The best part of Drew/KO's heel turns is that they actually have good reason to be upset, just the way they've gone about getting "revenge" has been extremely heel-ish.
completely agree, same with Finn and his beef with Damien and Rhea... they have legitimate grievances, they are handling it in a petty or unethical way.
As a movie fan, those are the best kinds of villains. Liimonger from black panther is a great modern take on it. Other great ones from wrestling is CM Punk in both his second MITB cash-in and rivalry agianst Jeff Hardy and his turn on both Cena and The Rock, Daniel Bryan after becoming world champion and taking evironmentalism to the crowd, and Bret Hart which ultimately led to the imfamous "double Turn" match with Stone Cold at mania 13.
I was just marking out been waiting basically a decade for him to get to use the move in WWE. But kept getting blue balled like when he faced Cena and teased the move only to turn it into a type of slam at the end. Then when I went on RUclips I saw the title of a video Owens gives Orton a Piledriver I was like ohh shit did he finally hit it. Only to then see it was a normal version which should have known as it's Orton and at his age and injury history he's not taking any type of move he's never taken before. But figured if anyone was gonna take it besides Zayn it was gonna be Cody.
This is why banning the piledriver is one of the smartest things wwe ever did. AEW has made it so people yawn at the Canadian destroyer but wwe can make it look like someone tried to kill their opponent with a regular piledriver. It IS great.
I really wish those 2 could've had a match. They obviously can't due to Hunter having a pacemaker. Would like to see some promos between the 2 at least.
@@grindstone11 It was after the show ended. You can only see the confrontation online. If Triple H wanted to get himself over he would have come out on national TV. He's the boss, and the top guy is "hurt", I dont think it's unreasonable for him to come out and check on Cody.
I love theyre treating the piledriver like a deadly move, and rightfully so. Its a move that broke Austins neck, and is also a move thats actually banned in alot of combat sport's. Edit : my mistake it didn’t break his neck, it bruised his spinal column and caused him temporary paralysis.
Plus, it being common knowledge (relatively speaking) that it was banned for a long time. Makes it feel like KO is unhinged and actually trying to hurt people
@ with exception to the tombstone or the Canadian Destroyer, I think the piledriver in general was an outlawed move for at least 10-15 years minimum. I totally agree, it’s gave KO that thing he’s been missing. I would go as far to say that him doing the package piledriver is the most impactful move he’s done since he stopped doing the apron powerbomb. Which was also a very impactful looking move, hell it made Jericho not wanna take another. 😂
@@FatherJacksBrickit was. Punk pulled it out against Cena in their raw match in 2013 or 2014. When punk lost the belt to Dwayne, it was a match to see who gets him at WM. It should have been a 3riple 3hreat. But I won't get started on that debacle
I’ve gone back and rewatched this package piledriver several times. Each time I think holy crap that was flawless. Kevin’s execution of the move, Cody’s follow through and sell, the referees all instinctively doing the checks to see if Cody’s actually hurt, all of it was a textbook moment. Kevin Owens to me just jumped from one of the greats to one of the best.
This package driver was a thing of beauty. His head was far enough that Cody didn’t make contact at all yet watching it in real time looks like his head bounced off the mat. Kevin is such a safe worker. Thumbs up for both of these guys for giving us some water cooler talk.
I have no doubt Kevin is safe, proof is how he protected Steve Austin in a recent wrestlemania , but the vids great to break it down . Great explanation
He does the absolute safest piledriver I’ve seen. Kevin Owens is awesome, very very safe worker takes great care of his opponents. Also I think the reason why he gave Randy so much space is because Randy has a history of neck problems so he wanted to be extra careful.
Only guy imo that does better looking and safer Piledrivers is Chris Hero/Kassius Ohho as he was in the WWE. Bully Ray also imo has a fantastic looking Piledriver.
@@theamazingcj2748 Package is easily the best looking version normal ones and even Tombstones to me look less or just as impactful as a normal DDT to me. Package on the other hand you have their hands all wrapped up and are jumping into it. So looks like your trying to legit break someones neck with it.
I'm such a mark for him...him and Bray Wyatt are the reason why I came back to wrestling ~8 years ago, and he's been my favorite ever since. I would be so happy to see him become World Champion again. Ever since that Goldber travesty I felt he was owed another run with the big one...this time without the cowardly heel shtick, leaving just the perfect blend between comedic douchebag and unhinged badass while being completely humanly relatable
@@AgeofJP You know what's funny, I loved that whole year, and pretty much bailed on watching wrestling after the goldberg match, seeing styles, Steen, Moxley, Rollins, Anderson/Gallows, Bobby Roode, etc. all hit their peak in WWE was so cool, and they all deserved their runs. I've only been half paying attention to wrestling, but KO should be talked about for his legacy at this point. He's been doing insanely good work for so long, in so many different roles.
@@Nabbington-fn8ng first time I heard either has broken a neck in their career...which of course they haven't. It's one thing letting someone perform a piledriver, I agree for anyone learning the business it should be treated with utmost care and ideally should simply be avoided...but when it come to oldschool talents from the bygone era who have performed the move literally thousands of times without hurting anyone, then it's fair game as long as the opponent/partner trusts the person enough to perform it on them. KO is literally the ONLY one left from that era that can claim mastery over that move with the evidence to back it up. Sure some others have whipped out a piledriver or two along the years, but KO had it as his finisher for MANY years. If you didn't feel opposed to the Undertaker doing the Tombstone, it would be a double standard to be doubtful of Owens performing the Package Piledriver...this isn't an opening of pandora's box, KO might legitemately be the last wrestler that is trusted with performing a Piledriver...I know he isn't considered "old school" yet, but he's a veteran of his generation, people forget that despite being younger and joining the WWE family much later, he started his amateur career before Randy Orton, Brock Lesner and John Cena joined OVW. On the active roster today he's as old school and trustworthy as it gets. The Piledriver is fading out otherwise, the stigma around it is BAD and wrestlers generally respect that (except for particular "don't give a sh**" styles exclusive to the niche indies)...current NXT stars don't ever practice it.
Orndorff had the best piledriver, it looked like he was going to kill his opponent until you saw the replay that showed his head never touched the mat.
I love the way your descriptions are so set. I’m a blind viewer of wrestling. So explaining all the intricacies of one move is awesome. Keep it up. #TheViewFromABlindMan.
Im not asking this to be rude but do you watch it with any like assistance? I dont know if wwe does like audio descriptions as a service. I just cant imagine how difficult it could be to understand whats going at times from just the commentary. Sorry if this comes off as rude, not my intention was just curious
@ I hope that I have this response at the right spot. On iPhones, it’s kinda hard to distinguish where you are and who you’re responding to. But no for about a year WWE had audio description. It was set up through FOX. But once they went on strike, the audio description went away. I have seen this way since I was six years old and I’m 52 now. It’s hard to follow along with the commentary, but I do it as well as I can. Any other questions you can ask. I don’t have a problem with telling folks or helping folks to understand.
If I remember correctly, I think it was Aja Kong that came up with the package version of the piledriver. At least she was the first that I remember seeing that did it.
