“Oh no” is right, because it has been over one full year since Kassius Ohno returned to WWE and he’s no better off than when he first arrived. In fact, he’s arguably in a worse spot after 12 months.
His future isn’t looking as bright as it once did, and I don’t have a ton of faith that things are going to improve any time soon, based off the most recent NXT tapings and his complete absence during them.
For context, Ohno is 38 years old—far past his prime, particularly in a developmental system that primarily has two functions: polish an indie star up to the WWE ways before sending them to the main roster (Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode) or train home-grown young talent virtually from the ground up (Alexa Bliss, Bo Dallas, Rusev).
Since he doesn’t have the time to start from the bottom and gradually progress, if Ohno is going to make anything of himself on the main roster, it has to happen now or it simply is never, ever going to happen at all.
Fair is fair, he shouldn’t be in the beginner’s class. He’s someone who has been wrestling for nearly 20 years. If there’s something WWE thinks he doesn’t have in the ring, by now, he’s not going to get it, but that doesn’t seem to be the case as they re-hired him last year.
Ohno went through a stint in FCW and NXT from 2011 to 2013, which saw him go from one of the anchors of the program to build the future stars back to someone traveling throughout the independent scene, as if it was a demotion that wouldn’t be corrected.
Now that he has that second chance, it’s sad to see nothing is coming out of it whatsoever.
Since his return in January 2017, what has Ohno accomplished? He’s had very sparse feuds where only one of them has had any consistency (his program with Hideo Itami) and he’s primarily made appearances coming up short in somewhat random challenges.
Most recently, he put over Lars Sullivan at TakeOver: WarGames and then did the same for The Velveteen Dream at TakeOver: Philadelphia.
This is all well and good, because somebody needs to lose for the newer talent to learn and to look strong, but for a guy who calls himself The Knockout Artist, his record is pretty bad, particularly for someone who came back onto the scene with quite a bit of fanfare.
Unfortunately for him, that buzz almost immediately dissipated in favor of pushing other people, and before long, Ohno was that guy you could easily forget was still on the roster when thinking about potential challengers for the NXT Championship.
So how does he turn things around? What can he and WWE’s creative team do to give him a fresh coat of paint and spruce him up to the point where they can sell him as a star?
After quite a long introduction, I figured I would address that concern with the first of what I’m assuming will be a series of articles now and again: Save a Superstar—where we talk about the changes needed to improve someone’s career path and some fantasy booking scenarios we can pitch for how to get the most out of them and best utilize their talents.
Change #1: Fix the Weight Problem
Let’s just get the elephant in the room out of the way and say the obvious: Ohno is out of shape.
Compared to his former run several years ago, he’s gained a considerable amount of weight and not in the muscular bulked up type of way, but in the “always wears more clothes to hide it” way.
This isn’t entirely his fault, as he stated in a Reddit AMA that he suffers from a thyroid issue, which is at least partially responsible for his change from 197-220 lbs to his current billed weight at 270.
If at all possible, WWE’s physicians and trainers should look into every way possible to get that under control—something that I’m sure they are at least working on, but perhaps maybe not as much as they can be.
Maybe there’s a diet or exercise regime they haven’t tried yet, or the right type of medication to offset his condition in a highly-effective way? That’s not for us to know, but it’s something that needs to be addressed regardless of how the circumstances are.
Change #2: Turn Him Heel
When in doubt, make someone a villain. It doesn’t work for absolutely everybody all of the time, but more often than not, it can give them a bit of a boost just to change up their character a bit, if not really allow them to find a whole new groove.
Ohno right now is a babyface who doesn’t have any discernible traits to separate him from any other babyface, which is a problem, naturally, for anybody who falls into the same couple of character traits.
We get it. You’re passionate and you have heart and determination and when someone is being attacked, you’re going to run in to make the save and then pose awkwardly next to them when they’re nursing their wounds on the mat, asking them if they’re okay while you eyeball the heel who was able to sneak off and is now laughing all proud on the stage.
