Kevin Owens-Cody Rhodes feud is WWE storytelling like weve never seen before

The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes are giving us storytelling so unlike WWE.Owens — captured only via fans’ viral cell phone video while leaving Bad Blood — turned on friend Cody Rhodes by viscously beating him down outside the WWE champion’s bus.It was such a deviation from what we are used to from WWE production over the past decade-plus.It had been known for its polish, structure and simplicity — like a Broadway player where everything has to be seen on stage.

Few things occurred outside the arena and everything important that did happen — even if just captured by WWE social media accounts or GTV — was shown at some point and sometimes over and over again during WWE programming or social media.So far, the footage from the parking lot at Bad Blood has never aired on a WWE show and Rhodes didn’t even want to speak about what happened during an appearance on Raw immediately after the premium live event, waiting to hear Owens’ side.If fans hadn’t seen the video, they were going to have to take the time to search it out.It’s almost like an incident between two sports teammates or rivals being captured outside the locker room or at a club or restaurant.It never will be shown on the game broadcast, but it will be talked about and be a storyline to what we see on screen.The more reality‐based and gritty storytelling approach continued on SmackDown where a suspended Owens came out of the crowd to interrupt the start of the WWE Women’s Tag Team championship match, only to have his mic cut in the ring.

Owens needed to take Corey Graves’ headset, saying it was not he who turned his back on Rhodes but Rhodes on him — referring to the “American Nightmare” teaming with Roman Reigns at Bad Blood.After Rhodes stormed down, Owens inadvertently struck tag team partner Randy Orton, who was holding him back, so WWE is using this ...