3 reasons why Kevin Owens' face turn will fail and 3 it won't

In the latest WWE NEWS, On the 2nd July episode of WWE SmackDown Live, Kevin Owens finally turned babyface again. There was a very small period in between late February and WrestleMania where Owens was technically a babyface.

He was even a babyface when he temporarily replaced Big E in The New Day, only to turn on Kofi Kingston. Kevin Owens himself stated in an interview recently that he feels he's ready to try his hand as a babyface.

It's crazy to think about because Owens always struck people as someone who was naturally a heel. You don't even have to go back to NXT to see it. Seeing his run from 2015 to 2017 on the main roster alone should be enough reason to "prove" that Owens is a natural heel.

While that may be the case, it doesn't mean that Owens can't pull it off. We look at both sides of the story and why it won't work and why it will!

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#3. Why it'll fail: He's a natural heel

Drew McIntyre had enough of KO's talk

Kevin Owens, all said and done, is a heel through and through. While this shouldn't be a factor in outright stopping his run as a babyface, we've seen it time and again. When some people are natural heels, they simply can't be good babyfaces, no matter how organic the turn.

It's worked many ways vice versa as well but usually, when superstars establish themselves as natural heels for life, it's very difficult for fans to accept the transition (unless done to perfection) and for superstars to adapt to a new character.

Kevin Owens may find himself struggling as a babyface in the initial bit, but we hope that he manages to find a way to make it work. Otherwise, it'll be a quick turn back.

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#3. Why it won't fail: It's a fresh change

The roles are now reversed

As with AJ Styles, the turn was a fresh change. We mentioned after AJ Styles' recent heel turn that Styles is a natural babyface, but one of the reasons why it was a great idea anyway is that Styles needed the change. Moreover, it looks to benefit Ricochet in the long run.

For him, he had accomplished almost all there was to as a face and it had been two years since his turn anyway. While KO was a face earlier this year, he never really had enough of a run to call it a proper babyface run.

Now that Kevin Owens has turned babyface, it's going to prove to be a good idea because it'll be something fresh. Rather than trashing a crowd, he'll end up trashing heel superstars and can find that edge to be able to get fans behind him. It also presents him with a whole new set of potential opponents.

#2. Why it'll fail: WWE isn't good with booking babyfaces

Kevin Owens took a pin on his first night as a face

Here's a bit of a harsh reality: WWE is terrible with booking babyfaces - atleast in the last few years. One of the main reasons why there hasn't been a larger-than-life babyface is because WWE simply doesn't know how to handle them anymore.

Sure, they did back in the day, but ever since Daniel Bryan's rise, they seemed to think that booking babyfaces to lose constantly gets them over...not realising that Daniel Bryan got over despite their booking.

Look at a more recent example - The Miz. He had a failed babyface turn before, but he managed to have a really successful turn in 2019 with a good storyline. As expected, WWE did nothing with him and booked him to look like a fool time and again. In kayfabe, doesn't that instantly justify a failed change in attitude?

#2. Why it won't fail: His character works well as a babyface

A stunner from Kevin Owens

Here is another side to the last point. The best kinds of babyface turns are the ones where a superstar doesn't necessarily completely change their character, but simply maintains the same character and directs their anger and frustration and harsh words towards heels.

It has worked that way for some of the greatest babyfaces ever and simply based off the episode of SmackDown, it's perfectly clear that Kevin Owens has that kind of a character. He's brash, he's cocky, he's rude and he's a straight-up shooter.

Rather than directing that at the crowd, he simply directed it towards the heels and the crowd absolutely loved him for it. Audiences will always take to a babyface who knows how to spit fire against heels and Owens has that in him and has it to succeed.

#1. Why it'll fail: It might be an experiment WWE gives up on soon

WWE has a history of being impatient

So here is the real biggest obstacle when it comes to Kevin Owens' face turn. It will work only if WWE really invests time and effort into him and the storylines that he's a part of. We truly believe that he can make it big as a babyface, even if it's for a one-year run before turning back again.

But another harsh reality is that WWE is known to be rather impatient with their experiments. Assuming that the turn doesn't float as well for a month or so, they might decide to pull the trigger and turn him for the third time this year.

It all depends on Vince McMahon and his willingness to invest in Kevin Owens. He's shown before that he does believe in Owens, so hopefully he gives him the time he deserves.

#1. Why it won't fail: Opens up many new potential feuds

The first in line

We know now that Kevin Owens' first opponent as a babyface on PPV is most likely going to be Dolph Ziggler. That should be a fun match which can be even more fun with the right stipulation added to it.

Ziggler can always have a good match so it should be interesting to see. But perhaps the main reason why Kevin Owens' face turn won't fail is that he now has a whole new set of opponents to compete with.

He had done a lot as a heel and faced most people on the roster as a heel. Now that he's a babyface, he can finally start feuding with heels and he can even display a more explosive in-ring style - one that he probably held back on due to the fact that he was a heel. It should be exciting and we're positive it can work!