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During this week's Season Premiere of SmackDown, Kevin Owens was officially traded to SmackDown.
Triple H changed the landscape of WWE last night when he made Nick Aldis the new General Manager of SmackDown.
The 36-year-old British Superstar wasted no time making his first move on the 'Season Premiere' episode of Friday Night show. Aldis traded Owens to SmackDown in exchange for Jey Uso's move to the RAW brand.
The Prizefighter interrupted a disgruntled Dominik Mysterio and gave him a Stunner to announce his arrival on the blue brand. His move to SmackDown officially ended his alliance with Sami Zayn.
The tandem last wrestled this past Monday Night when they unsuccessfully challenged Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship in the main event.
Following his trade to the blue brand, Owens spoke to Cathy Kelley backstage and described his split up from Sami Zayn as "bittersweet." The former Universal Champion, however, is excited to embark on a new chapter:
"I'm excited to be on SmackDown. It's bittersweet. You know, my tag team partner and friend Sami Zayn is still on RAW. So I think that effectively ends our partnership, for now anyway, so that's kind of a hard, hard one to take, but what can you do? I'm here on SmackDown. I'm gonna make the best of it," Owens said.
Nick Aldis explained why WWE decided to split up Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
WWE backstage announcer Cathy Kelley also caught up with Nick Aldis backstage and asked him to share his thoughts on Kevin Owens' move to SmackDown.
Aldis asserted that he felt it was time for The Prizefighter to focus on his singles competition after he and Zayn failed to reclaim the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles:
"So, when I got to thinking about it, there are a lot of different moving parts, a lot of new ones, right now, but I felt like Kevin Owens met the criteria for a number of reasons. One, obviously, is that he is a very, very top-tier talent. But also, we are in a new season, and I feel like Kevin Owens is entering a new season of his career. Meaning that he has just come off an incredible run with Sami as the tag team champion, so I feel the time is right for him to look at singles competition again," said Aldis.
With Crown Jewel 2023 on the horizon, it will be interesting to see what the company has in store for Owens. Will he go after his long-time rival Roman Reigns soon? Only time will tell.
Are you happy with Kevin Owens being traded to SmackDown? Sound off below.
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