As we head into Sunday’s WWE Fastlane pay-per-view, Universal Champion Kevin Owens is in the catbird seat and riding a spectacular wave of momentum. That momentum is going to run headlong into Bill Goldberg, but still: momentum! He’s coming off one of the hottest segments in recent memory, and stole the show two weeks ago with a spectacular spotlight promo to open Raw. Heck, he’s even got a DVD set coming out!
But although Owens is, by now, a master at getting WWE crowds to boo him (provided they’re not in Green Bay, I guess), what hereally wants to do is reach a point one day where he really gets the audience divided. In his estimation, that’s where the biggest and most passionate — and most authentic — reactions come in.
During a recent appearance on Steve Austin’s podcast, Owens talked about how he looks at the crowd reactions that John Cena and Roman Reigns elicit, and he says that’s where he wants to be one day. (Transcript via Cageside Seats.)
“I’ve always said this… you know, you gotta get heat, you gotta get, you know … You gotta be a heel, you gotta be this, you gotta be that. But to me the optimum reaction is when you get a lot of people that like you, a lot of people that hate you, and then they meet in the middle. Like John [Cena] or Roman [Reigns] has these days, that’s the reaction I aspire to get one day because I find that clash is so interesting.
” … [The fans are] competing with each other. They’re engaged. Also because I feel, like I said, they’re competing with the other people. They see this guy saying ‘let’s go Cena’ … ‘Hell no, Cena sucks,’ you know what I mean? They create a competition within themselves and it makes for a very interesting time. Everybody is always engaged.”
Man, it’s almost like Kevin Owens has this whole wrestling thing figured out. Keep your eye on this kid. He might make something of himself one day. (That’s sarcasm!)
