The only reason this item ranks as a down is that it likely has fans divided some think it was a brilliant move that is never used, while others believe it was a terrible decision. Kevin Owens assaulted longtime friend and rival Sami Zayn moments after he won the NXT Championship at (R)Evolution. Although it was Owens debut with the company, he managed to parlay that attack into a title match at Rival. During their match, Owens repeatedly attacked Zayns head, snapping off several powerbombs and other high-impact moves that left Sami incapacitated and unable to continue. Despite his waiving off attempts to stop the match, the ringside doctors and referee put an end to the match and Zayns two-month title reign awarding the NXT Championship to Owens. Several WWE matches have ended due to ref stoppage, but having a companys major title change hands as a result of such a decision is extremely rare. Its a legit shocker that accomplishes several goals, which will be detailed later. Call this a bold move that has some highly positive fallout, but a move that understandably could be tough for some fans to swallow initially.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
