History YMMV / KevinSteen

Even becoming the WWE Universal Champion, which should be a crowning achievement, did absolutely ''nothing'' to quell this. First off, there's the fact that Wrestling/TripleH interfered and Pedigreed Wrestling/RomanReigns to leave him prone for a cover by Wrestling/SethRollins, then in a ShockingSwerve did the same to Rollins so that Owens could cover him, both figuratively and literally ''handing the championship to Kevin Owens''. As the champ, Owens has been firmly in the role of a cowardly heel as well as the fifth most important person '''at best''' out of seven in the overarching storyline involving his own title reign (certainly behind Rollins, Triple H ''[who hasn't even shown up since that night!]'', Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon and Wrestling/MickFoley; and it's debatable where he ranks compared to Reigns and Wrestling/ChrisJericho). To date he hasn't retained his belt cleanly at all, needing to rely on the help of his new best friend Jericho to cheat. His character has become comically incompetent, the badass he once was in NXT is non-existent, and it's pretty clear that if he were to fight the likes of Rollins or Reigns with no Jericho or cheating around, he would lose with ease. It's even been noted that Reigns has come off stronger than Owens at the end of '''every single segment/match since he became Owens' main challenger in the feud''', thus further burying his credibility.

** His relationship with Wrestling/SamiZayn comes off as a bitter breakup, starting when Owens came out to celebrate Zayn's NXT title win (including hugging him, exchanging forehead kisses, and cuddling on the ring apron) and then turned around and powerbombed him into oblivion. The deep, unending, irrational hatred that Steen had for Generico has almost certainly continued to their later incarnations, no matter how much Owens denies it, and it proves Steen's statement about how they were "destined to do this ''forever''." That adds the FoeYay component that makes their entire enmity seem like some kind of love/hate MasochismTango.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic
** Fitting or not, "Unsettling Differences" is awesome.
** On sixsecondsmagic.bandcamp.com/track/antichrist2 a more fitting theme was attempted, and is probably just as good.
*** Website/YouTube user [=AllisonScream=] took the vocals of "[=ANTICHRIST2=]" and the music of "Unsettling Differences" to create the equally amazing mashup [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fiTIBG6U1g "Kill, Steen, Kill!"]]
** His new theme, "Fight".

* AuthorsSavingThrow: WWE slid ''dangerously'' close to screwing up KO's return from injury in 2019 by having the white-hot Wrestling/KofiKingston replaced in a WWE Title match by KO at the last moment by [[Wrestling/VinceMcmahon]] fiat with absolutely no setup. Given that KO was clearly meant to be returning as a Face, this had the potential to go [[Wrestling/{{Batista}}]]-in-2014 levels of sideways. Clearly WWE learned their lesson to some point this time around, because they made very sure to have KO acknowledge that Kofi was getting screwed and even team with him at one point.

* FridgeBrilliance:
** Kevin Owens doesn't give a crap about the US Title, despite it theoretically being on a 'higher' level than his own NXT Championship — which seems weird on the surface until you realize:
*** Owens may know that the only reason Cena even has the title in the first place is to help change its perception, and history seems to indicate that guys that hold the NXT Title for a significant length of time go on to very good success on the main roster, while United States Champions can tend to get 'stuck ' at that level and aren't able to advance beyond it.
*** The "Nationalistic pride" thing the US Title doesn't mean much to Owens. He's from Canada.
** After the two exchanged clean victories over one another, Owens decided he wants Cena's title. Because (A) he was probably bothered by Cena's "I would give you the title back but you're not a real man" backhanded compliment from the night after Payback, and (B) now it's become a matter of proving "once and for all" who the better man is.
** Kevin's attack on Machine Gun Kelly, powerbombing MGK through a table at the end of his performance the night after Elimination Chamber. He did it [[ForTheEvulz because he felt like it]]. Well, [[UnreliableNarrator according to him]]. But why did he feel like it? Could it possibly be because he knows from Wrestling/WrestleMania 28 that MGK is a huge supporter of John Cena?
*** He did later say that Cena was [[NeverMyFault ultimately to blame]] for what happened, perhaps confirming this one.
** Kevin Owens uses a pop-up powerbomb as his finisher. The name almost sounds like [[PapaWolf Poppa Powerbomb]].

