All of us knew final night time’s ladder match between Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes was going to be brutal. Ladder matches are all the time a violent and bruising affair with a excessive danger of harm, however throw in the truth that it was for The WWE Championship at Royal Rumble and it was fairly clear everybody concerned was going to place their our bodies on the road. They did. The 2 former WrestleMania most important eventers gave us an all-time basic match, and on the finish, Owens was left so bloody and battered that I stored questioning whether or not he was really harm. Seems I wasn’t the one one.
There have been a few completely vicious bumps throughout the primary stretch of the match, most prominently a Fisherman Buster KO delivered to Cody off the ropes and onto the ladder, but it surely was within the closing moments the place issues bought actually ugly. Rhodes gave Owens an Alabama Slam onto a ladder that was positioned between the ring and the announcer’s desk. For these of you who aren’t wrestling consultants or huge Bob Holly followers, the Alabama Slam is a deep minimize transfer the place you choose your opponent up by their legs so their physique is over your head and you then fling them ahead so their again lands squarely on the mat, although on this case, Owens’ again landed straight on the ladder. The transfer elicited an audible gasp from followers. You’ll be able to watch it beneath…
ALABAMA SLAM THROUGH THE LADDER#RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/YIruiJaxD0February 2, 2025
Now, I’ve watched numerous wrestling over the past 35 years. I knew as quickly as they set that ladder up that somebody was going to get slammed by it. I used to be, after all, involved once I noticed they used the Alabama Slam and the way aggressive the entire thing was, but it surely didn’t actually set off any alarm bells till afterwards when the match kinda simply ended. Usually, huge wrestling matches are full of determined and chaotic closing moments, however Rhodes simply walked into the ring and casually made his approach up the ladder whereas Sami Zayn and varied ring personnel attended to Owens. There wasn’t a single second the place it appeared like KO may stand up and contest the end. He simply laid there, lifeless and bloody whereas a paramedic in white gloves checked on him.
Even after the match, Owens simply continued to put there whereas Cody Rhodes celebrated his win. For awhile, he appeared to actually be folded into the ladder, which led to a military of tweets from followers like this…
Even after they bought him out of the ladder, nevertheless, he didn’t break character. He simply laid there trying close to dying whereas the paramedics labored on him and transported him out of the world. It bought to be so unhealthy that Rhodes, regardless of being the most important fan favourite on the roster, began to get severe pushback from followers on social media about celebrating along with his titles whereas KO was in such a scary state. Some followers have been evaluating him to Homelander from The Boys, and others talked about how a lot of a heel he regarded like, particularly when he raised his championship belts over Owens.
Kevin Owens is both the best vendor of this period or he’s useless 😭😭 #RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/HeWL7Px4b3February 2, 2025
The truth that WWE was so intentional with its digicam pictures was what ultimately clued me into this nearly actually being deliberate from the start. It’s not pure to shoot somebody’s lifeless physique from an upward angle whereas another person is celebrating simply in body within the background. Throw in the truth that we didn’t get any scary actual life harm updates about Kevin Owens within the press convention afterwards, and I’m fairly optimistic there aren’t going to be any long-term points. There ought to, nevertheless, be loads of storylines to return out of this, beginning with the truth that this can be the second good man Cody Rhodes lastly turns to the darkish facet, which some followers have been clamoring for together with me.
Regardless, I wish to shout out Kevin Owens actual fast. He’s been placing his physique on the road and delivering nice tales for WWE followers for years. Throughout that point, he’s very hardly ever held championships or been on the prime of the cardboard. As an alternative, he’s been a workhorse that’s improved each single factor he’s performed, whether or not it’s been in a ladder match like this, a most important occasion ‘Mania spot with an getting older Stone Chilly Steve Austin that approach overdelivered or it’s been in a hilarious mid-card plot the place he’s attempting to determine if two totally different wrestlers are brothers or the identical man. He’s one of the necessary guys on your entire roster, and I hope WWE lastly pulls the set off on him sometime and provides him a prolonged title run. He deserves it.