On paper, it seemed like Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens had everything going for them in their match against The Judgment Day's Finn Balor and Damian Priest at Payback.

Sure, Zayn and Owens are both hurt, and it would make sense to take the belts off of them in order to lighten their workload and give them time to recover ahead of Survivor Series, but by putting them in a Steel City Street Fight, Adam Pearce, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, and company could cover for those injuries with blood, tables, weapons, and outside of the ring antics that make it easier to avoid the elephant in the room.

Working the match largely out of the ring, Zayn and Owens did everything in their power to get the fans on their feet and cheering for the better part of 20 minutes, with KO wearing a Terry Funk shift under his typical garbs and paying tribute to the Funker with kendo sticks, tables, chairs, and a move that would make him proud, a Swanton bomb onto a table from about ten rows up inside the PPG Paints Arena.

While The Judgment Day were able to rally with the emergence of “Dity” Dominik Mysterio, who was allowed to help out in no rules match, KO and Zayn found new life of their own when, after seemingly finding the Pittsburgh Penguins' locker room, they suited up in hockey gear to fight off their Foes with sticks and mits.

Taking the match back into the ring after Rhea Ripley speared KO outside of it, Zayn attempted to ice things out against Balor on multiple occasions, coming darn close with a clear Helluva Kick for what should have been a three, but before he could cover, Mysterio bashed him in the head with the Money in the Bank briefcase and placed Balor's arm on top of the former NXT Champion for the 1-2-3.

Folks, after Payback, it's clear this is The Judgment Day's Universe, and we're all just living in it.