Kevin Owens Gets Stone Cold Stunner As New Finisher
'KO' channels 'The Rattlesnake' on SmackDown Live return.
Kevin Owens unveiled the Stone Cold Stunner as a brand new finisher in victory over The New Daniel Bryan on Tuesday's SmackDown Live, capping off an explosive return to television for the 'Prizefighter'.
The WWE Champion had already kicked out of a sit-out version of Owens' pop-up powerbomb in their main event clash before succumbing to the move which Dave Meltzer has since speculated could be his permanent new match-winner going forward.
'KO' unexpectedly had one of the biggest nights of his career on Tuesday after a formal comeback saw him slotted into the Fastlane WWE Championship match against The New Daniel Bryan by Vince McMahon himself. Shane and Stephanie McMahon were set to confirm Bryan's match with current and frenzied fan favourite Kofi Kingston at the top of the broadcast before The Chairman stepped in to name Owens as the brand new opponent.
Ostensibly working as a babyface for the time being at least, the new Number One Contender successfully campaigned for a match alongside Kingston against the Champion and his sidekick Rowan. The pair scored the clean win when Owens dropped Bryan with the Austin's iconic finisher.
Since winning the WWE Championship in November, Bryan has absorbed clean televised losses to Mustafa Ali and Kofi himself. The nature of this particular defeat may well have just been to re-establish the weapon in Owens' arsenal ahead of their pay-per-view, though a new finisher here could be part of an attempt to rejuvenate the beleaguered former Universal Champion ahead of this most recent insta-push.