Vince began his speech by berating Owens and would continue to throughout the segment. This is honestly fair game given the attitude Big Kev has so boisterously been throwing around and it was extremely entertaining to watch unfold. The aggression that built in Owens as all his attempts to thwart the McMahons were thrown out the window was fantastic. To top it all off, McMahon announces that Owens will face Shane in a Hell In A Cell match in a few short weeks at the event named after the match stipulation itself.
Owens responds to this by asking McMahon permission to not get fired for beating a McMahon senseless. Vince agrees, Owens shakes his hand, and bang bang, Owens strikes with a headbutt and it was fucking on.
The onslaught raged on as Owens threw a right hand and a kick to the gut after Vince got to his feet following the initial blow. Referees and officials came down, but nothing could stop Owens from delivering a nasty frog splash to the bloodied chairman of the board. This was a statement and made this building feud all the more personal.
As many of you know, I've been a fan of Kevin for YEARS and his work in WWE has indeed pretty great from right out of the gate to now, but this HAS to be the best thing he's done or atleast the best angle since the John Cena stuff when he first debuted on the main roster. This is the Kevin Owens that got me into independent wrestling. This is the Kevin Owens that won me over into being a complete fan of himself. And this is the Kevin Owens that delivers five star matches filled with emotion.
I expect the Hell In A Cell match with Shane to be a roller coaster ride that hopefully propels Owens to new dimensions in his tenure with WWE. This could truly be the angle that solidifies Owens as not just a good heel spot monkey that all the cool, trendy fans like. This angle could propel Owens into superstardom in the likes of Stone Cold, The Rock, CM Punk & John Cena. To me, this felt almost as significant as Punk's first interactions with Vince. Albeit not quite as impactful because Owens has already been WWE Champion and treated quite well, however that was all based off his reputation prior to WWE. This is the first time I feel like he's really been given that superstar treatment and something grit his teeth into at the same time.
This isn't just a series of awesome matches with the face of the company. This is not wins and losses. This is the emergence of a character and that's what separates a star from a superstar in a modern day WWE and I think Kevin Owens is about to have the best run of his entire career.