* VillainHasAPoint: One reason why so many fans cheer for Owens is because he says the one major thing that - in {{Kayfabe}}, at least - [[IWouldSayIfICouldSay they're not allowed to say out loud]]. Namely, that for the past decade [[WolverinePublicity WWE has been all about John Cena and no one else]]. (Of course, even in kayfabe it's been acknowledged that many fans can't stand Cena, but [[CreatorsPet this doesn't seem to affect Cena's standing within the company much at all]].)

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome
** Fitting or not, "Unsettling Differences" is awesome.
** On sixsecondsmagic.bandcamp.com/track/antichrist2 a more fitting theme was attempted, and is probably just as good.
*** Website/YouTube user [=AllisonScream=] took the vocals of "[=ANTICHRIST2=]" and the music of "Unsettling Differences" to create the equally amazing mashup [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fiTIBG6U1g "Kill, Steen, Kill!"]]
** His new theme, "Fight".

** His relationship with Wrestling/SamiZayn comes off as a bitter breakup. The deep, unending, irrational hatred that Steen had for Generico almost certainly continued to their later incarnations, no matter how much Owens denies it, and it proves Steen's statement about how they were "destined to do this ''forever''." That adds the FoeYay component that makes their entire enmity seem like some kind of love/hate MasochismTango.

*** Zayn and Owens are even MORE affectionate as a heel team, constantly hugging and hanging all over each other, and [[https://youtu.be/scBzkFqtUaU?t=3m43s Owens once again kissing Zayn]], this time on live television. They were described at the beginning of their ''Ride Along'' episode as LikeAnOldMarriedCouple, and mentioned a time during their indie days they "accidentally" watched a porno together.

** Kevin's attack on Machine Gun Kelly, powerbombing MGK through a table at the end of his performance the night after Elimination Chamber. He did it [[ForTheEvulz because he felt like it]]. Well, [[UnreliableNarrator according to him]]. But why did he feel like it? Could it possibly be because he knows from WrestleMania 28 that MGK is a huge supporter of John Cena?

*** Zayn and Owens are even MORE affectionate as a heel team, constantly hugging and hanging all over each other, and [[https://youtu.be/scBzkFqtUaU?t=3m43s Owens once again kissing Zayn]], this time on live television.

** To say nothing of their grudge match at ''Final Battle 2010'', where Steen outright ''kissed'' Generico on the lips. If you rewatch the entire Steen/Generico feud with HomoeroticSubtext[=/=]FoeRomanceSubtext in mind, hearing Steen call Generico an "infection" that he just can't get rid of, the constant mind games, and his fixation with Generico's mask and desire to show the world Generico's "ugly" face can be read as Steen being attracted and/or in love with Generico and trying to sublimate it through violence directed at the object of his "affection".

*** Owens may be GenreSavvy in knowing that the only reason Cena even has the title in the first place is to help change its perception, and history seems to indicate that guys that hold the NXT Title for a significant length of time go on to very good success on the main roster, while United States Champions can tend to get 'stuck ' at that level and aren't able to advance beyond it.

* BadassDecay: KO was an absolute monster in NXT, where he was the BigBad KnightOfCerebus who terrorized the entire roster and created a much darker mood shift for the division by shelfing several top stars, and showed flashes of it on the main roster…until they gave his first feud to Cena. While Owens managed to [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome win the first match]] [[CueTheFlyingPigs clean]], two subsequent losses effectively made that win look like a fluke. After that, he became the Intercontinental Champion, which seems good on paper, but at the time said title had lost so much prestige it was considered by many fans to be the kiss of death for a wrestler. While he wasn't booked into a losing streak like previous Intercontinental Champions, the lack of any meaningful feuds and the fact that he was now fighting guys like Ryback (who hadn't been relevant in years) and Dean Ambrose (another talented guy who the WWE was treating like a jobber) took away a lot of interest in his matches. In non-wrestling terms, he went from being an outright HeroKiller, to being a glorified EliteMook. The fact that he was also toned down from a [[ highly intelligent, ruthless sociopath and MagnificentBastard who was just as much a physical threat as a mental one to a [[SmugSnake generic cowardly heel]] ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f756p14Lr2U a common critique is that he went from "Fight Owens Fight!" on NXT, to "Run Owens Run!" on the main roster]]) certainly didn't help matters.\\

* CharacterRerailment: [[spoiler: After months of BadassDecay (as discussed above), his betrayal and hellacious beatdown of Chris Jericho has gone a good way in starting to repair his Badass [[TheSociopath sociopath]] character from NXT.]]