Every time I see a piledriver, I think about what happened to Stone Cold and, going back a while, Octagon in Lucha Libre who was paralyzed by a piledriver. Kudos to KO for protecting his opponents.
RVD sold the pile driver like a champ.His head bounced like a basketball on the mat. In contrast, Hawk of LOD no sold pile drivers. He would just stand right up.
Penta El Zero Meido also does the package piledriver. It'd be interesting to see a breakdown of his, not so much because his seems particularly different, but because from what I've seen, Penta tends to do his much more quicky and snappier; like he doesn't bring the other person up so much.
i think if it was anyone other than randy on that piledriver ppl might've been disappointed that it didn't look as impactful but because it is him and nobody wants him hurt it's easy to accept and keep it moving. that piledriver on cody looked brutiful
Triple H confrontation with KO finally certifies and elevates KO as the new top emerging heel of WWE. But he's not a heel born out of malice and jealously because Cody is WWE's top guy but he's a misunderstood hero and friend who helped Cody against their common arch enemy Roman Reigns only for Cody back stab everyone who helped him in his time of need and align with Roman to beat Solo's Bloodline. Cody might be babyface on the surface but behind he's a conniving backstabbing politician who joined hands with his arch nemesis and Kevin Owens might be portrayed as the heel but in reality he's a misunderstood hero, he's a man of principles who's doing the right thing. This story has too many chapters and can be played for a long period without bringing an abrupt end to the feud.
Re: Cody's right hand on the sell afterward -- I thought maybe it was a pre-planned symbol to let everyone in the ring know he was fine. But either way, the sell on this was a thing of beauty. I don't think he moved through the whole stretcher job, even when Kevin stood on top of him after. That's a 270-lb man standing on you, and he does it twice. Kudos to everyone involved in this entire segment.
Love the in-depth review and how safe it was done yet viscious looking but understanding your partner is giving you their body to take care of. Props to everyone invovled
The angle of fining wrestlers cam work in smaller promotions. It's hard to take seriously in WWE where fans expect the guys at the top like Kevin Owens to be making upper six or seven figures. ROH for example did it brilliantly where on the move to Sinclair, they stated that they would fines (I think it was $10,000) for a chair shot to the head. Which meant it got saved for guys who could work it reasonably safe and for bigger angles, such as Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin against The Briscoes. When the Briscoes hit Haas and Benjamin with chair shots to the head, they were taken off TV and stayed gone until in kayfabe they were able to come up with the money for their fines. Which made sense for them, as they were legitimately chicken farmers on top of being wrestlers. When Haas and Benjamin responded with chair shots of their own when the Briscoes came back, they handed over the payment in cash as they were leaving after the assault. With Kevin Owens, I would have Triple H and Nick Aldis both inform him that not only is he suspended indefinitely, but is going to be pursued legally for the return of the Winged Eagle belt. Then have him jump the barrier at the Royal Rumble, and again hit package piledrivers to both Cody Rhodes and whoever his opponent is before being taken out of the arena in handcuffs and Triple H telling him that he's fired. Even announce it on WWE's website, similar to how they suspended CM Punk after the pipe bomb promo. Maybe even have Owens afterwards post videos to his own social media threatening to destroy the Winged Eagle if he keeps receiving legal threats and is not re-hired, similar to how Mr. Perfect did with a hammer, Stan Hansen running over the AWA belt with his tractor, or Steve Austin throwing the IC belt into a river. WWE don't acknowledge them. But have members of the roster repost and reply about how disgusting this is, and the most it's mentioned on TV is maybe having Cody mention to Triple H or Nick Aldis backstage, "Have you seen his latest one? He's threatening to have his own car crushed with the belt inside." Cody can then campaign to have Owens reinstated, because he wants to get his revenge and also get that belt back. So the Rumble winner faces Gunther for the World Title at Mania, and Cody faces Owens in some type of no disqualification match. Perhaps even a ladder match with both titles hanging, similar to when both Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels were holding the IC belt despite it being Razor who was the recognised champion.
I wish Stevie would discuss the difference between a Terry Funk style slow falling backwards piledriver, and the Orndorff/Liger style kick the legs out, quick falling piledriver. Which is worse, or harder to take, etc.
Love Stevie's idea of KO "injuring" competitors above him in a ranking. Go further, have him do other banned things, like chair headshots, etc. Have some things done in matches where he gets DQ'd, one or two backstage. Make him an absolute fiend.
It's great that WWE sells the piledriver and even brought up the history of it being banned as a move (ignoring the Taker has been doing the Tombstone piledriver as a finisher for decades) unfortunately AEW just uses it as a transition move killing it and how dangerous it actually can be if done wrong
@@dgthe3 but the point is that ALL piledrivers are supposed to be banned in WWE this came from a long time ago as a selling of the dangers of the piledriver
@@jaybee4288 all piledrivers were banned, but just like everything in pro wrestling it only matters when they want it to matter. However they do only allow people to use it that have established a reputation of being a safe worker
@@dgthe3 only mildly one is on knees and one is on the butt, just like a package piledriver is only different in how they hold the person taking it. All 3 can be very dangerous which is why once upon a time WWE "banned" piledrivers but now they only allow people who have established being safe to use them like when Punk was allowed to use one, or Taker
Thank you for the analysis. When looking at the move, I didn’t notice or realize how much safer the package pildedriver is compared to a normal piledriver.
Personally, I'd never consider an overly safe pile-driver a botch. I don't need even a small chance of a wrestler's head spiking the mat to suspend my disbelief as a fan. I know pile-drivers are as real as Santa Claus; neck injuries are horrible and forever. My brain can fill the gap between Orton's head and the mat. Tell a compelling story and I'm good w/ it.
My point is,if it looks too safe/unrealistic,why bother using it at all? There's plenty of moves that look dangerous but aren't that could be used instead.
I agree with both of you. I can suspend some disbelief and still be invested in the story, but also, if the move is going to look kind of bad in irder to donit safely, then maybe not do it I also think alot of it has to do with selling and the camera guy, those things can still make a super save move look really devastating
I think the Orton one would have been fine if they were positioned more away from the hard cam so you didn't just see how obvious it was that Orton was nowhere close. You can see the difference in how dangerous the move looks between the Cody one filmed for TV and the fan cam. On the fan cam his head is more hidden so you don't see that Cody was nowhere close to touching.
@RAD1111able I think you’ve got to consider who does it look too safe/unrealistic too? If they convince the 8 year old boys and girls and the casual older fans I think that’s fine. There’s always going to be more invested fans who know how it all works picking holes in it. But I imagine for most people this was realistic/dangerous looking enough, especially with how they sold it with refs and commentators.
Week in and week out someones head is slammed against the announce table while we all really really obviously see their hands hitting the table. We suspended our disbelief a lot i personally didnt understand why the randy piledriver was something people couldnt do that for.
I don't understand what the difference between a piledriver and a canadian destroyer is. Why are canadian destroyers not banned when they end up in the same position as a piledriver?
