Two explanations for why Kevin Owens missed Raw

The June 20 Raw saw Kevin Owens, befuddled by the amount of money Ezekiel/Elias came up with for special effects and spirit gum, challenge Zeke or any of his “brothers” to a match on this week’s episode of the show. WWE advertised KO vs. an E-named “sibling” as a Money in the Bank qualifier.

But the match didn’t happen, with play-by-play announcer Jimmy Smith informing the television audience the match had to be rescheduled. Ezekiel was around, feeding his lies to John Cena and saying ridiculous things like “Who wants to trod with Elrod?”

So what happened with Owens?

Well, the less funny but probably real reason is that something came up. What? Not clear, but Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio that it’s not serious. Also not clear? Whether a KO vs. Zeke qualifying match will happen on SmackDown:

“No Kevin Owens [on Raw]. Whatever the situation is, is minor. But he was not on the show, which is why the Ezekiel match did not happen as originally scheduled, which was, I guess, that was going to be for the last spot in Money in the Bank? There’s still one spot left.

“I did not check if Kevin Owens would be ready by Friday. I just know that he was not ready tonight, but it’s nothing serious is what I was told. Perhaps he could be ready by Friday and they could do that match.”

The more fun explanation comes from — who else? — Kevin himself. KO dug back into the build for his WrestleMania 38 talk show-turned-no holds barred match with Stone Cold Steve Austin for this one:

Fair enough.

I lived in the Lone Star State for a long time, have many friends there, and will defend it from a lot of stereotypical jokes & insults (a lot of the population didn’t vote for the guys running the joint). But I get it.

Anyway, here’s hoping whatever Owens is dealing with gets resolved by this weekend... and/or that Kev feels like going to Phoenix or Vegas.