Kevin Owens

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

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Austin, WWE Reportedly Discussing Another Match

After making his in-ring return earlier this year at WrestleMania 38, WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is reportedly considering having another match.

According to Fightful Select (h/t H Jenkins of Ringside News), WWE made Austin an offer to have another match, and it is believed it would take place at next year's WrestleMania 39 if an agreement is reached.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News) followed up by noting "there is smoke to that fire," adding that discussions between the sides are ongoing.

Prior to this year, Austin had not wrestled a match since WrestleMania 19 in 2003. Austin retired after losing to The Rock at that event, primarily due to a neck injury he had suffered years earlier.

Austin remained retired for nearly 20 years, and it seemed unlikely that he would ever come out of retirement, but he did precisely that at age 57.

The Texas Rattlesnake was essentially coaxed out of retirement by Kevin Owens, who made disparaging remarks about Austin's home state of Texas ahead of WrestleMania 38 being held there.

Owens invited Austin to be a guest on The KO Show at WrestleMania, and no match was officially advertised, but they agreed to have a bout in the middle of the segment.

It was a No Holds Barred match, meaning Austin didn't have to do anything huge, but he went above and beyond what anyone could have expected given his age and how long he had been out of the ring.

Austin beat Owens in the main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania 38, and the live crowd ate up every second of it.

It is unclear who Austin's opponent would be if he wrestles again at WrestleMania 39 in Inglewood, California, but popular names making the rounds on social media include fellow WWE legend John Cena and CM Punk, should the latter leave AEW as expected.

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Owens Reportedly May Miss WarGames Due to Injury

WWE reportedly may have to call off major plans involving Kevin Owens at Survivor Series WarGames due to an injury.

According to Meltzer (h/t Mukherjee), WWE had planned for Owens to be the final member of the babyface team in the likely WarGames match against The Bloodline, but that may no longer be the case after he reportedly went down with a knee injury.

Meltzer noted that Owens suffered a sprained MCL during a match against Austin Theory at a live event on Sunday night, and depending on the severity of the injury, it may keep him off the Survivor Series card.

Owens was reportedly supposed to be a surprise member of the WarGames team that is slated to include Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, Butch and Ridge Holland. It would have been a natural fit since Owens' longtime friend and rival, Sami Zayn, is in The Bloodline.

WWE has yet to officially announce the men's WarGames match, but the stage was clearly set for it last week on SmackDown when McIntyre and The Brawling Brutes confronted and attacked The Bloodline.

Several weeks ago, Owens was actively involved in The Bloodline storyline. He tried to convince Zayn that the group was using him, and he also vowed to get another shot at Roman Reigns and the undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

Without explanation, KO was removed from television, and it now seems likely that the reason for taking him off WWE programming was to position him as a surprise entrant in WarGames.

If Owens is unable to take part in WarGames, it is unclear who will replace him. Based on which current Superstars have had involvement with Reigns and The Bloodline in recent memory, Seth Rollins, Brock Lesnar, Edge, Matt Riddle or a member of New Day stand out as potential candidates.

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McIntyre Reportedly Impressing WWE with Busy Schedule

Drew McIntyre has reportedly caught the attention of people within WWE in a positive way thanks to the busy schedule he has been working lately.

According to PWInsider.com's Mike Johnson, McIntyre is garnering praise in WWE for being on the road for several weeks in a row.

The Scottish Warrior's hectic travel schedule reportedly took him from the United States to Germany and Switzerland, followed by Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel. He then went to India for a movie role and returned to the U.S. for SmackDown and live events.

Ever since he was pushed to the top of the card and became WWE champion in 2020, McIntyre has been a workhorse and one of the faces of the company.

That didn't lead to McIntyre knocking off Roman Reigns to become WWE universal champion at Clash at the Castle in September, but he has been a key cog in the operation nonetheless, and one of WWE's top babyfaces.

His status was solidified last week on SmackDown when he was among those to confront Reigns and The Bloodline, seemingly setting the stage for a WarGames match at Survivor Series.

While there is no imminent end in sight to Reigns' run as world champion, it has always felt like an inevitability that McIntyre will get back to the top at some point.

Given how committed he is to WWE and to being one of the company's most popular stars, he figures to get his opportunity to hold championship gold again one day in the not-too-distant future.

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Owens Praises WWE's New Creative Philosophy

WWE is about three months into a new regime following the retirement of Vince McMahon, and Kevin Owens is among those who have enjoyed the changes implemented since then.