I think the only person I've ever seen do the Package Piledriver before Kevin Owens on the indies was actually PCO. Fellow French Canadian! Man PCO rocks
I remember hearing Josh Alexander talking about how safe he is with protecting the opponent while using c4 spike because he knows what feels like to have a broken neck and he would never put them at harm big respect to him
First off, I could watch SR breakdown paint drying. This dude is just good. I love listening to experts break down their craft in such a clear and concise way. It’s entertaining and educational as all heck. And I don’t mean that it is going to inform my professional life knowing how to do a piledriver safely, but it does teach me how to better communicate things that I am an expert in.
You got three of the best in the business here. Not saying accidents don't still happen, but these guys would rather do a "botch" than actually hurt someone.
I'd love to see Stevie break down other wrestler's pile drivers. Bret Hart had a solid one, and I wanna say D;Lo Brown had a package piledriver but I might be getting it confused with a sit-out powerbomb. Kanyon I believe also used a piledriver of some kind.
You're definitely right about the package piledriver. It's definitely a Steener creation. The concept has been used before, sure, but that's like saying "plenty of people used something similar to the Tombstone".
KO ran a huge risk of shattering his tailbone for the sake of keeping Randy safe. That’s a true pro. “I will very likely get hurt. You won’t feel a thing. But it’ll look good.”
Can you do the same with the Pedigree. I found it complicated move. Someone got injured. And several people use in different versions like HHH, seth rollins, code rhodes, Stephanie and Randy orton.
A couple months back Stevie mentioned a Lt Worf Klingon award. I think you deserve it for being a great mid-carder/talent enhancer or "jobber". Being there to put guys over. Worf did that SO MANY times in Star Trek. If they wanted to show someone or something was strong they would have it beat up Worf. So yes 1000% Stevie is the Lt Worf of wrestling. You're both awesome! And you both gave us a sense of scale and power in your respective roles. How strong is this guy? Well show him beat up Stevie! How strong is this alien? He beat up Worf! Oh no!
I really like Stevie’s ideas and ways to get a little more intricate with the stories. Rational, logical thinking and good explanations about the wrestling business. Haven’t listened to taker since he had Trump on, Stevie and Maven are now my top 2 wrestling RUclipsrs
Stevie, you are such a likeable person and from what I hear people have nice things to say about you. I hope you are enjoying your self and I hope you know how well liked you are.
I seen something that pentagon Jr was a possible signing and this is one of his many deadly moves so I kinda seen this as a opening to allow these moves to actually be on tv with a real damage angle considering how dangerous pentagon is
The best part of this is Stevie pointing out that Shane Helms is in there, Charles Robinson is in there (man, how old would he be?), etc. - not everyone makes it 20 years as an on-screen talent so it's kind of neat to point out the faces that are still around.
Big time wrestling nerd moment, but the first I saw the package piledriver was when Aja Kong had her short run in the WWF in the mid-90s. The WWE Vault has the match on RUclips. Side note, I think Haku has an underrated piledriver.
the fact that cody left shoulder gently drops to his thighs in order to make it look devasting as well i mean u see many wrestlers do variants of these moves tht either just to much but kevin is so well he is an awesome performer so to have ppl trust him is a major statement if u will. cody and randy trust kevin as u said and i dont think they would trust someone fresh off nxt like per say trick williams or for arguement sake carmelo to give them a move like that because they havent worked with them as much. kevin worked randy and cody several times during his uprising from nxt when then cody was i think stardust but i could be wrong point blank i love what wwe is doing. hopefully we see a move like the punkhandle driver debut or the pepsi plunge at certain events. the pop would be insane. i love the vids man you always were and are my fav big stevie cool luv ya bro happy holidays!!!
MJF used to talk about being the champ to make the bigger purses, he was pretty much the only guy that took that angle and even he doesn't mention money much anymore as an incentive to be the best.
It's been a very long time since I've texted links to people like "look at this shit" lol...that package piledriver on Cody was absolutely awesome and looked amazing
excited to see the package piledriver in wwe. this means when pentagon jr. makes his debut he can maybe pull out that move too now that's it's fair to use >.>
I just find it weird they've taken this long to let anyone do a piledriver on TV despite multiple people at this point doing the Canadian Destroyer with no issues which is also a piledriver.
Owen Hart was one of the wrestlers who lead to banning of piledriver in wwf/wwe because of his botch piledriver on austin and now we have another owens(Kevin) who brought the move back
Stevie some people have stated that Cody heard a someone in the crowd say something after the piledriver from Kevin and that's why on one hand while he is still laying to sell he has his middle finger up flipping them off do you have an answer to that to clarify that statement?
With Cody's hand "locked up" after the pile driver, what a sell! But if you look again, to me it looks like he's also giving the "ok" sign to the back. I noticed it maybe the third time I watched it. Because his head is SO close to touching.
Stevie gives a genuinely brilliant storyline here. Its not complicated but it works easily. KO gets to be a disgusting heel, theres a number of hurt guys with a potential return match cycle with him afterwards too. People mock the Hogan style that doesn't work for me brother but this has the and then we do this attached to it that Bischoff podcast always mentions was how you could get even likes of Hogan to buy in
Who has the best version of a pile driver, my personal favorite is “storm zero” from Toni storm, after that would probably be Owen’s “package pile driver”.
I thought Randy was trying to stabilize his head/neck when he was selling, it was really well done. I don't care that in replay (especially slomo) you see that Randy's head is nowhere near touching the mat. He was out what - 18 months because of back/neck injury, and for a while it looked like his carreer might be over. For him to take a piledriver at all shows a) how safe KO is, b) how much Randy trusts him and c) how much more impact a move can have when it's basically banned and a heel uses it anyway. I think KO was being extra-careful with Randy because of his history with neck injury, but also because it was the first piledriver in a long time and he really didn't wanna mess it up. After all, there's a reason that for about 20+ years the only people in WWE (and I think a bunch of smaller promotions too) that were allowed to do piledrivers were Kane and Undertaker with their Tombstone variant, because they were (usually) especially safe with it. Regarding Cody - I've seen it said somewhere that the way he held his arms, hands and fingers was pretty much like people who are paralyzed, it looked scary as fork. As I mentioned - I don't care if you can see that he's doing it safely - I watch wrestling to be entertained and to get my mind off of the "real world". I don't need to see unnecessary injuries. Accidents happen and that's bad enough, but I'd rather see an unconvincing move than seeing someone break their neck for real. Plus unless you watch slow-mo replay, it really doesn't look very safe at all.
another option for Owens, he is no longer allowed a title shot for a year regardless of any other factors. The Rumble rolls around, entrant 29, R-Truth comes out but then Owens attacks him from behind pulling a Nia Jax then goes on to win the match. Next night on raw they have a 5 way to decide who gets the title shot as those are the people Owens eliminated, Owens interferes to a no contest. They try round robins, timed events, blah blah, etc etc same thing happens until 1st March we have Elimination Chamber, so rather than we have a championship match which really diminishes the Rumble winner (this really should not be the ppv between the rumble and Mania), we instead have a number 1 title spot in the Elimination Chamber and Kevin Owens has to start as number 1. Also means you now have 5 guys in the title picture for another month...possibly during the round robin, timed matches etc one of those other 5 actually gets a win over Owens resulting in them having a claim to the title after Owens wins it at Mania so that ties up May/ June depending if Owens gets a rematch. You then have a July, maybe the previous ppv didn't have a clean finish, maybe face won by count out or something, but in that rematch Orton returns leading you into Summerslam. and boom, thats half a years worth of story involving 8 different people.
