10 Rare Awesome WWE Surprises
5. Kevin Owens Joins Team NXT
In which WWE in 2019 filled the November plot hole with an awesome - and earned - spot of fan service.
The draft they'd just done was thrown into contrived disarray, as recently-transferred talent defended their new homes as if they were magically super-loyal to them. After a blinding SmackDown, the idea that these men and women were owned and empowered by t-shirts was impossible to escape.
Put on red t-shirt for five minutes = instantly disregard long sentimental history in Orlando that shaped your very career.
The premise was of course farcical with one, excellent exception that worked so well because it framed one member of the roster as a man with the agency to navigate his own life.
Kevin Owens was attacked by the Undisputed Era at the peak of brand warfare, but did not receive this as a blanket attack made by a brand to which he held a certain loyalty. In a great surprise that made rare sense, Owens commanded a deafening pop at NXT TakeOver: WarGames when it was revealed that he had returned home to avenge the assault.
Owens wore his old NXT clobber and bumped big in an über-violent WarGames spectacle that made congruent and perfected an elusive, bastardised premise.