Kevin Owens is one of the few wrestlers who are capable of playing both heel and babyface veraciously. Over the years, writers have tweaked his character depending on the need of the storyline and his opponents. He made his main roster debut as a heel and became a dominating champion. Then, he turned babyface during his feud with Daniel Bryan at Fastlane in March this year and again during his feud with Shane McMahon during SummerSlam 2019.
Whatever his character’s dynamics were, he never got a polarizing response from the crowd. If he was a heel, fans would boo him out of the building and if he was a baby-face, fans would cheer him till the end of time, and that is something Owens regrets.
Talking to Corey Graves on the After the Bell Podcast, former Universal Champion revealed the mixed reaction, Roman Reigns and John Cena used to get creates an incredible atmosphere in arenas and he wants for that reaction.
He said:
“Roman for a long time had the same kind of vibe going, so I have always strived for that kind of reaction. Of course, if a reaction is overwhelmingly positive, that is great. Or if you get a lot of heat, that’s great too,” Owens said. “But I think being in the middle is not a bad thing, I actually think it is really great. Very few people will get to the point where they are as admired as they are despised. Polarizing – that is what I strive for. Polarizing is a very special thing to be in our industry, I think. The people that can claim to be legitimately polarizing are made for life because nobody will ever not care one way or another, and that is great.”
According to Owens, the best part of the polarizing response is how one group of fans try to outdo another set of fans and be as loud as possible, creating an amazing wrestling atmosphere. However, that polarizing status is reserved for only a few of the stars, possibly once in a generation. This response is usually saved for babyfaces who are pushed to in the main event, despite fans’ rejection.
Since his return after battling leukaemia, Roman Reigns is getting anything but the polarizing response. He is treated like the top babyface that WWE has been trying to book him since 2015. The management is also handling him quite well as they didn’t push him directly into the world title scene. Instead, they are having him feud against heel in the mid-card. Due to this, he had a relatively forgettable 2019, but it would mean even more when he would finally win the WWE or Universal title in the future.
Kevin Owens, on the other hand, got the title shot on two separate occasions this year and he failed to capture the gold on both occasions. He is now feuding with Seth Rollins after their match ended in disqualification on last week’s Raw due to interference by the Authors of Pain. Rollins and AoP seem to form a team together and their first target is Owens.
Nevertheless, here is Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara in some of the iconic movie posters.