Alternatively, the same start happens up until elimination chamber BUT he doesn't get the 6th spot. Seeing that the decision will stand he goes off on a year of trying to injure every opponent he is in a match with. This results in him being booked less and less due to no one wanting to wrestle him. By November/ December he is basically off tv, coming back at number 30 in the Rumble to take his title shot...against Cody or Orton. In this version they would have Cody vs Owens at this coming Mania but it would not be a title match and Owens wins. So 2026 when he wins the Rumble he is now going for the win for the title. over a year of Owens booking and with reduced usage near the end its less likely for him to get injured to allow for that long term goals.
I think a version of that piledriver punishment angle pitched by Stevie would be a great angle for Owens heat, maybe going through the Top 5 contenders
This was almost completely prefect. The only part i didn't like was after they got Cody on the board and Kevin stood on top of him holding the belt. He should have walked right out of the arena and never looked back.
I actually really enjoyed that part. It reminded me of the TRex roaring standing on its prey after a battle in JP. Which is quite funny because KO has a TRex tattoo on his arm.
@@QAZ-OMEN But its not realistic. If they thought Cody potentially broke his neck they wouldn't have let Kevin anywhere near him.... if Kevin thought he legitimately broke Cody's neck he wouldn't want to hang around to taunt about it, he would want to get out of there before he got held up by security or potentially arrested. I was buying into the potential injury until the second i saw that, and it took me out of it completely.
@@QAZ-OMEN Thats what was different about the Attitude Era and now... everybody overlooks that there was an element of realism and unpredictability that always kept everything in a grey area in the eyes of fans... You never knew when somebody might be going into business for themselves or not. even with all the incremental improvements WWE has made since Triple-H took over, there is still this air of scriptedness that doesn't really let fans question what might have actually been real...
@Robby_C I've been watching since before the Attitude Era, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this little bit of "over the top" at the end. Maybe it had something to do the tattoo, and that I just rewatched the og JP the day before.
@@QAZ-OMEN I've been watching since before the attitude era too... but that was part of what made the attitude era such a cultural phenomenon... that is the magic they are trying to recapture. There is nothing wrong with over the top, but its a matter of knowing the spots... this should have been handled more seriously, and i just think that little bit took it from serious to "just part of the show" right at the last second.... it was perfect up until that exact moment... at least for me.
The fact that Randy let Owens perform that move is a testament how how much Owens is trusted because Randy famously likes to be very safe in the ring
I think after the Wrestlemania match with Stone Cold, Kevin is trusted as one of the safest guys on the roster.
Dude wrestled Stone Cold on the 20s and made it 5 stars
You have to look at the history of him doing that move. He's done that to Sami Zayn on a ladder and he was fine.
There's a reason he worked Austin
The package piledriver looks way safer than the normal piledriver however them bringing it back like they did with the punt kick for Randy is great
The best part of Drew/KO's heel turns is that they actually have good reason to be upset, just the way they've gone about getting "revenge" has been extremely heel-ish.
completely agree, same with Finn and his beef with Damien and Rhea... they have legitimate grievances, they are handling it in a petty or unethical way.
@@Robby_C Yeah, Finn, Drew, and Kevin are all in the group of "you're not wrong, you're just an asshole" heels and I love them for it.
Seth might join the trend soon, and we'll see the 3 man power trip haters of the year squad.
As a movie fan, those are the best kinds of villains. Liimonger from black panther is a great modern take on it. Other great ones from wrestling is CM Punk in both his second MITB cash-in and rivalry agianst Jeff Hardy and his turn on both Cena and The Rock, Daniel Bryan after becoming world champion and taking evironmentalism to the crowd, and Bret Hart which ultimately led to the imfamous "double Turn" match with Stone Cold at mania 13.
The only guy who cost Drew the title from the Bloodline was Solo lol. Jimmy and Jay weren't even at Clash At The Castle.
My wife literally screamed when she saw Cody get package piledriver. She started cussing at Kevin on TV. 😂 She thought he killed him. It was great.
I was just marking out been waiting basically a decade for him to get to use the move in WWE. But kept getting blue balled like when he faced Cena and teased the move only to turn it into a type of slam at the end. Then when I went on RUclips I saw the title of a video Owens gives Orton a Piledriver I was like ohh shit did he finally hit it. Only to then see it was a normal version which should have known as it's Orton and at his age and injury history he's not taking any type of move he's never taken before. But figured if anyone was gonna take it besides Zayn it was gonna be Cody.
This is why banning the piledriver is one of the smartest things wwe ever did. AEW has made it so people yawn at the Canadian destroyer but wwe can make it look like someone tried to kill their opponent with a regular piledriver.
It IS great.
Hulk Hogan talking to Randy Orton after that driver: "Oooohhh, he got you, brother"
@@aorg9793 and then Hogan would say he got it too, watching the replay. 😀
Hogan just came out and said that Kevin "hurt" Cody and now he owes him one.😂😂😂😂😂
Undertaker has risen in the chat
Get Ortons wife and kids on the phone.
Hogan being asked to take a pile driver: "That doesn't work for me, brother"
Triple H coming out and yelling at Kevin really sold it.
I really wish those 2 could've had a match. They obviously can't due to Hunter having a pacemaker.
Would like to see some promos between the 2 at least.
Meh. It takes me out of it. TF is he coming out to get himself over for?
“Banned” lol
Lmao no it didn’t. It was cheesy asf and not in a good way
@@grindstone11 It was after the show ended. You can only see the confrontation online. If Triple H wanted to get himself over he would have come out on national TV. He's the boss, and the top guy is "hurt", I dont think it's unreasonable for him to come out and check on Cody.
I love theyre treating the piledriver like a deadly move, and rightfully so. Its a move that broke Austins neck, and is also a move thats actually banned in alot of combat sport's.
Edit : my mistake it didn’t break his neck, it bruised his spinal column and caused him temporary paralysis.
Plus, it being common knowledge (relatively speaking) that it was banned for a long time. Makes it feel like KO is unhinged and actually trying to hurt people
@ with exception to the tombstone or the Canadian Destroyer, I think the piledriver in general was an outlawed move for at least 10-15 years minimum.
I totally agree, it’s gave KO that thing he’s been missing. I would go as far to say that him doing the package piledriver is the most impactful move he’s done since he stopped doing the apron powerbomb. Which was also a very impactful looking move, hell it made Jericho not wanna take another. 😂
@@FatherJacksBrick It has been 24 years. This was a great way to put heat on Owens.
@@AlexanderUbel I swear it was used in a match in like 2013, I wanna say it was Punk & Cena? I could be completely wrong though.
