The WWE Elimination Chamber Premium Live Event has turn into the trademark final stop on the road to WrestleMania, however the event does sometimes suffer from feeling a bit inconsequential because of the WrestleMania plans already being set in stone. Outside of the Chamber match (or matches) that determine who gets a shot on the champions that weren’t picked by the Royal Rumble winners, loads of the matches is usually a bit formulaic as WWE doesn’t need to rock the boat so near the largest show of the yr. Nonetheless, that may not what happened in 2023.
The road to WrestleMania 39 has gone down as probably the most celebrated periods in WWE’s recent history. The corporate was experiencing a fresh boom period because of Paul “Triple H” Levesque taking up the creative direction of the corporate from the “retired” Vince McMahon. He already had loads of good will from his time booking “WWE NXT” and fans were excited to see what he could produce on the most important roster, leading to boosted ticket sales, TV sales, and overall interest.
Leading the corporate within the most important event scene was The Bloodline Saga. Roman Reigns was not “The Big Dog” and had reached his final form because the “Tribal Chief,” and together with The Usos, Solo Sikoa, and Paul Heyman, The Bloodline dominated every aspect of the WWE most important event picture. Then Sami Zayn got here along, the at all times beloved Canadian who eventually became an honorary member of the group because of his devotion to Reigns, and the incontrovertible fact that Jimmy Uso took a shining to him. Jey Uso would eventually warm as much as Zayn as well and Zayn went from being a puppy-like cheerleader to an official member of the group.
Things got tricky towards the tip of 2022 and the start of 2023 when Reigns feuded with Zayn’s long-time friend Kevin Owens. After being pushed around by the “Tribal Chief” to take down his friend, Zayn snapped, hit Reigns with a chair on the 2023 Royal Rumble, and the wheels were in motion for a showdown between Zayn and Reigns.
That showdown would come on the 2023 Elimination Chamber Premium Live Event in Zayn’s hometown of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was one in all the largest matches WWE could book on the time, and given Zayn’s popularity, there was real belief from fans that Zayn could put an end to Reigns’ then 902 day run because the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. Since this yr’s Elimination Chamber show is correct across the corner, let’s wind back the clock a couple of years to shine a highlight on among the best most important events within the history of the event, Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
A Big Fight Feel
Every every now and then, WWE lands itself in a situation where the largest story in the corporate leads to the precise place it must be. It happened with John Cena and CM Punk in Chicago, it happened with Cena again when he went to the Hammerstein Ballroom to face Rob Van Dam, and it happened here. There shouldn’t be a single person contained in the Bell Centre that was routing for Roman Reigns. Regardless of how much work he had put in across his 900+ day run because the “Head of the Table” in WWE, the fans in Montreal desired to see him get what had been coming to him for months.
You possibly can feel the anticipation through the screen when the bell rings, even in spite of everything of the time that has passed since this match went down. The group going through waves of pleasure, love, hatred, every emotion possible just waiting for these two to finally lock up, and once they do, it’s absolutely good. Zayn is at his best when he’s the scrappy underdog fighting against the percentages, and the percentages do not get any greater than the “Tribal Chief,” especially when he cuts Zayn off to start out his great heat segment. Reigns starts mouthing off to anyone that may hear his voice, he takes Zayn right as much as his wife and youngsters to say “I don’t need to harm your man, but he deserves this.” The remainder of the fans within the front row are seething as Reigns just swaggers his way through this a part of the match. When people use the word “aura” to explain someone, Reigns on this a part of the bout is what they mean.
The group naturally comes unglued when Zayn starts mounting a comeback, to the purpose where even the moves which have never put anyone away just like the Blue Thunder Bomb and the Sunset Flip Powerbomb produce real leap out of your seat moments. It’s almost as if the gang is willing Zayn on, and after each men kick out of one another’s finishers, which is a gripe of mine that has just turn into the norm in wrestling today, it’s anybody’s ball game.
Then the referee goes down and you already know what’s coming by now. Here comes Jimmy Uso to assist his cousin out, but Jey Uso is the one to hesitate, causing much more descension within the family that may turn into necessary later down the road. The steel chair from the Royal Rumble makes an appearance, and this time it’s Zayn who takes a hellacious amount of punishment, and is eventually put down with a Spear as Reigns retains his crown. Some might call it a flat finish, but those individuals are those who genuinely thought Zayn was going to win when the overwhelming majority of individuals knew he wasn’t. Does it must be over half-hour long? Probably not, but it surely’s among the best “Bloodline” matches from this era.
The Bloodline Explodes
While Sami Zayn won’t have known it within the moment, but he ultimately became the explanation why The Bloodline fell apart. Roman Reigns’ treatment of Zayn made Jey Uso see the sunshine, which led to Jimmy Uso siding together with his brother, which resulted in all the faction crumbling beneath everyone’s feet.
To place it simply, The Bloodline Saga is one in all the best storylines in WWE history and might be more accountable for the boom period WWE would go on to have within the 2020s than the rest (yes, even greater than Vince leaving). With that said, it will probably’t be understated how interest within the story just dramatically dropped once Zayn was not an element of the plot. I’m not saying Sami Zayn is the explanation for WWE’s most up-to-date golden period, but he was the ultimate piece of the puzzle for The Bloodline and the stories that went with it.
Zayn would reunite with who else but Kevin Owens, who got here out to make the save at the tip of Elimination Chamber 2023 as The Bloodline looked to beat Zayn down much more. While there have been individuals with real arguments for Zayn being the one to dethrone Reigns, Zayn did get an enormous moment of his own alongside Owens as they dethroned The Usos for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships within the night one most important event of WrestleMania 39. To this present day, it is the only time the tag straps have had the consideration of closing WrestleMania, and people belts were provided that platform because of the work Zayn and The Usos did within the months leading as much as it.
Reigns controversially beat Cody Rhodes in the opposite WrestleMania 39 most important event, however the cracks had already began to point out in The Bloodline, and by Money within the Bank in July, the group had a civil war on its hands. Jey was finally capable of get out from Reigns’ spell and really handed the “Tribal Chief” his first pinfall loss in three-and-a-half years, earning him a title shot at that yr’s SummerSlam. As everyone knows, Reigns would beat Jey at SummerSlam in one other match where people thought that may have been the right time for Reigns to drop the titles, especially considering all the saga would fizzle away by the tip of 2023.
Fortunately, The Rock would inject some life within the saga in the beginning of 2024 when Cody Rhodes got here back for an additional shot at Reigns, but that may be a match highlight for an additional time.