What’s the story?
Exactly a month to the day from Mike Kanellis’ WWE debut with his wife Maria at Money In The Bank, he made his in-ring debut against Sami Zayn this week on SmackDown Live.
In case you didn’t know...
While Mike took Maria’s last name in the WWE, he was known previously by his real name, Mike Bennett. He wrestled for Ring Of Honor for seven years and won the ROH Tag Team Championship with Matt Taven as part of The Kingdom in 2015.
The heart of the matter
Over the past few weeks, Zayn has accidentally interrupted the “Power of Love” couple. This led to Mike smashing a flower vase on Zayn’s head last week on SmackDown Live.
Just as Zayn was getting the upper hand in this week’s match, Maria jumped in the ring and shielded her husband from further harm. The referee backed Zayn up, which gave Mike the opening he needed to land a solid punch as well as an impressive looking driver to get the pinfall.
What’s next?
SmackDown Live’s next pay-per-view, Battleground, is on this Sunday, headlined by Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal in a Punjabi Prison Match for the WWE Championship.
With Maria’s interference in this week’s match, expect a rematch potentially on Sunday or SummerSlam, if they choose to continue the feud another month.
Author’s take
I was really excited to finally see the debut of Mike Kanellis in the ring. As Mike Bennett, I was a fan of his work in ROH with The Kingdom, as well as his short time in Impact Wrestling.
I hope his feud with Sami Zayn can escalate into a match at SummerSlam as I’m enjoying the feud as well as the “Power Of Love” angle with Maria.
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