@@FatherJacksBrickit was. Punk pulled it out against Cena in their raw match in 2013 or 2014. When punk lost the belt to Dwayne, it was a match to see who gets him at WM. It should have been a 3riple 3hreat. But I won't get started on that debacle
I’ve gone back and rewatched this package piledriver several times. Each time I think holy crap that was flawless. Kevin’s execution of the move, Cody’s follow through and sell, the referees all instinctively doing the checks to see if Cody’s actually hurt, all of it was a textbook moment. Kevin Owens to me just jumped from one of the greats to one of the best.
and some says it was the worst they ever seen ... probably some brainless aew fans but still some said that .. i was like wtf
I like it being a super finisher. Not sure why this didn't air on SNME.
A master class of in ring story telling right there. Something AEW needs to watch and learn how it's really done.
This package driver was a thing of beauty. His head was far enough that Cody didn’t make contact at all yet watching it in real time looks like his head bounced off the mat. Kevin is such a safe worker. Thumbs up for both of these guys for giving us some water cooler talk.
That's what really made it look devastating. It looked like his friggin head bounced. Very professionally given and taken spot.
I have no doubt Kevin is safe, proof is how he protected Steve Austin in a recent wrestlemania , but the vids great to break it down . Great explanation
He does the absolute safest piledriver I’ve seen. Kevin Owens is awesome, very very safe worker takes great care of his opponents. Also I think the reason why he gave Randy so much space is because Randy has a history of neck problems so he wanted to be extra careful.
Only guy imo that does better looking and safer Piledrivers is Chris Hero/Kassius Ohho as he was in the WWE. Bully Ray also imo has a fantastic looking Piledriver.
@@Noobie2k7those are not package pile drivers.
Not just the safest, but the best-looking. Shit looks like he killed him.
@@theamazingcj2748 Package is easily the best looking version normal ones and even Tombstones to me look less or just as impactful as a normal DDT to me. Package on the other hand you have their hands all wrapped up and are jumping into it. So looks like your trying to legit break someones neck with it.
Kevin Steen's "package piledriver" is one of my favorite moves from his arsenal.
He's one of the most underrated talents in wrestling today.
I'm such a mark for him...him and Bray Wyatt are the reason why I came back to wrestling ~8 years ago, and he's been my favorite ever since. I would be so happy to see him become World Champion again. Ever since that Goldber travesty I felt he was owed another run with the big one...this time without the cowardly heel shtick, leaving just the perfect blend between comedic douchebag and unhinged badass while being completely humanly relatable
moveset* 😉
@@AgeofJP You know what's funny, I loved that whole year, and pretty much bailed on watching wrestling after the goldberg match, seeing styles, Steen, Moxley, Rollins, Anderson/Gallows, Bobby Roode, etc. all hit their peak in WWE was so cool, and they all deserved their runs. I've only been half paying attention to wrestling, but KO should be talked about for his legacy at this point. He's been doing insanely good work for so long, in so many different roles.
2012 Ladder War. His package piledriver to Sami on the ladder at the end. That match made me lifelong fans of both him and Sami
Underrated ? Dude, he's praised everywhere.
The big thing is allowing people who have proven they can do it safely to do it like Owens and the undertaker.
Lol they've both broken necks
And aj styles broke people with styles clash - it ain't ballet, shit happens, injury can happen anytime
@@Nabbington-fn8ngno bud
@@Nabbington-fn8ng first time I heard either has broken a neck in their career...which of course they haven't.
It's one thing letting someone perform a piledriver, I agree for anyone learning the business it should be treated with utmost care and ideally should simply be avoided...but when it come to oldschool talents from the bygone era who have performed the move literally thousands of times without hurting anyone, then it's fair game as long as the opponent/partner trusts the person enough to perform it on them.
KO is literally the ONLY one left from that era that can claim mastery over that move with the evidence to back it up.
Sure some others have whipped out a piledriver or two along the years, but KO had it as his finisher for MANY years.
If you didn't feel opposed to the Undertaker doing the Tombstone, it would be a double standard to be doubtful of Owens performing the Package Piledriver...this isn't an opening of pandora's box, KO might legitemately be the last wrestler that is trusted with performing a Piledriver...I know he isn't considered "old school" yet, but he's a veteran of his generation, people forget that despite being younger and joining the WWE family much later, he started his amateur career before Randy Orton, Brock Lesner and John Cena joined OVW.
On the active roster today he's as old school and trustworthy as it gets.
The Piledriver is fading out otherwise, the stigma around it is BAD and wrestlers generally respect that (except for particular "don't give a sh**" styles exclusive to the niche indies)...current NXT stars don't ever practice it.
Sami callihan same
I remember how strongly the announcers used to sell the piledriver as a lethal move. It was a great finisher for Paul Orndorff.
Mad Dog Vachon used the "banned" piledriver to great effect to get heat and then sold it was a move "Banned in three states".
Orndorff had the best piledriver, it looked like he was going to kill his opponent until you saw the replay that showed his head never touched the mat.
Orndorff and Lawler
Macho man had the best pole driver
Adam Pearce has a good one same with Terry Funk
This is a brilliant use of the piledriver. Make it rare for occasions like this.
Fantastic breakdown as usual.
I love the way your descriptions are so set. I’m a blind viewer of wrestling. So explaining all the intricacies of one move is awesome. Keep it up. #TheViewFromABlindMan.
Im not asking this to be rude but do you watch it with any like assistance? I dont know if wwe does like audio descriptions as a service.
I just cant imagine how difficult it could be to understand whats going at times from just the commentary.
Sorry if this comes off as rude, not my intention was just curious
@ I hope that I have this response at the right spot. On iPhones, it’s kinda hard to distinguish where you are and who you’re responding to. But no for about a year WWE had audio description. It was set up through FOX. But once they went on strike, the audio description went away. I have seen this way since I was six years old and I’m 52 now. It’s hard to follow along with the commentary, but I do it as well as I can. Any other questions you can ask. I don’t have a problem with telling folks or helping folks to understand.
If I remember correctly, I think it was Aja Kong that came up with the package version of the piledriver. At least she was the first that I remember seeing that did it.
This is true, but Aja tended to only hook the legs, whereas Owens and others hook the arms as well
Every time I see a piledriver, I think about what happened to Stone Cold and, going back a while, Octagon in Lucha Libre who was paralyzed by a piledriver. Kudos to KO for protecting his opponents.
The same thing happened to Darren Drozdov, I believe
No that was a powerbomb i think@@jasonx1174
@jasonx1174 it was a sit down power bomb with droz
I wouldn't do a piledriver I can tell you that much. It's just too risky.
@jasonx1174 oh yeah that's right
It’s so nice to see the piledriver actually treated as a devastating move again.
Thanks for the love Stevie! I Love your content
RVD would take a piledriver bump and bounce up into the air upon impact- it was awesome.
I still have no clue how the hell he did that
Dude RVD was and still is unreal. I remember watching one night stand 2007 and man, his selling in that match was AWESOME
RVD sold the pile driver like a champ.His head bounced like a basketball on the mat. In contrast, Hawk of LOD no sold pile drivers. He would just stand right up.
