Arn Anderson Says Kevin Owens Should Have Turned Face After His Win over John Cena at Elimination Chamber 2015

On the latest episode of his podcast, Arn Anderson discussed John Cena’s match with Kevin Owens at Elimination Chamber 2015 and what his issue with the match was. Owens faced Cena in his first WWE PPV match at the Chamber, just two weeks after making his main roster debut, and won the bout cleanly. The feud would continue from there, with Owens continuing to play the heel to Cena for two more PPVs, both of which Cena won.

Talking about the match, Anderson pointed out what a big-time match it was and how, with the two using their opponents’ finishers against them and everything, this was the kind of match where when the fans got behind Owens, WWE should have switched gears on their plans and turned Owens babyface. Highlights and the full podcast are below:

On what he didn’t like about the match: “I’m glad it was such an awesome viewing experience ultimately for the fans who spent their hard-earned money to get it, and this match did let them know they were going to go all out for the fans to give them a 18-car car crash. But to have John have Kevin Owens do his own finish to him — kick out of it, but still hit his own move on him — and vice versa, have a pop-up powerbomb which was his finish for the very first time and have Cena kick out. And remember this is the very first time we are seeing Kevin Owens. For them to throw away all these bumps, and to — you know, you get in that pattern and that habit where, ‘You hit your finish on me, I’ll hit mine on you.’ Well, wouldn’t you know the counter. Wouldn’t you have a way of getting out of that? And just the fact that it was an attempt at doing your own finish on you and the other guy counters out of it? That’s great storytelling.

“But ultimately there was a bump off the top that was like a, I don’t even know how to describe it … it was like a brainbuster off the top. It stood as the move of the match. No reason that shouldn’t have been a finish … For John to kick out of that and to ultimately put Kevin Owens over is fine, IF you’re going to listen to the audience throughout this thing. Kevin Owens became a star that night. This is my humble opinion, if you don’t listen — no matter what you have booked or written down for the next three weeks. If you see that, and you see the audience react to that, don’t you switch those plans to hey, here’s my new babyface?”

On how Owens could have been a huge babyface at the time: “He can just be — not to say anything like Steve Austin’s style, but he’s the antihero. He’s that guy that kicks ass, he’s the everyday man that doesn’t look like he could go out there and pop-up powerbomb Mark Henry. Hell, I’ve seen it more than once. He does some spectacular stuff. But the audience was cheering for him in a way that, ‘Hey man, we like this dude.’ Make him a babyface the very next day. Switch gears, because to put on that kind of performance to beat John Cena 1-2-3 with his finish — there’s no bigger launching pad at that particular time. So go with it, switch gears, turn him into what they want to see.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit ARN with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.