Opinion: Why Kevin Owens turned heel and who else should join the list
Last night's Smackdown Live saw the return of the vicious Kevin Owens following his betrayal of The New Day, consisting of Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods.
Judging from the promos post his in-ring return, Owens was believed to be a baby-face as he was rooting for Kingston, and previously sending light-hearted video promos with his kids. Now, he's back to being the sneaky villain who ruthlessly powerbombs his opponents onto the ring's apron. But why did Owens become heel in the first place?
Since the superstar shake-up, the lack of heel characters within the blue brand became noticeable with most of their heels, including The Bar and Andrade, being traded to Raw, although the latter has since been traded back. The only real heel from the trade that SmackDown Live scored was Elias.
Now that we've got a dastardly villain in Kevin Owens on the blue show, here's a list highlighting the top heels on the roster, followed by wrestlers who should turn heel over the course of the next several months.
Heels: Charlotte Flair, Cesaro, Andrade, Elias, Daniel Bryan, Eric Rowan, Lars Sullivan, Rusev, and Shinsuke Nakamura.
Potential Heels: Bayley, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, and Finn Balor (Balor Club).
Bayley's mannerisms on this week's SmackDown Live were a sign that she could work as a ruthless heel if given a chance. As for The Balor Club, it worked outside the WWE, and with a good enough storyline surrounding the trio, it might work in WWE too.
From the looks of the current and potential listings it would appear that they have a fair share of heel characters available. However, there are other superstars who have yet to be featured in a properly constructed storyline, such as Apollo and Ali. Having an even amount of heel and baby-face characters will allow more storylines that could be built around the string of upcoming shows and Pay-Per-Views.
In the world of wrestling, one never knows who will become a face or a heel, as proven by Owens this week. With SummerSlam around the corner, having more meaningful storylines involving new heels will garner the WWE Universe's attention for both brands.