A climb up or a fall down?

[Heartbreak_Kid_707]

I know this is going to apply to a lot of wrestlers in the past and in today's market but I'm going to use Kevin Owens as my example.

He came into the main roster debuting at a ppv against John Cena and winning, but then fell after that, has a main roster singles matches loosing record. But still you can see WWE is putting their stock in him. In this case Owens went from ppv' against the face of the company John Cena, to a feud with no storyline.

So what I wonder in this case, is Owens sliding down the ladder from marquee matches against the face of the company John Cena, to now a main roster loosing record dude against Cesaro p. Great matches but he's backsliding..so is Owens back-peddling some, or is Cesaro getting a rub from Owens?

 

[ZCDarrah]

Id say its too early to tell. While I may disagree with KOs booking since his main roster debut, he's still been featured very well with his series of matches with Cesaro. He's involved when they do multiman tag main events. Its a lot like when Chris Jericho debuted, MEGA start, then pushed back, then a slow burn to the top again.

keep in mind its only been a few months

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

That's the problem with debuting against Cena, especially opening with a 100% clean win against him. There's no place to go except down. He's just above everyone else on the roster who's full time. You can blame that on VKM, creative, whoever you want for not building up more stars near his level if you want.

But really he's not moving necessarily moving down the card at all. He's just feuding with someone else on the roster. It's not like he's in a feud with Zack Ryder or someone like that. Cesaro has been featured prominently lately.

I see no reason to think KO won't eventually get to the main event.

 

[FightOwensFight]

Was just going to make a post about KO that seems to apply to this. My take on this is that Kevin Owens could be heading for the Chris Jericho role as the guy that goes from feud to feud, consistently putting on good matches, and that his win/loss record isn't really that important.

He has already feuded with Cena and most, if not all, of their matches were very good. In fact, I don't think I can point to any Owens match and say it wasn't at least good, if not better. He will hold his share of titles and likely touch the ME scene at some point, but like Jericho, I think he will "make his money" in the mid-card having quality matches with everyone.

 

[Stone Cold Tea]

Has he really moved down the card though?

His feud with Cena wasn't the Main Event of any PPVs. His in the same position on the card he is just feuding with a different wrestler.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Well, there are different ways to look at it.

On one hand, if your very first feud on the main roster is with John Cena, then there's almost nowhere to go but down, at least to some degree, because Cena's the biggest star in the company. The only alternative would be to move Owens into a WWE WHC feud, but that doesn't make sense with both he & Rollins firmly entrenched as heels; alternatively, though not relevant to WWE's decision making, imagine the bitching all over the internet if Owens moved to a main event title feud already, especially if he wasn't going to win the title.

On the other hand, his match with Cesaro at SummerSlam was what would technically be viewed as the co-main event spot. Cesaro has also been featured much more prominently over the past several months, both as a tag team and singles wrestler. Cesaro isn't a star on Cena's level and, in all honesty, he probably never will be and that's one reason why this could seem like a step down for Owens. Then again, as I alluded to earlier, it'd feel that way against damn near anyone else on the entire roster. As has been brought up, nobody's been built up the way Cena has; for whatever reason, Vince went the old school route of putting most of his eggs into one basket and we've seen some of the long term results. Most of the guys who can equal or even possibly exceed Cena in terms of star power are special attractions who're also getting older and/or are riddled with injuries like Triple H, Taker, Stone Cold or The Rock.

Fans are still interested in Owens, he continues to put on killer matches, he still comes off as a thinking man's sociopath and he could easily be shuffled into an IC title feud at anytime, his program with Cena could be reinstated somewhere down the line if/when Cena regains the US title, he could even be entered into a US title feud with Rollins if, by some miracle, Rollins retains the title.

 

[adam]

There is a real possibility he will end up as a face for he's over with the fans and his skill set is good enough to transition in a face if the main roster needs more faces. Next up is a match with Ryback for the IC championship for both are done with their current programs.

 

[wrestler36]

Definitely a climb up. I know these days, fans want the instant push and a quick championship. Off the top of my head, I haven't seen such quick ascension (no pun intended) and staying on top with the exception The Shield and the original Brock Lesnar debut in 2002. If you look at the biggest stars of the present and recent past, most have had a tepid debut and floundering months/years before hitting it big. A generic John Cena with an impressive debut against Angle and getting lost in the mix until finding his rapping gimmick. A generic Randy Orton and Deacon Batista not doing much until finding Evolution. Rock and Stone Cold's original outing as Ringmaster and Maivia were failures.

Owens is in a good spot. Clean win over Cena, clean wins over Cesaro, Neville, etc. Damn good worker and mic worker. I think he's a go to guy for awhile, barring injury. Not the face of the company, but he'll be involved in some good feuds and awesome wrestling

 

[Navi]

I know this is going to apply to a lot of wrestlers in the past and in today's market but I'm going to use Kevin Owens as my example.

He came into the main roster debuting at a ppv against John Cena and winning, but then fell after that, has a main roster singles matches loosing record. But still you can see WWE is putting their stock in him. In this case Owens went from ppv' against the face of the company John Cena, to a feud with no storyline.

Like others have said, when you debut and win against John Cena, there is no where to go but down. The question is how much has he fallen, and I would say not that far. When he beat Cena, Cena was the US champ a mid card belt, so Owens debuted where he should have the upper mid card. With heel Rollins holding the WHC and others in line before Owens, as long as he stays where he is he's fine.

So what I wonder in this case, is Owens sliding down the ladder from marquee matches against the face of the company John Cena, to now a main roster loosing record dude against Cesaro p. Great matches but he's backsliding..so is Owens back-peddling some, or is Cesaro getting a rub from Owens?

