Shane McMahon was never going to make life easy for Kevin Owens.
Not only did McMahon drop a huge roadblock in the way of Owens advancing in the King of Ring tournament, he then pulled the rug right out from under his bitter rival.
This week on SmackDown, KO was pitted against Elias in a King of the Ring round one match-up. The match was playing out pretty good and Elias even rose to the occasion multiple times to keep up with Owens in the ring.
.@IAmEliasWWE is pushing @FightOwensFight to the limit in this #KingOfTheRing Tournament battle on #SDLive! pic.twitter.com/EOdMaj9JlN
— WWE (@WWE) August 21, 2019
Then Shane-O-Mac showed up, to first observe from ringside, and then he just flat out inserted himself into the match as the special guest referee.
"It was HIM, Kevin! It was HIM all along!"
— WWE (@WWE) August 21, 2019
Special guest referee @ShaneMcMahon guarantees @IAmEliasWWE the victory in the #KingOfRing tournament! #SDLive @FightOwensFIght pic.twitter.com/VuxAc4oQ4a
Moments after McMahon booted the original ref, Elias rolled up Owens and was blessed with one of the fastest three counts in human history.
So ends KO’s run in the 2019 King of the Ring bracket.
Elias advances to take on the winner of Ali versus Buddy Murphy. Already the 24/7 champion, can Elias make his own underdog run through the tournament?
Get complete SmackDown results and coverage here.