Team SmackDown: Sami Zayn Out, Randy Orton In (For Now)

Following Becky Lynch becoming the captain of Team SmackDown for the women's roster, it was time [...]

By Ryan Droste

Following Becky Lynch becoming the captain of Team SmackDown for the women's roster, it was time to determine the first member of the men's team during this week's SmackDown broadcast.

Randy Orton and Sami Zayn wrestled in the show's main event for a chance to lock down the first spot on the team. Unlike the women's match, this had nothing to do with being captain. It was simply about being part of the group.

The match came about after Sami Zayn interrupted a promo by Shane McMahon early in the show. Zayn and McMahon briefly talked about what happened at Hell In A Cell, but we quickly learned that they were going to move on from that to who will represent Team SmackDown at Survivor Series.

Zayn announced he and Owens were willing to put their differences with Shane to the side in order to represent the brand as co-captains of the team. McMahon said he wouldn't just let Zayn walk into a spot on the squad, so he announced he would have to face Randy Orton later in the show to earn a spot.

The match itself was a pretty basic WWE match, though Kevin Owens did make an appearance at the end. This probably came as a surprise to most, as Owens suddenly left the WWE's tour of South America this weekend to tend to a family issue. However, we had speculated earlier this weekend that Owens would be flown in for one night only to take part in Tuesday's broadcast.

At the conclusion of the match, Owens came out and tried to distract the referee to give Zayn an advantage. This backfired, as Orton hit Zayn with a lowblow and quickly followed that up with an RKO and pinfall to win the match.

We've got to imagine that both Zayn and Owens will find a way to work their way on to Team SmackDown by the time Survivor Series gets here. Simply put, the roster isn't deep enough to not have them be part of this squad, and there's really no other prospective match you can see two of SmackDown's biggest stars being part of at one of the year's biggest shows. Next week, Kevin Owens will take on Shinsuke Nakamura for a chance to lock down a spot on the team.

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