How Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens As Co-Champions Could Work

This Sunday January 28th in Philadelphia, WWE history will be made with the first-ever 30-woman Royal Rumble match. That is guaranteed history making. But we could also witness another first-ever event for the WWE when Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens take on AJ Styles in a 2-on-1 handicap match for Styles' WWE Championship belt. And if Owens and Zayn win they will become WWE Co-Champions - something that has never happened before with a heavyweight championship.

Obviously, at this point we don't know who is going to win that match. But if Zayn and Owens do end up co-champions many people are wondering how that would work and if that could work. Well, let's take a look at some possibilities.

WHAT ARE THE PARAMETERS?

The WWE universe hasn't been told about what the rules would be for co-champions and since it has never happened before, we have no precedent to go on. But there are pretty much only two possibilities...

The first is that as co-champions Zayn and Owens (or "Kami" as AJ called them the other night) will always defend the belt as a duo and thus will always be in a 2-on-1 advantage against any opponent (at least officially). It seems unlikely that they would create that kind of advantageous situation for the pair.

The second way it could work is that the title can be defended as a duo but both KO and Zayn could have one-on-one matches in defense of the belt as well (as instructed by the GM).

But if the title can be defended individually, than the question becomes does a loss by one of them in a singles match mean that they both lose the title or is it just the loser of the match that loses the belt while the other one becomes co-champion with the winner of the other match? Again, that seems very unlikely as it would mean continuous co-championship in perpetuity.

So, the way it could - and should - work is if the title could be defended as a duo or as singles (whatever works best for various feuds and opponents and stories), but a loss by both or by either one of them means they both lose the title. Which leads us to this...

A GREAT WAY TO BUILD AND DESTROY THE OWENS/ZAYN FRIENDSHIP

Look, we all know that at some point this Owens & Zayn BFF thing is going to end. And making them co-champions is a great way to do it.

Remember that back in 2015 their best friendship came to an abrupt end when Owens attacked Zayn just minutes after Sami had won the NXT title. And last year KO ended his friendship with Chris Jericho with a surprise attack during their "festival of friendship" celebration.

So, Kevin Owens turning on his best friends isn't new. And that is pretty much what everyone is expecting to happen this time around as well. But what if this time, it wasn't him that turned on Zayn. What if this time it was the other way around? Go with me here. It could be amazing...

So, Zayn and Owens become co-champions and it makes their friendship even stronger. They have a few title defenses and win them all (with the second man helping out in some way each time - distraction, etc) and they look and feel unstoppable. And because a loss by either one means they both lose the title, there is a level of comfort that they both have knowing how much the championship means to each of them.

But then, during their next title defense Owens is having a match and Zayn, out of nowhere, instead of helping K.O. turns against him. Zayn attacks Owens and allows the opponent to get the win.

Just imagine the ramifications of that. It would mean that Zayn had been plotting his revenge all this time - probably since the attack in NXT, just waiting and biding his time for the perfect moment to be able to get Owens to trust him again. And that time came when he was able to save Owens from Shane McMahon's top-of-the-cage jump at Hell In A Cell. It was the perfect opportunity - and he took it.

And think about it: Zayn not only took years to finally get his revenge, but it was so important to him that he was willing to lose the WWE championship to do it - knowing that being turned on and losing the title all at the same time would be even that much more of a betrayal and an even sweeter revenge.

It also gives Zayn the upper hand mentally and in the eyes of the fans which could help keep him in the picture and turn up his heat (which he deserves). Whereas if Owens just turns on him again it probably send him back down to mid-card level pretty quickly.

On the face of it the thought of co-champions sounds ridiculous and many people probably don't think it could work. But with these two and the amazing long play story potential of it all, not only could it work, but it could work great (as long as the WWE doesn't mess it up of course).