I Legit Thought Kevin Owens Was Seriously Hurt During His Ladder Match With Cody Rhodes, And I Wasn't The Only One
We all knew last night's ladder match between Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes was going to be brutal. Ladder matches are always a violent and bruising affair with a high risk of injury, but throw in the fact that it was for The WWE Championship at Royal Rumble and it was pretty clear everyone involved was going to put their bodies on the line. They did. The two former WrestleMania main eventers gave us an all-time classic match, and at the end, Owens was left so bloody and battered that I kept questioning whether he was actually hurt. Turns out I wasn't the only one.
There were a couple of absolutely vicious bumps during the main stretch of the match, most prominently a Fisherman Buster KO delivered to Cody off the ropes and onto the ladder, but it was in the closing moments where things got really ugly. Rhodes gave Owens an Alabama Slam onto a ladder that was positioned between the ring and the announcer's table. For those of you who aren't wrestling experts or big Bob Holly fans, the Alabama Slam is a deep cut move where you pick your opponent up by their legs so their body is over your head and then you fling them forward so their back lands squarely on the mat, though in this case, Owens' back landed directly on the ladder. The move elicited an audible gasp from fans. You can watch it below…
Now, I've watched a lot of wrestling over the last 35 years. I knew as soon as they set that ladder up that someone was going to get slammed through it. I was, of course, concerned when I saw they used the Alabama Slam and how aggressive the whole thing was, but it didn't really set off any alarm bells until afterwards when the match kinda just ended. Normally, big wrestling matches are filled with desperate and chaotic final moments, but Rhodes just walked into the ring and casually made his way up the ladder while Sami Zayn and various ring personnel attended to Owens. There wasn't a single second where it seemed like KO might get up and contest the finish. He just laid there, lifeless and bloody while a paramedic in white gloves checked on him.
Even after the match, Owens just continued to lay there while Cody Rhodes celebrated his win. For awhile, he seemed to literally be folded into the ladder, which led to an army of tweets from fans like this…
Even after they got him out of the ladder, however, he did not break character. He just laid there looking near death while the paramedics worked on him and transported him out of the arena. It got to be so bad that Rhodes, despite being the biggest fan favorite on the roster, started to get serious pushback from fans on social media about celebrating with his titles while KO was in such a scary state. Some fans were comparing him to Homelander from The Boys, and others talked about how much of a heel he looked like, especially when he raised his championship belts over Owens.
The fact that WWE was so intentional with its camera shots was what eventually clued me into this almost certainly being planned from the beginning. It's not natural to shoot someone's lifeless body from an upward angle while someone else is celebrating just in frame in the background. Throw in the fact that we didn't get any scary real life injury updates about Kevin Owens in the press conference afterwards, and I'm pretty positive there aren't going to be any long-term issues. There should, however, be plenty of storylines to come out of this, starting with the fact that this may be the moment good guy Cody Rhodes finally turns to the dark side, which some fans have been clamoring for including me.
Regardless, I want to shout out Kevin Owens real quick. He's been putting his body on the line and delivering great stories for WWE fans for years. During that time, he's very rarely held championships or been at the top of the card. Instead, he's been a workhorse that's improved every single thing he's done, whether it's been in a ladder match like this, a main event 'Mania spot with an aging Stone Cold Steve Austin that way overdelivered or it's been in a hilarious mid-card plot where he's trying to figure out if two different wrestlers are brothers or the same guy. He's one of the most important guys on the entire roster, and I hope WWE finally pulls the trigger on him someday and gives him a lengthy title run. He deserves it.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Hulk Hogan's son fights back tears as late father is honored at SummerSlam
Hulk Hogan's son, Nick, was emotional while his late father was honored at SummerSlam in Sunday. WWE played a video montage on screens at MetLife Stadium and on the Peacock stream. 'He was undefeated [at SummerSlam] … just so many great moments, too many to talk about really in the career of a man who carried professional wrestling on his back for three decades,' WWE announcer Michael Cole said on the broadcast. 'Rest in peace brother.' 3 Nick Hogan watches a tribute for his father during SummerSlam on Aug. 2, 2025. X /@FadeAwayMedia 3 Nick Hogan watches a tribute for his father during SummerSlam on Aug. 2, 2025. X /@FadeAwayMedia Hogan's 'Real American' theme song played at the end of the tribute. Nick placed his hands near his heart as fans cheered and then waved toward the crowd while fighting back tears. He was with his wife, Tana Lea. Nick previously appeared at WWE's Monday Night Raw on July 28, where he watched another tribute to his father. Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, died on July 24 from a heart attack. He was 71 years old. 3 WWE honored Hulk Hogan with a tribute video during SummerSlam on Aug. 2, 2025. X /@FadeAwayMedia Per records obtained by Page Six, Hogan had a history of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), which is a type of cancer affecting white blood cells. It was not publicly known that he had been battling cancer. On Aug. 1, Florida honored him by marking the date as 'Hulk Hogan Day.' 'Tomorrow, Aug. 1, is officially 'Hulk Hogan Day' in the state of Florida,' Nick wrote on Instagram. 'My dad was a true Floridian and loved his home state. Thank you for this honor @flgovrondesantis. He would be so proud of this.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Sorry, Jelly Roll: WWE SummerSlam showed yet again why we shouldn't write off celebrity crossovers prematurely
