8 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (20 Jan - Results & Review)
1. WWE Dangles The Carrot
Fantasy booking WrestleMania cards can be a tremendously fun exercise, particularly at a time when WWE seems able and intent on delivering some of the dream matches that just a few years ago seemed impossible.
Heading into WrestleMania 41, one of the biggest dream matches has to be Kevin Owens versus Sami Zayn, with the best friends who triumphed at 'Mania just two years earlier standing at opposite ends of the wrestling spectrum. And then, if fans were so inclined, they would add on the nugget of the match being for a world title, making it a true main event.
While that seemed completely ridiculous just a few months ago, it has been coming more into focus in the background recently, and it finally spilled over into the foreground on Monday night. Zayn talked about how he considered himself one of the top superstars in WWE today, and that he is the only one of the bunch who has never held a world title. He said he was entering the Royal Rumble to win that elusive world title, not because he needed it to complete his career, but because he wanted it.
Enter KO, still carrying the Winged Eagle Championship. Owens sidestepped the notion that he was there to pay Sami back for standing with Roman Reigns, instead going hard on his friendship with Zayn and praising his brother, talking him up for the Rumble and observing that if both of them are successful at the upcoming PLE, they could main event WrestleMania for the Undisputed WWE Championship.
And now the fantasy booking was given a glimmer of reality. But Owens being Owens, he didn’t just stop there. He suggested that they should have each other’s back during the Royal Rumble, strongly insinuating that they should help each other win their respective matches to make the WrestleMania dream come true.
Whether it actually happens or if their failure is what drives them to explode at each other, the Zayn/Owens train is on the tracks and leaving the station imminently. Get on board.