Kevin Owens' Dream Feuds as Member of WWE SmackDown Roster

Enticing feuds aplenty are at WWE SmackDown's disposal now that Kevin Owens has stomped his way onto the blue brand.

The United States champion is a silver-tongued bruiser with a penchant for coming through in big matches. He is a marquee star in the waiting, a 266-pound powerhouse with ample agility. On top of that, Owens is one of the best storytellers on the roster. 

And now SmackDown stars, from AJ Styles to Shinsuke Nakamura, can find that out firsthand.

During the second half of the Superstar Shake-up on Tuesday night, Owens kicked off the show decked out in a suit. He announced his arrival to SmackDown, dubbing it "The Kevin Owens Show."

KO has to deal with some Raw business before he can focus on his new environment, though. He's set to face former best friend Chris Jericho at the Payback pay-per-view on April 30.

Should Owens emerge from that battle with the United States Championship still in hand, he will have to face the man who earned the No. 1 contender's spot on Tuesday night—Styles.

The Phenomenal One is among the best options to serve as Owens' foils on the blue brand.

AJ Styles

Styles is the kind of wrestler who is a dream opponent for just about everyone on the roster.

The former WWE champ is an elite performer in the ring. In 2016, he composed a long list of barnburners. 

Now he is poised to cross paths with Owens. Styles awaits the winner of Jericho vs. KO at Payback.

Rolling Stone columnist Aaron Oster is among the many thrilled by that prospect:

Pitting Owens against Styles is sure to create magic.  

They have had really good matches in the past against each other, but those weren't part of a feud. KO and The Phenomenal One simply tore the house down on what could have been standard TV fare.

With a strong narrative base and the two rivals trading verbal shots, Owens vs. Styles could easily be the best rivalry of the year.

It's also a good chance to turn Styles babyface. Fans have already treated him like one. Going up against a disdainful, merciless champion like Owens is an ideal opportunity to embrace his good side.

John Cena

In 2015, Owens arrived on the main roster with his target sights pointed at Cena.

The NXT upstart and the WWE golden boy had a series of memorable collisions. Their rivalry featured a compelling juxtaposition of fresh face and established veteran, of indy darling and company-backed star.

Revisiting that story is a no-brainer.

For one, WWE has history to build on. Cena won their PPV series. Owens could be looking for redemption. Plus, Cena has to want to carry that U.S. title again after making it a symbol of his greatness in 2015.

Cena is still the WWE's biggest star, the guy the wrestlers on the rise seek to knock off the mountaintop. Owens is still looking to prove that he's among the elite. That's a perfect pairing.

The matches would be guaranteed to be stellar. The same goes for their promos. KO and Cena are arguably the two best talkers on the SmackDown roster.

Randy Orton

With as much programming as WWE produces each week, it's hard to find matchups that haven't been done 100 times. For the most part, Orton and Owens have managed to walk separate paths.

The Viper has only met Owens in the ring a handful of times. In fact, they have only collided in one-on-one action once before, per CageMatch.net.

The Prizefighter vs. Orton would have a similar dynamic to Owens vs. Cena. The story, though, could grow far darker. The Apex Predator is a partially unhinged antihero who hears voices in his head. There would be a lot for the SmackDown writing team to play with.

Owens picking him apart on the mic would be tremendous fun.

The matches should be quite good, too. Orton isn't on Styles or Cena's level in the ring but can certainly bring it in big spots. 

This could either be a champion-against-champion battle or the feud that Owens seeks out after dropping his own title. A hungry, desperate KO seeking out the WWE Championship has massive potential.

Shinsuke Nakamura

Two of SmackDown's most recent acquisitions would make dream opponents.

Nakamura is best suited to feud with someone who can carry the verbal load of a story due to his limited English-language skills. Owens can most certainly do that. Seeing him make fun of The King of Strong Style's shtick will be top-flight entertainment.

Owens' charisma and Nakamura's magnetism would make for a hell of a combo. 

Miami Herald columnist Scott Fishman raved about what Nakamura brings to the table:

His story merged with Owens' would be mighty fun. And the two would kill it in the ring. We know that in part because they thrived in a clash for Ring of Honor in 2014.

They didn't get a chance to fully dive into their rivalry at that point. On a bigger stage, with more time to build their bad blood, Nakamura vs. KO could be one for the ages.

Owens' new home offers him a plethora of excellent potential opponents. Unless WWE runs his long-running feud with Sami Zayn into the ground or believes Mojo Rawley is a fit opposite KO, it can't really go wrong.

SmackDown's decision-makers will have the best kind of problem in the coming months—too many good options at hand.