The reign of Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens as the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Champions encountered a rocky road when KO was injured and took off from TV for a few weeks. Since then, Sami Zayn has been appearing alone and the WWE Universe had questions about KO’s whereabouts.
The relationship between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens goes way back to when they were competing in indie promotions like Ring of Honor and PWG and climbed to the peak of the wrestling industry together and have been pretty much inseparable.
The SZ KO partnership has been a fan favorite since they dethroned The Usos at Wrestlemania 39 who were at that time the longest reigning Tag Team Champions of all time. But it has been a while since they last defended their titles and they weren’t even featured on the match card of Summerslam 2023 which is the flagship WWE Premium Live Event of the summer.
Kevin Owens returns to in-ring action
Kevin Owens returned to the squared circle on this Friday after Smackdown Live went off-air. It was Edge’s 25th Anniversary show which meant emotions were running high. Since there are only 2 hours of Smackdown on television compared to 3 hours on RAW, the third hour of the show consists of dark matches i.e. untelevised matches.
Edge proceeded to give a farewell speech in front of his home crowd after his match against Sheamus. He was soon interrupted and surrounded by The Imperium and then saved by Drew McIntyre, Sami Zayn, and the returning KO. After their bout, all 4 wrestlers celebrated in the ring with Zayn and Drew also lifting Edge up on their shoulders.
How did Kevin Owens get injured?
Kevin Owens had been wrestling with a legitimate rib injury for a while which was slowly incorporated into the storyline with Judgement Day and KO was written off TV for a while to nurse it. He was attacked backstage on an episode of Monday Night Raw by The Judgement Day while Zayn was fighting Dominik Mysterio for the North American Title and was injured in the ribs which blended with the storyline.
Since then Sami Zayn has been appearing alone on Monday nights and has been feuding with Judgement Day.
With him returning on Friday, we can assume that KO is close to returning on TV. With Street Profits being the new #1 contenders for the title and The New Day, Imperium, and Alpha Academy also eyeing the Tag Team Gold, there is a lot to look forward to in the Tag Team Division. But it is still a big question whether the Tag Team Championships should be split or not and who should SZKO feud with.
