Kevin Owens: Booking Mistakes to Avoid Ruining WWE Universal Champion's Reign

History says that fans have reason to be apprehensive about Kevin Owens' WWE Universal Championship reign. Misguided booking has derailed many a previous titleholder.

Owens has the potential to be a compelling champ. He's an apt choice to captain Raw in the New Era. But WWE has to steer clear of narrative missteps that could squander his time with the gold.

One of the elements of his story that will have some audiences worried stood in the ring with Owens as he celebrated his biggest career win—Triple H.

On Aug. 29, the executive and sometimes-wrestler reemerged after a long absence. He floored Seth Rollins with a Pedigree and urged Owens to take advantage. The Game's alliance with Rollins inexplicably fell away in that moment, likely transitioning into a partnership between him and Owens.

Triple H overshadowing KO as the story progresses is a direction WWE must not follow.

The company has a megastar in waiting on its hands. Aiming the limelight in the wrong spot or portraying Owens as a stooge will get in the way of that.

Focusing Too Much on Authority Figures

After Triple H essentially gifted Owens the Universal Championship, many of the headlines after that memorable Raw focused on The Game.  

The very first words in the introduction paragraph of the Raw results from last Monday on WWE.com are "Triple H." The thumbnail image for the video showcasing Owens' win featured Triple H. KO is out of frame.

Hopefully, that's not a sign of things to come.

On a recent edition of Chair Shot Reality, Justin LaBar said, "What I'm a little concerned about is we gotta make sure that this heat transfers over to Kevin Owens, and is not just heat on Triple H." LaBar has reason to be wary.

This story could easily morph into one about Triple H battling his family and a struggle for control of the company, leaving Owens in the background. 

Stephanie McMahon can't get more mic time each week than Owens. Triple H can't be the focus of the headlining narrative. Owens can't be relegated to a glorified henchman role.

The Raw power play angle makes for a potentially powerful subplot to Owens' reign. But WWE has to realize that people are invested in him, his journey and his skills, not a played-out boardroom battle.

The Rollins Treatment

The champion can't be made to look like a pushover. Non-title losses during Owens' reign will only slow his momentum and paint him as undeserving titleholder.

WWE failed in just that way when Rollins was WWE world champ in 2015.

Defeat came far too often for The Architect. The bumbling pair of semi-retired wrestlers J&J Security beat him in June. Ryback pinned Rollins in September. Kane bested him in a Lumberjack match a month later.

And Rollins suffered 13 losses in tag team action during his time as champion, per CageMatch.net.

That can't happen with Owens. He can cheat just about every night and steal the majority of his victories, but he can't stumble as often as Rollins did.

The conversation surrounding Rollins' reign was too often about whether it was among the most poorly booked ever. That's certainly not the ideal way to have a champ make his way into the history books.

WWE must avoid hurting the audience's perception of the prizefighter.

Too many losses will put him in danger of being a chump in fans' eyes rather than a badass who rules the ring. The company needs to instead fill Owens' reigns with images of him towering over fallen victims.

Unworthy Foils

The right rival can help carve a path to iconic status. Poor choices on that front can instead undercut a champion.

WWE was in the process of doing that to Daniel Bryan before injury forced him to vacate the world title. After Bryan took down The Authority, pulled off two massive victories at WrestleMania XXX and provided the moving image of him celebrating amid confetti and fireworks in New Orleans, the company failed to properly follow up.

Jonathan Bachman/Associated Press

Bryan's first feud out of the gate was against Kane.

As respected a veteran as he is, Kane didn't belong in the WWE world title picture. Someone hotter, fresher and who could keep up with Bryan in the ring should have been in that spot.

Jesse Collins of Wrestling Inc wrote of Kane vs. Bryan in his review of Extreme Rules 2014, "They had an okay match tonight, but do [we] really need another month of this feud?"

In 2012, CM Punk briefly feuded with a 63-year-old Jerry Lawler.  The Miz also tangled with the semi-retired Lawler during his WWE title reign. 

That kind of underwhelming pairing has to be avoided with Owens.

Having KO face Rollins has great potential. The story and the action both promise to be stellar. In the future, Owens feuding with Cesaro, Brock Lesnar and Sami Zayn all make a ton of sense.

The prizefighter's reign will be mighty entertaining if those are his challengers moving forward.

WWE just can't overthink things and get too cute. Owens doesn't need to feud with a middle-aged Mick Foley, any of the commentators he has beef with or some Superstar with minimal momentum like Big Show.

The New Era boasts too much talent to venture off into that territory.

A strong Owens is a necessity. He has to be in the spotlight, not the folks in suits around him. And WWE has to not let convoluted plots trip up a bruiser set to charge forward.