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Kevin Owens is yet to have a memorable WrestleMania moment. His match at WrestleMania 32 (aka KO-Mania) was good but he was always going to play a bit-part role in a seven-man ladder match, while his battle with Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 33 (aka KO-Mania 2) fell short of expectations.
As highlighted in his recent ‘365’ documentary on the WWE Network, Owens has had a difficult few months since his match with Y2J, which was criticised by Vince McMahon, and he was recently sent home from WWE’s European tour for disciplinary reasons.
With WrestleMania 34 (aka KO-Mania 3) a few months away, we take an early look at five possible matches that the former Universal champion could have in New Orleans next year.
#1 Finn Balor
WWE has teased on a couple of occasions that Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn will be fired from SmackDown Live, while the pro wrestling rumour mill seemingly has an update every week on the duo’s possible switch to Raw.
If that does happen, it will surely be because WWE has a long-term opponent in mind for Owens. That opponent, out of all the faces he could possibly take on from the Raw roster, is likely to be Finn Balor.
The former Universal champions have plenty of history together and put on an incredible match in Tokyo when they fought over the NXT Championship at the Beast In The East event in 2015.
Owens recently revealed that he’d love to have a match with Balor on the biggest stage, saying: “He's probably the one guy if I could sit across from in the ring at WrestleMania, that would make my career.”
#2 Sami Zayn
From the ‘List of Jericho’ to the ‘Festival of Friendship’, Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho’s storyline on the road to WrestleMania 33 was one of the most entertaining WWE had told in years.
Fast forward to now and a similar story, only with Sami Zayn playing the role of Jericho, is being told in the months leading up to WrestleMania 34. When Zayn refers to the duo as “Team Kevin & Sami”, Owens corrects him by insisting their team name is “Team Sami & Kevin” – just like last year with KO and Y2J.
Will it lead to another Owens betrayal? Or, better still, will it lead to a betrayal from the rejuvenated Zayn? Or will neither of them betray the other and will they remain best friends until the end of time?
Whatever happens, Zayn is more relevant now than he’s ever been in WWE, and if the current storyline leads to a WrestleMania 34 match between the bitter enemies-turned-best friends, then very few people would complain.
#3 Randy Orton
Of the current faces on the SmackDown Live roster, Randy Orton is the biggest star who Kevin Owens is yet to meet in a singles match on pay-per-view.
They’ve been involved in plenty of matches together on SmackDown – another is scheduled for next week – but they haven't had a long-term feud since Owens was called up to the main roster in 2015.
The two are always taking shots at each other on Twitter and it wouldn’t take much to transfer their ongoing social media beef into a storyline that can be told on television.
Time is running out for Orton to turn heel, as many have predicted, before next year’s show in New Orleans. Assuming "The Viper" remains a good guy, Owens is probably the best opponent he can square off with.
#4 The Usos
The Usos are a two-time Slammy Award-winning Tag Team of the Year who have held tag-team gold five times in WWE since their main-roster debut in 2010, yet they have never made an appearance on a WrestleMania main show.
After what has undoubtedly been the best year of their careers so far, they will surely have a spot on the main card, not just the kickoff show card, when WWE descends upon New Orleans for WrestleMania 34 next year.
The SmackDown Live tag titles weren’t even defended on WrestleMania 33. Since then, The Usos, along with The New Day, have worked hard to ensure the least relevant title in WWE now feels just as prestigious as the tag titles on Raw.
It might seem a demotion to have Kevin Owens challenge for tag titles at WrestleMania, especially when we’ve seen him in main events as a singles wrestler over the last year, but WrestleMania is all about making memorable moments and stealing the show – and KO & Sami Zayn vs. The Usos has show-stealer written all over it.
#5 Andre The Giant Battle Royal
I know, Kevin Owens fans, I know. The former Universal champion may seem above the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but sometimes there just isn’t enough space on the card for every major Superstar to have a featured match at WrestleMania.
Look at WrestleMania 33 when Dean Ambrose was competing on the kickoff show just a few months after holding the WWE Championship, or WrestleMania 31 when Daniel Bryan was the most popular Superstar in the company but had to make do with being in a seven-man ladder match.
It would obviously be a significant step down for Owens if he were to be included in a match along with 20+ other guys but, as we outlined when we considered who Braun Strowman could face in New Orleans, it just might work if a big enough deal is made out of the match.
