled having a conversation with Shawn Michaels a while back that was a big help for him and opened his eyes.
He credits getting the biggest help from his wife and kids while he was away. He thinks he carries everything with him but insists that he enjoys things a lot more.
Kevin Owens wasn’t on this week’s Smackdown from Norfolk, Virginia. The former Universal Champion was recently fined (in storyline) by Shane McMahon $100,000 and has been lobbying for the fine to be withdrawn on the show as of late.
Owens joked on Twitter that he figured if he wasn’t on Smackdown then Shane wouldn’t be either. He then noted that ensuring his family was safe from Hurricane Dorian was the actual reason he missed the show, however.
2 weeks ago on Smackdown, Kevin Owens was eliminated from the King of the Ring tournament. He was defeated by Elias in the opening round of the tournament as Shane McMahon appointed himself as a referee and fast-counted Owens on a pin attempt by Elias.
Last week on Smackdown, Owens got a measure of revenge on Elias but then opted not to go for the 24/7 title which Elias was in possession of at the time. He spoke to WWE.com following the show about why he opted not to go for the 24/7 title.
“I have a family. I have 3 dogs and 3 cats. I have responsibilities. I can’t worry about being rolled up by some dude while I’m dropping my kids off at school or enjoying a lovely night out with my wife. Congrats @WWEMaverick, though. Have fun with all of that,” Owens would later Tweet regarding the 24/7 title.
When asked why he wouldn’t want to be the 24/7 Champion, the former Universal Champion explained that his familial commitments and responsibilities are reason enough to not want to be on constant alert.
“I have a family. I have 3 dogs and 3 cats. I have responsibilities. I can’t worry about being rolled up by some dude while I’m dropping my kids off at school or enjoying a lovely night out with my wife. Congrats @WWEMaverick, though. Have fun with all of that.”
Drake Maverick recently reclaimed the 24/7 Championship during this week’s episode of SmackDown Live. After an attack from Kevin Owens, Owens nailed Elias with a Stunner, leaving him prone in the ring. R-Truth attempted to take the victory. Maverick would break up the pin and was able to secure his own three count, once again becoming champion.
At this time, Kevin Owens does not yet have a match scheduled for WWE’s upcoming pay-per-view, Clash of Champions. The show takes place on September 15th from the Spectrum Center in North Carolina.
Kevin Owens has shared his thoughts on his feud with Shane McMahon in a recent interview with Sporting News. He also addressed his usage of the Stunner, and how he views his version of it versus “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s.
When it comes to Shane McMahon, Owens believes that, despite the current length of their feud, the two still have avenues to explore together.
“I kind of expected it to keep going just because Shane, he’s obviously not going anywhere because of who he is,” Owens said. “I’m not surprised that we’re going to keep going. I feel like there’s still avenues to go. There’s still stuff we can do together, so we’ll see what happens.”
He explained that playing a good guy in their feud has helped add a different element to their rivalry. The key thing Owens has relished is the change this new dynamic has given him.
“It feels good just because it’s different. I was doing the same thing for a long time and it was great, but change is always good, I think. And trying to keep things different and interesting in wrestling is pretty important. I’m just glad to be doing something that feels different and is more stimulating for me and I think the fans, the audience, is reacting very well to it so we’re doing something right and hopefully it keeps going that way.”
Stunner
Insofar as how Owens views his version of the move synonymous with “The Rattlesnake,” Owens admitted that he doesn’t know how to describe it.
“Obviously, it’s big shoes to fill, right? Not that I’m trying to be in Steve’s shoes, but when you’re doing a move that’s been so iconic for so long, it’s hitting right and it’s working well,” he said. “The crowd reaction is always really cool to it. It’s nice to almost be able to bring it back just because I remember how it used to make me feel when he’d hit it and how exciting it was visually and all that stuff. I’m just trying to do right by it, I guess.”
Owens recently defeated Shane McMahon during their matchup at WWE’s SummerSlam pay-per-view.
WWE recently confirmed the return of the King Of The Ring
tournament, and at least one of the announced participants in Kevin Owens is
thrilled about it.
Owens recently had an interview with Sporting News where he talked about his feud with Shane McMahon continuing after SummerSlam, using Stone Cold’s stunner and more.
While talking about the upcoming tournament, Kevin revealed that he has always been a fan of it because many guys like Triple H and Stone Cold Steve Austin have went on to become big stars after winning it.
