8 Ups And 6 Downs From WWE Raw (Aug 10)

2. KO A Plot Device

Randy Orton Kevin Owens SAY HELLO TO HEADLOCK
WWE.com

Ugggh. What an absolute waste of Kevin Owens.

Owens got into a verbal altercation with Ric Flair last week, which set up this supposed grudge match between KO and Randy Orton, which turned out to just be a backdrop for a much bigger (and more impactful) angle afterward.

The match itself wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything spectacular either. It also ended suddenly, with Owens going for a Stunner, which Orton reversed to an RKO for the pin. And just like that, KO was forgotten, more of a nuisance than a former world champion and one of the better overall performers in WWE today.

If you were going to do this anyway, why not have almost anyone else fill the role? It literally could have been anyone on the roster who ran afoul of Flair, triggering the match with Orton. Instead, Owens got thrust into the spot.

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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.