By Ben Rosen
The Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn storyline and feud is carrying WWE to new heights as one of the best storylines in years. Reigns and Zayn faced off at the Elimination Chamber premium live event on Feb. 18. The match was for the Undisputed WWE Universal World Heavyweight Championship. The belt is the combination of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and the Universal Championship which were unified at WrestleMania 38 last year in a champion vs champion title unification match between Reigns and and his longtime rival Brock Lesnar.
Reigns the leader of “The Bloodline” that features his cousins Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso along with Solo Sikoa and advisor Paul Heyman. This faction is one of the most dominant factions in WWE history. Zayn was involved in the group for some time but then turned on the group after a match between Reigns and Kevin Owens, a friend of Zayn’s, at the Royal Rumble a few weeks ago.
The crowd reaction to Zayn turning was electric in part due to the suspense of this storyline created by the long term booking of matches. Jey Uso also walked out while Sikoa, Jimmy Uso and Reigns went after Zayn.
Many fans want Zayn to end Reigns’ run as world champion which dates back nearly three years to Aug. 30, 2020 when Reigns became the Universal Championship. It is unlikely to happen as current plans seem to call for Cody Rhodes to defeat Reigns at the upcoming WrestleMania 39 in early April. Rhodes won the men’s Royal Rumble match to earn the title match against Reigns. The fans seem to want Reign’s time as champion to end with either Zayn or Rhodes ending the reign. Only three people have held a world championship for longer than Reigns has with his current reign as Universal Champion.
The best possible resolution to the storyline involves splitting up the world championships again. This can be done in the match between Reigns and Rhodes by using a stipulation that if Reigns is disqualified he is stripped of one belt. In that scenario one belt, likely the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, would be given to Rhodes while Reigns keeps the Universal Championship to continue the reign. Then at SummerSlam , Reigns should lose the Universal Championship to either Zayn, because of his involvement with Reigns, or Jey Uso because of his defeat in Reigns first title defense of his current reign.
While the main focus is currently on Reigns and “The Bloodline” there are many other interesting matches scheduled to take place at Elimination Chamber. In an Elimination Chamber match United State Champion Austin Theory successfully defended his title against Seth Rollins, Johnny Gargano, Bronson Reed, Damian Priest and Montez Ford. This sets up a future title defense at WrestleMania 39 against a to be determined opponent. That match could potentially be against one of Gargano, Reed and Priest due to storyline developments in recent weeks with the others.
The other Elimination Chamber match on the card was between Asuka, Liv Morgan, Nikki Cross, Raquel Rodriguez, Natalya and Carmella for the right to face the Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair at Wrestlemania 39. Asuka, who recently returned as a heel at the Royal Rumble, won this matchup as was expected to set up a match with Belair at Wrestlemania 39. The match between Belair and Asuka will surely be a classic since it will feature two of the top female competitors in WWE right now.
Also at the Elimination Chamber premium live event was a mixed gender tag team match featuring Edge and Beth Phoenix facing off against Finn Bálor and Rhea Ripley of “The Judgment Day” , a faction that was started by Edge. The two sides have had multiple confrontations and matches since “The Judgement Day” turned on Edge last summer only a few months after its formation. Also in the faction are Priest and Dominik Mysterio who joined after turning on his father Rey Mysterio and Edge during a premium live event last year. This time around Edge and Beth Phoenix came away with the victory.
The match between Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley was meant to be a tiebreaker match since the two competitors are 1-1 against each other in head-to-head singles competition but it did not turn out that way due to the match ending in a disqualification. It seems like Lesnar and Lashley will face off again at Wrestlemania 39 as a result.
With all the hype for the Reigns and Zayn match it was one of the better premium live events in recent years. With that being said the ending to the Reigns and Zayn match was a letdown given all of the buildup for the match. It was one of the better Reigns title defenses, but it was still a letdown even though it was obvious that Reigns would win.