** His relationship with Chris Jericho. The two always refer to the other as "My best friend", they are rarely out of each other's company, and very affectionate with one another (Owens even kissed Jericho on the cheek when he helped him beat Roman at Hell in a Cell 2016). When Owens broke Jericho's trust, he was wracked with guilt and was desperate for his forgiveness. Going so far as to stand outside Jericho's dressing room, pleading with him to accept his apology.

* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Attacking Wrestling/ChrisJericho on the 2/13/17 episode of RAW after Jericho dedicated an entire segment praising their friendship.]]

Even becoming the WWE Universal Champion, which should be a crowning achievement, did absolutely ''nothing'' to quell this. First off, there's the fact that Wrestling/TripleH interfered and Pedigreed Wrestling/RomanReigns to leave him prone for a cover by Wrestling/SethRollins, then in a ShockingSwerve did the same to Rollins so that Owens could cover him, both figuratively and literally ''handing the championship to Kevin Owens''. As the champ, Owens has been firmly in the role of a cowardly heel as well as the fifth most important person '''at best''' out of seven in the overarching storyline involving his own title reign (certainly behind Rollins, Triple H ''[who hasn't even shown up since that night!]'', Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon and Wrestling/MickFoley; and it's debatable where he ranks compared to Reigns and Wrestling/ChrisJericho). To date he hasn't retained his belt cleanly at all, needing to rely on the help of his new best friend Jericho to cheat. He's also firmly in a comedic role where the badass he once was in NXT is non-existent, and it's pretty clear that if he were to fight the likes of Rollins or Reigns with no Jericho or cheating around, he would lose with ease. It's even been noted that Reigns has come off stronger than Owens at the end of '''every single segment/match since he became Owens' main challenger in the feud''', thus further burying his credibility.

* BadassDecay: KO was an absolute monster in NXT, where he was the BigBad KnightOfCerebus who terrorized the entire roster and created a much darker mood shift for the division by shelfing several top stars, and showed flashes of it on the main roster…until they gave his first feud to Cena. While Owens managed to [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome win the first match]] [[CueTheFlyingPigs clean]], two subsequent losses effectively made that win look like a fluke. After that, he became the Intercontinental Champion, which seems good on paper, but at the time said title had lost so much prestige it was considered by many fans to be the kiss of death for a wrestler. While he wasn't booked into a losing streak like previous Intercontinental Champions, the lack of any meaningful feuds and the fact that he was now fighting guys like Ryback (who hadn't been relevant in years) and Dean Ambrose (another talented guy who the WWE was treating like a jobber) took away a lot of interest in his matches. In non-wrestling terms, he went from being an outright HeroKiller, to being a glorified EliteMook. The fact that he was also toned down from a [[ highly intelligent, ruthless sociopath and MagnificentBastard who was just as much a physical threat as a mental one to a [[SmugSnake generic cowardly heel]] ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f756p14Lr2U a common critique is that he went from "Fight Owens Fight!" on NXT, to "Run Owens Run!" on the main roster]]) certainly didn't help matters. [[spoiler: Though he seems to have finally rectified this by becoming the WWE Universal Champion]].
** Nope, he's still decayed badly. Owens is the world champ but he's firmly in the role of a cowardly heel. To date he hasn't retained his belt cleanly at all, needing to rely on the help of his best friend Chris Jericho to cheat. He's also firmly in a comedic role where the badass he once was in NXT is non-existent, and it's pretty clear that if he were to fight the likes of Seth Rollins or Roman Reigns with no Jericho or cheating around, he would lose with ease.

** Kevin Owens doesn't give a crap about the US Title, despite it theoretically being on a 'higher' level than his own NXT Championship - which seems weird on the surface until you realize: