The New New Day is No More

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It was just last week when the best thing that has happened in wrestling in 2019 happened on SmackDown Live: Kevin Owens joined (“YA BOYZ!”) The New Day.

A couple weeks ago the WWE announced the muscle of the New Day, Big E, suffered a torn meniscus and would be on the shelf for a while.

To say this injury couldn’t come at a worse time would be an understatement. With Kofi Kingston winning the WWE Championship against The New Daniel Bryan (R.I.P. Hemp Belt) and the New Day again poised to become the cornerstone of the tag division courtesy of the Superstar Shake-Up, it was time for the writing team to come up with some creative solutions to fill the gap left.

Welcome to the Kevin Owens Show!

Last week’s SmackDown Live kicked off with Kevin Owens welcoming The New Day onto his in-ring show. Owens said with Big E out he’d like to become an honorary member of the team. He would team up with Woods and Kofi to go up against Cesaro, Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev. This led to quite a few comedy skits with Owens trying to prove his worth. He swiveled his hips and downed a giant plate of pancakes. He even changed his name to Big O.

The team went on to win against the League of Nations 2.0 (all foreign heels must band together apparently) in the main event and we prepared ourselves for a lengthy, entertaining run of a New New Day highlighted by the Big O providing cringe-worthy comedic skits.

Et tu, Kevin?

Welp, that didn’t last long. This week’s SmackDown Live was full of fun matches and solid set up for this year’s Money in the Bank Pay-Per-View (although, Charlotte vs. Becky is not something I want to see YET AGAIN!).

Owens was hilarious throughout the night. In one segment, he popped in during a backstage interview where he broke the fourth wall a bit letting the audience know he was just standing off camera just out of frame. His commentary during the Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kofi Kingston match with Xavier Woods was everything a wrestling fan would want from color commentators.

Unfortunately, this dream team-up wasn’t long for this world. Rusev jumped in the ring to break up the pin. Woods and Owens rushed into the ring. After the smoke was cleared, The Big O turned on Kofi with a super kick to the jaw. The following battle was so damn good with Woods saving Kofi from a powerbomb to the apron and getting caught with one in the process.

I enjoyed the heel turn, but really wish this team would have lasted longer than a Y2AJ tag team. There was so much potential here. Owens is a great face. I would have liked to see a decent run until Big E’s return where he could’ve slowly turned on E and demanded he be E’s permanent replacement with a match at a PPV for the spot. His wit fit right in with the New Day, but with Bryan also out with injury the writing team needed Kofi to be in a feud with someone else ASAP with Money in the Bank coming up in just under a month.

At least they didn’t get t-shirts made, I guess.

Y2AJ