WWE Rumor: Kevin Owens and Paul Heyman to Join Forces?

Kevin Owen's apparent retirement from WWE has the entire wrestling world asking what's next. And if one rumor proves to be true, an alignment with the freshly single Paul Heyman could be in the works.

According to Barn Burner's Fired Up podcast, Kevin Owen could become Heyman's newest client. This comes on the heels of a report that WWE is interested in keeping Heyman an on-camera talent despite Brock Lesnar's departure. While KO is technically "gone" his main event heel status is one that would appear to fit the services of The Advocate.

But could this really happen? It's impossible to say anything at this point other than this is a juicy rumor. At first glance, Owens and Heyman don't make a great pair. Traditionally, Heyman does the talking for his clients, but Owens is one of WWE's best on the microphone so taking away his diatribes may not be something WWE wants to do.

However, if Owens character is off to do some soul-searching, perhaps he comes back a changed man, or at least one that talks less. If this were to be the case, then using Heyman would make sense. But other than that, the combination of Owens and Heyman feels a little incongruent.

But if WWE decides to pull this trigger, Heyman and Owens' body of work demands that we give them the benefit of the doubt.

Regardless of what happens, Owens' sudden retirement will be one Raw's better plot points moving forward. Before getting pinned by Seth Rollins on Monday, WWE's announce team made sure to tell fans at home that KO was in the worst rut of his career. Owens himself pointed out how poorly things had gone for him since coming to Raw in April's Superstar Shake up, effectively foreshadowing his "I quit," moment.

Objectively speaking, things have been tough for the former Universal Champion. Thanks to Braun Strowman, Owens has spent most of the summer taking hideous bumps from horrific heights. And to add insult to injury, Strowman disposed of KO ins only a few minutes at their SummerSlam match.

Things were so one-sided that Stone Cold Steve Austin decided to take the stand for KO in a recent episode of the Steve Austin Show.

"I hope Kevin Owens can claw his way back to where he was," he said. "I'm a big fan of both guys. I'm friends with both guys, but, man, with Braun, Braun is a big guy. And Kevin has been in the picture for a lot of titles, held a lot of titles, and I just thought, 'man, he didn't get s—t in, so, eh, I just wasn't a fan," he said.

Austin didn't understand why WWE had to make Owens look so weak.

"I just didn't think Kevin Owens needed to get steamrolled because he's a top guy. And, obviously, Braun Strowman is still green, but he's a top guy. They're grooming him for bigger and better things, but KO didn't need to get squashed in the process," he said.