Penta El Zero Meido also does the package piledriver. It'd be interesting to see a breakdown of his, not so much because his seems particularly different, but because from what I've seen, Penta tends to do his much more quicky and snappier; like he doesn't bring the other person up so much.
That and sometimes he’ll run forward a few steps to add an extra UMPH to it
I think Penta will be using that arm snap breaker he uses as a signature to set up an armbar as a finish combo in the E.
I waited years to finally see Kevin Steen do a Package Piledriver
i think if it was anyone other than randy on that piledriver ppl might've been disappointed that it didn't look as impactful but because it is him and nobody wants him hurt it's easy to accept and keep it moving. that piledriver on cody looked brutiful
Joshua Alexander does the c4 in TNA. It's a devastating hooked arms piledriver. He talks about how safe it is. Hes done it thousands of times
Absolutely agree that the move should be used as a piece of story and not a match move unless it’s a big match to go with it
Kevin Owens is one of the best. He's been doing since 20 years.
I just can’t get enough of these breakdowns. Thank you and Happy Holidays to you! 🍻
Triple H confrontation with KO finally certifies and elevates KO as the new top emerging heel of WWE. But he's not a heel born out of malice and jealously because Cody is WWE's top guy but he's a misunderstood hero and friend who helped Cody against their common arch enemy Roman Reigns only for Cody back stab everyone who helped him in his time of need and align with Roman to beat Solo's Bloodline. Cody might be babyface on the surface but behind he's a conniving backstabbing politician who joined hands with his arch nemesis and Kevin Owens might be portrayed as the heel but in reality he's a misunderstood hero, he's a man of principles who's doing the right thing. This story has too many chapters and can be played for a long period without bringing an abrupt end to the feud.
Re: Cody's right hand on the sell afterward -- I thought maybe it was a pre-planned symbol to let everyone in the ring know he was fine. But either way, the sell on this was a thing of beauty. I don't think he moved through the whole stretcher job, even when Kevin stood on top of him after. That's a 270-lb man standing on you, and he does it twice. Kudos to everyone involved in this entire segment.
Love the in-depth review and how safe it was done yet viscious looking but understanding your partner is giving you their body to take care of. Props to everyone invovled
The angle of fining wrestlers cam work in smaller promotions. It's hard to take seriously in WWE where fans expect the guys at the top like Kevin Owens to be making upper six or seven figures.
ROH for example did it brilliantly where on the move to Sinclair, they stated that they would fines (I think it was $10,000) for a chair shot to the head. Which meant it got saved for guys who could work it reasonably safe and for bigger angles, such as Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin against The Briscoes.
When the Briscoes hit Haas and Benjamin with chair shots to the head, they were taken off TV and stayed gone until in kayfabe they were able to come up with the money for their fines. Which made sense for them, as they were legitimately chicken farmers on top of being wrestlers.
When Haas and Benjamin responded with chair shots of their own when the Briscoes came back, they handed over the payment in cash as they were leaving after the assault.
With Kevin Owens, I would have Triple H and Nick Aldis both inform him that not only is he suspended indefinitely, but is going to be pursued legally for the return of the Winged Eagle belt. Then have him jump the barrier at the Royal Rumble, and again hit package piledrivers to both Cody Rhodes and whoever his opponent is before being taken out of the arena in handcuffs and Triple H telling him that he's fired. Even announce it on WWE's website, similar to how they suspended CM Punk after the pipe bomb promo.
Maybe even have Owens afterwards post videos to his own social media threatening to destroy the Winged Eagle if he keeps receiving legal threats and is not re-hired, similar to how Mr. Perfect did with a hammer, Stan Hansen running over the AWA belt with his tractor, or Steve Austin throwing the IC belt into a river. WWE don't acknowledge them. But have members of the roster repost and reply about how disgusting this is, and the most it's mentioned on TV is maybe having Cody mention to Triple H or Nick Aldis backstage, "Have you seen his latest one? He's threatening to have his own car crushed with the belt inside."
Cody can then campaign to have Owens reinstated, because he wants to get his revenge and also get that belt back. So the Rumble winner faces Gunther for the World Title at Mania, and Cody faces Owens in some type of no disqualification match. Perhaps even a ladder match with both titles hanging, similar to when both Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels were holding the IC belt despite it being Razor who was the recognised champion.
This is why I love wrestling. It's art. Live performance where anything can go wrong, but WWE has top caliber professionals.
I wish Stevie would discuss the difference between a Terry Funk style slow falling backwards piledriver, and the Orndorff/Liger style kick the legs out, quick falling piledriver. Which is worse, or harder to take, etc.
Love Stevie's idea of KO "injuring" competitors above him in a ranking. Go further, have him do other banned things, like chair headshots, etc. Have some things done in matches where he gets DQ'd, one or two backstage. Make him an absolute fiend.
First time seeing that package piledriver, stops my heartbeat for 3 seconds!!! Stunned by how brutal it is!!!
It's great that WWE sells the piledriver and even brought up the history of it being banned as a move (ignoring the Taker has been doing the Tombstone piledriver as a finisher for decades) unfortunately AEW just uses it as a transition move killing it and how dangerous it actually can be if done wrong
A sit-out piledriver is obviously different from a tombstone piledriver.
@@dgthe3 but the point is that ALL piledrivers are supposed to be banned in WWE this came from a long time ago as a selling of the dangers of the piledriver
@drakependragon8439 The tombstone was never banned.
@@jaybee4288 all piledrivers were banned, but just like everything in pro wrestling it only matters when they want it to matter. However they do only allow people to use it that have established a reputation of being a safe worker
@@dgthe3 only mildly one is on knees and one is on the butt, just like a package piledriver is only different in how they hold the person taking it. All 3 can be very dangerous which is why once upon a time WWE "banned" piledrivers but now they only allow people who have established being safe to use them like when Punk was allowed to use one, or Taker
Thank you for the analysis. When looking at the move, I didn’t notice or realize how much safer the package pildedriver is compared to a normal piledriver.
Thank you yet again for another Awesome episode. I have an ever deepening respect for all that goes into a "proper Wrestling match"
Personally, I'd never consider an overly safe pile-driver a botch. I don't need even a small chance of a wrestler's head spiking the mat to suspend my disbelief as a fan. I know pile-drivers are as real as Santa Claus; neck injuries are horrible and forever. My brain can fill the gap between Orton's head and the mat. Tell a compelling story and I'm good w/ it.
My point is,if it looks too safe/unrealistic,why bother using it at all? There's plenty of moves that look dangerous but aren't that could be used instead.
I agree with both of you. I can suspend some disbelief and still be invested in the story, but also, if the move is going to look kind of bad in irder to donit safely, then maybe not do it
I also think alot of it has to do with selling and the camera guy, those things can still make a super save move look really devastating
I think the Orton one would have been fine if they were positioned more away from the hard cam so you didn't just see how obvious it was that Orton was nowhere close. You can see the difference in how dangerous the move looks between the Cody one filmed for TV and the fan cam. On the fan cam his head is more hidden so you don't see that Cody was nowhere close to touching.
