7 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Elimination Chamber 2025

5. Praise For Unsanctioned Match

Despite leveling criticism earlier for the unsanctioned match between Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, it would be a huge disservice to dismiss that effort without calling attention to the positives.

Sami was absolutely fantastic at playing the wounded hero, coming into the battle at less than 100% but still giving everything he had, timing his comebacks extremely well, and measuring his fire just right. Owens exuded every sinister quality imaginable, retrieving weapons and not hesitating to use everything at his disposal to maim his former best friend.

Zayn ate a lot of crap during this battle: shoved off the top rope through a double stack of tables on the floor, a brainbuster through a chair, a fisherman’s buster through a table, and two apron powerbombs. Owens endured the aforementioned barbed wire chair, two back suplexes through tables, and a half-and-half suplex onto a chair.

The violence was measured well overall. Had this not been billed as a major blowoff match as the culmination of a 20-year friendship/feud, it would have been more highly regarded. But to be clear, this was a good match – it just wasn’t the earth-shattering, call-your-friends feud-buster that was promised.