Do People Still Think Owens Will Be A Transitional Champion?

[Dave]

I remember a couple of months ago when Kevin Owens won the WWE Universal Championship for the first time in his career. He also went down in the history books as only the second WWE Universal Champion. He beat the likes of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Big Cass to achieve the honour and, so far, has never looked back.

I also recall the public relation at the time. There was overwhelming happiness for a guy who has given his life to professional wrestling and, what's more, was never given a chance by people believing him to be overweight or "not in the image of a champion". Kevin Owens had finally risen to the very top of the wrestling world and, mostly, people were very happy for him.

However, that was underlined by a cautiousness about his reign from day one. People still believe, perhaps rightly, that its only a matter of time until Seth Rollins wins the championship back and holds it for a long period of time, cementing his legacy and confirming him as the face of the WWE going forward.

But I'm wondering just how much Owens has bucked that trend already? And, if he has done that, just how far he can take it.

We all know that Rollins, Reigns and Ambrose are the three guys that the WWE are probably going to build the future around. They three guys are going to be the A+ players, there's no doubt. And after those guys, everyone begins to fall into line behind in terms of importance. I firmly believe that until Balor was injured, Kevin Owens never stood a chance of winning the Universal Championship so soon into his WWE tenure. But the WWE needed someone for Rollins to chase and they thought that Owens could be the guy. Whilst the fuel has been hindered by Rollins injury and hasn't really made good on its potential, I still fancy Owens as a good champion.

It seems to me that the WWE have enough faith on Owens to make him their champion, even for a while. So why not take a bigger gamble on him and see what he is capable of with a long term championship reign? I think that Owens could be one of the A+ players, alongside Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose if the WWE give him a good enough chance of getting there. He's doing fine as Champion just now and I reckon he's only going to get better. He's dispelled the thoughts of him being a Transitional champion, at least in my mind, and I would like to see just how far he can take it.

But what about you? What have you thought about his reign as Champion and just how far can he go?

 

[StingrayAffliction]

I think his title reign has been really good at the moment. He's improving on the mic but that comes with help from Jericho. And I'm just gonna add.. them two together are gold.
I think he should remain as champ for as long as he can. He's shown how much potential he has in the ring and he can only get better. I hope WWE aren't stupid with their booking and give Rollins the title back just yet. As much as I like Rollins, the fued they have going on is good. And I don't think that's it's over just yet. As for how long he can hold the title... I'm hoping for another 4-5 months.. but I can't see that happening unfortunately.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

Who cares really, the universal title feels like another midcard title anyway. Owens could be the champion for eternity, he wouldn't change a thing because he's been booked the same way he was booked before he won the title and he's still under the shadow of hhh that hasn't been on tv since giving the belt to owens and until that loose end is finally tie up and they start treating that title like a world championship. Owens won't look like a main eventer and his title reigns won't mean squat.

 

[L@RISANO]

I have said before that WWE has some solid guys to build around for the near future especially and KO is very much on that list.

That said, this reign to me has transitional written all over it and it doesn't help that KO and the Universal title by extension is playing second-fiddle to the real top feud between his current title challenger, Seth Rollins and the guy who handed the title to him in Triple H.
That in itself has hurt KO's reign in a big way,lMO, but credit to him as he does have the tools to be a legit ME talent going forward.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

In my eyes, I've never gotten the feeling that he was a transitional champion. Of course, there are always those who seem to call a guy a transitional champion if he's either a first time champ, an indie guy like Owens or a combination of both.

When I look at the Raw roster right now and look at where most of the wrestlers are concentrated in terms of who they're in programs with, Owens strikes me as someone who could be champion until WrestleMania at least. The only guys I see taking the title from Owens are Lesnar and Rollins; I don't see Lesnar getting the title again because people bitched for almost the entire length of his title run. I never wanted Lesnar to win the title because I knew he'd only show up every 3 months or so to defend it because that's how his deal is set up; it's possible Lesnar could challenge Owens for the title come WrestleMania, and it might be an opportunity to put a young guy over that's a long term talent who'll be helping to carry the company for the next decade. As for Rollins, I simply don't see him winning the title until he's ultimately gotten past Triple H and that's a bout I don't see going down until WrestleMania.

