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Kevin Owens is the latest big name to make headlines due to his WWE contract expiring fairly soon. Fightful Select reported that the former Universal Champion's deal is set to expire in January 2022 after previously signing a five-year agreement in 2018 that was subsequently restructured during the pandemic.
To add further speculation, Kevin Owens tweeted out the coordinates to Mount Rushmore on his Twitter, which was the name of his stable with The Young Bucks and Adam Cole at PWG.
The tweet was later deleted, but Owens also edited his bio location to say "Almost There." This has led many fans to believe that he may be the next WWE superstar to jump into All Elite Wrestling, especially as The Bucks changed there's to 'There'.
With the arrivals of Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson at AEW All Out 2021, there is an unbelievable amount of buzz behind the company right now. Two WWE superstars being happy working with the promotion, but still deciding to leave, is very telling.
CM Punk's return to wrestling for AEW also makes the company hotter than ever before. Off the heels of a superb AEW All Out 2021 pay-per-view, it seems that everyone views the promotion as bigger competition for WWE than it was previously. In this article, let's take a look at five reasons why Kevin Owens should sign with AEW.
#5 WWE's booking and developing new stars may be a problem for the company and Kevin Owens
Kevin Owens started off the year in a Universal Championship feud opposite top star of WWE, Roman Reigns. The two men had tremendous chemistry with one another and had a critically acclaimed rivalry from the end of 2020 to the beginning of 2021. However, he has seemingly fallen down the card since then.
Kevin Owens rekindled his career-long rivalry with Sami Zayn, with the two men meeting at WrestleMania 37. From there, he was briefly on the Intercontinental Championship scene before feuding with Happy Corbin over the past few weeks. It is safe to say that WWE didn't do the greatest job of maintaining KO's momentum coming out of his feud with Reigns.
This has been going on for quite some time in regards to Kevin Owens. He was initially given a significant push, winning the Intercontinental Championship, United States Championship and Universal Championship in his first two years in the company. However, Owens was pushed down the card in favor of Goldberg and other older stars too many times.
Mick Foley most recently went on an honest rant about why WWE has a problem with developing talent and why AEW has become the place top talent wants to work for. This may be a problem overall for the company, but also for talent such as Kevin Owens. He hasn't been given nearly the opportunities he has worked hard for and it may lead to his departure.
#4. Fresh matchups with the AEW roster for Kevin Owens
Kevin Owens has been with WWE since 2014. He had a fantastic run in NXT, winning the top prize in his first two months. Owens also put on great matches with Sami Zayn and Finn Balor along the way. KO made his main roster debut as NXT Champion and was immediately inserted in a feud against John Cena.
In his first main roster bout, Kevin Owens defeated Cena before dropping the next two matches to the 16-time world champion. Owens has had brilliant feuds with Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Shane McMahon during his six years on Raw and SmackDown. There are many matches that haven't been done multiple times for KO on either brand.
All Elite Wrestling has done an exceptional job of comprising a stacked roster of established names and rising stars. The main event and upper card scene has a few stars that Kevin Owens has faced in WWE like Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley and Malakai Black, but there are competitors like CM Punk, Kenny Omega, Hangman Page and MJF that he hasn't faced in a while or never at all.
The opportunity for fresh and dream matches is quite the tantalizing factor for someone who loves professional wrestling as much as Kevin Owens. He will see a roster of talent that is hungry and eager to lock it up with a wrestler as tenured and experienced as the Prize Fighter. It will help bring a new passion to an already passionate performer.
#3. Kevin Owens can join the hottest promotion in wrestling today
With Kevin Owens's deal about to expire, he has to look at every facet of both companies. Coming off the heels of CM Punk's AEW debut, it seemed like All Elite Wrestling was hotter than it ever was before. However, Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson leaving WWE and arriving at the promotion has only helped create even more buzz and momentum for the surging company.
The fans are very excited about all the possibilities now that the roster is as stacked as it has ever been. The array of talent in AEW at the moment stands up as one of the best rosters in wrestling history. Many would argue that it is reminiscent of the peak Attitude Era, Golden Age or NWA lineups from the past, which says a lot.
With all the new top talent and main event stars in AEW, one may argue when is it too much for the company? The potential arrival of Kevin Owens may only increase that argument in many ways. It will also start an issue with rising stars like Darby Allin, Sammy Guevara and Jungle Boy not having a chance to move up the card with so many top stars in the promotion.
Kevin Owens is a can't-miss superstar who should be given the world and have an opportunity to be a multi-time world champion for whichever company he is signed to. Although AEW may be over saturated at the moment, KO couldn't have had a better time to make a decision on whether he would re-sign with WWE or leave to go to All Elite Wrestling.
#2. Kevin Owens can have more creative freedom
The aforementioned booking for Kevin Owens in WWE is down to how creative view him. They know that KO is an extremely talented competitor who is a top notch worker and tremendous talker, but he has had brief stints in the main event scene at various points of his main roster run.
Kevin Owens has had limited changes to the character that developed before his time in WWE. Becoming the Prize Fighter in NXT was a revelation to WWE fans. His emotional speeches about wanting to win the NXT Championship for his family could have worked as a babyface, but KO's magnificent ability to warp noble values into a heel who hurts others to accomplish those goals was masterful.
That same level of detail about his character hasn't always been the case for Kevin Owens on the main roster. It has even led to him wanting to go back to NXT over the course of the past few years. A jump in All Elite Wrestling may open the door for promos with the same intricate storytelling.
Jon Moxley is the best example of this fact. During his initial run in developmental, he maintained a lot of his promos that got him a contract with WWE. His main roster run stifled that and put him into a shell of his former self due to the scripted nature. At AEW, he is free to become the best babyface promo in the business. KO could achieve the same renaissance in the company as well.
#1. Kevin Owens helped with the creation of AEW
The previously mentioned deleted tweet from Kevin Owens alluded to his past relationship with the Young Bucks and Adam Cole at PWG, but that is definitely not the end of his ties to AEW. KO formed a close friendship with Cody Rhodes during his time in WWE. The two men bonded due to their mutual love for Cody's late father, "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes.
When Cody Rhodes left WWE for greener pastures, Kevin Owens helped him on the next chapter of his journey. Owens told Cody that he needed to find a way to connect with Matt and Nick Jackson, while he also told the Young Bucks to take care of "The American Nightmare". This led to Cody joining the Bullet Club and forming a friendship with the Bucks.
The relationship flourished and brought immediate success for Rhodes upon leaving WWE. Cody won gold and became a top merchandise mover alongside the Young Bucks. Following an infamous tweet from Dave Meltzer, Cody set out on promoting an independent show in a large scale arena without the help of a major promotion, but he did get the help of Matt and Nick Jackson.
The three men promoted the "All In" pay-per-view in 2018 that was wildly successful and is seen as a predecessor to All Elite Wrestling. AEW President Tony Khan was in the crowd that night and often credits the success of the event for helping him realize there was a place for another mainstream promotion in wrestling.
Without the relationship between The Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes, there might not be an All Elite Wrestling today, so without Kevin Owens, there would be no AEW. His name often gets overlooked when talking about those responsible for what has become the hottest promotion in professional wrestling today. KO might not be the key player in the formation, but he is arguably the root.
With this in mind, it seems like Kevin Owens has plenty of incentive in finding interest in jumping ship. He has a great deal of friends up and down the roster as well as a new competition that will only make the move fruitful. That's why Kevin Owens's part in helping lead to the creation of AEW is the biggest reason why he should sign with the promotion.
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