(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn – WWE Elimination Chamber 2023

2023 has been an interesting year for pro-wrestling, but few matches captured fan imagination as much as Roman Reigns versus Sami Zayn. When this story began almost a full year ago, few people thought that it would be so successful. Few people expected this story to have so much to offer and generate so much intrigue. Yet it grew and grew until it was by far the hottest story in the company and possibly in all of wrestling that didn’t involve “backstage stuff”.

And yet the story ended on a deflating note. It didn’t end with the big payoff most people were expecting for a variety of reasons. Some people were simply upset that their hero didn’t win in the end. Others thought the match was simply overrated given what they were used to. Others still thought the match started off strong but ended in disappointment. Which one is this? Read on to find.

Previously I was writing for a site called TJR Wrestling and now this series is coming to Blog of Doom. For now you can check out the series in its entirety here.

The story

Almost one year earlier, Sami Zayn was at a very low point in his career. He suffered the embarrassment of a lifetime when he lost to Jackass star Johnny Knoxville in a wacky gimmick match that made him look like a complete chump. Sure it made some people laugh, but Zayn didn’t see himself as a clown. So when he surveyed his landscape on SmackDown and saw how Roman Reigns was so dominant, so powerful, and so cool, he wanted to join him.

But neither Reigns nor his cousins wanted Zayn in the group. Their Bloodline was a family thing and no amount of begging or insisting would convince them to let him in. But Zayn never quit; he was so desperate to no longer be an outsider and to finally belong to the cool kids’ club that he kept trying (and getting beat up for it).

Weeks turned into months as the Bloodline slowly started warming up to Zayn being, at the very least, an honorary ally. Not necessarily a true member of the family, but an associate. With time, Zayn’s loyalty to the Bloodline convinced one of the Usos, Paul Heyman, and then eventually Roman Reigns, to finally yield and welcome him in as an “honorary uce”.

But Zayn’s road to acceptance and popularity was filled with broken friendships and battered bodies. He turned on longtime friends including Kevin Owens, who called him out for his new allegiance. Zayn saw himself as a changed man, one that finally found acceptance and a new family, despite Jey Uso’s constant misgivings. Zayn then proved his loyalty once again at Survivor Series 2022 when he hit Kevin Owens with a low blow, allowing The Bloodline to win a big WarGames match.

As 2023 began, Kevin Owens found himself in Reigns’ crosshairs. He was challenging for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble, and each passing week Owens found himself at the Bloodline’s mercy. Owens lost at the event itself, but after the match was over the Bloodline wanted to send another message. They wanted to punish Owens for crossing them, and they wanted Zayn to deliver the final blow.

Months of tension built to this moment. Zayn was torn between his newfound “family” and his older friends. He thought about it, struggled with intense inner conflict, and made the biggest decision of his career: he chose Owens over The Bloodline.

The response was, to put it mildly, insane.

Days later, Zayn attacked Reigns again and challenged for the same world title. Reigns accepted and in the process setup a titanic clash that would take place in Zayn’s hometown of Montreal. It was at this point that something truly special started happening among online wrestling fans and across various forums. Many people believed that WWE had truly captured lightning in a bottle with Zayn’s storyline. Whether it was intentional or by accident, the company now found themselves with a true underdog hero that people genuinely liked, whose success and popularity had grown organically as much as it had through solid storytelling over the prior year. Armchair bookers all over the internet, on radio shows, and podcasts, began arguing for WWE to “call an audible”, that is, break from the initially-planned direction and hotshot a sudden title change to have Zayn beat Reigns.

Arguments were made that, since Zayn was allegedly more integral to SmackDown’s critical and financial success over the prior year, and that the story was going in such a direction that almost necessitated a title change, that Zayn should win here. Others claimed that Cody Rhodes “completing the story” by winning the 2023 Royal Rumble could either be postponed until next year or converted into a babyface-versus-babyface dynamic opposite Zayn instead of having Reigns in the institutional position as dominant heel champion. Website after website, podcast after podcast, interview after interview, countless people within the wrestling fandom opined on how it would make sense for Zayn to win here. Some didn’t even have a proper argument in the first place; they just wanted Zayn to win so badly because they connected with him and his struggle so deeply.