Appearing Monday on Fox Sports' The Happy Hour (h/t H Jenkins of Ringside News), Owens expressed his belief that there is a different feel to the product, which has resonated with the performers:

"Just the presentation of the show has been different, and the matches and the mentality behind them, and the perspective … I don't know if that makes a whole lot of sense to somebody that's just watching at home, but to us in the locker room and the Performance Center, I think it's just kind of a different way of thinking about what we do now.

"But it's been fun, and it's been energizing in a way as well because this brings a different energy, and everyone's kind of excited to do their part to make the show as good as possible, so it's been pretty exciting for sure."

When McMahon retired from his positions as chairman, CEO and head of creative, it became a collaborative effort to replace him.

His daughter, Stephanie McMahon, was named chairwoman and co-CEO along with Nick Khan. Stephanie's husband, Triple H, was then promoted to head of creative and vice president of talent relations.

Triple H already had plenty of experience as a booker in NXT, which made him a natural fit for the job, and he hasn't wasted any time in putting his stamp on the company.

In addition to changing the overall essence of the product, Triple H has brought back several Superstars who were released in 2020 and 2021, plus he has established new and exciting ideas, such as WarGames being part of Survivor Series next month.

One of Triple H's first orders of business was to reestablish Owens as a force to be reckoned with and as a babyface, and it seems likely that he will be a big part of the storyline involving Sami Zayn and The Bloodline in the near future.

While WWE is far from perfect with Triple H at the helm, he has made some major improvements in a short amount of time and made WWE a hot brand again.

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Michaels Downplays Apparent Past Issues with The Rock

There have long been rumors that Shawn Michaels treated The Rock poorly in the early days of his WWE run, but The Heartbreak Kid believes the speculation has been overblown.

Appearing this week on the Impaulsive podcast with new WWE Superstar Logan Paul (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), Michaels gave some insight into his relationship with The Rock in the past and more recently:

"I've never worked with him. His daughter [Ava Raine] is here [in NXT]. The times I've seen him, we've always gotten along okay. I don't think it was as bad as everyone made it out to be. I know that I gave everybody a hard time back when I was younger.

"When I came back, I made sure I went up to everybody and was at least like, 'Sorry.' That's the best that I could do. When I came back in 2002, and I knew there was going to be, 'We'll see.' It was important to me to go around and make amends and at least tell everyone, 'Sorry about the way I was. I have no excuse, I'm willing to earn back whatever. If you never talk to me again, I'm cool with that too."

Any talk of Michaels' mistreatment of The Rock has been secondhand, as neither he nor The Rock have gone on record as saying that they have ever had personal issues with each other.

Ahmed Johnson, who was in WWE when The Rock debuted and Michaels was at the top of the company in 1996, appeared on the UnSKripted podcast last year and said Michaels and other members of The Kliq attempted to hold The Rock back.

If there were any attempts to prevent The Rock from becoming a top star, they failed miserably, as he has gone on to become one of the biggest stars of all time in both wrestling and Hollywood.

Michaels himself has admitted that he wasn't a particularly good person in the mid-1990s and didn't treat people with proper respect, but he has seemingly changed significantly since then and made amends with some of those who he wronged.

Now, in an intriguing twist of fate, Michaels is the head of NXT and the person most responsible for shaping the early career of The Rock's daughter, who made her televised debut on Tuesday's episode of NXT.

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NBCUniversal Reportedly Happy with NXT's Recent Progress

Over the past year, NXT has gone back to being a true developmental brand for WWE, with the primary focus being on younger and less-experienced wrestlers.

That is in stark contrast to what it had become under Triple H's guidance, as experienced wrestlers from the independent scene largely dominated the scene.

The swift and sudden change to NXT rubbed part of the fanbase the wrong way, but NXT has seemingly hit its stride, and its television partner is reportedly happy with the progress.

According to Andrew Zarian of F4WOnline, NBCUniversal has had a positive attitude toward NXT in recent weeks, and much of that is because of the success of the Halloween Havoc premium live event.

Zarian noted that last weekend's Halloween Havoc show was NXT's most-viewed standalone premium live event since WWE Network first shifted to Peacock.

NXT's television ratings on USA Network have remained stable as well, even when going head-to-head against AEW Dynamite last week.

Despite NXT having a roster largely made up of lesser-known talent and AEW advertising a world title match between Jon Moxley and "Hangman" Adam Page, Dynamite averaged 752,000 viewers to NXT's 676,000.

