Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn are on two divergent paths WWE present tales. Owens, carrying the Winged Eagle belt, is difficult Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship on the Royal Rumble. In the meantime, Zayn is getting into the Royal Rumble match in hopes of getting an opportunity to win his first World Heavyweight Championship.
As of the most recent episode of Monday Evening Uncooked, these divergent paths are starting to merge, as WWE reunites its biggest relationship with enemies but. As KO hinted that he would assist Zayn win the Rumble if Zayn helped him win his title match, they alluded to the historical past they shared collectively in the course of the Uncooked promo.
For these unfamiliar with their work collectively, the friendship and rivalry between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens goes again even additional than simply the WWE quarters, as their friendship dates again to their early wrestling daysafter they each dreamed of changing into WWE stars.
How far again does Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn go?
Tracing the historical past of the Ring of Honor
Earlier than becoming a member of WWE, Kevin Owens (aka Kevin Steen) and Sami Zayn's friendship started after they shaped a tag crew on the impartial circuit, since debuting in Ring of Honor in 2007. It's true that, at the moment, Zayn was ready for the character of a Spanish-speaking masked luchador named El Generico. They're thought of separate characters, and the wrestling group affectionately treats them as totally different individuals, with Generico at the moment retired and operating an orphanage, or useless, relying on who you ask. Zayn being Generico is wrestling's largest inside joke and worst stored secret.
At ROH Closing Battle 2009, a shedding streak for the previous Tag Crew Champions would set off a retirement tease from Steen, who lower a reside post-match promo citing weight achieve and former accidents that had price them matches. A hug from his greatest buddy and applause from the gang would attempt to persuade Steen to rethink. In a stunning betrayal, Steen responded by kicking Generico between the legs and turning heel within the course of.. Steen would later clarify that he accepted Generico's hug as an try and steal the highlight from him, so he responded by withdrawing it.
This tag crew break up successfully modified the trajectory of Steen and Generico's careers ceaselessly.. From this level onwards, these two would continuously circle one another and, one may say, battle ceaselessly. Not simply in Ring of Honor, however in numerous indy promotions after that, Generico and Kevin Steen would usually battle one another in intense matches like Combat With out Honor, Final Man Standing, Canine Collar and Ladder Warfare. Within the latter case, the Ladder Match marked the Generico's ultimate match in ROH earlier than signing with WWE and changing into Sami Zayn.
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn be part of WWE
NXT and begin of the principle roster
Sami Zayn debuted in WWE on the Could 22, 2013, episode of NXT, and it wasn't lengthy earlier than Kevin Owens adopted swimsuit. The previous Steen would signal with WWE the next yr and debut on the NXT TakeOver: R Evolution occasion in December 2014. That very same night time Sami Zayn gained the NXT Championship and KO wouldn't waste any time selecting up the place he left off on the indies powerbombing Zayn on the apron to finish the present. Owens then defeated Zayn for the title in 2015 and ultimately despatched Zayn to the principle roster on a stretcher.
Owens would make the principle roster later that yr, however the two wouldn't share the ring once more till the 2016 Royal Rumble match. After their collision, they'd compete towards one another in matches for outdated instances' sake, however miraculously, Zayn would flip heel in Hell in a Cell 2017, resulting in a tag crew reunion for the duo. Within the following years, the duo would alternate between associates and enemies, exchanging face/heel dynamics and negotiating victories. Arguably essentially the most notable match in WWE so far came about after they fought one another at WrestleMania 37 in 2021.
How Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn Rekindled Their Friendship
From enemies to tag crew champions
After 2021, Zayn and Owens can be stored aside for essentially the most half, largely because of the model break up that despatched Kevin Owens to Uncooked and Sami Zayn to SmackDown. Their paths wouldn't start to cross once more till mid-2022, when Sami Zayn Turned Pals With The Bloodline. As somebody who spent a lot of 2021 feuding with Roman Reigns and Bloodline, KO warned Zayn that his position as Honorary Uce wouldn't finish nicely. Not solely did Zayn not heed the warning, however he doubled down on his alliance by serving to Bloodline win WarGames towards Crew KO.
Issues modified at Royal Rumble 2022, the place Zayn started to rethink about betraying his greatest buddy. Zayn defended Owens whereas KO was being attacked by Bloodline that night time. Afterwards, KO was hesitant to forgive Zayn for selecting bloodline over their decades-long friendship earlier than lastly embracing it on the March 17 SmackDown to face their widespread enemies. As soon as they had been on the identical web page, they had been capable of defeat the Usos twins of the Bloodlines for the WWE Tag Crew titles in the principle occasion of WrestleMania 39. They held these titles for 153 days earlier than shedding them to Judgment Day at Payback in September.
Is WWE getting ready Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn for WrestleMania?
The domino impact of KO's heel flip
After shedding the titles, Owens and Zayn would once more be separated by the model break up, this time with KO being on SmackDown whereas Zayn went to Uncooked. In the meantime, the long-running Bloodline storyline continued, this time with the OGs turning babyface towards a brand new heel variant faction, in addition to the brand new face steady being aided by Cody Rhodes. Owens was very offended that the WWE Champion was keen to assist a unit that spent years doing mistaken by each of them. In a hypocritical mission, Owens made a U-turn by attacking Rhodes.
Now, as he and Rhodes head in the direction of the Royal Rumble Ladder Match, Owens lastly confronts one other bloodline ally, Sami Zayn. Nonetheless, Owens loudly admitted that he doesn't carry the identical venomous anger towards Zayn as a result of he understands why Zayn can be so keen to forgive Roman Reigns when he and the bloodline have so egregiously wronged him up to now. Ultimately, Zayn forgave Owens anyway and vice versa.
By making the most of Sami's emotions, Owens tries to make use of Zayn's insecurities about by no means being a World Champion to govern him into serving to him within the Rumble in alternate for a similar assist. If issues go as Owens plans, he beats Cody to (formally) turn out to be WWE Champion and Sami wins the Rumble, culminating in the principle occasion of WrestleMania 41 for the most important prize within the business.
Some followers may argue that Owens vs. Zayn has occurred many instances, together with a match at Mania. The distinction, nevertheless, is that these matches had been by no means notable, as neither of them had been on the high of the cardboard. This time, Sami and Kevin are a pivotal a part of WWE's most necessary storylines, and preventing in the principle occasion of WrestleMania for the WWE Title would actually be the end result of their unbelievable careers.
Zayn and Owens constructed a real friendship outdoors of wrestling that lasted almost 20 years. They're nonetheless capable of develop this real-life story, branching it into wrestling tales which in flip department out onto the Largest Stage of All. WWE not often tries to face out on this decade-old narrative, however the case of Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens continues to captivate to at the present time.