What's the story?
Kevin Owens stunned the pro wrestling world this week as he returned to SmackDown and unveiled his new finishing move. Made popular by Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Stunner is one of the most iconic finishers in WWE history and it was a big surprise to see WWE give Owens the green signal to incorporate the move into his arsenal.
Owens even sent a message to Austin after the show and now, the Texas Rattlesnake has finally responded. So did the WWE Hall of Famer approve of Owens stealing his maneuver?
In case you didn't know...
Owens made his long-awaited comeback to WWE TV as he was introduced as Kofi Kingston's replacement in the WWE title match for Fastlane.
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Owens signed the contract which was originally intended for the New Day member. The fans in attendance, as well as Kofi's fellow New Day partners, were visibly quite livid with Vince McMahon's sudden change of plans. Nonetheless, they had no option but to oblige and a tag team match featuring the team of Owens and Kingston against Erick Rowan and Daniel Bryan was booked for the night.
Owens, who came back as a babyface, managed to win it for his team as he got the pinfall over Bryan after delivering the Stunner.
The heart of the matter
Weren't we all waiting for the legendary Steve Austin to react to Owens using the Stunner on SmackDown? Well, the WWE Hall of Famer didn't disappoint and thankfully, gave his stamp of approval with the following tweet:
This came after Owens himself sent out a tweet to Austin right after the episode had ended:
What's next?
As revealed earlier, The Stunner is here to stay and will be used by Owens instead of the Pop-up Powerbomb going forward. It certainly adds to the newfound babyface persona of The Prizefighter and we're thrilled to see how this new chapter unfolds. A great start indeed.