Kevin Owens, Enzo Amore and Why 2017 Was the Year of Betrayal in WWE

This was not the year to trust anyone in WWE. Ask Enzo Amore. Ask Chris Jericho.

Amore shed a tear as his longtime friend called him his albatross. Jericho froze once he realized his best bud had turned on him.

And they were not alone. The theme of heartbreak and betrayal ran through the veins of 2017. Teammates violently split from each other. Friendships ended. Alliances crumbled.

Again and again, WWE turned to the familiar friends-turned-foes story to create drama.

It worked swimmingly. Kevin Owens shanking Jericho in the heart was one of the year's most memorable moments. Tommaso Ciampa turning on Johnny Gargano cleared the way for what should be a rivalry for the ages. And WWE set Big Cass and Mojo Rawley charging into solo careers with momentum born of compelling treachery.

Even some of Raw and SmackDown Live's supporting narratives featured double-crossing.

James Ellsworth had been Carmella's loyal lackey for months. He did everything she asked, from letting her lead him around on a leash to eating out of a dog bowl at her command. The jobber aided her Money in the Bank victory and often distracted her foes to set up wins.

But it wasn't enough.

After he lost to Becky Lynch on SmackDown in early November, The Princess of Staten Island piled on. She kicked him in the jaw to signal the end of their odd relationship.

Lynch's reaction to that sight is one the audience had several times over in 2017. 

We should have known what kind of year it would be in the WWE world when Cedric Alexander broke up with Alicia Fox in early January. The former Divas champ chose to then align herself with Alexander's rival, Noam Dar. 

The splits just kept coming from that point: Owens-Jericho, Ciampa-Gargano, Big Cass-Amore and Rawley-Zack Ryder. 

Festival in Ruin

In February, the duo of Owens and Jericho was the best thing going on Raw. They clicked extremely well together as bullying, grating heels. 

KO was universal champ. Jericho, the U.S. titleholder, was his wingman and insurance policy in big title matches.

Their brotherhood ended right before Valentine's Day following a touching show of affection. Jericho put on what he dubbed The Festival of Friendship, presenting Owens with expensive artwork and magic tricks.

The Prizefighter gave Jericho a mock-up of his famous List of Jericho, but this version had one key difference. It named Y2J as an enemy. "How come my name is on this?" Jericho asked sadly.

Owens then smashed Jericho's face into a sign, a poetic callback to Jericho executing a similar attack on Shawn Michaels in 2008.

Their closeness made this breakup even more powerful. As did the teases of a breakup in the weeks before. Their bond was splintering, and in this attack, it all collapsed in explosive fashion.

An excellent feud sprouted from this, as the two fought over the United States title.

Owens added to his resume as a heel. The rivalry served as a sendoff for Jericho before his return to the music world. And the tale hit fans in the gut the whole way.

#DIY No More

Few tag team partners come off as legitimately close as Ciampa and Gargano did. The way they embraced, the way they fought for each other, it all made them seem as tight as brothers.

But when #DIY failed to win back the NXT Tag Team Championships at TakeOver: Chicago in May, their partnership imploded.

Ciampa hurled Gargano into the LED screen. He threw him off the stage. He pounced on a man battered from a grueling ladder match.

The act stunned announcer Nigel McGuinness into silence. 

The audience can see some betrayals coming. Not this one. This was the pro wrestling equivalent of Spock turning on Captain Kirk.

A leg injury held Ciampa out of action after this and put a blood feud on hold. Gargano is busy charging up the ranks in an attempt to become the NXT champion. Inevitably, Ciampa will return and step into his path.

What follows will be one of the best stories we have seen in the squared circle in recent memory. 

Dead Weight

For weeks, Raw's biggest unanswered question was, "Who was attacking Amore?"

Someone was clubbing the cruiserweight backstage in a series of sneak attacks. Big Cass played the angry protector, promising to smash the culprit into dust.

As fans found out in June, though, Big Cass was the man behind it all.

Amore cried in the ring as his friend and tag team partner ran him down verbally. "You're the reason I've never been champion," Big Cass said as he laid out all the reasons he had betrayed him.

Cass then flattened his friend in a moving scene.

The story had the advantage of Cass and Amore being real-life friends. They came into the business together. They battled alongside each other at NXT. But suddenly, none of that mattered. 

The powerhouse swallowed up the smaller man en route to a run as a singles star.

If not for an ACL tear, Big Cass would have been in the spotlight plenty the rest of the year. WWE looked to be on board with giving him a big-time push. And he entered the solo stage of his career with ample momentum thanks to a memorable act of villainy against his best friend.

Amore's heartfelt promos following his split from Big Cass were among the best stuff in his career. The breakup clearly fueled him.

And he turned out to be the breakout star instead of his powerhouse partner (at least for now) as he went on to twice claim the Cruiserweight Championship and become a keystone for 205 Live.

The Hype Ends

As November neared its end, it looked like the breakups were over for the year, even with The Hype Bros bickering after every loss. But Rawley and Ryder couldn't keep their tag team intact. 

WWE took the slow-burn route here.

For months, infighting hurt The Hype Bros. They were tired of being the SmackDown tag team division's bottom feeders. They were tired of failing. And so finger-pointing followed.

It wasn't until after Survivor Series and the duo's second consecutive loss to The Bludgeon Brothers that the end finally came.

Rawley bashed Ryder from behind. And as he smashed on his partner with right hands, he repeated "The Hype Bros are dead" like some cold-blooded mantra.

The resulting feud is still in its early stages. The two have gone back and forth on social media. And at Clash of Champions, Rawley struck first in the ring with an emphatic win.

The rivalry is likely to be a major stepping stone for Rawley. He is a rising star who has outgrown his midcard tag team role. Pushing past his old friend, as Big Cass did to Amore and Owens did with Jericho, is next.

WWE went to the knife-in-the-back well several times in 2017, and each time was a success. The stories resonated. Heartbreak made for quality drama.

Should those moments lead to megastardom for Gargano, Big Cass, Rawley and KO, we will end up looking back as 2017 as a catalyst via cruelty.