The former Universal Champion then discussed his participation in the upcoming tournament. He said that he is excited to be in it and the former NXT champion recalled his participation in other tournaments during his time in the independent circuit:
“I’m really excited to be in it. I’m excited that it’s
back. In a way, it’s cool because I remember when I was on the independent
scene and I’d get to the Battle of Los Angeles in PWG, that was like our own
little version of King of the Ring, for me. Now I get to be in the actual
thing, so that’s pretty great.”
WWE announced the return of King Of The Ring last week and the company recently also released the brackets for the same featuring stars from both Raw and SmackDown roster.
As expected, former WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens isn’t going anywhere.
At the WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view event, “KO” beat Shane McMahon in a singles match with the stipulation on the line that if he lost to “The Best in the World” then he would’ve been forced to quit the company.
The storyline between Owens and McMahon started on an episode of SmackDown Live last month where Owens cut a promo about how McMahon takes up too much TV time and nobody wanted to see him on TV all the time.
Many fans thought that this was similar to the famous CM Punk “pipebomb” promo from 2011. Owens also said in the promo that having to listen to Shane being called the Best in the World every week makes him want to bang his head on the table every week.
Following the segment, Owens was praised by many fans to the point that he was trending on social media.
Owens was speaking the truth despite what The McMahon Family (Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Shane McMahon, and Triple H) had told the fans earlier in the year.
It appears that this match is the blowoff of their feud.
What are your thoughts on Kevin Owens winning this match? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.
WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin recently spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to talk about Kevin Owens and the way that WWE has booked him as of late.
Many fans are comparing Owens’ current character to the one that Austin portrayed back in the Attitude Era. Austin gave his take on WWE building him as the next “Stone Cold” in this interview. Austin feels that the spotlight should be placed on Owens instead of himself.
“With Kevin Owens, don’t throw my name on there,” said Austin. “This guy can talk a lot of trash, he is great in the ring, and he’s using my finisher, but hell, no one is going to be the next Steve Austin.”
Austin continued by stating that people told him that he was going to be the next Ric Flair and pointed out that no one is going to be the next Ric Flair. He would also list Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart as stars that people compare current stars to right now. Austin feels that people should want talent to be the next big thing.
The former WWE Champion brought up comparisons between himself and Becky Lynch because they have similar attitudes. He doesn’t see that because he’s done things so differently than he did.
“So just let Kevin be Kevin, put him in good situations and don’t put the brakes on him. If you’re going to run with this guy, then let him be the biggest, baddest, best Kevin Owens he can be.”
WWE changed Owens’ character several weeks ago that eventually led to him feuding with Shane McMahon. Since then, WWE has booked him just like Austin when he was on the rise in 1997.
The storyline between Owens and McMahon started on an episode of SmackDown Live earlier this month where Owens cut a promo about how McMahon takes up too much TV time and nobody wanted to see him on TV all the time.
McMahon vs. Owens has been announced to take place at SummerSlam next month.
As expected, WWE has announced Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens for the upcoming SummerSlam PPV.
During Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, not only was the match confirmed but a stipulation to go along with it was officially announced as well. If Owens loses the match then he’ll be forced to quit the company. McMahon would later book Owens against Roman Reigns for SmackDown Live.
The storyline between Owens and McMahon started on an episode of SmackDown Live earlier this month where Owens cut a promo about how McMahon takes up too much TV time and nobody wanted to see him on TV all the time.
WWE presents the SummerSlam pay-per-view event on Sunday, August 11, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario at the Scotiabank Arena
Updated WWE SummerSlam Card
WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins
WWE RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Natalya
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley vs. Ember Moon
Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon – If Owens Loses He’s Forced To Quit WWE
What are your thoughts on this match being added to the card? Sound off in the comment section.
While Kevin Owens was not part of this week’s episode of
Monday Night Raw, he still made some headlines with an interesting challenge he
sent out on Shane McMahon’s way.
WWE had announced that Shane McMahon will be making a SummerSlam announcement on this week’s SmackDown Live and the expectation was that he will announce his opponent for the upcoming PPV during the show.
So Owens posted a video earlier in the day and he challenged the Best In The World for a match at the upcoming event, saying that SmackDown Live has become a vehicle for McMahon to inflate his ego.
What’s interesting is that the former World Champion
mentioned that he can’t take this anymore and said that he will quit WWE if
Shane makes this match official and beats the former NXT Star:
“Quite frankly I can’t take it anymore, it makes me sick, makes me want to throw up. I just can’t take it anymore, I can’t take it. So, how about this – you make this match at SummerSlam, Shane, and if you beat me, I’ll quit. I’ll leave.”
The company is now teasing a response from the former
SmackDown Commissioner and it would be interesting to see if he accepts Owens’
offer to put his career on the line at SummerSlam.