I've enjoyed Owens as champion, his program with Rollins and Jericho being in the middle of it is different and he has good chemistry with them, especially Jericho.

 

[Navi]

The biggest problem with Kevin Owens winning the title, is how he won it. It was handed to him by HHH. Thereby continuing the Authority/Rollins storyline.

Don't forget, this all started a couple of years ago when the Shield broke up by Rollins turning on them and siding with HHH and the Authority. To my dismay it's continued ever since. Rollins whole title run was tainted by it and the fact that he seemingly couldn't win a match by himself.

When he was injured I had hoped he would come back as a face to take his title back. His face turn quite honestly in my opinion has been one of the worst ever, and HHH is still involved. Owens needs another feud and Rollins should be taking on the Authority. Until that is out of the way, whoever holds the title will get dragged down with it. The only saving grace, a buffer so to speak has been Jericho. He wacky sayings and throwing himself on the sword for his best friend, combined with the chemistry between them, has been the only thing that's made this watchable.

Owens really did deserve a better challenger than Rollins. At least not while the Rollins/HHH story arc was over should they have put Rollins in the main event title scene. My two cents anyway.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Transitional? No. Weak? Yes.

Is it his fault though? Kinda. But on the most part, no.

Right now, the Universal Championship feud is feud #3 on RAW. That says a lot. It also proves WWE was not ready for a second world championship, because simply put, they had the talent to make a split, but only a handful of them are true main eventers.

And by that I mean, people who can carry a main event by themselves, who can sell a PPV by themselves.

Owens has been doing a great job with what he's been given. Rollins though? I don't know man.. Talk about falling flat. He's not as over as he was 1 year ago. That's the big problem of the feud. Not Owens. Rollins is the guy that was supposed to be the leading draw of that feud, helping Owens getting over.
But he's not. Owens, is the one who's carrying Rollins and Y2J is carrying both of them.

 

[Navi]

Owens, is the one who's carrying Rollins and Y2J is carrying both of them.

This 100%. And the reason it's happening and not really working is because Rollins is feuding with the wrong guy. He should be tearing through the Authority to get his hands on HHH. But there is no Authority now is there, just HHH doing a run in and handing the title away and then doing a David Copperfield, poof he's gone. Rollins can't really go after Stephanie, it's like everything is hanging in the balance waiting for something to happen. It's all unfinished business, very untidy.

If they could get it done and dusted that would leave Owens to actually have a decent title run, not what he's being handed. Even though he and Jericho are the main reason I watch RAW now.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

This 100%. And the reason it's happening and not really working is because Rollins is feuding with the wrong guy. He should be tearing through the Authority to get his hands on HHH. But there is no Authority now is there, just HHH doing a run in and handing the title away and then doing a David Copperfield, poof he's gone. Rollins can't really go after Stephanie, it's like everything is hanging in the balance waiting for something to happen. It's all unfinished business, very untidy.

If they could get it done and dusted that would leave Owens to actually have a decent title run, not what he's being handed. Even though he and Jericho are the main reason I watch RAW now.

I said it once and I'll say it again. Rollins vs HHH should have been the man thing leading into Survivor Series. Not Lesnar vs Goldberg. But noo, we must make Goldberg vs Lesnar happen now, because we have a game to sell (like anyone would buy the game just because these two are wrestling. Oh, actually, not just buy it, but PRE-ORDER it as well).

 

[Dave]

I said it once and I'll say it again. Rollins vs HHH should have been the man thing leading into Survivor Series. Not Lesnar vs Goldberg. But noo, we must make Goldberg vs Lesnar happen now, because we have a game to sell (like anyone would buy the game just because these two are wrestling. Oh, actually, not just buy it, but PRE-ORDER it as well).

I think you're crazy if you think that NO ONE would buy the game given that the the two main wrestlers who are promoting it are having an actual match. But that's besides the point. The point is that Lesnar and Goldberg will still draw with the fans. You seen the reaction to Goldberg on Raw last week, the fans still love him and get u knelt believe that he can beat Lesnar. Selling the game is secondary to making a match that people legitimately want to see, for the most part. Time was running out to right the wrongs of the past with these two and low we have that chance. I don't see any problem with it.

