Holy shit. Kevin Owens Promo

[SortaCreative]

Whether it was planned or not (if it was planned than it's even worse), the child with cancer was a touching moment. I don't think anyone would say that from the kids point of view, it wasn't special. I'm sure it was great. But watch Kevin Owens during that moment of the promo. He cannot say, do or think anything. He just smiles and that's probably the only thing he can't do. The problem when John Cena goes to the out of the ring activities that he does is that he leaves very little room for his opponent. What's Kevin Owens supposed to say? Sit down kid, I hope you die?

This is the problem with the "new era" of wrestling and "new era" fans. John Cena's the face. He's the good guy. He's supposed to be shown doing good things and being honorable. It's not up to him to "leave Owens room" to be redeemable and cheered. Owens is the heel. He's the bad guy. He's supposed to be hated. Hell he's supposed to say sit down, I hope you die. Pro wrestling would be better for the heel to have no room to be liked. Pro wrestling would be better for it if the entire audience was cheering the Cena character and booing the Kevin Owens character.

I really doubt they'd want to go that route with Owens. I'm not sure if you're calling me a new era fan.

John Cena is only as good a face he is when compared and played off against a great heel. Guess what, don't do everything in your power to make them look like shit and they'll get the heat they need.

[Hanley!]

This is the problem with the "new era" of wrestling and "new era" fans. John Cena's the face. He's the good guy. He's supposed to be shown doing good things and being honorable. It's not up to him to "leave Owens room" to be redeemable and cheered. Owens is the heel. He's the bad guy. He's supposed to be hated. Hell he's supposed to say sit down, I hope you die. Pro wrestling would be better for the heel to have no room to be liked. Pro wrestling would be better for it if the entire audience was cheering the Cena character and booing the Kevin Owens character.

I actually completely agree with you here. I much prefer the show when I can support the faces and boo the heels. That's part of what drew me to NXT last year. I've been enjoying Lucha Underground for the same reason. But we're long past the point where getting the entire audience to cheer for the Cena character is even a remote possibility. So I think the bookers have to embrace that a little bit. If half of the crowd is going to be cheering for Cena's opponent, they should be doing something to entertain those guys too.

Funnily enough, it's WWE's treatment of John Cena over the last ten years that fractured the relationship between the product and the fans almost irreparably. If they had turned Cena heel back when fans were crying out for it, they might have been able to keep the wrestling audience on their side. But after years of being told to cheer for a guy who isn't sympathetic or particularly likable, the audience gradually decided to cheer for whoever the hell they wanted. They've been more and more difficult to control every year since the fans turned on Cena in 2005.

I know a lot of people on this board said that his mic work in NXT seemed kind of bored and uninspired, but his game has been top notch since coming up to the main roster.

Yeah, I was one of those guys. His mic work early on was really mediocre. It was pretty clear right from the start that he was comfortable speaking; he had just been told to play a certain role and he wasn't yet comfortable in it. He sounded bored in all his promos, like he didn't want to be there. Since then though, he's become a lot better on NXT too. Since around the time he won the title, his promos have been solid and sometimes they've even been really good. He's proven himself as a good promo guy at this point. Not one of the best in the company or anything, but definitely good, and he looks like he'll only improve as time goes on.

[prophet]

I've been catching up on my wrestling today and damnnnnnn Owens has been impressing me. NXT is the only weekly show I make sure to watch beginning to end without skipping and yeah, I was one of those that wasn't all that blown away by Owens' mic work...but every promo he's cut on Cena has been gold, I've just watched the PPV match and his post-match stuff got me hyped.

I fucking hope they have Owens win clean again next month and I actually think it'll happen. He's already the number two heel on the main roster I'd say, what a time for him to debut.