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Following his defeat in an Intercontinental Championship open challenge against Seth Rollins on this week’s WWE Raw, Kevin Owens soaked up the adulation of his adoring Canadian fans before shockingly declaring, "I quit."
The former Universal champion didn’t appear last week on the episode of Raw after SummerSlam, where he lost in less than two minutes against Braun Strowman, and he was without a meaningful storyline heading into his impromptu match with Rollins this week.
In reality, KO signed a new long-term deal with WWE recently and he looks set to be a big part of the company for the next decade. However, in storyline, this hasn’t been a good year for Owens and the WWE Universe has been left wondering why he has decided to ‘quit’.
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Owens’ 2018 began with defeats in multi-man WWE Championship matches against AJ Styles, while he was on the losing side at WrestleMania 34 when he teamed with Sami Zayn against long-term rival Shane McMahon and the returning Daniel Bryan.
Since then, he has been involved in a summer-long rivalry with Strowman, which included a surprise victory in a steel cage match at Extreme Rules, but he ultimately lost the feud when he was squashed by “The Monster Among Men” at SummerSlam.
So, why exactly has the former NXT champion called it quits just moments after putting on the Match of the Night with Rollins on Raw? Let’s take a look at five kayfabe reasons that might have led to KO’s decision.
#5 He knows he needs allies to succeed in WWE
When Kevin Owens first stepped foot on WWE television as part of the NXT roster in December 2014, he labelled himself “The Prizefighter” and he didn’t need anybody’s help to fight his battles.
Nowadays, however, it’s a very different story. KO has been at his best over the last two years when he has had somebody by his side – Chris Jericho in 2016-17 and Sami Zayn in 2017-18 – and he hasn’t been the same since his alliance with Zayn ended earlier this year.
With nobody there to help in his battle with Rollins on Monday, perhaps Owens finally came to the realisation that he needs assistance if he’s going to become one of Raw’s most dangerous Superstars again.
#4 He’s fed up of losing
Nobody likes losing, especially when you’re at the peak of your career, but that’s the situation Kevin Owens finds himself in after an unprecedented run of defeats on both SmackDown Live and Raw in 2018.
Since teaming with Sami Zayn to defeat Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura at Clash of Champions in December 2017, Owens has lost seven of his eight PPV matches, with his only victory coming when he was launched through an announce table by Braun Strowman from the top of a steel cage at Extreme Rules, which meant he won the match.
Aside from that one victory, the former Universal champion has suffered PPV defeats in multi-man matches against AJ Styles (Royal Rumble and Fastlane), tag matches against Shane McMahon & Daniel Bryan (WrestleMania 34) and Strowman & Bobby Lashley (Backlash), and in three more matches involving Strowman (Greatest Royal Rumble, Money In The Bank and SummerSlam).
#3 He wants to be a good guy
At the end of NXT TakeOver: R Evolution in December 2014, Kevin Owens turned heel following Sami Zayn’s NXT Championship victory against Neville, attacking his best friend on his first night with the company to quickly establish himself as the brand’s top bad guy.
Since that day, KO has shown a few signs of having a good-guy character, particularly during his entertaining run alongside Chris Jericho, but he has remained a heel for almost the entirety of his time with NXT and WWE.
Maybe, just maybe, after nearly four years of dismissing fans as the enemy, Owens has had a change of heart and he was merely quitting his current persona that he has portrayed for so long.
#2 He wanted to make a statement to Vince McMahon
The relationship between Kevin Owens and Vince McMahon is very interesting to WWE fans who follow the goings-on of what happens behind the scenes in the crazy world of pro wrestling/sports entertainment.
Vince must be a fan of Owens – after all, he has been in non-stop storylines since his main-roster debut three years ago – but viewers of KO’s ‘365’ WWE Network documentary will have seen that the former Universal champion is constantly unsure about how he is perceived by the WWE owner.
Aside from his rivalry with Shane McMahon, there hasn’t been a lot of on-screen follow-up to Owens’ brutal attack on Vince on SmackDown Live last year, so perhaps this was the start of WWE reigniting that storyline, with KO trying to make a statement to somebody whose opinion he cares about more than most.
#1 He wants to return to SmackDown Live
Kevin Owens mentioned before his match against Seth Rollins that, after pleading for so long during his time on SmackDown Live that he wanted to return to Raw, things haven’t worked out as planned for him since joining the red brand in April.
It’s not impossible that someone can switch to a different roster outside of the Superstar Shake-Up; we saw it last year with Jason Jordan, Kane and ‘free agent’ John Cena, while Brie Bella is currently appearing on both Raw and SmackDown Live.
There’s a chance that KO’s cryptic “I quit” message was only aimed at his bosses on Raw and that he is holding out for a return to SmackDown Live in the not-too-distant future.
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