One of the best parts of a well-scripted Royal Rumble is when different wrestlers interact during the match, and as a result of their fight or an elimination, either a new feud is created or an old one is restarted. In the case of the #18 and #20 entrants, the bitter NXT feud between Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn was reignited Sunday night. Owens, having lost his Intercontinental Championship match earlier in the night, entered the Rumble and tossed the debuting AJ Styles, drawing massive boos from fans. But when Zayn walked out at #20, fans got a little giddy. Zayn and Owens had a vicious feud over the NXT Championship, which KO took from Sami. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5I97alEHFY Naturally, Sami ran right at Owens, beating on him and quickly eliminating him. It would be Zayns only elimination, as he would get tossed moments later, but hopefully it marks the start of the WWE version of their feud. Its a shame in many ways that it wont be over the Intercontinental Championship, but thats a different quibble.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
