Opinion: Kevin Owens Should Beat Sami Zayn Clean Tonight at “Payback”

Last year, Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn was one of the hottest feuds in NXT before Zayn went down with a shoulder injury.Owens was catapulted to the

Owens was catapulted to the main roster, had an amazing feud with John Cena, two Intercontinental title reigns later, here we are. Now, we’re finally going to get to see Owens vs. Zayn on a WWE PPV. The only issue is trying to decide who is going to win.

Sami Zayn is probably my favorite male wrestler on the planet. On paper, he should win the match tonight and potentially become the next United States Champion or move on to better things.

However, I think that Kevin Owens needs to win this match a lot more than Sami for many reasons, but the most important being momentum and building both men simultaneously rather than just one.

What I’m expecting WWE to do is give Sami Zayn the win via disqualification or roll up and have Owens attack him with weapons to set up a rematch at “Extreme Rules.”

That’s smart booking, and few would disagree with that choice to keep the feud’s momentum going and to sell “Extreme Rules” which is only three weeks away.

However, I’m thinking that Kevin Owens getting the win without gimmicks and in a clean match does a lot more for both men in the long term.

During their feud in NXT, Owens was unstoppable, and there was a genuine debate about who was better? Their feud on the main roster is much more about Sami Zayn getting revenge, which means the moment Zayn beats Owens, the feud should be over.

Sure, Owens could be a sore loser, but that’s not the unstoppable character Owens was the last time these two fought a singles match.

You also have to remember what got Sami Zayn over in the first place in NXT. He didn’t need to win matches, but he was always so close to winning them. That made his matches have so much tension because you knew he was good enough to win, but he had the worst luck.

Owens defeating Zayn tonight would sting a lot for anyone on Zayn’s side, and give Sami that sympathy for fans that don’t know him well to really want to see him succeed. Owens also gets the win here and then the feud can continue until Sami finally gets his revenge and proves that he’s the better man.

Do you think Kevin Owens should win tonight or Sami Zayn should get the victory?