Block 1:

Taz opens today’s show speaking about Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn being sent home from WWE’s UK tour. Several websites are reporting that Owens and Zayn were acting out on WWE’s tour bus, and they also reportedly went into business for themselves at the end of Zayn’s match with Kofi Kingston on Smackdown Live.

Taz has been famously cautious in these situations in the past, because he knows that this type of thing can easily be a work. Given the way Owens and Zayn have been acting on television lately, expressing their frustrations toward Shane McMahon and WWE, sending these two guys home from the tour could be an easy way for the company to ‘discipline’ them. It looks like a real life scenario which gets fans intrigued, but it definitely could be a work.

Allegedly, at the end of Zayn and Kingston’s match on Smackdown Live, Owens and Zayn were supposed to go back into the ring and ‘feed’ for the babyfaces. Taz says that’s “bullshit” because that wouldn’t make any sense whatsoever.

Owens and Zayn took a ‘powder’ by leaving the ring, and that’s professional wrestling 101. It wouldn’t make any sense at all for Owens and Zayn to leave the ring and then jump right back in where they’d clearly get beat up by three men. Taz thinks this part of the report is complete nonsense.

Block 2:

A listener calls into the show and points out that WWE’s UK tour has dates right up until Sunday, so he wonders if WWE would actually pull Owens and Zayn from the tour just to work fans. If that indeed is the case, the caller asks Taz if he thinks we could see Owens and Zayn interfere at Survivor Series, costing Team Smackdown Live the match.

Taz says he’s not sure that this whole thing is a work, but he certainly wouldn’t put this type of thing past WWE. We definitely could see these guys interfere at Survivor Series, but he also mentions that Jason Jordan might turn heel and cost Team RAW the match as well. Obviously, only one of these things can happen.

Speaking again about Owens and Zayn being sent home, Taz is just confused by this news. He finds it hard to believe that this is a shoot because we recently saw Owens involved in an angle with Shane McMahon which led to him getting physical with Vince McMahon.

Taz points out that getting physical with the Chairman is basically the biggest push a WWE Superstar can get, and this also tells Taz that McMahon trusts Owens. He can’t wrap his mind around McMahon having this short of a leash with Owens just weeks after putting his complete trust in him.

Blocks 3 & 4:

A listener calls into the show and asks Taz about WWE’s decision to take the WWE Title off of Jinder Mahal just a week out from Survivor Series. Taz says he doesn’t think WWE blindsided Mahal with this decision, but if they did it’s entirely their right to do so. He thinks Mahal had a great heel Championship run, and he expects to see Mahal with the Title again somewhere down the line.

Regardless, he thinks decision screams of WWE’s lack of confidence in the initial Survivor Series card. They’ve changed the Tag Team Title match, and now they’ve changed the WWE Title/Universal Title match as well. Perhaps this was to combat some of the lack of interest fans were expressing about the upcoming PPV.

A listener calls into the show and asks Taz if he’d ever consider a potential return to the ring. Taz says he was preparing for a Smackdown taping around 2005-2006, when Vince McMahon approached him and asked him if he’d consider coming out from behind the commentary booth to challenge Brock Lesnar in his hometown of New York.

Taz respectfully declined because he knew that he’d be a shell of his former self at that point in his life, and he wouldn’t be able to give the fans or Lesnar the match they deserved. It wasn’t about the money then, and it’s certainly not about the money now. For this reason, he wouldn’t be interested in a return to the ring at this point in his life.

That sums up today’s episode of The Taz Show. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya tomorrow for another recap!