Rollins and HHH have lots of time to shape their match, and that will likely be just in time for WrestleMania next year. Lesnar versus Goldberg is a match that needed to happen soon and is a match that deserves main event billing on a big PPV, just not the biggest PPV that the WWE have to offer.

 

[FromGlasgow]

I think Owen's is only champion right now for lack of better options, I believe Finn Balor would still be champion right now if he hadn't gotten injured, I also think they backed off Rollins a little seeing as he keeps injuring everyone and also backing off a little of Reigns due to recently violating the wellness policy and the backlash of fans against him.
I don't think anyone else on RAW at the moment is in that position to be champion except maybe Jericho but he seems to be leaving and returning too often.
It will only be a matter of time before Balor returns and WWE gives another chance to Rollins and Reigns again.
I'm not completely against Owen's I just can't see him as the top face of the company for a long period of time, But maybe Ill get proved wrong only time will tell.

 

[NotoriousWWE]

I would genuinely put the belt on Jericho and continue his tweener gimmick whilst having a comical feud with Owens. Jericho is the hottest thing other than AJ Styles and The Miz in WWE right now. When somethings hot you run with it. Make Jericho the transitional champ in a feud with Owens up until January/February. Build an actual champion up in someone like Cesaro or Rusev. You need to build main eventers right now moving in to that period where Mania is coming and all they're doing is playing around with veterans. So to answer as much as I hate saying this, yes, I feel like Owens is a placeholder of sorts. He's better chasing the title and whining, that's his character and what makes him tick. This Rollins/Owens feud isn't doing too great and as someone mentioned I feel that's partly down to Rollins' face turn being a failure thus far. I also agree with the comment that the title doesn't even feel like a world title. Styles is the current WWE champion to me, Owens has a prop. Shame to say that but that's the vibe I get watching RAW.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

That depends on how we're defining transitional champion. Trans champs are usually ones that hold the belt very briefly in order to keep one person from having to do the job for another, or to act as a bridge between two others.

An example of this is in 2008 with Edge suddenly replacing Vladimir Kozlov in a previously advertised match pitting Kozlov against Jeff Hardy and champion Triple H. Edge returned out of nowhere and won the title, only holding it for one cycle and dropping it to Hardy. Thus Triple H didn't have to lay down for Jeff, who was the ultimate one they wanted the title on at that time.

Edge was a transitional champion. He's also a hall of famer for what that's worth. Is being transitional champion a bad thing? Is this something agreed upon? Technically every champion ever was a transitional to the next.

Sgt. Slaughter was a transitional champion from Warrior to Hogan. Do we think less of Slaughter's reign knowing it was just to reposition Hogan on top of the company?

Owens has sustained his title with a defence. Rollins is clearly chasing the title. He was screwed out of it multiple times and is the top babyface on Raw. Does the fact that Rollins inevitably captures cheapen Owens' title reign?

It was pretty obvious that Stone Cold Steve Austin was going to get the title back from The Rock in late 1998-1999. Rock had his epic feud with Mankind to keep some meaning on his title run. Do we think of Rock as transitional considering his 1998 Survivor Series heel turn was just a build to eventually have Austin win the title at Mania 15? No we don't.

Being transitional champion isn't a bad thing. WWE has often had two world titles, so we've gotten some very forgettable and highly transitional title reigns. Christian winning only to drop to Orton, Swagger's reign, both of Ziggler's. There have been duds.

Owens has been pretty damn entertaining. I think Jericho is going to wind up doing what Mankind did for Rock in being a face that offers some epic matches. The big questions that affect the title right now are: when does Rollins recapture, and when does he face Triple H? The other question is when does Finn Balor return?

If Rollins is destined to meet Triple H at WrestleMania, when is he winning the Universal title? Is Rollins going to win then defend against Triple H at Mania? It seems apparent that they're meeting at Mania, but it doesn't need the title.

Then there's Finn, who could be out as little as four months. That's Royal Rumble time. Balor may be a good pick to win the match and recapture his Universal title. Who is the heel that Balor meets then?

There's nothing wrong with being a transitional champion. I'm pretty sure you can argue that every heel ever was just a transition to the next big babyface who will draw more money. Owens is definitely keeping the title warm, it's what heels do. KO is so talented that we'll be looking at this as the first of many world titles for him in WWE. Owens drops the title at WrestleMania to either Balor or Rollins.