Zayn’s story hit so close to home for so many people, especially his fellow Montrealers who gave him an almost Hogan-level response the night before his big challenge and on the eve of the show itself. Zayn was so excited that he even cussed on live TV by saying to Reigns, in French, «écoutes-moi bien: demain soir t’es chez moi Tabarnak!» (listen to me well: tomorrow night, you’re in my house motherfucker!*).

*’Tabarnak’ literally means “tabernacle” since most Quebecois swears come from religious/church terms.

As Zayn said moments earlier, this match was once in a lifetime. He, a longtime “indy darling” who once plied his trade in tiny venues and wrestled under a mask and had almost destroyed himself for peanuts, was now in the biggest match of his life. He was taking on the ultimate symbol of the WWE machine: an unstoppable Samoan beast that hadn’t been pinned in over two years whose status as an insurmountable juggernaut became clearer with each successful title defense. In the two-and-a-half years since he first won the Universal Championship, he defeated the following challengers: Braun Strowman, Rey Mysterio, Kevin Owens, Edge, Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, John Cena, Finn Balor, Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, Riddle, Drew McIntyre, Logan Paul, and even his own cousin Jey Uso, who became so enraptured with Zayn’s story that, a few weeks before this match, appeared to side with Zayn over his family.

The odds seemed stacked against him, but could Zayn do the impossible? Could he somehow capitalize on the volcanic hometown reception Montreal was giving him and beat Roman Reigns? Or would Reigns weather the storm and move on to his sixth WrestleMania main-event as predicted?

The match

This match originally took place on February 18, 2023. It was rated ****3/4 out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

This is for Reigns’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. The bell rings and the crowd are booing the ever-loving shit out of Reigns. It’s like we all went back in time to 2016-2017 when he was absolutely loathed by almost everyone. Nothing happens for four minutes as everyone soaks in the crowd. They finally lock-up and Reigns knocks Zayn down with a shoulderblock. They lock-up again and this time Zayn gets a headlock and the crowd pops bigtime, and then they boo when Reigns fights out with a back elbow. More playing to the crowd. On the next lock-up Zayn ducks down and then sends Reigns over the rope and to the floor. Zayn follows with a suicide dive to the floor.

Back in the ring, Zayn does the corner punches spot and keeps going well past ten. He follows with an elbow drop for a one-count. He tries that same move a second time but Reigns uppercuts him out of the air. Reigns dumps Zayn to the floor and then lands his drive-by dropkick on the apron. A loud “let’s go Sami” chant begins as Reigns can’t wipe the Cheshire Cat Grin off his face. Zayn isn’t shit to him and he wants everyone to see that. A knife-edge chop does absolutely nothing and Reigns drops Zayn with a big right hand. Zayn tries another chop volley to fire up the crowd but Reigns drops him once more. A “vas chié/fuck off Roman” chant ensues as Reigns trash-talks Zayn’s wife who is sitting ringside. Reigns starts taking exception to the crowd reaction and gets in Mrs. Zayn’s face as he manhandles her husband some more and then smacks him around while mouthing off to various fans at ringside. If THIS Roman Reigns appeared in late 2014 instead of the smiling John Cena clone that we all got, everyone would’ve been saved four years’ worth of headaches.

Reigns shuts down another attempt at a comeback and goes to shitcan Zayn once again but this time Zayn bounces off the ropes over Reigns and hits a clothesline. Zayn does his own version of hulking up, reverses an Irish whip, and hits a flying forearm. He clotheslines Reigns to the floor and pummels him in front of his wife and children, and then gives her a big kiss. Nice. Zayn goes to the top rope but Reigns cuts him off with an uppercut. Reigns attempts a superplex but Zayn escapes and hits a sunset flip powerbomb for a two-count.

