WWE: Biggest Losers From WrestleMania 34 Weekend in New Orleans
By Bryan Heaton
Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the once, possibly current, but possibly former again best friends. Owens and Zayn have had a long history with Shane McMahon, and the commissioner of SmackDown Live may have gotten the last laugh.
More from Daily DDT
- It’s time for Adam Cole and MJF to drop the ROH tag team titles
- Tom Lawlor talks MLW return, AEW opportunity, CM Punk’s WWE return and more
- Eddie Kingston stands to gain the most from the AEW Continental Classic
- Trish Stratus on WWE NXT would help elevate that women’s division
- Randy Orton signs with SmackDown to go after The Bloodline
Prior to WrestleMania, KO and Sami brutally assaulted McMahon, leading to Daniel Bryan, then-General Manager, to fire them. So, as is often the case in professional wrestling, they assaulted him as well. Even though Bryan had seemingly been an advocate for the two superstars, he’d had enough, and his hand was forced.
At WrestleMania, many fans believed that Zayn and Owens could find a way to win the match, and thus earn their reinstatement to the SmackDown brand. Whether it turned out Bryan was in their corner all along, or maybe Shane McMahon finally embraced the hate, there were a variety of ways the finish could have gone down. But, since it was Bryan’s first match in nearly three years, WWE played it safe — Bryan won via YES Lock on Zayn, and the pair were still fired.
The next night on Raw, Owens and Zayn begged Kurt Angle for a job. Despite Kurt’s knowledge of the job market in “TNA,” he gave them a chance — to face each other, with only the winner earning a Raw superstar contract. And what happened? A double TKO/count out!
So not only is the storyline between Owens and Zayn still up in the air, now we’re playing the lousy waiting game of “how are they getting out of this pickle?” Wrestlers being “fired” can be a great story tool, but too often it’s a waste of time. Especially in 2018, few people are under the impression that Owens and Zayn will be leaving WWE. Maybe a handful of young children, that’s it. Why insult the audience’s intelligence as such?
Next: Biggest Winners from WrestleMania Weekend
With any luck, this won’t drag on all the way to Backlash. Maybe the Superstar Shake-up next week will fix things. But maybe not. Either way, Owens and Zayn — now with a prolonged absence from “official” television time — are worse off than they were before Mania weekend.