 

[The Yes Guy]

All these answers here tell me one thing.
That Chris Jericho is one of the lasts of a dying breed of wrestlers who are not only good, but are also extremely over and have the ability to make people tune in every week exclusively because of them.
WWE has more or less failed at doing this in the recent times. There are ways this could be done but I digress.

In case of Kevin Owens, he'd have been better better off feuding with someone like a Balor or Miz, while Rollins should have gone after HHH right after he got screwed. This Rollins-Owens thing should never have happened. The Champ, the title, the feud, everything feels transitional, because the title will be relegated to a secondary position once Rollins-HHH takes center-stage.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

All these answers here tell me one thing.
That Chris Jericho is one of the lasts of a dying breed of wrestlers who are not only good, but are also extremely over and have the ability to make people tune in every week exclusively because of them.
WWE has more or less failed at doing this in the recent times. There are ways this could be done but I digress.

A lot of that is on the wrestlers though. Look at someone like Wade Barrett. He was saddled with a crap gimmick (BNB) and made it work extremely well for him. There are several stories from wrestlers saying how they went to management with an idea for their character. If WWE says no, it's not the wrestler's fault, but how many times have they said yes and the idea just plain didn't work. Adam Rose just recently said that his party gimmick was his idea. They said he needed a different one for the main roster, complain on that if you will, but he came up with it and it didn't work. It might've been better had he not worked in a TVPG company, but he already knew he was, so that's still on him.

The point is, if you're really good enough, you should be able to make it work.

 

[ShinChan]

We can't yet judge if he's a transitional champion or not.

He is, as mentioned, playing a second fiddle to the main feud between Rollins and Triple H which is already dragging a lot. Rollins-HHH should happen at Survivor Series so as to give Rollins the inevitable rub and Owens could move on to another challenger. For now, The title is very midcard-esque which is a bad sign.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I would genuinely put the belt on Jericho and continue his tweener gimmick whilst having a comical feud with Owens. Jericho is the hottest thing other than AJ Styles and The Miz in WWE right now. When somethings hot you run with it. Make Jericho the transitional champ in a feud with Owens up until January/February. Build an actual champion up in someone like Cesaro or Rusev. You need to build main eventers right now moving in to that period where Mania is coming and all they're doing is playing around with veterans. So to answer as much as I hate saying this, yes, I feel like Owens is a placeholder of sorts. He's better chasing the title and whining, that's his character and what makes him tick. This Rollins/Owens feud isn't doing too great and as someone mentioned I feel that's partly down to Rollins' face turn being a failure thus far. I also agree with the comment that the title doesn't even feel like a world title. Styles is the current WWE champion to me, Owens has a prop. Shame to say that but that's the vibe I get watching RAW.

This 100% - Have Jericho upset Owens for the title somehow...maybe Trips tries to screw Rollins in a triple threat and it goes wrong with Y2J stealing the win... Owens is pissed but Jericho can say "blame" Triple H, not me... Owens finds he's on the list and they feud through the Rumble...

Finn wins the Rumble (if he can be fit in time, even for #30) and takes the belt back at Mania and gets the original push, either from Jericho in his final "starmaking" match before he retires or from Owens to show sokidify him as main eventer... If Balor is fit for Mania, he wins it there... no messing.

 

[kadroan]

I have said before that WWE has some solid guys to build around for the near future especially and KO is very much on that list.

That said, this reign to me has transitional written all over it and it doesn't help that KO and the Universal title by extension is playing second-fiddle to the real top feud between his current title challenger, Seth Rollins and the guy who handed the title to him in Triple H.
That in itself has hurt KO's reign in a big way,lMO, but credit to him as he does have the tools to be a legit ME talent going forward.

Yeah, it's like Owens just continuing on what Orton and Rollins have done the past few years.

I was thinking this feud was supposed to be face Owens/face HHH vs. Rollins but it's been like I said another variation of The Authority vs. top face.

 

[kadroan]

The biggest problem with Kevin Owens winning the title, is how he won it. It was handed to him by HHH. Thereby continuing the Authority/Rollins storyline.

Don't forget, this all started a couple of years ago when the Shield broke up by Rollins turning on them and siding with HHH and the Authority. To my dismay it's continued ever since. Rollins whole title run was tainted by it and the fact that he seemingly couldn't win a match by himself.

