WWE made two big announcements during the week which have ground breaking implications across the whole of the company, with careers on the line… or possibly not…
The first announcement came on SmackDown Live:
The second came in the form of WWE’s twitter account:
BREAKING: @WWE presents the Mixed Match Challenge tournament, airing LIVE exclusively on Facebook Watch! #WWEMMC https://t.co/eHsyDsoUhm pic.twitter.com/gdPEueEB8C
— WWE (@WWE) December 13, 2017
Notice anything?
Sami Zayn features in both. But how can Zayn feature in the Mixed Match Challenge, which airs on Facebook in January, if he’s fighting for his career in WWE at Clash of Champions?
There are a few points to bring up here. The first is: of course Sami Zayn won’t lose his job, well not permanently. It is possible that he loses and is brought back in some creative plot twist that leaves the WWE Universe both aghast and annoyed at the same time. The frustrating part of the Mixed Match Challenge tweet is that it’s an oversight which potentially destroys the kayfabe aspect of the match.
The second point to bring up is the fact that the Mixed Match Challenge tweet was released after SmackDown Live, therefore anyone working behind the advertising/social media campaign could have swapped out Sami Zayn for another competitor. This heavily suggests that Sami Zayn won’t be losing anything in the long run.
The final point to consider is the specific wording of the Clash of Champions match.
If Zayn and Owens Lose, then They Are fired from all of wwe
This looks at the tweet from the other side of the argument. It makes sense that they should be working as per normal up until this match. Therefore the advertising for the new Facebook challenge shouldn’t be affected, with Zayn being removed at a later date if he lost.
Overall, there are two ways of interpreting this clash of information. You could see it as a mistake and a spoiler for the upcoming PPV. Or you could interpret this as showing just how much Sami Zayn could lose on Sunday if he were to fall.
Opinion:
I think this is a mistake by WWE, but they could make the most out of it by framing it as presented above. My heart says Zayn isn’t leaving, but my head says that WWE will mess with the crossover between kayfabe and reality.
