Top WWE SmackDown Star Confirms They're Taking a Break From WWE

Sunday's WWE Hell in a Cell pay-per-view saw Sami Zayn pick up a singles victory over Kevin Owens. The former WWE Universal Champion was already injured entering the match, still selling General Azeez hitting him in the throat with a Nigerian Nail on SmackDown last week. Zayn repeatedly capitalized on that injury, at one point causing Owens to land on the ropes throat-first and set him up for a Heluva Kick in the corner. Owens took to Twitter on Monday with a message for fans, saying he would be taking some time off from WWE TV following the loss.

"I fought like hell," Owens wrote. "Now, I need a little break. I'll be back soon. Thank you, guys."

After starting the year repeatedly coming up short in Universal Championship matches with Roman Reigns, Owens found himself repeatedly feuding with Zayn while also failing to dethrone Apollo Crews of the Intercontinental Championship.

I fought like hell.
Now, I need a little break.
I’ll be back soon.

Thank you, guys.

— Kevin (@FightOwensFight) June 21, 2021

Meanwhile, Zayn took a victory lap during his post-show interview with WWE's YouTube channel. This marked the first singles match victory for Zayn since he beat Big E by count-out on an episode of SmackDown back in December.

But while the two continue to batter each other on matches on television, in real life Zayn and Owens are the best of friends. Owens talked about his all-time favorite match with Zayn in an interview with ComicBook back in December.

"It's so tough to pick any match that he and I did together as tag team, because there's been so many," Owens said. "Actually, I think my favorite one, if we're talking just any of the matches we've done together, tag team wise, I want to say my favorite one was the most recent, or one of the most recent ones, that we've done where last year, in 2019, we wrestled The New Day on a pay-per-view (Stomping Grounds)... It was me and Sami against Woods and Big E. I really, really liked it a lot. It was a lot of fun, and we were the first match. The crowd was just molten hot, and ready to have a good time. That might be my favorite, and it's probably not an answer anybody would expect, considering the history we have as a tag team. I look back on that one very fondly."