Kevin Owens: The Antihero of WWE’s Emerging New Era

Kevin Owens made his debut in WWE in December of 2014, becoming one of the company’s top bad guys right out of the gate by attacking his best friend Sami Zayn moments after he had obtained the NXT Championship. Unfortunately, after several years at the top of his game, Owens was forced to take some time off due to an injury that required him to receive double knee surgery.

When Kevin Owens returned from injury back in February of this year, he was introduced as Kofi Kingston’s replacement in the WWE Championship match at Fastlane by Vince McMahon himself. Though he was given the royal treatment by the Chairman, and those who are given this spot traditionally take on heel roles, Kevin Owens appeared to have turned over a new leaf during his absence from WWE.

Kevin Owens rode the high road for about two months before savagely attacking Kofi Kingston and his New Day partner, Xavier Woods. His dip back into the dark side lasted a mere nine weeks before he decided that his distaste for Shane McMahon and those closest to him outweighed his desire for the WWE Championship, pulling him back into the light.

Shane McMahon won the WWE World Cup at the Crown Jewel event in November of 2018 and has since proclaimed himself “The Best in the World,” growing increasingly egotistical as the months have worn on. And as Shane’s ego has grown, so has his television time.

WWE has five hours minimum of main roster content a week, which is a rather large number, especially when compared to most weekly television programming; however, it is still a finite amount of time, and therefore, there is a finite number of talent that can be featured.

Out of those five hours, it’s fair to say that for quite some time, Shane McMahon was the star of an entire hour, meaning 20% of WWE TV was dedicated to the self-proclaimed “Best in the World.” As this was happening, many Superstars were shunted to the side, as there simply wasn’t enough time to include them.

The internet caught on to this trend quickly, and after months of constant fan complaints on Twitter, Kevin Owens took to SmackDown Live to echo WWE fans’ sentiments. After being “banned” from the arena due to a fight breaking out between himself and Dolph Ziggler, Owens crashed SmackDown by leaping onto an announce table and giving an impassioned speech about Shane McMahon shamelessly stealing the spotlight from up and coming stars such as Buddy Murphy and Liv Morgan.

In recent weeks, Owens’ verbal aggression has escalated to physical violence, and he has attacked Shane McMahon with Stunners at every opportunity. This storyline became popular with fans almost instantly, as it is highly reminiscent of the iconic Attitude Era rivalry between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon.

The feud between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon isn’t fully matured quite yet, as the two have not had an official in-ring match, but that final step is surely on the horizon. But even without a match, Kevin Owens continues to be the tough, take no prisoners character while maintaining his “babyface” status, making him the perfect antihero for WWE’s emerging new era.