Despite being on the dawn of a new era, ushered in with Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff as Executive Directors of RAW and Smackdown, not everything has changed. WWE still expects the majority of Superstars to adhere to scripted promos.
But not everyone.
One of those Superstars that has been granted more freedom when it comes to their promo work is Kevin Owens.
According to SI.com, Owens is instead allowed to work off of bullet points. He is then given creative freedom to link these points together. This decision alone goes to show the amount of faith WWE has in Owens as a performer and talker, despite his previous frustrations with his output.
This trust has already paid off. Last week, Owens unleashed a scathing promo towards Shane McMahon. His words would see him become a spokesperson for not only the WWE Universe but other frustrated members of the locker room.
Primed for a major push, Owens is on course to becoming WWE’s modern equivalent of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. This intentional homage is made all the more apparent thanks to his adoption of the Stone Cold Stunner as a finishing move.
He recently defeated Dolph Ziggler in 17 seconds at WWE’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view. Owens would earn the quick victory after a Stunner.
Kevin Owens is continuing his storyline feud with Shane McMahon through the power of social media after he took to Twitter on Saturday afternoon to list several current and former WWE Superstars who are not working the Extreme Rules event.
The stars he listed included Finn Balor, Apollo Crews, Liv Morgan, Buddy Murphy, Billy Kidman, The Rock, Sarah Logan, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Rey Mysterio, Naomi, Vladimir Kozlov, Mantaur, Shinsuke Nakamura, Oney Lorcan, Andrade, The Viking Raiders, Ali, Sami Zayn, Akira Tozawa, The Authors of Pain.
The storyline between Owens and McMahon started on last week’s episode of SmackDown Live where he cut a promo about how McMahon takes up too much TV time and nobody wanted to see him on TV all the time.
While there have been rumors of WWE adding a match between Owens and Dolph Ziggler to the Extreme Rules card, it was reported earlier this week that after a creative meeting, WWE officials decided against adding more matches to the card.
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.
Last night on Smackdown, Kevin Owens cut a promo on Shane McMahon saying he takes TV time away from other WWE Superstars. McMahon had his mic cut off during the promo but Owens was able to get revenge later in the night by giving the boss’ son a stunner.
“Last night was the most liberating experience of my career and now I just landed in L.A. and I’m on my way back to my wife and kids to enjoy my days off here with them,” Owens Tweeted. “I’m having a wonderful day.”
A fan then notified Owens that his t-shirts had all sold out at the venue. In his response, Owens noted that he has been coasting for the last year but that will change.
Owens recently said that he felt disappointed by his run as Universal Champion.
“My wife would tell me, ‘You are the Universal Champion, and I’ve never seen you more stressed.’ I look back and think, ‘I would have done things different as Universal Champion if it were up to me.’ But ultimately, I was still the Universal Champion. But I honestly don’t remember enjoying it, which sucks.”
Kevin Owens got the attention of fans thanks to his promo that he did on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live.
It all started when Owens got into a brawl with Dolph Ziggler backstage. As a result, Shane McMahon would announce moments later that the scheduled match between Owens and Dolph Ziggler for the main event would be nixed as McMahon decided to send Owens home for the night. Ziggler was later booked to take on Roman Reigns in the headliner.
This would lead to Owens walking out to ringside where he cut a heated promo about being tired of seeing McMahon get more TV time rather than giving that time to other stars. He would list Buddy Murphy, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Apollo Crews, Ali, Authors of Pain, and more.
Owens noted that Shane has gotten more power, authority, and TV time and nobody watching ever wanted that. He said that having to listen to Shane being called the Best in the World every week makes him want to bang his head on the table every week.
McMahon would then come out and try to cut Owen’s microphone off. Owens ended his promo by stating that McMahon calls himself the best in the world and that it’s an insult to everyone in the back who fights every week. Owens said that he’s done and walked out of the arena.
Following the segment, Owens was praised by many fans to the point that he was trending on social media. While it was a great promo, only a select few top stars are given bullet points with their promos while the rest of the roster including Owens are given scripted lines to say.
Kevin Owens was the second ever WWE Universal Champion. He would win the title after Finn Balor was forced to relinquish it due to injury. Unfortunately, despite being at the top of the RAW roster, Owens revealed he doesn’t have fond memores of his reign.
Speaking with Lilian Garcia on her podcast, Chasing Glory, Kevin Owens opened up and shared his frustrations on his time as champion.
