WWE News: Fans Debating If Kevin Owens’ WWE Universal Title Reign Was A Failure
After losing the WWE Universal Championship to Goldberg at WWE FastLane, the WWE Universe can not decide if Kevin Owens title reign was a success or a failure. Most people were prepared for Owens to lose the WWE Universal Title to Goldberg because the writing was on the wall. However, the WWE Universe was shocked to see Kevin Owens drop the championship to Goldberg in an insulting 22-second match.
It has been reported that the reason why Owens was defeated so quickly at WWE FastLane was an effort to protect Goldberg from an injury before Wrestlemania 33. Because of WWE’s concern, Owens was forced to take the quick loss after a distraction from Chris Jericho. A lot of people are unhappy about how Owens lost the WWE Universal Championship, but those same people are calling it a bad ending to a bad title reign.
The WWE Universe is unhappy about the way his title reign ended, but it was just the icing on the cake for the critics of his run as the WWE Universal Champion. Now that his run is over, many people are convinced it was a failure. Over the six months that Kevin Owens held the title, many people thought he looked weak, and WWE was forcing him to fight an uphill battle. Everyone’s a critic, but there are different definitions of success. Looking back, was Kevin Owens’ reign as WWE Universal Champion successful or a failure?
First and foremost, Kevin Owens was not meant to become the WWE Universal Champion. WWE anointed Finn Balor as the next big thing at WWE Summerslam, but a shoulder injury forced him to vacate the title, which gave Owens the opportunity of a lifetime. Unfortunately, Triple H’s interference during the Fatal Four Way made a lot of people bitter about Owens’ title win, which was the first big complaint about his title run.
Over the next six months, the WWE Universe complained about Jericho consistently interfering in Owens’ title defenses. The logic was that he wasn’t booked as a strong heel who could win title matches on his own and he wasn’t a “serious champion.” The belief is that booking hurts a strong heel like him because he didn’t need to cheat to win his matches before winning the title. It also may hurt the prestige of the championship.
Regardless of the critiques from some WWE fans, entertaining matches and the chemistry between Owens and Jericho ensured the longevity of his title reign until WWE FastLane. Before losing the WWE Universal Championship, Owens betrayed Jericho and ended their friendship. A couple of weeks later, Jericho ended Owens’ title reign, Now that his title run is officially over, too many people still consider it to be a failure.
Rather than looking back at his WWE World Title reign with a laundry list of complaints, try to take a more positive look at everything he accomplished over those six months. Balor got hurt, and Kevin Owens became the WWE Universal Champion, which means he was the next guy in line. He also held the championship for almost seven months when he wasn’t meant to win the WWE Title in the first place, which is impressive.
Kevin Owens defended the WWE Universal Championship against Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and others over his run. He may have won the majority of those matches with help from Chris Jericho, but heels cheat all the time. In many ways, it builds his heel character in a new way, which gives him more depth. It’s also important to note that WWE officials were very happy with his run and loved working with him backstage.
It’s understandable that some of the WWE Universe didn’t like the way he initially won the title or kept it on his shoulder for six months. Obviously, many people are unhappy about Goldberg taking the title from him only a few weeks before Wrestlemania 33. However, Kevin Owens was the WWE Universal Champion for over six months. He’s been established as a top heel in WWE, which means he will win another World Title during his WWE career. It wasn’t perfect, but some people see Kevin Owens first title run as a big success.
[Featured Image by WWE]
