Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn Feud Must Extend Well Beyond WWE Payback 2016

After Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn collaborated on another masterpiece in the ring at WWE Payback 2016, it's clear that this rivalry is too powerful, too perfect for the company not to keep showcasing it.

When WWE finds that two elements are this explosive when combined, it has to make use of that. Zayn and Owens have such a rare level of chemistry and serve as such ideal foils for each other that their story should be told for a long time to come.

After beating Zayn at Sunday's pay-per-view, Owens stood in the ring and boasted about putting Zayn away, claiming to have put the rivalry to rest.

Credit: WWE.com

For many, their hearts had to sink. Was this really going to be it? Would WWE just walk away from such a compelling rivalry so quickly? 

Nope. 

Zayn pounced on Owens moments later, brawling with his enemy at ringside. That's a sight fans will want to keep savoring.

At Payback, Owens and Zayn thrilled in an enthralling, emotional showdown. Zayn's gutsy warrior fit perfectly in the bout with Owens' furious predator. Their animosity popped on the screen.

Their contentious past elevated the action, making every right hand and every near victory mean more.

As the folks at Voices of Wrestling pointed out, Zayn and Owens always produce high-quality matches:

That alone should inspire WWE to keep allowing these two men to collide. The company so often pits two talented wrestlers against each other, only to find there isn't much of a spark between them. Cesaro and Rob Van Dam's battles in 2014 are an apt example of that.

The wrestlers never really clicked with each other. None of their matches together were anything special. 

The opposite is true for Zayn and Owens. They feel made for each other, complementing each other to a T. Zayn is the resilient, righteous underdog whereas Owens is the sadistic bully. Owens is The Joker to Zayn's Batman, his Biff Tannen to Zayn's Marty McFly. 

They showed that in their classic bouts with Ring of Honor when they were still Kevin Steen and El Generico. They showed that when NXT continued the feud in 2014 and 2015.

And the longer this rivalry goes on, the more bad blood there will be to build on. The friends-turned-foe narrative will get added layers. The chase for the Intercontinental Championship, for example, adds increased stakes to their skirmishes. WWE can continue to add memorable images of them tearing each other apart.

As the rivalry progresses, it moves from simple wrestling feud to full-on saga.

WWE not only has the advantage of being able to refer to the early chapters of their history together, but it has a world-class video production team to craft recaps of that history. Add that to the growing animosity between Owens and Zayn, the expanding resume of classics against each other and the scale of the stage they now stand on, and this story has the potential to be special.

Kevin Berge of Questionable Critics noted that the feud has continued to improve:

With that in mind, why stop at Payback or Extreme Rules? Why not extend this rivalry, further milking the drama these men create each time they fight?

Indy wrestler Gran Akuma, for one, wants to seem them keep it going until SummerSlam:

WWE could easily continue the feud for even longer than that. It has so much fire that it promises not to grow cold for years.

Owens vs. Zayn has the potential to be the next great rivalry that never truly ends. Ric Flair and Sting were such complementary pieces that WCW had them battle until the company's very last night in business. Shawn Michaels and Triple H thrived together to the point where WWE kept having them go from allies to enemies and back again.

That's how WWE needs to handle Owens and Zayn. Have them tear at each other's flesh until SummerSlam, pause their story momentarily and return to it down the road. 

This is just what Zayn and Owens have been doing already, their hate erupting in 2004 in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, in 2010 in ROH, just over a year ago at NXT and now once more on the WWE stage.

Some enemies just can't ever put their hate to rest. Not that fans will complain.