WWE Payback 2016: 10 Things You Might Have Missed

7. Kevin Owens: Babyface?

Kevin owens
WWE.com

It's no secret that Kevin Owens has been one of the most entertaining parts of WWE programming over the past year. Yes, Raw has gotten better, on the whole, since WrestleMania, but even before then, Owens was one of the company's most consistent performers and one of the best at managing to be entertaining even under the thumb of bad creative.

It's harder than ever for heels to get booed just for being bad guys, and Owens's talents ensure that fans look forward to seeing him and cheer him. In his match with Sami Zayn, the crowd was split 50/50, and when they traded punches on the apron, the fans were yelling "Yay" for both men. There were cheers when Owens won, and his post-match promo was well-received, too.

So what does that make Kevin Owens? What does that mean for wrestling? If a wrestler gets cheered is he automatically a babyface? If he's still booked as a heel, is that bad for business?

Either way, Owens promised to win back the Intercontinental Title after the match, so face or heel, he's not at main event level quite yet.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013