Reigns blocks a Blue Thunder Bomb and hits a sort of uranage for a two-cxount of his own. He teases and goes for the Superman punch but Zayn blocks and lands an Exploder suplex into a corner. He tries following up with a Helluva kick but Reigns hits first with a successful Superman punch. One, two, Zayn survives. Zayn dodges a spear and gets a roll-up for another two-count. Reigns charges once more but runs into another corner Exploder followed by his own Superman punch and a successful Helluva kick. One, two, and – Reigns kicks out.

Zayn tries another kick but Reigns escapes to ringside. Zayn tries his through-the-ropes DDT but Reigns cuts him off with another punch. Reigns gets a big running start for a spear but Zayn dodges and Reigns spears the barricade instead. Zayn tosses the champion into the ring and lands a Blue Thunder Bomb but again he only gets two so he tries that move again. but Reigns blocks this one and pushes backwards, which squishes Zayn into a corner, along with the referee. Reigns charges into the opposite corner but Zayn follows him and connects with a Helluva kick. Zayn gets a visual seven-count but the referee’s knocked out. Goddamn lazy storytelling. The referee’s corpse falls to ringside as Jimmy Uso comes in. he hits three superkicks followed by a Superfly splash, and then drags Reigns onto Zayn for the cover. A new referee comes in now and counts but Zayn kicks out. Wait a second, if this referee dashed out so quickly after Jimmy’s interference, then that means there was no way he didn’t see Jimmy getting physical in the ring, right? Shit doesn’t make sense. and he doesn’t eject Jimmy from ringside? Ugh.

Both Reigns and Zayn right to their feet and start trading strikes. The second ref narrowly avoids getting knocked out as Reigns lands more punches but then Zayn counters with stomps that send Reigns back to ringside. Zayn boots Jimmy off the apron but turns around and walks into a spear. One, two, and – no, this time Zayn kicks out at 2.9!

Zayn looks to be out on his feet as he somehow gets himself to his knees while Reigns continues trash-talking both him and Montreal. Reigns bitchslaps Zayn until Zayn hits back. Reigns goes for a Superman punch and hits referee made of glass #2. A second Superman punch drops Zayn and then both men collapse.

Paul Heyman gives Reigns a chair but then Jey Uso appears out of nowhere. He gets between Reigns and Zayn. A LONG and drawn-out stare-down ensues over Reigns handing Jey the chair, and then Reigns positions himself between Jey and Zayn. Zayn’s sitting against the ropes almost catatonic yet hasn’t been covered yet. This little melodrama continues until Reigns pie-faces Jey and then sidesteps to avoid a spear from Zayn that was meant for him. Reigns smashes Zayn’s back with the chair several times much to his wife’s horror. Then the original referee magically wakes up and counts to three, giving Reigns the victory.

Winner and STILL Undisputed WWE Universal Champion after 32:19: Roman Reigns

Post-match, Jimmy starts punching Zayn when suddenly Kevin Owens’ music plays. Owens takes out Jimmy and brawls with Reigns. He gives Stunners to both Reigns and Jimmy and then powerbombs Jimmy through the announce table. Owens grabs a chair but Heyman attacks him in pathetic fashion from behind so Owens gives him a Stunner as well. Owens is in the middle of the ring with Reigns in one corner and Zayn in the opposite. Owens steps aside so that Zayn can land another Helluva kick to drop Reigns. Not quite the consolation prize Zayn wanted but…I guess…take whatever you can get?

Review

This might as well have been two matches. Everything during the first twenty minutes or so was flawless. The action was simple but meaningful. Both wrestlers told an excellent story with Reigns behaving like such a despicable prick that you wanted to see him get his just desserts so badly. Zayn was equally great as the underdog who tried everything in his power to forge ahead and got so close on several occasions. Even with Reigns stalling at points and drawing things out almost comically, there wasn’t anything inherently wrong or out of place given how emotionally charged this match was.

