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What's the story?
On Friday afternoon, Sami Zayn posted on his Twitter account to discuss WrestleMania weekend. Zayn confirmed that he will not be appearing at WrestleMania Axxess because of an old friend.
In case you didn't know...
As El Generico, Sami Zayn first took on Daniel Bryan (as Bryan Danielson) in 2007 in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Generico won the match by defeating Danielson, Kevin Steen (aka Kevin Owens) and Davey Richards for the PWG World Championship.
The heart of the matter...
Clearly, that friend of 14 years is SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan who fired Zayn and Kevin Owens two weeks ago. Playing off of that firing, Zayn, and his tag team partner / best friend Kevin Owens will not be signing for the WWE Universe this weekend.
Though they won't be signing any autographs, that will give Zayn and Owens time to prepare to get their jobs back on SmackDown Live when they take on Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon.
This will be Daniel Bryan's first wrestling match since April 2015 when he tagged with his future brother-in-law John Cena against Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. Bryan was forced to retire after, but last month WWE doctors cleared Bryan to return to the ring.
What's next?
WrestleMania is just a little over a day away when it takes place from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. There are 13 scheduled matches on the card, 14 if The Undertaker and John Cena have a match.
The two major championships are on the line when AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship and Roman Reigns takes on Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship.
Author's take
The tag match with Bryan and Shane taking on Sami and Kevin is going to be one of the most anticipated moments of the year when Daniel Bryan returns to a WWE ring for the first time in nearly three years.
My prediction is that Bryan and Shane are victorious and Owens and Zayn will head to Monday Night Raw being re-hired to the company by Stephanie McMahon.
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