Kevin Owens Is the X-Factor Who Will Make or Break WWE Raw This Year

WWE Raw runs through Kevin Owens.

Owens might not technically be WWE's top Superstar outright, but he's the guy the company turns to when it needs something done. He's a malleable character who can make fans hate him whenever necessary or draws enough sympathy to help him become one of the most over good guys this side of Daniel Bryan. 

In fact, there's probably a reason Owens and Bryan are on opposite programs and getting used in a way to help get the very top programs over. 

Owens does it all for WWE. He's locked up with Shane McMahon in prominent roles. He was the partner for Chris Jericho. When WWE needed to get a title program with Goldberg working right, KO was the guy. Title feuds with AJ Styles and Kofi Kingston? Check. Check. 

Owens isn't the guy, at least not the crowd-facing guy. But he's the guy. And now he's tasked with making the revamped Seth Rollins and his Authors of Pain cohorts work. 

So far, so good. 

Owens has played the fighting victim well in his spats with the trio so far, only recently getting help from Samoa Joe. That's a fun combo in itself, but odds are we'll see some more Owens-Rollins battles and tag matches as WWE tasks these Superstars with commanding the top of Raw while the main title remains absent. 

Of course, KO won't stay in this program forever. Rollins will eventually have to move on to other stuff, but this has done a great job of rehabbing him in the minds of fans. Without a guy like Owens to play off of, it just wouldn't work as well. 

But once Owens' work here is done—solidifying Rollins as a big bad—the sky is the limit, as they say. If WWE wants the mid-title scene to be rock solid, The Architect likely goes there. If WWE wants things to really get weird, sending off the very top talent to the main event title scene, maybe KO makes a big splash in the Royal Rumble. 

Either way, whatever Owens does is bound to be money, which is what WWE needs right now. Raw's top champion, Brock Lesnar, is missing in action. Rollins is as volatile as it gets with fans. Randy Orton and AJ Styles have top-card potential but aren't involved for now and up-and-coming guys like Aleister Black still need time. 

Whatever Owens does from here is critical to whether Raw ultimately looks like a success in 2020. Fans wouldn't complain about another title run, this one preferably without a part-timer coming in and stealing it. And man would it be fun to see him spar on the mic with Paul Heyman and get a shot at Lesnar in the ring. But his helping develop the next wave like Black wouldn't hurt, either. 

For WWE, it must be nice to have an asset like Owens. He was treated like a big deal ever since he debuted with the company on the main roster and it was telling at the time decision-makers had big plans for his special talent. Fast forward to now, that's more than been the case. 

It's a little early to perfectly see what WWE has planned throughout 2020 for a guy one could argue is underrated. But what is clear is that said plan will be in a featured spotlight and therefore critically important to the program taking place each Monday night. 

Rest assured Owens, unlike most others, will make whatever it is work—and fans will enjoy the ride. While WWE and others will tell fans there are bigger names, nobody is a bigger X-factor for the red brand than KO.