WrestleMania - Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn

[FunKay]

As seen on Tuesday night, Shane McMahon announced that he was taking a 'leave of absence' from the position of Commissioner of SmackDown Live, and that his final decree before said absence was to make this match-up for WrestleMania...before being utterly brutalised by both Kevin and Sami at the conclusion of the show. On the surface this sounds like a fantastic match-up to showcase these two and their rivalry on the grandest stage of 'em all. In reality, Shane's going to be involved somehow and disrupt all that. Whether this becomes a triple threat, a tag team with Shane teaming with someone (why do I get the feeling that Ziggler rumour wasn't entirely wrong?) or a guest referee spot, this is highly unlikely to remain as is.

This is essentially the pay-off to the one long-term storyline still in place on SmackDown, which is a shame because the storyline in question hasn't been wholly bad, but has ultimately become so bloated and contrived that it just ate up almost all the screen time and resources on the show over the past few months. I'll be glad when this is all over, though if Shane is ultimately going to win...I quiver with fear as Scar once said.

What do you guys think? Raging dumpster fire? Quality long-form storytelling? What's getting added or subtracted etc...

[Y 2 Jake]

I'm more interested in a Sami/Owens team vs. The Usos or New Day for a few months than this. The only intriguing thing about it is that I think Zayn will be the one to side with a newly heel Shane in the next week or so.

[Dave]

I'm not willing to pass a judgement on this yet because there is, undoubtedly, more to come on this before Mania arrives. If it was a match between the two and they had counted to grow further apart, I could live with it. But there's so much story left to tell in this, its hard to get excited either way.

[DNA 2.0]

Right now I'm intrigued because I don't know where they are going with this. Will Shane wrestle? Will Bryan wrestle? What will Owens and Sami do at Wrestlemania? They can possibly have them face each other. So I want to see where they are going. Which is weird, since there are 3 weeks left and we still don't know the plan. Daniel Bryan's return will solve many questions. Plus, are we getting a new comissioner??

[Yaz]

So I kind of like this, if I view it from a nerdy standpoint. Owens and Sami hate each other, but they hate Shane more, so they team up to fuck with him and take him out. This is 100% like when Shang Tsung and Quan Chi formed the Deadly Alliance with the common goal of ending Liu Kang and conquering Earthrealm. It worked, until they turned on each other in an effort to gain full control. I fully expect this to happen between Sami and KO. Once Shane is out of the way, they attack each other to reap all the benefits instead of splitting them.

[Leobeast]

Just keep Shane out of the ring. I really don't get this need they have to put the McMahons in a match at every Wrestlemania. Let Sami and KO have a great match and save the Shane stuff until afterwards if they must have him involved.

[#hamler]

Just keep Shane out of the ring. I really don't get this need they have to put the McMahons in a match at every Wrestlemania. Let Sami and KO have a great match and save the Shane stuff until afterwards if they must have him involved.
Vince was a pretty big draw during the Attitude Era and they're just trying to recapture that lightning in a bottle. And it won't work. If there was ever a need for Shane to compete at Wrestlemania, it's this year. No matter how boring the storyline was, it did take up a majority of the last six months or so. There needs to be a big payoff and Owens v. Zayn doesn't exactly cut it for me.

[DNA 2.0]

They should post an article to WWE.com, saying that Bryan has suffered a concussion after the attack of Owens and Zayn and then have him and Shane miss the next Smackdown.

Instant. Trolling.

[FunKay]

The long expected twist in the tale came last night as Daniel Bryan challenged Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens to face himself and an apparently healed (or at the least healing) Shane McMahon in tag team action with the caveat that if Zayn & Owens win, they get their jobs back. This stip essentially makes the winner less clear though I'm not a particularly big fan of it. Either Bryan loses his comeback or Zayn and Owens rejoin an already bloated RAW roster...or we get the Shane WrestleMania 32 situation where they lose, but get what they want regardless.

[Y 2 Jake]

So this is now going to be a handicap match until superface Shane McMahon hobbles out to save Bryan only to turn on him? Or do we get another mystery partner? Kane is a definite no, Ziggler is a possibility, maybe a NXT call up or Bobby Lashley.

And Shane McMahon looks like he's had a hernia since his return.