@RAD1111able I think you’ve got to consider who does it look too safe/unrealistic too? If they convince the 8 year old boys and girls and the casual older fans I think that’s fine. There’s always going to be more invested fans who know how it all works picking holes in it. But I imagine for most people this was realistic/dangerous looking enough, especially with how they sold it with refs and commentators.
Week in and week out someones head is slammed against the announce table while we all really really obviously see their hands hitting the table. We suspended our disbelief a lot i personally didnt understand why the randy piledriver was something people couldnt do that for.
Paul Orndorff's piledriver is one of the best finishers of all time.
I will never forger Hogan twitching on the mat. That was the first heel turn I ever saw as a kid.
Orndorff jumped when doing the move which made it look more devastating. But his opponents head never hit the mat.
I don't understand what the difference between a piledriver and a canadian destroyer is. Why are canadian destroyers not banned when they end up in the same position as a piledriver?
WWE should do a ranking system it should be like the UFC’s
5:25 it's called a fencing response the worse is when your arm shoots out along with crimped up hands
A MASTERFUL sell job by Cody Rhodes. I LEGIT marked out over that simple little nuance. Now THAT'S professional wrestling!! 👏👏👏👏👏
I think the only person I've ever seen do the Package Piledriver before Kevin Owens on the indies was actually PCO. Fellow French Canadian! Man PCO rocks
I remember hearing Josh Alexander talking about how safe he is with protecting the opponent while using c4 spike because he knows what feels like to have a broken neck and he would never put them at harm big respect to him
First off, I could watch SR breakdown paint drying. This dude is just good. I love listening to experts break down their craft in such a clear and concise way. It’s entertaining and educational as all heck. And I don’t mean that it is going to inform my professional life knowing how to do a piledriver safely, but it does teach me how to better communicate things that I am an expert in.
this is some really good insight, this is why Stevie is such a valuable asset to the wrestling community!! thank you Stevie
5:21 I’m SOOO glad someone else saw this too! I was watching thinking that’s such a good touch by Cody to do the patented knocked out hand motions lol
Thank you for explaining this because I get scared seeing anyone take a piledriver. (No, I'm not being sarcastic.)
You got three of the best in the business here. Not saying accidents don't still happen, but these guys would rather do a "botch" than actually hurt someone.
Same, the mechanics of a piledriver always seems risky to me
I’d take pile drivers all day from Ryno- those thighs, your head is not gonna bump the canvas
The scariest moment when I was training wasn't the superplex, it was the piledriver. It is legitimately frightening knowing what could happen.
I'd love to see Stevie break down other wrestler's pile drivers. Bret Hart had a solid one, and I wanna say D;Lo Brown had a package piledriver but I might be getting it confused with a sit-out powerbomb. Kanyon I believe also used a piledriver of some kind.
Owen hart didn’t have a great one ;)
Nah D'Lo was a modified sitout powerbomb, kind of a (subjectively) better version of KO's pop up. Steiner Screwdriver was essentially a piledriver tho
Please bring old school belts back. I might watchers again after 20 years
You're definitely right about the package piledriver. It's definitely a Steener creation. The concept has been used before, sure, but that's like saying "plenty of people used something similar to the Tombstone".
KO ran a huge risk of shattering his tailbone for the sake of keeping Randy safe. That’s a true pro. “I will very likely get hurt. You won’t feel a thing. But it’ll look good.”
Stevie richards is a genius stripping KO of the title shot is perfect punishment
Can you do the same with the Pedigree. I found it complicated move. Someone got injured. And several people use in different versions like HHH, seth rollins, code rhodes, Stephanie and Randy orton.
THis is beautiful move performed safely, it was one of the safest piledrivers I have ever seen.
A couple months back Stevie mentioned a Lt Worf Klingon award. I think you deserve it for being a great mid-carder/talent enhancer or "jobber". Being there to put guys over.
Worf did that SO MANY times in Star Trek. If they wanted to show someone or something was strong they would have it beat up Worf.
So yes 1000% Stevie is the Lt Worf of wrestling. You're both awesome! And you both gave us a sense of scale and power in your respective roles.
How strong is this guy? Well show him beat up Stevie!
How strong is this alien? He beat up Worf! Oh no!
Yo ..I love ya mane.. your videos are so enjoyable. Love the breakdown of this
Hey stevie glad uou got your own channel mate watching from the UK followed your wrestling for years
If Iwas ever a wrestler, I would fully trust my fellow Canadian Kevein Steen to do this and protect me.
I really like Stevie’s ideas and ways to get a little more intricate with the stories. Rational, logical thinking and good explanations about the wrestling business. Haven’t listened to taker since he had Trump on, Stevie and Maven are now my top 2 wrestling RUclipsrs
People saying wrestling is all fake should watch this.
Stevie, you are such a likeable person and from what I hear people have nice things to say about you. I hope you are enjoying your self and I hope you know how well liked you are.
Thanks for the breakdown Stevie, much appreciated! 👍
It's good you guys are covering this it's still dangerous.
I'm so happy they turned KO heel again. He's such a natural at it. It's by far my favorite angle for him.
I seen something that pentagon Jr was a possible signing and this is one of his many deadly moves so I kinda seen this as a opening to allow these moves to actually be on tv with a real damage angle considering how dangerous pentagon is
The best part of this is Stevie pointing out that Shane Helms is in there, Charles Robinson is in there (man, how old would he be?), etc. - not everyone makes it 20 years as an on-screen talent so it's kind of neat to point out the faces that are still around.
Thanks for the breakdown Stevie!
Big time wrestling nerd moment, but the first I saw the package piledriver was when Aja Kong had her short run in the WWF in the mid-90s. The WWE Vault has the match on RUclips.
Side note, I think Haku has an underrated piledriver.
the fact that cody left shoulder gently drops to his thighs in order to make it look devasting as well i mean u see many wrestlers do variants of these moves tht either just to much but kevin is so well he is an awesome performer so to have ppl trust him is a major statement if u will. cody and randy trust kevin as u said and i dont think they would trust someone fresh off nxt like per say trick williams or for arguement sake carmelo to give them a move like that because they havent worked with them as much. kevin worked randy and cody several times during his uprising from nxt when then cody was i think stardust but i could be wrong point blank i love what wwe is doing. hopefully we see a move like the punkhandle driver debut or the pepsi plunge at certain events. the pop would be insane. i love the vids man you always were and are my fav big stevie cool luv ya bro happy holidays!!!
MJF used to talk about being the champ to make the bigger purses, he was pretty much the only guy that took that angle and even he doesn't mention money much anymore as an incentive to be the best.
This shows the trust Cody has with Kevin and this story is great 👍 love the channel!
On that Orton pile-driver you can tell Orton never hit by how KO leaned back, almost went to his back. Ko's crotch took the bump on that one lol
I love how WWE is smart with the moves. In AEW this wouldn't even be a high spot, while in WWE it's very much a murder atempt
It's been a very long time since I've texted links to people like "look at this shit" lol...that package piledriver on Cody was absolutely awesome and looked amazing
@thestevierichardsshow what was cody's fingers doing when he made a circle while he was selling being piledriver?
