Two weeks ago, Kevin Owens turned on Kofi Kingston by attacking him during a tag match on Smackdown Live. That was only a week after KO had allied himself with the New Day, volunteering to take Big E’s spot until he returns from injury. Even knowing that Kevin tends to turn on his friends, it seemed to happen a little quickly, and reports came out it was accelerated due to top heel Daniel Bryan also needing time off due to injury.
In a new interview with The Wrap, Kevin Owens gives his actual perspective on what happened, and he agrees it would have been nice if he’d had more time:
I wish I would have been able to stay on the other side of the fence a little longer, to be honest. I don’t think anybody’s really seen me as a babyface ever, or, like, the way that I envision myself being. I don’t think people have any idea what I can do on the other side. But, you know, what’s done is done. If I’m gonna speak candidly about it, I would have done it differently. I would have turned on Kofi differently at a different time. I ended up being wrong because once I did it, I knew that was the right time and place.
One reason KO doesn’t regret doing the turn early is because it took people by surprise. When it comes to shocking twists, he takes inspiration from from Hollywood twist-master M. Night Shyamalan:
You know the movie The Village? The M. Night Shyamalan movie? I watched that movie and the ending blew me away, and afterwards, I had so many people tell me, “Oh, I saw it coming, I called it.” You’re full of it, there’s no way you called that. It’s the same thing here. You knew there was gonna be some sort of swerve but there’s no way — I really don’t think people expected it to be that quick.
What really made it more effective is how much people like Kofi.
Admittedly, I’m one of those people who didn’t think the twist in The Village was that hard to guess, but I’m no good at the stuff Kevin Owens is good at, so there’s no cause for judgement.
