Opinion: Kevin Owens' gimmick is following the lines of Randy Orton
Last week on Smackdown Live, we saw that Kevin Owens betrayed The New Day by attacking Kofi Kingston and placing his vicious claws on the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
In Big E's absence, Kevin Owens took the role of the heavy hitting wrestler in the popular faction. The Prizefighter had turned babyface after he made his WWE return post his injury. However, every ardent wrestling fan knew that something is fishy and KO is not one of those who sits back and watches someone climb the ladder of success.
So, 'Big O' as he was called during his short stint in The New Day, turned on Kingston after the match got over on Smackdown Live. We all saw it coming, but we didn't expect that WWE would be doing it so fast.
The faster, the better because SD Live had lost its depth after the Superstar draft.
Here, we will see how WWE is shaping Owens to be the next Randy Orton. As we all know, Orton is one of the most vicious heels of WWE, and there is no two say in that. We have seen him betray n number of people and his name 'The Viper' suits him aptly.
When Orton was at the prime of his career, we saw him betray Bray Wyatt and his family at the time when Wyatt saw him as a potential sheep. We have also seen him turn against Seth Rollins when the latter was a part of The Authority which led to their match at WrestleMania. Orton was known to be a person whom no one could trust, and now, WWE is building Kevin Owens to be the guy that no one can trust.
Kevin Owens has a very infamous history when it comes to friendships. He betrayed Sami Zayn in NXT, Chris Jericho a few years back, and The New Day a few days back. As Orton is reaching his horizon, WWE wants to build a heel as vicious and as brutal as Orton. If we take a step back and think, there is no better option than Owens.
Also, Orton is known to be brutal and vicious which is very much similar to Owens' character. We have seen Orton annihilate his opponents on several occasions. He has attacked John Cena, Cena's dad, Jeff Hardy, Tye Dillinger and The McMahons. On the other hand, Owens' has also attacked all the who's who of WWE on various occasions.
If we analyse both the characters, we see that both of them are born heels. They have this natural characteristic that makes them tailor-fitted for the role of a heel. Imagining both of them as a babyface is as awkward as presuming the US as a socialist state.
It will be interesting to see how WWE will play out this feud because Owens' heel turn wasn't planned thoroughly. As an observer, it is clear that it was a Plan B because the environmentalist is injured. Let's see how Kingston reacts on this week's SD Live.