Kevin Owens Forms Alliance With Returning WWE Star On Raw

Long before Kevin Owens and Johnny Gargano became household names in the world of pro wrestling, they were a tag team known as Panda Express on the indie circuit, specifically for the Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) promotion.

Owens and Gargano are now set to reunite in a match against Alpha Academy on next week's "WWE Raw" in Edmonton, Canada. 

The two veteran wrestlers have been teasing the possibility of linking up as a tag team in WWE for several weeks now, coming to aid of one another during their matches on the red brand. During this week's show, it was Gargano's turn to help Owens defeat Austin Theory by causing outside interference. Later on the show, Gargano & Owens accepted Alpha Academy's challenge in a backstage segment after a brief exchange between the four men.

During their recent appearance on WWE's "The Bump," Owens & Gargano disclosed the origins of their former Panda Express team, revealing that they would watch panda videos on the Internet for countless hours after AIW's shows, and thus came up with the concept of a team dedicated to loving pandas. Owens even had a recent WWE shirt featuring a large panda front and center, along with the text "Kevin Owens Rules." He also donned several panda-related shirts as Kevin Steen while on the indies.  

It remains to be seen if Owens & Gargano will be a regular tag team going forward on WWE TV. At this point, they do share a disdain for Austin Theory, and fans have brought up the possibility of an Owens & Gargano vs. Theory & Otis or Gable match in the coming weeks, possibly even at the Extreme Rules event on October 8.