PWP Nation’s Bruce Hart breaks down the WWE Universal Championship win for Kevin Owens and explains how it could have been done better.
Like many of you, I was perplexed with the fiasco that transpired during the Fatal 4-Way or “Futile Foreplay” match this past week on RAW, to determine the new WWE Universal champion. If you were fortunate enough to not have caught it, it entailed Triple H (who’d been conspicuous by his absence in recent months) hitting the ring during the match, and, first, ambushing Roman Reigns and giving him the “Pedigree,” after which Seth Rollins pinned Roman.
Subsequent to that, Hunter then double-crossed his supposed crony, Seth, and gave him a Pedigree as well, after which, Kevin Owens pinned Seth and was declared the new WWE Universal champion, much to the disgust and consternation of the fans.
Adding insult to injury, all of this was done in plain view of the poor, befuddled referee, as well as RAW general manager, Mick Foley, which, in my opinion, served to make them both look like inept, incompetent buffoons whom nobody should take seriously.
In last week’s edition of Hart Murmurs, I suggested that putting the strap back on Seth (after the unfortunate injury to Finn Balor) made sense, not only because Seth had such an awesome match with Balor at Summer Slam, but also because Seth was capable of having great matches with guys like Roman, AJ Styles, Dolph Ziggler and others and thereby fill that gap, until Balor’s return in a few months, but that’s all out the window now.
I might add that I have no problem with them having put the strap on Kevin Owens, as he’s a decent worker who’s not only paid his dues and is respected by the boys, but the shoddy manner in which he won the belt did little or nothing for his image or credibility. All things considered, in fact, it was probably detrimental to the way people perceive him, given that he, himself, did, virtually nothing to win the belt.
By that token, any jabroney, such as Heath Slater or Adam Rose could have won the strap – which does nothing for the supposed propriety of one of the WWE’s most important titles. Beyond that, at this stage, most of the heat is with Hunter (who’s not, to the best of my knowledge, even working), so any subsequent re-matches with, say, Roman, Seth or whomever else are kind of hollow and pointless.
Beyond all of that, this whole illicit travesty didn’t, in my humble opinion, enhance anyone’s perception of other key players, such as Stephanie McMahon, Vince McMahon or even Shane McMahon – all of whom, by association with Hunter, have had their supposed propriety or integrity compromised. If only because, to date, none of them have rendered any perspective on it, or condemned his egregious actions. Far be it from me to be telling the enlightened despots in Stamford how to be running their business, but it would seem like a good idea for somebody – such as Vince, Shane or Stephanie to step forward and condemn this outrage or, at the very least, disavow themselves of any complicity in what transpired.
I have no idea what the ostensible purpose of this whole “angle” was, but would hope that, ultimately, the ends will somehow justify the means, or, putting it another way, all of this seemingly senseless nonsense, proves to make sense, although at this stage, I have serious doubts about that.
My father, who spent close to seventy years in the wrestling business used to ruefully reflect that our business must be an incredible endeavor to have survived all the self-destructive, counter productive bullshit that it invariably inflicts upon itself and I agree, wholeheartedly, with that perspective. For the sake of the wrestlers (past and present) and you, the fans, who continue to invest your hopes and dreams (not to mention your hard earned money) into the wrestling business, I can only hope that the powers that be in the WWE will somehow come up with a plausible pretext or explanation for the Universal Title debacle.
I might add that, if they, in fact, do, I’ll be more than pleased to publicly retract my damning comments and congratulate them.
On that somewhat dubious note, I’ll wrap up this disillusioned diatribe, but will look forward to catching up with you next week for more candid commentary about what’s hot and what’s not on the wrestling scene.
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