When was the last time Kevin Owens turned heel?
Kevin Owens is once again a heel on WWE programming. At the conclusion of RAW on November 8, he delivered his trademark powerbomb to WWE Champion Big E onto the ring apron after a vicious assault.
Owens, notorious for performing as a heel, will now be the new villain on the red brand. Kevin Owens moved to Monday Night RAW from SmackDown during the 2021 WWE Draft.
So when was the last time Kevin Owens turned heel?
Kevin Owens last turned heel during his longtime friendship storyline with Chris Jericho in 2016 and 2017. During the infamous "Festival of Friendship", Universal Champion KO turned on Jericho when he revealed that "The List of KO" had one name on it: Chris Jericho.
On this day in 2017 : #RAW.
The Festival of Friendship between @FightOwensFight & @IAmJericho was held https://t.co/GtZ2VQbrQr
The "Festival of Friendship" capped off a memorable friendship between the pair, which then turned into a feud against each other.
Chris Jericho spoke with 107.7 The Bone about the storyline and that particular segment:
"I stood up for it even to the point of calling Vince when he was on a plane in the middle of the air and pitching my case. Not taking no for answer. Not allowing my vision to be changed. I wanted to go from the campiest “Just a Gigolo” David Lee Roth to a complete scene change of this almost murder like the red wedding from Game of Thrones was resonating where you have this brilliant, beautiful, fun moment, and then it just goes south in such a quick fashion where you can’t believe it. And that to me was the brilliance of it,"
Jericho continued:
One of the suggestions that was pitched was for Owens to just attack me, and I was like that’s not how you do it…The best parts of the (horror) movie is when the guy opens the door and the killer is standing there and he has that moment of realization like oh, I am so dead in the next 2 seconds…and that’s what I wanted to do with the reveal of like how come my name is on this? The list of KO…Turn around, look at him like no, no don’t do this, don’t do this, and boom there comes the murder." Chris Jericho said. (h/t Still Real To Us)
The segment itself was regarded as one of the best of this generation, and one of the best heel turns of all-time.
How long did Kevin Owens one-time reign as Universal Champion last?
Did you think Kevin Owens was a good Universal Champion? https://t.co/MKITlb5saP
Kevin Owens' reign as Universal Champion lasted 188 days. He won the championship in August 2016, winning the vacant title in a Fatal 4 Way match against Seth Rollins, Big Cass and Roman Reigns.
His reign ended at Fastlane the following February, where KO lost to Goldberg in just 22 seconds.