Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn played out a little differently in Toronto

It didn’t go the way the fans at Bell Centre wanted it to, but there was no denying that Sami Zayn challenging Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal championship on Feb. 18 in Montreal felt like a big deal.

So there’s little need to wonder why WWE booked a rematch for their house show in Toronto Saturday night (Mar. 4). The rare chance to see the Tribal Chief at an un-televised event, that was also quite possibly the last chance for Sami’s countryfolk to see Reigns vs. Zayn in person? Box office business reportedly picked up after the new main event was announced last week.

But how did WWE book the rematch? That’s a bit more interesting.

Hard to tell from Twitter and Instagram video, but the Ontario crowd didn’t seem to be nearly as anti-Roman as fans in Zayn’s home province of Quebec were.

There’s some boos in there, but it wasn’t a sea of “Fuck You, Roman” chants. Those did come though, including from who might be getting their mouths washed out with soap when they get home.

As you can probably guess by the fact this story didn’t come out earlier, or with a BREAKING NEWS banner, Zayn did not capture the titles in Toronto. He didn’t win — not even via disqualification. But Roman still couldn’t put the Disavowed Uce down without breaking the rules. Without his Wise Man or his cousins around, the champ used a low blow to set Sami up for the finish.

Post-match adhered to a similar script. No Kevin Owens appearance like in Montreal (he popping the crowd in a familiar house show scene earlier in the night), but when Reigns decided to punish Zayn for Toronto’s failure to universally acknowledge him, Sami fired up, Helluva Kicked the Head of the Table’s head off, and sent his fans home happy.

Seems like it was a really fun show all around. KO got to cut off LA Knight while he was complaining about having not been ready when Santos Escobar beat him moments before, leading to a Street Fight where Owens used his full array of classic moves of doom.

Prior to that, Rhea Ripley managed to troll her boy toy’s dad while picking up another win en route to a WrestleMania clash with SmackDown Women’s champ Charlotte Flair.

Here’s a full rundown of the results from Toronto last night:

• Charlotte Flair def. Shayna Baszler to retain the SmackDown Women’s championship

• Ridge Holland def. Joaquin Wilde

• Rhea Ripley def. Raquel Rodriguez

• Santos Escobar def. LA Knight

• LA Knight gets some promo time to say, among other things, that he wasn’t ready for his match with Escobar. Kevin Owens confronted him, called him a knock-off version of The Rock, and got a Street Fight.

• Kevin Owens def. LA Knight in a Toronto Street Fight

• Ricochet def. Intercontinental champion Gunther by DQ after interference by Imperium

• Ricochet, Braun Strowman & Drew McIntyre def. Imperium (Gunther, Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci)

• Roman Reigns def. Sami Zayn to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal championship