KB’s Review: The Road to KO-Mania III

Let me get this part out of the way first: you should never headbutt a 72 year old man to bust him open and then frog splash him for good measure. I’m pretty sure there’s a law against that somewhere. However, that doesn’t make it any less awesome and one of the best segments of the year (yet somehow not even Kevin Owens’ best segment of the year, which is even more remarkable).

In case you missed it, the end of last night’s “Smackdown Live” saw the return of Vince McMahon to deal with the Owens/Shane McMahon issue, which has been building for a few weeks now. With Shane attacking Owens the week before, it was time to do something about it, especially with Owens threatening to sue the WWE and wind up owning the company.

Vince laughed off the idea of Owens winning a lawsuit because of the legal process being very expensive and made a match between Owens and Shane for “Hell in the Cell 2017” instead. Owens agreed but wanted permission to attack one McMahon before then. That was fine with Vince, who was headbutted, superkicked and splashed for his efforts. The show ended with Vince refusing to be stretchered out and Stephanie McMahon returning from a five month absence to check on her father.

In case you missed it.

Kevin Owens brutally attacks Mr. McMahon: SmackDown LIVE, Sept. 12, 2017

Side note: I can’t stand Stephanie but that was as well done of a return as it could have been. Stephanie’s reputation is all about taking the focus away from others and putting it on herself. Having her run out, unannounced, with no music or anything else made this feel a lot more realistic, which is always going to help a storyline. Stephanie can fight Owens in various ways, but even if this was just a one off, they did it right which is a lot more than I can say for a lot of her moments.

Very simply put, if this isn’t one of the biggest storylines in all of the company for the next several months, with the potential of going all the way to and even past “Wrestlemania XXXIV”, I’ve lost a lot of faith in WWE. This is one of the best angles they’ve done in a long time and I could see a long story being drawn out of it, which could give “Smackdown Live” a much needed shot in the arm. Today I’m going to break from tradition and actually do some fantasy booking, which I’m not the best at in the first place.

So of course we start in the Cell against Shane in what should be a pretty straightforward idea: Owens beats him up, Shane throws bad looking punches, Owens cuts him off, Shane uses weapons and dives off something really high, Owens powerbombs him for the pin to finish off this stage of the rivalry.

He’s jumped off other big things. Here’s one such dive you might not remember.

Shane McMahon vs. Big Show - Last Man Standing Match: Backlash 2001

I don’t think there’s much more to say about this one. Above all else, I can’t imagine them screwing this up and giving Owens a loss so early on in what seems to be a long term story. At the end of the day, Shane doesn’t need to win (or wrestle really) another match for the rest of his life so there’s no reason for him to not put Owens over here. Shane will get his big moment that can be added to his highlight reel and everything will be fine as long as Owens wins.

After that, it depends on where things go. Assuming WWE goes with the logical move of having Shinsuke Nakamura take the Smackdown World Title from Jinder Mahal at “Hell in a Cell 2017”, I see no reason for Owens not to have the title by the end of the year. Nakamura doesn’t exactly have a top heel to feud with at the moment and Owens is someone who is capable of having some outstanding matches.

Just imagine him taking the title from Nakamura in the first big title defense. Not only is the match likely good but it would also provide some outstanding promos as Owens gets to brag about taking the title from the fans’ newest hero. The “I told you I would win” promo is Owens’ bread and butter and having him do that while holding the World Title would be incredibly entertaining.

It will never be over.

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens join the blue brand: SmackDown LIVE, April 11, 2017

Assuming Owens wins the title before the end of the year, that brings him to “Royal Rumble 2018” and the title defense that means nothing but could provide a great match. In that situation, you know where this should go. On the entire roster, there’s one name who should be put into such a match with Owens. If there’s one person permanently linked to Owens, it’s his old friend Sami Zayn.

These two seem joined at the hip with a story that can never end no matter how many times they face each other. If the company’s bosses want to stop Owens, who better to do so than the person who knows him better than anyone else? Zayn and Owens have had some outstanding matches before and you can imagine what would happen if they were given the chance to shine on a stage like this. The Royal Rumble has long been a place for a title defense that doesn’t mean much in the long run but can offer a great presentation. Let these two do that and fulfill what is probably a lifelong dream.

So once Owens retains over Zayn (who exists to put people over), you have some options. Assuming you want to have him keep the title going into “Wrestlemania XXXIV”, you have the option of either facing AJ Styles, Nakamura again, John Cena or anyone else you want to throw in there. It can be someone who wins a title shot at “Elimination Chamber 2017” or just the winner of the Royal Rumble. It’s probably way too early for Bobby Roode to get the shot but he’s certainly a name worth keeping in mind as well.

On the other hand, there’s the option of taking the title off of Owens before we get to New Orleans and putting him in a big storyline based match instead. If that’s the option they choose, I don’t see any better opponent than HHH. There’s a history there from the Universal Title match last August and you can combine it with Owens attacking the McMahon Family. HHH is out to defend his family and has to destroy what he created. Owens, typically someone who wants to rebel against anyone put in front of him, could rebel against one of the original rebels who has gone soft by becoming corporate.

Remember HHH giving Owens the title?

Kevin Owens is the new WWE Universal Champion! - Fatal 4-Way Elimination Match: Raw, Aug. 29, 2016

After that, there are a ton of ways to go as you would have to assume that HHH loses to Owens. If he’s still champion, pick a person to take the title off of him (say Cena for #17 perhaps) or some new name that the fans have gotten behind. If he’s not champion but wins anyway, you suddenly have a mega heel on your hands and could go in a variety of directions with that as well (though I wouldn’t put the most faith in WWE to pull something like that off).

The main thing here is don’t pull the plug on Owens too soon. He’s shown that he’s capable of being one of the best heels in the world just from how evil he can make things. Assuming they don’t do something very stupid and have Shane beat him, Owens really could run with that attack on Vince for months. Let him go somewhere with this because he’s capable of doing almost anything you ask of him. Just let Owens be himself and things will go very well. He’s gotten the start and if WWE doesn’t mess it up, there could be a very golden road to KO Mania III.

 

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com, follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Complete 2002 Monday Night Raw Reviews in either E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/07/21/new-e-bookpaperback-kbs-complete-monday-night-raw-2002-reviews/

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