WWE does not want to make a new Stone Cold

After a brief run as a bad guy made necessary by an injury to Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens turned his face last month. The simple fact that he did it by defying a McMahon gave everyone the mood of Stone Austin, Steve Cold, and when he started using Austin's finisher regularly as his, much of the group supposedly logically that the WWE was using the Attitude Era model, which helped create one of the best characters in the history of professional wrestling.

Then last night (August 20th) at SmackDown, this happened:

It was of course an arrangement, and Shane proved to be the second secret referee of KO's King of the Ring match with Elias. Owens was furious but did not want to risk punishment for putting his hands back to an official. This led to a quick victory count for the lackey McMahon Elias.

Now, the importance of Kevin's family has followed him through alignment, alliances and brands. And the story is obviously not over. KO had a big win over Shane at Slam summerand he should get at least one more at some point in the not-too-distant future. There are complaints when the WWE gives us only blame on old angles. So we should leave them room for maneuver when they take a familiar angle in a new direction.

The problem is that it's not an entirely new direction. Owens, contrasting his family's life with the abundance Shane has always known, is a smart ride, but a rebellious hero yielding to the boss's threats is not. We just saw him earlier this year with Becky Lynch and Stephanie McMahon & Triple H.

It made sense too. Lynch wanted the main event of WrestleMania 35 so badly that she was ready to swallow her pride and kiss the ring to get it. But did he help make The Man's character cooler in the WWE universe? It's pretty hard to say that's the case.

Which also seems to be the case of KO apologizing, offering a handshake and then getting fucked by Shane during last week. Smack down. In accordance with the established motivations of the character? Yes. Badass? Ehhh … no.

And what makes it strange is that the bad donkey sells just as well as at the beginning of the century. Revealing and outsmarting your supervisor is no less attractive to the 2019 audience than the 1999 audience. So, why does the WWE seem reluctant to give the customer what they want?

Maybe they think too much. They may be afraid of pissing out Steve Austin, a guy who always lures for society every time he shows up (it does not take a lot of water, though, because he congratulated Bex and KO on his podcast and his social networks throughout their face anti-hero / pissed off short). Maybe this is an example of the WWE not wishing to have bigger stars than the brand.

Anyway, it seems pretty clear. WWE accepts some versions of light beer, but they do not really want to make a new Stone Cold.