On June 23rd, 2019, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeated The New Day, Big E and Xavier Woods, at Stomping Grounds.
Why, you may ask, is that relevant? Well, because it marked the last time Owens and Zayn shared the ring on WWE programming as friends for the better part of four years, save a few house shows shortly thereafter. Since then, the duo have largely been going their separate ways, working on different brands, forming different alliances, and ultimately falling on opposite sides of the great “The Bloodline vs. Everybody” feud that has dominated WWE over the past three-or-so years… until now.
That's right, after “The Underdog of the Underground” spent the better part of the month of February and half of March attempting to persuade Owens over to his side following a very public falling out with Roman Reigns that culminated with a match at the Elimination Chamber in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, KO finally saw the light and decided to come over to his friend's side, even if it took a little matchmaking from none other than Cody Rhodes to make the long-time friends bury the hatchet and become pals once more.
Unfortunately, however, just because Owens and Zayn hugged it out in the center of the ring on RAW doesn't necessarily guarantee the duo a shot at their ultimate goal: breaking The Bloodline once and for all. No, for that to happen, The Usos would actually have to agree to a match with the duo at WrestleMania 39, assuming, of course, they didn't go over the brothers' heads to instead book Mania through WWE's resident matchmaker, Adam Pearce.
Taking the ring for the opening segment of RAW, Owens and Zayn discussed their reunion and the duo put each other over to a crowd overjoyed by their renewed friendship, at least until Roman Reigns' henchman, The Usos, surrounded the squared circle in order to reign on their parade. Adamant that no one, not Zayn, not Cody Rhodes, not nobody will unseat The Bloodline at the top of the WWE card any time soon, Owens took to the mic and forced Jimmy and Jey to put their money where their mouth is.
“Alright, guys, you know what, let’s cut to the chase,” Owens said. “Cause we all know where this is going, you know exactly what we were thinking when we looked at that (WrestleMania 39) sign, and by the sound of it, all of these people are thinking the exact same thing. There’s one way we can settle this, and there’s only one place to do it, on the grandest stage of them all. Jimmy, you and your brother against me and my brother for the Undisputed Championship at WrestleMania.”
Visibly shaken, Jimmy attempted to shut down any conversations about a title shot at WrestleMania, but Jey was far more interested in the outing, declaring that the Brother vs. Brother match was officially on for “The Showcase of the Immortals.”
Will KO and Zayn finally live up t0 the hype and end one of the longest championship runs in WWE history, regardless of the belt? Or will The Usos keep their run going and take a serious shot at becoming the longest SmackDown Tag Team Championship and RAW Tag Team Championship belt holders? Either way, it's clear KO and Zayn are two of the most popular performers in the WWE universe, and the company is wise to highlight that moving forward.
Cody Rhodes isn't jealous of Sami Zayn's popularity within the WWE Universe.
With Zayn arguably the most popular babyface in all of WWE, one has to wonder how “The American Nightmare,” who is being pushed as the next champion within the promotion, feels about “The Underdog from the Underground's” hype and if it could threaten his own at some point down the line.
Fortunately, Ryan Satin asked Rhodes that very question on his Out of Character podcast, and the answer Rhodes provided is endlessly fascinating.
“I think you look at things as — I looked at it as a challenge, is probably the best way to look at it. And not a negative challenge, a challenge of, ‘Sami is doing amazing things, you didn’t just buy yourself some future spot,” Rhodes sai via 411 Mania. “You’ve got to get back in there and show people exactly what you can do’… What a great problem to have when you have two very strong characters. And one of the worst things we can do as a community is trying to turn the characters against one another? I actually heard — I can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but I actually think I heard [Disco Inferno] say, ‘What a great problem to have.’ And that is a really truly great problem to have.
“Now, Sami got his shot in Montreal, in his hometown, and came as close as anyone. Drew may be very similar in terms of being close. And Sami and I have a real genuine relationship. I never looked at it in a sense that I thought anything of, ‘Well, if they love him, and I’m been so lucky that they love me in this moment too, I better make sure I give them the absolute best. And again, leave no doubt.’ I never once looked at it as a problem. I looked at it as a challenge and for WWE as a whole, a great problem to have.”
Could the day eventually come when Rhodes and Zayn have to face off for one or both of WWE's top titles? Potentially so; though there has been talk of the company splitting the unified title back into the Universal Championship and the WWE Championship, Rhodes is wresting for the whole shebang at WrestleMania 39 and will presumably defend that title for at least a little bit before Paul “Triple H” Levesque even thinks about splitting things up. Fortunately, before that happens, it would appear the trio of Zayn, Owens, and Rhodes may be going it together in a sort of WWElite pairing that fans should be all about moving forward.
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