WWE closed the pre-brand split era with possibly their best pay per view of the year so far: WWE Battleground. But the night’s best moment wasn’t in the Shield Triple Threat main event, nor was it during Enzo Amore’s pre-match promo. No…the best moment of the whole card happened between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.
They didn’t just have the match of the night – they had a Match of the Year contender. And do you know why? Because it was based purely on one thing: character. Every brainbuster-to-the-apron, every superkick-to-end-an-attempted-
Kevin Owens didn’t start out as a bad guy. He was the best friend of NXT’s lead babyface, Sami Zayn. But on the 11th December, 2014, at NXT Takeover: R Evolution, he traded in that friendship to make a name for himself in WWE. Ever since that day, he’s wanted to forget how he turned on his best friend. He’s tried moving rosters. He’s tried denial, pretending that he never did anything wrong in the first place. But Sami Zayn is the ghost of Kevin Owens’ past. He cost him the Royal Rumble. He cost him his Intercontinental Title at Wrestlemania 32. And at WWE Battleground, the chain of events that Owens started on December 11th, 2014, came to its inevitable conclusion – a match to end their blood feud.
So what was this hallowed ‘Best Moment’? Near the end of the match, Owens keeps slapping Zayn down, but every time, Sami would slowly sit back up. Owens slaps him down again. Zayn gets back to his knees.
Owens starts to lose his composure. Zayn isn’t just his fiercest rival, he’s the physical embodiment of Owens’ darkest demon: when KO betrayed his best friend to advance his career. And like Lady MacBeth’s endlessly bloody hands, or the ghost of Jacob Marley haunting Ebenezer Scrooge – Owens can’t shake him. KO sold his soul for success, and Zayn is that deed’s toll.
Zayn gets up again – barely conscious – and Owens screams at him: “Why? Why won’t you stay down?!” He delivers another slap to send Sami crashing to the mat. This isn’t ‘Prizefighter Owens’. This isn’t just a match to progress his career. This is personal; this is a match where he’s facing his own humanity.
Zayn sits up again, and then comes the moment: “Don’t make me do this!” Owens screams. Despite all Kevin’s bravado, all the times he claims not to care about anyone but himself, all the deluded promos protesting that he’s the one who’s been wronged… his true feelings escape. He shows remorse. He doesn’t want to hurt his best friend anymore. And that’s when Kevin Owens realises…
…he’s the bad guy.
And he crumbles. He slaps Sami one more time, but his heart isn’t in it. He gives up. Sami slaps him back, suplexes him into the turnbuckle, throws him across the ring. Two Helluva kicks and the match is over. Sami Zayn has beaten Kevin Owens.
But really, deep down, Kevin Owens beat Kevin Owens. The flawed villain realised that he was in the wrong, and sacrificed himself for redemption.
Oli Davis is the host of the WrestleTalk News. You can follow him on Twitter @OliDavis.