When he was injured I had hoped he would come back as a face to take his title back. His face turn quite honestly in my opinion has been one of the worst ever, and HHH is still involved. Owens needs another feud and Rollins should be taking on the Authority. Until that is out of the way, whoever holds the title will get dragged down with it. The only saving grace, a buffer so to speak has been Jericho. He wacky sayings and throwing himself on the sword for his best friend, combined with the chemistry between them, has been the only thing that's made this watchable.

Owens really did deserve a better challenger than Rollins. At least not while the Rollins/HHH story arc was over should they have put Rollins in the main event title scene. My two cents anyway.

I'm amazed Reigns hadn't really shown no outrage after being costed the Universal title. It's like nothing never happened to him. All of a sudden he wants to win the US title.

I would have expected atleast a mini Shield reunion with Rollins/Reigns vs. KO/HHH.

Or if they want to keep Rollins/Reigns from reuniting, they could have Reigns vs. HHH and Rollins vs. Owens.

 

[kadroan]

I said it once and I'll say it again. Rollins vs HHH should have been the man thing leading into Survivor Series. Not Lesnar vs Goldberg. But noo, we must make Goldberg vs Lesnar happen now, because we have a game to sell (like anyone would buy the game just because these two are wrestling. Oh, actually, not just buy it, but PRE-ORDER it as well).

It should have but I don't fault them for Goldberg vs. Brock, it sells surprisingly. Thankfully they're getting Goldberg vs. Brock out of the way now vs. holding it out to WM. Maybe we'll get a younger star vs. Brock at WM.

 

[StaRRStruck]

That said, this reign to me has transitional written all over it and it doesn't help that KO and the Universal title by extension is playing second-fiddle to the real top feud between his current title challenger, Seth Rollins and the guy who handed the title to him in Triple H.
That in itself has hurt KO's reign in a big way,lMO, but credit to him as he does have the tools to be a legit ME talent going forward.

This is exactly IT (lol). KO has done a great job with what he has been given, but regardless of what Owens has done NONE of it will seem like the main storyline until HHH comes back and addresses why he did what he did. It sucks because that F4W has been the most polarizing and exciting moment for RAW since the Brand Split and realistically nothing has been built upon it. If Trips came out at least the week after and stated something like the Authority has decided to go in a different direction and putting over KO, it would set Owens as the main target for Rollins who wants nothing but to beat KO for the title and pushing the feud with Trips to the shelf until WrestleMania season.

Instead, in the back of most fans heads they're just waiting for Triple H to show up again for this confrontation with Rollins. This may not happen UNTIL Mania season anyways so now fans are left wondering what will happen which makes KO and his entire reign somewhat diluted. The original question was if his reign was transitional which my reply is definitely. I can't picture KO holding the title past Rumble or even TLC, I see Reigns or Rollins reclaiming the spot of top dog.

I'm not at all trying to take way from Kevin Owens' reign, I myself am a huge fan and have loved the JeriKO team. It's one of the few reasons I tune into Raw, I just feel personally the storytelling of him/HHH/Seth has left him and his title reign to bottom feed to this underlying Seth Rollins and Triple H feud.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

As much as I am glad about KO as Champ, he is transitional Champion. Not only he is often playing seconds to Reigns/Rusev (not to mention Women Division is maineventing PPVs at his reign as Champ), he is often just somebody who is in the way of Rollins and Jericho. Add big match of Goldberg and Lesnar there and you can see that RAW is not so much "Kevin Owens Show" as he presents it. Dont get me wrong, I do realise that he is Champion and that he plays important part. But for somebody who is supposed to be no1 guy he sure doesnt seem like it.

Its OK though. Its not Mania time and WWE is allowed to experiment. He holds good so maybe sometimes in future they do focus on him. But for now if you look at booking they really dont see him as "big deal" who will one day mainevent Wrestlemania. Reigns, Rollins, even Balor maybe sure, but KO lost PPV match to Sami Zayn few months ago. Lets face it, he is more Sheamus then Cena or Orton. At least that is how WWE see him right now.

 

[HORRORHOLIC]

What does it matter anymore anyway ? The Championships mean almost nothing. It's like half the roster has a championship. Pretty soon they're gonna make individual belt's for every wrestler.