Kevin Owens announced that he is suffering from an ankle injury.
According to RDS in Quebec, Owens revealed the news in an interview with Pierre Houde on Et Le But.
He believes that he’s suffering from a sprain or a slight fracture. The injury happened during his WrestleMania 36 match with Seth Rollins.
Owens also revealed that he will be getting X-rays during the week to confirm the extent of the injury.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Last night on the Friday Night SmackDown debut on FOX, Shane McMahon has been “fired.”
It all went down at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where Shane went one-on-one with his bitter rival Kevin Owens in a ladder match. The end of the match came about when KO powerbombed Shane onto a ladder, then climbed another ladder in the center of the ring to retrieve the briefcase and end the WWE career of Shane-O-Mac.
After the match, KO took a page out of the McMahon family playbook by grabbing a mic and yelling “YOU’RE FIRED!” at his former boss right before giving him a stunner.
As noted, last night’s WWE Clash of Champions go-home edition of SmackDown Live from Madison Square Garden saw Shane McMahon “fire” Kevin Owens to close the show.
Owens took to Twitter after the show and posted a cryptic tweet that seems to indicate that he may be headed back to the WWE NXT brand.
He wrote, “14-24-20”
Speculation is that each number corresponds to a letter in the alphabet, to spell out N-X-T. They could do a storyline where Owens was fired from SmackDown and RAW, but the ruling doesn’t apply to NXT.
Owens originally made his WWE debut on the NXT brand back in December 2014. He made his last appearance for the black & yellow brand in August 2015, and has been a member of the blue or red brand ever since.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE announced yesterday that Elias is injured and will not be able to compete in tonight’s King of the Ring quarterfinals match against Chad Gable on SmackDown from Madison Square Garden.
Elias is reportedly suffering from a legitimate ankle injury, according to PWInsider. The decision to pull him from the ring was made just yesterday.
Last night on SmackDown Elias was replaced by Shane McMahon. In the soryline fued between Shane & Kevin Owens, Shane made Owens the special guest referee and promised to drop his $100,000 fine if he does his job correctly – meaning make sure Shane wins.
In the match, Gable got a quick pin for the win, then Shane made it 2 out of 3 falls, Owens did his best to help Shane with quick counts but in the end Shane tapped out. Shane then attacked Owens and fired him.
Kevin Owens has been cutting his recent promos without a script, according to a new report from Sports Illustrated.
While Owens has been working with no script as of late, he is working off of bullet points, given to him by the SmackDown writers.
WWE is currently pushing Owens as a babyface, something they had planned months ago before he had to turn heel to make up for the WrestleMania 35 injury to Daniel Bryan. It’s been reported that WWE gave Owens the Stunner as a finisher to help get him over as a strong babyface. WWE allowing Owens to work without a script shows that they have a lot of faith in the former Universal Champion.
There’s no word yet on where WWE is going with the current Owens vs. Shane McMahon feud, but speculation is that the program will end at SummerSlam with a match between the two. As noted by SI, WWE could really advance the push of Owens by having their SummerSlam match end with Owens making “short work” of McMahon.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Aleister Black will not be appearing at the upcoming WWE Super ShowDown event on Friday, June 7th in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Black’s absence was a company decision due to some of his tattoos having a religious connotation. Black has generally kept quiet regarding the meaning behind his body art, although he did reveal the meaning of his back tattoo in an interview with The Daily Star in 2017.
“I don’t really talk about the meaning of my tattoos, but I will give you that one,” Black said. “The being on my back is Lilith, in some folklore she is the first woman to ever rebel against paradise. The reason she is there for equality, equality for every man and woman – which is the most important thing there is.”
Bryan is likely not appearing at the event for the same reasons that he skipped last November’s Crown Jewel show in Riyadh. While he wrestled at WWE’s first big show in Saudi Arabia, The Greatest Royal Rumble, last April, he had since learned more of the country’s treatment of homosexuals. Bryan was also upset that Sami Zayn was not being allowed on those shows because of his Syrian ancestry, which he felt was racist. Saudi Arabia cut ties with Syria in 2012, and Zayn had started a #SamiForSyria mobile clinic in Syria in 2017.
WWE issued the following statement at the time regarding Zayn’s absence from the event:
“WWE is committed to embracing individuals from all backgrounds while respecting local customs and cultural differences around the world.”
According to The Observer, company sources stated that Owens is declining to work the show because his family asked him not to go. It was noted that there may have been other reasons, including Zayn not being allowed to work the show. Owens had been in a program with WWE Champion Kofi Kingston. Dolph Ziggler was pulled out of an appearance in Australia the weekend of Super Showdown and will now face Kingston for the title.
