6 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (Nov 10)
1. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn Are Naughty Boys
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were sent home from WWE's European tour after allegedly resisting a creative direction they perceived as damaging. Of course, this being wrestling, murmurs of the dreaded "work" are appearing on Twitter - but WWE would not risk p*ssing off ticket-buying fans for the sake of an angle.
The story goes that Owens and Zayn were instructed to sell big and feed for the New Day during the opening SmackDown segment, felt it neutered their new double act, and simply refused to follow the script. The problematic conflation of "wrestler" and "independent contractor" aside - were they within their rights to disobey? Countless performers have bantered off creative directions before. This foot-stamping is the very stuff stars are born from.
The motivation is clearer than the morality. Have Owens and Zayn, like Jericho and Neville, grasped the changing of the guard? Has the walking-on-eggshells WWE environment finally cracked, in parallel with New Japan cracking the international conversation? WWE fostered this atmosphere because they knew theirs was the only stage on which to make real money. That is no longer the case - and the paradigm shift, perhaps, has galvanised WWE talent and rusted the brass ring. This could be another small step to something huge.
New Japan, and the increasingly lucrative Independent scene, are beautiful sirens calling out for the disenchanted performers in WWE. If they can continue its b*ner-popping, f*nny-melting spree of seduction, we might be in for an age in which WWE has no choice but to actually listen to its fanbase.