#8 Kevin Owens
Kevin Owens has done a marvellous job of elevating the United States title he held so dearly since he won it back from Chris Jericho back in May. The way John Cena elevated the very same title by having a great match after great match in his Open Challenge days, Owens has done the same for the belt in a different way.
KO has become the heel we’ve all yearned for over the past year. He’s given us more of the type of champion we got when he debuted rather than the goofy Universal Champ he had become on Raw. Also, much like Cena did for the belt, “The Prizefighter” has elevated the title to such a point that it can be argued that the United States Championship is the most high-profile title on Smackdown Live.
Owens, for weeks, has lobbied that “The Phenomenal One” shouldn’t be given another chance at his title, considering KO beat Styles via countout a few months ago at Backlash. However, Styles won a #1 contender’s Independence Day Battle Royal this past week to solidify his spot as KO’s next challenger. Then, inexplicably really, Owens dropped the title to AJ at a house show in Madison Square Garden this past Friday night.
Hopefully, the reasoning behind Owens dropping the title isn’t because of an injury because Owens was on a roll as US Champion. With wins recently over Styles and Chad Gable and putting his body on the line at the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, Owens has done more than enough to hold strong in our Rankings.
The job he did with the US title alone makes him worthy of this spot, and if he can defeat Styles once again, this time via pinfall or submission, and win his title back, Owens could catapult himself into our top 5 for the first time since being Universal Champion.
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