So what? Why should I care any more about Kassius Ohno doing that than Roderick Strong or Apollo Crews or Mustafa Ali?
When he randomly pushed The Velveteen Dream in their backstage segment to set up their match at TakeOver, that felt like more of a heel thing to do than he had normally been acting and it was (at least in my mind) the most interesting thing he’s done so far since his return.
Maybe he’s the one who should have turned heel instead of Hideo Itami, or he should have at least followed in his footsteps.
He doesn’t strike me as the type to be upset about a lack of respect or to be a heel that would gloat all the time, but rather, someone who is more along the lines of “hey man, I get paid to beat people up, and sometimes it’s kind of fun, so don’t get in my way or I’ll have to take you out and put a little more oomph behind my hits.”
Speaking of which…
Change #4: Let Him Win
He’s The Knockout Artist. How about he actually knocks out people who aren’t Raul Mendoza and the NXT live event crew who we know will lose every single one of their matches unless they’re in the midst of a repackaging?
You can’t improve your credibility without getting some victories. It just doesn’t happen. That’s what separates the Neville who was going nowhere with The King of the Cruiserweights version of Neville, and that’s why we don’t buy into any push that is given to Sin Cara anymore.
All it takes is a few nasty looking wins and in no time, he’s suddenly a force in NXT who can really mess people up and be feared.
NXT is a strange animal where something either takes forever, or it happens in rapid time. Either you win Tough Enough and never wrestle a match in years before being released, or you’re Aleister Black and the night you debut, people are touting you as a future champion.
One set of tapings with a handful of wins is all it takes to turn things around in at least a small way, if it doesn’t have stronger, more resounding effects.
Change #5: Tag Him Up
This is a suggestion that might not work quite the same as the others, but it also could be the true key to everything and really seal the deal on a new lease for Ohno.
His claim to fame was being half of The Kings of Wrestling with Cesaro, back when they were Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli and he has never won singles gold in WWE, NXT, FCW or ROH.
Why not play to his strengths, which can also hide his weaknesses? It isn’t as though the tag team division is something to be horribly upset about being a featured member of, since there are teams like The Usos who dedicate themselves to it as well as makeshift pairings like Breezango and Rusev Day who end up having quite a bit of fun.
Furthermore, with the current state of Sheamus being injured and supposedly on borrowed time as his neck gradually gets worse, it may be worth it to bring a third person into the fold to make The Bar an actual stable instead of just a tag team.
That way, Ohno can move up to the main roster and get a fair chance, but not be someone who gets lost in the midcard shuffle in a few weeks, and he can help pick up the slack to allow Sheamus to wrestle a lighter schedule and hopefully heal up some more.
We know he and Cesaro have chemistry together based on their years of tagging in the past, so that isn’t an issue, and if The Celtic Warrior could partner up with all the people he’s been aligned with throughout his career, it’s doubtful he’d have any issues with Ohno.
Plus, being in this stable would pretty much force them to change up his ring gear and give him something different to wear instead of the package of briefs and a baggy jersey that are more fitting for when you’re lounging around the house on your day off glued to your TV playing games or binging Netflix.
He could be menacing and dangerous, and we could buy into him as a valuable member of the team and somewhat of a replacement should Sheamus be unexpectedly taken out of the equation.
This dude used to look like he could be a Charles Manson impersonator or something. Now, he’s almost goofy, and it’s obviously not helping him carve out a mark in WWE as anything noteworthy, so plenty of things need to change.
On a positive note, I do like his theme song, though…so it would be a shame for that to go. While that might not be a hero’s welcome, it’s at least a nod.
Those are my thoughts, but what do you think about Kassius Ohno? How would you turn his career around and what does the future have in store for The Knockout Artist? Go ahead and fill us in on your thoughts by jumping in the comments to keep the discussion going!
