If you werent yet a fan of Kevin Owens work before Saturday, then you had to come away from Beast in the East being impressed. Owens showed why hes the best thing going in WWE right now, and he has the potential to be a dominant heel for the foreseeable future. Everything about his performance Saturday solidified that contention. During the ceremonial Japanese introductions, Owens first threw the bouquet out of the ring (drawing boos), then loudly demanded that the streamers be cleared from the ring. When he tossed Finn Balor outside, he encouraged everyone to count along with the referee. But perhaps the best moment came when he ran the ropes looking to hit a seated Balor with a high-impact move with the fans buzzing with anticipation and simply dropped down into a chinlock. Owens then yelled to the fans, I do what I want Are you not impressed? I dont care. I hate this stupid country and everybody in it. Thats the kind of quality bad-mouthing that seems to be lost in todays WWE. Some heels will play to the crowd to rile them up, but few will go to the lengths that Owens did. Even if you want to be contrarian and cheer him, Owens does just enough to make you dislike him, and thats what a great villain does.
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.
