Why Sami Zayn Vs. Roman Reigns' Elimination Chamber Ending Fell Short
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Going into Elimination Chamber, the biggest match of the night was between Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. The premium live event emanated from the Bell Centre Arena in Montreal, Quebec, which is Zayn’s hometown.
Everyone in the arena, as well as millions of fans at home, wanted to see an underdog Sami win against The Head of the Table. Fans were hyped for this matchup because the buildup for it was one of the best, but despite having a great build, a red-hot hometown crowd, and a slightly decent match, Sami vs Roman ended up disappointing a lot of fans with its awful finish.
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Sami Zayn Vs Roman Reigns Was A Really Entertaining Match Despite The Finish
Even before the match began, the crowd had started booing Reigns. It was clear that everyone in Montreal wanted Sami to win. This wasn’t a physically demanding match, as is usually the case with Reigns' matchups. His fights begin a bit slow and are more story driven. Roman trash talking during the match was also really good. There were several near falls, but every time Reigns kicked out at the very last moment. He’s become really good at those split-second kick-outs and making everyone believe he's losing.
At one point, Sami almost won the match after hitting Reigns with the Helluva Kick, but as he was going for the Blue Thunderbomb, the referee was knocked out and couldn’t do the count. Right then, Jimmy Uso entered the ring and attacked Zayn. He put Reigns on top of Zayn for the cover, but Sami kicked out.
Sometime later, another referee bump spot happened when Reigns accidentally hit the official with the superman punch. Paul Heyman took advantage of the situation and threw a steel chair to help his Tribal Chief, however, Jey Uso suddenly showed up in the ring and Reigns gave him the chair to attack Sami, just like he had done with Sami at Royal Rumble against Kevin Owens. For a moment, it seemed like Jey was going to betray his cousin when Reigns’ back was turned on him, but Jey still couldn’t pick a side, so Reigns took matters into his own hands and beat Sami with the chair mercilessly before pinning him for victory.
The Match Finish Received Dead Silence From The Montreal Crowd
Before the show, everyone expected the Montreal audience to “riot” if Sami lost, but the ending was so bad that even the fans didn’t react much to it. After Reigns pinned Sami, most people were quiet in the arena. That’s never a desired reaction to any match, especially one where the biggest babyface of the night just lost.
There were so many things that went wrong in this match. For instance, there were multiple referee bump shenanigans which only brought more drama to the fight. Even though people in the arena were trying to manifest a Sami Zayn victory, this was never going to happen, but that's probably not the real issue here. WWE could’ve still booked the ending in a better way despite having Zayn lose.
Post-match, Kevin Owens made an appearance to save Sami, and also beat down Jimmy and Reigns. But why wasn’t he there, say, 10 minutes before when Jimmy interfered or when Roman was beating Sami with the chair? Why wasn’t Owens there to protect Zayn when Zayn had put himself in harm's way at Royal Rumble and turned on The Bloodline to protect Owens? The way Elimination Chamber ended benefited no one. Sami did get his moment when he got to Helluva Kick Roman to close out the show, but fans still expected a bit more from WWE.
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WWE Booked Themselves Into A Corner With The Match Between Reigns And Zayn
An alternative ending could've been one where there were no ref bumps (or just one at best), or Jey had betrayed Sami to set up a tag match at WrestleMania, or even one where Kevin had returned just a little bit earlier. They could’ve even gone for a DQ finish as well to give Sami a win, but this probably would’ve been an even worse way to end the match.
All in all, it's safe to say that Triple H had put himself in a bad position here. Despite Zayn being really over, The Game couldn't hand a victory against Reigns like this to him. Cody vs Roman is already set for WrestleMania and making any drastic change would've hurt their existing plans. While Zayn is pretty hyped right now, there's no telling that the fans won't turn on him a few months later, but with Cody, he's already a main-event star and doesn't seem he'll lose the crowd's support anytime soon.