A difference of less than 80,000 was an impressive performance on NXT's part, considering there were far bigger blowouts on AEW's part when it went head-to-head with NXT weekly, even when NXT had far more recognizable talent than it does now.

Ultimately, talent development is more important for NXT than television ratings now, but it is a positive sign that fans are seemingly becoming interested and engaged with the product and the young talent it features.

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Uncertainty Regarding Reigns' Next Opponent

Following his win over Drew McIntyre at Clash at the Castle thanks to interference from his cousin, Solo Sikoa, it is reportedly unclear who undisputed WWE universal champion Roman Reigns' next challenger will be.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of ThirstyForNews.com), Reigns will not be part of Extreme Rules on Oct. 8, and he isn't expected to have his next "major match" until Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 5.

Meltzer noted that while Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins have been teased as potential opponents and could face Reigns in the future, he has been told that neither of them will be The Tribal Chief's opponent at Crown Jewel.

Since beating Brock Lesnar to unify the world titles at WrestleMania, Reigns' appearances and matches have been fleeting. In fact, Clash at the Castle represented only his third televised title defense since WrestleMania.

With Reigns taking on a lighter schedule, it has arguably made his matches mean even more, and it has also allowed him to stretch his title run to beyond two years.

Any title defense Reigns has at this point is significant, and while Owens and Rollins would be great opponents, they apparently aren't on the immediate radar.

Karrion Kross makes sense as a potential challenger, given that he essentially gave Reigns a warning when he returned to the company last month.

Reigns could also possibly face Braun Strowman, who returned to WWE earlier this week and is seemingly ticketed to be a babyface on the SmackDown brand.

For now, it looks like Reigns will be left out of a major storyline for the next month, but his next rivalry is undoubtedly a topic of great interest to the WWE Universe.

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WWE Waiting for Right Moment for Heyman Return

Paul Heyman is waiting in the wing until the perfect time to make his return to WWE programming.

According to Meltzer (h/t Mukherjee), Heyman has been in attendance at "all the Smackdowns and major events" since he last appeared on television, but WWE has been holding off in order for him to make a "dynamic return."

Heyman has not been seen on WWE programming since SummerSlam when he was in Reigns' corner for the Last Man Standing WWE Universal Championship match against Lesnar.

When Heyman attempted to stop Lesnar from attacking Reigns during the match, The Beast Incarnate put his former advocate through the announce table with an F-5.

Heyman sold the spot perfectly and has been kept off TV ever since in an effort to fully sell the effects of Lesnar's signature move.

As a result, Heyman was not in Reigns' corner for his match against McIntyre at Clash at the Castle in Cardiff, Wales. Reigns didn't have The Usos or Sami Zayn with him either since McIntyre took them out the night before on SmackDown.

It was the unexpected main roster debut of Sikoa that bailed Reigns out, seemingly adding another member to The Bloodline and strengthening it even more.

Heyman is an integral part of The Bloodline in his own right, and there is little doubt that his presence makes the overall presentation and entertainment value of the group even better.

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Morgan Addresses Negative Crowd Reaction

Liv Morgan wasn't caught off guard when fans recently booed her following her win over Ronda Rousey at SummerSlam.

After Morgan won the Money in the Bank ladder match and successfully cashed in on Rousey to become SmackDown women's champion at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Morgan retained the title against Rousey at SummerSlam.

The finish was controversial, though, as Rousey's shoulders were counted down to the mat by the referee despite the fact that Morgan tapped out to an armbar just before the three count.

That led to Rousey attacking Morgan and the officials in a rage after the match.

On the ensuing episode of SmackDown, Morgan showed up with her arm in a sling and caught a promo in front of the live crowd, but she was met with some boos and a "you tapped out" chant despite being a babyface.

Speaking to Gorilla Position (h/t Mukherjee), Morgan divulged that the reaction didn't shock her, saying: "No, it didn't surprise me. I kind of weirdly anticipated it. But, in the same time, it kind of made me feel like I had a little bit of an edge because at the end of the day, the referee's decision is final and I'm still SmackDown women's champion."

A big part of the reason why Morgan won Money in the Bank and the SmackDown women's title seemed to be that there was an organic groundswell of support behind her from the WWE Universe.

Still, when a babyface isn't booked to look strong, it is often difficult to keep that support in place.

Morgan made amends at Clash at the Castle by scoring a clean victory over Shayna Baszler, but it remains to be seen if she will be able to regain the support she had back at Money in the Bank.

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