Update: Paul Heyman’s explanation for the botch has been revealed.
The 2021 edition of the Royal Rumble has come and gone with the WWE Universal Champion ‘The Tribal Chief’ Roman Reigns defending his championship against the challenger, Kevin Owens. During the match, which saw Reigns run over Owens with a golf cart in a manner not unlike another widely acclaimed match that took part in another promotion, the ‘Head of the Table’ was handcuffed by Owens in which the referee would start the mandatory ten count as it was a Last Man Standing match. Roman Reigns ripped off Matt Hardy at Royal Rumble.
This prompted Reigns’ ‘Head of Counsel’ to come out to help uncuff Reigns, which he had an obviously difficult time achieving. In doing this, the referee would repeatedly stop the count over and over again just so Heyman, could have more time getting the handcuffs off of Reigns. This in turn, gave the finish away that Roman was going to win the match. Reigns eventually won via submission and retained his Universal Championship. Roman Reigns is set to wrestle a big name at the Fastlane PPV
NoDQ’s Aaron Rift had this to say about the match as he tweeted out the following:
‘I feel so embarrassed for #WWE. The match was awesome but the finish was a total mess with Heyman struggling to free Reigns from the handcuffs and the referee stopping the count so Heyman could free Reigns.’
While Dave Meltzer said in response to a fan who said that ‘It really looked like the ref stopped the count at 5 when Reigns wasn’t upright yet and they were still trying to get him unlocked’ the following:
‘You can’t always call it as a shoot, as that scene showed.’ The match did have some great spots though, as seen below.
In other news regarding ‘The Tribal Chief’, speaking to TMZ Sports, WWE’s Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon discussed about a potential matchup regarding Roman Reigns and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. This is what she told the outlet.
“I suppose that there’s any chance that we’re working on anything at any time, to answer your question. It would be a phenomenal story to find out who truly sits at the head of the table, you know, when you think about The Rock and his family and Roman Reigns and his family and you know, just the heritage and the lineage throughout our business of that family, right, huge story and I hope we see it play out one day.”
KEVIN OWENS. That's it. That's the tweet. 🤯#RoyalRumble #UniversalTitle @FightOwensFight @WWERomanReigns @HeymanHustle pic.twitter.com/OtitCoOpr1
— WWE (@WWE) February 1, 2021
https://twitter.com/patcheschance/status/1356071207540584458
the ref trying to count once he realized heyman and reigns messed up the handcuff key spot. #royalrumble pic.twitter.com/2h9exDuWcW
— james mckenna (@chillhartman) February 1, 2021
https://twitter.com/LanaDelBeer/status/1356070685253238786
