5 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE SmackDown (5 July - Results & Review)

3. KO Gets Emotional

Kevin Owens Cody Rhodes Randy Orton R-KO
WWE.com

Touching on real-life trauma can be tricky for pro wrestling. The industry paints in such broad strokes that subtle, realistic nuances from someone's personal life can actually hinder stories or get in the way. So, Kevin Owens deserves a lot of praise for how deftly he handled that story about his mother currently being bed bound in hospital.

Kev is really great at stuff like this. He comes across as an actual human being who lives a life away from the week-to-week hubbub of WWE programming. Well done to Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton for having the smarts to give KO the floor to add a little context to why he's so obsessed with tearing The Bloodline menace to pieces.

Owens suggesting that his mother would be mad if he left his friends high and dry just for her put across the family's fighting spirit. Some online seem to think this is setup for Kev to take the fall and be written off TV at MITB, which is possible. Either way, and regardless of what his immediate future holds, he handled himself with class here.

An unexpected emotional journey towards Saturday's six-man tag.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.