Sami Zayn comes up short against Roman Reigns in Montreal

It all came down to this.

Sami Zayn finally broke free of Roman Reigns’ rule at Royal Rumble, taking a chair to The Tribal Chief’s back when his demands got to be too much. He was instantly kicked from The Bloodline, though he remained friends with Jey Uso, and immediately set his sights on dethroning the man who has been WWE Universal champion for over 900 days.

They met for the match at tonight’s (Sat., Feb. 18, 2023) Elimination Chamber event at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on Zayn’s home turf, in front of his friends and family, his wife sitting ringside.

The atmosphere was just as electric as anticipated.

In fact, it was nearly five minutes from the bell ringing until the two men actually got the match going. They let the moment breathe as long as possible, and every fan in the building got involved with various chants and cheers during those nearly five minutes.

The match they put together from there was perfectly paced, a beautifully laid out masterpiece that expertly took advantage of everything this story was. The near falls were out of this world, the crowd insane for each and every one of them. Sami’s wife was ringside and her reactions, in contrast to those of Paul Heyman, were absolute money.

A referee bump saved Reigns at one point. A Jimmy Uso appearance shortly after made for a hell of a tease for the finish, but it didn’t come then either. Yet another ref bump happened and that’s when Reigns got a chair. but then Jey Uso showed up to step in between Roman and Sami.

So Reigns put him to a choice.

“It’s either me or him.”

And he handed Jey the chair.

And Reigns moved forward.

And it was like the Royal Rumble all over again.

Except Jey chose not to pull the trigger when he had the chance. Reigns pushed his face and by then Zayn was back up and going for a Spear, one Roman moved out of the way of just enough so that Sami would hit Jey with it.

All that was left was for the referee to get back in the ring and count to three after one more Spear.

Roman Reigns retained the WWE Universal championship.

And Montreal was left heartbroken.

They didn’t have to go home totally unhappy, though. That’s because Kevin Owens made his return to put the boots to The Bloodline. And while he didn’t quite make up with Zayn completely, he at least gave him one hell of an assist, even if it was when the match was over.

Get complete Elimination Chamber results and coverage of the entire show right here.