As I said he's not sliding down, it's more like a lateral move. Did Cena move down the ladder when he won the US title. I would say he elevated that title to a much more important belt that it's been in a long time, and we all know he could have jumped into the main event if needed.

Feuding with Cesaro isn't like being stuck in a feud with Fandango, or Ryder, Cesaro is getting a push and both of them have put on great matches. I don't think Cesaro will ever be John Cena, but he's definitely in the hunt for a title shot at either the IC or US and maybe one day can challenge for the WHC. i think he's one of the best wrestlers if not the best on the roster today.

Owens has only been on the main roster for about two months now, give the guy some time to get going. He's not off to a bad start at all, and there is no need to rush things. Look what happened to Roman Reigns when they pushed him too hard too fast. Hopefully the WWE has learned their lesson on doing shit like that.

 

[Rhodes2TheFuture3313]

Kevin Owens is doing great. He hasn't been on the roster that long and has been featured on EVERY PPV and NXT specials. It seems to me the Cesaro/Owens feud is very old-school and the matches are getting better. Cesaro does need a big win at NOC for this to continue though. WWE needs to insert these guys into the IC title scene.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

We've established that when you debut high, you inevitably go down. Is there anything wrong with that? Maybe if you never get back up, but if you don't, were you really worthy anyway?

I'd argue the hot debut and downward movement is almost essential. It's a waste when you give it to a guy like Fandango, when your only long term plan is for him to job.

Take John Cena himself, huge debut taking Kurt Angle to the limit, post match handshake from WWE champ Undertaker, then not much. I recall he had at least one PPV match with Jericho but the sunk pretty far into the midcard. He wouldn't do anything until the WWE tag title tournament when he turned heel on his partner.

Sheamus debuted on Raw and was WWE champion within a month. He went down the card much later but inevitably came back up. I find Sheamus pretty boring personally, but he fits the mould.

I think a lot of us got excited by the prospect of KO. Here comes this guy who lit up the indies, this man who dedicated his life to the craft of wrestling. KO is a physical manifestation of the lost art of wrestling; he tells the story in the ring, he knows how to manipulate the crowd, he has the skill to back it up.

He represents the potential end of an era where youth, inexperience, and a lack of passion have reigned supreme based purely upon their look. Owens is an equal and opposite reaction to that.

So when Owens is pushed down the card, a lot of panic and immediately say that WWE has soured on him. No, quite the contrary. They clearly want him to pay some dues within their organization.

Owens and Cesaro are both being pushed very heavily. It's the logical feud for both post Cena. Both were challengers of Cena's US title, the feud is organic. They just announced Owens vs Y2J at the MSG network special. It's clear a long term plan for him is in place.

We need to end the stigma surrounding top talent in mid card feuds. There's a big difference between exiting a title feud for a mid card feud, and entering a downward serial.

So to answer your question, yes Owens is moving down, but it's a good thing. He's not giving Cesaro a rub, they're both building each other up to populate the upper card in the future.

Owens will be back up the card in the future. I have very little doubt that he won't feud with a retuning Sami Zayn this fall before entering an IC or US title feud for Mania next year. His WWE career has only just begun.

 

[Heartbreak_Kid_707]

Oh I don't disagree with you. KO puts on the best matches on the card. So, judging from everyone's answer it's a step up for Cesaro and not a step down for Owens right?? I can agree with that. Cesaro is a beast that's just had bad booking. He tried with Heyman and that failed. He had a short run with Tyson Kidd in a threw togather tag team but Kidd got injured, so Cesaro was again left in mid card turmoil. Cesaro is a great worker and strong as an ox, but I don't think he belongs in the main event scene.....yet. His mic skills are horendous and you can't sell a storyline without the mic in your hands. He's got fan support but he needs to cut more promos. Period. That's why I asked if KO stepped down. He puts on the best matches easy. But it feels like he don't have the intensity now that he had with Cena. Just feels like neither Owens or Cesaro are cutting promos on each other. Even with the best matches against each other I'm just afraid their gonna cancel each other out when it comes to fan support.

 

[Mudlup50]

He's falling down...I'm not quite sure I get the question though.

He debuted against JOHN CENA!! In the WWE world, Cena is number 1. Not Hogan, or Austin or Rock or Triple H or HBK or anyone, it's Cena. Where does anyone go after a feud with Cena? The smallest slide down the card would be to feud with Triple H, or maybe the Rock.

I just don't get why so many people are upset with this booking. Yea he needs direction, but he debuted so well that he has been etched in every fans mind for a while. He can afford to drop down the card, get some signature victories, wait for the proper guy to get the belt and swoop in. Would we be complaining if he won the World Title, you best believe it. He got a huge rub from Cena, yea he lost the feud and fell down the card, but everyone does after a feud with Cena, aside from Orton.

 

[kadroan]

I know this is going to apply to a lot of wrestlers in the past and in today's market but I'm going to use Kevin Owens as my example.

He came into the main roster debuting at a ppv against John Cena and winning, but then fell after that, has a main roster singles matches loosing record. But still you can see WWE is putting their stock in him. In this case Owens went from ppv' against the face of the company John Cena, to a feud with no storyline.

So what I wonder in this case, is Owens sliding down the ladder from marquee matches against the face of the company John Cena, to now a main roster loosing record dude against Cesaro p. Great matches but he's backsliding..so is Owens back-peddling some, or is Cesaro getting a rub from Owens?

I think him facing Cena was a good measuring point for Owens. He could have screwed it up and end up like The Ascension instead he held his own.

If he was to beat Cena, there would be nowhere for him to go but the WWE WHC title picture and I guess they think he needs to pay his dues on the regular roster before giving him the big prize.