“My wife would tell me, ‘You are the Universal Champion, and I’ve never seen you more stressed.’ I look back and think, ‘I would have done things different as Universal Champion if it were up to me.’ But ultimately, I was still the Universal Champion. But I honestly don’t remember enjoying it, which sucks.”
“I Want To Be Doing More And Contributing More”
His title reign would be relatively short-lived. After a feud with Chris Jericho, Owens would drop the Universal Championship to a returning Goldberg at Fastlane.
Despite his current frustrations, Owens shares that he is still determined to climb back up the ranks into the main event:
“I’m still featured on every show and in main events more often than not, but right now, I’m not where I want to be. I want to be doing more and contributing more. I just think I could be…I don’t want to say a bigger part of the show because I’m already a big part of the show. I just want more.”
Kevin Owens will supposedly begin a feud with “The Showoff” Dolph Ziggler. He is not currently scheduled to compete on this Sunday’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view, but tonight’s SmackDown Live could change that.
Kevin Owens recently did an interview with Sporting News where he spoke about a wide range of topics.
During the interview, he gave his take about the latest twist that the company has created, which is the Wild Card Rule. This has been a hot topic as of late due to the decline of viewership numbers for WWE’s television shows, Monday Night RAW and SmackDown Live.
Thus, the reason that WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon introduced it a few months ago.
This is where the former WWE Universal Champion praised the company for trying and from his standpoint being successful at bringing unpredictability to the shows each week.
“I guess the whole point of the wild-card rule is to add a sense of unpredictability to all the shows and I guess it definitely has achieved that because you never know who is going to show up where. The wild-card rule itself was very loosely defined when it was first announced and it’s been loosely enforced since it’s been announced.”
Owens continued by talking about how it was supposed to be four guys at first but has since expanded to where ten stars show at one night and only three the next. At the end of the day, he understands the point of the concept.
“I think the whole point is to give a more unpredictable feel to the show itself and its definitely achieved that.”
Owens did note that he wishes that he was on both shows every week that way he didn’t have to be on the road on various weeks not working.
Kevin Owens won’t be at Super ShowDown in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on June 7th. According to a report from Fightful Select, Owens has told WWE he does not want to perform on the show. This is what led to Dolph Ziggler’s surprise attack on Kingston and a subsequent title match at Super ShowDown.
Kevin Owens Off Super ShowDown
Owens joins John Cena and Daniel Bryan as performers who have informed WWE they do not want to participate in one of the Saudi Arabian shows. His longtime friend/ally/rival Sami Zayn has not performed on any of the Saudi Arabian shows due to his Syrian background.
“WWE is committed to embracing individuals from all backgrounds while respecting local customs and cultural differences around the world,” read a WWE statement released shortly after it was revealed Zayn would not be traveling to Saudi Arabia.
Super ShowDown Updated Lineup
With the addition of Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler, the Super ShowDown lineup now looks like this:
Triple H vs Randy Orton
50-Man Battle Royal
Goldberg vs the Undertaker
Braun Strowman vs Bobby Lashley
Intercontinental Championship: Finn Balor (c) vs Andrade
Roman Reigns vs Shane McMahon
WWE Championship: Kofi Kingston (c) vs Dolph Ziggler
Kevin Owens recently joined the State of Combat podcast to talk about a wide range of topics including his history with WWE Champion Kofi Kingston.
This is where Owens talked about Kingston earning the title match against Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35 last month and ultimately winning the belt.
There are some who think that Owens was originally supposed to be Bryan’s opponent at this show but with Kingston’s performance in February at the Elimination Chamber PPV, things became clear that he should be in that spot.
Owens believes that Kofi didn’t step into anybody’s way actually but rather the fans got behind him at the right time and earned the spot.
“While it may have changed people’s plans, I wouldn’t say that he got into anybody’s way. All he did was be himself and be Kofi Kingston and that is what got him there because the fans decided that they were going to get behind him more than anybody else.”
Owens will now challenge Kingston for the strap at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday night. Make no mistake about it though, Owens thinks that he should be champion instead of Kingston right now because he’s a family man.
“I want the moment for my kids and my wife, so now Kofi Kingston is in the way. He wasn’t before but now he is, so I am going to do my best to get him out of the way.”
Kevin Owens sounded off on the changes that he would make to the current television product that is presented by WWE during his recent interview with Scott Fishman of Tucson.com.
This has been a hot topic as of late due to the decline of viewership numbers for WWE’s television shows, Monday Night RAW and SmackDown Live. Thus, the reason that WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon introduced the Wild Card Rule this past week.
