Kevin Owens is a Brilliant Heel

So I'm just finishing watching NXT TakeOver Brooklyn for the first time, and shortly into the match between Owens and Balor, the crowd seems to be quite distracted. Obviously there's a "come-down" from the insane women's match that just preceded it, but something also seemed to happen in the audience that seemed to pull their attention.

Just as the crowd begins to stray from the match and picks up Zayn's "OLE" chant, Owens does this:

https://streamable.com/qpvl

I haven't watched much wrestling since Mania, and I haven't kept track of the wrestlers either, but I can tell immediately that Zayn was probably out with an arm injury. Sure enough, Google tells me he hurt his shoulder.

Owens took just 10 seconds out of his match to acknowledge the crowd and to taunt their hero with a very simple gesture, and he had them immediately drawn back into the match and into the palm of his hand.

There are prominent wrestlers, even guys who are extremely charismatic, like Orton, who can have a 15 year long career and still never learn how to keep an active connection with the crowd around them throughout a match. Anytime a crowd shits on one of his matches, Orton lets it get to him, and his visible frustration enables them to keep going. This kind of crowd craves attention, and within just his first few months with the company, Owens is already showing an ability to connect with and interact with a very large crowd.

A wrestler with that kind of psychology, crowd-awareness and improvisation doesn't come around often, and I really hope the WWE understands what they have in guys like Owens.

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(Bonus Clip) Here he is just two minutes later, with yet another hilarious and unique way to troll the crowd:

https://streamable.com/brkc

Just brilliant.