The cracks in the best friendship between Universal champion Kevin Owens and United States titleholder Chris Jericho continue to show up, but they still haven’t resulted in a break-up, or even the loss of their belts... yet.
Earlier on Raw, Jericho booked KO into a match at Fastlane against Goldberg. The Universal champ didn’t want that, as it put their dream of heading into WrestleMania 33 with both titles in jeopardy. But Owens vowed it wouldn’t keep him from cornering Y2J in his defense against Sami Zayn tonight (Feb. 6).
Zayn earned the title shot with a win against Jericho last week. And he was giving the self-proclaimed greatest of all-time all he could handle this week, too.
.@IAmJericho has best friend @FightOwensFight at ringside as he defends his #USTitle gold vs. @ILikeSamiZayn on #RAW. pic.twitter.com/jgd0X2afe9
— WWE (@WWE) February 7, 2017
But then the champ managed to lock Sami in the Walls of Jericho. When Zayn reached the ropes for the break, Y2J distracted the referee by acting as if he thought the Likeable One had tapped. That created an opening for Owens to hit his long-time rival with a superkick.
The challenger turned into a Codebreaker, and the best friends keep their Mania dreams alive, which Sami is still searching for his first taste of main roster gold.
Owens belt is in jeopardy at Fastlane. Will Jericho coast into April with the red, white and blue belt, or might Zayn’s mentor, General Manager Mick Foley, seek to even the odds and get Sami another shot?