“I think a good idea would be to implement these incredible pieces on everyone that have ended up on YouTube,” Owens said. He would continue by praising the digital team as they are great and unsung heroes. He brought them creating incredible pieces on people and characters that they put on YouTube as well as the WWE Network such as WWE 24 and 365 or Chronicle.
“I feel like we should implement these concepts and put them on TV because they would make for great television and complement our TV shows well. I’d like to see that happen moving forward.”
Owens is slated to challenge Kofi Kingston for the WWE Title at Money in the Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday, May 19, 2019 in Hartford, CT at the XL Center.
Vince McMahon introduced a new Wild Card Rule on this week’s
episode of Raw and it makes things interesting by allowing several top WWE
Stars to appear on both the brands as needed.
However, this is also another blow to the brand extension
and the promise to keep both the shows separate and it appears that the former
Universal Champion Kevin Owens is also not a fan of it.
Kevin recently had an interview with Tucson.com and when asked about the new rule, the former NXT Champion said that he wishes things were kept more separate:
“I kind of wish we kept things more separate, personally, but now I have the opportunity to go to Raw if I’m asked to or want to, and I love Raw, so why not? It’s an interesting opportunity to get a bit more exposure to get on any given week.
There is a cool surprise element. At the same time, I do enjoy Raw and SmackDown having two separate, distinctive rosters. I can go either way on it. I’ll see how it works out over the next few weeks here.”
As we noted before, while WWE tried to explain the Wild Card Rule later on, it appears that the company is still figuring out the limitations for the same.
However, reports suggest that it was a compromise between WWE and their broadcast partners and the company actually wanted to keep the rosters and storylines separate.
So we’d have to wait for the Officials to figure out the
regulations for the rule and see how much the inception of it affects the top
storylines of both the shows.
In an interview with TheWrap.com, Kevin Owens commented on his recent heel turn on members of The New Day, WWE Champion Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods.
He was briefly linked to the fan favorite group due to Big E going down with an injury. While the run didn’t last long, it was all part of the direction that WWE officials had for the storyline.
Due to this heel turn, it got Owens back into the title picture on the SmackDown Live brand. Owens will challenge Kingston for the WWE Title at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday, May 19, 2019 in Hartford, CT at the XL Center on the WWE Network.
Owens started out by stating “I wish I would have been able to stay on the other side of the fence a little longer, to be honest.” He would continue by stating that he doesn’t think anybody’s really seen him a babyface ever and people not having any idea what he can do on the other side.
“If I’m gonna speak candidly about it, I would have done it differently. I would have turned on Kofi differently at a different time. I ended up being wrong because once I did it, I knew that was the right time and place.”
Owens would add that people knew there was gonna be some sort of swerve but there’s no way that they expected it to be that quick.
The match was confirmed on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live after Kingston challenged him to the match, which Owens accepted. This comes after last week’s episode where Owens turned heel by attacking the champion.
WWE presents the Money In The Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday, May 19, 2019 in Hartford, CT at the XL Center that will air on the WWE Network. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks. Here is the updated card:
Updated WWE Money In The Bank Card
WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins vs. AJ Styles
WWE Champion Kofi Kingston vs. Kevin Owens
WWE RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Lacey Evans
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair
Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Braun Strowman vs. Ricochet vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Baron Corbin vs. TBA
Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Alexa Bliss vs. Natalya vs. Naomi vs. Dana Brooke vs. TBA
The Miz vs. Shane McMahon – Steel Cage Match
Roman Reigns vs. Elias
What are your thoughts on this match being added to the card? Sound off in the comment section.
A lot of people were unhappy with Kevin Owens’ recent heel
turn as they believed that Owens should have been given a chance to have a
babyface run for a little longer.
And as it turns out, the company itself wasn’t planning on
turning Kevin heel so early but they decided on this after Daniel Bryan’s
injury scare.
Dave Meltzer revealed on Wrestling Observer Radio that Kofi Kingston was originally expected to face Daniel Bryan at the upcoming Money In The Bank PPV and if this bout had happened as planned, Owens would have remained a face.
However, Bryan’s injury caused the company to reconsider
their plans and they considered stars like Randy Orton and Rowan as possible
first opponents for Kingston in his title reign.
The Officials even thought about bringing someone like Drew McIntyre or Baron Corbin from Raw or keeping the United States Champion Samoa Joe on SmackDown.
Though they ultimately decided to go with Owens as Kofi’s
opponent for the PPV. This decision was reportedly made a few days after
WrestleMania.
Considering Bryan’s history, this doesn’t appear to be a good sign for the former World Champion but we will have to wait for more details on his condition to reach to a conclusion.