Seth Rollins may have delivered the swerve of the night in New Jersey, but there was one other spot Saturday at WWE SummerSlam Night 1 which shocked us on the Uncrowned desk: The moment when first-time WWE competitor Jelly Roll was smashed through the announcer table following a leapfrog splash from Logan Paul. 'That was probably the biggest celebrity bump we have ever seen,' was the immediate takeaway from our own Anthony Sulla-Heffinger, and I don't think you'll find anyone to argue with that. Indeed it may very well have been the most high-adrenaline spot of the whole three-and-a-half hour show. Not bad for a man who only started wrestling training this year. If you spend any time on social media, you'll know that WWE takes a bit of flak for these celebrity cameos. For a certain type of purist, these kinds of publicity moves are the antithesis of what they think pro-wrestling should be — even if the WWE has now repeatedly shown that it can turn celebrities (at least some of them) into credible sports entertainers. You don't have to be a sports media analyst to see why WWE is so keen to work with these celebrities in the first place. When Bad Bunny first appeared at WrestleMania 37, Nick Khan claimed WWE saw a 30% jump in its Spanish-speaking viewership — and that was before Bunny's famous street fight at Backlash, which rightly was regarded as one of the matches of the year. The social media explosion has only provided more metrics for the likes of Nick Khan to get excited. Let's not forget that the clip of IShowSpeed being speared by Bron Breakker — the one that nearly broke the influencer in half — in this year's Royal Rumble generated more than 300 million views on X alone. If the price of getting that many eyes on the product is irritating a few older fans, you can see why WWE doesn't care about the latter. Of course, these celebrity crossovers aren't exactly risk-free. Earlier this year, we saw WWE bet big on Travis Scott, even making him the pivotal player in the WrestleMania 41 finale — a creative plan that was shot down by pretty much every wrestling pundit within minutes of its execution. As with a lot of things in wrestling, there is only so far you can go with the crowd against you. Now the reports are that WWE and Travis Scott have fallen out (even if he remains a close contact of TKO supremo Ari Emanuel), bringing his involvement to an unceremonious end. Likewise, Jelly Roll's first cameo — back at SummerSlam 2024 — drew some justified criticism for the way in which he effortlessly demolished two full-time wrestlers, thus potentially undermining the craft in the eyes of the casual viewer. But last night showed that WWE has learned its lesson on that front. (Though, arguably, they are still massively under-booking Austin Theory and Grayson Waller…) Sure, Jelly Roll might not quite have the prodigious talent of Bad Bunny and Logan Paul — surely WWE's most successful celebrity crossovers — but it was clear Saturday that he's been putting in the work on his training. That allowed WWE to script a plausible tag match around his involvement, and to set up that incredible table spot. Don't be surprised if we see him returning to the ring again before long, particularly given the unexpected finish. That's a very different ballgame to Cardi B, whose involvement as host was much smaller than expected. There had been whispers she might be involved somehow in the Jade Cargill match — perhaps with the two of them holding up the belt to celebrate at the end — but those went out of the window when Tiffany Stratton scored her surprise win. By the mid-point of the show, you could have forgotten she was even there. It isn't like WWE won't be smiling either way. For those unaware, the rapper currently boasts some 164 million followers on Instagram and 286 million likes on TikTok. By comparison, Roman Reigns and Rhea Ripley have Instagram followings of 10 million and 6 million respectively (though The Rock dwarfs all of them together with 393 million). Those kinds of numbers aren't just translating to more views for WWE's product, it's also adding ammunition to WWE's own marketing pitch, particularly when it comes to getting host cities to pay for events. We know from their WrestleMania pitch-deck that they make a big deal of their social media viewership. 'It's incredible, the amount of [famous] people that want to be involved,' said Triple H, speaking on a podcast earlier this year. Then again, it isn't like the enthusiasm only flows one way, given the treatment that WWE happily dishes out to its preferred celebrity partners. The rapper Breland apparently had his own private dressing room in return for a brief crowd cutaway shot at Saturday night's show. When you hear stuff like that, it's easy to be cynical, particularly when you factor in how few actual WWE signees would ever be awarded the same treatment. But last night's table splash spot reminded even us more cantankerous fans that we shouldn't write off these celebrity crossovers entirely. If the celebrities and influencers are willing to take bumps like that and get SummerSlam promoted on "The Jimmy Kimmel Show"? Well, then we might just have a reason to be excited next time Nick Khan gets another A-lister in his sights for a future stadium show.