But then things got unnecessarily overcomplicated and lazy. WWE shoehorned in some tired wrestling tropes that served more as cheap cop-outs to create a flat finish. Not one but two referees got knocked out. The second one likely saw Jimmy’s tacked-on interference as it was happening yet did absolutely nothing. Reigns was no longer the daunting mountain for Zayn to climb; instead, Zayn found himself being screwed by circumstance. It threw the entire story of the match and the conclusion into disarray. And while I never doubted Reigns would win, the manner in which he retained was boring and clichéd. It was no different from Triple H’s many interference-laden main-event matches during his 2002-2005 Reign of Terror or Jeff Jarrett’s ref bump frenzy in TNA around the same time.

While some might justify this kind of ending as “protecting both wrestlers and having Zayn look good in defeat”, I ask this: what would’ve been the harm of Zayn losing via clean finish? What would’ve been wrong with Zayn mustering everything in his power only to simply not be good enough because Reigns was bigger, stronger, and more in control of his emotions? It’s not like the fans would think anything less of Zayn or think differently of Reigns; if anything they would’ve still admired Zayn for fighting with his all and for Reigns to having pulled out all the stops to put Zayn down. It seemed like that was the direction this match was going in at first; nothing either man did was enough to get the three-count so they started spamming their finishers out of desperation. Had Reigns simply stacked one finisher on top of another and won cleanly, nothing bad would’ve happened. Zayn would still be sympathetic, Reigns’ aura as an unstoppable monster would remain unblemished, and the audience wouldn’t leave this show feeling swindled from the unnecessary and forced shenanigans that came about during the final ten minutes.

And for those that still tossed logic aside and simply hoped that WWE would indeed call that audible, there was simply no chance that Zayn was ever going to win. If we take a bigger look at this match and its build, there were some key factors that basically guaranteed Reigns would win. Zayn didn’t lose because he had a size disadvantage. He didn’t lose because he got too hotheaded or passionate. And he didn’t lose because he was an inferior wrestler. He lost because he never leveled the playing field.

Zayn had spent months interacting with Reigns and the Bloodline on a regular basis, either as an ally or an enemy. He knew how they operated, how they used the numbers game and other underhanded tactics to keep the title around Reigns’ waist. So it was perplexing that Zayn didn’t do anything to level the playing field. He never put Jimmy Uso through a table or otherwise took him out of the equation. He never attacked Paul Heyman who was always ringside and had been the deciding factor in several of Reigns’ prior big matches (and it’s not like Heyman couldn’t take bumps, as his Stunner from Owens demonstrated). And he never did anything to rectify the high likelihood of a referee getting caught in the crossfire. He just wrestled a normal match despite Reigns having defined this most recent run as anything but normal. It was as if Zayn was going into a gunfight fully armed yet knowing the other side was going to have multiple shooters. And while it might be unrealistic to expect WWE or pro-wrestling in general to have airtight logic, it’s hard to fully enjoy a match when there are such blatant holes in how it’s put together.

Worse yet, the whole post-match scene with Kevin Owens did absolutely nothing besides give the crowd a generic cheap pop. Oh look, the hometown boy is coming down to add more chaos to the scene while wearing the local sports team’s jersey. Where was he a few minutes earlier? Could he not enter without his music? If he was going to help in the first place, why not do so when it mattered, i.e. to stop Jimmy’s interference or to wake up the referees? And why end the show with another lame “happy ending”? why not end it on a cliffhanger to give people more curiosity as to what would happen next? It seemed like whoever put this entire match and its post-match together didn’t ask any tough questions and simply thought “well, we have the fans’ money, we’ll give them whatever we want, logic be damned”.

Final Rating: ***3/4

With a little less wasted time and a less convoluted finish, this would be up there as one of the best matches of the year and one of the best of the decade so far. But as it stands this was a match that started off incredibly well but fell off the wagon towards the end. There was no need for so many bodies to get involved in the end, no need for the referees to show they’re so brittle once again, and no need for small consolation prizes to be given out at the end.

There really isn’t much to see here past the twenty-minute mark, unless you want to see a company screw up a golden opportunity to do something different but instead they bungle it up by going to the same well one time too many, only to find that well as dry as a desert.

Thanks for reading. You can email me with any questions or comments, and be sure to check out my 5-Star and Almost 5-Star Match Reviews series here.