The only other star that refused to work Crown Jewel was John Cena, who is not scheduled for WWE Super ShowDown.
WWE Super ShowDown takes place on Friday, June 7th, at the King Abdullah Sports City’s King Abdullah International Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Daniel Bryan is once again not going to Saudi Arabia for the WWE Super ShowDown event on Friday, June 7th in Jeddah. Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Bryan has once again declined going to the show.
Bryan had wrestled at WWE’s first big show in Saudi Arabia, The Greatest Royal Rumble, last April. He had turned down working last November’s Crown Jewel event in Riyadh. It was reported in The Wrestling Observer at the time that Bryan turned it down because he had learnt about Saudi Arabia’s treatment of homosexuals, as well as about Sami Zayn not being allowed in the country. Zayn was not allowed to work The Greatest Royal Rumble event because of his Syrian ancestry, which Bryan felt was racist. Saudi Arabia cut ties with Syria in 2012, and Zayn had started a #SamiForSyria mobile clinic in Syria in 2017.
At the time, WWE issued the following statement regarding Zayn’s absence from the event:
“WWE is committed to embracing individuals from all backgrounds while respecting local customs and cultural differences around the world.”
Kevin Owens is also skipping Super ShowDown in two weeks, which was first reported by Fightful. WWE Champion Kofi Kingston will now be facing Dolph Ziggler at the show. Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Ziggler being booked for the match was a last minute decision, as Ziggler was booked to be in Australia that weekend for the Oz Comic-Con. It was announced right before SmackDown went on the air that Ziggler would not be appearing at the Comic-Con, as seen below. His replacement has yet to be announced.
https://twitter.com/WWEAustralia/status/1131070153838321664
It is not known why Owens is skipping the Saudi Arabia event, although he is best friends with Zayn. Owens was at the Greatest Royal Rumble event last April, however was injured when Crown Jewel took place last November.
The only other star that refused to work Crown Jewel was John Cena, who is not scheduled for WWE Super ShowDown.
WWE Super ShowDown takes place on Friday, June 7th, at the King Abdullah Sports City’s King Abdullah International Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE officials originally had plans for Daniel Bryan to wrestle WWE Champion Kofi Kingston at the May 19 Money In the Bank pay-per-view, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. This would have been the rematch for their WrestleMania 35 title change, but as we’ve noted, Bryan suffered some sort of injury at WrestleMania and the nature of the injury is being closely guarded by the company.
There’s no word on when Bryan might be back in the ring or if they will pick back up on the Bryan vs. Kofi storyline, but Bryan’s injury is the why they turned Kevin Owens heel on SmackDown this week. As noted, Owens turned on Kofi and Xavier Woods after spending a week as an honorary member of The New Day due to Big E’s injury. The quick turn by Owens surprised a lot of fans, but Meltzer noted that WWE decided on the Owens heel turn a few days after WrestleMania 35 when Bryan was put on the shelf.
WWE went with Owens vs. Kofi after considering Randy Orton and Rowan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. They also talked about bringing Drew McIntyre or Baron Corbin from RAW to feud with Kofi, or have WWE United States Champion Samoa Joe stay on the blue brand for the feud. They ultimately went with Owens.
WWE aired babyfaces vignettes for Owens that featured his son back in February and the plan was for Owens to return to work as a babyface, not for him to return and then turn heel. The original plan was for Owens to return as a “guy next door” who ate junk food, had the same problems as everyone else, and had kids, but could beat people up, according to the Observer. Owens was even given the Stone Cold Stunner as a finisher to help with the babyface gimmick. It was noted that WWE tested the Stunner out with RAW & SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch at live events, before giving it to Owens.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Kevin Owens’ gig as an honorary member of The New Day lasted just one week as he turned on WWE Champion Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods after tonight’s SmackDown main event, which saw Kofi defeat Shinsuke Nakamura by disqualification due to interference from Rusev.
Owens helped The New Day fight off Nakamura and Rusev, but then turned on Kofi and ended up destroying both members of the group. There’s now speculation on Kofi defending his title against Owens at the WWE Money In the Bank pay-per-view. You can see a few shots from tonight’s angle below:
Last night on SmackDown Live, Xavier Woods & WWE Champion Kofi Kingston was guest on the Kevin Owens Show. The New Day mentioned that Big E is out with a injury. Owens offered to be the third member of New Day. Owens said they can call him Big O. They made sure if he could wear a crop top and swivel his hips.
Later in the back they made Owens eat a big tray of pancakes.
Owens did the live ring entrance intro just like Big E.
Owens got the win for The New Day against Rusev , Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro with a stunner on Rusev.
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