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
WWE SummerSlam 2025 Match Card, Start Time And Odds For Night Two
WWE SummerSlam 2025 ended with an unforgettable moment on Saturday when Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to beat CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship. On Sunday, SummerSlam Night Two will set it out to top it. Last night in front of a crowd of more than 53,000 fans, Punk defeated Gunther in an instant classic Punk in the show's headlining match only to have his magical moment spoiled by a returning Rollins. In addition, Roman Reigns and Jey Uso toppled Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker in the show opener while Tiffany Stratton shockingly beat Jade Cargill and left MetLife Stadium still the WWE Women's Champion. At WWE SummerSlam Night Two on Sunday, WWE presents another loaded card featuring a whopping six title matches. The main attraction is a Street Fight WWE Championship match pitting the champion John Cena and Cody Rhodes after Cena appeared to turn babyface in an explosive segment on last week's SummerSlam 2025 Start Time And Streaming Info for Sunday WWE SummerSlam 2025 Night Two takes place on Sunday, Aug. 3 and will air exclusively on Peacock in the United States. The event is available on Netflix internationally. WWE announced that for the first time ever, SummerSlam 'will screen live in select Regal Cinemas across the U.S. on Saturday, Aug. 2 and Sunday, Aug. 3' as part of a partnership with Fandango. As was the case on Saturday, WWE will air a three-hour pre-show on Peacock. WWE SummerSlam 2025 Match Card For Night Two (Sunday) WWE SummerSlam Night Two features six matches, and in every single bout, a WWE championship will be on the line: WWE SummerSlam 2025 Betting Odds for Night Two (Sunday) WWE betting odds from BetUS suggest that there are some runaway favorites at SummerSlam on Night One. But as always, major WWE pay-per-view events can be remarkably unpredictable. John Cena beat Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 41 in a widely-panned match that reinforced WWE's commitment to Cena's lackluster heel turn. Since then, however, Cena has consistently teased that he's heading back to his babyface roots while Rhodes, the top fan favorite in WWE, is poised to take back the title and reassert himself as the No. 1 star in the company. If Rhodes loses again, that would be a downright shocker, though the Street Fight stipulation certainly leaves room for another cheap win for the 17-time world champion. This match is essentially a rematch of the Women's World title match at WrestleMania 41, only with Naomi replacing Bianca Belair. It's also a contender for best match of the weekend. That being said, it should have an obvious result. Naomi only just won the championship at Evolution, making her a virtual shoo-in to win this triple threat match under shady circumstances. She'll likely sneak in for a pin on Sky after Ripley hits Sky with the Riptide, setting up a possible loss to Stephanie Vaquer at Clash in Paris. Does Bayley, who's been heavily involved in this storyline, show up at SummerSlam? The answer is a resounding yes. The question, however, is who she helps, or rather, who she shafts. If Valkyria loses, she can never challenge for the Intercontinental title as long as Lynch is champion, so the best bet is Bayley getting involved and costing Valkyria the match given the No DQ rules. That would allow Lynch to move onto a different feud while Bayley, possibly as a heel, continues her storyline with Valkyria. The steel cage stipulation is supposed to keep Solo Sikoa's henchmen out of the ring, but of course, anyone who's ever seen a WWE cage match knows that isn't happening. Expect at least a few, if not all, of Sikoa's 'MFTs' to show up and help him defeat Jacob Fatu inside the steel structure. Although Sikoa taking another loss is not ideal, WWE can book it in a way that protects him and allows him to quickly move from the midcard to the main event picture where he belongs. Admittedly, however, this match is one of the more predictable ones of the weekend and could go either way. AJ Styles and Dominik Mysterio have quietly built up a decent little midcard feud that should result in a hot match at SummerSlam. The fans love Styles and hate Mysterio, so this could be a show-stealer. Mysterio had his 'WrestleMania moment' when he won this very same title at WrestleMania 41, but he's back to being a full-blown heel once again. A controversial win for 'Dirty Dom' wouldn't be surprising, but with Styles no longer really booked as a main eventer, he should get the win and elevate the IC title. WWE is finally giving the WWE Tag Team Championship a much-deserved spotlight after leaving the tag titles off a slew of major pay-per-views in recent years. The SmackDown tag team division has been a highlight of the brand since 2024, and that's why this 6-way tag team match could go any number of ways. With strong pushes for duos like Andrade and Rey Fenix as well as former champions The Street Profits, this rare TLC match isn't as predictable as most SummerSlam matches. The Wyatt Sicks have only held the titles for a few weeks, however, making them the leading candidate to leave WWE SummerSlam with the gold. If anyone else leaves MetLife Stadium with the titles, the strongly-pushed combo of Andrade and Fenix is the best bet.
