Top 6 Biggest Botches Of Kevin Owens' Wrestling Career

Inside the ring, Kevin Owens is a fantastic worker as he can blend aerial moves with genuine hard-hitting aggression which is something that has worked perfectly for him. He's an incredibly entertaining talent overall due to his talking and charisma, but it is his wrestling skills that have taken him to the top of the card.

While he is someone who can be relied upon for amazing performances, that doesn't mean that everything is perfect. Over the years KO has made a few mistakes, just like every professional wrestler does. Botches are something that gets flagged up a lot nowadays, and Owens has suffered a few over the years, some of which were funny mistakes that could be laughed off, while others were on a much larger scale in big premium live event encounters.

6 Handcuffs Don't Cooperate

Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns with handcuffs

The last man standing match between Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens at the 2021 Royal Rumble was a fantastic match with both men bringing the fight to each other. It was an extremely physical encounter that featured a lot of weapons, and while all that went to plan, the finish didn't.

It's unclear who was fully at fault here, but Owens ended up handcuffing Reigns, but they were then struggling to get him out with the two having to improvise a little. It led to an awkward finish to an otherwise great encounter, and is something that did ultimately hurt the match itself.

5 Fumbling His Words

Kevin Owens is an excellent talker, but even the best people on the microphone can make mistakes when it comes to live television. That was the case back in 2016 when he appeared on a Highlight Reel segment where he was cutting a standard promo but ended up fumbling over the words "Universal Champion."

It was a funny situation though, proving that not every single botch is something overly serious. Owens knew he was struggling in this moment and literally shuck his own head, adding in a "Woah" to show he knew the mistake happened, and he rode it out well, but it also helped to flag the fact that a mistake had been made at the same time.

4 A Slip-Up

Another botch that took place in Kevin Owens' career took place during an episode of Monday Night Raw, and might have been something that people overlooked. It happened during the entrance as he was preparing to compete against Ezekiel, and while he was fired up he didn't look as impressive when slipping.

Owens tried to run up the steel stairs to showcase he was eager for the fight, but that's not how things ended up taking place. Instead, he slipped as he ran, and while he didn't fall to the floor, it certainly gave Ezekiel a moment to look far cooler, which isn't what Owens had hoped.

3 Botched Title Win

Kevin Owens v AJ Styles Backlash 2017 Cropped

PPV match finishes are always supposed to be planned perfectly, but that wasn't the case at Battleground in 2017 when there was a botched finish in the United States Championship match between them. Kevin Owens won the match by reversing a submission into a pinfall, but that wasn't the idea.

The lack of reaction from everyone such as the commentators or the audience showcased that, and it wasn't something that people expected. The fact WWE brought Chris Jericho in for the following SmackDown to create a triple threat that saw the title go back to Styles immediately also shows this was never the idea, which is something that Jericho has come out and claimed is the case.

2 Powerbomb Doesn't Pop-Up

Kevin Owens Powerbomb botch to The Fiend

The Pop-Up Powerbomb is a fun finishing move that looks impactful and is something that can happen at any time from anywhere. Kevin Owens has hit it on countless wrestlers without problem, but when he faced The Fiend things didn't go to plan the first time he tried to hit the move.

The idea was to send The Fiend crashing through the announce table, but when he originally tried to lift him into the air things didn't work. The Fiend didn't go up for whatever reason, so they had to stop and reset the whole thing, which didn't make it appear as fluid as had been hoped.

1 Backflip Goes Wrong

One of the big matches Kevin Owens was involved in recently took place in the main event of the 2023 Royal Rumble event. He competed against Roman Reigns in a physical encounter and it led to some great action as the two men went back and forth in a hard-hitting encounter.

At one point, KO looked to leap up to the top rope to then deliver a backflip, but things didn't go to plan. His foot slipped as he turned around in mid-air and he didn't get to springboard off the top rope, instead falling down to the mat in an awkward moment mid-match. Reigns did his best to make this less of an issue by rolling to that Owens would still hit him, but it was still clear that a botch had happened.