Top Advertised Match Pulled From WWE Raw

By Sai Mohan

In a surprising turn of events, the advertised Ezekiel vs. Kevin Owens Money in the Bank qualifying match never took place on "WWE Raw" this week.

The match was seemingly replaced by a "Last Chance" Battle Royal, which was won by Riddle, who clinched the final spot for the Red Brand Superstars in Saturday's Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match. The seventh and final spot in the ladder match will be taken by a SmackDown Superstar this Friday. You can click here for the six Superstars who have qualified thus far.

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As seen below, WWE was advertising the Ezekiel vs. Owens match a few hours prior to "Raw" and even teased the possibility of Owens wrestling Elias or Elrod instead of Ezekiel.

After Riddle won the Battle Royal, Jimmy Smith confirmed on commentary that the Owens vs. Ezekiel "had to be rescheduled" to a later date. However, there was no mention of the match no longer carrying Money in the Bank implications.

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While Ezekiel didn't wrestle a match, he did have a backstage confrontation with WWE icon John Cena on Monday's show. When Cena asked Ezekiel the whereabouts of Elias, Ezekiel said his older brother was "showing their brother Elrod around" and introducing them to the WWE locker room. This was seemingly a confirmation of WWE introducing Elias' youngest brother in the near future.

On last week's show, WWE took the Ezekiel – Elias- Owens storyline to a new level by airing a backstage segment featuring Ezekiel and Elias, who were seen in the same frame together for the first time. This was followed by Owens interrupting an Elias concert, questioning the legitimacy of the brothers' meeting, and claiming they used CGI effects to deceive the WWE Universe. Owens would grow more annoyed when Ezekiel popped up on the Titantron from the backstage area with Elias still in the ring. The segment ended with Elias striking Owens with his signature jumping knee followed by a guitar shot to the back.

WWE hasn't announced an Ezekiel vs. Owens match for Saturday's Money in the Bank premium live event. It would appear that storyline is set to continue into the July 30 SummerSlam at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.

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UPDATE: Owens took to Twitter to address the match being pulled. As seen below, he referenced his disdain for the state of Texas as the reason for his no showing Monday's show.

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