7 Mistakes WWE Have Made With Kevin Owens As Universal Champion

Kevin Owens is one of the most popular wrestlers in WWE today, and for good reason. Not only his he a tremendous wrestler, but he's one of the best talkers of his generation, and his razor sharp wit makes it hard not to be entertained by him. He deserves every bit of success he gets after 16 years in the business, and has completely justified his position at the top of the card.

Unfortunately, his run as Universal Champion has been a complete flop. It's through no fault of his own, but Owens has become the weakest top champion WWE have had since Rey Mysterio, and it's hard to get enthusiastic about Raw's main event scene at the moment. Owens, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Chris Jericho are four of WWE's best all-round performers, but they're operating in the company's least compelling title scene, and it's all down to the way WWE have handled their champion.

Owens should have been an awesome Universal Champion. He's one of the most well-liked men in the business, and a guy whose excellence more than merited a major push, but his reign has undone everything that made him great in the first place. KO remains one of Raw's most entertaining personalities, but his credibility is in a steep decline, and there are numerous reasons for it.

Here are 7 mistakes WWE have made with Kevin Owens as Universal Champion.

As exciting as the prospect of Kevin Owens as a world champion seemed at the time, KO’s Universal Title reign was doomed from the start. The initial title switch was a bittersweet moment, and it’s immediate euphoria was tempered by the realisation the the only reason he’d become champion was through another man’s actions.

Triple H’s betrayal of Seth Rollins was a stunning moment, but it came at the expense of Owens’ credibility. The Game vs. Seth was the immediate focus, and the Universal Title switch was just a secondary concern. There’s a place for such opportunism in Owens’ character, but not when it comes at the expense of what should have been the biggest win of his career. All the talk was on Rollins vs. The Game coming out of that episode of Raw, and KO was immediately pushed down the pecking order.

The messy title change set the theme for the weeks and months that have followed. WWE could have undone the damage done by Triple H’s interference with some smart booking in the aftermath, but have instead only compounded the idea that Owens is a frail competitor who can’t win on his own accord. Owens wasn’t the deciding factor in becoming Universal Champion, and he hasn’t been the decided factor in any of his subsequent defences.

The turn gave impetus to kickstart Seth and Triple H’s apparent WrestleMania program, but that’s it. WWE once again allowed a wrestler vs. authority figure story to outshine everything else, and the night has come to define Owens’ reign as a whole.