Why Kevin Owens Is in the Right in His Feud Against Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens have been feuding for Cody’s Undisputed WWE Championship. Although Rhodes has been cheered as the babyface in this rivalry up until this point, that might not be the best representation of what’s going on. It seems that there is some obliviousness to what Owens is saying, as everything he’s said up until this point makes sense. Although he may have taken it a step further than he needed to, the truth is that Owens is right in his hatred for Cody.
When Cody Rhodes decided to team up with Roman Reigns at WWE Bad Blood 2024, he showed that he had forgiven Reigns for everything he did to Cody, but Owens never did. What fans may forget is that Owens suffered the torment of The Bloodline more than any other wrestler in the company and has even been doing so since before Cody rejoined the company. Kevin’s heel turn on Rhodes was justified as Cody prioritized a partnership over a friendship. In late 2020, Jey Uso, Roman Reigns, and Paul Heyman began tormenting Owens, and that went on for years.
At Royal Rumble 2021, Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns competed in a Last Man Standing match for the WWE Universal Championship. This was after both Uso and Reigns, especially Uso, assaulted Owens on multiple occasions with no one around to help him. Reigns won the match by handcuffing Owens and then continued to attack him. Their rivalry fired up again in 2022, as Sami Zayn, Kevin’s best friend, decided to join The Bloodline and even attack Owens on multiple occasions. At Royal Rumble 2023, both Owens and Reigns met once again, with Roman successfully defending his now Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. However, it was after the match that The Bloodline began attacking Owens, even hitting him with foreign objects and tying him up to the ring. That was the same night that Zayn turned on Reigns to save Owens, but now he has also rejoined The Bloodline and has become friends once again with the Original Tribal Chief, even teaming up with him for Survivor Series WarGames.
Now that Cody Rhodes is friends with Jey Uso and has become friendly with Reigns, it makes perfect sense as to why Owens is upset at the current situation. At Saturday Night’s Main Event, both Owens and Rhodes competed in the main event for the WWE Championship, in a match that Rhodes retained in. However, instead of winning the match cleanly, he decided to use a chair to his advantage, meaning that he technically cheated in their bout. This then resulted in Owens attacking Rhodes after the match to the point where Cody was stretched out of the arena.
Considering this entire situation between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens and how far it has gone, it’s likely that the same will happen with Zayn, though it may be much more personal considering their history. Owens is also not done with his rivalry with Cody yet, as he walked out of Saturday Night’s Main Event with the Winged Eagle WWE Championship in his hands and is holding that title hostage. It seems that although Owens’ actions have gone too far, he has been justified in his feelings. Rhodes has been trying to change history and portray Owens as the bad guy in their feud, but the reality is that Owens is simply upset that one of his closest friends betrayed him by teaming up with his biggest enemy.
