The botched ending to Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens’ SmackDown main event apparently caused even more drama behind the scenes than fans realized. A new report says there was lots of internal controversy afterwards, with the referee taking full responsibility for what happened.
According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there was major backstage controversy following the September 18 episode of SmackDown after the confusing finish to Sami Zayn’s Undisputed WWE Championship defense against Kevin Owens. Meltzer reported that referee Ryan Tran ultimately took the blame for the mishap, telling people backstage that he simply got confused during the finish.
“Internally, there was big controversy, both for the obvious reason of what happened to Tran, but other different suspicions that went around. Tran took the heat for the finish, and he said he got confused.”
Despite the mistake, Meltzer noted that Tran has a strong reputation within WWE, which is why people backstage largely accepted his explanation.
“It’s noted that within the company, Tran is considered very credible and he did swear it was all his fault.”
The new report lines up with details that Fightful Select reported shortly after the show. According to that report, CM Punk’s championship belt shot on Kevin Owens was always supposed to be the finish. Owens wasn’t meant to kick out after Sami Zayn covered him, so the referee’s three-count should have immediately ended the match.
Instead, the bell never rang. That forced everyone involved to improvise on the fly. Zayn and Owens kept wrestling until Sami connected with another Helluva Kick, allowing the referee to count a second pinfall and finally bring the match to an end.
The awkward sequence immediately had fans wondering whether Owens had missed his cue. Between Fightful’s report explaining the planned finish and Meltzer’s latest update, it now looks like the confusion came from the referee failing to call for the bell rather than anything Owens did inside the ring.
Botches happen in live television, but they rarely snowball into this much discussion afterwards. The finish was confusing enough for viewers watching at home, and judging by this report, it became just as big a talking point once everyone got backstage.
What was your reaction when the referee counted three but the match kept going? Let us know in the comments below.
