7 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Nov 27)

2. Explain Yourself, Roman!

Kevin Owens
WWE.com

It looked for a while like Daniel Bryan would be the one to wrestle Roman Reigns for that Universal Title come TLC. Now, Bryan has been cycled out and seemingly replaced by Kevin Owens. As far as substitutes go, that's not too shabby. Better yet, KO did some stellar character work of his own.

He focused on the family angle, and it worked.

After trading beatdowns with Jey Uso, Owens yelled at Reigns to come out and save his cousin. After all, he added, Roman is the "head of the table" and claims he's all about family. Of course, Reigns didn't move a muscle. Well, other than the ones in his face when he dropped his eyebrows, gritted his teeth and clenched his jaw watching on the monitor backstage.

KO managed to sell this fresh Universal Title feud with just one promo. Hopefully, WWE will recognise the good work he did here and revitalise his main event chops of old. Owens may never be the guy around this place, but he can be an important support act for the man who is.

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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.