Hi Scott,
Short & sweet: with Kevin Owens, and to an extent Neville, being protected on arrival to the main roster, how come people haven't been treated so in the past when new blood and stars needed to be made?
Other than The Shield (as a unit more so than individually), I can't think of anyone that has been protected so well on arrival like Owens has. It's great to see. Already Owens seems like he could genuinely be a top guy sooner rather than lately!
Why is this the first time in, what seems to, years that WWE have given thought and attention to giving someone actual protection?
Yeah, aside from Great Khali, this is really the first time since the Hulkamania era that they've brought in someone and shot them to the top like this out of the gate. I'm still amazed that Rock, for example, was so charismatic that he was able to thrive under a 50/50 booking scene like he was. And Owens is completely against everything they look for in a guy, which makes their sudden confidence in him all the stranger. And the thing is, when you shoot a guy to the top like this, you can actually do the 50/50 part later and it's fine. Jump him to the top for three months against, say, Roman Reigns, take 5 or 6 months away from the feud once he's a top guy, and then come back to it and have him lose the big rematch to then make Reigns into a big star on his level too. The territories used to book like that all the time and it almost always worked. The key is that you need more than a week between matches, which has become the central problem with their writing.