Wrestlemania: The Main Event That Needs to Happen
I like to keep things as positive as possible.
I like WWE.
I like AEW.
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With Wrestlemania seemingly being a 2-night extravaganza for the forseeable future, this opens up the doors for certain talents to get a chance to shine. We now have 2 main event spots meaning you could take talent that doesn’t fit the Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar or John Cena level of star power and give them a chance to close out night one. We saw it last year when Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair were able to steal the show with their main event and then we saw it again this year when Kevin Owens was able to get Stone Cold out of retirement for one last match.
So, with that said, I am now going to plead my case for a match that should main event a night of Wrestlemania at some point before they walk away from professional wrestling. Whether it is night one or night two, there is no reason that THIS feud of all the feuds that we’ve had over the last decade shouldn’t get the chance. With their absolute love for professional wrestling, their inability to have a bad match and the creative genius that flows from both of their brains, I am of course talking about Sami Zayn versus Kevin Owens.
Contestants.
Kevin Owens
…was able to carry an entire program for over a month into the main event of Wrestlemania. It started prior to him ever calling Stone Cold out and the brilliant work continued for the weeks following as he was able to sell the world on a match that may or may not happen and we were completely accepting of whatever may come because Kevin Owens did that good of a job with it.
Sami Zayn
…took a match with Johnny Knoxville. What was supposed to be a huge let down for one of the MVPs of WWE over the past year and a half, ended up being one of the most entertaining matches (if not the most entertaining) at Wrestlemania 38. With Sami Zayn doing a majority of the work in selling this match, we were all intrigued by the time he was done working his magic and then went above and beyond with the delivery of said match.
History.
A friendship/rivalry/relationship that has lasted for over a decade, these two performers are and will be forever tied at the hip. From teaming together as El Generico and Kevin Steen to facing each other one on one at Wrestlemania 37 last year, wherever you see one… the other is not too far away. From the early days in Quebec to CZW to PWG to ROH to NXT and now WWE, these two have been through war together and against each other.
After years of being a tag team as El Generico and Kevin Steen, it wouldn’t be until they arrived in Ring of Honor where they would finally become foes when Steen turned on his partner. The feud would give them “Feud of the Year” from our good buddy Meltzer’s newsletter. After a year of battling, Kevin Steen would be forced to leave after losing to Generico. After a brief hiatus from ROH, Steen would return and get right back to work with his soon to be lifelong rivalry.
Another year would go by of breath-taking battles, they would part ways for the time being as El Generico would leave for NXT under the name Sami Zayn as Kevin Steen stayed in ROH as the face that ran the place. In NXT, Sami would not only reinvent himself but prove that he was capable of being the top dog as he would win the NXT Championship. It was an uphill battle but he was able to achieve that goal on what was referenced as his last chance when he defeated Adrian Neville. He would be greeted by his friend turned nemesis, who was now known as Kevin Owens, in what would start as a heart warming moment as they embraced in the ring celebrating Zayn’s title win. That moment would not last long as their rivalry would start once again with Kevin Owens attacking him right afterwards and leaving him laid out after a powerbomb to the ring apron.
That quick betrayal would lead to a match between the two where Sami Zayn was so enraged that he was not able to focus on the matter at hand. It would lead to Kevin Owens beating Zayn to the point where he couldn’t respond, and the match would be called. Kevin Owens took the title just that easily. And whereas they would not be able to follow up on this story in NXT due to injuries, it would not be the end for these two by far.
After a while, Owens would find himself on Raw as Zayn recovered from his injuries down in NXT. Kevin would find out at the 2016 Royal Rumble though that Sami Zayn was not finished with their story. When Sami Zayn made his entrance, Owens looked on in shock before the two would engage in all out-fist fight that would eventually lead to Zayn eliminating Owens from the match. Zayn would return to NXT for a short time but when he finally got the call up to the main roster, the feud would begin yet again between the two.
From that moment on, the two would have matches here and there but it was at the 2017 Hell in a Cell where things got interesting again. As Kevin Owens was about to take a deadly elbow drop from Shane McMahon off the cell, there was Sami to save Kevin Owens. After years of feuding on multiple levels, the friendship was able to blossom once again as the two joined forces for the first time in WWE. They would be friends on the main roster for a good bit before eventually parting ways yet again. They were never able to capture the tag titles during this run, which may be one of the most tragic things WWE has done in recent memory.
Since then, they have had plenty more matches with one another. And with each match, they find some way to make it different than the last, never giving us the same ol’ schtick that you see from some rivals. The crowd often chants “fight forever” and it seems like these two have taken it literally, and I don’t think anybody is complaining.
Main Event.
So, with that very brief history lesson between these two, I think it’s very easy to see that these two have the material for an amazing story to be told at a Wrestlemania show. With the library of matches between the two, it’s incredibly easy to see that they have the chemistry and ability to give us a match worthy of a main event. And with the unanimous amount of love and adoration for these two from the fanbase, it’s a no brainer that there will be very little to no pushback from anybody if this match was not just to happen again at Wrestlemania, but in one of the now two main event spots. Nothing would cap off their fight forever relationship better.
The final piece as I plead my case, a top 5 list of the best battles between these friends/foes. I highly suggest you take a look at each of these matches, multiple times if you have the time, so that you can see just what kind of magic these two have been producing together for over a decade. And then you can let your imagination run wild as you try to think of what these two could concoct for a match together in the main event on the grandest stage in all of professional wrestling.
- 12/18/2010 – Ring of Honor: Final Battle
- 7/24/2016 – WWE: Battleground
- 8/20/2011 – PWG: Battle of Los Angeles
- 10/22/2011 – PWG: Steen Wolf
- 3/30/2012 – Ring of Honor: Showdown in the Sun
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