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What's the story?
On this week's episode of Smackdown Live, the audience received a hint of what could be waiting for them at the Fastlane pay-per-view.
After the controversial ending to their handicap WWE Championship Match at the Royal Rumble, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens demanded another opportunity to face AJ Styles for the Championship ahead of Wrestlemania. The SmackDown Live General Manager, Daniel Bryan, agreed to give Zayn and Owens one last chance to win the WWE title, as he felt that their claims about the finish of their Rumble bout were justified. The opportunity which he gave them, however, came with a slight twist.
In case you didn't know...
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens faced AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view in a handicap match for the WWE Title. The ending to their bout was controversial; even though AJ Styles pinned Kevin Owens, he was not the legal man during that time. Zayn and Owens appeared to tag each other, but in reality, their hands had not made contact.
The referee and Styles were oblivious to this, both thinking Owens to be the legal man, and when AJ pinned Owens, he was declared the winner of the match and retained his Championship.
The heart of the matter
On this week's episode of SmackDown Live, when Zayn and Owens took their demands for another opportunity to Daniel Bryan, the SmackDown Live General Manager informed them that they would face each other on the next episode of SmackDown Live. The winner of that match would go on to face AJ Styles at Fastlane for the WWE Championship.
The announcement of the bout prompted tension to build between Sami and Kevin, and the two later imploded during their tag team match against Nakamura and Styles.
What's next?
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are slated to face each other in a match on next week's episode of SmackDown Live which will revive their previous heated feud. The winner of the match will face AJ Styles at Fastlane and could go on to face Shinsuke Nakamura at Wrestlemania.
Author's take
Seeing the tension between Owens and Zayn is oddly reminiscent of the Festival of Friendship. There is something about Owens which does not allow him to keep a friend for long.
