September 6, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Kevin Owens wins WWE Universal Title, Joe Silva leaves UFC, tons more

Kevin Owens captured the WWE Universal title in a four-way elimination match on 8/29 in Houston as part of the company’s latest reset.

HHH returned for the first time since WrestleMania, single-handedly winning the match by giving both Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins pedigrees and basically handing the championship to Owens in the latest version of The Authority handing out the championship instead of talent winning it.

Owens, 32, has been wrestling 16 years, most of it on independent shows. He signed with WWE two years ago, and his career path and title win are the very definition of the changes in the industry. Owens has had the talent for more than a decade, as well as the interview ability and the ability to get over. He had everything but he was hampered by a bad physique. That physique kept him out of WWE until 30 and under the old standards that WWE, and to an extent TNA, judged talent by, he’d have been a career indie star. 

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