THE WINGED EAGLE IS BACK!!! THANK YOU STEVIE!!!!!!!! 😊
excited to see the package piledriver in wwe. this means when pentagon jr. makes his debut he can maybe pull out that move too now that's it's fair to use >.>
Cody's pile-driver looked extremely close! Well done!
Charles Robinson is a legend 💫
I just find it weird they've taken this long to let anyone do a piledriver on TV despite multiple people at this point doing the Canadian Destroyer with no issues which is also a piledriver.
I love the way Stevie thinks
Owen Hart was one of the wrestlers who lead to banning of piledriver in wwf/wwe because of his botch piledriver on austin and now we have another owens(Kevin) who brought the move back
Kevin picked his ring name to honour the youngest Hart brother.
I'd like the same done for the DDT.
Stevie some people have stated that Cody heard a someone in the crowd say something after the piledriver from Kevin and that's why on one hand while he is still laying to sell he has his middle finger up flipping them off do you have an answer to that to clarify that statement?
With Cody's hand "locked up" after the pile driver, what a sell! But if you look again, to me it looks like he's also giving the "ok" sign to the back. I noticed it maybe the third time I watched it. Because his head is SO close to touching.
13:07 Stevie went straight back to ECW on that one, a la Rhyno 😆
Stevie gives a genuinely brilliant storyline here. Its not complicated but it works easily. KO gets to be a disgusting heel, theres a number of hurt guys with a potential return match cycle with him afterwards too. People mock the Hogan style that doesn't work for me brother but this has the and then we do this attached to it that Bischoff podcast always mentions was how you could get even likes of Hogan to buy in
I love the idea of Owens playing Hitman to the contenders list... Only problem is... WWE never shows off a contenders list.
Who has the best version of a pile driver, my personal favorite is “storm zero” from Toni storm, after that would probably be Owen’s “package pile driver”.
Kevin Owens's Package Piledriver looks great, I hope he used it more often in pay per view fights as its final finisher.
I can only recommend to go back and watch Kevin's ROH work. You can clearly see the same kind of save work and care he has for his opponents.
I thought Randy was trying to stabilize his head/neck when he was selling, it was really well done.
I don't care that in replay (especially slomo) you see that Randy's head is nowhere near touching the mat. He was out what - 18 months because of back/neck injury, and for a while it looked like his carreer might be over. For him to take a piledriver at all shows a) how safe KO is, b) how much Randy trusts him and c) how much more impact a move can have when it's basically banned and a heel uses it anyway. I think KO was being extra-careful with Randy because of his history with neck injury, but also because it was the first piledriver in a long time and he really didn't wanna mess it up. After all, there's a reason that for about 20+ years the only people in WWE (and I think a bunch of smaller promotions too) that were allowed to do piledrivers were Kane and Undertaker with their Tombstone variant, because they were (usually) especially safe with it.
Regarding Cody - I've seen it said somewhere that the way he held his arms, hands and fingers was pretty much like people who are paralyzed, it looked scary as fork.
As I mentioned - I don't care if you can see that he's doing it safely - I watch wrestling to be entertained and to get my mind off of the "real world". I don't need to see unnecessary injuries. Accidents happen and that's bad enough, but I'd rather see an unconvincing move than seeing someone break their neck for real.
Plus unless you watch slow-mo replay, it really doesn't look very safe at all.
What is the difference with the tumstone piledriver?
You should know by now by the views, this is where you shine.
The fact that they trust KO to work with Cody says it all. Perfectly executed, good sell by Cody.
another option for Owens, he is no longer allowed a title shot for a year regardless of any other factors. The Rumble rolls around, entrant 29, R-Truth comes out but then Owens attacks him from behind pulling a Nia Jax then goes on to win the match.
Next night on raw they have a 5 way to decide who gets the title shot as those are the people Owens eliminated, Owens interferes to a no contest. They try round robins, timed events, blah blah, etc etc same thing happens until 1st March we have Elimination Chamber, so rather than we have a championship match which really diminishes the Rumble winner (this really should not be the ppv between the rumble and Mania), we instead have a number 1 title spot in the Elimination Chamber and Kevin Owens has to start as number 1.
Also means you now have 5 guys in the title picture for another month...possibly during the round robin, timed matches etc one of those other 5 actually gets a win over Owens resulting in them having a claim to the title after Owens wins it at Mania so that ties up May/ June depending if Owens gets a rematch.
You then have a July, maybe the previous ppv didn't have a clean finish, maybe face won by count out or something, but in that rematch Orton returns leading you into Summerslam. and boom, thats half a years worth of story involving 8 different people.
Alternatively, the same start happens up until elimination chamber BUT he doesn't get the 6th spot. Seeing that the decision will stand he goes off on a year of trying to injure every opponent he is in a match with. This results in him being booked less and less due to no one wanting to wrestle him. By November/ December he is basically off tv, coming back at number 30 in the Rumble to take his title shot...against Cody or Orton. In this version they would have Cody vs Owens at this coming Mania but it would not be a title match and Owens wins. So 2026 when he wins the Rumble he is now going for the win for the title.
over a year of Owens booking and with reduced usage near the end its less likely for him to get injured to allow for that long term goals.
I think a version of that piledriver punishment angle pitched by Stevie would be a great angle for Owens heat, maybe going through the Top 5 contenders
This was almost completely prefect. The only part i didn't like was after they got Cody on the board and Kevin stood on top of him holding the belt. He should have walked right out of the arena and never looked back.
I actually really enjoyed that part. It reminded me of the TRex roaring standing on its prey after a battle in JP. Which is quite funny because KO has a TRex tattoo on his arm.
@@QAZ-OMEN But its not realistic. If they thought Cody potentially broke his neck they wouldn't have let Kevin anywhere near him.... if Kevin thought he legitimately broke Cody's neck he wouldn't want to hang around to taunt about it, he would want to get out of there before he got held up by security or potentially arrested.
I was buying into the potential injury until the second i saw that, and it took me out of it completely.
@@QAZ-OMEN Thats what was different about the Attitude Era and now... everybody overlooks that there was an element of realism and unpredictability that always kept everything in a grey area in the eyes of fans... You never knew when somebody might be going into business for themselves or not.
even with all the incremental improvements WWE has made since Triple-H took over, there is still this air of scriptedness that doesn't really let fans question what might have actually been real...
@Robby_C I've been watching since before the Attitude Era, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this little bit of "over the top" at the end. Maybe it had something to do the tattoo, and that I just rewatched the og JP the day before.
@@QAZ-OMEN I've been watching since before the attitude era too... but that was part of what made the attitude era such a cultural phenomenon... that is the magic they are trying to recapture.
There is nothing wrong with over the top, but its a matter of knowing the spots... this should have been handled more seriously, and i just think that little bit took it from serious to "just part of the show" right at the last second.... it was perfect up until that exact moment... at least for me.