Former Universal Champion Was Meant To Appear On Most Recent Episode Of WWE SmackDown

This major name was originally due to appear on last Friday's SmackDown.

by Andrew Pollard
Kevin Owens
WWE

As many have speculated, Kevin Owens was originally intended to be a part of this past Friday's WWE SmackDown.

This most recent outing for WWE's blue brand set up John Cena and KO to face Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn on the 30 December episode of Smackers, and Owens was planned to be in attendance on Friday to go face-to-face with the Bloodline and introduce the Cena video that fans saw air.

Per Fightful Select, the Prizefighter ended up not making it to Chicago's Allstate Arena due to a "nightmare travel situation". As such, "major" production and writing changes were made in order to rework this SmackDown episode.

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Friday saw WWE also tape next week's SmackDown offering, with Owens likewise intended to have been a part of that episode before his travel issues.

Away from the aforementioned 30 December tag team contest, there's been plentiful rumblings and speculation that Kevin Owens may face Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble next month. Similarly, many are predicting that Owens and Sami Zayn will eventually be the ones to take the Undisputed Tag Team Titles from the Usos down the line - potentially at WrestleMania 39.

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Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.